Del Strega Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Hey there! I successfully installed Sierra on my Cube i7 Book tablet (Skylake Core M3-6y30 processor, HD515 Intel GFX) but am banging my head against the wall trying to get brightness controls to work. For 2 weeks now, I have been trying different SMBIOSes (9, 1MacBook, 17,1 iMac, 13,1/13,2 MacBookPro, etc..), tried patching AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext (with Clover Patch and through directly manipulating the info.plist) but the outcome is the same: When I don't have a PNLF-Device I can boot just fine and everything is hardware-accelerated. But when I use "Add PNLF" in Clover or add a PNLF into DSDT / SSDT my display will turn off after getting to about 70%-ish percent of the loading bar (when it switches to the login screen normally). Screen gets very dark very quickly until it turns off the display (the logs say that the display gets turned off). It doesn't matter if I use IntelBacklight.kext or not (brightness controls work fine with either, IF I can manage to login) I can sometimes turn the display back on after like 20ish seconds and sometimes it turns back on on its own, but when I try to login after "waking up" I only get the "spinning beachball" and I have to eventually turn off the system by holding down the power button. When I connect an external display while booting with PNLF I can login just fine on the external display but the internal display seems "gone" - I isn't shown in Display preference pane and I can't seem to use it. What's odd is that after a fresh install, I can boot ONCE just fine with PNLF: Brightness controls are working and everything. But when I reboot, from the 2nd boot onward, all I get is a black screen right before login. When I disable the PNLF though, I can login just fine, but naturally got no brightness controls. Additionally, when I switched from say "Add PNLF" in Clover to adding PNLF in DSDT or through an additional SSDT I could boot ONCE with working brightness and no black screen. But yeah only once. And now switching the method doesn't do a thing. From what I've seen the only difference in IOReg between booting with PNLF and without (apart from having a PNLF device) is that the display is called "AppleBacklightDisplay" instead of "AppleDisplay". But why one of them gets turned off during boot is beyond me. Did anyone encounter something like that and has some pointers on what I can try to fix that? I feel like I tried everything and dunno on how to proceed any further.. If you need any files I can try to provide them, although it's unlikely that I can boot up into Sierra with PNLF turned on again. Best regards, Del Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Are you using RehabMan's IntelBacklight.kext? (If so, try removing it) I have a similar issue whereby every couple of boots, the screen gradually dims till it turns off. On checking the nvram, I found that backlight is set to zero which causes the kext to lower brightness to zero on boot. Haven't found a fix yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RehabMan Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Are you using RehabMan's IntelBacklight.kext? (If so, try removing it) I have a similar issue whereby every couple of boots, the screen gradually dims till it turns off. On checking the nvram, I found that backlight is set to zero which causes the kext to lower brightness to zero on boot. Haven't found a fix yet. Fix your NVRAM implementation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Fix your NVRAM implementation. Brightness level is remembered across reboots so I think NVRAM is working. It seems to work correctly 90% of the time. Sometimes though (randomly) it just dims to zero on boot. Worth saying that I haven't had this issue in sometime. Maybe a Clover/macOS update fixed it. (Especially since Clover seems to use a new nvram save script). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RehabMan Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Brightness level is remembered across reboots so I think NVRAM is working. It seems to work correctly 90% of the time. Sometimes though (randomly) it just dims to zero on boot. It will only dim to zero when zero is stored in NVRAM. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I know. But where does (did?) that zero come from? I obviously never set brightness to zero before shutdown. Must have been nvram corruption (Clover issue?) Once again, I haven't had that problem in some time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosakgroove Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Maybe you could also try to inject your EDID in Clover boot loader, it can help with black screen issues. Also NVRAM implementation is a very important step to achieve good functionality. