Monterey not working without NVIDIA video card

[ono]

Kaby Lake: Gigabyte H110 with i3-7100 processor and NVIDIA GeForce 730 PCI-e card.
The Gigabyte H110 motherboard offers the possibility to select from the BIOS, either iGPU or PCIe graphic card.
Monterey is known not to support NVIDIA video cards. That's why I wanted to remove the NVIDIA video card from m and let only the graphics of the processor to work. But I was faced with a problem that I don't understand and that's why I can't solve it.

When I remove completely from the machine the NVIDIA video card, the computer starts booting and opens my screen and I can enter the user password. It's just that at this point, the screen turns black and the ”No signal” ad appears on the screen. I install the NVIDIA card again and the computer works absolutely normal. If I remove the video card again and I want it to work without it, things repeat, after the screen starts, it turns black again and I can't work.

From the BIOS I selected iGPU, and OpenCore looks exactly like the attached archive file.
The OpenCore Install Guide does not mention the need for a PCI video card when using processor graphics.
So I'd rather not make the right setting. Please help me to understand where Ia am wrong? I want to remove completely the NVIDIA card, if possible.

 

[Middleman]

Hi there,

I've had a quick look at your EFI, and can see a number of problems.

First you've renamed the device_type and model areas wrong - the device_type should be Display Controller and not the Intel model name (and vice-versa for the model line). Secondly you had put in disable-extern-gpu (enabled it) as well as renamed the device 12598680 when 12590000 should have been sufficient under your Intel IGU's PCIRoot device properties. Thirdly framebuffer-unifiedmem is also missing. You need to add that using 00000080 as the value - that should fully unlock the video RAM acceleration (along with the other framebuffer settings). I would also advise removing the device-id for your Intel HD Audio - it is the wrong one and it is conflicting with your IGPU's device-id (it is the same). You also seem to be missing a kext for your Realtek LAN card. A RealtekRTL8111.kext should be sufficient for your board.

As it goes even though the majority Nvidia drivers were removed from Monterey, you can still use the Nvidia card using the GeForce Kepler Patcher > https://github.com/chris1111/Geforce-Kepler-patcher
You will need to follow the guide above (to add the drivers back in) and then afterwards enable the card under Opencore by adding nvda_drv_vrl=1 to the NVRAM boot-arg.

But if you want to use it without the Nvidia, nothing is stopping you - other than what I mentioned above everything seems to be in order - it should work with it removed. However I think the problem may be the use of -igfxdvmt you have in your boot-arg. That setting is really not necessary (mainly for laptop use and may be the primary cause of the black screen, aside from lack of framebuffer-unifiedmem).

Anyways you are welcome also to check out my Z170 build here on Monterey for guidance (which has a similar setup for IGPU settings) > https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...fi-samsung-860-evo-rx550.313767/#post-2257492

 

[ono]

I made all the changes indicated, but I found that the display is strongly dependent on the SMBIOS parameters specified in OC/PlatformInfo/Generic. So far, I've managed to find those SMBIOS values that only work with processor graphics (HD graphic 630, corresponding to Kaby Lake i-3 7100 processors). I worked with macOS Catalina and macOS Monterey. I tested SMBIOS values, created with GenSMBIOS, and found: macOS Catalina works very well with iMac 14.2, iMac17.1, as well as iMac19.1. In the case of the iMac18.1 gives KP. With iMac18.2 and iMac18.3, respectively, color distortion occurs and works (or does not work) with a very long delay. Monterey and Big Sur behave completely differently, but so far, I have not found a SMBIOS with which to work normally.
I will continue with the testing, because I want to find the right formula for Big Sur and Monterey. I will try to systematize these findings, because they could be useful in understanding the functioning of O.C. Note: With NVIDIA, Big Sur works OOB, and for Monterey, I can successfully use OC Patcher. But I want to know if Monterey will work properly, only with processor graphics.

 

[Middleman]

Monterey and Big Sur behave completely differently, but so far, I have not found a SMBIOS with which to work normally.
I will continue with the testing, because I want to find the right formula for Big Sur and Monterey. I will try to systematize these findings, because they could be useful in understanding the functioning of O.C. Note: With NVIDIA, Big Sur works OOB, and for Monterey, I can successfully use OC Patcher. But I want to know if Monterey will work properly, only with processor graphics.

