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Need Assistance For Backlight Adjustment (Laptop) Includes solution to enable NVIDIA GFX only

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Joined
Jul 4, 2013
Messages
16
Motherboard
Alienware M17X R5
CPU
i7 4710MQ
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
So as the title suggests, I need a little advice on how to get full backlight on my Hackintosh laptop on Mavericks 10.9.5.
I have searched far and wide across google searching for a solution that will allow me full control of my laptop's backlight, but my efforts have so far yielded no results, because all the DSDT patches I have found are for integrated graphics cards or for desktop GPUs. I'm trying to get backlight adjustment working with a Nvidia graphics card, specifically a GTX 860M, because I know that the backlight is normally hardware controlled by the integrated Intel HD 4600, but becomes software controlled by the OS once I disable it.

My system is an Alienware M17x R5 and is fully functional except for this big issue, and the fact that I have to use the nv_disable=1 boot flag at the moment. Since the screen backlight is blinding on full blast, I am forced to wear sunglasses whenever I boot into OSX. Fortunately for me, this is one of the few laptop models I know of that actually allows you to disable Intel integrated graphics and use the dedicated graphics card by itself as the direct monitor output, therefore avoiding the optimus issue hindering many others from using their dedicated GPUs in OSX (Yes I'm using OSX for gaming as well). I've gotten the GTX 860M partially working by itself on Mavericks, and am currently working on a way for me to not have to boot with the nv_disable=1 boot flag. However for now I just need advice on how to get backlight adjustment working. Is there any DSDT patch available for Nvidia graphics cards that enable backlight adjustment, or another way to achieve full backlight control?

Thanks for any tips in advance!
 
Update: Turns out I do need help getting the Nvidia graphics to fully work with Mavericks as well in addition to this backlight control issue. For some reason, even though I'm injecting the device into clover, if I remove the nv_disable=1 boot flag, the system just restarts after everything is done loading. Any advice would be much appreciated!
 
Update: Hey all, I found a solution on my own for the graphics card issue. While it is not possible to use optimus in OSX, it is possible to force both the integrated and dedicated graphics cards to work at the same time. I found a guide telling me to use the Hackintosh Vietnam tool which can be found here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/296669-hackintosh-vietnam-ultimate-aio-tool-for-hackintosh/ in order to create a suitable config for my system using this guide: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/301265-alienware-17-r5mid-2013-install-1095/
This guide has everything you need to hackintosh your Alienware M17x R5.

After reading the above mentioned guide, I reenabled Intel GFX, booted into OSX, and installed the custom nvidia drivers from the above mentioned guide, I added a boot flag within clover: nvda_drv=1 which forced the custom NVIDIA drivers to load. DO NOT INJECT NVIDIA GRAPHICS within the clover boot menu, leave integrated GFX injected but add this flag to force both GPUs to load alongside each other, and whala! Now you have full graphics acceleration on OSX with both GPUs! I hope this benefited anyone reading this post, and I also still need help with this backlight issue, although I did find a temporary workaround.

The temporary workaround I mentioned is just taking advantage of the fact that the backlight is hardware controlled by the integrated GFX, so I just dimmed my screen to the lowest setting permitted in the clover menu, and the screen brightness stayed dim within OSX. I still would like to know how I can patch my DSDT in order to be able to change he backlight intensity within OSX though. Any help would be appreciated!

Although I did this on an alienware, it is possible this method will work on other optimus enabled systems, but I have not tested this myself. So I hope this benefited anyone reading this post, and happy gaming on your new hackintosh gaming laptop within OSX!
 
Update: Hey all, I found a solution on my own for the graphics card issue. While it is not possible to use optimus in OSX, it is possible to force both the integrated and dedicated graphics cards to work at the same time. I found a guide telling me to use the Hackintosh Vietnam tool which can be found here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/296669-hackintosh-vietnam-ultimate-aio-tool-for-hackintosh/ in order to create a suitable config for my system using this guide: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/301265-alienware-17-r5mid-2013-install-1095/
This guide has everything you need to hackintosh your Alienware M17x R5.

After reading the above mentioned guide, I reenabled Intel GFX, booted into OSX, and installed the custom nvidia drivers from the above mentioned guide, I added a boot flag within clover: nvda_drv=1 which forced the custom NVIDIA drivers to load. DO NOT INJECT NVIDIA GRAPHICS within the clover boot menu, leave integrated GFX injected but add this flag to force both GPUs to load alongside each other, and whala! Now you have full graphics acceleration on OSX with both GPUs! I hope this benefited anyone reading this post, and I also still need help with this backlight issue, although I did find a temporary workaround.

