MSI HD 6850 Triple Monitor 3rd screen rainbow

[tja]

hello all,

1st of all thanks to all here who make this possible and thanx for all the help.

last week i built - based on the recommendations - a new system.
its a GA z77 DS3H sys with ML and i only took my old MSI HD 6850 cyclone from the old machine as it seems it would work with ML.
after a days fooling around with the personalities i found that

<key>AtiConfig</key>
<string>Dukweed</string>
<key>AtiPorts</key>
<string>4</string>

would give me 3 screens (2xDVI, 1xActive DL Adapter, HDMI unsused) and it seems acceleration would work too, at least google earth and sketchup are working fine.

one thing that bugs me is the init of the rightmost screen right after boot, the picture is distorted until i go to settings/monitor to change the resolution to something other and then back to optimal where it would work flawless till next reboot.

2 questions:
* is there a fix or a better setting for this AMD card ?
* is there a possibility to automate the workaround i found, could i script somehow the resolution change and back ?

thx in advance,tja...

 

[Lausanne]

It's supposed to be Duckweed with a C and not only Dukweed.

Also, I'm interested how you got both DVI working, I can only get one of my DVI to work.

 

[tja]

It's supposed to be Duckweed with a C and not only Dukweed.
Also, I'm interested how you got both DVI working, I can only get one of my DVI to work.

thx for your answer, it encouraged me to experiment a bit more.
on a sidenote, i knew 2xDVI+DL(w.active DL>DVI Adapter!) would work as Ubuntu (as my main work OS) and Windows 7 (for gaming only) worked with this gfx card for some time and without the slightest glitch and with no extra config efforts.

ofc you are right, its Duckweed - but let me tell you that Dukweed works better - you may ask, how could that be ...

todays experiments:
1.) i completely removed the AtiConfig/AtiPorts statements from the chameleon boot plist and rebooted.
i got 2 screens - 1xDVI, 1xDL(rainbow image). ioreg would tell me that i have Duckweed with 4 ports (which is correct) but the middle screen wouldnt light up.
2.) i added the AtiConfig/AtiPorts statements again, this time with the correctly written Duckweed, rebooted.
same situation, 1xDVI+DL(rainbow image) , which sounds logical as i told the driver only what he could find out by himself.
3.) i changed AtiConfig to something random, rebooted.
3 screens, 2xDVI+DL(rainbow image), same as the wrong written Dukweed.

please note that 2) and 3) have a valid AtiPorts statement.

my conclusions so far:
let the driver probe the personality seems a bad choice in my case as he would Duckweed me. to told him some invalid personality and hint the number of ports is atm my best choice.

the rainbow image problem is not touched by this - i remember from my post-install experiments that the DL-connected screen would always show this problem with any tried personality.
note that neither ubuntu nor windows 7 would need extra config params for the DL-connected screen.
it seems autodetection of the monitors is buggy - but system.log would show no difference in handling:

Feb  7 06:58:35 son WindowServer[427]:   Display 0x19083a42: MappedDisplay Unit 2; Vendor 0x2264 Model 0x20e5 S/N 770 Dimensions 23.35 x 14.61; online enabled, Bounds (0,0)[1920 x 1200], Rotation 0, Resolution 1
Feb  7 06:58:35 son WindowServer[427]:   Display 0x1919c9ec: MappedDisplay Unit 0; Vendor 0x2264 Model 0x6735 S/N 1198 Dimensions 23.35 x 14.61; online enabled, Bounds (1920,0)[1920 x 1200], Rotation 0, Resolution 1
Feb  7 06:58:35 son WindowServer[427]:   Display 0x003f003f: MappedDisplay Unit 3; Vendor 0xffffffff Model 0xffffffff S/N -1 Dimensions 0.00 x 0.00; offline enabled, Bounds (4864,0)[1 x 1], Rotation 0, Resolution 1
Feb  7 06:58:35 son WindowServer[427]:   Display 0x1919c85d: MappedDisplay Unit 1; Vendor 0x2264 Model 0x6735 S/N 1309 Dimensions 23.35 x 14.61; online enabled, Bounds (-1920,0)[1920 x 1200], Rotation 0, Resolution 1

as you see ...
- all 4 ports are detected
- the 3 displays are correctly identified
- the non-connected HDMI port is set offline
- position is set according to my settings
... but the rightmost = DL is set to some strange signal. and the driver WILL set it right if i change resolution to something different and then return to "Optimal" ... so the driver CAN do it.
i just dont know why he wont do it at boot time ...

