Solving NVIDIA Driver Install & Loading Problems

[slim.jim]

No way to make it work!
I must have missed something, well… just once more!
My build:
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-H170-HD3 ATX Socket 1151
CPU: Intel Skylake Core i5-6600 / 3.3 GHz (Turbo Boost 3.9 GHz) 4 cores Cache Socket, Socket 1151 (BX80662I56600)
RAM: CRUCIAL 16GBx2 32GB Kit, DDR4 2133 MT/s DIMM 288 (CT2K16G4DFD8213)
GPU: MSI Computer Video/Graphics Cards GTX 950 2GD5 OC
Monitor: legacy AOC 2770, 2560 x 1440 px (apparently not available on amazon.com)
OS X: 10.11.5

I tried my best doing everything as I should (hopefully):

1. I downloaded and installed the last releases of CUDA and NVIDIA Web Driver. They show up in the Preferences.
   
2. With Clover Configurator.app, in the Boot page, I checked nvda_drv=1.
3. I downloaded Clover_v2.3k_r3599, the last release.
4. With it I selected EmuVariableUefi-64. I didn't work.
   
5. Then I selected Install RC scripts on target volume. Ditto.

I must have missed something. Or should I toss all the gear as definitely useless?
I am stuck on the mobo's HDMI 1080 connection. The Nvidia Driver Manager Preferences is glued apparently forever on the OS X Default Graphics Driver and yet I tried selecting it then, instead of accepting to restart, first clicking on the lock.
If I start up with both cables (mobo's HDMI and GPU's DP) connected it's the HDMI that's selected. If I start with the GPU's DP cable, the monitor says there is no signal.
I tried many times. I spent the day on it.

It seems I'll never succeed making this darn build ever work. Any solution besides buying a gun and unloading the magazine on it?

TIA

Nick

If you are booting with nvda_drv=1 then the driver manager saying OS X default driver is only cosmetic.

 

[NicoD]

If you are booting with nvda_drv=1 then the driver manager saying OS X default driver is only cosmetic.

And that means…?
I am just a dummy. I should never have started this project at all in the first place. I hardly understand what I read in most of the guides and I do one mistake after the other. I had no idea about what a boot flag is, what it's for, where and how to set it up. I try to do what's in the guides and yet it hardly means anything to me.
Yet, step by step I managed to have this idiot work, sort of, except for the GPU.
I must have done something wrong.
Is my step #2 correct: With Clover Configurator.app, in the Boot page, I checked nvda_drv=1?
TIA
Nick

 

[slim.jim]

And that means…?
I am just a dummy. I should never have started this project at all in the first place. I hardly understand what I read in most of the guides and I do one mistake after the other. I had no idea about what a boot flag is, what it's for, where and how to set it up. I try to do what's in the guides and yet it hardly means anything to me.
Yet, step by step I managed to have this idiot work, sort of, except for the GPU.
I must have done something wrong.
Is my step #2 correct: With Clover Configurator.app, in the Boot page, I checked nvda_drv=1?
TIA
Nick

As long as you were editing the correct config.plist located on the EFI partition in /EFI/Clover/ and checked nvda_drv=1 in Clover Configurator, and saved of course, then you are using the Nvidia Web Driver regardless of what the Nvidia Driver Manager says. Make sure you do not have Inject Nvidia checked on the graphics section of Clover Configurator and also make sure nv_disable=1 is not checked. If you want to post your config.plist I would be happy to look at it to make sure everything is correct.

 

[NicoD]

As long as you were editing the correct config.plist located on the EFI partition in /EFI/Clover/

I am sorry, Jim, that means nothing to me. I just ran Multibeast and Clover, hoping I would be done with that.
Is there a comprenhensive guide that would help me with all that? I only found bits and pieces.

and checked nvda_drv=1 in Clover Configurator, and saved of course, then you are using the Nvidia Web Driver regardless of what the Nvidia Driver Manager says.

I wouldn't care if I had the resolution I want.
I just opened Clover Configurator again and the option was not checked. I checked it again, quit and saved. When I reopened it it was still not checked. Is there something wrong?
I was thinking about something that may be an issue too: I originally planned to do without a GPU and therefore in Multibeast I selected
Customization -> Graphics : HD 530
It should probably be deselected, right? I remember I read somewhere Multibeast couldn't uninstall stuff with but you had to do it manually but I don't remember where. Is it in /Library/Extensions? and which file should I remove if I have to? I didn't find a file with a name that looked like that.

