AMD Radeon FAQs

• When do I need WhateverGreen?
  If you run macOS 10.11 or newer (possibly latest 10.10 as well) with an ATI/AMD GPU 5xxx or newer, you most likely do.
  Unfortunately it is not possible to test all the GPUs and their configurations, use at your own risk.

• How do I get the debug log?
  Install DEBUG versions of WhateverGreen and Lilu, then add -wegdbg -liludbg to the boot arguments. Once you boot run the following command in terminal:
  log show --predicate 'process == "kernel" AND (eventMessage CONTAINS "WhateverGreen" OR eventMessage CONTAINS "Lilu")' --style syslog --source
  If you have macOS 10.11 or earlier, use this command:
  cat /var/log/system.log | egrep '(WhateverGreen|Lilu)'
  Please note that in the case you cannot boot if your problem is specific to the GPU you should be able to get the log via SSH. In this case also check the kextstat command output.

• What is the state of 10.13 support?
  At the time of the release 10.13 is still being tested, so no support could even be thought about. There exist cases of broken AMD graphics on pre-Nehalem CPU chipsets. If you have older hardware please stay away from using 10.13. For other systems WhateverGreen may work if no drastic changes happen in 10.13.

• What are the hardware requirements for WhateverGreen?
  Full UEFI without CSM. You are strongly recommended to flash a UEFI-compatible ROM unless your card already has it. Failing to do so will quite likely result in issues in multi-monitor configurations and possibly even in single-monitor configurations. It may stil work for non-UEFI motherboards, try at your own risk. There are known issues when using 2 or more GPUs in multi-monitor configurations.

• How do I flash my GPU?
  You could follow this guide in flashing your UEFI-enabled ROM. To create a UEFI-enabled ROM for your GPU you could follow this guide. Note, that there is a tool for macOS, it could also work, but you will likely have to take care of extra padding.

• When should I use a named framebuffer?
  Named framebuffers (Baladi, Futomaki, Lotus, etc.), enabled by "Clover GPU injection" or any other methods should never ever be used. This way of GPU injection is a common mistake, preventing automatic configuration of various important GPU parameters. This will inavoidably lead to borked GPU functioning in quite a number of cases.

• When and how should I use custom connectors?
  In general automatic controller detection written in Apple kexts creates perfect connectors from your VBIOS. The logic of that can be found in reference.cpp. However, some GPU makers physically create different connectors but leave the VBIOS unchanged. This results in invalid connectors that are incompatible with your GPU. The proper way to fix the issues is to correct the data in VBIOS, however, just providing custom connectors can be easier.
  For some GPUs (e.g. 290, 290X and probably some others) WhateverGreen incorporates automatic connector correction that can be enabled via -raddvi boot argument. For other GPUs you may specify them as a GPU device property called connectors, for example, via SSDT. You could pass your connectors in either 24-byte or 16-byte format, they will be automatically adapted to the running system. If you need to provide more or less connectors than it is detected automatically, you are to specify connector-count property as well. Please note that automatically detected connectors appear in the debug log to give you a good start.

• How can I change display priority?
  With 7xxx GPUs or newer you could simply add connector-priority GPU controller property with sense ids (could be seen in debug log) in the order of their importance. This property may help with black screen issues especially with the multi-monitor configurations.
  Without this property specified all the connectors will stay with 0 priority. If there are unspecified connectors they will be ordered by type: LVDS, DVI, HDMI, DP, VGA. Read SSDT sample for more details.

• What properties should I inject for my GPU?
  Very few! You should inject an HDAU device to your GPU controller, hda-gfx properties with a corresponding number to the amount of audio codecs you have, and that is basically all. If you need to mask to an unsupported GPU, additionally add device-id. It is also recommended to add some cosmetic properties: AAPL,slot-name (displayed slot name in system details), @X,AAPL,boot-display (boot logo drawing issues), model (GPU display name, if detection failed).
  While not pretending to be perfect, there is a SSDT sample to get the general idea.

