Need to Get my 8400 GS Working

[FredJones]

I am able to install Kalyway 10.5.2 and I'm very happy with it, but I am missing one thing. I need to get my GeForce 8400 GS 256 Mb video card working so I can use both monitors. I have tried a few different methods and each time I must reinstall b/c I lose all video. I want to try to add the EFI string myself but I can't actually find the string for this particular card anywhere.

My PC is an HP Pavilion with Intel dual core CPU.

Any suggestions how I can get this card to work?

Thanks!

[milanca]

Hi !

This should be a quick howto. But first of all i would suggest all the new guys to do a quick search over the net as there are plenty of 'howtos', here at our forum, over at insanelymac or other related forums.

-Go find your device and vendor id, in case you'd have to add it to driver plist.

Tips for finding dev and ven id:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=36764

More information on adding dev/ven id, NVCAP and VRAM here:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=111072

Download GFXUTIL. Here i have attached edited plist for 8400 with 256MB (or any nvidia). You have to edit it for use with different ram amount, nvcap, etc. Before using this attached plist, in this particular case 8400GS, make sure your PciRoot matches the plist. If they do match no need for editing, if not then edit this plist file.

You can obtain device path with


./gfxutil -f display


it will return something like this

PciRoot(0x1)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)


Edit the plist and replace this string with your output value.

Efi strings are added to file com.apple.Boot.plist located in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
You have to add new key name <device-properties> and string with hex data. It looks like this:

<key>device-properties</key>
<string>HEX-DATA-PASTE-HERE</string>


its also done with gfxutil. Once you have your plist edited you convert it to hex data with gfxutil. Go to folder with gfxutil and type:
./gfxutil -i xml -o hex 8400GS.plist 8400GS.hex

Command gfxutil:
./gfxutil -i xml -o hex inputfile.plist outputfile.hex

You can also convert hex file back to plist by setting -i (input file) -o (output file)
./gfxutil -i hex -o xml outputfilename.hex inputfilename.plist

Now you are done, add new key and string in com.apple.Boot.plist. Paste the hex data (SINGLE LINE) and SAVE.

[FredJones]

Thank you. This did not work for me. I'm not 100% sure why, but I have now found two other how-tos about this:

http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=222.0
http://aquamac.proboards106.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=hack1&thread=509

and so I will try those.

After I did as you said, it boots up OK but it says quartz extreme not supported and I only have one monitor still.

Thank you for writing.

[milanca]

All these methods are similar, actually the process of making efi strings is the same always. You can go and compare. Did you add your device id properly? Flush extensions also, and rebuild them.

Take care.

** One of the friends recently told me that he can't get QE/CI with 8400GS on Vaio. He gets quartz but only on external monitor while internal laptop screen remains unsupported. You can go also do some research on this.

[FredJones]

I am thinking now to get a new card. Seems that even those who can get the EFI right have a hard time getting two monitors to work with this card. Seems that other geforce cards are 'natively' supported by osx and so it's easier with them.

[eMatoS]

My 8400gs gives me headeaches from day 1. I have full QE/CI but the system is sooooo slow. I'm too considering on changing it.

[FredJones]

YOu think it's slow due to the 8400GS?

Do you know if you can get 2 monitors on there, however? :)

[^fire^]

i had a 8400gs too, got it to work with adding the 060610de id in the following three kexts (info.plist)

GeForce.kext
NVDANV50Hal.kext
NVDAResman.kext

if this isn't working for you guys then remove all nvidia related kexts via terminal:

Gef*
NV*

and try the zephyroth universal Nvidia installer!

clear the caches and reboot

after the Nvidia Universal installation and putting the right ids (060610de) in the info.plists again u should have full QE/CI

for dual monitor support u have to edit the nvcaps of you nvinject!

i have the right values @ home i will post them later!


i hope i can help you guys a little bit out :)

grtx ^fire^

[eMatoS]

Mine is 06e410de. What could be the difference between them?

I've tried putting the id into thoes kexts but same result. I've tried zephyroth's package and 10.5.4 included into leo4all. I haven't tried DVI output cause I only have a VGA monitor.

@FredJones: I think it's due to the 8400 cause before that I had a 7300gs with a superior performance.

[FredJones]

for dual monitor support u have to edit the nvcaps of you nvinject!

i have the right values @ home i will post them later!


If you could post those, and also tell me what file to edit for this, that will be great. I will try it.

Thanks!

[^fire^]

for mine 8400GS it was

04000000 00000100 02000000 00000000 00000000

edit that in the nvinject.kext info.plist

right click on nvinject.kext --> show package contents, open Contents and copy info.plist to desktop
open it with plist editor and edit the NVCAP string from above
Copy it back to org location(will ask for admin pass) and set permissions to root:wheel / 755
after that do
sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions.mkext
sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/Caches/

reboot and cross fingers :)

grtx ^fire^

[milanca]

Visit this link, great explanation:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=103549

also you can visit nvinject site and download NVCAP maker.

Good luck!

[eMatoS]

A little info about my problem that may help others.
My 8400gs is back (almost changed it), but the thing is that it wasn't related at all with it or the kexts, efistring or nvcap, all I did was modify the AppleNforceATA kext and set:

<key>Serial ATA</key>
<true/>

in the PATA section.
Although I have a IDE HD it gave a huge performance boost to my leopard.

I must give the credit to e-rick from insanelymac.

[zim2dive]

i had a 8400gs too, got it to work with adding the 060610de id in the following three kexts (info.plist)

GeForce.kext
NVDANV50Hal.kext
NVDAResman.kext

if this isn't working for you guys then remove all nvidia related kexts via terminal:

Gef*
NV*

and try the zephyroth universal Nvidia installer!

clear the caches and reboot

after the Nvidia Universal installation and putting the right ids (060610de) in the info.plists again u should have full QE/CI

for dual monitor support u have to edit the nvcaps of you nvinject!

i have the right values @ home i will post them later!


i hope i can help you guys a little bit out :)

grtx ^fire^

My card is 0x0422.. I tried adding 0x402210de to those 3 kexts.. I changed the mask value to all F's as well?

In verbose boot I seeNVDANV50HAL loaded and registered

display: family specific matching fails

and then I don't even get the "normal" failure screen of all blue or all black.. I get no video output at all... my TV says "no signal"

any ideas?

card is PNY GeForce 8400 GS VCG8400SXEB 256MB PCIe

thanks,
Mike

[MX1333]

hi

i removed the EFI strings from com.apple.boot.plist & now i've QE/CI with NVinject http://www.infinitemac.com/images/smilies/smile.png woo hooo. took me three miserable weeks including a fatal crash which i somehow recovered(always backup your extensions via OSx86 tools!!!) to figure this one out...

i have attached a few NVinject kexts with this - i don't remember which one worked for me - i don't even know why i installed EFI strings in the 1st place...all the very best for you QE/CI...yes, you can do it...http://www.infinitemac.com/images/smilies/smile.png

here's how to remove the EFI strings:



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.