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(10.7.1 update: no good) Getting the Dell u2211h to work properly on a 2010 Mac Mini

I hope that someone is still following this issue.

I had this problem with my MBP 15" (2009) and a Dell U2412M. I installed NVInject.kext, and it works for my Dell, but my MacBook is now showing horizontal 'stripes'. Not really stripes, but more like if there were less colors available.
 
JulianNeef said:
I hope that someone is still following this issue.

I had this problem with my MBP 15" (2009) and a Dell U2412M. I installed NVInject.kext, and it works for my Dell, but my MacBook is now showing horizontal 'stripes'. Not really stripes, but more like if there were less colors available.
Click to expand...

I believe someone ran into this same issue earlier. I think the banding is due to the fact that the MacBook display, being 6-bit, relies on dithering to display the full range of colors. Using NVInject turns off that dithering, which fixes the Dell but leads to lower-fidelity color on the native display.

If you dig around in previous pages, I believe someone shared how to edit NVInject's parameters so that it turns dithering back on for the MacBook's display.
 
Apple released OS X 10.8 Developer Preview 2 today and on the issue list is the following:
• 32-bit kernel extensions are not supported in Mountain Lion

This means that NVinject.kext will NOT run on OS 10.8. This may be a temporary issue of some sort or it may be definitive. Lets just hope that they'll bring 32-bit support back or maybe some genius can make NVinject.kext a 64-bit kernel extension.

source.
 
I was planning on purchasing a Dell US2312 to go with my 2011 Mac Mini.

Do the new models suffer from the same issue? If so I will obviously need to go with an alternative display!!
 
OK, time for another update:

It looks like the sleep/wake issues are distinct from the pinstripe issues.

Sleep/wake issues appear to be confined to DisplayPort connections and are most likely a symptom of the "20-pin problem", pin #20 on the connector being an optional pin that provides power for devices (in the case of monitors, this isn't necessary). However, because most cable manufacturers have accidentally left pin #20 live in DisplayPort connectors, there is a current exchange between the Mac and the monitor, leading to stability problems (see here for more info). I've not been able to track down a reliable source of DisplayPort cables that actually have pin #20 disabled, which is unfortunate.

Now for a pinstripe update: While using a MiniDP-->DisplayPort cable, pinstripes continue to show up on boot in 10.7.4, but go away after sleeping/waking the display. When connecting via HDMI or MiniDP-->HDMI, pinstripes show up on boot but do not go away either after sleeping or dis/reconnecting the cable.

Again, this is on my 2010 Mac mini, so other Macs may vary.
 
Time for yet another update, I hope that people are following along.

Mountain Lion is coming at the end of this month, but I've found something interesting regarding kernel extensions in 10.8:

"While Mountain Lion is compatible with any Mac capable of running a 64-bit kernel, the kernel does not support loading 32-bit kernel extensions (KEXTs)."
Source: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/0...-some-64-bit-macs-gently-into-that-good-night .

This probably means that the developed kernel extension for Nvidia chipsets regarding the issue of pinstripes on these Dell monitors will NOT work in Mountain Lion. At least, I believed that the kernel extension is a 32 bit extension.

So there are three possibilities:
- Apple has finally fixed the issues with these displays & graphic cards
- Apple has not fixed the issues, but the kernel extension still works (probably not though)
- Apple has not fixed the issues and the kernel extension will not work.

I think the last option is the most likely one. So by the time Mountain Lion arrives we will have to test the compatibility and issues with the displays.
 
Okay, so Mountain Lion is out right now. Has anyone tried it yet, to see if it works? And with that I mean: Has Apple fixed the graphics card driver issues or does the Nvidia Kernel Extension still work?
 
Ah, what an arse.

Indeed, the pinstriping is back (I'm back on NVidia and upgraded to ML) and now because NVInject doesn't work there's no way of fixing it :(

(Thought I could be clever and just use DVI. No such luck, the issue stands there as well. It's a Hac so might just bung Linux on - life's too short)
 
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Thanks for checking in... here's my Mountain Lion report:

- For my Mac mini w/ nVidia 320m: Pinstriping persists on Displayport but goes away after first monitor sleep. Pinstriping persists on DVI/HDMI no matter what. 20-pin Displayport sleep/wake problems are gone for the moment.

- On a new hackintosh w/ Sapphire AMD Radeon 6850: No pinstriping at all on DVI :eek:. I have a Displayport cable on the way so I'll report in with that as well.
 
Cloudane said:
Ah, what an arse.