The temporary workaround I mentioned is just taking advantage of the fact that the backlight is hardware controlled by the integrated GFX, so I just dimmed my screen to the lowest setting permitted in the clover menu, and the screen brightness stayed dim within OSX. I still would like to know how I can patch my DSDT in order to be able to change he backlight intensity within OSX though. Any help would be appreciated!

Although I did this on an alienware, it is possible this method will work on other optimus enabled systems, but I have not tested this myself. So I hope this benefited anyone reading this post, and happy gaming on your new hackintosh gaming laptop within OSX!

If, as you claim, you have both GPUs active (would need to see ioreg for verification), you don't have Optimus.

Attach ioreg as ZIP: http://www.tonymacx86.com/audio/58368-guide-how-make-copy-ioreg.html. Please, use the IORegistryExplorer v2.1 attached to the post! DO NOT reply with an ioreg from any other version of IORegistryExplorer.app.
 
Here is the file as you requested using that version of IORegistryExplorer. I have also included a copy of my config.plist for clover.

Here are some screenshots of my system information as well:
Screen Shot 2016-06-26 at 5.12.41 PM.png
Screen Shot 2016-06-26 at 5.12.29 PM.png


The only problem I'm running into now is trying to get the GTX 860M to be my primary display so I can use it in games.
 

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  • x45clamibot’s Hackbook Pro.ioreg.zip
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  • config.plist
    3.5 KB · Views: 330
Here is the file as you requested using that version of IORegistryExplorer. I have also included a copy of my config.plist for clover.

Here are some screenshots of my system information as well:
View attachment 200920 View attachment 200921

The only problem I'm running into now is trying to get the GTX 860M to be my primary display so I can use it in games.

According to ioreg, there are no displays attached to Nvidia. It is likely Optimus, and therefore cannot be used in OS X.
Best you can do is disable it. You can do it with ACPI patches such that it is still available in Windows.

See FAQ for details on that and on implementing brightness controls for the Intel part: http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/faq-read-first-laptop-frequent-questions.164990/
 
Ah okay, I guess I must have misunderstood something. Thank you very much for the link!
 
I do have another question though. I played around with my BIOS settings and found an option for discrete only graphics, which disabled integrated. However, I was not able to boot into OSX even after modifying my config.plist to erase everything pertaining to integrated GFX and inject NVidia graphics instead. My laptop just kept restarting after everything was done loading to boot into OSX. Would you happen to know why this is?

I have NVidia web drivers installed and have removed the default kexts to force the web drivers to load.
 
Last edited:
I do have another question though. I played around with my BIOS settings and found an option for discrete only graphics, which disabled integrated. However, I was not able to boot into OSX even after modifying my config.plist to erase everything pertaining to integrated GFX and inject NVidia graphics instead. My laptop just kept restarting after everything was done loading to boot into OSX. Would you happen to know why this is?

I have NVidia web drivers installed and have removed the default kexts to force the web drivers to load.

You will have to do some research on how to correctly configure for Nvidia only (if that's the route you want to go).

I have no experience with it.
 
Alright guys, this is the moment I think all gaming laptop users have been waiting for. I have successfully forced the dedicated GFX to become the primary laptop display through the use of a modded web driver package I modified myself, which forced the web drivers to load in place of the default OSX NVidia drivers. This only works on a specific build of Mavericks however (build
13F1112) but I can mod driver packages for other versions as well if anyone requests me to do so. Keep in mind though that your laptop's bios has to have the option to disable integrated graphics or this will not work. Also you may need to use an iMac SMBIOS profile like I had to do to get rid of the black screen issue on startup.

I'm happy to say I have a 100% working hackbook now that I can use to game in both windows and OSX! Also thanks for the backlight patch link RehabMan.

I have provided my modded driver package if anyone else has this specific build of mavericks and wants a dedicated only graphics hackbook.

Here is an image of my screen as proof that it works (BTW the 0MB of VRAM is merely a cosmetic issue that can be fixed in the clover configurator)
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2016-06-27 at 12.51.56 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2016-06-27 at 12.51.56 PM.png
    355.1 KB · Views: 567
  • WebDriver-334.01.03f05.pkg.zip
    37.9 MB · Views: 287
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