ATI Display Driver

[namgorf]

I was reading a few posts regarding issues getting the display driver to work.

I was under the impression that the MBP and the new iMac used the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 which is supported by the Omega Drivers (http://www.omegadrivers.net/ati/win2k_xp.php)

As far as I know the mini's GMA950 is easily found too.

SO, my question is, has anyone tried the omega drivers on their intel macs?

EDIT: will a moderator please move this to the drivers sub forum for me?

[Maaij]

The GMA950 doesnt work

[namgorf]

What occurs during an install attempt?

I'd like to see some logs and such from mini users. I have experience with driver hacking, but I lack an intel mac to test anything on.

I'd give this Dell driver a shot, since it's from a dell system with the same chipset as the mini. http://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R98241.EXE

[ScottTFrazer]

The omega drivers don't appear to work on the macbook pro.

They install fine, and the Device Manager moves the unknown display controller up to a known display controller with the name M56, but the display still uses the WinXPonMac driver with no apparent way to switch it.

Also, the external display doesn't function, but I'm not really surprised by that.

[pardonator]

If you use the Vista Beta drivers for Win XP it does actually show up as the correct name X1600. Doesn't do anything to the display though. i think the problem lies with the vga driver display rather then the actual Ati driver. It's like the vga driver is locked in place?

[thebalaa]

exactly. i agree. i wish i was an incredible programmer.

[sandau]

i've got a radeon 1600 mobility driver in device manager which was set up and showed 'working' and 'no conflicts' with memory addressing.

I think the problem is that there is no Device Manager entry for Default Monitor or Plug and Play Monitor. I've tried installing them to no avail. Also, I manually updated the registry and moved the pointer from the xom vga driver to the default one.

I tried to disable the default vga to force use of the good adapter (mobility) but on reboot it has killed the load. However, very interestingly enough, I was in some kind of debug mode and kept pressing keys...q brought up an Intel Mobile Calistoga CRB Framework Implementation...looks like a BIOS. this might be what they (narf) is using for the BIOS for the load. Has for evaluation purposes only in the header and do not distribute!

i think you can get into it if you press tab or arrow after you start loading windows and it'll show you the boot code, at that point press q.

all kinds of cool options to fiddle with....kill your mac at your leisure...

[thespeculator152]

What about these drivers from ATI:

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=293

Anyone tried?

[ocelot27]

What about these drivers from ATI:

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=293

Anyone tried?

Nope - something won't allow the VGA driver to be messed with and the ATI software installer won't recognise the card. We need narf to help us out - just give those guys some time - the solution will trickle in, for sure - john.

[bombastica.net]

I would think that just as narf had the built in drivers from the get go he would also need to bundle the working drivers for these specific cards. However in order to get those working we might need some help from someone who creates drivers for ATi. These days everyone has a blog, so I guess that's where we should look first.

[berhb]

Have anyone looked the files that virtual pc install, maybe there is something that will help to fool windows...

I found a driver http://www.download.com/Catalyst-Radeon-Display-Driver-with-Catalyst-Control-Center-Windows-XP-Professional-x64-Edition-/3000-2108_4-10419012.html?tag=pdp_prod

Even if it is for XP 64 we should give it a try. :confused:



Found this ... Microsoft only included support for the BIOS replacement in its IA64 and later x64 operating systems. While Microsoft plans to add EFI support in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista, a final release isn't due until the end of the year.


So maybe the drivers from ATI might recognize EFI support

[Zino]

Have anyone looked the files that virtual pc install, maybe there is something that will help to fool windows...

I found a driver http://www.download.com/Catalyst-Radeon-Display-Driver-with-Catalyst-Control-Center-Windows-XP-Professional-x64-Edition-/3000-2108_4-10419012.html?tag=pdp_prod

Even if it is for XP 64 we should give it a try. :confused:



Found this ... Microsoft only included support for the BIOS replacement in its IA64 and later x64 operating systems. While Microsoft plans to add EFI support in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista, a final release isn't due until the end of the year.


So maybe the drivers from ATI might recognize EFI support

Not working on my 20' iMac!

[WandaLust]

I think I may have cracked the video drivers, just trying to test. I have to go out now so anyone out there could test would help.

Anyways heres how I did it..

1) In Windows\System32\Drivers renamed XOMDD.sys to XOMDD_old.sys
2) In same directory renamed vga.sys to XOMDD.sys - this then uses the orignal XP vga driver. (Be careful to make sure it gets names to XOMDD.SYS and not XOMDD.SYS.SYS - better to use a command line to this)
3 ) Installed the Omega ATI drivers.

Device manager is now showing the ATI drivers and not XOM drivers. Just installing 3d mark for testing.

There ,may be better drivers to use so hopefully this opens the door to help us find a solution
:o

[Zino]

I think I may have cracked the video drivers, just trying to test. I have to go out now so anyone out there could test would help.

Anyways heres how I did it..

1) In Windows\System32\Drivers renamed XOMDD.sys to XOMDD_old.sys
2) In same directory renamed vga.sys to XOMDD.sys - this then uses the orignal XP vga driver. (Be careful to make sure it gets names to XOMDD.SYS and not XOMDD.SYS.SYS - better to use a command line to this)
3 ) Installed the Omega ATI drivers.

Device manager is now showing the ATI drivers and not XOM drivers. Just installing 3d mark for testing.

There ,may be better drivers to use so hopefully this opens the door to help us find a solution
:o
Can you be more specific? My iMac would not boot winXP with this method.

[compufix]

Same here....But I did not install the drivers, I did other stuff and rebooted. I had to re-install Windows XP from the slipstreamed CD.

But, I got wireless, ethernet sound and intel drivers installed.

Working on BT now.

Only video left.

-Mike

[WandaLust]

All,

:D You have to be very careful when renaming, use command line to ensure you do not rename to xomdd.sys.sys which causes the black screen. Can be recovered but only by installing another partition.

Anyway it seems to have a small affect but I don't think it's the full answer.

[keldegar]

All,

:D You have to be very careful when renaming, use command line to ensure you do not rename to xomdd.sys.sys which causes the black screen. Can be recovered but only by installing another partition.

Anyway it seems to have a small affect but I don't think it's the full answer.

can you be more specific? small effect? if you really did get the driver installed, it would be more than a small effect...

can you go into display properties, settings, advanced, adapter ? what does it say?

[thebalaa]

i love how people are so lazy and doubtful.

[keldegar]

i love how people are so lazy and doubtful.

because we've already tried it and it didn't work? and the instructions given aren't very good? and when you mess it up you have to reinstall windows all over again?

[jbouklas]

Wow. I've been keeping track of these forums and the Wiki since their inceptions, and I must say there's a definite lack of openness on the part of some forum members. If you think you've found a possible solution to something, please divulge the details! I was reading through the threads, and I forget who it was who came up with the Mac Mini fix, but rather than just be entirely open about all the steps involved, he wanted to VNC into another person's computer to show him or her how to do it.

And with this current case, it's not unreasonable to ask for more information. We're not being lazy or doubtful, but it's a pain in the neck to try something with a vague idea of how it works, only to find you have to repartition and start from scratch. I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of time to kill.

Anyway, I'm sure WandaLust will give us more info when there's time. For the record, this is the kind of info we need to know:

1- Any info from the Display Properties, namely adapter info.

2- DirectX/OpenGL status

3- Applicable test using DirectX/OpenGL install

Regarding the install process:

1- At what points to restart the system and when not to- this is pretty important as it deals with when the system initializes the drivers - also, when to refresh the Device Manager.

We're just looking for a step-by-step so there's no ambiguity. That way, we're replicating a known process so we can either say it works or it doesn't. Otherwise, if we're guessing about any given step, it takes away credibility from the claim that there's a solution.

-Jim

[FrostyFire]

How the hell do you install the Omega driver?

I keep getting this window - 7-Zip: Doagnostic Messages

"\rad_w2kxp_omea_38221_7z.exe is not supported archive"

????

[Zino]

I have maneged to install the drivers without renaming any files. The driver properties shows M56. I installed the Video files from the XOM_XP_Patch_V2.

[MulletMan13]

Any hardware acceleration with those drivers??

[Zino]

No, I have no hardware acceleration but it shows up in the Device Maneger and I can reboot without any problems.

[robosport]

@Zino: Silly question so please don't take offense. I know we are all turning off hardware acceleration in the advanced display settings to get the most out of the software VGA driver... Did you remember to turn hardware acceleration back on in the advanced display settings after getting this driver installed? or does it turn back on automatically? I doubt this is the issue and I'm sure you already thought of it but I thought I'd ask just in case.

[FrostyFire]

How the hell do you install the Omega driver?

I keep getting this window - 7-Zip: Doagnostic Messages

"\rad_w2kxp_omea_38221_7z.exe is not supported archive"

????

Does anyone know why this is happening?

[Zino]

No such thing as a silly question!. To awnswer your question, Hardware acceleration is on full.

[MulletMan13]

Zino, can you just post the steps you took and what you did?

I'd like to get to that point and see where things can go from there, plus I'm sure others would appreciate it :)

Thanks!

[satans_banjo]

Has nerf released the source code for his hack? I'm no programmer but I think that's where the solution is

[Zino]

Well, It's actually kind of silly. I did a freash install of WinXp with ONLY SP2 noting else. Directly after WinXp booted I installed the Video driver from the XOM V2 kit throug the Device Maneger (Asked if i wanted to accept the unsigned driver for M56). After that i installed the rest of the iMac drivers (Chip, WiFi, Ethernet, Sound). Rebooted and tried installing the Omega ATi drivers from his homepage and they worked (No problem with the install), rebooted and I still have no hardware acceleration but the M56 is visible from the device maneger. Hopes this helps someone.

[boohoo]

I had the same experience has Zino.

[RichP]

Ive been fooling with a sampling of drivers, at best, getting the system to brick or restart in last known config.

I am a bit confused as to when using device manager, it shows the video controller with no drivers; when you right click on the desktop/properties/settings/advanced/adapter/properties it reveals the XpOnMac display controller, with the VgaSave service a bunch of conflicting resources.

