Simple NVIDIA 4xx Install Procedure

[silentsage]

After much trial and error, I got my EVGA GTS 450/1 GB to work. I did the following:

Followed the directions in the installation blog exactly - used RC5, and the tonymac nvidia driver package.

When running Multibeast, I did the following:

Used NVenabler (without it, I only got 1024x768 resolution)
Used the PCI root ID fix for RC4 (even though I'm running RC5)
Selected the Chameleon RC5 installation
Used the 32 bit Apple boot screen selection with graphics enabler=yes in the com.apple.boot.plist selection.
Identified my system as a MacPro5,1, with an i5 processor (rationale being that the original nVidia code may assume that the graphics card can only run in a latest generation Mac Pro.)

Rebooted the system, and still had only 1024x768 resolution.

For some reason the PCI root ID fix text did not show up in com.Apple.boot.plist, so I manually inserted the code below using text edit:

<key>PCIRootUID</key>
<string>1</string>

Rebooted again, and now had all the resolutions, and QE/CE worked. The card isnl;t properly identified in "About this Mac", but seems to work correctly.

Ran Cinebench, and got only 3.45 FPS.

Then I moved the ApplePowerManagement.kext out of the System/Library/Extensions folder (didn't delete it, since I was concerned I would need to restore it in the future).

Rebooted again, and now Cinebench runs at 22.96 FPS, which seems about right.

I suspect that the problems some folks are having is in finding the exact set of things to do when they first run Multibest.

If I have time tonight I'll see if I can get it to run in 64-bit mode.

 

[lmart1n]

for no graphic powermanagement just select macpro3,1.
With prerelease Chameleon (comes with multibeast) you don't need nvenabler and you can set 64bit graphics enabler=no!

Working fine here.
Tested with Zotac GTS 450, Gigabyte GTX460 OC!

Only Problem is the huge performance gap, between Windows 7 and Mac OS X. But the reason is the bad os x driver from nvidia.

 

[silentsage]

I'm using the prerelease Chameleon RC5. Without the 64-bit enabler all I got was 1024x768 resolution. Adding the nvenabler restored the other resolutions.

 

[pgstudio]

Hi guys,

I got my GTX 460 running using Chameleon rc5.

While in the OS, the system seems to be stable but as soon as i open World of Warcraft the system crashes and i have to hard reset.

I installed the NVidia driver, but i had a problem saying that i can't install. So i opened the package and installed manually all the 3 drivers inside the package and it seems to work ok.
Is that anything different from installing tonymacx86 NVidia driver ??

Using Chameleon Preferences Panel i enabled "GraphicsEnabler = Yes" and also checked VBIOS.

Is there any idea what should be causing this system instablility ????

Thanks a lot for your time!

Cheers..
PG

 

[coco0045]

Since i have all of the cards from the Fermi lineup, excluding 465, but who uses that, right , i tried to do a fresh install on an old system and try all of the cards.

EX58-UD5, 920, 6 gigs (4 during installation), mac os x 10.6.3 install dvd on a usb stick.

Used ibootGE to load the MacOSX setup from an 8GB usb drive. Installed the OS, used iboot again to get into the OS. Installed the 10.6.5 update, installed multibeast 2.5.1 with the following: userDSDT, System utilities, legacyHDA for 889a, realtek 1000SL, IOBlockStorageInjector, Chameleon 643, 64 bit Apple Boot screen, MacPro5.1 and all applications.

The first time i clicked next after choosing what to install multibeast crashed. Every time i did a fresh install it did that. After i relaunched it, it was ok.

Next was the NVIDIA driver, and that went ok.

I removed the iboot CD, the USB install DVD, and then rebooted. The first time it rebooted on its own after loading for 30 secs (slow 160GB 4200rpm drive) but after that it worked flawlessly. Will run cinebench with all cards on mac and win to see the difference and post it here.
I tried with 450, 460 768 and 1 GB, 470, 480 and 580, always the same result. Cards are getting recognized in system profiler.

Thank you, please do. I'm planning on getting the GTS 450 and this is gonna be my very first install and want to see if I need to make any changes.

 

[Peter R.]

Only Problem is the huge performance gap, between Windows 7 and Mac OS X. But the reason is the bad os x driver from nvidia.

That's a firm statement. Do you have any info to support this ?

 

[Mairos]

I've got a GTS 450 and my OS X is running quiet nicely, including Dual View with my FullHD TV.

I booted with the legacy iBoot, installed SL 10.6.3 via an original Retail DVD on a clean HDD, booted again with the legacy iBoot, installed the 10.6.5 update, MultiBeast, the NVIDIA update and that's it.

But because of the annoying system instability that some others seem to experience too, it's impossible to use SL productively at the moment.

At first, my system locked up randomly after a couple of minutes, sometimes with the message to switch off the computer manually and sometimes it just freezed. Additionally I was able to force it to freeze by simply opening the Control Center and waiting 5-10 seconds. Then I read that setting suspend mode to S1 may fix it. Well, it didn't fix the random lock-ups, but at least I am now able to open the Control Center without provoking it.

So it seems, that the driver is very instable at the moment and I reeeeally hope that it gets fixed soon!

 

[phenom7]

I've got a GTS 450 and my OS X is running quiet nicely, including Dual View with my FullHD TV.

I booted with the legacy iBoot, installed SL 10.6.3 via an original Retail DVD on a clean HDD, booted again with the legacy iBoot, installed the 10.6.5 update, MultiBeast, the NVIDIA update and that's it.

But because of the annoying system instability that some others seem to experience too, it's impossible to use SL productively at the moment.

At first, my system locked up randomly after a couple of minutes, sometimes with the message to switch off the computer manually and sometimes it just freezed. Additionally I was able to force it to freeze by simply opening the Control Center and waiting 5-10 seconds. Then I read that setting suspend mode to S1 may fix it. Well, it didn't fix the random lock-ups, but at least I am now able to open the Control Center without provoking it.

So it seems, that the driver is very instable at the moment and I reeeeally hope that it gets fixed soon!

Same here with my GTX 460 (768MB). I'll get random freezes at times where I'll have to manually reboot my system. Everything is working fine. System Profiler recognizes my card, Cinebench scores are around 28-29. I just can't figure out why I'm getting these random panics. If it is indeed the driver, not sure what I can do at this point.

 

[Lord_Twilight]

I can't seem to boot from iBoot-GE with a 480 GTX into the installer. Just pops up with the "Please reboot message" I have tried to boot into the installer with safe mode.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[mattm8305]

iBoot-GE also failed to work for me with my EVGA 460GTX 768.
Had to use The iBoot 2.5.2 in safe mode in order to get to the install screen. Otherwise I would get "you must restart" everytime.

Once installed and updated, boots just fine in rc5 and recognizes the card in system profiler. Get about 24fps in CB. I'll still be using win7 until things are more stable.