Help: Fixing Lenovo Y510p Nvidia GT 755M on OS X Yosemite 10.10.2

[intruder16]

Some news?

 

...By the way, you have modded bios so you can do us a favour here. Can you disable Intel from BIOS and boot to Windows using only nvidia? This may answer something.

 

There seems to be some bug in BIOS. I can disable IGPU and enable "PEG" (Nvidia) only but the problem is the settings are not sticking. The video settings reset to default everytime i change it.

 

Anybody with solution?

[ahmed_ais]

There seems to be some bug in BIOS. I can disable IGPU and enable "PEG" (Nvidia) only but the problem is the settings are not sticking. The video settings reset to default everytime i change it.

 

Anybody with solution?

 

I think you should inform the creator of the modded BIOS you are using about this. It is useless to have a feature that doesn't even work!

[intruder16]

I think you should inform the creator of the modded BIOS you are using about this. It is useless to have a feature that doesn't even work!

 

I don't know what's wrong. I posted the same thing on both the forums (here and the mod BIOS one), no reply yet. I created a whole new partition with a fresh install of Yosemite for testing purpose. Let's see if it can be fixed.

[intruder16]

It seems like "Primary Graphics" cannot be changed to "PEG" until you are running in SLI. So this is out of question for me. 

 

And disabling IGPU is much more riskier than i thought. You can see it in many forums.

 

Bottom line : Even mod BIOS won't help.

[ahmed_ais]

It seems like "Primary Graphics" cannot be changed to "PEG" until you are running in SLI. So this is out of question for me. 

 

And disabling IGPU is much more riskier than i thought. You can see it in many forums.

 

Bottom line : Even mod BIOS won't help.

 

Thanks for your attempts and help. Nothing more can be said until we know how the graphics hardware is connected inside Y510p.

[styrian]

Hello!

 

You can try to export ACPI tables with Clover (1x on Intel, 1x with NVDA SLI) and look in the tables, if there is a difference in display connection.

 

Have fun.

[ahmed_ais]

Hello!

 

You can try to export ACPI tables with Clover (1x on Intel, 1x with NVDA SLI) and look in the tables, if there is a difference in display connection.

 

Have fun.

 

I will give this a try, thanks!

[ahmed_ais]

Update:

 

I dumped the ACPI files from Clover (I hope it's trustworthy) in all graphics cases: Intel only, Intel+Nvidia (Optimus), and Nvidia + Nvidia (SLI). I disassembled all aml files into dsl files and used FileMerge to do the comparisons.

 

Comparing the files from Intel and Intel+Nvidia (Optimus) and these are my findings:

• DSDT, SSDT-0, SSDT-1, SSDT-2, SSDT-3x, SSDT-4x, SSDT-5x, SSDT-6 are identical with the only difference is the disassembly time.
• SSDT-7 appears in Intel+Nvidia (Optimus) case only and not for Intel. This was expected because SSDT-7 has the code for the built-in Nvidia card (I call the _OFF( ) method from this SSDT to disable Optimus in case of working with Intel)

 

Comparing the files from Intel and Nvidia+Nvidia (SLI) and these are my findings:

• DSDT:
  1. Disassembly time
  2. Checksum
  3. External (_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP.PWMC) -> External (_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP.PWMC, FieldUnitObj)
  4. OperationRegion (GNVS, SystemMemory, 0x8CFBCA98, 0x000002F6) -> OperationRegion (GNVS, SystemMemory, 0x8F7BCA98, 0x000002F6)
  5. OperationRegion (OGNS, SystemMemory, 0x8CFBBF98, 0x0000003A) -> OperationRegion (OGNS, SystemMemory, 0x8F7BBF98, 0x0000003A)
  6. Name (SRMB, 0x8FA10000) -> Name (SRMB, 0x90010000)
  7. OperationRegion (MDBG, SystemMemory, 0x8CFB8018, 0x00001004) -> OperationRegion (MDBG, SystemMemory, 0x8F7B8018, 0x00001004)
  8. OperationRegion (COMP, SystemMemory, 0x8CFBEC98, 0x00000200) -> OperationRegion (COMP, SystemMemory, 0x8F7BEC98, 0x00000200)
• SSDT-0 and SSDT-1:
  1. Disassembly time
• SSDT-2:
  1. Disassembly time
  2. Checksum
  3. Four values in Scope (\)   {Name (SSDT, Package (0x0C) ....
     