Indeed, the pinstriping is back (I'm back on NVidia and upgraded to ML) and now because NVInject doesn't work there's no way of fixing it :(
Click to expand...

Are you sure NVInject isn't starting at all? Checked the console?

Btw, has anyone ever reported this issue to Apple in the first place? I'm thinking about contacting them, because this is ridiculous. The problem is however, that here in the Netherlands, the Apple phone support isn't great and they probably can't help me. There must be a way to get this to higher-level employees and system architects of OSX?

Shall we just use the bug report form (http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html) (and maybe have everyone report en masse) or is there another way to force Apple in to fixing this. I mean, it should be an easy fix for them, right?

Edit: This is what I'm sending to Apple via the bug report form, let me know if it's correct.
There are issues in OS X regarding 6 bit displays. I have a Dell U2412M (but other 6 bit displays are reported with the same issues) that shows pinstripes in OS X (10.7 AND 10.8, maybe older versions too).

It doesn't matter if I connect it via Displayport or DVI, so it's probably a graphics card driver issue for certain generations. I have a NVidia Geforce 9400M and 9600M GT, but there are some ATI (AMD) cards with the same issues.

In 10.7, I have solved this issue with a kernel extension called 'NVinject', compiled by some smart guy that changes information in the NVidia drivers. Unfortunately it only works in 32-bit and considering that support for 32-bit kernel extensions is dropped in 10.8, I can't upgrade to 10.8, which is a shame. Other users with the same problem have updated to 10.8 and are still reporting the problem.

Please note: I'm running OS X 10.7.4, but in the form I've said 10.8, so hopefully this issue will have more priority to fix.
Click to expand...
 
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JulianNeef said:
Btw, has anyone ever reported this issue to Apple in the first place? I'm thinking about contacting them, because this is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

The bug report form is a good start. During my interactions with the Genius Bar, I was told that the issue would be reported to Cupertino. I'd say the more people who file bug reports and/or lug their monitor to the Genius Bar, the better.
 
My original U3211H broke and Dell replaced it with a U2312HM. I'm pretty sure I checked while running Snow Leopard (disabling NVInject) and it still suffered from pinstriping, but I'm pleased to say that since upgrading to Mountain Lion, it's working perfectly without pinstriping.

I can't say for sure whether this is because ML has fixed the issue, or because the U2312HM has fixed the issue - like I say, I think I checked that it still had the issue under SL but I can't be sure of that. As I understand it, the issue is caused by the 6-bit nature of the display, and the U2312HM is still a 6-bit panel, so maybe it is ML that has fixed it.

Pretty pleased in any case as I upgraded totally forgetting that I'd ever had the issue, wasn't 'til I got an email about this thread that I thought I'd better check!

If anyone would like any more info please ask away.
 
dolphin842 said:
Thanks for your report. What Mac/graphics card do you have?
Click to expand...

Late 2008 Aluminium Macbook, so it's a GeForce 9400M. I shall try and remember to bring my work laptop home sometime (which is still on SL) to see if is the OS or the replacement monitor that solved the issue.
 
MacMini 2010 / U2311H / MountainLion / KernelPanic

Hello all!

Well, just to share some strange expiriences with Mountan Lion.

So, I have MacMini 2010 (NVIDIA GeForce 320M) and Dell U2311H.
Problem is present with any kind of connection:

HDMI > DVI adapter > DVI (Apple's original)
Mini DisplayPort > DVI adapter > DVI (something from Ebay)
Mini DisplayPort > Display port (NewerTechnology-link)

When display goes to sleep, during waking up MacMini crashes, but not every time. I still didn't try to boot machine and power on monitor after login screen.

My previous experiences were a similar like yours: machine can not wake up from sleep, screen can not wake up etc. But those experiences were present on Snow Leopard and Lion. Now with Mountain Lion it is different.

Anyone has those kernel panics too ?

Some funny detail:
My MacMini crashed in the middle of Mountan Lion installation because display went to sleep, so I had to repeat installation.
 

Attachments

  • CrashReport.txt
    9.8 KB · Views: 132
goldyzm said:
Anyone has those kernel panics too ?
Click to expand...

I had kernel panics on the same type of Mac mini, but only with the Developer Previews of Mountain Lion. The official 10.8.0 build hasn't had that problem for me yet, but I can definitely confirm it was happening for me previously. The panic was easily reproducible, as all I had to do was wake up the monitor twice. Waking it up that second time would always trigger the panic.