I feel we need to look in the latter place, seems like where the action is happening.

I personally think this is going to be a much larger effort than it was for the mini; there has to be good reason why Narf and Blanka wrote this thing the way they did withthe XOM display controller; perhaps the mini only required the EFI aspects of the patch, not the display aspects. (is it even UGA?)
________
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[thegeekfr]

ok, it seems that we're on the good way ?
just a question ... dod you activate hardware acceleration after installed rrivers ?

Edit: oups, iv'seen, question was done before sorry !

By tu wat, i don't know what is the XOM V2 kit, Where i can found it OR what are u speaking about ?

[Zino]

http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Windows_XP_Patch_WITH_DRIVERS%21

[WandaLust]

All,

Well after my initial hopes of success I have to say it seems to have not worked. Display properties are still showing WinXPOnMac, however i think this is misleading as this is set in the registry.

I have managed to get the omega drivers installed and gotten device manager to show Radeon x1600 series but alas still not actually appears to be using it.

Still working on trying to find an answer.

:eek:

[kuchdawg]

If you want to mess with the registry, see if the problem lies there

go to regedit HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VgaSave

Here is what mine says (not mac-tel)

(Default) (value not set)
ErrorControl 0
Group Video Save
ImagePath \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\vga.sys
Start 1
Tag 1
Type 1

[Zino]

My imagepath says xomdd.sys

[WandaLust]

Zino,

Agreed. My Initial posting I did earlier today kind of did the same thing. Copying the vga.sys driver and renaming to xomdd.sys. At first it was looking good but still seems that screen is locked to fixed display size and hardware acceleration is not working.

Also graphics testing still thinks the installed omega drivers are vga so somewhere else in registry i think is the answer.

Still trying.:(

[Zino]

My guess is that something has to be changed in the EFi.

[RichP]

crap, i got the v2 one, not the v3, and i cant get onto that DL thing for an hour now...
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[FrostyFire]

Has anyone tried the Vista Beta drivers for the X1600? I'm downloading them now.

[Steve1496]

Has anyone tried the Vista Beta drivers for the X1600? I'm downloading them now.


They don't work.

[FrostyFire]

They don't work.
Well I got the X1600 to show up in the display adapter using the Vista Beta driver, but it said there was a problem installing it. Trying to update it with NGO ATI Optimized Drivers right now.

[RichP]

I have been trying to install XP with the V2 patch, no luck thusfar. It stops on the 2nd phase of the XP install (where is more graphical) Machine seems to not be frozen, but only the gray windows logo appears on the screen. Reinserting the CD makes the computer access it for a few minutes.
________
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[kuchdawg]

http://www.bigupload.com/d=8B9341D3 ATI Drivers

They were made from the ones from ATI.com, and the Mobility Drivers

I used most of the code from the Mobility Drivers X1600 and put it int the other one, then i fixed the max mem size to 256....

[ampmhoodlum]

http://www.bigupload.com/d=8B9341D3 ATI Drivers

They were made from the ones from ATI.com, and the Mobility Drivers

I used most of the code from the Mobility Drivers X1600 and put it int the other one, then i fixed the max mem size to 256....

Tested. Lists as a X1600 in device manager and thats bout it.

[FrostyFire]

Tested. Lists as a X1600 in device manager and thats bout it.
Same here. Now how do we actually get it to force it to use the driver....

[kuchdawg]

Just making sure, if you right click the properties of the X1600 down where it says:
"Device Usage:"


It does say Enabled right?


If so...If you right click the Desktop, click Properties, go to the Settings Tab, then clicked Advanced Then Click on the Adapter tab...is there a way to change it to X1600??

[ampmhoodlum]

Device status says its working properly. And Enabled. But you go to display properties and then adapter. Its blank. You click properties on that. It opens "XpOnMac Display Controller

[Vaxan]

Kuchdawg, have you actually gotten your solution to work (and tested running an actual 3D application of some sort) on a machine with an ATI graphics card?

[kuchdawg]

I got this from Help & Support from XP....i can't test it because i Don't hav an Intel-MAc

Open Display Properties in Control Panel.
Click the Settings tab, click Advanced, and then click the Adapter tab.
Click Properties, click the Driver tab, and then click Update Driver.
Click Install the software automatically (Recommended). Follow the instructions in the Hardware Update Wizard to search for a better display adapter driver.
Restart your computer if you are prompted to do so.

When you update the Driver try choosing the ATI driver

Worth a shot?

[ampmhoodlum]

I got this from Help & Support from XP....i can't test it because i Don't hav an Intel-MAc

Open Display Properties in Control Panel.
Click the Settings tab, click Advanced, and then click the Adapter tab.
Click Properties, click the Driver tab, and then click Update Driver.
Click Install the software automatically (Recommended). Follow the instructions in the Hardware Update Wizard to search for a better display adapter driver.
Restart your computer if you are prompted to do so.

When you update the Driver try choosing the ATI driver

Worth a shot?

http://crewlife.net/dd01.jpg
http://crewlife.net/dd02.jpg

[ampmhoodlum]

so what happens when you Stop XOM driver?

http://crewlife.net/dd03.jpg

[keldegar]

so what happens when you Stop XOM driver?

[kuchdawg]

What are the other Startup Types?

And another Idea....

Get the properties of your X1600, click on The driver Tab>Driver Details

Find the .sys File

Open up Regedit, and go to

HKLM,"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VgaSave"

And Change the ImagePath to be the .sys file Location that you just found

Reboot...and Pray

[ampmhoodlum]

What are the other Startup Types?

And another Idea....

Get the properties of your X1600, click on The driver Tab>Driver Details

Find the .sys File

Open up Regedit, and go to

HKLM,"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VgaSave"

And Change the ImagePath to be the .sys file Location that you just found

Reboot...and Pray


rebooting right now. cross fingers

*edit*

reboot and that hosed the video. I backed up reg but I need need to get it to open up. It boots just no video on screen. I can tell cuz the audio makes the windows startup sound. give me a few min and I'll have it back.

[FrostyFire]

Hoping this works for you, I've got it ready to reboot just waiting for your response :)

[keldegar]

rebooting right now. cross fingers

and the survey says???!

[ampmhoodlum]

and the survey says???!


reboot and that hosed the video. I backed up reg but I need need to get it to open up. It boots just no video on screen. I can tell cuz the audio makes the windows startup sound. give me a few min and I'll have it back.

[ampmhoodlum]

can someone post up a reg backup so i can blindly run it?

i wish i would have enable remote desktop connection. lol

[kuchdawg]

Try this to get Desktop connection going:

Windows key,down,right,down,down,down,down, the rightclick key, up, enter

Up,right,right,R

Now check to see if Desktop Connection is working
....

But i do have another Idea...i'm sorry that i'm comming up with too many that don't seem to be working at all......

I think that we could try messing with the ATI driver some more (since Mini people could get it working by just installing drivers)..there must be some other way.....

OK so if you have the File I uploaded, open up the file CX_30895.inf

And look for a line like this: (its at a bottem of a long list like that)

"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_M56, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5

And replace it with this:

"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_RV530, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5

That line above will make it use the drivers for the non-mobility X1600 (even though it will still show ATI Mobility Radeon X1600)

Of course then try to reinstall the driver..

[ampmhoodlum]

yea i'm back and working now. Had to jump to osx find my backup reg file. Then blindly ran it.

man..that sucked..now enableing remote desktop. lol

[BuffyBot]

since Mini people could get it working by just installing drivers

chances are the mini uses vga not uga since its all intel stuff.
very different story

[ampmhoodlum]

Try this to get Desktop connection going:
But i do have another Idea...i'm sorry that i'm comming up with too many that don't seem to be working at all......

I think that we could try messing with the ATI driver some more (since Mini people could get it working by just installing drivers)..there must be some other way.....

OK so if you have the File I uploaded, open up the file CX_30895.inf

And look for a line like this: (its at a bottem of a long list like that)

"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_M56, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5

And replace it with this:

"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_RV530, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5

That line above will make it use the drivers for the non-mobility X1600 (even though it will still show ATI Mobility Radeon X1600)

Of course then try to reinstall the driver..

didn't seem to work

[kuchdawg]

when you right click and go to properties of the X1600, and then click on the Resources tab what do you see?

Can you click change settings?

[FrostyFire]

Everything comes back to the xom file. How do we get around that?

[FrostyFire]

when you right click and go to properties of the X1600, and then click on the Resources tab what do you see?

Can you click change settings?
Change setting is greyed out.

[ScottTFrazer]

Windows key,down,right,down,down,down,down, the rightclick key, up, enter

Up,right,right,R



I tried that, but all I got was infinite lives

:)

[MulletMan13]

Sounds like a registry file has to be changed, or something to disable the XOM drivers first...

Perhaps it will have to be a combination of work between random luck, us trying things out, and narf/blanka.

Once the source code is released, I think there may be some more progress on this :)

[bombastica.net]

but until then.... I guess we're screwed.

[ampmhoodlum]

hmmm...i'm sure someone will figure it out. Anyone know what the PCI Device is?

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27A3&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_03\3&B1BFB68&0&38

[ampmhoodlum]

changed the sys file to the XP VGA.sys and seemed to make no difference

[paulyras]

hmmm...i'm sure someone will figure it out. Anyone know what the PCI Device is?

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27A3&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_03\3&B1BFB68&0&38

I might be confusing things, or merely repeating hear-say, but someone in another thread yesterday mentioned that it was something which helps spread the load between the processors. Apparently it's present in all of the core duo chips, but then I would have thought that it would have been identified by the chipset drivers.

I personally am not well enough versed to say, merely repeating.

Paul

[WandaLust]

Video Drivers aaaaagh....

Right now I am thinking it's not the Video Drivers per say moreover i think it's something to do with the monitor. This could explain why external monitors work on the imac mini but then again just trying to throw up suggestions.

I've tried almost everything I can think of right now i've compared registry settings between my windows laptop and the iMac 20" for video and mostly they tie up.