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RehabMan Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I know. But where does (did?) that zero come from? I obviously never set brightness to zero before shutdown. Zero can happen if you close the lid, then shutdown the computer (eg. using an external monitor). Must have been nvram corruption (Clover issue?) Recent churn there, so yes, that is also possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Strega Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 Okies, so I reinstalled the latest Clover + EmuVariable + RC-scripts and made sure that a sudo nvram Test=TestVal would survive a reboot and it did, so I assume that NVRAM is working correctly. Then I deleted nvram.plist from the EFI partition and reset NVRAM by typing sudo nvram -c and I added my EDID to the config.plist. Then I restarted and activated PNLF in the Clover boot menu. I could boot ONCE with a working brightness slider, checked nvram and it said intel-backlight-level %00%40%00%00 Didn't touch the slider though and just shut the tablet down. Then I tried booting again with "Add PNLF" activated but would only get a black screen again. I managed to turn the display on again though and chose "shutdown" from the login menu so it would at least save the NVRAM to disk. I then booted without PNLF and checked NVRAM only to see that it's still intel-backlight-level %00%40%00%00 I thought that I would get "another successful boot" when I would reset NVRAM again, so I deleted nvram.plist and did nvram -c again. But when I have "Add PNLF" activated I still can't boot without getting a black screen. Any ideas? :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosakgroove Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Okies, so I reinstalled the latest Clover + EmuVariable + RC-scripts and made sure that a sudo nvram Test=TestValwould survive a reboot and it did, so I assume that NVRAM is working correctly. Then I deleted nvram.plist from the EFI partition and reset NVRAM by typing sudo nvram -cand I added my EDID to the config.plist. Then I restarted and activated PNLF in the Clover boot menu. I could boot ONCE with a working brightness slider, checked nvram and it said intel-backlight-level %00%40%00%00Didn't touch the slider though and just shut the tablet down. Then I tried booting again with "Add PNLF" activated but would only get a black screen again. I managed to turn the display on again though and chose "shutdown" from the login menu so it would at least save the NVRAM to disk. I then booted without PNLF and checked NVRAM only to see that it's still intel-backlight-level %00%40%00%00I thought that I would get "another successful boot" when I would reset NVRAM again, so I deleted nvram.plist and did nvram -c again. But when I have "Add PNLF" activated I still can't boot without getting a black screen. Any ideas? :/ Most likely you should patch your DSDT for correct backlight control instead of using the not always functional Clover option AddPNLF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RehabMan Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Okies, so I reinstalled the latest Clover + EmuVariable + RC-scripts and made sure that a sudo nvram Test=TestValwould survive a reboot and it did, so I assume that NVRAM is working correctly. Then I deleted nvram.plist from the EFI partition and reset NVRAM by typing sudo nvram -cand I added my EDID to the config.plist. Then I restarted and activated PNLF in the Clover boot menu. I could boot ONCE with a working brightness slider, checked nvram and it said intel-backlight-level %00%40%00%00Didn't touch the slider though and just shut the tablet down. Then I tried booting again with "Add PNLF" activated but would only get a black screen again. I managed to turn the display on again though and chose "shutdown" from the login menu so it would at least save the NVRAM to disk. I then booted without PNLF and checked NVRAM only to see that it's still intel-backlight-level %00%40%00%00I thought that I would get "another successful boot" when I would reset NVRAM again, so I deleted nvram.plist and did nvram -c again. But when I have "Add PNLF" activated I still can't boot without getting a black screen. Any ideas? :/ If you have IntelBacklight.kext loading without AddPNLF, then you must have patched ACPI to add the PNLF device. There is no need to patch ACPI for PNLF and using AddPNLF simultaneously (and it probably causes problems). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Strega Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 If you have IntelBacklight.kext loading without AddPNLF, then you must have patched ACPI to add the PNLF device. There is no need to patch ACPI for PNLF and using AddPNLF simultaneously (and it probably causes problems). I think I worded that incorrectly. IntelBacklight.kext does not load if I don't use the "Add PNLF" Option in the Clover boot menu. (at least I don't have a brightness slider so I guess it doesn't) I booted without PNLF to not have a black screen and be able to login. Then when logged in I checked the NVRAM in case IntelBacklight wrote a value like zero when I got the black screen. Since it doesn't load when I don't have PNLF it shouldn't mess with NVRAM, so the value in NVRAM would be the value it wrote the last time I added PNLF (and got the black screen). I actually don't know if that makes any more sense ;D Most likely you should patch your DSDT for correct backlight control instead of using the not always functional Clover option AddPNLF Will try that and report back, but I doubt it will make a difference, since it should basically do the same as "Add PNLF" right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosakgroove Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 I think I worded that incorrectly. IntelBacklight.kext does not load if I don't use the "Add PNLF" Option in the Clover boot menu. (at least I don't have a brightness slider so I guess it doesn't) I booted without PNLF to not have a black screen and be able to login. Then when logged in I checked the NVRAM