GFX Strings - DUAL CARDS - How To

[decruelz]

Hey guys, I followed this guide to the letter but unfortunately I can't tell if it actually works yet. Card 1 in PCIe slot 1 works fine and so does card 2 in PCIe slot 2, both on its own.

The problem I have is it stalls after Mac Framework successfully initialized when I have both cards in at the same time.

I used the Chameleon bootloader, SL 10.6.3 fully running now with a Asus X48 board. Main graphic card is a 8800 Ultra which works perfectly on its own and capable of outputting to 2 monitors too. The 2nd card I've added is a 8600GTS.

I really want to make this work as I'm looking to have a 3 monitor setup. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

[decruelz]

aquamac, if it helps, the part where boot up stops in SL:

Mac Framework successfully initialized
using 16304 buffer headers and 4096 cluster IO buffer headers
IOAPIC: Version 0x20 Vectors 64:87

I replaced Boot.plist in my Leopard installation and it works! Full support for both the 8800 Ultra and 8600GTS. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same in Snow Leopard which is what I use now. The Leopard drive is only for emergencies in case I need to reinstall SL for whatever reason. Please help, I'm so close to getting it to work!

EDIT: I've traced down the problem to the DSDT. Once I deleted it I was able to boot into SL with both graphic cards and output to 2 separate monitors. The system however felt slightly sluggish and was behaving somewhat erratically especially the mouse. Any pointers on how I should proceed?

[kmifflin]

I recently purchased a Euphonix MC Transport.

It worked great with Logic on my netbook but I was unable to open Logic on my p5wdh. Logic would crash on splash screen "Loading EuCon Support". Occasionally I would get an error stating

"Please make sure that both Logic Pro and EuCon are up to date.
Minimum EuCon build: 65916"

after 3 days of trial and error I have discovered that the problem is in my com.apple.Boot.plist file. I use Hex code to enable Quad Video Output thru 2 Nvidia 9600GT cards.

Here is the XML that was created via this tutorial.
aquamac.proboards.com/index.cgi?boa...=569&page=1

PLease check my code for errors

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
<dict>
<key>@0,compatible</key>
<string>NVDA,NVMac</string>
<key>@0,device_type</key>
<string>display</string>
<key>@0,name</key>
<string>NVDA,Display-A</string>
<key>@1,compatible</key>
<string>NVDA,NVMac</string>
<key>@1,device_type</key>
<string>display</string>
<key>@1,name</key>
<string>NVDA,Display-B</string>
<key>@2,#adress-cells</key>
<string>0x01000000</string>
<key>@2,#size-cells</key>
<string>0x00000000</string>
<key>@2,compatible</key>
<string>NVDA,sensor-parent</string>
<key>@2,device_type</key>
<string>NVDA,gpu-diode</string>
<key>@2,hwctrl-params-version</key>
<string>0x02000000</string>
<key>@2,hwsensor-params-version</key>
<string>0x02000000</string>
<key>@2,name</key>
<string>sensor-parent</string>
<key>@2,reg</key>
<string>0x02000000</string>
<key>NVCAP</key>
<data>BAAAAAAAAwAMAAAAAAAABwAAAAA=</data>
<key>NVPM</key>
<data>AQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==</data>
<key>VRAM,totalsize</key>
<data>AAAAIA==</data>
<key>device_type</key>
<string>NVDA,GeForce</string>
<key>model</key>
<string>NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT</string>
<key>name</key>
<string>NVDA,Parent</string>
<key>rom-revision</key>
<string>3172a</string>
</dict>
<key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
<dict>
<key>@0,compatible</key>
<string>NVDA,NVMac</string>
<key>@0,device_type</key>
<string>display</string>
<key>@0,name</key>
<string>NVDA,Display-A</string>
<key>@1,compatible</key>
<string>NVDA,NVMac</string>
<key>@1,device_type</key>
<string>display</string>
<key>@1,name</key>
<string>NVDA,Display-B</string>
<key>@2,#adress-cells</key>
<string>0x01000000</string>
<key>@2,#size-cells</key>
<string>0x00000000</string>
<key>@2,compatible</key>
<string>NVDA,sensor-parent</string>
<key>@2,device_type</key>
<string>NVDA,gpu-diode</string>
<key>@2,hwctrl-params-version</key>
<string>0x02000000</string>
<key>@2,hwsensor-params-version</key>
<string>0x02000000</string>
<key>@2,name</key>
<string>sensor-parent</string>
<key>@2,reg</key>
<string>0x02000000</string>
<key>NVCAP</key>
<data>BAAAAAAAAwAMAAAAAAAABwAAAAA=</data>
<key>NVPM</key>
<data>AQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==</data>
<key>VRAM,totalsize</key>
<data>AAAAIA==</data>
<key>device_type</key>
<string>NVDA,GeForce</string>
<key>model</key>
<string>NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT</string>
<key>name</key>
<string>NVDA,Parent</string>
<key>rom-revision</key>
<string>3172a</string>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Logic does load if I only use one card and the GraphicsEnable option instead of the HEX, however the MC Transport is still not working properly in logic.

The MC Transport does work perfectly when I do not use the GraphicsEnable option or the HEX. But I get one monitor and Final Cut will not load because of a Quartz error.


My goal is to get all four monitors & the MC Transport working.

