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[HOW TO] GFX-EFI Tutorial for NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB (G92)

agrafuese

By agrafuese,
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maya77
maya77
Posted
Posted

Hello agrafuese,

 

I'm having problems enabling QE on 8800 GT 512MB.

 

This is what I have done:

-Installed Zephyroth Leopard 10.5.2

-Installed Leopard 10.5.3 update using Zephyroth AMD Software Update util

-Downloaded your files

-Edited your plist file to add device id (PciRoot(0x1)/Pci(0xe,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0))

-Created out.hex

-Edited "com.apple.Boot.plist" to add device-properties with string from out.hex

-Then from single-user mode:

/sbin/mount -uw /

rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/NVinject.kext

cd /Users/user_name/Desktop/8800GT_EFI_Pack_v2/patches/

./patcher cpuid.txt

reboot

 

After rebooting with -f resolutions are ok, but no QE.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

UPDATE!I tried with 10.5.2 procedure on 10.5.3 and it worked! :P

35hlsht.png

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macmaniac
macmaniac
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Posted

Hi Agrafuese

 

Awesome tutorial. Thanks for your help. This was a very easy install on my 10.5.3 vanilla P35 hack. Worked perfectly first time.

 

So compared to my X1950XT, no Quicktime h.264 bug, but Open GL scores are now much lower. Quartz only slightly slower. Pick your poison, I guess. :(

 

But I digress.

 

Thanks for all your hard work.

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agrafuese
agrafuese
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UPDATE!I tried with 10.5.2 procedure on 10.5.3 and it worked! :)

 

Ah, hmmm. I think maybe the reason is because when you updated to 10.5.3, the GFX kext files needed to be patched with the proper CPUID. The AMD patch included in both packs does not patch the CPUID for the kexts - it patches the frameworks only. However, the kexts from the 10.5.2 pack may be patched already for AMD (I can't remember, though I DID edit those kexts when I had an AMD machine), so maybe that's why they worked for you...? The only reason I am not sure about this is because I've already seen AMD users get this working for 10.5.3...maybe they ran Marvin's utility after doing my tutorial? Can anyone comment on this?

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Jschmuck2
Jschmuck2
Posted
Posted

Hiya,

 

This is my very first post on this board, as I've been reading as much as I've been able to get my tired eyes on over the last few days, as I've waited for a replacement HD to come in the mail. Let me just say, as some guy posting randomly on the internet, thank you for all of your effort into this. Even though I haven't the faintest idea of how most, if not all of this stuff works, you made it very easy for me to get going.

 

XOXOXOXO

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agrafuese
agrafuese
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Hiya,

 

This is my very first post on this board, as I've been reading as much as I've been able to get my tired eyes on over the last few days, as I've waited for a replacement HD to come in the mail. Let me just say, as some guy posting randomly on the internet, thank you for all of your effort into this. Even though I haven't the faintest idea of how most, if not all of this stuff works, you made it very easy for me to get going.

 

XOXOXOXO

My pleasure! I'm always happy to see first-time posters breaking the seal on this thread ;) Welcome to the community, and happy hacking!

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caracols
caracols
Posted
Posted

Something pretty strange is happening with my new EN8800GT. I had a 7900GS working with this same EFI procedure and changing it was easier than expected. Problem is, everything is working perfectly, xbench scores better than before, QE and CI working, etc.

 

BUT, any application trying to open a full screen OpenGL video mode crashes the whole video system. Everything is blacked out even though it's video only because sound continues working background :S

Anyone had this problem before?? Any help? Thanks in advance, and thanks a lot for the 8800GT guide capitane maximum!!! :lol:

 

LOL WTF ORLY FIXED just turned out I was using the wrong DVI port :)

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Bizmarke
Bizmarke
Posted
Posted

Great tutorial! I managed to get my evga 8800gt to show properly using your tut but still no QE etc. I am using Leo4allv3 updated w/ Kalyways combo update. No Nvinject/Knkush is on my system.

 

 

System Specs:

 

Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro3,1

Processor Name: Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E8400 @

Processor Speed: 3.00 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 1

L2 Cache: 6 MB

CPU Features: FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA CMOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM SSE3 MON DSCPL VMX SMX EST TM2 SSSE3 CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1

Memory: 4 GB

Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

Boot ROM Version: MP11.88Z.005C.B08.0707251237 (Phoenix Technologies, LTD)

Serial Number: CK034KMHK5B

 

Video Specs:

 

Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT:

 

Chipset Model: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT

Type: Display

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 512 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0611

Revision ID: 0x00a2

ROM Revision: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT OpenGL Engine [EFI]

Displays:

Display:

Resolution: 1024 x 768

Depth: 32-bit Color

Core Image: Software

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Quartz Extreme: Not Supported

Display Connector:

 

 

Is there anything I can do?