• What properties should I additionally inject for my MOBILE GPU?
  Mobile AMD GPUs have very few issues but only if they are physically connected to the display (i.e. AMD Switchable Graphics users are out of luck). You will almost certainly have to inject a VBIOS (ATY,bin_image property) that is exactly 64 KBs. Afterwards you will have working external displays. For internal display you most likely will have to inject its EDID (AAPL00,override-no-connect property) and set display channel representation to 6 bits (@0,display-link-component-bits and @0,display-pixel-component-bits properties). If you have a resolution higher than 1600x900 you will likely have to also set @0,display-dual-link to 1.
  Further details are available in SSDT sample to get the general idea.

• How could I tune my GPU configuration?
  ATI/AMD GPUs could be configured by aty_config, aty_properties parameters that one could find in AMDxxxxController.kext Info.plist files. Different framebuffers have overrides for these preferences for lower energy consumption, higher performance, or other reasons. Unfortunately in such combinations they often are unsuitable for different GPUs.
  WhateverGreen allows to specify your own preferred parameters via GPU controller properties to achieve best GPU configuration. Use CFG, prefix for aty_config properties, PP, prefix for aty_properties, and CAIL, prefix for cail_properties from AMDRadeonXxxxx.kext Info.plist files. For example, to override CFG_FB_LIMIT value in aty_config you should use CFG,CFG_FB_LIMIT property.
  Further details are available in SSDT sample to get the general idea.

• When do I need to use radpg boot argument?
  This argument is as a replacement for the original igork's AMDRadeonX4000.kext Info.plist patch required for HD 7730/7750/7770/R7 250/R7 250X initialisation (radpg=15) GPUs to start. WhateverGreen is not compatible with Verde.kext, and it should be deleted. The argument allows to force-enable certain power-gating flags like CAIL_DisableGfxCGPowerGating. The value is a bit mask of CAIL_DisableDrmdmaPowerGating, CAIL_DisableGfxCGPowerGating, CAIL_DisableUVDPowerGating, CAIL_DisableVCEPowerGating, CAIL_DisableDynamicGfxMGPowerGating, CAIL_DisableGmcPowerGating, CAIL_DisableAcpPowerGating, CAIL_DisableSAMUPowerGating. Therefore radpg=15 activates the first four keys.
  Starting with 1.0.3 version you could achieve exactly the same result by manually specifying the necessary properties into your GPU controller (e.g. CAIL,CAIL_DisableGfxCGPowerGating). This is better, because it allows you to fine-tune each GPU separately instead of changing these parameters for all the GPUs.

• How to change my GPU model?
  The controller kext (e.g. AMD6000Controller) replaces GPU model with a generic name (e.g. AMD Radeon HD 6xxx) if it performs the initialisation on its own. Injecting the properties and disabling this will break connector autodetect, and therefore is quite not recommended. WhateverGreen attempts to automatically detect the GPU model name if it is unspecified. If the autodetected model name is not valid (for example, in case of a fake device-id or a new GPU model) please provide a correct one via model property. All the questions about automatic GPU model detection correctness should be addressed to The PCI ID Repository. In special cases you may submit a patch for kern_model.cpp. GPU model name is absolutely unimportant for GPU functioning.

• How should I read EFI driver version?
  This value is by WhateverGreen for debugging reasons. For example, WEAD-102-2017-08-03 stands for WhateverGreen with automatic frame (i.e. RadeonFramebuffer), debug version 1.0.2 compiled on 03.08.2017. Third letter can also be F for fake frame, and B for invalid data. Fourth letter could be R for release builds.

• What to do when my GPU does not wake until I start typing on the keyboard?
  If this bothers you, either wait a bit longer or try adding darkwake=0 boot argument.

• How do I know my GPU initialises fine?
  One of the easiest signs is boot time. If initialised improperly, your boot process will stall for 30 extra seconds to get your display ready.

• Is it normal to have Prototype in OpenGL/OpenCL engine names?
  Yes. It was discovered during the reverse-engineering that the displayed title has no effect on performance. Furthermore, it was discovered that certain attempts to patch this by modifying the identitiers in kexts (e.g. AMDRadeonX4000) may lead to overall system instability. For the improperly coded apps having issues with such naming use libWhateverName.dylib.

