overdue-scratch

Author Topic: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings  (Read 12280 times)

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Jaymonkey

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Hi,

Like many new utrabooks and laptops Sony in their infinite wisdom solders the first 4 gigabytes of RAM onto the motherboard. As such Chameleon is unable to correctly identify the RAM (bespoke Sony SPD ?) resulting in OSX having no information on the systems memory. This causes some OSX problems, most notable, it’s impossible to run ‘About this Mac’ as the RAM info is missing/corrupt and causes the desktop/finder to restart, also diagnostic utilities such as System information fail to report any memory information.

Selecting 'Memory Information' from Chameleon's boot-loader GUI causes a crash/reboot.

The fix should be very easy in that we can add the memory information into smbios.plist so that the Chameleon can inject it, indeed Chameleon Wizard makes it easy to add this info to the SMBIOS plist, so after editing i have the following SMmemory keys in my SMBIOS.PLIST

Code: [Select]
<key>SMmemmanufacturer_1</key>
<string>Corsair</string>
<key>SMmemmanufacturer_2</key>
<string>Corsair</string>
<key>SMmempart_1</key>
<string>CT2862146</string>
<key>SMmempart_2</key>
<string>CT2862146</string>
<key>SMmemserial_1</key>
<string>000345001</string>
<key>SMmemserial_2</key>
<string>000345002</string>
<key>SMmemspeed</key>
<string>12800</string>
<key>SMmemtype</key>
<string>24</string>

This used to work, however for quite a few versions of Chameleon now, it would appear that it no longer parse's the SMmemory keys in smbios.plist, every time a new version of Chameleon is released i give it a go but so far the problem remains.

This issue was raised many months ago  (#122)  ...

http://forge.voodooprojects.org/p/chameleon/issues/122/

and more recently here (327) ...

http://forge.voodooprojects.org/p/chameleon/issues/327/

I believe that the problem lies in the nested 'if' conditions at line 469-479 of smbios.c

http://forge.voodooprojects.org/p/chameleon/source/tree/HEAD/trunk/i386/libsaio/smbios.c

If i read the code right the conditional statements are stopping the code from parsing the SMmemory keys in smbios.plist, removing the ‘if’ condition(s) would resolve the issue (I think) but that conditional code must have been put there for a reason.....

I know i'm not alone with this issue and its been around for a while now, I will be happy to beta test a release candidate and i'd really appreciate if the developers could take a look at this and implement a fix in the next release.

Thanks for all your hard work guys

Cheers
Jay
« Last Edit: November 06, 2013, 12:32:46 AM by Jaymonkey »

Gringo Vermelho

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2013, 04:40:25 AM »
Your SMMemspeed value is wrong, one zero too many.

I discovered today that Chameleon 2.2 r2266 freezes my PC as well when selecting memory information in the boot GUI. I don't have any memory overrides in smbios.plist though.

Asus P8Z77-V Pro mobo with i5-3570K CPU and 2x4GB G-Skill DDR3 @ 1923 MHz

« Last Edit: November 12, 2013, 06:18:34 PM by Gringo Vermelho »
10.9.5 - ASUS P8Z77-V Pro - i5 3570K - GTX 660 - Chameleon 2.3 svn-r2xxx
How to...
Install Chameleon: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,649
Make your own Chameleon boot CD: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,484.msg2131.html#msg2131

Karas

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  • Posts: 4
Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2013, 11:24:11 PM »
I had the same problem with my vaio S12. I ended by modifying chameleon source (r2266) and fixed my problem. If you want I can give you my boot file so you can try it out.

- Karas

Jaymonkey

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2013, 02:03:19 PM »

Hi Karas,

Thanks for your post, Yes i'd like to give your build a go, I havant had time yet to look in to modifying the source and set it up as a xcode project. Can you please let me know what you changed ?, was it the conditional logic around lines 469-479 ?. If so then we need to let the devs know so this bug can be finally put to rest.

