Solving NVIDIA Driver Install & Loading Problems

[slim.jim]

I'll look into a CMOS, I've reset BIOS to default, and flashed it a few times with no result.

A bios reset doesn't always fix things. A CMOS reset should be a button on the back of your board by all the I/O ports. Shut down the machine and press the button. Once you boot up you should be greeted with the initial setup prompt for your bios. Make the appropriate changes for your system to boot OS X and then save and reboot.

 

[KnifeYouSoBad]

A bios reset doesn't always fix things. A CMOS reset should be a button on the back of your board by all the I/O ports. Shut down the machine and press the button. Once you boot up you should be greeted with the initial setup prompt for your bios. Make the appropriate changes for your system to boot OS X and then save and reboot.

Problem persists through CMOS reset. With both pci1 and internal attempted as post.

Thanks for the help Jim, I really appreciate it.

 

[slim.jim]

Problem persists through CMOS reset. With both pci1 and internal attempted as post.

Thanks for the help Jim, I really appreciate it.

The only other thing I can think of would be to try booting from a fresh Clover or Chimera install on a USB drive. If that works then you know where to problem lies.

 

[KnifeYouSoBad]

The only other thing I can think of would be to try booting from a fresh Clover or Chimera install on a USB drive. If that works then you know where to problem lies.

I've tried, doesn't seem to make a difference. I made a new key for an upgrade to 10.11, but I can't get the installer to load. I really don't know what to try next.

 

[slim.jim]

I've tried, doesn't seem to make a difference. I made a new key for an upgrade to 10.11, but I can't get the installer to load. I really don't know what to try next.

What happens when you boot the installer with -v?

 

[KnifeYouSoBad]

What happens when you boot the installer with -v?

Thanks for getting back to me, sorry I got a little preoccupied with holiday life stuffs.

I'm not entirely sure, I think I may have to attempt a clean video. It pops buy really quickly I haven't been able to see any errors. I'm running some backups right now. I'm going to back everything up and attempt a complete new fresh install on one of my raid drives. Have to backup the array data, and split the drives first.

The plan is to pull all non-essential components and start a fresh install of Yosemite from a Usb key back up I kept. This should in theory roll it back to a state where I know the software works 100% on the hardware. If I can't get it back then I have to assume a component is causing the issues.

When I can find a moment, I'll pull a video capture right from HDMI. Hopefully that will shed some light on the issue.

 

[d3k1d]

That is just cosmetic. If you are booting with nvda_drv=1 then you are using the web driver.

Oh perfect!!! I thought that something is wrong because it changes everytime back to OS X Default Graphics Driver.

 

[drho2004]

Then you should add nvda_drv=1 to your kernel flags to use the Nvidia web drivers. Don't use the system preferences or menu bar toggle to choose the driver.

thank you for all the assistance! finally got the gtx980 working again. one thing that i find interesting is that the fans on the card are not running once i boot into osx. the fans turn on during the BIOS POST sequence but turn off.
also i noticed that the os feels a bit more 'laggy' than with my old ati card in there.
and one more thing, my boot.plist went back into looking like this:

<?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>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>nvda_drv=1</string>
</dict>
</plist>

its missing all the other items i had before inserting the nvda_drv=1 flag:

<?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>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>No</string>
<key>IGPEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>kext-dev-mode=1</string>
<key>Legacy Logo</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>Timeout</key>
<string>2</string>
<key>GenerateCStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>GeneratePStates</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>UseKernelCache</key>
<string>Yes</string>
</dict>
</plist>

any advice would be appreciated, thanks again!

 

[KnifeYouSoBad]

What happens when you boot the installer with -v?

I have an update, not sure what to make of this.

I pulled all my drives, the 970 and started a fresh install of 10.10, got that running(intel 4600 only). Updated 10.10.0-10.10.5(14F1509). I installed 346.02.03f04, installed the 970, crossed my fingers and loaded the web drivers. For the first time in months the thing booted without crashes. I did not have any additional monitors attached at the time. System reports both cards in system profiler, but only one in about this mac.

I shut it down, attached my monitors and booted. Same kernel panic. Problem not solved.

I've run some tests and heres some more information, maybe someone will have some insights.

Working conditions of the GTX970 are far from acceptable. It can be booted with the 4600 disabled in bios(I need a DVI connection from it), if only 1 display is attached to either Port 2(dvi-d) or Port 3(Hdmi) maybe the display port but I don't have a monitor to test. You cannot attach any monitor to Port 1(dvi-i) during boot without failure, both a div-i and dvi-d device was tested. It is also not possible to boot while more than one device is installed.

Interestingly enough, since OSX can sense an attached display and add it while running, plugging in all my monitors while the system is up results in them working.

It is also impossible to boot while both the 970 and the 4600 are active. The most successful attempt brought me to the login, glitchy and only displaying on the 4600. It was also possible to boot the 970 with a single display while the 4600 was enabled but not injected, that did cause the issue of it not working.

I know there are some bios updates available for the 970 I'm using, but I have no idea if it will make this worse or not. Not sure that if I upgrade them if I can roll them back. Outside of doing that all I can think of is rolling back to 10.10.0 but I don't know if it will work. I didn't acquire this card until my system was at 10.10.2 and had everything working stable on a 10.10.3 build. I have no idea how difficult it would be to find those updates.

Side Note: I attempted to load the 10.11 installer when the GPU and drived where pulled. Still did nothing, verbose gets 2 lines in and crashes. optiofix starts overrides ,using reloc block and then panics. I gave up on that.

 

[dahe]

I have issues with GTX 660 Ti. No signal "black screen".

I installed El Capitan with nv_disable=1 npci=0x2000 and installed the Nvdia Web Driver.
Added the flags dart=0 nvda_drv=1 -v.

SMBIOS. iMac 17,1
I have No signal.

Any solution ?

Thanks