Race to dump the 4870 ROM, Who's first?

[zappvirtual]

It's for the XXX edition card, which is slightly overclocked. The specific version of my card is the "ZDDC" version.

Hi Rhildinger,

Did you try to plug 2 displays in dvi in order to work with 2 screens simultneously?
If yes until which resolution you got?

Thanks and Regards

Zapp
:)

[vicentk]

It's for the XXX edition card, which is slightly overclocked. The specific version of my card is the "ZDDC" version.

Thank you news, could you had 30" mon? Because I had 30" ACD and afraid it can drive the 2560 * 1600.

[jaberwocky]

..Have you tried dual screen?
Others had only one port working with the sapphire cards... Have you installed natit.kext? Or maybe it's because your card is closer to the original design.

Hi, only one DVI-Display here, so i can't check for dual-screen. Only switching from one port to the other. I didn't installed natit.kext.

Bye, jaberwocky

[vicentk]

Hi, only one DVI-Display here, so i can't check for dual-screen. Only switching from one port to the other. I didn't installed natit.kext.

Bye, jaberwocky

jaberwocky

May I know which card you flash and which rom you use ?

Vincent

[rhildinger]

Hi Rhildinger,

Did you try to plug 2 displays in dvi in order to work with 2 screens simultneously?


No, sorry. I only have one monitor. I did try seperate boots with the monitor in each DVI port. The second port appears to be limited to single-link operation, but the first port runs in dual-link mode just fine.

[rhildinger]

Thank you news, could you had 30" mon? Because I had 30" ACD and afraid it can drive the 2560 * 1600.

I'm running a 30" ACD at 2560x1600 - works just fine!

[vicentk]

I'm running a 30" ACD at 2560x1600 - works just fine!

rhildinger
Thank your news again, is it easy to flash rom? Because I newbie in flash rom.

May I know the step by step?

Vincent

[jaberwocky]

May I know which card you flash and which rom you use ?
Vincent

Vincent, just take a look in my previos post in this thread, i wrote it with all details (sapphire 512MB). Rom is "self-made" (orig. ROM + EFI-Part), as described in this thread by pipolo42.

Bye.

[vicentk]

Vincent, just take a look in my previos post in this thread, i wrote it with all details (sapphire 512MB). Rom is "self-made" (orig. ROM + EFI-Part), as described in this thread by pipolo42.

Bye.

jaberwocky, thank your reply, I will re-read once. As I remember the rom name is sapphire.rom ?

[v0n]

Thanks to pipomolo42 fantastic instructions and help with original rom, here's my slightly modified ROM for Sapphire HD 4870 DDR5 GDDR5 2DVI TVO, the one with the RV770XT chipset, part number 188-1E85-001SA, SKU: 11133-00-20R .

Default clock speeds are returned to Sapphire 4870 Toxic values: Memory frequency is 1000Mhz. Core frequency in 3D mode is set to native 800Mhz, idle speed remains at 500Mhz. Unlocked Windows CCC Overdrive values allow soft overclocking up to 990/1200. Fan spin up bug fix has been applied, so it doesn't go loud in random intervals. Verified to be Winflash friendly under Vista and HDMI works in windows as well.

Download link (http://www.2shared.com/file/5149472/9c427558/s4870_800.html)

It should also work with Sapphire SKU 21133-04, 11133-04, 21133-00 and 11133-03, but we won't know until someone tries.

[ndriver182]

rhildinger
Thank your news again, is it easy to flash rom? Because I newbie in flash rom.

May I know the step by step?

Vincent

I'm curious about the latest step-by-step also for those of us who aren't familiar with all of this flashing business. It seems like a lot of headway has been made with this card in the last couple of weeks so I'm pretty excited about all of this.

[medsource]

I've been following this thread intently for the last few days. I'm thinking of getting the 1gb Sapphire card from newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801 that has been functional using the custom rom posted a few pages back.

I also read that the card doesn't fit so well in slot 1 due to tolerances with the memory cage. My question is given that I'm using a early 08' mac pro that has two 16x slots, is there any disadvantage to using slot 2? (I'm only going to use one card and one monitor)

[testmn3d]

I've been following this thread intently for the last few days. I'm thinking of getting the 1gb Sapphire card from newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801 that has been functional using the custom rom posted a few pages back.