Speaking of Displayport, I got the cable for the Radeon 6850 in my Hackintosh. No pinstripes, but the 20-pin issue manifests in several ways: 1) If the monitor is powered on before the computer is, the system throws lots of USB errors and most of the USB devices don't work, and 2) If the cable is plugged in on boot, the monitor doesn't show anything until I unplug/replug the cable. Compared with pinstripes though, it's something I'm willing to put up with (plus the GUI runs at 60fps with dual displays... I've been waiting 8 years for this!:cool:).
 
Found a 64-bit version of NVinject, which loads fine!
However this one does NOT have the dither fix. I'm just figuring out how to patch it with that same fix. Also the Safari "new tab" screen has this odd effect of being really slow and refreshing itself over and over - don't know if that's something caused by the default nvinject shenanigans.
For reference though, it's here.

----------

Aaaand sorted! Apologies for the multi-post, but hey, it shows the history of how it's discovered, heh.

(Safari is behaving now, too)

For reference, I just had to edit the Info.plist file inside the kext package, I also deleted the resources directory, so that it all matched the 32-bit patch.

Here you go NVidia users:

http://www.cloudane.com/nvinject-64-antidither/NVinject.kext.zip

Install with kext utility:
http://cvad-mac.narod2.ru/Kext_Utility/
 
Wow that's great work! Are you positive that it works just like the old one?

And in the old one I had to change some dithering parameter so that my Macbook screen doesn't look like crap. That fix still needs to be done? And it probably is recommended to delete the 32 bit version?

Great work, thanks!
 
It certainly appears to. I can't say for certain what it'd do to others, or indeed laptops - I'm just on a Hac over here.

The 32-bit one is presumably named the same, so this would just overwrite it, but if in doubt search /system/library/extensions for nvinject and delete any varieties of it.
 
Cloudane said:
It certainly appears to. I can't say for certain what it'd do to others, or indeed laptops - I'm just on a Hac over here.

The 32-bit one is presumably named the same, so this would just overwrite it, but if in doubt search /system/library/extensions for nvinject and delete any varieties of it.
Click to expand...

I ordered an SSD last saturday and I'll be making the jump to Mountain Lion next saturday when it arrives. I'll start fresh with a clean install. I'm installing the 64 bit version on my Mac right now (Lion) and will report on it tomorrow.
 
Okay problem! It won't start! Do I have to set my kernel back to 64 bit or is something else going on?

Error messages:

06-08-12 22:59:51,289 com.apple.kextd: Can't load NVinject.kext - no code for running kernel's architecture.
06-08-12 22:59:51,994 com.apple.kextd: Load com.nvinject failed; removing personalities from kernel.


Macbook Pro Mid-2009 (OS X 10.7.4) & Dell U2412M
 
JulianNeef said:
Okay problem! It won't start! Do I have to set my kernel back to 64 bit or is something else going on?

Error messages:

06-08-12 22:59:51,289 com.apple.kextd: Can't load NVinject.kext - no code for running kernel's architecture.
06-08-12 22:59:51,994 com.apple.kextd: Load com.nvinject failed; removing personalities from kernel.


Macbook Pro Mid-2009 (OS X 10.7.4) & Dell U2412M
Click to expand...

If you downloaded my tweak of the 64-bit nvinject, then you need to be using a 64-bit kernel
 
Cloudane said:
If you downloaded my tweak of the 64-bit nvinject, then you need to be using a 64-bit kernel
Click to expand...

Works, except for my MacBook's screen now. Could fix that easily with the 32 bit version by changing some parameter somewhere. Hope it works the same for the 64 bit version (the instructions are somewhere in this topic if I remember correctly).

Edit: Ah, I see it now:

I've noticed that the fix Cloudane posted causes dithering to be disabled for both the internal display and the external display. Unfortunately (on my 13" Macbook at least), this causes colours to appear banded on the laptop display (as it is only a 6-bit display so needs the dithering, I guess?).

Luckily, it's easy to modify what the NVinject kext does, so I've attached a version which disables dithering only for the external display, keeping the internal display as is.

Just use the attached file in place of the NVinject.kext file on the Psychtoolbox site.

If you have previously installed NVinject, you may need to force your Mac to pick up the new version - do this by typing: "sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions" without the quotes at a Terminal.

All is well in the world now, many thanks again for finding this Cloudane!
Click to expand...
Tomd25 (page 3) created a modified version that only affects the external display, not the Macbook Display. I have no clue how to edit this 64 bit version of the Kext to do the same thing. How can this be done?
 
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What you should probably do is right-click on the kexts for each and "Show package contents", that will let you get to the files inside. Info.plist is where the settings are held - so if you compare the Macbook-fixed version with the new one and copy the settings across that should do it.
 
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