Alienware 15r4: Nvidia GPU brightness controls on GSYNC laptop

[crackjackhack]

Hello Guys,

I have a new setup with HS on my Alienware, not sure how many things don't work, most of them do. One of the things that doesn't work though is BRIGHTNESS control.
I have a GSYNC panel on my laptop which is directly linked to the NVIDIA GPU and the intel GPU is not in use or cannot be switched ON unless someone is using a USB-C port to connect as intel is hardwired to that port.
So basically i know I have to patch my brightness control but i'm a little confused as to how to.

Here is the info that i have:

my dGPU was named PEGP at PEG0 and i renamed it and then the IGPU was GFX which i changed to IGPU from the DSDT clover patch.
Now if i look at my DSDT the _DSM method is not there and its there in the SSDT4peg0, I think (not completely sure, but 99% yes).

Now the present names in the IOREG are:

IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/IGPU@2. >>>>>>> Intel GPU (IGPU@2)

and

IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PEG0@1/IOPP/GFX0@0. >>>> Nvidia(GFX@0 on PEG0)

i'm still learning stuff so apologies in advance if there is info which is missing. I'm just trying to understand as to what is the logic that goes in this and should be able to patch my SSDT's, can you help on this please? Thanks in advance and please find my problem reporting files and IOreg screenshot attached.

 

 

debug_4186.zip

[Hervé]

As far as your renaming are concerned, they look Ok but it's true that the native BIOS tables provide 2 x PEGP devices: 1 x under PEG0 which is the nVidia dGPU and 1 x under PEG1 which seems to be the ThunderBolt port. Hence why you may notice in IOReg a GFX0 device under PEG0 + a 2nd GFX0 device under PEG1; but that's Ok. iGPU device @2 is correctly renamed as IGPU.

 

Your dGPU is Pascal (mobile GTX 1070) and therefore requires the nVidia Web Driver which you've clearly installed and enabled.

 

A quick look at your screenshot reveals that, if your highlighted video output is your built-in screen, setup is incorrect. Why? Because:

1. display0 is listed as AppleDisplay, i.e. an external monitor, not AppleBacklightDisplay, the expected value for a built-in LCD
2. display0 is listed under 2nd output port Display-B@1, not the expected Display-A@0, and as an HDMI monitor (connector-type set to 0008 0000) not a built-in LVDS or eDP screen

As long as your built-in screen is seen as an external monitor, you won't be able to adjust brightness, that's quite normal.

 

You may have to look into injecting properties for the dGPU but I think the choice of SMBIOS is the issue. Bear in mind that the last Mac laptop fitted with an nVidia dGPU was the Haswell/Crystalwell MacBookPro11,3. You may try that but note that, by far and large, brightness control was hardly ever obtained on Hackintosh laptops with nVidia graphics; imo, even more so with a non-natively supported dGPU...

 

Other items to address in your setup:

• you've generated USBPorts kext but you've installed SSDT-UIAC table in ACPI/Patched folder. That's wrong: you either use USBPorts on its own or SSDT-UIAC.aml + USBInjectAll kext. If you use an incorrect setup, your USB ports may not work properly.
• you inject FakePCIID kext; that's useless and you can get rid of it.
• you inject nVidiaGraphicsFixup kext; I'm pretty sure that's also useless given that you inject Lilu + WEG PlugIn alongside; I'd get rid of it.
• you inject dAGPM kext; afaik, this applies to natively supported dGPUs which your Pascal chip is not; I'd get rid of it too.

[crackjackhack]

Thanks for the reply, awesome inputs!

So i did remove all that extra stuff in the Clover folder. It would be great if you can help me out with the display setup. I have been trying this to work for quite some time but its isn't working. Now i connected my external monitor and it pops up on the port "A" (see screenshot). Thanks a ton again, appreciate your help. Hoping to write a walkthrough on this laptop once all is done.

Edited November 8, 2020 by Hervé
removed unnecessary quote

[crackjackhack]

Could anyone please help me or point me in the direction of fixing the display problem? I can't seem to find the way to fix it as laptop display shows as external but both HDMI and display works. Also when i Boot with the HDMI connected there is black screen and when i boot normally and then connect the HDMI its all fine.

And last but not the least when i reboot the system goes in DELL diagnostics automatically for some reason, i can't seem to figure out why its does that. Thanks in advance for your assistance in this, really appreciate your time.