Much like Linux, Mac OSX has the reputation (especially OSx86) for having a quite rapid development cycle. When I first began my exploration of OSx86, installing macvidia’s Nvidia drivers were a bit more complexed than I would have liked them to be. Now, things are just as simple as double clicking on a package, and rebooting. So you’re wondering..why write a how-to on something so simple? Well the answer is, that most of the time things don’t work out to be that easy. This how-to will attempt to address work arounds, for common problems that people have with these beta drivers. All my knowledge on this topic is derived completely from playing around with the drivers themselves, and speaking with the developers and other competent users on the macvidia IRC channel.
When you do a fresh OSx86 installation, you find several Nvidia kext files in ‘/System/Library/Extensions/’ the first step to installing macvidia’s drivers, is to delete all of them! You would do this like this:
sudo -s Password: ******
rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/all_nvidia_and_geforce_kexts.kext
Ofcourse, replace ‘all_nvidia_and_geforce_kexts.kext’ with all of the nvidia, and geforce kext files in this directory.
If you install the package, and then realize that you’re getting the mac screen of death, or just a blank screen, you’ve got driver issues. The latest build is version 1.5, I suggest you start with 1.3, and work your way up until you find the latest one that works. I’ve had the most success with 1.4 currently, since 1.5 refuses to work for me. Try playing around with older versions of the driver and find one that works.
Now that all of those kext files are gone, that effectively kills the dead Nvidia drivers that apple packs with their OS. Now, download your favorite macvidia driver version off of Macvidia's site (we’re using the packages for this how-to), and double click the file you downloaded. Go through the regular setup process, and when you’re done, before you click shutdown, follow these steps:
Open up a terminal, and type the following:
sudo nano /System/Library/Extensions/NVidiaHal.kext/Contents/Info.plist
Assuming that you know how to use ‘nano’, find the line that says IOPCIMATCH, and put your video cards device in there. In order to get your video cards device id, open up system profiler, and click on Graphics/Display:
Type: VGA-Compatible Controller Bus: PCI VRAM (Total): 256 MB Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de) Device ID: 0x0221 <<<< Revision ID: 0x00a1 Kernel Extension Info: No Kext Loaded Displays: Display: Resolution: 1280 x 1024 Depth: 32-bit Color Core Image: Not Supported Main Display: Yes Mirror: Off Online: Yes Quartz Extreme: Not Supported
Now, that you’ve got your device ID, put it in the file mentioned above. Erase everything between “0x” and “10de” on that line, and put in your device id. That’s where it fits in. So it should read something like “0x022110de” (for Nvidia 6200 TC cards). Save the file in nano, and exit the terminal. Now click shutdown, on that installer.
If your computer rebooted, and you’re in your GUI again, then you can start performing a strange dance of thanks. You should notice some improvement in the GUI‘s response. To seal off the deal, open up the system profiler, and check graphics and display, it should read something looking more like this:
Type: Nvidia 6200 Bus: PCI VRAM (Total): 256 MB Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de) Device ID: 0x0221 Revision ID: 0x00a1 Displays: Display: Resolution: 1280 x 1024 Depth: 32-bit Color Core Image: Not Supported Main Display: Yes Mirror: Off Online: Yes Quartz Extreme: Not Supported
Congratulations! You now have 2d HW acceleration, your machine SHOULD run somewhat quicker. Now let’s just wait on the developers, to get 3d HW acceleration, QE/CI up and running, then we can all fire up DOOM3 and smile. It will be sooner than later.
If your drivers still aren’t working, try browsing through The Macvidia Forums for more information on your problem. I’ve found that you should clear any resolution boot statements, since this messes up the drivers. Also, if your computer begins to boot, but you get a black screen. Do this:
When the Darwin bootloader pops up, hit F8 and type:
'-s [Enter]'
Then when it boots up:
mount -a nano /etc/rc
Using nano, add the following lines to the top of this file (below the comments though):
kextload /System/Library/Extensions/NVDriver.kext kextload /System/Library/Extensions/NVidia.kext kextload /System/Library/Extensions/NVidiaHAL.kext
Make sure it’s in that order as well. Once you’re done, save the file and type:
reboot
You should boot into the GUI now without problems. If this is still not the case, there’s always the forums and IRC channels for you to use.