Jump to content

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

Andy4life

By Andy4life,
in Intel

 Share
686 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Urbz
Urbz
Posted
Posted

Hmm...

Well in case it matters, my gma900's bios version is 3412.

For all those who have problems, try getting that bios installed for it in windows.

Also, my system doesn't work without the appleintel830 kext file.

Make sure it's there.

Also, from vmware you can boot from yor hard drive to get into mac os without any problems if you don't have an external monitor around.

 

I am really busy and don't have much time to troubleshoot for everyone, but i assure you all that by monday, i will give detailed instructions to get this to work. I will reformat on a new partition and work from the deadmoo image.

 

I intend to log my progress step by step once i am in mac natively for the first time. For those who care, i will also repair permissions every so often to try and get this all working for everyone.

 

So hold tight until monday...although i may have it before then.

 

-Urby3

Link to comment
Share on other sites
X1_
X1_
Posted
Posted

Ok, Thanks to all for the indications.

 

I'm currently playing with all the variables:

 

-f switch

830 original or modificated with correct ID

830 present or ausent

etc etc.

 

I have also investigated about the OSX boot process (i progress slowly, my experience in OSX measures in days ...), and discovered that the two process implicated in the GUI boot are (it could be more):

 

- com.apple.loginwindow.plist

- com.apple.windowserver.plist

 

You can, for example, boot Darwin with -s switn, then type "sh /etc/sh", and then start manually the loginwindow process. And the result is the well known blue screen we all get.

 

I suspect that maybe it could be possible to edit the configuration of those two programs to make them believe that an external monitor is connected, os something else.....

 

Maybe somebody with better skills in OSX can help us..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
X1_
X1_
Posted
Posted
I'm pretty sure all the 915G Chipsets are for SSE3 capable CPU's so DO NOT APPLY The PATCH%*@#(%

Why can't people read that you don't need any patch (except Rosetta) if you have an SSE3 capable CPU.

 

Emmmm....

 

My Cpu is an Pentium M ULV 1.1GHz (Dothan), that complains:

 

MMX, SSE, SSE2, but NOT SSE3.

 

SSE3 limitation is in the cpu, not in the chipset.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bsod
bsod
Posted
Posted
ok here's another update:

 

- 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...

 

I hope this helps...

 

I'll put it on the front page aswell

 

A little background on my CI and QE situation. the external monitor trick doesnt work for me(it gets CI and QE but i can't switch it to my laptop monitor, but i can get it to boot 1280x800 with CI and QE about one out of 4 boots normally (the rest hang). i tried your windows restart method (i permantly added '-f platform=ACPI' to com.apple.Boot.plist btw) and its worked the last two times. i boot windows normally until it gets to the login screen where there's an link to turn off your computer in the lower left hand corner. i just click restart, and boot osx normally and its booted. i hope this isnt just a coincidence because this would be a lot faster than 3 or 4 normal boots. thanks for all the info and help Andy4Life. now ill i want is wireless and the scroll section of the touch pad to work(but i doubt that will every happen.) thanks again.

 

bsod

 

(running osx dual boot with win xp on a HP DV4000 1.73ghz with 915GM) (id 2592)

 

update: well i spoke i little too soon, doesnt seem to work everytime, but logging in to windows seems to be better than just restart before. not really sure why this seems to help at all but whatever, id rather restart a few times than have to rely on an external monitor anyways.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mindslip
mindslip
Posted
Posted

She works!

 

Ok, first: If you get the "blue screen" on your laptop's LCD... THAT'S GOOD! OSX sees the screen, and is putting the default background colour on it. The problem is, it's using the external VGA as the main screen.

 

Steps:

 

1. Follow all the other stuff here to put the right PCI card ID in the Info.plist

2. Plug the external monitor into the laptop

3. Reboot.

 

Now... I assume your laptop will put it's BIOS on the external display (my Asus did). Once you see the BIOS memory count etc., hit the laptop's hot key to switch displays, so that your BIOS is now showing on your LCD.

 

This will tell the video card "Yes, I've got a monitor plugged in, but use the LCD as the main monitor".