Only missing piece seems to be the monitor drivers perhaps.

Then again maybe the answer is to go back to the drawing board and try and create a full blown compatability module for installing any windows system. i.e one that implements the full bios/vga capabilities.

I know BamBios is working on this but does anyone have any idea when this will happen. Perhaps also when Blanka releases the code as opensource we can all move this along ?

I think at the moment Video for anything other than the mac mini is a lost issue. I've tried firmware options and these just kill the screen. Windows loads okay but you just can't see it.

I think we do need either the XOM.EFI to be changed to allow drivers in windows to be used as I think the XOM is forcing the display and this is causing the video drivers to not work properly.

Blanka where are you ? :)

[Vaxan]

Has anyone actually claimed the money for the original competition yet? Or is the video driver part of the solution?

I was just wondering because the competition money might be a reason for not releasing the source code

The competition did not include working video drivers, and the prize money has already been claimed.

[keldegar]

I talked to Colin and he said Blanka is working on a video solution, and will release it once they get it .. so don't fear!

[jann]

I talked to Colin and he said Blanka is working on a video solution, and will release it once they get it .. so don't fear!
YEAH!

Please soon! (I am posting Cinebench comparison results by the way...will update this posting to let you know differences)

Jann

[raymo03]

So this might be completely off base, but has anyone tried to plug an external monitor into an iMac/MacBook and apply the drivers?

I'd test it myself, by my iMac won't be in for 10 more days...

[gygysamurai]

So this might be completely off base, but has anyone tried to plug an external monitor into an iMac/MacBook and apply the drivers?

I'd test it myself, by my iMac won't be in for 10 more days...

I have an external widescreen mounted on my wall beside my iMac and it won't recognize. I'm hoping that once the video drivers are working, support for dual display will be enabled. But I have a feeling some more hacking will be needed to get this to work.

I don't know, do you think the mini-DVI port requires drivers? Or should it just act like a regular DVI? You'd think that if it DID act like a regular DVI then I would be able to run dual display without the video drivers.

I guess we'll find out once Blanka releases video.

[raymo03]

Well, I was thinking that since the mini uses external DVI the iMac might work too. Wishful thinking I know :)

I would think the mini-DVI port wouldn't require drivers other than the ATI drivers that blank out the screen to be loaded.


I have an external widescreen mounted on my wall beside my iMac and it won't recognize. I'm hoping that once the video drivers are working, support for dual display will be enabled. But I have a feeling some more hacking will be needed to get this to work.

I don't know, do you think the mini-DVI port requires drivers? Or should it just act like a regular DVI? You'd think that if it DID act like a regular DVI then I would be able to run dual display without the video drivers.

I guess we'll find out once Blanka releases video.

[robosport]

Thanks in advance Blanka and Narf! Glad to hear you are working on a solution for graphics. I'll make the permanent switch once hardware accelerated graphics are working. While gaming is cool and fun I use OpenGL hardware for business every day.

robo

[FrostyFire]

Maybe we'll have to make a new competition for whoever can get video drivers to work :)

[kuchdawg]

Ok since we know there has to be somthing wrong with the Driver (since it doesn't take over from the backup driver) i think we could try running the Windows Driver Verifier, and get a better reason for its malfunction

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=244617#XSLTH3151121125120121120120

[kuchdawg]

Another Idea for the graphics driver, I know that this may be a step in the wrong direction, but it might get some accelerated Drivers working....using the extra port on the side of the Mac...or mabey it might enable two drivers...so you can use the port on the side....

Ok i looked at this page:

http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/IMac#List_of_PCI_Devices

and it said:

ID 8086:27a1 Class 0604 Address 00:01.0

* PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PCI Express Graphics Port (rev 03)

I google Searched, and it seems to be an

Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)

Now the version might be wrong, so i reccommend trying out the drivers that the mini people are doing, and see if you get the side port working

[koltz]

Finally posting from my MacBook running Windows :)

Anyway, this might help somebody. Did some installation of ATI drivers and of course the standard drivers didn't work though I could select the Radeon X1600 manually (no acceleration). But then I decided to download the Vista 5308 drivers and it did detect the Radeon Mobility x1600 during installation. Of course it can't be used because of a different driver model. But here is the information from the drivers that it did detect.


Device Instance Id

PCI\VEN\1002&DEV_71C5&SUBSY_00001002&REV_00\4&31B7BFB&0&0008

Hardware IDS

PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71c5&SUBSYS_00001002&REV_00
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71c5&SUBSYS_00001002
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71c5&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71c5&CC_0300

Compatible IDS

PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71c5&REV_00
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71c5
PCI\VEN_1002&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_1002&CC_0300
PCI\VEN_1002
PCI\CC_030000
PCI\CC_0300

Matching Device Id

pci\ven_1002&dev_71c5

Service

R300


Now if there is a way to hack that info in the original drivers? Still don't know if it will accelerate or not.

I did try and copy the old XP driver (renamed it) over the Vista driver, and no acceleration. Might be more files that need to be changed.

Corey

[Steve1496]

Are the omega drivers open source?

[drcreek]

Are the omega drivers open source?
No there more or less just tweaked versions of the proper ATI ones (he finished the job they should have done) but it might be worth e-mailing that dude to see if he can help at all? If he is willing he's probably quite good at this sort of thing.

EDIT: Just sent a polite letter asking to take a quick look to see if there anything he can do.

[sud0n1m]

I talked to Colin and he said Blanka is working on a video solution, and will release it once they get it .. so don't fear!

Hey just to be clear. I dont think I said that but if I said something that implies this, I made an error. For your info:

Blanka has told me he is currently working on cleaning up the code to make it possible for others to understand what the heck he did. When he was working on the solution, he evaluated building the ATI support into the EFI loader. At the moment, he has not expressed any plans to work on ATI support.

[real_mav]

Hey just to be clear. I dont think I said that but if I said something that implies this, I made an error. For your info:

Blanka has told me he is currently working on cleaning up the code to make it possible for others to understand what the heck he did. When he was working on the solution, he evaluated building the ATI support into the EFI loader. At the moment, he has not expressed any plans to work on ATI support.

when will the source code be released?

[kuchdawg]

http://www.bigupload.com/d=484009FA or http://www.silo.ru/dl/files/1916549646

New Driver...Patched to use the R300 (that someone just posted)

I hope it works!

IT SHOWS DEFAULT MONITOR!!!

TRY Uninstalling your ATI Drivers, then Reinstalling it...thanks!

But that is all that i heard...don't know for sure if anything else works...

[FrostyFire]

Did you update the driver or uninstall then reinstall the new one?

[GMR0780]

http://www.bigupload.com/d=484009FA or http://www.silo.ru/dl/files/1916549646

New Driver...Patched to use the R300 (that someone just posted)

I hope it works!

IT SHOWS DEFAULT MONITOR!!!

TRY Uninstalling your ATI Drivers, then Reinstalling it...thanks!

But that is all that i heard...don't know for sure if anything else works...

I updated the drivers, they show up in my hardware but still not using them
my display properties still show the winxponmac drivers.....

any thoughts?

[FrostyFire]

Is there anywhere else you can host those files? The first one just keeps reloading then counting down from 30 seconds, but the download button doesn't come up....and the second one doesn't work.

[gygysamurai]

I'll give them a go! I haven't installed any video drivers yet, and my XP installation is kinda messed up anyways so i don't really care if i ruin stuff. I'll post back with results!

EDIT: Neither of those links work :S

[Crazed376]

The patched R300 drivers install and show they are working properly. The main problem I am having is getting the XOM system drivers to relinquish control to the R300 drivers.

So far here's what I have:
Installed drivers by manually selecting driver.
[update driver -> manually install -> display adapters -> have disk]
Display adapter appears as "ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" in Dev Mngr.
Device Status states "This device is working properly."
Details tab shows "[PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5&SUBSYS_00001002&REV_00\4&31B7BFB9&0&0008]"
Resources gives what appear as approriate details ie. IRQ 16, I/O Range 3000-30FF, etc.
I rebooted but the XOM driver is still in control
I disabled the XOM driver and the boot screen (grey windows logo) is displayed and nothing else.

Any ideas how to test that the driver is installed correctly? Any ideas how to get the XOM driver to relinquish control after boot up?

* I've tried to install the Catalyst Control Center to no avail. I keep getting an error message that I don't have permission to make changes. Mind you, I was logged in as Administrator.
Does anyone know of any utilities I can use to probe the driver and see what results it gives me. This would help in verifying the driver status.

[gygysamurai]

The patched R300 drivers install and show they are working properly. The main problem I am having is getting the XOM system drivers to relinquish control to the R300 drivers.

So far here's what I have:
Installed drivers by manually selecting driver.
[update driver -> manually install -> display adapters -> have disk]
Display adapter appears as "ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" in Dev Mngr.
Device Status states "This device is working properly."
Details tab shows "[PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5&SUBSYS_00001002&REV_00\4&31B7BFB9&0&0008]"
Resources gives what appear as approriate details ie. IRQ 16, I/O Range 3000-30FF, etc.
I rebooted but the XOM driver is still in control
I disabled the XOM driver and the boot screen (grey windows logo) is displayed and nothing else.

Any ideas how to test that the driver is installed correctly? Any ideas how to get the XOM driver to relinquish control after boot up?

Hey if you figure out how to get past that dreaded grey windows screen that never goes away let me know. Last video drivers I tried got me to that screen and I couldn't figure out how to fix it (I formatted with NTFS so i can't fix things in OS X), so I reinstalled Windows.

[Crazed376]

Hey if you figure out how to get past that dreaded grey windows screen that never goes away let me know. Last video drivers I tried got me to that screen and I couldn't figure out how to fix it (I formatted with NTFS so i can't fix things in OS X), so I reinstalled Windows.

I just powered it off and started again but pressed F8 and F6 (one of these gives you a debug screen). From there I could access the Last Known Working Configuration option and was back into XP.

[gygysamurai]

I just powered it off and started again but pressed F8 and F6 (one of these gives you a debug screen). From there I could access the Last Known Working Configuration option and was back into XP.