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agrafuese
agrafuese
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Now quite easy to generate and add EFI string for almost any card with EFI Studio
Awesome! I'll put this up at the top of my tutorial ;)
Great tutorial! I managed to get my evga 8800gt to show properly using your tut but still no QE etc. I am using Leo4allv3 updated w/ Kalyways combo update. No Nvinject/Knkush is on my system.Is there anything I can do?
If you followed the whole thing properly for your version of OSX, I would suggest trying the app that karaakeha1 just posted. If you still have problems, I'm going to guess it has to do with your NV* and/or Ge* kexts. You can try using the ones in my tutorial (typically for 10.5.2 users, but might be worth a try in your case, just to get things working).
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Bizmarke
Bizmarke
Posted
Posted

I did use the EFI tool it was quick and easy :) But on closer inspection I noticed while I do have all the Ge* kext files in my Extensions dir I do not have any of the NV* kext files in there so I am going to try to copy the NV* ones from your file. I did try to do that with just the Ge* Kexts but I got a lockup. BRB trying to get er done :)

 

Update-- Still Failing ;) I reinstalled Leo4all so that I can have a clean 10.5.2 System. I reapplied all your steps for the 10.5.2 user and I get to a point where is seems that all the drivers load and then I see.

 

Jul  4 00:42:11 localhost kernel[0]: NVDANV30HAL loaded and registered.
Jul  4 00:42:11 chucks-macpro31 configd[33]: setting hostname to "chucks-macpro31.local"
Jul  4 00:42:11 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: Apple16X50ACPI1: Identified Serial Port on ACPI Device=UAR1
Jul  4 00:42:12 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: Apple16X50UARTSync1: Detected 16550AF/C/CF FIFO=16 MaxBaud=115200
Jul  4 00:42:12 chucks-macpro31 mDNSResponder[21]: Note: DNS Server 192.168.1.1 for domain . registered more than once
Jul  4 00:42:13 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: NVDANV40HAL loaded and registered.
Jul  4 00:42:14 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: NVDANV50HAL loaded and registered.
Jul  4 00:42:14 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: dsmos: Initializing...
Jul  4 00:42:14 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: dsmos: Hook and decryption contexts set!
Jul  4 00:42:14 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: dsmos: Starting...
Jul  4 00:42:14 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: NVDANV20HAL loaded and registered.
Jul  4 00:42:14 chucks-macpro31 mDNSResponder[21]: Note: DNS Server 192.168.1.1 for domain . registered more than once
Jul  4 00:42:15 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: NVDANV10HAL loaded and registered.
Jul  4 00:42:15 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: NVDA::probe(display)
Jul  4 00:42:15 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: NVDA::start(display) <1>
Jul  4 00:42:15 chucks-macpro31 kernel[0]: NVDA::start(display) <1> failed

 

Now I didnt mention this before but I am using a widescreen Viewsonic 1440x900@75 Monitor hooked into the video card using a DVI/VGA adapter and I do not have any other display to attach to it :D Now after the failed mesage I do see a brief flash or blink of my monitor and then I see the hard drive is getting hit hard like the desktop loaded but I am still in the framebuffer. I switched the connections on the video card as well and no dice :(. Any suggestions?

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agrafuese
agrafuese
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your bootup log output is normal (yeah, even the part about "NVDA::start(display) <1> failed"). so that's nothing.

 

i dunno. we have the same video card. so, what are you at right now, 10.5.2 or 10.5.3? 10.5.3 uses new video kexts, and they work without hacking. someone here was talking about using my 10.5.2 kexts in their 10.5.3, but man, i don't know if i'd call that a fix. are you able to get into the OS with safemode? and a stupid question, but the card DOES work in windows, right? sorry, i know...i just had to ask.

 

um, repair permissions? do those Ge* and NV* kexts all have proper ownership (the part in my tutorial that says to do chown and chmod)? i'm just throwing stuff out there for you at this point...i know it's gotta be a little mis-step somewhere. also, some people a few pages back were talking about IO80211Family.kext giving them problems, i think...? they were using kalyway, but who knows, maybe...?

 

i have a feeling this is something easy, but i don't know what. i think you'll get it with some more messing around.

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Bizmarke
Bizmarke
Posted
Posted

Ok sorry for taking so long to post again. lol heavy holiday drinking will do that to ya!

