[HowTo] Intel GMA 900 (for 915GM and 910)

[Scorpio123]

I wouldn't recommend using the paperclip method to be honest.. Because if you think about it, what it is doing is short-circuiting, which could blow up your laptop one day, lol..

 

The safest way is to keep pressing FN+Display button on your laptop, in a rhytmic way (press it, leave it for a sec, press it, leave it for a sec) just after you hear the BANG sound at the grey apple logo boot. Its a bit of a trial n error thing. Sometimes it'll boot, sometimes you'll have to restart and try again. But it does work, and that's how i boot OS X without a Monitor or TV in sight..

[grantjohnston]

Alright.. I'm DEFINITELY not sold on the paperclip trick. Not wanting to possibly blow my {censored} up sooner or later. My question is. If I install the 900 drivers, and don't really enjoy dealing with the apparent 'hit or miss' fn+external monitor trick, is there an easy way to take them out without having to re-install the OS? Maybe by deleting the kext files in /System/Library/Extensions (- AppleIntel915.kext & - AppleIntelIntegratedGraphics.kext)?

 

After restarting, would that let it boot back to 1024x768 without dealing with all the {censored}?

 

Sorry if that's a little rambled. I just got my wifi working after messing with it for 7 hours straight, haha.

 

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

 

grant

[Scorpio123]

Instead of deleting the kexts, i'd probably replace them with the kexts on the DVD that you installed OS X from.

[gruynanen]

Hi all!

 

I read all the thread (it's 2 years old now) and I'm confused. So many information at a time...

 

So I am wondering if anyone can describe me how to get my Acer Travelmate 2423 (915mg) to work.

So my questions are:

 

1.) I have JaS 10.4.8 sse2,sse3,ppf1&2 ....must I install "gma900" patch on dvd or not?

2.) Let's assume that I DON'T install "gma900" patch, I must probably install diabolik patch?

3.) Can anyone explain to me "paperclip trick" or "pressing Fn+F5 trick".

 

Thanx for everything!

[Scorpio123]

1. No, the one on the DVD is messed up..

 

2. Yes, after your OS X is installed and running. You don't have to if everything already works, but if you have resolution issues and video problems, i would install it...

 

3. The Paperclip involves bending a paperclip, and sticking it in certain holes in the VGA slot of your laptop.

 

 

I don't advise you use the trick as it involves short-circuiting, and could brick your laptop in the long run.

 

A safer method is the Fn+Display button trick..

 

All you do is after you boot OS X, at some point in the Grey logo screen you'll hear a "CRACK" through the speakers, at that point you hit the display button again and again but remember to stop just before the screen goes blue... It takes practice and a lot of trial and error, but its safe.

 

Obviously the most fool-proof method is just to boot it with a VGA cable attached to a monitor/TV, but obviously with a laptop you won't always be in the proximity of one.. haha

 

Hope that helps!

[allyant]

This would not "Blow-up" or "brick" you laptop/pc. It works fine.

There is no electric power running through the vga connection, only data signals, what you are doing is making your pc think that there is a VGA cable in.

[razorbladex401]

allyant is right. There is no electric power going through the vga connection. The paperclip will not blow your laptop or break it. you will be fine.

[grantjohnston]

Greetings,

 

Regarding the Fn+ whatever monitor switch on laptops. All you have to do is to make sure you hit it before the boot process transit from grey boot logo to the desktop's blue screen. I do it when i first see the blue screen at an instant and i will hit Fn + F5 on my toshiba laptop, 3 times; which is, LCD+External, External, LCD.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Matthew

 

 

 

On my Toshiba Satellite, it doesn't work. I'm stumped and very pissed off at this point. I've re-installed at least 15 times today alone

[reghost]

Ok i really need help now. Ive tryed following all steps posted but just cant get it right.

i have the 915 and the 830 kexts.

i have modified all their respective .plist files replaced the strings with my id (0x35828086)

i tried renaming the 915 file in the contents/macos folder to 830

and still nothing.

did the sudo commands in terminal

yet nothing....