Darn, that's what I did as well but it didn't work for me

[sud0n1m]

when will the source code be released?

The release goal for the source code is this weekend. We have the SVN up and running - just need to clean things up and get the code commented. I know everyone is really eager to get their hands on it. Considering it is still less than a week after the contest was won - everything is happening at a phenomenal pace.

[kuchdawg]

OK here i'm going to give it another go with the Vista Drivers...

Using the R300 (which were in the last one...since thats what ATI thinks it should use)

http://www.bigupload.com/d=BBC57478

http://storeandserve.com/download/148696/VISTA_ATI_Patch.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/16051453/VISTA_ATI_Patch.zip.html

There is a link hope this one installs...and works...VISTA

OH...if it doesn't work (but installs) try swapping the ati2mtag_R300 (its at the very bottem of that long list) with either
ati2mtag_RV530
ati2mtag_RV515
Those are for X1600.....regular...

If it doesn't install then try the other ATI drivers that install....mabey not Omega...because idk about those...(not from ATI??)

[drcreek]

OK here i'm going to give it another..........

If it doesn't install then try the other ATI drivers that install....mabey not Omega...because idk about those...(not from ATI??)

Omega drivers are just tweaked versions of the oringinals. normally gets you better performance.

worth a try?

[effects]

Alright, we need to clear some things up. First, no driver is going to work in it;s original state. Even new tweaked drivers won't work. Let me explain. You have two problems. First, the driver support has to be built into efi loader in order to load them properly. Second, these drivers are hardcoded into the registry. Look for yourself. If you go into the registry, you will discover the video drivers hardcoded. This means, no matter what you do, they will still be in control. Proof is to boot into safe mode using f5. You will see you are using the same drivers. Okay, now to save you a little time. If you rename the files of new drivers to match the existing files to try and get around the hardcoding, your machine will not boot. Therein lies the problem, the efi has to be edited, and there is no way to install these drivers without redoing the slipstream cd you are using. The coding is in there. If I were an educated man, that's where I would start. Looking for a driver to install is useless until we fix the problem.

Effects

[real_mav]

Alright, we need to clear some things up. First, no driver is going to work in it;s original state. Even new tweaked drivers won't work. Let me explain. You have two problems. First, the driver support has to be built into efi loader in order to load them properly. Second, these drivers are hardcoded into the registry. Look for yourself. If you go into the registry, you will discover the video drivers hardcoded. This means, no matter what you do, they will still be in control. Proof is to boot into safe mode using f5. You will see you are using the same drivers. Okay, now to save you a little time. If you rename the files of new drivers to match the existing files to try and get around the hardcoding, your machine will not boot. Therein lies the problem, the efi has to be edited, and there is no way to install these drivers without redoing the slipstream cd you are using. The coding is in there. If I were an educated man, that's where I would start. Looking for a driver to install is useless until we fix the problem.

Effects

this would mean we need blanka and narf's code to edit it right?

[effects]

Unless someone has figured out the code and feels comfortable editing the efi loader and windows files, you will need narf and blanka. Unfortunately, without their help or the source code, we are stuck and all of these trials are just wasting effort and crashing machines.

Effects

[effects]

I don't want to sound doom and gloom. We will resolve this issue, but it will not be the way we are looking at it now. What we need to focus on until the source code is out is sound. We need to get the sound drivers including speakers working properly. Sound is possible. It is just a matter of locating the proper drivers.

Effects

[torifile]

So what you're saying then is that in order to get working ATi drivers, even after a fix is found, we're going to have to reinstall windows using another slipstreamed disc? That's a pain...

[effects]

you got it! Another install will be the name of the game. You have to remove the hardcoding. I don't see this being done any other way without causing system corruption in xp.

Effects

[effects]

Okay one more thing to keep in mind. You all are doing great in your testing. I applaud you all. I have been doing my own. Let's keep in mind that once a fix is found, we need to be careful about implementation. I believe entirely that we can hardcode in some ati drivers and replace the existing ones and be fine, but log term, hardcoding will only cause more problems. It could keep us from updating video drivers later to increase performance or for bug fixes. We need to have this in the back of our head for the one who comes up with the fix.

Effects

[WandaLust]

I agree with effects.

I think we are all stuck and until we can get the source code we can't move forwards on the video drivers.

I believe that Blanka has done some trickery with the graphics card to make it work for the Mac and until we can get a VGA emulation layer implemented we are stuck where we are.

Hopefully we can get our hands on the code fairly soon.

Incidentally the issue over renaming drivers I think is more in how it is done as I did crash my system when renaming with windows explorer, hence the note about command line.

I thought this may help and I hoped that people would take it in the spirit it was meant in, that was to help us move forward, unfortunately a few grumpy people went off on one, no wonder some people keep their postings to themselves.

I understand it's annoying having to re-install but guys if we don't mess up and try things we aint going to get anywhere....

Again like effects I think the video drivers is a dead issue at the moment, we aint going to fix it by installling any other drivers. It's a coding issue with the XOM using Hardcoding.

[gizzymo]

Pardon me if this is silly but a thought occured to me.

1. The x1600 is like virtually all chipsets these days capeable of dual head output.

2. Many ppl seem to think now that the problems lies with xom.efi been locked into the video card and preventing any attempt to load drivers

well has anyone thought about addressing setting up a driver using the dual head option in some manner, as some dual head systems create a second card as far as windows is concerned
just a thought


maybe stupid but just wanted to air it.......

[RujusMacBook]

I found an ATI x1600 video driver for the MBP and it seems to be working, but video still isn't perfect. If you go to the ati home page an ddownload the catalyst 6.3 drivers for xp media center edition, it will provid eyou with the proper files.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=294

Then add/update driver for the display using the device manager. Choose 'no, not at this time' -> 'Install from specific location' -> 'don't search' -> 'Have disk' -> 'Browse' -> c:ati:support:6-3_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_30895:driver:2kxp_inf:(double click it) then click open. Choose radeon x1600. That should do it. email me with questions ij25@mac.com

* Drivers do install according to the above directions and X1600 Radeon is listed now under Display Adapters. The ATI Catalyst Control Panel also installs (after restart). However, under Display Properties, it still says Default Monitor on and the Catalyst Control Panel will not start due to a lack of Administrator Privileges. Does anyone know how to combat this?

From the wiki here (http://wiki.onmac.net/index.php/Talk:Users/Drivers#Video).

Any ideas?

[tgclark]

I tried the same process and the ati control center claimed it wouldn't open because I didn't have the proper drivers installed, not because I didn't have admin privileges...

[gizzymo]

make sure you have the .net framework installed first, before installing the driver.

[RichP]

How good does that implementation that the wiki suggests work? Honestly, I am not planning on running windows as a main OS by any means, and basic hardware acceleration is what I need, not a full-blown solution with the control center options. Of course, that is just me.

Does hardware acceleration work, or is it just showing the videocard/drivers in device manager?
________
Hiv / Aids Forums (http://www.health-forums.org/hiv-aids/)

[RujusMacBook]

How good does that implementation that the wiki suggests work? Honestly, I am not planning on running windows as a main OS by any means, and basic hardware acceleration is what I need, not a full-blown solution with the control center options. Of course, that is just me.

Does hardware acceleration work, or is it just showing the videocard/drivers in device manager?

No, with the Wiki solution posted above, hardware acceleration does not work. I was hoping it would but to no avail!

[kuchdawg]

Did anyone at all try the Vista drivers i posted? (even if it doesn't install... i'm just currious what happens)

[tgclark]

Now I know we've all seen the video of Half Life 2 running on a macbook pro. The guy who did it must know something that we don't because Half Life wont even start up on my 17in using the basic drivers we've been testing. Does anyone know who that video guy was and what he used?

[Vaxan]

Now I know we've all seen the video of Half Life 2 running on a macbook pro. The guy who did it must know something that we don't because Half Life wont even start up on my 17in using the basic drivers we've been testing. Does anyone know who that video guy was and what he used?

No one knows or they would have said it. There's a good chance that guy is just waiting for us to start a contest so he can collect the prize money. It doesnt look like his frame rates would be high enough to qualify though.

[tgclark]

im amazed he even got the game to load...

[tgclark]

has anyone asked narf or blanka if they have any suggestions for replacing the xom drivers or un-hardwire them (for a lack of a better term)? A simple confirmation of our process of testing drivers would be nice. A "yeah, eventually a driver should work" or "none of this will work and here's why" would be helpful.

[drcreek]

So just to get my head round this i'm a bit of a laymen

We are up to the point where we've worked out the the x1600's are customized by apple in the firmware to work with EFI.

blanka & co. got round this by using the XOM driver & the x1600 drivers for XP with we get nothing from becase they aint made to work with EFI.

so we need to wait for the source code to be released so we can start tweaking the two together?

can people correct me if i'm wrong?

I'm getting my 17" iMac in the next few days and i'm gonna try all this out.

I once edited my own Wlan drivers ages ago. I'll try for the driver contest if there is one if not i'll help out anyway i can. :D

[gygysamurai]

What are the other Startup Types?

And another Idea....

Get the properties of your X1600, click on The driver Tab>Driver Details

Find the .sys File

Open up Regedit, and go to

HKLM,"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VgaSave"

And Change the ImagePath to be the .sys file Location that you just found

Reboot...and Pray


I tried that a few days ago and bricked my XP install

[alands]

Please forgive what may be a very stupid question, but has anyone considered approaching ATI and encouraging them to address a problem limiting what is potentially a large market for them? Maybe an on-line petition, specifically targeting windows users who want to buy these machines? I'm a mediocre programmer at best, but I well know the kind of difference an optimized video driver makes.

[real_mav]

Can any well-knowledged systems programmer describe technically how a video driver works? That way, we can this all straightened out.

[RichP]

Please forgive what may be a very stupid question, but has anyone considered approaching ATI and encouraging them to address a problem limiting what is potentially a large market for them? Maybe an on-line petition, specifically targeting windows users who want to buy these machines? I'm a mediocre programmer at best, but I well know the kind of difference an optimized video driver makes.

