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- Mar 27, 2012
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- 33
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- GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK
- CPU
- i7-4790
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- GTX 650Ti
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- Classic Mac
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Help me avoid NVDA Channel Exceptions Through Hardware
I have been the proud and happy owner of a Hackintosh for a year now. I followed the build instructions on this site exactly and purchased everything that was recommended here, and every time I have run into a problem, tonymacx86.com has come to the rescue... except for one issue.
My first graphics card was a Zotac GT 430. Once I edited my DSDT file properly, it worked like a charm and gave me great performance on everything including a little bit of gaming with Minecraft (the only game I play). My only problem was that rarely, the screen would freeze up while the sound continued to play in the background. I chalked it up to being an unstable hackintosh, so I thought nothing more of it.
This last Christmas, I received a Zotac GT 640 because of the better compatibility with it and Mountain Lion. I upgraded my motherboard to UEFI, installed the new video card, and installed Mountain Lion. After tweaking, it has run beautifully and Minecraft performance has improved significantly.
However, the random freezes came far more frequently, so frequently, in fact, that I discovered the Console App and began to investigate what was going on.
I began to see these entries in the log whenever the computer froze:
For the past few months I have been trying to resolve this problem. I have done countless Google searches, and I have posted many times to the threads of others regarding their experience with NVIDIA Channel exceptions. However, to date, I have seen no definitive solution to this. It seems the threads always die out, but I have gleaned this information:
The channel exceptions also happen on Apple branded computers with NVIDIA graphics, but in those cases, people report that a warranty exchange of the logic board (eventually) solves their problem.
The channel exceptions have been happening on every version of OS X since 10.5 with anecdotal claims that upgrading the OS solved their problem.
The channel exceptions for some people arise when the computer changes the power state of the graphics card, and those people sometimes claim to solve their freezes by editing the AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext or removing it.
Some people claim to have solved their problem by running a graphically intensive app in the background. Some use the CUDA-Clock app, some play a video in VLC on infinite loop and minimized.
Finally, some people claim that their problems only occur when they run dual displays (I have a dual display setup).
None of those solutions have worked for me. I have also tried installing alternate drivers from NVIDIA's website, I have fully updated my system to the latest OS X 10.8.3, and I have even downgraded my system back to the GT 430 card (which has been far more stable than the 640, but still crashes now and then).
I'm writing this post for two reasons:
First, I want to collect all the best practices of resolving these channel exceptions into one thread.
Secondly, I want to begin identifying which hardware is most prone to these exceptions. Because I dual boot into Linux, I prefer to use NVIDIA graphics, but if these channel exceptions happen with every NVIDIA chipset, then I'll finally make the jump over to AMD graphics and put these troubles behind me.
Therefore, I ask you loyal forum friends, if you have seen any of these channel exception errors in your setup, what card do you use, do you run dual displays, and has anything resolved the problem for you?
If you have not seen any of these errors, what card do you use, do you run dual displays, and have you ever experienced random freezes?
I have been the proud and happy owner of a Hackintosh for a year now. I followed the build instructions on this site exactly and purchased everything that was recommended here, and every time I have run into a problem, tonymacx86.com has come to the rescue... except for one issue.
My first graphics card was a Zotac GT 430. Once I edited my DSDT file properly, it worked like a charm and gave me great performance on everything including a little bit of gaming with Minecraft (the only game I play). My only problem was that rarely, the screen would freeze up while the sound continued to play in the background. I chalked it up to being an unstable hackintosh, so I thought nothing more of it.
This last Christmas, I received a Zotac GT 640 because of the better compatibility with it and Mountain Lion. I upgraded my motherboard to UEFI, installed the new video card, and installed Mountain Lion. After tweaking, it has run beautifully and Minecraft performance has improved significantly.
However, the random freezes came far more frequently, so frequently, in fact, that I discovered the Console App and began to investigate what was going on.
I began to see these entries in the log whenever the computer froze:
Code:
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x1f = Fifo: MMU Error
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: 00000069
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: 0000006e
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: 00200000 00009197 00000000 00000000
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: 00000000 0000135c 00000001 0000000c
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 00000000
4/12/13 2:37:45.000 PM kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000For the past few months I have been trying to resolve this problem. I have done countless Google searches, and I have posted many times to the threads of others regarding their experience with NVIDIA Channel exceptions. However, to date, I have seen no definitive solution to this. It seems the threads always die out, but I have gleaned this information:
The channel exceptions also happen on Apple branded computers with NVIDIA graphics, but in those cases, people report that a warranty exchange of the logic board (eventually) solves their problem.
The channel exceptions have been happening on every version of OS X since 10.5 with anecdotal claims that upgrading the OS solved their problem.
The channel exceptions for some people arise when the computer changes the power state of the graphics card, and those people sometimes claim to solve their freezes by editing the AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext or removing it.
Some people claim to have solved their problem by running a graphically intensive app in the background. Some use the CUDA-Clock app, some play a video in VLC on infinite loop and minimized.
Finally, some people claim that their problems only occur when they run dual displays (I have a dual display setup).
None of those solutions have worked for me. I have also tried installing alternate drivers from NVIDIA's website, I have fully updated my system to the latest OS X 10.8.3, and I have even downgraded my system back to the GT 430 card (which has been far more stable than the 640, but still crashes now and then).
I'm writing this post for two reasons:
First, I want to collect all the best practices of resolving these channel exceptions into one thread.
Secondly, I want to begin identifying which hardware is most prone to these exceptions. Because I dual boot into Linux, I prefer to use NVIDIA graphics, but if these channel exceptions happen with every NVIDIA chipset, then I'll finally make the jump over to AMD graphics and put these troubles behind me.
Therefore, I ask you loyal forum friends, if you have seen any of these channel exception errors in your setup, what card do you use, do you run dual displays, and has anything resolved the problem for you?
If you have not seen any of these errors, what card do you use, do you run dual displays, and have you ever experienced random freezes?
