Solution for broken Leopard Graphics Update (black displays after wake)

Question

Solution for broken Leopard Graphics Update (black displays after wake)

Hello everybody,

good news for those of you encountering some troubles with the latest Leopard Graphics Update 1.0 which followed the Mac OS X 10.5.2 update.

The following solution is for those of you who encounter the phenomenon that the (main) display wouldn't turn on after waking your computer from sleep. I read many posts in which the users described that just the display was kind of dead, but that they could log in to the computer remotely via SSH or even connect to the machine using screen sharing. I had the absolutely identical problems until recently with my PM G4 MDD with NVidia GeForce 4600 Ti graphics card.

*WARNING: The following solution worked for ME and MY computer setup, but it should be likely that it will also work for you if you experienced the same problems as described above.*

Before you start the surgery, have the following tools at your hand:
a) Mac OS X 10.5 DVD (hacked or unhacked, it doesn't matter)
b) Nr 6 Torc screw driver (no, just kidding ... ;-))
c) Post-it and pen
d) Cup of coffee or tee at your liking

Here are the steps that lead to success, and you can try it exactly this way when you're on some kind of NVidia graphics platform as I am:

1. Run the System Profiler (in the Utilities folder) and click on "Extensions" in the "Software" tree.
2. Check which versions of the kernel extensions are loaded for your particular graphics card
HINT: If you run a NVidia card you are likely to find some kind of NVDAV?0Hal kext and the NVDAResman kext alongside with the GeForce kext.
3. Write down or remember the version numbers of these kernel extensions.
4. Now reboot your computer with your Mac OS X 10.5 DVD.
5. After having the installer loaded and choosing your preferred language, open Terminal from the Utilities menu.
6. Now type in the following lines:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/Extensions
mkdir backup
mv NVDA* backup
mv GeForce* backup
cp -R /System/Library/Extensions/NVDA* .
cp -R /System/Library/Extensions/GeForce* .

7. Quit the Terminal program and the Installer and to a restart.

There you go, after rebooting your computer you should be able to put it to sleep and wake it again with a fully functional display grinning at you.

If you use some kind of ATI graphics card, you can do the same steps, you just have to watch out for the corresponding kexts to move and copy from the DVD.

I hope this post is going to help some of you people out there. I wished Apple had tested their Leopard Graphics Update somewhat more thoroughly. My understanding is, as my investigation brought to broad day light, that the Leopard Graphics Update somehow came along with a set of older versions of kernel extensions (at least for the NVidia part).

I wish everybody happy computing with the otherwise great products of Apple & Friends.

Kind regards,

Mati

iBook (stolen), PowerBook G4, PowerMac G4 MDD, Cube, eMac, iMac DV, Yosemithe, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Feb 21, 2008 12:58 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 21, 2008 1:10 PM in response to Matthias M. Schneider

From Macfixit:

Apple confirms "closed-lid" issue is a known bug

[Wednesday, February 20th]

Apple has confirmed as a known issue a problem in which external displays do not come on at all (or come on briefly after which the system goes back to sleep) while the notebook's lid is closed and will not wake up when keys on an external keyboard or buttons on an external mouse are pressed. The problem materialized for a number of users who have applied the recent Mac OS X 10.5.2 and Leopard Graphics 1.0 updates.

This issue could also manifest as disabling of certain external displays, missing display resolutions and more.

Typical reports of the problem:

* "When I wake my MacBook Pro in closed-lid mode it shows the desktop picture on the external screen and then goes right back to sleep. If I then wake it again, the same thing will happen all over again."
* "Prior to updating, I had no problem. I would routinely connect the Cinema display to my MacBook Pro while the MBP was asleep. I would wake it by touching a key on the attached keyboard. As expected, the Cinema display would fire up, the display in the MBP would turn off, and the computer would stay on. Now, when I try to do this, the MBP wakes up briefly, the Cinema display comes on, but then the MBP goes back to sleep. The problem started right after I installed 10.5.2."
* "Since installing the latest update I'm also experiencing wake from sleep problems on my dual 1.0 ghz MDD Mac with a gForce Ti video card. We have 2 monitors hooked up to it. One an Apple display with ADC connection and one generic CRT. Often we'll work with the CRT off and we've found if we turn on the CRT after the wake from sleep problem the CRT is now the only functional display and the menu bar has migrated there."

