Jump to content

Dual Monitor problem with nVidia 9800GT


rekabis

Recommended Posts

I have a rather strange dual-monitor issue with my hackintosh. As in, the dual monitors are both seen, both acted upon, but only one actually displays an image.

 

Allow me to explain.

 

I have a pair of HP LP2065 monitors that push 1600x1200 apiece. These are fed through a Belkin dual-head, four-port KVM to my four machines, one of which is this hackintosh. I have an nVidia GeForce 9800GT 512Mb

 

System Information:

GeForce 9800 GT:

 Chipset Model:	GeForce 9800 GT
 Type:	GPU
 Bus:	PCIe
 Slot:	Slot-1
 PCIe Lane Width:	x16
 VRAM (Total):	512 MB
 Vendor:	NVIDIA (0x10de)
 Device ID:	0x0605
 Revision ID:	0x00a2
 ROM Revision:	62.92.69.00.30
 Displays:
HP LP2065:
 Resolution:	1600 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
 Pixel Depth:	32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
 Display Serial Number:	CNG62103GW  
 Mirror:	On
 Mirror Status:	Hardware Mirror
 Online:	Yes
 Rotation:	Supported
HP LP2065:
 Resolution:	1600 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
 Pixel Depth:	32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
 Display Serial Number:	CNG5510BLT  
 Main Display:	Yes
 Mirror:	On
 Mirror Status:	Master Mirror
 Online:	Yes
 Rotation:	Supported

 

When I initially boot, I can see the BIOS on the left hand screen. As well, Chameleon appears there too, in all its graphical glory, as well as the initial MacOS boot screen (the grey apple). However, upon reaching the login screen, this monitor goes dark.

 

When I initially installed my hackintosh, I thought the install had gone bad, since at this point I saw nothing on the screen anymore. However, I swapped my ports around to get the BIOS and login to show on the right hand screen, and I was able to log in with no issues.

 

When I enabled dual monitors, set them to mirror each other and flipped the cables back to their original ports, I got something very strange. Once again, BIOS, Chameleon and the initial boot screen appeared on the left screen only. However, when I got to the login screen the left screen went dark and stayed dark, but the right hand screen lit up with the login screen (because the monitors are mirrored). When I logged on, I was able to confirm through the control panel that both screens are recognized by Mac OSX Lion, both screens are flagged as HP LP2065 monitors, and both screens have 1600x1200 as their default resolution.

 

The problem is that only the right-hand one actually “lights up†past the OS X boot screen, and even when I un-mirror the monitors the right-hand one looses all controls (dock, menus, etc.) because the left-hand one is considered the “master†screen. As in, when I un-mirror, both the dock and the bar at the top of the screen go to the left-hand monitor, which refuses to actually light up and display them. I have to “gather windows†(the display control panel) in order to regain control of my machine because nothing ends up on the right-hand screen once I un-mirror except for that monitor’s display control panel.

 

I suspect that this is a driver issue, since BIOS and the initial OS X boot screen run just fine on the left monitor. Suggestions?

 

As for Chameleon, I have 64-bit enabled and forced, Built-in Ethernet forced (to make iCloud work), GraphicsEnabler set to 1, and the LoginToLion theme applied. Oh, and I did this by utilizing the Chameleon Wizard app.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I advise against the use of 'tools' to manipulate your chameleon configuration, it's better to understand what exactly is going into your boot.plist in /Extra and not very difficult to manipulate. There is absolutely no reason to enable or force 64bit on an intel system, as long as you do not have arch=i386 in your boot plist you will be running a 64bit kernel. Judging from what you have mentioned I would suggest that you probably don't need anything in there except EthernetBuiltIn=Yes and GraphicsEnabler=Yes - though you may want to play with PciRoot=0/1 to see if it helps anything graphics related.

 

Have you tried connecting the displays directly to the 9800GT? I have noticed myself with my 9800GTX+ that one port is initialized at boot time, and the other displays after login - I do not use mirroring. Disable mirroring and plug them directly in - check graphics init order in bios, check your PciRoot=0/1 these are the first things I woud suggest trying. If tampering with none of the aforementioned helps your situation then yes it is most likely an issue with the graphics enabler injection on your particular 9800GT - in which case you may need to define the outputs and injection manually in dsdt.

 

I hope this information is helpful, good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hooked both monitors directly up to the card. Same effect. Reversed everything except suggestions. No difference.

 

Keep in mind:

  • [*:2z7dijzn]The left-hand monitor is active during POST and initial boot
    [*:2z7dijzn]The left-hand monitor then shuts off after boot (boot: grey screen, dark grey apple logo) and before the login screen.
    [*:2z7dijzn]This is the same no matter if the displays are mirrored or in normal mode (one wide display utilizing both monitors)
    [*:2z7dijzn]The machine sees both screens, and thinks it is using both screens, even when the left one is not receiving a signal (when it is dark, and shuts itself down after a minute due to lack of a signal).
    [*:2z7dijzn]If I start out mirrored, this at least lets me log in (because the right-hand monitor then shows the login screen once the left one shuts down). If I don't start out in mirrored mode, I cannot log on because the login screen is “on the left screenâ€, which is not receiving a signal from the video card.
    [*:2z7dijzn]Once I log in (while mirrored), if I un-mirror, the dock and top menu bar then end up on the left monitor, which stays dark (no signal sent to monitor) even though OS X thinks it is using that monitor. Ergo, unless I keep the monitor preferences screen up and running, I loose control of the entire machine (I cannot see programs that launch, because they launch by default on the left monitor, which does not receive a signal).

 

Suggestions?

 

I strongly suspect that this is a driver issue unrelated to Chameleon (simply because Chameleon and the initial OS X boot works just fine on the left monitor), with the slight possibility that this is perhaps a hardware issue (this is a recent purchase of a used graphics card... maybe it already had this issue). I do not have the time to install another O/S, as I have already configured this one to my liking (and I don’t have a spare SATA drive). I am hoping that someone can suggest a tool or investigative checklist that can eliminate hardware as an issue. I am also hoping that someone may have an updated Lion Kext that contains the latest EVGA drivers for the GeForce 9800GT.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...