Creating EFI String for Asus 8400GS Silent

There are a number of ways of getting your graphics card working within OS X (in order of difficulty) : -

• Adding “GraphicsEnabler=Yes” to Chameleon /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist
• Adding EFI string to Chameleon /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist
• Using an injector such as NVInject or NVEnabler
• Patching your DSDT file

The first one didn’t work for my Asus Silent EN8400GS, so here’s how I generated and added an EFI string.

First, install “gfxutil”

Next, get the location of your graphics card by entering the following: -
gfxutil -f display

You should get something back like this: -

DevicePath = PciRoot(0×1)/Pci(0×1,0×0)/Pci(0×0,0×0)

Next, create a file called “graphics.plist” which is the following (but put your settings in): -

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”>

<plist version=”1.0″>

<dict>

<key>PciRoot(0×1)/Pci(0×1,0×0)/Pci(0×0,0×0)</key>

<dict>

<key>@0,compatible</key>

<string>NVDA,NVMac</string>

<key>@0,device_type</key>

<string>display</string>

<key>@0,name</key>

<string>NVDA,Display-A</string>

<key>@1,compatible</key>

<string>NVDA,NVMac</string>

<key>@1,device_type</key>

<string>display</string>

<key>@1,name</key>

<string>NVDA,Display-B</string>

<key>NVCAP</key>

<data>BAAAAAAAAwAEAAAAAAAABwAAAAA=</data>

<key>NVPM</key>

<data>AQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==</data>

<key>VRAM,totalsize</key>

<string>0×20000000</string>

<key>device_type</key>

<string>NVDA,Parent</string>

<key>model</key>

<string>nVidia Geforce 8400GS</string>

<key>name</key>

<string>display</string>

<key>rom-revision</key>

<string>nVidia Geforce 8400GS OpenGL Engine</string>

</dict>

</dict>

</plist>

Next you need to generate a hex string to be inserted – run the following command: -

gfxutil -i xml -o hex graphics.plist graphics.hex

This will create a “graphics.hex” file in the current directory.

Lastly, copy and paste this string into your /Extra/com.apple.Boot.plist file in the following format: -

<key>device-properties</key>
<string>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</string>

Reboot and voila! You should have Quartz Extreme (QI) and Core Image (CI) enabled – open up Front Row, if it works then you’re done!

Sub-£200 Hackintosh

Here are the specs of my soon-to-be-built hackintosh…

Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L iG31 Socket 775 mATX Motherboard
Manuf Code: GA-G31M-ES2L
£ 32.35

Intel Celeron Dual Core CPU – E1500 2.2 GHz (800 MHz) Socket 775 512kb Cache
Manuf Code: BX80557E1500
£ 34.63

Asus 8400GS Silent 512MB DDR2 DVI VGA Out PCI-E Graphics Card
Manuf Code: 8400GSILENTP512MA
£24.86

Crucial 2GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 RAM
Manuf Code: CT25664AA800
£ 34.00

Shiny Piano Black/Silver Slim MicroATX Mini Tower Case With 400W PSU
Manuf Code: 908BL
£ 31.05

Netgear GA311 PCI Network Card
Manuf Code: GA311-100PES
£ 16.49

Sony AD-5240S 24x Dual Layer SATA DVD±RW
Manuf Code: AD-5240S-0B
£ 15.30

TOTAL : £ 188.68

Ok, I’ve cheated a little bit – I already had an old 80GB SATA Hard Drive which I will use for this PC, but they can be picked up for around a tenner on ebay…