Asus nVidia GeForce 210 1GB DDR3 Working!

[Hackintosh2000]

This is a guide to get an Asus nVidia GeForce 210 1GB DDR3 working with full acceleration. The PC I installed the nVidia 210 in works fine in 10.6.7 but I got the dreaded "pci configuration begin" message upon updating to 10.6.8. I don't know if its the card or the method of getting the card to work, YMMV.

 

First of all remove all graphics injectors. Remove GraphicsEnabler in your com.apple.Boot.plist file. This method worked in 10.6.3. It continued to work after updating to 10.6.7. And it works with updated nVidia drivers. There is no need to add the device ID to any kexts and indeed that may actually screw up the process.

 

First download OSx86 Tools from HERE.

 

Run the program. Click on the "Add EFI Strings/Boot Flag" button. Then click on the "GFX Strings" icon in the upper left. In the Graphics Card menu choose "custom GeForce." Then type in the name of your graphics card in the menu that pops up. I typed "nVidia GeForce 210." I don't know how important this is. It may be just cosmetic.

 

 

Then select the size of your RAM from the next menu. I chose a gig.

 

 

Now choose your output configuration. I chose DVI/VGA.

 

 

An EFI string will then be generated. Its the numbers in the lower window. Just copy the EFI string...

 

 

...and paste it into your com.apple.Boot.plist file. The com.apple.Boot.plist file is found in the /Extra folder. Make sure you add <key>device-properties</key> on the line before you insert the string.

 

 

Let me know if it works for you.

 

PS. I know some of you are going to be lazy so here is my EFI string. It should be one long string of characters. Line breaks were added for web presentation. There is no guarantee simply copying and pasting my string will work for YOUR setup.

 

<?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>GenerateCStates</key>
	 <string>Yes</string>
	 <key>GeneratePStates</key>
	 <string>Yes</string>
	 <key>Kernel</key>
	 <string>mach_kernel</string>
	 <key>Kernel Flags</key>
	 <string></string>
	 <key>Timeout</key>
	 <string>5</string>
	 <key>device-properties</key>
	 <string>640200000100000001000000580200000d00000002010c00d041030a00000000010106000001010106000
 0007fff04001e00000072006f006d002d007200650076006900730069006f006e0000002a0000006e56696469612047654
 66f72636520323130204f70656e474c20456e67696e65205b4546495d22000000400030002c0064006500760069006300
 65005f00740079007000650000000b000000646973706c6179100000004e0056004300410050000000180000000400000
 0000003000400000000000007000000000e0000006e0061006d00650000000b000000646973706c61791400000040003
 0002c006e0061006d0065000000120000004e5644412c446973706c61792d41100000006d006f00640065006c00000016
 0000006e5669646961204765466f726365203231300e0000004e00560050004d000000200000000100000000000000000
 000000000000000000000000000000000000014000000400031002c006e0061006d0065000000120000004e5644412c4
 46973706c61792d4220000000400031002c0063006f006d00700061007400690062006c00650000000e0000004e564441
 2c4e564d6163220000005600520041004d002c0074006f00740061006c00730069007a006500000008000000000000402
 0000000400030002c0063006f006d00700061007400690062006c00650000000e0000004e5644412c4e564d6163220000
 00400031002c006400650076006900630065005f00740079007000650000000b000000646973706c61791c00000064006
 50076006900630065005f00740079007000650000000f0000004e5644412c506172656e74</string>
 </dict>
 </plist>

 

If the string worked you should be able to see the graphics cards name in the system profile. Click the apple icon and then select About This Mac, then more information or system report or something like that. You should see something like this...

 

[OceanMindedBoy]

I just signed for this forum to say "you are a genius!"

 

The best way to do it is to create your own. Also, for people who doesn't have the com.apple.boot.plist file in the /extra folder then it can be found in /library/preferences/systemconfiguration/ and it will work as well.

 

Thank you so much. You rock

[Hackintosh2000]

I just signed for this forum to say "you are a genius!"

 

The best way to do it is to create your own. Also, for people who doesn't have the com.apple.boot.plist file in the /extra folder then it can be found in /library/preferences/systemconfiguration/ and it will work as well.