Apple is now sending the following reply to customers reporting this problem:

"After further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue, which is currently being investigated by engineering."

Temporary fix (as noted earlier today) Since this problem generally occurs on notebooks with external displays, one workaround involves the following: Press the power button on your Mac (with external display connected) then immediately shut the lid. Your Mac will continue booting and the external display should show the proper resolutions.

Now, open your Mac's lid and go to System Preferences, then select "Displays" and press the "Detect Displays" button. You may now be able to boot normally with all previously available resolutions.

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Answer 2

Feb 21, 2008 1:13 PM in response to Matthias M. Schneider

Hi there,

I forgot to mention why you should write down or remember the version numbers of your OLD kexts.

After rebooting your computer you can check the version numbers of the exchanged kexts in the System Profiler. I'm pretty sure you will notice that the versions differ and even that the versions of the kexts off the installation DVD may even be newer. Thrilling, isn't it? =:o)

Everybody have a great time!

Cheers,

Mati

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Answer 3

Feb 22, 2008 11:21 AM in response to Matthias M. Schneider

This thread gave me the clues to fix this same problem, only I did it via Time Machine. Rather than restoring the NVIDIA kernel extensions that came shipped with 10.5, I looked at when my Leopard Graphics Update was installed, and when into Time Machine to the last saved snapshot before the Graphics Update was installed. The version number I found in my Time Machine snapshot (1.5.18) was different from both the version on the 10.5 DVD (1.5.16) and the version in the Leopard Graphics Update package (1.5.24). Reverting the NV* and GeForce* kernel extensions fixed part of it, but the other part that wasn't mentioned in this post (that helped solve some post-rollback display bugs) is to also revert your OpenGL.framework. I pulled the OpenGL.framework from the same Time Machine snapshot, and the graphic fixes are no more. I think this is a big props to Time Machine. 🙂

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Answer 4

Feb 25, 2008 3:22 AM in response to Link Dupont

Thank, Link, for mentioning the reverting to a previous version of the OpenGL framework. Apparently this wasn't something I had to do with my particular setup.

I'm happy if the post helped out.

Happy computing, Mati

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Answer 5

Feb 25, 2008 3:47 PM in response to Matthias M. Schneider

After reverting to the previous version of the kernel extensions, I had weird graphical errors. The Apple in the Apple menu wasn't displaying correctly, but only when the transparent menu bar was enabled. My intuition was that this was some sort of rendering library issue, and so I tried rolling back my OpenGL.framework (after noticing it was also updated in the Leopard Graphics Update), and ta-da! Getting this stuff documented and into the public domain will help many folks revert their computer's back I'm sure. Here's hoping Apple get's a fix out soon though, or at least a "rollback" package.

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Answer 6

Feb 26, 2008 11:11 AM in response to Matthias M. Schneider

Mati,

I have the exact computer and graphics card that you do. I would really, really like to get this fixed.

Forgive me if I should know the answer to this but when I type in your commands I get "No such file or directory"

Should Macintosh be subtituted with the name of my startup Volume? That does not seem to work either.

Thx

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Answer 7

Feb 26, 2008 12:01 PM in response to Link Dupont

Link Dupont wrote:
... Here's hoping Apple get's a fix out soon though, or at least a "rollback" package.

So, this got me thinking, why isn't there a rollback package? What's stopping me from going into the 10.5.1 update, taking out the files that the Leopard Graphics update replaced, and bundling them into a "rollback" package. So that's exactly what I did. The only file I did not roll back was the glFrustum man page, but since it's a man page, it doesn't matter. All the rest of the drivers and the OpenGL framework are included in this package.