 

I am in 10.5.2 atm, I had to reinstall yet again I did something that wacked my Application dir rofl and yes the card works under windows perfectly (great gamer card imo)

 

Now I have narrowed things down a bit more in the mean time I have tried all kinds of different thing Nvinject,NVkush, etc. It all comes down to NVDAResman loading and killing the system even booting -x needless to say when i remove it the system comes up like a camp but still in software mode :wacko: Permissions are good to go of course. I feel the same way it has to be something very small I am doing wrong but hell I refuse to give up! I am going to do the combo update to 10.5.3 and give er another shot. Maybe after that I will go grab Oregon Trail and play for a bit :P

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Bizmarke
Bizmarke
Posted
Posted

I agree the EFISTudio makes things super easy but this thread has alot of great info. But myself still don't have my hardware acceleration yet. I norrowed it down to being the NVDAResman causing my issues. :thumbsdown_anim: My guess is either I borked something up or I will just have to wait a bit longer to get QE running right :(

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agrafuese
agrafuese
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Maybe after that I will go grab Oregon Trail and play for a bit :)

 

I find that after a long hard day, Oregon Trail is the solution to MOST of my problems. AND guess what? It will definitely run in software mode...no fancy shmancy QE/CI bullsh*t!

 

How about this...kill all of your Ge* and NV* kexts from the Extensions directory (don't replace yet). Clear kext cache. Reboot (with -f). It will go into software mode at 1024x768 (of course, since there are no kexts). Now, reinstall all of my kexts from scratch, properly chmoded/chowned. Clear kext cache once again, repair permissions, reboot (with -f again). Now tell me what happens. If you do those steps right and you STILL can't get it to work, something really fishy is going on. It's a conflicting kext or something else really rare. You have made sure to remove NVinject/NVKush, riiiiight? :) (btw, NVKush??? is that really the name? it better be a damn good kext with a name like that!)

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Bizmarke
Bizmarke
Posted
Posted

Yea I gave that a shot after a few hours on the Ol' Trail. It's definatly something with the NVDAResman file. If I move it I can boot but only in software mode but with it there I sometimes get a panic or just a Flash on the screen and I am still in the framebuffer. It's no worries at this point I would really like to change the resulotion more then having the hardware acceration. I did some poking around more then likely it has to do with my 780i board being a nforce board. Hell I am just glad I can get into Leo at this point. But I really dig it that you tried to help me out but like always I will keep poking around and see what I can do.

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  • 2 weeks later...
xtraa
xtraa
Posted
Posted

Thanks for the tut :)

 

Now: How do we add several EFI Strings to the plist?

 

Say

 

<key>device-properties</key>

<string>GFX.HEX</string>

 

<key>device-properties</key>

<string>AUDIO.HEX</string>

 

or is it like

 

<key>device-properties</key>

<string>GFX.HEXAUDIO.HEX</string>

 

Thanks in advance :)

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Guest ѕиоѡ
Guest ѕиоѡ
Posted
Posted

I have used EFI Studio to get my card recognized properly (256/512 vram issue)

 

Thx to karaakeha1 for the app and Agry for the guide ;)

 

8800gtkt8.png

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  • 2 weeks later...
agrafuese
agrafuese
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I had someone ask me how to remove EFI strings, so I thought I'd leave the instructions here in case anyone else needed to know how to do it as well. You can do it a couple different ways, but here's how to do it quickly in Terminal:

 

sudo -s
[enter password when prompted]
nano /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

 

This will take you to a text editor showing you the contents of your com.apple.Boot.plist. Look for these two lines:

 

<key>device-properties</key>
<string>YOUR LONG EFI STRING HERE</string>

 

Using your arrow keys, navigate the block cursor down to each of those two lines and hit CONTROL+K on both. This will cut the corresponding line out of the script (quicker than hitting the delete button, trust me).

 

When you're done, hit CONTROL+X and then Y, and ENTER to save the file. Now simply restart OSX, and you should boot up again without EFI strings.

 

Note: If you're running OSX 10.5.2 and replaced your graphics kexts with the ones included in my tutorial here, you will have to replace them with the original ones (located in /System/Library/Extensions.update if you followed my tutorial properly). For the sake of keeping this post short, I wont say how to do that here, but if you need to know, either search the boards or PM me.

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Orea
Orea
Posted
Posted

Something's not going to right for me. My hard drive took a poo and died. So did my graphics card.

 

I've now got a new drive & exactly the same graphics card as before XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog 512MB. I'm doing everything as per-instructed. Nothing is working. That EFIStudio won't allow me to write. :D

 

Halp.

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