Yes absolutely. For my Z170 Skylake system I booted both using the Intel IGPU and Nvidia/AMD cards no problem. The IGPU device settings I used was these:

As for SMBIOS I used iMac17,1. For boot-args I used:

-v keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 alcid=1 -lilubetaall -wegbeta amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 shikigva=80 agdpmod=pikera rtcfx_exclude=00-FF

 

[ono]

As for SMBIOS I used iMac17,1. For boot-args I used:

-v keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 alcid=1 -lilubetaall -wegbeta amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 shikigva=80 agdpmod=pikera rtcfx_exclude=00-FF

I studied the DeviceProperties settings model you sent me, in detail. They are the same for me, except for the PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1b,0x0) address which I deleted and replaced with the address indicated by hdef obtained with IORegistry Explorer. But about the SMBIOS settings: you chose the iMac17,1, and I chose the iMac19,1, hoping to get Monterey to work using a single OC, but it looks like I was wrong.
What do you say, should I keep the iMac19.1, or should I choose the iMac17.2? Which would be better? For the RX550 you have chosen the iMac18,3. This is also true for me, if I were to buy such a high-performance video card. With NVIDIA, even treated with OCPatcher, it still doesn't behave normally, because it gives me KP if I select, in Word, with the mouse. So I'm not attracted to using Monterey like that, I just prefer to stay with Catalina. I would like to ask you something else about boot-args? Why did you use so many parameters? I would be interested to know if you would like to tell me. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the very valuable help you have given me.

 

[Middleman]

I studied the DeviceProperties settings model you sent me, in detail. They are the same for me, except for the PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1b,0x0) address which I deleted and replaced with the address indicated by hdef obtained with IORegistry Explorer. But about the SMBIOS settings: you chose the iMac17,1, and I chose the iMac19,1, hoping to get Monterey to work using a single OC, but it looks like I was wrong.
What do you say, should I keep the iMac19.1, or should I choose the iMac17.2? Which would be better? For the RX550 you have chosen the iMac18,3. This is also true for me, if I were to buy such a high-performance video card. With NVIDIA, even treated with OCPatcher, it still doesn't behave normally, because it gives me KP if I select, in Word, with the mouse. So I'm not attracted to using Monterey like that, I just prefer to stay with Catalina. I would like to ask you something else about boot-args? Why did you use so many parameters? I would be interested to know if you would like to tell me. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the very valuable help you have given me.

Right. Well to answer your question, the reason I use so many parameters is because...it's necessary.
Unfortunately macOS isn't going to boot with certain configurations, with the IGPU device setting being a factor (it has to be within the macOS release parameters). It cannot use newer iMac IDs that are newer than those from the next released OS. As my Z170 build is a Skylake chip so I need to use at least iMac17,1.

The other thing of course is, the specs of the machine vs the capabilities it is expected to have (which has to be known to macOS). To get a good functioning machine, the SMBIOS has to match the specs of the machine it is capable of ie. CPU/performance, and what the SMBIOS was designed for ie. features. That's the reason you've got iMac17,1, iMac18,1 or iMac18,2 (or even iMac18,3). iMac18,1 would be a basic machine, and something like iMac18,2 or iMac18,3 would have an extra dGPU - so this makes it ideal for say Nvidia setup. And in the case of iMacPro1,1 or MacPro, that's reserved for machines with a high spec chip and separate dGPU.

My Skylake build had some RTC issue so I had to use rtcfx_exclude=00-FF. I used -lilubetaall -wegbeta amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 because I was using Monterey beta at the time - without it the system would not boot.
iMac17,1 was chosen because it matches the Skylake spec and can allow for dGPU setup. The only exception is when sometimes we have a newer chip like Comet Lake and if it is capable of booting a previous gen architecture (Coffee Lake) then we could use say iMac18,3. In fact this is how I got the Comet Lake Z490 to boot up High Sierra (aside from CPUID spoofing amongst other things).

So in this respect you could try using iMac18,1 or iMac18,2 and see how that fairs (because they are a near-match for your chip's architecture and specs). That was a code that was released around the time High Sierra was out so it should work with your board.

You could try adding -no_compat_check to the end of your boot-arg and see how that goes (as that helps bypass difficult SMBIOS setups for some machines). And if you want to try Big Sur I also have a build for it too on the Z170N. It may even be a better match for you than Monterey in terms of performance and usability as Kepler cards are still supported on it to some degree.

You are welcome.

 

[ono]

Solved! My Catalina MacOS and my Monterey MacOS work well both with SMBIOS for iMac19,2 but without any PCI-e video card. Just intel Graphic 630.