 

Thank you so much. You rock

 

 

Thanks for your feedback and praise. I'm glad you got it working. Also thanks for the additional information regarding the com.apple.boot.plist file. I'm sure somebody else will benefit from the information.

[Joekiko]

I tried to make a custom EFI string but the OSx86 Tools don't work propably :/ the Error message that appears is the following

 

AppleScript Error

Can't make "0" into type boolean.(-1700)

 

Is there a way to get around this message ?

[cpirius]

I tried to make a custom EFI string but the OSx86 Tools don't work propably :/ the Error message that appears is the following

 

AppleScript Error

Can't make "0" into type boolean.(-1700)

 

Is there a way to get around this message ?

 

 

I have not tired this, but I saw a note about that error message in this guide:

 

http://3rr0rists.net/driver/how-to-use-gfx...ver-newbie.html

[Hackintosh2000]

I tried to make a custom EFI string but the OSx86 Tools don't work propably :/ the Error message that appears is the following

 

AppleScript Error

Can't make "0" into type boolean.(-1700)

 

Is there a way to get around this message ?

 

 

At what stage in the process are you getting this message?

[The Weez]

So I'm a complete noob to macs and hackintosh. I've got 10.6.7 running and have been unable to get graphics acceleration working with my 512MB nVidia GeForce 210. I've tried a couple of the other methods but realized I was out of my league. So I tried your method; got the string from osx86 tools, put it in my .plist file, rebooted. Still stuck with one resolution and screenshots don't work.

 

Please forgive my noob questions. I don't know where to go from here, what else to try.

 

Does it matter that I use [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url]? I noticed some people use Chameleon/Chimera and I wasn't sure if it was one or the other.

[Chris230291]

should this work on the 8400GS 512?

because it didn't for me

i tried the custom method and also just choosing my card from the drop-down list, neither worked :/

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Hackintosh2000]

So I'm a complete noob to macs and hackintosh. I've got 10.6.7 running and have been unable to get graphics acceleration working with my 512MB nVidia GeForce 210. I've tried a couple of the other methods but realized I was out of my league. So I tried your method; got the string from osx86 tools, put it in my .plist file, rebooted. Still stuck with one resolution and screenshots don't work.

 

Please forgive my noob questions. I don't know where to go from here, what else to try.

 

Does it matter that I use [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url]? I noticed some people use Chameleon/Chimera and I wasn't sure if it was one or the other.

 

Make sure you have removed all enabler kexts and rebuilt caches. Also make sure you do NOT have GraphicsEnabler=Yes in your com.apple.Boot.plist file.

 

Make sure that you have selected the correct output configuration for your card. I'm not sure whether it differs from one 210 to another but its worth tinkering with.

 

Also make sure <key>device-properties</key> appears in the line above where you insert the string.

 

What does your device properties for your graphics card show? Does it read "GeForce 210"?

 

should this work on the 8400GS 512?

because it didn't for me

i tried the custom method and also just choosing my card from the drop-down list, neither worked :/

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

When you say it didn't work what do you mean? Were you able to generate a string? Did you insert the string correctly into the com.apple.Boot.plist file? What video card does your system profiler show? How much VRAM does it show? Did you choose the right output configurations? Did you remove all enabler kexts and remove GraphicsEnabler=yes?

[The Weez]

Make sure you have removed all enabler kexts and rebuilt caches. Also make sure you do NOT have GraphicsEnabler=Yes in your com.apple.Boot.plist file.

 

Make sure that you have selected the correct output configuration for your card. I'm not sure whether it differs from one 210 to another but its worth tinkering with.

 

Also make sure <key>device-properties</key> appears in the line above where you insert the string.

 

What does your device properties for your graphics card show? Does it read "GeForce 210"?

How do I identify which kexts to remove, and how to I rebuild caches?

 

I should mention that I tried setting up graphics through [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url]. It installed some stuff but didn't work. Is there anything I need to undo regarding that?

 

Where exactly do I look for device properties? REmember, I'm a TOTAL mac noob.

 

Under "About this Mac" and "More info", here's what it says for display:

 

Display:

 

Type: GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 32 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0a65

Revision ID: 0x00a2

Displays:

Display:

Resolution: 1024 x 768

Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

 

Update: It seems to be working now. I left out <key>device-properties</key> from the plist file.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Tim

[Hackintosh2000]

Update: It seems to be working now. I left out <key>device-properties</key> from the plist file.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Tim

 

Sweet! Another satisfied customer. If you need to add kexts or rebuild caches or repair permissions look into Kext Wizard. Enjoy your Hackintosh my friend.