 

so im lost guys. please help...

 

also i to get something cleared up, i see some folks posting about an i830 and i915 kext BUT all of mine just say AppleIntel***... can someone please clear this up for me? THANKS

[children_of_the_dragon]

Um...I'm no engineering or anything, but from my limited knowledge of physics, "digital signals" are electric in nature....so I'm pretty sure you have electricity running through the VGA port. I would imagine the voltage is pretty darn low though...please correct me if I am wrong

This would not "Blow-up" or "brick" you laptop/pc. It works fine.

There is no electric power running through the vga connection, only data signals, what you are doing is making your pc think that there is a VGA cable in.

[Thireus]

Hi guys,

 

I have GMA900 and Leopard 10.5 from Brazilian version. I need help because it is badly supported, I mean I have the same symptoms I noticed here: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry123029

 

Thanks

[leakey]

Okay, basically after about 9 tries and 6 osx re-installations in one week.. i've finally got it... now i have to write this quickly because im in a bit of a rush, i have to study for an exam tomorrow and its 2:30 in the morning.... so forgive me if i'm a bit unclear.. but i'll try my best.

 

Firstly thanks to the following people for providing help: JaS, lamer0 and Marcp1967.

 

The Guide

 

1. Go to /system/library/extensions

2. Find All the AppleIntel KEXT files:

 

- AppleIntel915.kext

- AppleIntelIntegratedGraphics.kext

 

3. Copy all of these to an external directory, and make a back up of them also. We need to modify them... but back them up just incase of anything.

 

4. right click the first kext file and go to "show package contents" then go to contents

5. right click the "Info.plist" file and go to open with --> other --> browse to "TextEdit"

6. use the search function (Applekey/Alt + F) and search for every and any value equaling to 0x25828086 or containing "2582".

7. Replace this value with "2592" and save the file.

 

------- Repeat steps 4 through to 7 for every kext file ----------

 

After this process is complete copy these files back to /system/library/extensions

 

8. Remove the AppleIntel830.kext file.

9. Open the terminal application and enter "sudo su", enter your password.

10. type the following in the terminal after logging in:

 

cd / <-- press enter

cd /system/library/extensions <-- press enter

sudo chmod -R 755 AppleIntel915.kext   <-- press enter
sudo chown -R root:wheel AppleIntel915.kext <-- press enter

then...

sudo chmod -R 755 AppleIntelIntegratedGraphics.kext <-- press enter
sudo chown -R root:wheel AppleIntelIntegratedGraphics.kext <-- press enter.

 

11. Restart

 

Troubleshooting

 

Method One: If you are unable to start and you recieve a blue screen after Darwin has finished loading or after the grey screen with the apple logo (like me) connect an external monitor and restart. This should get you back into OSX.

 

Method Two (for those dual-booting):

 

- If you are dual booting for example xp and osx like me... try going into xp first.. and then booting into osx.. with the -f switch... and NO EXTERNAL MONITOR attached...

 

that should also work.. i just tried it twice.....

 

- In general try booting with the -f swtich....

 

- On a side note.. if you are experience sluggish performance.. not just on the graphical side.. but in general... make sure you repair your permissions this can be done by opening the terminal and entering the following:

 

sudo -s <-- Press enter

cd / <-- Press enter

diskutil repairPermissions / <-- Press enter

 

it might take a minute or two.. maybe more.. depending on what your file permissions look like...

 

I just noticed that after i did this... everything is working fine.. and not a single application has crashed...

 

 

-----------------------------

 

Good luck!

 

I hope it works for you all.

 

Tested and working on a Dell Inspiron 6000 with the following:

 

Intel Mobile Centrino 1.6GHz

512 DDR2

Intel 915GM - GMA900 (128mb shared)

Philips CD/DVD combo drive

15.4" Widescreen running at 1280x800x32

Broadcom 440 Network Card (NIC)

Intel Wireless 2200 <-- [Not working]

Sigmatel AC97 Audio

 

Patches and method of installation are as follows:

 

- Native install from PearPC to Native

- Maxxuss' 0.4.1 SSE3 --> SEE2 emulation patch

 

PS: By request i've uploaded my kext files, and their configuration. Again place these files in the /system/library/extensions folder and go through step 10.