in case IntelBacklight wrote a value like zero when I got the black screen. Since it doesn't load when I don't have PNLF it shouldn't mess with NVRAM, so the value in NVRAM would be the value it wrote the last time I added PNLF (and got the black screen). I actually don't know if that makes any more sense ;D Will try that and report back, but I doubt it will make a difference, since it should basically do the same as "Add PNLF" right? Worst case try AcpiBacklight kext but that will need some special and extensive DSDT editing . Worth the try for your case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Zero can happen if you close the lid, then shutdown the computer (eg. using an external monitor). Recent churn there, so yes, that is also possible. Ah, that might actually be it in my case. I have a nasty habit of hitting the shutdown button and slamming the lid shut immediately (even before the user session closes). Thanks RehabMan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Strega Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 Okies, so I tried patching DSDT with "Brightness Fix" instead of Clover "Add PNLF" and I could again boot ONCE with working backlight controls. After reboot I got a black screen again.... T_T I don't understand what is happening. Why is my display turning off? Does anyone know how I can find out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Strega Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 No one? (( At this point I really don't know what to do really : / Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aldo_1997 Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 On 4/2/2017 at 9:22 PM, Del Strega said: No one? (( At this point I really don't know what to do really : / Have you found the fix? I have an Cube Mix Plus and I'm having a similar problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronxteck Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 if your running UEFI bios try with just aptiomemoryfix.efi driver instead of osxaptiofixdrv + emu variable +RC scripts. there have been alot of clover updates since this thread was first started. you will still need PNLF also there is an option in clover that you can set intel backlight and max backlight. there is a clover build script called build_clover.command on this site that will build you latest clover with aptiomemoryfix driver as an install option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virgosun Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 (edited) On 1/31/2017 at 8:42 PM, Del Strega said: Hey there! I successfully installed Sierra on my Cube i7 Book tablet (Skylake Core M3-6y30 processor, HD515 Intel GFX) but am banging my head against the wall trying to get brightness controls to work. For 2 weeks now, I have been trying different SMBIOSes (9, 1MacBook, 17,1 iMac, 13,1/13,2 MacBookPro, etc..), tried patching AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext (with Clover Patch and through directly manipulating the info.plist) but the outcome is the same: When I don't have a PNLF-Device I can boot just fine and everything is hardware-accelerated. But when I use "Add PNLF" in Clover or add a PNLF into DSDT / SSDT my display will turn off after getting to about 70%-ish percent of the loading bar (when it switches to the login screen normally). Screen gets very dark very quickly until it turns off the display (the logs say that the display gets turned off). It doesn't matter if I use IntelBacklight.kext or not (brightness controls work fine with either, IF I can manage to login) I can sometimes turn the display back on after like 20ish seconds and sometimes it turns back on on its own, but when I try to login after "waking up" I only get the "spinning beachball" and I have to eventually turn off the system by holding down the power button. When I connect an external display while booting with PNLF I can login just fine on the external display but the internal display seems "gone" - I isn't shown in Display preference pane and I can't seem to use it. What's odd is that after a fresh install, I can boot ONCE just fine with PNLF: Brightness controls are working and everything. But when I reboot, from the 2nd boot onward, all I get is a black screen right before login. When I disable the PNLF though, I can login just fine, but naturally got no brightness controls. Additionally, when I switched from say "Add PNLF" in Clover to adding PNLF in DSDT or through an additional SSDT I could boot ONCE with working brightness and no black screen. But yeah only once. And now switching the method doesn't do a thing. From what I've seen the only difference in IOReg between booting with PNLF and without (apart from having a PNLF device) is that the display is called "AppleBacklightDisplay" instead of "AppleDisplay". But why one of them gets turned off during boot is beyond me. Did anyone encounter something like that and has some pointers on what I can try to fix that? I feel like I tried everything and dunno on how to proceed any further.. If you need any files I can try to provide them, although it's unlikely that I can boot up into Sierra with PNLF turned on again. Best regards, Del Exact same issue with Cube Mix Plus hd615 m3-7y30 but I found the course, it is the Rehabman's kexttopatch PNLF in clover Edited August 5, 2018 by virgosun new evident Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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