Black Screen with iMac 17,1 Despite All Fixes

[EV.forever]

Hi all,

This is my first hackintosh, although I've been building custom PCs for some time. I'm very glad to be a part of this great community and I look forward to contributing; I'll be posting a full build log in the near future.

Onto the question. I am vexed by a single, persistent issue: all attempts to initialize my GTX 750 Ti have failed because of the black screen problem described here. My hack is otherwise working great. There is sometimes a very long pause when I right-click, but I can deal with that for now.

My Build:

• Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 TH
• i7-6700K
• 8GB Corsair RAM
• Broadcom BCM94360CD (fully functioning)
• EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW
• Samsung 850 Pro 128GB

I am installing 10.11.5 with UniBeast 6.2.0, MultiBeast 8.2.3 and the NVIDIA Web Driver for 10.11.5 (346.03.10f02).

I am using the iMac 17,1 SMBIOS to enable full functionality with my shiny new Skylake i7.

I am connecting via DVI to a 23" Samsung monitor.

MultiBeast 8 Screenshot:

Things I've tried (all documented fixes for Problem 4):

• Patching the kext by editing Clover config.plist (Method 1)
• Using @shilohh's AGDPfix version 1.1, including re-patching after AGDPfix informs me the kext is already patched (Method 2)
• Patching the kext manually in Terminal with SIP partially enabled (Method 3)
• Patching the kext manually in Terminal with SIP completely disabled by setting csr-active-config 0x67 in Clover config.plist (Method 3)
• Patching the kext manually AND using AGDPfix (Method 2 and 3)
• Starting over and doing a complete reformat of my UniBeast USB and the Samsung SSD

My hack boots normally without the nvda_drv=1 flag. With this argument, the display cuts out about 2/3 of the way through startup. I see a brief visual artifact on the screen as the display cuts out. It also cuts out with kext-dev-mode=1 and -v (no surprise there). I've not yet sshed to verify the system is running, but in the course of my troubleshooting I have no reason to believe it's not fully booted.

 

[Yoga]

How are you connecting the monitor? Have you tried a different type?

 

[EV.forever]

Thanks for the response @Yoga.

I'm using DVI, which should be the most stable right?

I also thought about going back to 10.11.4, but since 10.11.5 fixed some things that doesn't make much sense...

 

[Yoga]

Thanks for the response @Yoga.

I'm using DVI, which should be the most stable right?

I also thought about going back to 10.11.4, but since 10.11.5 fixed some things that doesn't make much sense...

HDMI and DP are great too. Worth trying them!

Also, try the 8,1 (2013 Mac Pro) definition.

 

[EV.forever]

Thanks again, @Yoga. I tried a few more things (unsuccessful):

• DVI to HDMI cable (no adapter)
• Disabled Internal Graphics in BIOS

The driver does work properly with Mac Pro 3,1. Am I missing out on much if I'm not using a Skylake-based definition?

 

[jktaurus8]

Use this applicatin to solve black screen in 17.1, 6.1 system definitions with NVIDIA Graphics Card.

 

[EV.forever]

Use this applicatin to solve black screen in 17.1, 6.1 system definitions with NVIDIA Graphics Card.

Thanks friend. I've tried AGDPfix.app but it hasn't worked for me.

 

[Yoga]

This machine uses the same chip as yourself, the 6700K, and I'm using the iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) 15,1 definition. Perhaps try that!

 

[kiiroaka]

Thanks again, @Yoga.

Disabled Internal Graphics in BIOS

See if the Intel graphics are enabled in Clover. I had an issue where I could not switch over to the "f01" nVidia WebDriver (OSX driver was set as a default) and going into Clover I had to un-tick the HD graphics box. Upon reboot I could now switch from the default OSX driver to the nVidia driver. My problem was that upon login the screen would "window blind," where it would scroll up like a window blind, go back down, blind up, blind down, then get to the desktop. The OSX driver saw my display as a 42" inch monitor, whereas the nVidia driver now saw my actual 2k monitor.

The driver does work properly with Mac Pro 3,1. Am I missing out on much if I'm not using a Skylake-based definition?

I would probably select a System Definition based on CPU (i5 or i7) and speed, instead. (Actually the 17,1 should be the perfect profile. Therefore...) The fact that it works properly with 3,1 means that there is a setting that should be turned on in 17,1. You would need to build a 3.1 profile, then mount the HDD EFI and look at the mounted Clover .plist and see what is both turned on and what is turned off and what kext files are being loaded in the driver section and then make sure that the same settings are set in the 17,1 profile, perhaps setting the speed and timings, etc. Maybe you ticked on something that you shouldn't have when you first built it, say selecting a USB, audio or graphics chip that is not supported by your mobo. (It's easy enough to just enable everything and try to get it working. I fell into that trap myself... ) For example, you have a "Chipset+GENESYS LOGIC USB 2.0 Hub"... Did you enable "3rd Party USB" when you built the 17,1? If you did you may want to rebuild it without 3rd Party ticked-on. (Just guessing...)

 

[EV.forever]

Maybe you ticked on something that you shouldn't have when you first built it, say selecting a USB, audio or graphics chip that is not supported by your mobo. (It's easy enough to just enable everything and try to get it working. I fell into that trap myself... ) For example, you have a "Chipset+GENESYS LOGIC USB 2.0 Hub"... Did you enable "3rd Party USB" when you built the 17,1? If you did you may want to rebuild it without 3rd Party ticked-on. (Just guessing...)

Thanks!

I just used the iMac 17,1 definition that's available in MultiBeast (pictured above). Would you recommend building 17,1 by hand instead of using the one in MultiBeast? As you can see this is a pretty barebones install; I'm not even installing a network driver because I'm using native Wi-Fi drivers. Where are you seeing the "Chipset+GENESYS LOGIC USB 2.0 Hub"?