Its actually no market for ATI whatsoever. Apple is their customer, we are the user. They need to cater to the customers needs, not the users, in this scenario. If they made a driver, it would be out of the goodness of their corporate hearts.

I think this is less of needing a special driver so much as first knowing how blanka made the XOM driver work,and how it is so hardcoded into our windows installs.

Im impatient, but considering windows was a pipe dream on a mac less than a year ago (intel announcement) we have made some incredible strides.
________
Free Magento Themes (http://themesfree.org)

[WandaLust]

:p All will be revealed fairly soon, lets just be happy where we are at now.
It's only last week that we managed to get WinXP installed so just imagine how quickly we could (if we all work together) move towards a full solution.:D

[kainewynd2]

I wish they had released the Powermacs (or whatever they'll name them...) first. I'm wondering if throwing another video card in another PCI Express slot will produce a workable card.

On the other hand, it really seems that the EFI firmware is something we'll have to wait on until the source code is released. At that point, I would bet that this problem will almost solve itself... geeks have a way of uniting on things like this as soon as the source is released.

In addition, after the source is released, I give it a week before it supports Linux booting as well...

[effects]

Don't get your hopes up too much, but I may have a solution to the video problem. I am testing the solution, but it maybe a day or two before I know if it is functional. I was debating on whether or not to post this, but I decided to let you know, that I am getting close. As stated earlier, the problem doesn't lie in the driver, but in the driver implementation. I have went back and corrected the problem, but am home sick and will take me a little time to make sure the driver is full proof. Also, this doesn't fix the ability to upgrade, it would only be a driver fix at this time and would require a reinstall of the os. I have found no other way to do it at this. Time. Cross your fingers and hope for the best, I will keep you updated. Hopefully this will work.

P.S. for those wondering how I am working on this. I am editing the original slipstream files to incorporate the ati drivers rather than the xom files. It is time consuming and I can't guarantee my results as of yet, but hopefully. If everything continues as it has, I may need some testers in a few days.

As I said, don't get to excited yet. I still have more testing to do.

Effects

:cool:

[FrostyFire]

Looking forward to the results!

[RichP]

Sounds good effects; want me to send some Airborne your way to aid the healing?

Also, i have my windows setup imaged, so if you want me to try a reinstall, its no big issue here.
________
Chrysler ad platform specifications (http://www.dodge-wiki.com/wiki/Chrysler_AD_platform)

[effects]

It would be nice if I healed faster. Anyway, I'll let you all know. When I need testers, I'll look your way. I need a few things from work to finishe my testing. I am trying to get a hold of a coworker to bring it to me, but he won't answer his dang phone. Anyway, if I have to I'll go out and get it myself later. In the mean time if anyone comes up with another solution keep us informed.

Effects

[hadleydb]

Effects,

Good luck with the driver testing, and I hope you get feeling better!:)

[FrostyFire]

Effects, Is this for the MBP or iMac?

[effects]

I forgot to state that. I am working on the macbook pro. Sorry mac mini users! No fix yet although my solution if working after thorough testing might work with some additional tweaking. However, we will take it one step at a time. I'll test this one first and let you know.

P.S. I got a hold of my coworker and he is bringing my stuff here, so I might be able to finish testing sooner. We will see.

Effects

[FrostyFire]

***Crosses fingers***

Load up on chicken soup until further notice :)

[holyjewsus]

Go effects!

I hope your testing, experimentation, and solution go well.

Are you in favor of the contest?

[glorfindeal]

I forgot to state that. I am working on the macbook pro. Sorry mac mini users! No fix yet although my solution if working after thorough testing might work with some additional tweaking. However, we will take it one step at a time. I'll test this one first and let you know.

P.S. I got a hold of my coworker and he is bringing my stuff here, so I might be able to finish testing sooner. We will see.

Effects


Will your drivers also work for the iMac?

Glor

[effects]

I believe this may also work for imac, but am holding off any definite statements until testing is complete. Imac's do have same video card.

[effects]

You asked if I was in favor of the contest. I guess if it is capped and not a growing reward then I'm fine with it, but that won't stop me if this is a working solution. If everything continues on track, then I will disclose my information no matter if a contest exists or not. My goal is not to make money but to get xp working like it should and to help others out.

:) I wouldn't turn the money down if this works and I was offered, but I will gain more by getting a working solution out.

Hope that answers your question.

In summary, money or no money if this thing works well and continues as it is now, I will post the solution regardless of a contest. I am not waiting for someone to decide if a contest is going to happen!

Effects

[macsonny]

So what are the chnces of seeing a video driver today?

[chrispy]

I'll pitch in $20 if it works :)

Let me know if you need any help testing.

- Chris

[hadleydb]

If you need me to test for iMac let me know. :)

[berhb]

If you need a tester i'm ready to go for it. Contest or not, if the solution works i'll be nice from all of us to donate. So get ready to open a paypal account.! :)

[effects]

So what are the chnces of seeing a video driver today?

I'll try to get it done, but I can't guarantee anything. I am still pretty sick and am not going to get my macbook back at my house until after 7 tonight. Then I have to resetup everything again and begin testing with various graphic intensive software to make sure no major bugs exist. I know I can make it boot, but I need to make sure everything is stable and working.

I understand everyone is anxious to get a working driver. I am with you. I can only promise to work as hard as I can at it. Please be patient.

Effects

[Steve1496]

I'll try to get it done, but I can't guarantee anything. I am still pretty sick and am not going to get my macbook back at my house until after 7 tonight. Then I have to resetup everything again and begin testing with various graphic intensive software to make sure no major bugs exist. I know I can make it boot, but I need to make sure everything is stable and working.

I understand everyone is anxious to get a working driver. I am with you. I can only promise to work as hard as I can at it. Please be patient.

Effects


Get some rest, and then work when you're able to. Your illness should take priority over the drivers--the XP on Mac community can wait :)

Feel better!

Steve

[berhb]

Get some rest, and then work when you're able to. Your illness should take priority over the drivers--the XP on Mac community can wait :)

Feel better!

Steve

Absolutely! :D

[keldegar]

can't wait :)

[chrispy]

Yeah man, don't kill yourself over this, another few days of waiting isn't going to hurt anyone.

[timbobsteve]

Good luck with this sollution effects. Everyone is right though, you shouldn't work too hard on it, after all if we don't have our health what do we have.

I find it amazing the level of cooperation between the hackers on these forums. I am trully inspired. The sharing of information and the industrious nature of everyone here is great to witness. Here's hoping I get me macbook soon so I can join in on the fun. :D

[FrostyFire]

+1 for the guinee pig list.

[tdar]

Get some rest, and then work when you're able to. Your illness should take priority over the drivers--the XP on Mac community can wait :)

Feel better!

Steve

what he said!;)

[robosport]

@effects: Get well soon... and thanks for plugging away at this. Best of luck with your possible solution.

I have a MBP just restored to the factory state so I can try a fresh install if you need another tester to begin from scratch.

robo

[FrostyFire]

So this guy I work with knows someone who had lunch with an ATI developer a few months ago at a conference...

He tried to get some info out of him about anthing ATI was doing and he wouldn't budge. He says ATI has some pretty hardcore NDA's (non-disclosure agreements) and if any information is released they can face some major penalties.

So don't count on ATI helping out on this, no matter what the petition is.

[robertgreen94]

OK I do not claim to be an expert on this, but I am aware that the firmware on the X1600 is for the mac, I do not beleive it is a hybrid like the 9600' (i think). If this is the case how is a windows driver going to talk to a mac firmware?

[FrostyFire]

Because it uses x86 architecture. Nobody is really saying that a current driver will magically work (we're hoping for that, easy way out)...more as to what driver could be hacked to make it work.

[marek]

Just when I got my MBP/Win configured nicely you are telling me I'm gonna have to go through all this again once the video driver is available?

[FrostyFire]

You don't have too. You could always just use it the way it is until the end of time.

[compufix]

20" iMac here for testing. Also, use my xomhelper app to easily re-setup the xom.efi for your machine and make a new slipstream CD from OSX.....


-Compufix

[geepee]

Get some rest, and then work when you're able to. Your illness should take priority over the drivers--the XP on Mac community can wait

Feel better!

Steve

what he said!;)

what he said he said.

Fun times ahead.

Get better soon, Effects!

[marek]

You don't have too. You could always just use it the way it is until the end of time.
Sarcasm Abounds.

Seriously, second monitor support is what I am after. Rebuild to get there is a small price to pay.

[information_junkie]

I found an ATI x1600 video driver for the MBP and it seems to be working, but video still isn't perfect. If you go to the ati home page an ddownload the catalyst 6.3 drivers for xp media center edition, it will provide you with the proper files.
https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=294

Then add/update driver for the display using the device manager. Choose 'no, not at this time' -> 'Install from specific location' -> 'don't search' -> 'Have disk' -> 'Browse' -> c:ati:support:6-3_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_30895:driver:2kxp_inf:(double click it) then click open. Choose radeon x1600. That should do it. email me with questions

It enables standby (but won't wake) and the device shows as working. I think at this point we need the display adapter to be written with more features...like the XOM driver. I have a feeling they only wrote support for one screen resolution and no extras...We just have to wait for someone who knows what they are doing to write a replacement.

[FrostyFire]

Does it still show default monitor in display properties?

[information_junkie]

Oh and I forgot, expand the downloaded file, and attempt an install, but it will most likely fail...then follow my directions...

[information_junkie]

Yes it still says default monitor...

we must have a new display controller for this to work...and nothing already written will work (unless someone wrote one for XP that talks to EFI...which i doubt since xp doesn't support EFI...theoretically of course :) ) As i said, I think the only solution is a new Display controller written similar to the XOM one, just with more features and support enabled...

[Backtothemac]

That is my question too. Is it showing up as the X1600 in the display properties, not the device manager.

[Backtothemac]

Yes it still says default monitor...

we must have a new display controller for this to work...and nothing already written will work (unless someone wrote one for XP that talks to EFI...which i doubt since xp doesn't support EFI...theoretically of course :) ) As i said, I think the only solution is a new Display controller written similar to the XOM one, just with more features and support enabled...