  4. OperationRegion (PPMT, SystemMemory, 0x8CFBBF18, 0x003A) -> OperationRegion (PPMT, SystemMemory, 0x8F7BBF18, 0x003A)
• SSDT-3x, SSDT-4x, SSDT-5x (useless tables anyway):
  1. Disassembly time
• SSDT-6:
  1. Disassembly time
  2. Checksum
  3. OperationRegion (SANV, SystemMemory, 0x8CFB7D98, 0x0141) -> OperationRegion (SANV, SystemMemory, 0x8F7B7D98, 0x0141)
• SSDT-7:
  1. Appears in Nvidia+Nvidia (SLI) only but not for Intel alone. 

I am not sure where to look further but there are significant differences when using Nvidia+Nvidia (SLI) indeed.

[intruder16]

Update:

 

I dumped the ACPI files from Clover (I hope it's trustworthy) in all graphics cases: Intel only, Intel+Nvidia (Optimus), and Nvidia + Nvidia (SLI). I disassembled all aml files into dsl files and used FileMerge to do the comparisons....

 

Nice work. Can you attach ACPI files from all the three cases?

[ahmed_ais]

Nice work. Can you attach ACPI files from all the three cases?

 

Sure thing .. 

ACPI.zip

[notten]

No more ideas here, guys? I'm so damn disappointed that this won't work. Especially since all the info looks so promising.

[ahmed_ais]

No more ideas here, guys? I'm so damn disappointed that this won't work. Especially since all the info looks so promising.

 

Me too but I did not expect much as the hardware configuration is not common and most people would not bother thinking about it.

[notten]

Actually, it seems like this configuration is more and more common. It looks like all the SLI Aliewnares, and that MSI laptop with the mechanical keyboard also have the same SLI + Optimus fallback in single GPU mode configuration. I would think at least one of those would have it figured out by now.

[ahmed_ais]

Maybe I will need to check other forums for that as I do not believe I passed by a thread for that here.

On the other hand, although being disappointed, the issue started to be less relevant to me. After I bought an SSD to boot from and used the HDD only for data through caddy, I rarely swap the HDD for the external Nvidia card. Unless I have a game that support SLI with a good SLI profile and it will be during game time only then I switch back.

 

Think of it as changing the default state of the laptop from SLI that can be removed to Single GFX that can be switched to SLI on demand. This is the most suitable configuration if we need OS X running on this laptop until further notice.

[notten]

What about running at 4K resolution? Can the HD4600 do that?

[ahmed_ais]

What about running at 4K resolution? Can the HD4600 do that?

I will instead tell you that Lenovo Ideapad Y510p theoretically supports running an external display at 4K resolution through HDMI. By design, Y510p have HDMI 1.4b and according to Wikipedia regarding HDMI 1.4 (which precedes 1.4a and 1.4b) :

 

HDMI 1.4 increases the maximum resolution to 4K × 2K, i.e. 4096×2160 at 24 Hz (which is a resolution used with digital theaters) or 3840×2160 (Ultra HD) at 24 Hz/25 Hz/30 Hz

So theoretically yes the hardware is able to do it. Remains the software part which I am not sure about. If you have a 4K display, try to connect it while running Windows and see if it can work. If it does, then try with OS X and see if the current driver support it or not.

[notten]

I can get this working over the NVidia card in Windows and Linux. Haven't tried the  Intel HD4600 at 4k, but my guess (based on some google searches) is that it probably supports it. However, I use the y510p with a seiki 4k screen on a daily basis in Linux and sometimes I use it in Windows. It would be terrible to only be unable to use it at 4k in OSX.

[ahmed_ais]

I can get this working over the NVidia card in Windows and Linux. Haven't tried the  Intel HD4600 at 4k, but my guess (based on some google searches) is that it probably supports it. However, I use the y510p with a seiki 4k screen on a daily basis in Linux and sometimes I use it in Windows. It would be terrible to only be unable to use it at 4k in OSX.

 

Why don't you just try?

[notten]

Sorry, I probably should have specified. I plugged it in, and it only detects 1920x1080 modes. I suppose I could add new graphics modes, but I'm not sure how to add modelines like in Linux. In Linux I used this:

 

Modeline "3840x2160" 307.00 3840 4016 4104 4400 2160 2168 2178 2250 +hsync +vsync

 

This gives 30Hz at 3840x2160 in Linux. How do I add something like this in OS X?