• How do I use my IGPU?
  In most cases IGPU should be used for hardware video decoding (with a connector-less frame). In case you need extra screens, IGPU may be fully enabled. You should not use -radlogo boot argument with WhateverGreen.

• How do I get hardware video decoding to work?
  Generally hardware video decoding is performed by an IGPU, and thus you are required to inject a connector-less frame. For some GPUs (e.g. HD 7870, HD 6670, HD 7970) it is still possible to get AMD hardware video decoding to work. Please refer to Shiki's FAQ for further details. You may need shikigva=1 on mac models that have forceOfflineRenderer on.

• Why would I need to force 24-bit video output?
  Several screens may not support 30-bit video output, but the GPU may not detect this. The result will look as distorted blinking colours. To resolve the issue either buy a more powerful display or add -rad24 boot argument.

• How do I get HDMI audio to work?
  In general it should be enough to rely on AppleALC automatic HDAU correction. It renames the device to HDAU, and injects missing layout-id and hda-gfx (starting with onboard-1) properties. This will not work well with two or more cards of different vendors (e.g. NVIDIA and ATI/AMD), please manually inject the properties in such a case. You may also use -radnoaudio boot argument or no-audio-autofix GPU controller property to explicitly disable any audio-related property changes.
  For identifiers not present in AppleHDAController and AppleHDA you have to add necessary kext patches, see AppleALC example for 290X.

• My framebuffer amount exceeds connector amount in IOReg (starting with 10.13.2)?
  This is a bug Apple added by fixing another bug of incorrect connector detection from VBIOS. In certain kexts (e.g. AMD9500Controller) they hardcoded 6 connectors as a total connector amount regardless of the number read from VBIOS. The consequences are black screen after wake and/or failure to sleep. To fix this issue you should specify CFG,CFG_FB_LIMIT with a correct number, via SSDT for example. Starting with version 1.1.4 this problem is fixed automatically.

• Why can a highres DisplayPort-connected display fail to wake (e.g. some LG 4K models)?
  Sometimes AGDC configuration preference could be the case. For 4K and lower it makes sense to try disabling it by passing CFG,CFG_USE_AGDC — False (00) via SSDT or similar.

• How can I configure workload policy?
  Workload policy is a performance optimisation profile used by your GPU. Depending on the workload policy your GPU can consume less power or be more responsive. To configure workload policy specify PP,PP_WorkLoadPolicyMask with a corresponding bitmask: 0x01 — DEFAULT_WORKLOAD (default), 0x02 — FULLSCREEN3D_WORKLOAD, 0x04 — POWERSAVING_WORKLOAD, 0x08 — VIDEO_WORKLOAD, 0x10 — VR_WORKLOAD, 0x20 — COMPUTE_WORKLOAD, 0x40 — CUSTOM_WORKLOAD.

• How can I force-enable SMU firmware?
  SMU is an IP unit present in some newer GPUs (X5000 series and newer). This unit is responsible for handling select power management tasks and requires a firmware to be loaded by the driver. The firmware is loaded when ATY,EFIVersion property is specified with any value (i.e. it is a GPU with Apple-made firmware) or when Force_Load_FalconSMUFW property is specified with kOSBooleanTrue value (with WEG one can also specify a single byte: 01).

• How to enable the PWM backlight control of the built-in display that is directly wired to AMD Radeon RX 5000 series graphic cards?
  First, you need to add a suitable SSDT-PNLF to enable AppleBacklightDisplay to attach the built-in display. Usually, you need SSDT-PNLF.aml, or SSDT-PNLF-CFL.aml if you are using Coffee Lake and newer. Second, add boot argument applbkl=3 to enable the PWM backlight control ability of the AMD driver. Then you should be able to adjust the backlight level. Note that this patch is only for the display that is built-in and supports PWM backlight control, and this display is directly wired to the AMD Radeon RX 5000 series graphic cards.