Do you have 3d support? IE can you play any games?

[FrostyFire]

Well this isn't really new information then, at the moment in device manager I can get mine to show up as an X1600 card but it's not actually executing the driver.

[marek]

Yes it still says default monitor...

we must have a new display controller for this to work...and nothing already written will work (unless someone wrote one for XP that talks to EFI...which i doubt since xp doesn't support EFI...theoretically of course :) ) As i said, I think the only solution is a new Display controller written similar to the XOM one, just with more features and support enabled...
Does it allow a second monitor?

[Tranquility]

I had to change my account from IJ to this...

Anyway, Second monitor does not work...

I'm not familliar with current PC games, so tell me one to try and I'll get it and let you know..

[keldegar]

run dxdiag and show the results.

[hospadam]

I can confirm that the XP Media Center Edition driver does install correctly, and it is not crashing my computer. It shows as the R adeon x1600 in Device Manager, but in the Display Settings, it still says "Default Monitor on " and it's black the rest of the way.

I ran dxdiag... but I'm not sure what stats your wanting to know about? I can confirm that Direct 3d does NOT work, atleast with the MCE drivers. However, Direct Draw does work. Anything else you all need to know that would help?

[keldegar]

i installed these myself..

directdraw does not work. it fails tests 17.

it is still using xomdd.sys as Mini VDD. This is nothing new.

[berhb]

Effects, how are you?

We haven´t heard from you!

I hope you are feeling better!:confused:

[tonymillion]

I've seen a lot of chat about the display drivers and why they're not working. I am a windows programmer (also a mac programmer) and I also have a MacBook Pro. I've been following the board since day one, but only finished the registration of my account today.

Anyway here goes:

As I understand it the NT Kernel of XP was patched, to hard-code it to use the XOM display driver - if this is true you'll never get the x1600 drivers to run because even the correctly detected device is being overrode by the XOM display driver.

I heard someone - 'effects' - was going to try to slipstream the driver.. this could work. I wait to be impressed.

The other option I'm thinking of is that once XP is installed and the x1600 driver is installed, to then put the original NT kernel back on there (or when the source is released, maybe one not hard-coded to the XOM driver). The kernel should then use the x1600 driver as its the most relevant one for the hardware. (in theory anyway).

I don't know the full internals of the hack, so I don't know how plausible this is - I'm still reading up on the limited information available.

What I understand so far, is windows was failing to boot on account of an available vga bios...

I doubt the drivers rely on any firmware on the card, for the most part it becomes irrelevant once you get into protected mode anyway. Its purely to set up video in a nice (and general) way before the system firmware starts, so it can display general stuff (rather like setting text mode for PCs with BIOS and then setting a few interrupts so the BIOS can display text.

I dont see why it wouldn't be possible to rip the vga firmware from another x1600 laptop and get it to run somewhere in the xom hack if necessary either.

A few thoughts for the moment - if I've made mistaken assumptions feel free to correct me (I realise noone, especially me, is perfect).

[effects]

Hey all,

Thanks for being patient. I haven't been able to finish the solution yet. Yesterday was an extremely bad day. I feel a little better today, so I am going to try and work on it. Hopefully later this evening, I will know for sure. Anyway, thanks for the support and I apologize. I know everyone is waiting on a solution. I will write back as I have more information. Until then, I will check posts for a while, but am still going to spend some time in bed.

Effects

[Nebuchad34]

Great, we were all lookin forward to read you !

I'm glad you feel better.

Hope you'll get the solution easily....

[RichP]

Dont stress it, focus on your health!

"Get well,get well soon we wish you to get well!"
________
Buy Vapir Oxygen (http://www.vaporshop.com/oxygen-vaporizer.html)

[Zino]

Sorry my misstake, ATI has not said anything about the drivers they meant drivers for the new Intel OSX system. But I will contact them again.

[moo083]

Nowhere in the article does it say anything about this being a Windows driver. I don't think it is. I don't think ATI would. Unless they held back a quote that says it explicitly.

[keldegar]

Nowhere in the article does it say anything about this being a Windows driver. I don't think it is. I don't think ATI would. Unless they held back a quote that says it explicitly.

I think its implied.

ATI already makes Mac OS X drivers, why would they say they are creating drivers for that?

[FrostyFire]

ATI making windows drivers for this is an extreme rumour.... they already have Windows drivers made up, however it doesn't pay them at all to pay their programmers to make a windows driver for something they don't have too. They have fulfilled their contract with Apple.

[chiefsalami]

So my understanding is we need the xom video driver hard-coded into the kernel in order to see during the installation. If a "quiet" (unattended) installation is set up (what is the name of that program that does that?), do we even need to see what's going on?

Then (theoretically) video should work because it's not conflicting with the xom video "BIOS" and without that coded into the kernel, it should be loaded up without xom conflicting with it.

[keldegar]

So my understanding is we need the xom video driver hard-coded into the kernel in order to see during the installation. If a "quiet" (unattended) installation is set up (what is the name of that program that does that?), do we even need to see what's going on?

Then (theoretically) video should work because it's not conflicting with the xom video "BIOS" and without that coded into the kernel, it should be loaded up without xom conflicting with it.

yes, xomdd.sys is messing something up.

also i think it has to do with us having an internal display, opposed to an external like the mini.

[keldegar]

ATI making windows drivers for this is an extreme rumour.... they already have Windows drivers made up, however it doesn't pay them at all to pay their programmers to make a windows driver for something they don't have too. They have fulfilled their contract with Apple.

yeah, we have no idea of how valid that article is. someone could've just made it up. ATI has no reason to make drivers except to make mac users happy. But since when is a company interested in the users, and not the customers (apple = customer, us = users).

[moo083]

ATI doesn't usually make Mac drivers. Apple does it all for them. Remember, the reason Macs work so well is that the software for the hardware is written all by Apple.

Anyways, I really don't think this is happening. I believe that the ATI driver article could be refering to a number of things, but I don't think its a Windows on Mac Driver. I don't think Apple would appreciate that very much. Users working on this is one thing, but one of Apple's partners? In all likelyhood, it could even break some contract between the two companies.

[FrostyFire]

ATI doesn't usually make Mac drivers. Apple does it all for them. Remember, the reason Macs work so well is that the software for the hardware is written all by Apple.

Anyways, I really don't think this is happening. I believe that the ATI driver article could be refering to a number of things, but I don't think its a Windows on Mac Driver. I don't think Apple would appreciate that very much. Users working on this is one thing, but one of Apple's partners? In all likelyhood, it could even break some contract between the two companies.
Exactly. I wouldn't hold my breath on ATI or Apple releasing anything on this. It's up to the user community. That's why a prize to get working drivers isn't the worst thing in the world.

[chiefsalami]

I really believe that the solution should involve removing xomdd as the display driver, and that the ATI driver files should not be hacked so that future updates will still work on the system. Ideally, xomdd has to get us through the boot process the way standard BIOS-supported video does now, and then Windows loads up the accelerated (ATI) drivers once it's up.

[Birdy27]

I had one device showing VGA Controller, so I thought this is the ATI Card.
I downloaded the ATI driver, entered the Vendor ID
"RADEON X1600 Series " = ati2mtag_RV530, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5
to the CX_30895 file and updated the driver.

The only thing that happened is that this device is now showing as ATI "Radeon X1600 Series", but what is this good for?

Still there is another device that is not listed graphic cards that is actually used to diplay everything.

So what is that VGA device. Is it deat because of the VGA EFI Bios or may be that's the second head or something ?

Greetings
Christoph

[DeathChill]

ATI doesn't usually make Mac drivers. Apple does it all for them. Remember, the reason Macs work so well is that the software for the hardware is written all by Apple.

Anyways, I really don't think this is happening. I believe that the ATI driver article could be refering to a number of things, but I don't think its a Windows on Mac Driver. I don't think Apple would appreciate that very much. Users working on this is one thing, but one of Apple's partners? In all likelyhood, it could even break some contract between the two companies.
Are you sure? I'm pretty sure ATI does all the main stuff for their drivers, but provide source for Apple to tweak. I'm not 100% sure though.

[Birdy27]

ATI making windows drivers for this is an extreme rumour.... they already have Windows drivers made up, however it doesn't pay them at all to pay their programmers to make a windows driver for something they don't have too. They have fulfilled their contract with Apple.
They may have fullfilled their contract with Apple, but in some way we are the customers.

I used to have OS/2, so drivers were always a problem. But there was a solution to that problem:
The main newsite propagated which driver we were up for and gave the main arguments WHY MAKING THIS DRIVER IS EASY AND WORTH IT and then that company got thousands of individual letters with the same arguments.

Companies notice were they have attention they love positive attation and fear negative attention.

I think this could be done in the Mac community as well.

Greetings
Christoph

[gygysamurai]

They may have fullfilled their contract with Apple, but in some way we are the customers.

I used to have OS/2, so drivers were always a problem. But there was a solution to that problem:
The main newsite propagated which driver we were up for and gave the main arguments WHY MAKING THIS DRIVER IS EASY AND WORTH IT and then that company got thousands of individual letters with the same arguments.

Companies notice were they have attention they love positive attation and fear negative attention.

I think this could be done in the Mac community as well.

Greetings
Christoph

Should we all start writing letters to ATI then?

It's like that story in the Bible where this lady begs a judge for something (fair trial or something, can't remember) and he keeps ignoring her. Finally, after persistent begging and countless attempts to reject her, the judge finally gives in and gives her what she needs. (I think the moral of the story was to be persistent when you come before God)

But anyways, if we keep begging ATI then I'm sure sooner or later they'll get sick of us and give us what we need so we'll leave them alone haha. Who knows, maybe that's what everyone else has been saying all along and I never paid attention

[satans_banjo]

Is there a sourceforge project for the WinXP on Mac drivers? That would help attract publicity to the project from the open-source community. That would be our best bet

[brainyartist]

@Birdy27

But we didn't beg Microsoft either to program us an XP for our Macs? So why should we bother ATI? By the way I think an open source project is something we could learn a lot from about these Macs...

greets

[effects]

Good morning all. I am feeling much better today. My plan is to get up get ready and oh yes, try and finalize the driver issue. Hopefully, tonight or tomorrow, (if everything tests fine) I will be ready to distribute the solution to the testers who have contacted me and volunteered. I will keep you all informed.