[doc_u]

Thanks for the post!

 

Just followed this on an Asus 210 1GB silent and it runs great, enables 1920x1200 @ 60 on my 24" Dell display.

FrontRow opens and runs (under 10.6.7) so I assume that QE/CI are enabled...

 

Again, thanks for the help!

 

-doc

[Hackintosh2000]

Thanks for the post!

 

Just followed this on an Asus 210 1GB silent and it runs great, enables 1920x1200 @ 60 on my 24" Dell display.

FrontRow opens and runs (under 10.6.7) so I assume that QE/CI are enabled...

 

Again, thanks for the help!

 

-doc

 

Nice. I put a "Silent" in my friend's computer. That's what kicked off this whole odyssey. It was a pain in the rear. Glad I could help. I hope I saved you some pain.

[saimadma]

I setting in my Kalyway 10.5.2 a but!! VGA card driver not work is show apple logo and no loading

 

no gray srceen like crashed

 

 

 

Please help me!!!

 

My VGA Card is nVidia GeForce EN210

[Joekiko]

Sry, was on vacation for a week. I found a workaround in the guide that has been postet but the Problem is that ma graphics card isnt listed in"show package contents> contents> resources" :/ So i guess there is no way to get my card up and running ?

I will start to work on it again by today if i make progress somehow i try to provide Information

[Hackintosh2000]

Sry, was on vacation for a week. I found a workaround in the guide that has been postet but the Problem is that ma graphics card isnt listed in"show package contents> contents> resources" :/ So i guess there is no way to get my card up and running ?

I will start to work on it again by today if i make progress somehow i try to provide Information

 

You have to make sure that there is an OS X driver for your card. I first researched and made sure the nVidia 210 was supported. Once I knew there was a driver I tried out different ways to get the card to work.

 

I setting in my Kalyway 10.5.2 a but!! VGA card driver not work is show apple logo and no loading

 

no gray srceen like crashed

 

 

 

Please help me!!!

 

My VGA Card is nVidia GeForce EN210

 

 

What do you get when you boot verbose?

 

If the ONLY problem you have is our nVidia 210 not being recognized you should be able to boot to the desktop but in lo-res without acceleration. If you fail to even make it to the desktop you may have something else going on beyond your unrecognized graphics card.

 

Boot verbose and let us know what you find.

[munakib]

@Hackintosh2000

 

You are fantastic man....I can confirm that this method works for my BioStar nVidia 210, 1GB DDR3 graphics card. I copied and pasted your plist too so its all good

 

Spread the word - 210 works - QE/CL!

[tanbk168]

Asus EN210 512mb works on Snow Leopard and Lion. Use Graphicsenabler=yes and EFI strings.

[munakib]

Asus EN210 512mb works on Snow Leopard and Lion. Use Graphicsenabler=yes and EFI strings.

 

Hey tanbk168, how did you get past the pci configuration begin bit in Lion? Evreytime I use [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] I get into that trouble so I want to avoid using [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url].....could you share the steps on how you get graphics enabler on?

[Hackintosh2000]

Hey tanbk168, how did you get past the pci configuration begin bit in Lion? Evreytime I use [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] I get into that trouble so I want to avoid using [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url].....could you share the steps on how you get graphics enabler on?

 

Googled and found this "best fix is adding kernel boot flag npci=0×2000."

 

@Hackintosh2000

 

You are fantastic man....I can confirm that this method works for my BioStar nVidia 210, 1GB DDR3 graphics card. I copied and pasted your plist too so its all good

 

Spread to word - 210 works - QE/CL!

 

Thanks for the feedback. And thanks for testing out the copy and paste method. I suppose it works for some people. Happy Hackintoshing

 

Asus EN210 512mb works on Snow Leopard and Lion. Use Graphicsenabler=yes and EFI strings.

 

I'm guessing you mean using Graphicenabler=yes OR an EFI String, not both together?

[tanbk168]

Googled and found this "best fix is adding kernel boot flag npci=0×2000."

