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Old 09-12-2009, 10:46 PM
pcwiz's Avatar
pcwiz pcwiz is offline
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[GUIDE] GeForce GTX 260 in Snow Leopard

Some of you may have noticed that after a fresh Snow Leopard install, when you try to boot your computer (with a GTX 260 card) you just get a black screen when everything has finished loading. Here's the easiest way to fix this issue and get your GTX 260 100% working with full QE/CI in Snow Leopard.

What you need:
- This zip file of EFI strings
- If your internet on the hackintosh isn't working, then you'll need a USB thumb drive to transfer over the necessary files
  • First of all, boot your computer in single user mode. That means when you get to the boot prompt (or the drive selection screen in Chameleon 2) type in "-s" (without quotes) and press Enter to boot. Eventually it should get to a #root prompt
  • Run the following commands in order:

    Code:
    mount -uw /
    mkdir /kext_backup
    mv /System/Library/Extensions/NV* /kext_backup
    rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches
    reboot
  • That will move some of the problem kexts into a separate folder and rebuild the kext cache. Now the computer will restart, and start it up using verbose mode (-v at the prompt) to see how things are going
  • If there are no other problems (other than the GTX 260) present in your installation Snow Leopard should eventually boot (although graphics will be ugly in low res, we'll fix that soon). Complete the Setup Assistant if needed, and get to the Desktop.
  • Transfer over the GFXstrings zip over to your hackintosh using a USB thumb drive or some other method
  • Place the zip on your desktop and unzip it, a folder called GFXstrings will be created
  • Open Terminal and type in the following command

    Code:
    ~/Desktop/GFXstrings/gfxutil -f display
  • The command will result in something like this (yours may be different so don't copy this one):

    Code:
    DevicePath = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0xc,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)
  • We don't need the DevicePath part, just copy the "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0xc,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)" (once again, yours is probably different).
  • Now in the GFXstrings folder, there is a GTX260 folder. Inside this GTX260 folder there is a gtx260 plist file. Double click on it to open it with Property List Editor
  • In the editor, you will see under the Root key there is the PciRoot key. Double click on it to edit it, and paste your own PciRoot path in. Save the plist
  • Open Terminal and run the following commands:

    Code:
    cd ~/Desktop/GFXstrings/GTX260
    ~/Desktop/GFXstrings/gfxutil -i xml -o hex ./gtx260.plist ./output.hex
  • In the Desktop / GFXstrings / GTX260 folder you will find a new file called "output.hex". Open this file with any standard text editor, and you will find a very long hex string. Copy this string.
  • Open Terminal and run the following command:

    Code:
    cp /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist ~/Desktop/
  • The com.apple.Boot.plist will now be on your desktop. Open it with a standard text editor like TextEdit (NOT property list editor).
  • Right before the </dict> line, add two new lines:

    Code:
    <key>device-properties</key>
    <string>paste that long string here</string>
  • Now as you see above, paste that long string you copied from output.hex between <string> and </string>
  • Save the plist and then run the following commands in Terminal:

    Code:
    sudo -s
    [enter password]
    rm -rf /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
    mv ~/Desktop/com.apple.Boot.plist /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
    chmod 644 /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
    chown root:admin /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
    mv /kext_backup/* /System/Library/Extensions/
    chown -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/NV*
    chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/NV*
    rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches
    rm -rf /kext_backup
Phew! You're done. Now just reboot and everything should be working as planned

EDIT: The best part of this is that it will not be affected by updates, so you only do this once.

  • Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz | BFG GeForce GTX 260 (216 Core) | 2GB | 250GB + 40GB + 250GB HDDs | Mac OS X 10.6.1 | vanilla (Retail install)| Everything working
  • MacBook Pro (Late 2008) | GeForce 9400M + 9600MGT 256MB | 2GB | 250GB HDD | 10.6.1

Last edited by pcwiz; 09-18-2009 at 02:45 PM.
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  #2  
Old 09-15-2009, 01:01 AM
RMF RMF is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pcwiz View Post

Code:
cd ~/Desktop/GFXstrings/GTX260
~/Desktop/GFXstrings/gfxutil -i xml hex ./gtx260.plist ./output.hex
Just a little mistake. It's actually

Code:
cd ~/Desktop/GFXstrings/GTX260
~/Desktop/GFXstrings/gfxutil -i xml -o hex ./gtx260.plist ./output.hex
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  #3  
Old 09-15-2009, 02:59 AM
rohizzle121 rohizzle121 is offline
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Posts: 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by RMF View Post
Just a little mistake. It's actually

Code:
cd ~/Desktop/GFXstrings/GTX260
~/Desktop/GFXstrings/gfxutil -i xml -o hex ./gtx260.plist ./output.hex

THANK YOU!
i was like freaking out becuase i thought i did somthing wrong and i kept like redoing this tutorial, tryig to fix it.

Anyways, i did everything in the tut. And the last part just said "permission denied" on every thing. So I Judy manually typed sudo -s before everyone of the lines and rebooting and nothing happened! Still in ugly mode. What should I do?

Last edited by rohizzle121; 09-15-2009 at 03:22 AM.
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  #4  
Old 09-16-2009, 12:17 AM
rohizzle121 rohizzle121 is offline
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Posts: 16
also, is this any different than usuing osx86 tools to get a efi string?

like i am looking to get FULL resolution on my snowleo/leo install
all i get is like 1600xsomthing
and not 1920?
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  #5  
Old 09-18-2009, 12:16 AM
Joatmon Joatmon is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1
PCWIZ .... You rock.

Used your guide with RMFs correction went smooth.

Now my Gigabyte EX58-UD5 has a fully working eVGA GTX 260 on Snow Leopard 10.6.1

Thanks so much guys.
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  #6  
Old 09-18-2009, 02:45 PM
pcwiz's Avatar
pcwiz pcwiz is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 53
rohizzle121,

Try typing "sudo su" instead of "sudo -s" and then run the commands.

RMF, thanks, fixed it in the main post

  • Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz | BFG GeForce GTX 260 (216 Core) | 2GB | 250GB + 40GB + 250GB HDDs | Mac OS X 10.6.1 | vanilla (Retail install)| Everything working
  • MacBook Pro (Late 2008) | GeForce 9400M + 9600MGT 256MB | 2GB | 250GB HDD | 10.6.1
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  #7  
Old 09-25-2009, 12:26 PM
mecanoiz mecanoiz is offline
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Posts: 15
i have the same probem (no screen output after boot) but with an asus gtx 275. Any chance you can help me out with that?

Last edited by mecanoiz; 09-25-2009 at 01:35 PM.
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  #8  
Old 09-26-2009, 02:04 PM
mecanoiz mecanoiz is offline
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Posts: 15
I've come to the point that i've removed all the NV files and now i can get into snow leopard. But is there anyway to generate a correct hex string for the gtx275 ?
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  #9  
Old 10-01-2009, 09:51 PM
estravagancia estravagancia is offline
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thanks, it seems that worked for me on a nVidia GTX275
best regards

Asus P6T Deluxe V2 - Audio working with AD2000b.kext & HDAEnabler.kext in 5.1 mode - Marvell 88E8056 working with plist edit - Intel ICH10R AHCI mode working with fix by THe KiNG on DSDT - Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Mushkin PC3-16000 - Gigabyte nVidia GTX 275 working with EFI string - Seagate 160 GB ST3160827AS - Snow Leopard 10.6.1 + Backup - Seagate 160 GB ST3160827AS - Leopard 10.5.6 - Western Digital Velociraptor 150 GB WDC WD1500HLFS-01G6U0 - Win7 - HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GGC-H20L
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  #10  
Old 10-04-2009, 06:12 PM
fate17 fate17 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by estravagancia View Post
thanks, it seems that worked for me on a nVidia GTX275
best regards
Hi, how u did for e GTX 275 in SL? can upload e file if there is?



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