 

Removed for DMCA violation.

 

 

Hi, All

 

Last thing,,where can download "AppleIntel915.kext"?

 

Lastnight i download one file:‘Intel 8XX-VGA.zip’

 

But, inside only have:

 

1. ‘AppleIntel830.kext’

 

2. ‘AppleIntel830GA.plugin’

 

3. ‘AppleIntel830GLDriver.bundle’

 

4. ‘AppleIntel915GA.plugin’

 

5. ‘AppleIntel915GLDriver.bundle’

 

 

Except "AppleIntel915.kext" this one?

 

May I have any correct Link?

 

Thank you for everone!

 

Really appreciate…

 

 

Regards

 

 

Leakey ^_&

 

[NecronoiD]

I have a Dell D610 with the wire trick. The problem is that the "external monitor" has a resolution of 800x600 and i'm using a resolution of 1024x768 so i can't have a mirror display and it is very annoyng to lose the mouse pointer when i goes to the far left of the screen. Where is the file where i can manually edit the screen resolution of the "external monitor" to have a 1024x768 mirror display?

 

I tried to connect a real monitor and fix the screen to 1024x768 but when i reconnect the wire it changes to 800x600

[GekkePrutser]

I'm using DiaboliK's drivers and they work great on my EEEPC, many thanks!!!

 

I was just wondering if there is any way to get the control over the brightness working again. At the moment my LCD is detected as an external screen, if there is any way to change it to get it detected as an internal one I suppose I would have brightness control again? The drivers are setting it to max. brightness when they load and it's a bit too bright for me.

 

The BIOS keys to change the brightness work when using the normal VESA drivers (640x480 max.) but when using the good drivers to support the screen in its full res (800x480) this gets overridden.

[NecronoiD]

I'm using DiaboliK's drivers and they work great on my EEEPC, many thanks!!!

 

I was just wondering if there is any way to get the control over the brightness working again. At the moment my LCD is detected as an external screen, if there is any way to change it to get it detected as an internal one I suppose I would have brightness control again? The drivers are setting it to max. brightness when they load and it's a bit too bright for me.

 

The BIOS keys to change the brightness work when using the normal VESA drivers (640x480 max.) but when using the good drivers to support the screen in its full res (800x480) this gets overridden.

 

Gekke, wich macos version are you using? Do you have an intel 900/915 with full QE/CI full suport without the paperclip trick using the Diabolik drivers?

[lilSoldier]

NecronoiD, to change the res of your external display, you should see a button on the display preferences box saying "gather windows" click on that, and behind it should be a box with a list of resolutions. click on the one you want, and the "external" on will be changed. beware, though, display mirroring causes mouse artefacts all over the place, especially in microsoft office.

[NecronoiD]

NecronoiD, to change the res of your external display, you should see a button on the display preferences box saying "gather windows" click on that, and behind it should be a box with a list of resolutions. click on the one you want, and the "external" on will be changed. beware, though, display mirroring causes mouse artefacts all over the place, especially in microsoft office.

 

Thnx, i had aleady tried with mirrored on and the screen does not refresh the mouse track so is a really pain in the ass to work like that because it starts to fill all the screen with the mouse pointer..

[lilSoldier]

there used to be a fix for something similar when I used to have my desktop with an old ATi card in it using a piece of software called mighty mouse. It used to make sure the cursor was refreshing properly, and even allows you to change the cursor to whatever you like. I will try it, and if it works, send me a PM if you would like the serial to it (if I still have it) and also the theme that makes it look and act like the normal cursor does!