 

[tja]

... extra notes:
after i sent the above post i tried to remove AtiPorts and use a invalid AtiConfig only ... not good:
i got a Memory allocation error in line 1025 of ati.c on boot and a nice crash

 

[search_dreams]

His hd 6850

Hi

I successfully enabled HIS Raedeon 6850 Graphics card on my Intel DH55HC board with intel core i7 processor. Both DVI ports are working but both are showing same desktops. Please help me.

My org.chameleon.Boot.plist file contains

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>
<key>AtiPorts</key>
<string>5</string>
<key>DSDT</key>
<string>/Extra/DSDT.aml</string>
<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GenerateCStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>No</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x2000 darkwake=0</string>
<key>PciRoot</key>
<string>1</string>
<key>SMBIOS</key>
<string>/Extra/smbios.plist</string>
<key>Timeout</key>
<string>2</string>
<key>UseKernelCache</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Legacy Logo</key>
<string>Yes</string>

<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
<string>Yes</string>
</dict>
</plist>


Please help

 

[tja]

as you may be aware i'm just a noob here havin my own questions ...

yet, if you ask me how to proceed ...

first ...
- remove AtiPorts/AtiConfig completely from chameleon
- reboot and look what ioreg tells you, what personality did the amd driver find, which number of ports etc etc ...

then ...
- you may try all the 6xxx personalities as AtiConfig boot param, maybe in combination with AtiPorts=<your number of ports>
- you may try, like me, to put something invalid into AtiConfig, again with or without AtiPorts=<your number of ports> - maybe it helps

there are posts who claim one have to patch the AMD driver but i see this as a last resort ...

good luck.

 

[Francis]

there are posts who claim one have to patch the AMD driver but i see this as a last resort ...
good luck.

Depends on your card.
If the hardware configuration of your card closely match one of the ATI6000Controller framebuffers you'll have several working ports OOB.
You just have to reboot and try each framebuffer personality (ATIConfig) for every connector of your card.
If you don't have luck, you'll have to patch the driver to match your card.

There are several threads about it, I have done mine to have working HDMI, DP and DVI.

 

[search_dreams]

HIS HD 6850 Dual Display

Now I got success with 6850 card but only single display works if I dont type GraphicsEnabler=no each time. If I type it at boot time both displays work fine
Please help me

<dict>
<key>Kernel</key>
<string>mach_kernel</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x2000 PCIRootUID=1</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>No</string>
<key>Timeout</key>
<string>2</string>
<key>Legacy Logo</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
<string>Yes</string>
</dict>

 

[tja]

Now I got success with 6850 card but only single display works if I dont type GraphicsEnabler=no each time. If I type it at boot time both displays work fine
Please help me

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>No</string>

i would remove the GraphicsEnabler setting completely from the chameleon config and try all the personalities from boot command line (see my post above).
if i read correctly GraphicsEnabler=No is a (non-accelerated) pseudo personality by itself so having this in chameleon may contradict all your efforts.

 

[search_dreams]

His hd 6850

If I use Graphics Enabler=Yes my mac shows "Chipset Model: AMD Radeon HD 6850 Series" under Graphics/Display and works only Single Display
else if I use Graphics Enabler=No my mac shows "Chipset Model: AMD Radeon NI40" and works both Displays.

I want to use Graphics Enabler=Yes because my mouse sticks randomly if I use Graphics Enabler=No And works file with "Yes". How Can I use both displays with setting Graphics Enabler=Yes .
___________________________________________________________________

AMD Radeon HD 6850 Series:

Chipset Model: AMD Radeon HD 6850 Series
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 1024 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x6739
Revision ID: 0x0000
Displays:
W2043:
Resolution: 1600 x 900 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected

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