Make sure you do not have Inject Nvidia checked on the graphics section of Clover Configurator and also make sure nv_disable=1 is not checked. If you want to post your config.plist I would be happy to look at it to make sure everything is correct.

I didn't Inject Nvidia. I have several config.plist files. I upload the last one.
TIA
Nick

 

[slim.jim]

I am sorry, Jim, that means nothing to me. I just ran Multibeast and Clover, hoping I would be done with that.
Is there a comprenhensive guide that would help me with all that? I only found bits and pieces.


I wouldn't care if I had the resolution I want.
I just opened Clover Configurator again and the option was not checked. I checked it again, quit and saved. When I reopened it it was still not checked. Is there something wrong?
I was thinking about something that may be an issue too: I originally planned to do without a GPU and therefore in Multibeast I selected
Customization -> Graphics : HD 530
It should probably be deselected, right? I remember I read somewhere Multibeast couldn't uninstall stuff with but you had to do it manually but I don't remember where. Is it in /Library/Extensions? and which file should I remove if I have to? I didn't find a file with a name that looked like that.


I didn't Inject Nvidia. I have several config.plist files. I upload the last one.
TIA
Nick

When you launch Clover Configurator are you mounting an EFI partition before editing any settings?

If not, then you aren't editing the config.plist that actually matters.

 

[NicoD]

When you launch Clover Configurator are you mounting an EFI partition before editing any settings?

Well, err… I am going to look like an idiot, once more. I made a Google search "EFI partition" and found the page How to Mount EFI Partition and therefore the app EFI Mounter v3. Yet in the discussions I read it's obvious everybody seems to be familiar with it but I could find no definition and no explanation.
That doesn't tell me:

• What's EFI?
• What's an EFI partition?
• What means mounting it?
• At what point do you have to do it?
  
• What for?
• Does it need to be unmounted once you are done?

I am a complete idiot. I have been using Macs only during thirty years and never had to hack stuff under the hood, especially not under PCs hood. I consistently apply instructions I read just to realize there was plenty of understatements I had no idea about and therefore I skip important details.

If not, then you aren't editing the config.plist that actually matters.

One more idiot's question: what "editing the config.plist" actually mean? I found plenty of them on my HD but I have no idea about what they are for. I thought Multibeast and Clover were meant to tweak into some folders in the Library. Wrong?
Sorry for my dummy questions. Is there a comprehensive guide about all those concepts? All the ones I read skip some stuff that are obviously trivial for everybody else. I realize it's as if I was asking "Err… what's a hard disk?"
Nick

 

[joevt]

Well, err… I am going to look like an idiot, once more. I made a Google search "EFI partition" and found the page How to Mount EFI Partition and therefore the app EFI Mounter v3. Yet in the discussions I read it's obvious everybody seems to be familiar with it but I could find no definition and no explanation.
That doesn't tell me:

• What's EFI?
• What's an EFI partition?
• What means mounting it?
• At what point do you have to do it?
  
• What for?
• Does it need to be unmounted once you are done?

I am a complete idiot. I have been using Macs only during thirty years and never had to hack stuff under the hood, especially not under PCs hood. I consistently apply instructions I read just to realize there was plenty of understatements I had no idea about and therefore I skip important details.


One more idiot's question: what "editing the config.plist" actually mean? I found plenty of them on my HD but I have no idea about what they are for. I thought Multibeast and Clover were meant to tweak into some folders in the Library. Wrong?
Sorry for my dummy questions. Is there a comprehensive guide about all those concepts? All the ones I read skip some stuff that are obviously trivial for everybody else. I realize it's as if I was asking "Err… what's a hard disk?"
Nick

EFI = Extensible Firmware Interface. It's a type of BIOS that replaces the old BIOS used to boot PCs. Another example of a BIOS is Open Firmware used in old Power PC Macs. Before that, Mac's using the 68K processor didn't use any such standard.

EFI partition = This partition on disks formatted with a GPT (GUID Partition Table) is where EFI looks for default boot loader at path /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.efi. You may edit the EFI boot options to add other boot files from non default locations (/EFI/Clover/Cloverx64.efi, or /EFI/Windows/... or /EFI/Ubuntu/..., etc.). You can see the boot options when you press F12 or when you press Delete to enter the EFI BIOS settings (or use whatever keys work on your system). Other partitioning schemes like GPT are MBR (used by old PC BIOS), and Apple Partition Table (used by older Macs).