P.S. - To catch some of you up. I might have a solution, but can't guarantee anything yet. I have a windows xp install on a macbook pro booting off of an ati driver not the xom driver. However, I am not sure about how stable the driver is yet. Anyway, I'll let you know.

Thanks for all of the support and well wishing. Hopefully this driver issue will be a thing of the past shortly.

Effects
:p

[RichP]

Glad to hear you are up and at'em!

Running an ATI over XOM? That at least sounds very promising, that XOM driver cant cause problems if it isnt there...
________
Medical marijuana states (http://mmjp.org)

[settolo]

yes, but the ATI's driver (written for win version of the card) could be not stable for the Mac's version of the same card, which seems to have a differente firmware.

[Steve1496]

Good morning all. I am feeling much better today.


Glad to hear you'r feeling better! Make sure to keep the community posted on your results, we're all eager:) .


Best of luck,
Steve

[Sonoko]

Whoa, awesome, Effects! If you pull it off... well... WOOHOO!!!!

If this has already been asked, forgive me, but will it also work with the iMac's x1600 with 256mb vram?

Thanks!

[hadleydb]

Sonoko,

It's unclear at this point if it will work with an iMac because effects has a MBP, but I believe it will. Hopefully I am able to test my 128 meg card with his solution.

Glad to hear your better feeling better effects! Send a test version my way once complete. Thank you for all your doing!

:D

[Afternoon Delight]

Great news on both accounts: your health and your techno progress. :D

[Zino]

I could also help testing the driver out, I am a experienced driver debugger.

[Loki di Asi]

Effects, if you get this done, i will officially award you the title "Guru and Master of the Known Universe and all surrounding Territories".

Seriously, thanks for all that work!

btw: I´ ve got an MBP 2 MHz - just in case you need some additional tester.

[thegeekfr]

hello Effects, i've an imac 20" and i'l be ready to test your solution for this week.
Send me mail please !!
thegeeks at free.fr

thanks again for your help.

[CaptObvious]

I'm willing to test - my MacBook Pro 2.16GHz will be arriving thursday or friday!

matt@captobvio.us

/CaptObvious

[robosport]

@effects: I have a factory configured MBP 2GHz here and ready for a fresh install to help test your solution.

Thanks!

[flizzo my nizzo]

Another 20" iMac here available for testing if you need it, effects.

[race-eendje]

Hello Effects,

Ready to test on MBP 1.8Mhz with Dutch XP ... Send me an email plz !

[Stratus Fear]

You have absolutely no shortage of testers :D I'm also willing to help out with a 20" iMac if needed. :)

[dbmaker]

:eek: Hello Effects,

Ready to test on MBP 1.8Mhz with Korean XP ... Send me an email plz !

[The Viking]

I'm more of a 2nd-gen tester. I'd like to know it's not going to brick my MBP 2.0, but I'm not über concerned about instability.

No matter what, Effects, Narf/blanka, and AirmanPika are my internet heroes. What a fun time to be a Windows and Mac geek!

[hokutorii]

I'd love to help test too. I have a 12" PowerBook G4 ;)

[iRobie]

I've got a 17", stock iMac. I have lots of experience creating unattended Windows CDs, and lots of 'tinkering' experience in Windows too. I have a feeling that is the method you're using, with one or two personal touches.

Let me know if you'd like another testing :)

[fatcat168]

Here to test too,,, I have a 2.16ghz MBP, 2 gig RAM...

[MowgliBook]

If you need I can test it on my iMac 17" (Core Duo 1,83Ghz, 512Mo then 1.5Go of RAM, Windows XP Pro FRENCH, and possibly ENGLISH too, since I've got both available)

[timbobsteve]

Is Narf/Blanka going to release the code to the XOM bootloader/hack? I guess if they do some instability in the drivers could be removed by replacing the XoM vga driver with the correct ATI vga driver... that way you wouldn't have to worry about pushing the XOM vga driver out of the way (or worry about it rearing its little head later). Anyways.... good to hear you are well Effects. Good luck with your testing.

[effects]

Okay! short post. I have been slandered for my testing practices on osx86 forum and am about fed up with it. This forum has been great. Sorry about the complaining. I am still venting. I am a little upset. Anyway. Testing is going well Halo PC has caused a BSOD, but several other games like American McGee Alice and the original Half-life play great. I am trying to determine the cause of the BSOD and will report back as soon as I know something. Thanks for your patience. Oh by the way the current driver I am slipstreaming is the Asus a7j driver incase anyone is wondering. I am not trying to keep secrets.

Thanks,
Effects

[MulletMan13]

Glad to hear that some things are working, and I'm very sorry for the ridicule you're running into at the other forum. I'm hoping you can get something out there for us all to test, as we have different games to add to a compatibility list :)

If by chance you have Roller COaster Tycoon that'd be excellent if you could give that a spin, but if not -- then I can wait for testing to begin :)

Keep up the good work, and there are a ton of iMac guinea pigs here ready and willing to try everything out!

[effects]

Hello again! I know you may be wondering how I am replying so fast and wondering if I am getting anywhere. I am actually sitting surrounded by computers, testing right now. Anyway, let me explain why I haven't published my solution as is. As is in it's current state, I am not aware of the problems that could arrise from my solution. I know some games have a BSOD and that is fine, but I don't know how well the video card, fans and other things will hold up yet. I could post it with a disclaimer, but my conscience would kill me if anything happened to anyone's machine because of a solution I made. I apologize for not posting, but I don't want to run that risk.

Thanks for Understanding,
Effects

[hadleydb]

Effects,

Just ignore that other forum you have our full support for what you are doing here. Thank you!

[mac wilson]

effects

maybe you should post what you have now to avoid any craziness. None of us will mind if it's incomplete.

I can speak for eveyone that a disclaimer is enough. We can handle it.

we will all support you in this regard and we will ALL take responsibility for it

or if you can post a vid.

[effects]

Glad to hear that some things are working, and I'm very sorry for the ridicule you're running into at the other forum. I'm hoping you can get something out there for us all to test, as we have different games to add to a compatibility list :)

If by chance you have Roller COaster Tycoon that'd be excellent if you could give that a spin, but if not -- then I can wait for testing to begin :)

Keep up the good work, and there are a ton of iMac guinea pigs here ready and willing to try everything out!

P.S. Sorry, I don't currently have roller coaster tycoon.

[joelypolly]

If you still need testers for 20" iMacs i'll be happy to help..

[MulletMan13]

Not trying to push you any further, but just offering a bit of friendly advice :)

Right now, as the solution stands, there is no way to completely brick your Mac by installing a driver through xom. If anything were to go wrong with the install software, the partition could just be cleaned up, and a regular XOM solution could be installed/initiated.

Also, I understand your concern for working the video card, or overheating and all of that, but AFAIK, there is no overclocking of the video card/hardware involved, so there should be no wear and tear because everything was designed to work together. It's like a giant puzzle being put together.

Another thing is that this project is all one big risk, it is mostly for tech savvy people that know what they are doing, know the risks involved and are proficient at what they do. Granted there are some people that find this site and do it because it is "cool", and run into a ton of problems, but this solution isn't at that point yet. blanka and narf submitted their solution in the testing stages, and this seems like it may be the right time :)

Of course I completely understand if you want to keep testing, but there are definately advantages to getting a couple responsible people also testing. You will get a lot more information and feedback that way.

WIth that said, no matter what you do I will still respect your decision, and I hope that everything fares well.

Best of luck!

[effects]

Okay! This is not going to be easy but here it goes. My mailbox is flooding with hate mail. This message may make it worse. Anyway, I have to leave for a while to get away from the forums. Therefore at this time, I am going to say my solution is not working. I would like things to continue to progress here, but I feel like I am a distraction. I made a mistake by posting things before my solution was finished. My goal was to give people hope and to fill them in on the successes I was having to help them understand that people were working hard and a solution was coming, but people don't seem to understand. This forum has been great an I appreciate you all. When and if I get this solution finished, I will post for everyone to have as promised, but for now, I am not going to post anything else. I apologize for my distraction.

Goodnight,
:( Effects :(

[hadleydb]

Effects,

I fully understand. I know that if you do come up with a solution you will let us know. I'm sorry it isn't working the way you thought it would. I'm still with you.

Thanks!

[Backtothemac]

Damnit. Everyone that email him with hate mail should be drug out into the street and beat senseless. I don't get it. Why would anyone be hating on him when he is working his ass off to get this done for everyone.

UGH:mad:

[keldegar]

screw the hate mail, don't listen to them.

However I think you shouldn't let all your progress go to waste.

Post what you have now so people can develop from there. instead of having to start all over at square one. FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

[Steve1496]

Okay! This is not going to be easy but here it goes. My mailbox is flooding with hate mail. This message may make it worse. Anyway, I have to leave for a while to get away from the forums. Therefore at this time, I am going to say my solution is not working. I would like things to continue to progress here, but I feel like I am a distraction. I made a mistake by posting things before my solution was finished. My goal was to give people hope and to fill them in on the successes I was having to help them understand that people were working hard and a solution was coming, but people don't seem to understand. This forum has been great an I appreciate you all. When and if I get this solution finished, I will post for everyone to have as promised, but for now, I am not going to post anything else. I apologize for my distraction.

Goodnight,
:( Effects :(


I am disappointed in the community, whether it be here or OSX86Project. It's really a shame that people could be so disrespectful to others within the community. I'm sorry for any email that might have been disrespectful or whatnot. I hope you continue your development, because you are a talented person and I am sure if you do get this working, you will get the $1000 the contest is offering.

Just remember that you're always welcome at On Mac, and that we are thankful for your efforts thus far.