[aquamac]

Your in.plist looks fine. Can you set your bios to boot from PEG 2? What happened when you tried to boot with the Hex enabled? Did you manage to boot?

[kmifflin]

Unfortunately there is no PEG2 option in my BIOS. I have a P5WDH Deluxe. It is possible that the PCI Express slots are only PEG1.

Here is the Spec page.
ca.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=m4cR4iaPdABNLtQa

[kmifflin]

Is there any other methods that work with Dual Card for Snow Leopard?

On a side question. Do EFI strings work on standard macs or do they require chameleon?

[aquamac]

EFI strings are not needed on a real mac, as they are injected by a real macs EFI graphics card. Also, chameleon is not needed as the real mac has EFI firmware that makes it boot instead of the old fashioned bios found on PC motherboards.

PEG 1 refers to the first graphics slot and PEG 2 is the second one. For some reason, OSX 86 will quite often support 2 graphics cards if you can set the bios to PEG 2. If you do not have that option then it's unlikely you can get your board working without major DSDT changes. Some Nvidia and X58 boards seem to support 2 cards without the need to have the PEG 2 option.

What actually happens when you tried the GFX string for 2 cards? Do you get a kernel panic?

[kmifflin]

Sorry for the confusion but i have a very specific problem.

The GFX String does work and I get all four monitors working, but it causes a conflict with Logic and Euphonix devices.

When I use the GFX string Logic crashes on the Splash Screen "Loading EuCon Support"
When I remove the GFX string I only get one monitor (obviously) but Logic works perfectly.

My goal is to have Quad Monitors and my Euphonix MC Transport working in logic.

Thanks for our help

[maxim1500]

Hi,

Thanks for your tutorial. I think I am very close to the solution using your instructions.

Cards:
- EVGA 9800 GTX+ 512Mo
- EVGA GT240 512Mo (using 9800 GTX+ EFI modified)

I have both my cards working individually in their slots. I mean if I remove one, the other one is recognized very well, with its EFI, dual monitor working.

If I put both of them, I get a kernel panic in NVDAResMon.kext. If I remove the file, computer boots OK (with no resolution, etc... of course), but both cards are present and correctly detected in system infos (with their EFI).

Thanks in advance for your help!

P.S. Using 10.6.2 With Chameleon RC4 - EFI 10.5

[maxim1500]

Update: I updated to 10.6.3 and everything worked magically! Yeah!

[thevip]

Hi all.

I used this method and got 2 EVGA 9800GTX+'s (Model #: 512-P3-N871-AR) working on my UD3P running 10.6.3 and Chameleon RC4. It's the "Lifehacker build". I have it running Cartri bios 0.7m with a 2.83ghz quad core cpu.

Installation was fairly straightforward by using Aquamac's guide. I had to boot an "iportable" version of Leopard to generate the strings.

Question --- In my Extra folder's com.apple.Boot.plist file I have:
<key>PciRoot</key>
<string>1</string>

and at one point I had
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>

Do I need either of these 2 things? I searched around and to me it sounds like if I'm using the EFI string injection method (ie - this board). I don't need to use GraphicsEnabler. Is that correct?

Lastly - My cinebench 11.5 scores has OpenGl clocking in at 23 and xbench says:

Quartz Graphics Test 250.36
Line 194.86 12.97 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 239.05 71.37 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 211.13 17.21 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 230.37 5.81 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 633.43 39.62 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 168.17
Spinning Squares 168.17 213.33 frames/sec

Are these values inline with what they are supposed to be? Ie is all the acceleration working properly?

I don't have any issues right now, movies play fine, the resolution is great and all dvi ports work. I just want to make sure that I did this all correctly.

Thanks in advance and Aquamac - thank you for this forum and your method!

[aquamac]

Hi theVIP and thanks for your feedback. You are correct, you do not need "GraphicsEnabler" in your com.apple.boot.plist. Graphics enabler only works with a single card but should not be used with GFX strings.Looks like you have everything working fine, there is not a half way house - either QE & CI work or not. It feeds OSX with missing information about your card(s) so if DVD player/Chess is working and you get the ripple effect when you launch a new widget in dashboard, then you are good to go!

[thevip]

Thanks for your reply Aquamac. I think I am good to go then. QE/CI is working, Chess works, ripples work, 4 dvi ports work. Everything just works!

Thanks again

[shottyb]

Hi aquamac, thanks for the comprehensive guide on EFI strings. I'm unfortunately experiencing some issues with 2 video cards plugged in. Let me give a quick rundown of the hardware:

Asus Rampage Gene II
Intel Core i7 920
12 GB DDR3
2 x BFG GTX 280

The issue comes in plugging both the cards in together. I have 1 card properly set up with QE/CI enabled, however, as soon as I plug them both in, I get the "Restart Computer" screen, or a frozen screen on -v right before it would normally go to desktop. If I have only one card plugged in I can boot into Snow Leopard 10.6.3 without any problems. I've installed absolutely no graphics kexts, the only way I could get it recognized was through the EFI string. As far as the EFI string - I've used the GTX 280 profile you've provided, and only altered the PCI roots to correspond with mine. I've come so far after toiling away for 6 days, and I feel I've absolutely hit a brick wall with this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[aquamac]

Hi, If you are set up OK for both cards and the dual string works for both cards individually, then have a look in your bios to see if you can set yours to boot from the second card and connect your monitor to that. Some boards unfortunately, will just not work with 2 cards!