 

At the Darwin boot, put in the right graphics mode (I don't know if this is essential, tell you later.)

I used "Graphics Mode"="1280x800x32" (*with* the quotes, *not* with any @xx refresh rate, because that's the res my monitor uses. You can try 1400x900, or whatever yours uses)

 

OS X will boot, your monitor will go dark, sleep, go light again, and eventually you'll get logged in (or to the login screen, depending on what you've done to customize your install). You'll then see the main display ON THE MONITOR, not the LCD.

 

BUT: You'll have the cool swirly background on the LCD, instead of just the blue.

 

Now, open SysPrefs, the Display Pref, and drag the white menu bar to the *other* screen as you normally would in OSX. This changes the "primary" display.

 

Then go adjust your resolutions, arrange it right so your mouse moves across screens in a nice horizontal line, and voila! (That's French.)

 

I'm getting Quartz Extreme *and* CoreImage on BOTH screens, external at 1280x1024x32, laptop LCD at 1280x800x32, and spanning nicely.

 

If it survives a reboot, I'll re-post again.

 

mindslip

 

(davidmindslip@gmail.com/hotmail.com)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Urbz
Urbz
Posted
Posted

hey mindslip,

I figured out what you were saying just a few hours ago. When I had an external monitor connected, i shut the computer down with a windows left open, and it just so happens that because the external monitor was 1024x768, when i rebooted without it, i saw the blue tiger default wallpaper (NOT the blue screen). Now, i had the voiceover thingy turned on, so i heard the speakers and realized i must be *in* mac, just not seeing it. So i pressed a few buttons: a few arrow keys and enter a few times.

It logged on, but as you described, this was really my SECOND monitor, since the mac still thought the first was connected.

One variable changed everything. The window left open. It relaunched and a little part was on my laptop's screen. I dragged it over, and browsed a few files. I also launched a few apps, although i was unable to see them. Anyway, i shut down with alt+s (*i think*) and like magic i started up on my main monitor!

 

Try it out: Make sure that you log in on an external monitor and leave a window open on the right side, dragging it so that you can't see much of it. This can also be done from vmware. Unplug the monitor (or restart natively if you have vmware). When you start up (with -f or otherwise) and get the tiger wallpaper, move your mouse ALL the way to the right. Eventually, you MAY see it. Use your keyboard to log in (slightly tricky without visuals). once logged, you should see the windows you dragged partially on the screen. Play around a bit, and shut down with the keyboard (alt+s, i think). Boot up again, with the -f switch or otherwise (whatever works for you) and it may just boot you back.

 

It would be interesting to have the window you left open to be the system preferences...

 

Neways, my schedule has changed, i should be able to reformat and start over tomorow. So by 3 pm my time (eastern standard) some kind of guide should be up.

 

And finally, to whomever keeps saying that the 915g express chipset has sse3-enabled processors only, please shut up until you research a little. Google is but an internet address away! :(

 

-Urby3

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mindslip
mindslip
Posted
Posted

Interesting... and this may be a hardware quirk in the chipset and/or laptop I'm using...

 

I can only boot up with full "everything" video support if I have an external monitor connected. If I don't, it's like the hardware doesn't recognize (and report to the os) the laptop's LCD properly.

 

I'm not able to keep "display 2" (the internal LCD) as the main display (with the menu bar) across reboots.

 

Either we need to look at the graphics drivers or we need someone to write a startup program that swaps displays 2 & 1 before starting LoginWindow.

 

Any programmers here able to do either? Where's the guy that wrote Screen Spanning Doctor? =-)

 

So, in summary, full gorgeous support with an external monitor connected, no ability to keep the move-the-menubar-to-the-other-screen preference across reboots, and no proper detection of the LCD as primary monitor when it's the only one connected (i.e. no external). Perhaps that last problem is a bios issue.

 

mindslip

Link to comment
Share on other sites
arsenalsam7
arsenalsam7
Posted
Posted
if you have an SSE3 enabled CPU you do NOT APPLY ANY PATCHES BESIDES ROSETTA. You can install directly via the DVD since you obviously have the right chipset (915). YOU DO NOT APPLY ANY OTHER PATCHES BESIDES ROSETTA FOR AN SSE3 CAPABLE CPU@%&@(%%

 

 

 

when people say "rosetta", do they mean the coregraphics patch?