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback. And thanks for testing out the copy and paste method. I suppose it works for some people. Happy Hackintoshing

 

 

 

I'm guessing you mean using Graphicenabler=yes OR an EFI String, not both together?

 

Hi, I have Graphicsenabler=yes and the custom EFI strings both in the com.apple.boot.plist in my lion/Extra folder. It works when I have both.

 

Hey tanbk168, how did you get past the pci configuration begin bit in Lion? Evreytime I use [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] I get into that trouble so I want to avoid using [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url].....could you share the steps on how you get graphics enabler on?

 

As what Hackintosh2000 had mentioned, I also have npci=0x2000 in my com.apple.boot.plist.... glad that you have resolved the issue...

[munakib]

Hi, I have Graphicsenabler=yes and the custom EFI strings both in the com.apple.boot.plist in my lion/Extra folder. It works when I have both.

 

 

 

As what Hackintosh2000 had mentioned, I also have npci=0x2000 in my com.apple.boot.plist.... glad that you have resolved the issue...

 

Can you guys pls share the text inside your com.apple.boot.plist, like in the OP?

Hackintosh2000 - so have you moved to Lion yet? or are you happy with the stability at 10.6.6?

[Hackintosh2000]

Hi, I have Graphicsenabler=yes and the custom EFI strings both in the com.apple.boot.plist in my lion/Extra folder. It works when I have both.

 

Can you do me a favor. Can you change Graphicsenabler=yes to "no" and see if it works. My understanding is that Graphicsenabler and EFI string are two ways of accomplishing the same thing.

 

Can you guys pls share the text inside your com.apple.boot.plist, like in the OP?

Hackintosh2000 - so have you moved to Lion yet? or are you happy with the stability at 10.6.6?

 

I'm on Lion Retail on my hackintosh. The hackintosh I put the nVidia 210 in is a friends. I updated it to 10.6.7 and it worked fine. I got the PCI Configuration Begin thing with 10.6.8. So I rolled back to 10.6.7 and left it there. I don't have unfettered access to that hackintosh so I have not attempted a Lion upgrade.

[munakib]

Can you do me a favor. Can you change Graphicsenabler=yes to "no" and see if it works. My understanding is that Graphicsenabler and EFI string are two ways of accomplishing the same thing.

 

I'm on Lion Retail on my hackintosh. The hackintosh I put the nVidia 210 in is a friends. I updated it to 10.6.7 and it worked fine. I got the PCI Configuration Begin thing with 10.6.8. So I rolled back to 10.6.7 and left it there. I don't have unfettered access to that hackintosh so I have not attempted a Lion upgrade.

Hey all,

 

so i managed to get dvi/hdmi/vga, Dual Display, working using the following method for 10.6.6

1. I deleted the customer EFI string (for geforce 210) from the com apple boot completely

2. without restarting - installed tonymacx86's nVidia graphics driver update

3. without restarting - installed [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url], selecting ONLY System Utilities, boot with - 32bit Graphics Enabler and Chimera bootloader)

4. Restarted PC - took a few more minutes to load but bang...all done.

HDMI + VGA + DVI (dual display)

 

Now I am trying to figure out how to get the sound working through the HDMI.

Lion was a pain in the butt for me with all the pci hangs so I will test that later.

[Hackintosh2000]

Hey all,

 

so i managed to get dvi/hdmi/vga, Dual Display, working using the following method for 10.6.6

1. I deleted the customer EFI string (for geforce 210) from the com apple boot completely

2. without restarting - installed tonymacx86's nVidia graphics driver update

3. without restarting - installed [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url], selecting ONLY System Utilities, boot with - 32bit Graphics Enabler and Chimera bootloader)

4. Restarted PC - took a few more minutes to load but bang...all done.

HDMI + VGA + DVI (dual display)

 

Now I am trying to figure out how to get the sound working through the HDMI.

Lion was a pain in the butt for me with all the pci hangs so I will test that later.

 

Which nVidia 210 do you have? I've heard rumors that the 512 mb works with GraphicsEnablre=Yes. That's why I bought the 210. Unfortunately I bought the 1 GB version because I assumed it would be better.I t was not able to work with GraphicsEnabler=Yes. Instead I had to use the EFI string method. That's why I specified 1 GB in the title of the thread.