Cheers
Jay

Karas

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2013, 09:07:20 PM »
Ok I attached my boot file, make a backup of yours (just in case), reboot and pass chameleon the following option: ForceFullMemInfo=Yes (it's a custom option I added so that I could choose when to enable it). Than check About this mac and memory info in System Information.
No, for me those lines weren't the problem, actually they are working fine. The problem for me was that the memory table inside smbios was too small to contain memory information. Let's see if my fix works for you, in that case I'll explain in details what exactly I did :).

- Karas

Jaymonkey

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2013, 03:04:31 PM »

Karas,

Very interesting, it works. I always thought the code was ignoring the SM Memory keys & strings, but your build proves that is not the case. Thank you very much for this. Have you tried contacting the devs and raising this as a new feature / bug fix ?

I created a guide for installing Mavericks on Sony Vaio VPCSE here:-

http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks-laptop-support/114961-jays-monkeybook-pro-ultimate-sony-vpc-se-customac-build.html#post699323

I'd like to include your fix if thats ok ?, I'll be sure to give you the credit for the fix

Thanks Again
Jay

Karas

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2013, 05:01:58 PM »
I'm glad it worked :). Yeah of course you are free to include it in you guide, i'll be more than happy. About contacting the devs, no unfortunately I haven't had the time for that, I'm new around here, do you know how should I do that? I'm more than willing to help fixing this problem for good :)

- Karas

Jaymonkey

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2013, 05:58:33 PM »
Karas,

Thanks i'll update my guide sometime in the next few days.

I think the best thing to do would be to report it on the SVN, If i where you i would create a new issue detailing what your change does, then i would goto the two bug reports and create a comment against them linking back to the new issue you raised. The two existing bug/issues - my bug report is issue # 357 here:-

http://forge.voodooprojects.org/p/chameleon/issues/357/

and the original #122 from a few years back here:

http://forge.voodooprojects.org/p/chameleon/issues/122/

You'll need to apply for SVN access if you don't have it already, If you don't have the time to do that, i'm happy to do it on your behalf if you let me know exactly what you did. Probably best if you send me a Private Message otherwise were going to cause multiple threads if you post it here leading to confusion and out of date changes if it makes it into the trunk build - I'll do my best to make sure it does.

I'll also amend my SVN with your findings, this problem has been an issue for Sony Vaio users for a long time and i know many users who will be thrilled to know there is now a solution.

Cheers
Jay


Karas

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2013, 09:11:42 AM »
I wanted to inform you that I submitted a new issue here: http://forge.voodooprojects.org/p/chameleon/issues/361/

- Karas

Jaymonkey

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2013, 02:35:17 PM »
Nice work Karas,

I've been running your build for a few days now and all seems stable .... in fact it works so well I was able to customise About this Mac. I've posted an addendum to my Sony SE2 Mavericks guide detailing how to use your fix and information on how to customise ATM (System name and picture)

http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks-laptop-support/114961-jays-monkeybook-pro-ultimate-sony-vpc-se-customac-build.html#post716495

From what you describe (memory table to small) i would have thought that this would effect any system that is trying to  inject memory information via SMmemory keys - not just Sony laptops unless something with the Sony Laptop requires a bigger table than normal ?

If it where me I would attach your code changes to the new issue you raised. That way the devs can easily and quickly see what changes you made and implement them in the next build.  Things seem to move slowly on the SVN with very little acknowledgement, at least thats what I've found. The more info you can give the devs the greater the possibility of getting the fix included in the next build .... just a thought.

Thanks again
Jay

Gringo Vermelho

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Re: Chameleon still does not parse SMBIOS.PLIST SMmemory Keys & Strings
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2013, 02:19:04 PM »
JayMonkey's fix made it into the 2.2 trunk. Good research + work.

For svn-r2281 binaries, follow the link in my signature.

...

Selecting memory info at the Chameleon GUI in r2281 still causes my PC to freeze.
Chameleon still shows RAM wrong @ 1867Mhz instead of 1922Mhz

Setting UseMemDetect=y doesn't change anything.

« Last Edit: December 08, 2013, 08:03:27 AM by Gringo Vermelho »
10.9.5 - ASUS P8Z77-V Pro - i5 3570K - GTX 660 - Chameleon 2.3 svn-r2xxx
How to...
Install Chameleon: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,649
Make your own Chameleon boot CD: http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,484.msg2131.html#msg2131