 

i have tried just that and still no luck on sound or video playback...i will try the guide from the original poster when i get home...

 

just to make sure..all i do is the coregraphics patch and this guide

 

after i do these 2 things, what's the best way to boot up, like do i need to use the -f, -s, -v or -x flags?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
donfelipe
donfelipe
Posted
Posted
Interesting... and this may be a hardware quirk in the chipset and/or laptop I'm using...

 

I can only boot up with full "everything" video support if I have an external monitor connected. If I don't, it's like the hardware doesn't recognize (and report to the os) the laptop's LCD properly.

 

I'm not able to keep "display 2" (the internal LCD) as the main display (with the menu bar) across reboots.

 

Either we need to look at the graphics drivers or we need someone to write a startup program that swaps displays 2 & 1 before starting LoginWindow.

 

Any programmers here able to do either? Where's the guy that wrote Screen Spanning Doctor? =-)

 

So, in summary, full gorgeous support with an external monitor connected, no ability to keep the move-the-menubar-to-the-other-screen preference across reboots, and no proper detection of the LCD as primary monitor when it's the only one connected (i.e. no external). Perhaps that last problem is a bios issue.

 

mindslip

 

 

It's exactly the same with me, d410 dell Latidue with 915 - with an external monitor the image quality just freakin rocks!! Any fixes soon? Would be awesome!

 

update: I combined the two zip files with the modified kext and tried booting several times, no luck, -f doesn't help at all, -x crashes my laptop..

Any solution?`(except connecting an external monitor every time!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zorxd
zorxd
Posted
Posted

Hi

 

I get the same blue screen on my Asus Z71A laptop with Intel GMA900 but I can't get it to work even with the external display. One strange thing is that when I get the blue screen, I can't ping my computer (neither ssh or VNC in). It seems that it desactivate the network (both firewire and ethernet) and I don`t know why.

 

I wanted to start a VNC server on startup and see if I can switch display from there. Maybe somebody could try it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zorxd
zorxd
Posted
Posted

update : when I plug the external monitor and boot the laptop, and then unplug the monitor and plug it in my other computer, I can VNC in the laptop (CI and QE works). I still don`t know why I need the external monitor to get networking.

I still have no output on the external monitor from the moment loginwindow.app is loaded

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Michael55123
Michael55123
Posted
Posted

got it working guys. I think I figured out the blue screen, and why some have it and some don't. The issues is that in the AppleIntel915.kext/Contents/Info.plist it's loopking for a AppleIntel915DVDDriver as soon as I removed those 2 lines to load that dvd driver, the blue screen went away, and it booted right up. No idea why this caused it, but it seemed to. Going to do some more rebooting soon, but that seems to be the fix.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
suleiman
suleiman
Posted
Posted

This is a very odd problem to be having. In my efforts to install this fix, I have on occasion only come so far as the infamous mac "blue-screen" (which is coming now to instill an unfortunate sense of nostalgia for the dreaded Windows "blue screen"); I have succesfully booted past the blue screen with an external monitor, and I have on one occassion found myself happy to get into the OS with no external monitor attached, only to find that I have no sound working, and no subsequent successes getting back in with no external monitor following a reboot.

 

Odd. Very odd.

 

Machine Specs: Dell D610 with 1.6 ghz Pentium M SSE2, 1 gig ram, and...Intel 915 chipset on board

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hatoncat
hatoncat
Posted
Posted

Brand new Dell Inspiron 6000. Same as the OP's except went with the 1.73 GHz processor. And, of course, it does not work unless I boot with an external monitor. Downgraded my BIOS, -f'd -x'd Graphics Mode'ed, with and without 830 kexts, ga's and gl's... and still, blue screen every boot.

 

Oh, used Bender install disc.

 

So, I now get to pay a huge restock fee to send this back unless I can pull something off real fast...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
paco19
paco19
Posted
Posted

Hi.