[lilSoldier]

Hi, I gave it a go, but the problem still remains, so we'll have to find another solution. however, I made a fundamental mistake when mirroring the displays - I forgot to change the resolution on the "external" one, so now on my laptop screen all I have is a blue box with a line at the top (maybe 1 pixel) with massive black borders. I really can't afford to reinstall, expecially as my exams are coming up soon, so I would really appreciate some help!

Thanks!

[NecronoiD]

Hi, I gave it a go, but the problem still remains, so we'll have to find another solution. however, I made a fundamental mistake when mirroring the displays - I forgot to change the resolution on the "external" one, so now on my laptop screen all I have is a blue box with a line at the top (maybe 1 pixel) with massive black borders. I really can't afford to reinstall, expecially as my exams are coming up soon, so I would really appreciate some help!

Thanks!

 

Are you using apple drivers with the wire trick?

 

Did you tried the safe boot in darwin with boot -x or boot with the shift key pressed?

 

Try to connect to an external monitor and gather windows.

 

Anyway i'm thinking to update to 10.4.11 from 10.4.9, is it worth?

[lilSoldier]

Hi, I got it working using -x extension, but I also got it working by attaching an external monitor, but the changes weren't saved for the paperclip trick. Anyway, it's working now.

 

I would definately recommend updating, its quite a bit more reliable, and there are many programs (latest iTunes, Safari, Office 08) that require 10.4.11. If you would like a good copy, search for XxX 10.4.11 in the usual place, it's what I'm using and it has a driver for almost every device and around 10-15 different kernels to use.

[NecronoiD]

Hi, I got it working using -x extension, but I also got it working by attaching an external monitor, but the changes weren't saved for the paperclip trick. Anyway, it's working now.

 

I would definately recommend updating, its quite a bit more reliable, and there are many programs (latest iTunes, Safari, Office 08) that require 10.4.11. If you would like a good copy, search for XxX 10.4.11 in the usual place, it's what I'm using and it has a driver for almost every device and around 10-15 different kernels to use.

 

thnx, i'm gonna try a 10.4.11 upgrade from my 10.4.9 without formatting. The wire trick is a pain in the ass but is the only way we have with gma900 to have qe/ci. I've been playing with the mirror display without success, so I guess we will have to live with the extended desktop of our fake monitors.

 

Did you have succees with sse2 sleep with 10.4.11?

[lilSoldier]

Hi, yeah its a real pain. 1 temprary fix is to go into the display preferences and choose "detect displays". This will eliminate the problem, but you have to do it every time you start up. Also, sleep has never worked for me, but I have never really tried to fix it!

[NecronoiD]

I have already installed 10.4.11 and runs great. Sleep and resume looks like it works, but at recovery the systems freezes screen (although I can use the os for few seconds).

 

It looks like this old gma900 will never be supported by osx so we will have to live with this fixes

[kagehoshi]

Hi everyone. I am a new and relatively inactive member here, but I have been following this topic for a while and have tried a few things myself. I was running OS X 10.4.8 on my Toshiba Satellite A50 until I needed to upgrade to 10.4.9 to install office:mac 2008. I never bothered with fixing the GMA 900 problem since I was kind of fine with having 1024x768, but after upgrading to 10.4.8, I was stuck with the blue screen.

So I installed the Intel GMA915 drivers from the Jas 10.4.8 dvd and restarted, still the blue screen. Then, I booted the dvd again and went to Disk Utility and did a Repair Disk. The Repair Disk told me there was no repair to be made, but when I restarted OS X, it worked, and with the full resolution! However, after each restart the screen turns back blue and I have to do the Repair Disk again every time. My guess is that there is a file that keeps changing the video settings on each restart (or on each boot?), so basically, if we can keep that file from updating itself, we can keep the full resolution? I am posting here in case it could be of help to anyone. I'd like to see a solution to this GMA 900 problem. I don't really care for QE/CI and only want to have my full screen resolution, or at least boot up without blue screens.

 

One last thing, I have been seeing some posts about 10.4.11 and would like to know if it fixes the GMA 900 problem?