As Mati mentions above, *this worked on my computer, and should work on yours, but proceed at your own risk!* I wouldn't recommend installing this unless you're experiencing these weird graphics errors. http://files.linkdupont.com/UnofficialLeopardGraphicsUpdateRollback.zip

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Answer 8

Feb 26, 2008 12:16 PM in response to Steve Mattson

Got it to work! Fixed the sleep problem.

For other Terminal Phobes you must substitute the name of your startup drive for Macintosh HD in Mati's script.

I was misspelling the name of my startup drive. Duh!!

Thanks so much for this solution.

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Answer 9

Feb 26, 2008 3:36 PM in response to Matthias M. Schneider

I followed the directions given by Link Dupont, reverted the NV* and GeForce* kernel extensions plus the OpenGL.framework from Time Machine, and that work for me.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

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Answer 10

Feb 28, 2008 5:44 AM in response to Julie Mceachern

This did not work for me.

I used time machine to restore the NVDA* and GeForce* extensions from my end of Jan backup. The machine would not boot. I had to restore the original extensions by booting from the dvd and using terminal to fetch them from my time machine latest backup.

Not sure what i screwed up.

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Answer 11

Feb 28, 2008 9:40 AM in response to Link Dupont

Link Dupont: I downloaded your rollback package, but before I run it I'd like to know which files it is actually replacing so I can save a copy of those files to my desktop before I do the rollback, just as an extra measure of caution.

I have a Quad G5 with a NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT graphics card. My display will not wake from sleep even though the computer itself wakes.

Thanks a lot for putting the work into making this rollback package.

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Answer 12

Feb 28, 2008 10:17 AM in response to Link Dupont

I also wonder if rolling back those files replaced by the Graphics Update 1.0 to those files in the 10.5.2 update (instead of 10.5.1) would fix the issue. Anyone know?

Maybe I'll try that first, using Pacifist to extract the appropriate files from the 10.5.2 package. Of course, if the files aren't present in the 10.5.2 combo updater package, I'll look in 10.5.1 or 10.5.0.

Also, I'm looking into how to roll back the man page, glFrustum.3 (even though it's not essential). It's in usr/share/man/man3/ in the Graphics Update package. I can't find an earlier version of that file in 10.5.2, in the usr/share/man/man3 folder. In 10.5.1 and 10.5.0 packages there are no usr/share/man/man3 folders at all. How would one roll back the glFrustum.3 man page? Or is it not really a rollback but an absence (deletion) of the glFrustum.3 file that would recreate the status of that file before the Graphics Update?

Message was edited by: Anthony M Kassir MD

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Answer 13

Feb 28, 2008 10:35 AM in response to Link Dupont

I'm stuck on my manual rollback, with one file.

One of the files installed by the Graphics Update is /System/Library/Extensions/GeForce7xxxGLDriver.bundle

There is no file by the same name in the 10.5.2, 10.5.1, or 10.5 packages, leading me to guess a true "rollback" would be to delete this file.

BUT, my graphics card is a GeForce 7800GT, so I'm worried if I delete it I will cause major problems for myself. On the other hand, if I leave it, I don't know if my sleep-wake problem will be fixed.

The other issue I would like to solve, posted above, is in regard to the glFrustum.3 man page. I imagine the GeForce7xxxGLDriver.bundle file issue is much more critical, though.

I'd really appreciate some help or guidance on this issue. Thanks.

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Answer 14

Feb 28, 2008 11:37 AM in response to Anthony M Kassir MD

Link Dupont: I thought to post that there's no need to reply to my question about which files your rollback package replaces. I thought it might be on the order of 4 files but I see it could be around 10 times that as I look through the Graphics Update installer package.

Thanks.

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Answer 15

Feb 28, 2008 5:08 PM in response to Anthony M Kassir MD

Anthony M Kassir MD wrote:
Link Dupont: I thought to post that there's no need to reply to my question about which files your rollback package replaces. I thought it might be on the order of 4 files but I see it could be around 10 times that as I look through the Graphics Update installer package.

Thanks.

You can view a list of files that are included in both my rollback package and the original Leopard Graphics Update by launching the .pkg file and selecting "Show Files" from the File menu of the installer. The keyboard shortcut is ⌘-I.

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