I have pentuin4 sse2, intel 865PE and nvidia geforce4 ti4200, on OSX86->About Mac->Graphic/display:

Type: VGA-Compatible Controller

Bus: PCI

Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0281

Revision: 0x00a1

 

Core Image: not supported

Quartz Extreme: not supported

 

I try to do yours reviews, i edit "AppleIntel915.ketxt" and "AppleIntelIntegratedGraphics.kext" and change "2582" to 2572 but nothing, i prove to change to 0281 but nothing, i prove to edit "AppleIntel830.ketxt" too but nothing, i prove to edit "AppleIntel830GA.plugin" and "AppleIntel915GA.plugin" but nothing.

I PROVE ALL, but nothing, nothing, nothing. The propeties in Graphics/Displays is teh same.

 

HELP ME, PLEASE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hatoncat
hatoncat
Posted
Posted
Hi.

I have pentuin4 sse2, intel 865PE and nvidia geforce4 ti4200, on OSX86->About Mac->Graphic/display:

Type: VGA-Compatible Controller

Bus: PCI

Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0281

Revision: 0x00a1

 

Core Image: not supported

Quartz Extreme: not supported

 

I try to do yours reviews, i edit "AppleIntel915.ketxt" and "AppleIntelIntegratedGraphics.kext" and change "2582" to 2572 but nothing, i prove to change to 0281 but nothing, i prove to edit "AppleIntel830.ketxt" too but nothing, i prove to edit "AppleIntel830GA.plugin" and "AppleIntel915GA.plugin" but nothing.

I PROVE ALL, but nothing, nothing, nothing. The propeties in Graphics/Displays is teh same.

 

HELP ME, PLEASE.

 

 

You do not have a GMA900, please check the thread for i830 based systems for support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hatoncat
hatoncat
Posted
Posted

I'm wondering if there is some sort of cheap pocket-able widget with a VGA port we can plug in to spoof the presence of an external monitor. Some sort of loopback or extension plug that will trick OS X into thinking there's an external monitor, then starting up...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Waruwaru
Waruwaru
Posted
Posted
I'm wondering if there is some sort of cheap pocket-able widget with a VGA port we can plug in to spoof the presence of an external monitor.  Some sort of loopback or extension plug that will trick OS X into thinking there's an external monitor, then starting up...

 

How about a KVM switch? They are suppose to make the computer think a monitor+keyboard+mouse are plugged in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hatoncat
hatoncat
Posted
Posted
How about a KVM switch?  They are suppose to make the computer think a monitor+keyboard+mouse are plugged in.

 

Worked once, haven't been able to reproduce it, and am willing to write it off as a hiccup of the OS (one of those "it worked once but hasn't since" things). So, at this point, I'm saying KVM isn't going to do it. I think the reason it doesn't work is that it doesn't send a ground feed back unless there's something on the other side.

 

We need a loopback type of device, something that sends the VGA part's signal back to itself.

 

Edit: Okay, it does work, the key is the CRT mode has to be on, and sometimes on reboot the GMA900 shuts off external monitor mode (of course, that mode has to be on for the VGA port to send a loopback). You have to have the cable plugged into the input port that isn't selected (so if the switch is set to A, plug the cable into the B input port). Plugging into the output port has no effect, it must be in the opposite input port than the one selected.

 

Carrying around a KVM is a bit painful though, so, I'm hopeful to find some sort of VGA loopback widget that is at least pocket-able.

 

Edit Again: All my looking has turned up only one thing at the link below:

 

http://www.acomputerbuyersdream.com/store/...roducts_id=2019

 

Of course, they only have one, are in Canada, and give no clue as to where or what to look for to find something like it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hatoncat
hatoncat
Posted
Posted

Been testing the KVM and am finding that it does not work most of the time. I'd say 1/4 to 1/5 of the time it will boot. I will continue to try to find things with VGA ports to plug in to it, but at this point I've pretty much resigned to writing shell scripts to delete/restore the modified kexts so that when I'm on the road and need to reboot I can ditch QE and CI, and when I'm near a VGA monitor restore them quickly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...