Don't give up!
Steve

[hadleydb]

True! Don't give up because of a few people who don't understand the time you have taken to actually try to get a solution. I'm sure none of them have tried to come up with a solution.

[Suspect]

Do you guys really believe this guy? He never showed proof of anything. He was probably just looking for attention. Unless one of his "testers" comes out and provides witness to the proposed "solution" then I'm considering it bs.

[Steve1496]

I see how you can be skeptical. There's no actual evidence, so it might be hard to believe. However, I always like to assume the best until there's proof they're not.

You've gotta have hope.


Steve

[RichCoder]

I agree. Hope I'm wrong. $100 well spent.

-rich

[rastaman]

Well, i follow also the forums on osx86, but i hope that i can still post here :-) So anybody work on the subject ? I try various drivers (i write from safe mode :-) ), sometime i add the following line :
"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_M56, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5&SUBSYS_00001002
instead of
"ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_M56, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5&SUBSYS_00921025
to add support for the card in the drivers, because this is what return the msinfo32 report.

I was wondering if we should also modify this :
[ati2mtag_M56.GeneralConfigData]
MaximumDeviceMemoryConfiguration=128
to
[ati2mtag_M56.GeneralConfigData]
MaximumDeviceMemoryConfiguration=256
since i have this quantity of VRAM on my board.

I have tried also the utility dhmodder, but it doesn't seem to do someting useful for our cards.

So far the drivers ati-catalyst-5.13b-radeon-mobility-2kxp-whql.exe seems to be good candidate because they support mobility x1600 and are not restrictive in their definition of this card ("ATI Mobility Radeon X1600" = ati2mtag_M56, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5).

I have compared the registry regarding the VgaSave and atimtag services on my MacBookPro and the Inspiron6000 with a MX300 of my girlfriend and i haven't find a lot of differences.

I haven't find any evidence that the xom driver is hardcoded, where is it ? (i see that the installation install it by default but this is not in contradiction with the fact to install another driver later, isn't it?)

What i would like to know is if the fact that the driver for the X1600 seems to depend on vga.sys could be problematic ? I see this in msinfo32:

System Information report written at: 03/26/06 14:01:22
System Name: POWERDUO
[Display]

Item Value
Name ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C5&SUBSYS_00001002&REV_00\4&31B7BFB9&0&0008
Adapter Type Not Available
Adapter Description ATI Technologies Inc.
Adapter RAM Not Available
Installed Drivers Not Available
Driver Version vga.sys,framebuf.dll,vga256.dll,vga64k.dl -- should we have something like xomdd.sys here ?
INF File 6.14.10.6587 (oem14.inf section)
Color Planes ati2mtag_M56
Color Table Entries 1
Resolution 4294967296 x 1440 x 900 hertz
Bits/Pixel 1
Memory Address 0x80000000-0xFEBFFFFF
I/O Port 0x00003000-0x00003FFF
Memory Address 0x98300000-0x983FFFFF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\ati2mtag.sys (6.14.10.6587, 1,35 MB (1 414 656 bytes), 25/03/2006 22:38)

You see there i a reference to vga.sys. I'm wondering if this is because i'm in real mode (and so use the vga.sys driver?) or if this is because the driver rely on vga.sys to be loaded. if this is the case perhaps we can modify the install file of the driver for it to depond on xomdd.sys ?

So perhaps (surely :-) these are not new directions, but could you (the whole comunnity, effect?) give any hint on what to do/try to use the x1600 ? i try alone to find a solution but any hint would be appreciated,
Best regards, thanks in advance,

[glorfindeal]

Personally, I would rather wait until he is satisfied with the drivers. I'm in no hurry.

Glor

[Zino]

I agree, let go back to topic. I have been talking to ATI again and they have only confirmd what we alredy know. That is that the cards have diffrent firmware than the PC ones and that no PC driver will work with the cards.

[hokutorii]

I agree, let go back to topic. I have been talking to ATI again and they have only confirmd what we alredy know. That is that the cards have diffrent firmware than the PC ones and that no PC driver will work with the cards.

That's nice of them to actually answer with a proper response though, instead of some generic can't tell you kinda deal.

[Zino]

Well, Actually I have a contact within ATI since I work as a technology journalist. I am still awaiting an awnswer regarding if ATI will be making drivers.

[bgd]

Could simply flashing the X1600 card with corresponding PC firmware help solve this issue? It shouldn't be too hard to find PC firmware for this card, which would make it recognizable in Windows by the appropriate drivers. OTOH, if I understood it right, the hacked version of OSX works surprisingly well on PC hardware and there are no big driver issues the other way around which could mean that PC firmware on the card might work for both operating systems? Or am I way off in my reasoning?

[AndreR]

Could simply flashing the X1600 card with corresponding PC firmware help solve this issue?
Could work, but I'm afraid that OSX's drivers would not work with a PC firmware...

A possible solution would be to have the bootloader flash the X1600 with the correct firmware according to the selected OS... But all that flashing in and out would eventually lead to problems, so it's an awful solution...

Flashing the card would, however, be a perfectly valid solution for those intending to use solely WinXP on their macs (God forbid! :D ).

Cheers,
Andre

[jbouklas]

tgclark, I have said nothing unreasonable. I would like to see transparency, as provided by some on these forums, and yet shunned by others. This is the productive reason for expressing my opinion- to communicate to people that transparency is the only way to achieve our goal in a successful way. Of course, it's simply easier to call me rude- that way, you don't have to synthesize what I say. Though, I think I give up.

-Jim

[jbouklas]

I speak without much technical experience, and if this is naive you have my apologies, but it seems to me that a high priority goal of this project is a more complete BIOS emulation layer, akin to what the guys are doing over at the BAMBIOS project. Once this framework is in place, it would likely be easier to map the calls to the ATI hardware that differ between the Mac and PC firmwares- couldn't this be done through a brute force method of trial and error (basic reverse engineering?). If this has no grounding in reality, then... I at least pretended to sound smart for a paragraph.

-Jim

[rastaman]

Effectively. Also i'm wondering if there isn't a "simple" way to do it. If Effect or the guy who have filmed Half Life 2 have succeeded, even if this is difficult to reproduce i would like to try it. On the other hand i have installed Visual Studio 2005 and the driver development kit and i will also try the hard way, which will be easier as soon as the code will be posted. Also have you noticed that if one choose certain options (like disable ROMs IIRC) the XOM console hang saying "not VGA.rom found". Could we put a dump of the X1600 bios near xom.efi under the name VGA.rom to use our cards ? A lot of questions and a short night in perspective :-) Best regards to all, glad to hear any suggestion about the subject (between each reboot of my MBP ;-)

[mac wilson]

well, let's have another contest as this whole thing is pretty lame.

We will get lots more of the same-trust me. I'm starting to see lots of:
"I don't have an Apple machine and never did but please try my lame idea"

this ain't goin nowhere. Sure I'm a big beleiver in community (who isn't) but if you want results, money talks.

whatever.

[holyjewsus]

does anyone have the skill or the time to attempt what was hinted at by Effects?

[Backtothemac]

Well, I am more and more upset about this as time goes by. I have to say that no matter how much "hate mail" i recieved I would not punish the entire community and disappear with a "working solution". That is not how this should work.

We are going to have this problem for quite a while. When the person that came up with the Mini solution announced his solution, everyone jumped down his throat. Big time.

EVERYONE needs to sit back, shut up, be polite, and lets stop treating people with disrespect and questions. Let them work their solution, and when it is DONE and they say here it is, then we will all be better off.

[tonymillion]

does anyone have the skill or the time to attempt what was hinted at by Effects?

I've spent the day trying different ideas out on my MBP.

I personally dont think effects idea will work. Including the x1600 driver in the XP install is a good enough idea, but the problem lies in the ATI driver as far as I can see, and not just because the XOM display driver is present.

After getting the X1600 drivers recognised and a propper device manager entry showing up (like many others here). I turned my attention to the XOM display driver. Its coded as non-plug and play and as a system service.

I've tried disabling it, which caused the screen not to refresh on reboot, however I heard the windows startup sound (and the device appeared on the network). I stupidly didn't set a password on my account so I couldn't try RDPing (I think VNC has been tried, but thats different to RDP) into my machine when it was in that state to see what was up (I'll remember this next time). So its time for another reinstall :D

So basically I think the ATI driver isn't initializing video output or something along those lines. I actually believe the guy who did the xom stuff knew this to be the case (i.e. the drivers not working) which it why he did the custom display driver.

I hope ATI does us the service of releasing drivers that either dont rely on the video firmware or possibly include it as part of the driver. I doubt they will.

I fear that our last resort may be to get a ATI firmware from another x1600 based laptop and try to remap it into memory on startup - as others have proposed, but if the drivers are doing something funky once windows gets to 32bit mode then all might be lost. Also there's the possibility of incompatibilities with the EFI side of things.

I'm a programmer (both windows and mac) and have done some device driver development (for Adaptec and Aureal amongst others (that was a long time ago though)) I'm more than willing to help out on any project to get the x1600 going, once the XOM source code is released. Though they say the delay is for 'commenting the code' I'd rather just have the uncommented code sooner.

[robosport]

Though they say the delay is for 'commenting the code' I'd rather just have the uncommented code sooner.

All of us that have developed long enough (especially multiple revs of anything) know this one truth... the only accurate commenting is the code itself. Bring on the code. :)

[rastaman]

Could somebody who has seen the code tell where we should put the vga.rom file ? (searched if you type f4, f6 and enter) I have found some radeon x1600 bios at http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/ and i would like to test.

[Steve1496]

Let's try to keep this thread on topic. This thread is for discussing solutions to the driver problem, not arguing whether effects is for real or not.

Thanks:)
Steve

[jbouklas]

Hey, Glor, that's funny. Like, we were back on the topic of technical details and ATI drivers, and then a moderator asked us to continue to behave ourselves... perfect time to tell someone to get a life!

I'll check this thread in a few days or so, in the nearer-short-term it seems kind of pointless.

-Jim

You know, you need to get a life.....


Glor