[ahmed_ais]

Sorry, I probably should have specified. I plugged it in, and it only detects 1920x1080 modes. I suppose I could add new graphics modes, but I'm not sure how to add modelines like in Linux. In Linux I used this:

 

Modeline "3840x2160" 307.00 3840 4016 4104 4400 2160 2168 2178 2250 +hsync +vsync

 

This gives 30Hz at 3840x2160 in Linux. How do I add something like this in OS X?

 

I believe you should give SwitchResX a try, many people report it is capable of doing what you are seeking. That, of course, if the current graphics driver for Mobile HD4600 on OS X support higher resolutions that are not visible in System Preferences. If there is a driver problem then even SwitchResX will not help. Also make sure you are not Mirroring the display because obviously the maximum resolution in this case will be the maximum for laptop display which is 1080p.

 

PS: your issue is related to Mobile HD4600 and has nothing to do with this thread's subject, hence it is off-topic. Please move the discussion of this issue here [recommended], or here, or start a new thread. This is to keep this thread dedicated for Nvidia issue only, thanks.

[notten]

Sorry, I only meant to continue the conversation we were having previously with regard to NVidia cards on OSX. I would agree that it's pointless to get the NVidia cards running on OSX for this laptop with the minor inconvenience of having to pull the 2nd card to get the OS to boot to a usable config. However, if there is a limitation like not being able to do 4K output because the Intel video chip doesn't support it, then I think that OSX is indeed crippled on the Y510P. Anyway, I'm gonna try SwitchResX now. I'll report with results in a sec.

 

 

I believe you should give SwitchResX a try, many people report it is capable of doing what you are seeking. That, of course, if the current graphics driver for Mobile HD4600 on OS X support higher resolutions that are not visible in System Preferences. If there is a driver problem then even SwitchResX will not help. Also make sure you are not Mirroring the display because obviously the maximum resolution in this case will be the maximum for laptop display which is 1080p.

 

PS: your issue is related to Mobile HD4600 and has nothing to do with this thread's subject, hence it is off-topic. Please move the discussion of this issue here [recommended], or here, or start a new thread. This is to keep this thread dedicated for Nvidia issue only, thanks.

[notten]

I'll report with results in a sec.

 

So, I tried SwitchResX and tried several timings and settings at 14Hz, 24Hz, 27Hz and 30Hz refresh, and none of them were accepted as valid modes at 3840x2160 resolution. 

[ahmed_ais]

So, I tried SwitchResX and tried several timings and settings at 14Hz, 24Hz, 27Hz and 30Hz refresh, and none of them were accepted as valid modes at 3840x2160 resolution. 

 

Sorry for that, try to ask in the topic I liked before and you will get more interesting suggestions.

[ahmed_ais]

Back on-topic

 

I made a quick search on some Hackintoshes that does have hardware configuration close to what we have in Y510p. One interesting laptop I found was 

Aorus X7 V2 which is capable of running Yosemite with full Nvidia GPU power (guide here). This is a brief comparison between the two laptops specs:

 

 

The Arous X7 V2, unlike Y510P, does not have ultrabay. This means, it have the two 860m active all the time (either in SLI mode or not) and the IGPU is inactive all the time as well. This is actually a plus for Y510 since we can disable all Nvidia GPU's any time and work with IGPU to save battery. But what's important is that this a proof when the 2 Nvidia GPUs are active the IGPU will be disabled. I started to believe that GT 755m have the capability to run in Optimus mode when IGPU is active but can also run as discrete card if IGPU is not there. I say this because GTX 860m does support Optimus Technology too and it is proven to work without IGPU under OS X.

 

The steps to get Aorus X7 V2 working with 2 GTX 860m (and no IGPU active) under Yosemite are pretty simple:

1. Putting the VBIOS ROM for 860m in Clover's location
2. Install Nvidia proprietary web driver
3. Clover's config.plist options: "Load VBIOS", "Inject Nvidia", "nvda_drv=1"

I believe I tried these before with Y510P though I have doubts about the GT 755m VBIOS ROM file. I had hard time extracting it as I could not find it online anywhere. Ironically, I am not able to extract it anymore using GPU-Z in Windows.

 

But there is a hope, I think!

[vusun123]

Extract it using Linux, or AIDA64. Gigabyte and Lenovo are 2 different companies here, so their technology might differ