Mounted partitions are partitions that you can see in the Finder or Windows explorer. The EFI partition is not mounted automatically so you usually don't see it. There are ways to change that - for example, the Clover preferences panel installed by the Clover installer (at http://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot/files/ ) has an option to automatically mount the EFI partition at startup. Or you can mount the EFI partition manually using EFI Mounter or command lines in Terminal.app (diskutil list, mkdir, mount_msdos).

You want to mount the EFI partition to make changes to config.plist or to make other modifications to Clover (add themes, or DSDT and SSDT changes) or to look at the Clover boot log files or screenshots made in Clover, or to get the unedited DSDT that Clover can save. config.plist is a file located at /EFI/CLOVER/config.plist on the EFI partition. It is a plist file, so you can use a plist editor to edit it. I use a text editor like BBEdit instead.

The EFI partition does not need to be unmounted. It's just another partition while you're in Mac OS X.

Unibeast makes a bootable OS X installer flash drive which has an EFI partition with Clover in it.

Multibeast has options to change things on the EFI partition on the disk where you installed Mac OS X. I think it may also put kexts in /Library/Extensions where Mac OS X is installed.

They make changes to Clover on the EFI partition which affects the Mac OS X library (/System/Library/Extensions), without changing any files in the Mac OS X library. Kexts can be placed in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/10.11/ which will be "injected" into Mac OS X.

Read more about Clover at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot/files/

(The source forge website is currently broken, otherwise I would be more specific).

 

[NicoD]

Thanks Joe for your input.

A miracle happened!

I found interesting material on another site and could understand what it's all about (well… hopefully). I skip some useless steps so here is the procedure I followed:

• I downloaded EFI Mounter and after reboot
• I mounted the EFI partition
• I ran Clover and clicked on Mount EFI.
• In Boot I clicked on nvda_drv=1
• In the Preferences > NVIDIA Driver Manager page I selected the NVIDIA Web Driver option.
• I shut down.
  
• I disconnected the HDMI cable from the mobo and connected the DP cable to the GPU.
• I restarted.
• I took ages after the monitor had displayed "No signal" until it displayed "DP". That was good news.
• It took more ages before something appeared.
• In the Preferences > NVIDIA Driver Manager page it was the NVIDIA Web Driver option that selected!
• In the Preferences > Displays the 2560 x 1440 px / 60 Hz option was available! And it worked!

So, yes, I have a normal screen now! The nightmare seems over (let's cross fingers).

Is it normal that in Clover, even having mounted the EFI partition the nvda_drv=1 is unchecked?

Thank you all, folks, for your patience and your help!

Nick

 

[joevt]

Thanks Joe for your input.

A miracle happened!

I found interesting material on another site and could understand what it's all about (well… hopefully). I skip some useless steps so here is the procedure I followed:

• I downloaded EFI Mounter and after reboot
• I mounted the EFI partition
• I ran Clover and clicked on Mount EFI.
• In Boot I clicked on nvda_drv=1
• In the Preferences > NVIDIA Driver Manager page I selected the NVIDIA Web Driver option.
• I shut down.
  
• I disconnected the HDMI cable from the mobo and connected the DP cable to the GPU.
• I restarted.
• I took ages after the monitor had displayed "No signal" until it displayed "DP". That was good news.
• It took more ages before something appeared.
• In the Preferences > NVIDIA Driver Manager page it was the NVIDIA Web Driver option that selected!
• In the Preferences > Displays the 2560 x 1440 px / 60 Hz option was available! And it worked!

So, yes, I have a normal screen now! The nightmare seems over (let's cross fingers).

Is it normal that in Clover, even having mounted the EFI partition the nvda_drv=1 is unchecked?

Thank you all, folks, for your patience and your help!

Nick

nvda_drv=1 can be in config.plist or in the NVRAM or both. Clover changes config.plist. The NVIDIA Driver Manager preferences panel changes NVRAM. To see NVRAM in Mac OS X, type "nvram -p" in Terminal.app and look at the output for "boot-args".

 

[slim.jim]

nvda_drv=1 can be in config.plist or in the NVRAM or both. Clover changes config.plist. The NVIDIA Driver Manager preferences panel changes NVRAM. To see NVRAM in Mac OS X, type "nvram -p" in Terminal.app and look at the output for "boot-args".

You can just type: sudo nvram boot-args