E6410 with nVidia NVS 3100M graphics - Mountain Lion Guide

[Hervé]

Have a look at the "Performance tuning" article in the Articles page of the web site (you'll find the shortcut at the very top of your browser page).

[ladsjohn]

Have a look at the "Performance tuning" article in the Articles page of the web site (you'll find the shortcut at the very top of your browser page).

 

Thanks Herve. Very useful article indeed.

I started by updating my FakeSMC to 5.1.59. I'm a little confused with the smbios changes though.

I edited the 5.1.59 kext to change my smbios from 1.33f8 to 1.70f5 (my system is an E6410).

But I'm not sure if I correctly applied the change.

 

Step10 of your article says:

 

Then, with Chameleon Wizard, change your SMBIOS plist to the new targeted version.

 

- How do I do that in the Chameleon Wizard?

- Under the SMBios tab; I see /Extras/smbios.plist. Can I just copy my modified FakeSMC/Contents/Info.plist to /Extra/smbios.plist?

- Do I need to 'Install' this using the Install tab of Chameleon Wiz? 

 

In any case - I tried the above and still get a lot of artifcacts (especially noticable for example if I open a new tab in Safari and it displays the History/Bookmarks page).

I will play around with different SMC versions but wanted to make sure I'm doing it right before I go any further.

 

Many thanks!

[Hervé]

No, no, no, the info plist of a kext has nothing to do with a SMBios plist!

 

In Cham Wizard, you go to the SMBIOS tab then click on the Edit button. Then you pick up the model that suits your targeted system (MBP8,3 it seems in your case) in the list at the top left corner and you apply that change. You'll have then selected a different SMBios plist.

 

If you can't find the model you're looking for, I suggest you download a tool like "Champlist" off the web: http://tools.inmac.org. It will allow you to export the SMBios plist of almost every modern Mac that exists. You can then copy that exported plist to /Extra as your reference model.

[ladsjohn]

I didn't have any luck with my video artifacts. The main issue is playing flash content (which I don't do a lot of) and window flickering when I open a new tab in Safari (it defaults to the history/bookmarks page). 

Wondering if anybody has successfully gotten it to work with the Intel GMA chipset?

If not - I may splurge on a used MoBo with the Nvidia NVS 3100M graphics card on Ebay and just gut my laptop.

 

I tried various combinations of smbios configs (MBP8,1 MBP9,1, MBP5,1) without success.

[Hervé]

It's probably due to the combination Intel HD/graphics driver. Which Intel HD do you have? I know some like the HD2000 run a bit buggy whilst it's Ok with the HD3000.

 

There's a useful article (although with inaccuracies) on supported graphics cards here: http://www.macbreaker.com/2012/06/hackintosh-graphics-cards.html

[rmk]

I've been experimenting with SSDTs for the past days but I can't seem to get the laptop any cooler, the fan is pretty much on all the time even when idling. I'm wondering if anyone else has this too?

 

I've applied a copper mod and AS5 which made the laptop much cooler when running Windows/Linux (fans stay off unless the CPU/GPU gets a lot of load) but no change when running OSX. Could this have todo with DTST instead of SSDT? I think somewhere something is running at max speed rather than applying a variable speed. But my knowledge is limited here.

 

I wouldn't mind chipping in with a donation to get a proper DSDT patch for our E6410s if that would help with speedstep/sleep/temps.

[Bronxteck]

have you tried the fakesmc modding and smbios guide?  

[v3ct0r]

Looks like you guys have been busy! I've been pretty busy too, so sorry for the absense.

 

Since I don't know an awful lot about DSDTs and the like, I am happy to do any testing and make changes as requested...

[rmk]

have you tried the fakesmc modding and smbios guide?  

 

Going to do that now. One problem I have is with HWMonitor, it just quits after a few seconds/minutes, always. No errors or anything, it just disappears. I've tried old versions and newer, running the latest now. 

 

Do you have any pointers in testing the CPU/GPU clocks/temps to see if speedstep is working other than using hwmonitor? I noticed under Windows my nvidia runs anywhere between 150-600mhz, under OSX it always runs at 400mhz. Lets hope fakesmc/smbios will help a bit.

 

Update:

I've set my model to 6,2 (was 8,1) as it's the only one with the 520M CPU. Edited FakeSMC Info.plist with new SMC (MBP61.0057.B0F (EFI 2.6) 1.58f17 (SMC 1.7)).  When just running Safari CPU runs between 45-65C, GPU around 60-70C. I don't think HWMonitor is very accurate as the temps sometimes jump up and down by 10C. Fan is nearly always on. Also do we keep NullCPUPowermanagement.kext or not? I don't notice any difference in performance or temps with or without it. GPU clock is still 'stuck' at 400mhz. This could possible cause the extra heat as it is warming up the cooling system/heatpipes inside.

 

Does anyone have a working variable clock speeds on the 3100M? Sorry about all the questions.

 

Tried SMC version of a MBP with a 320M GPU as it's closest to what we have, also did not make any difference. Clock is still stuck at 400mhz. I will wait for other people to report on their temps and clock speed.

[Bronxteck]

yes you remove nullcpu and sleep enabler. then run a myfix to rebuild.