I also read that the card doesn't fit so well in slot 1 due to tolerances with the memory cage. My question is given that I'm using a early 08' mac pro that has two 16x slots, is there any disadvantage to using slot 2? (I'm only going to use one card and one monitor)

i think it will fit on slot 1.
anyway my card sapphire 1 gb works on slot 1 with modified rom from elvisizer
thanks again guys.

best regards

[AGDenton]

More progress :

After reinstalling OSX from the disk that came with my MacPro (10.5.1), then upgrading to 10.5.6 and installing the 4870 drivers, I have regained deep sleep functionality on my card (4870 1GB Sapphire). I've also done some tests with the DVI ports :

1) First port does dual-link ;

2) Second port does single-link only ;

3) Both ports do not work at the same time. The last monitor plugged in "steals" focus from the other one.

This odd behavior seems to point to a bug in the driver rather than a problem with the parameters passed to it from EFI/BIOS..?

AG

[The Rominator]

So, here is how I do it:

- get the Mac 4870 rom available in this thread (named 4870.ROM)
- get the 128k vgabios of your PC card (named pc4870.rom)
- get tyhe fixrom.py script that I attached here

run the following commands in a shell (either MacOS X or Linux)
dd if=4870.ROM of=efi.part bs=1 skip=63488 count=49152
blocknum=`printf %d "'\`dd if=pc4870.rom bs=1 skip=2 count=1 2>/dev/null\`"`
size=$(($blocknum * 512))
dd if=efi.part of=pc4870.rom bs=$size seek=1 conv=notrunc
python fixrom.py pc4870.rom pc4870.rom

first one extracts the efi part of the Mac rom
then get the number of 512 bytes blocks of the bios part of your pc rom
then converts it to a size in bytes
then injects the efi part right after the bios part
then the script fixes last rom indicators and checksums

You can then flash the pc4870.rom to your card, using FreeDOS for instance

If you want to do manual modifications to either part of the rom, don't forget to run the fixrom.py script after.

This should work with most (if not all) of the 4870 cards. If it doesn't work for you, just pm me a link to your pc vgabios.

EDIT : MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EXTRACTED THE FULL 128K OF YOUR CARD'S ROM BEFORE TRYING ANYTHING, OR ELSE IT WON'T WORK!
ALSO, MAKE SURE YOUR PC 4870 ROM FILE IS ACTUALLY NAMED "pc4870.rom" IF YOU GET AN ERROR MESSAGE LIKE "dd: bs must be between 1 and 2147483647"

These instructions seem to be yielding some working ROMs.

Very thankful for having them so concise.

What folder do the two ROM files need to be in to be found by those commands?

Or do I include the path?

[ddorbuck]

Hi Guys. I have an opportunity to pick up a early 1st gen Visiontek HD4870 512mb card for my first gen intel mac pro. Of all the different roms floating around this board which one should I focus on? I was going to follow use the standard 4870 rom and follow the posted instructions from this thread. The board is a ati reference design since it was purchased right when the 4870 hit the market. I know there are quite a bit of different makes and models and all boards are different but am I best off following the initial flashing instructions from this thread?

Thanks for any info.

Doug D

[jeanlain]

Hi Guys. I have an opportunity to pick up a early 1st gen Visiontek HD4870 512mb card for my first gen intel mac pro. Of all the different roms floating around this board which one should I focus on? I was going to follow use the standard 4870 rom and follow the posted instructions from this thread. The board is a ati reference design since it was purchased right when the 4870 hit the market. I know there are quite a bit of different makes and models and all boards are different but am I best off following the initial flashing instructions from this thread?

Thanks for any info.

Doug D
I suggest that you follow the procedure indicated just above you post.

[thehimay]

I've been following this thread intently for the last few days. I'm thinking of getting the 1gb Sapphire card from newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801 that has been functional using the custom rom posted a few pages back.

I also read that the card doesn't fit so well in slot 1 due to tolerances with the memory cage. My question is given that I'm using a early 08' mac pro that has two 16x slots, is there any disadvantage to using slot 2? (I'm only going to use one card and one monitor)

Upon reinstalling mine (as my additional auxiliary power cable finally showed), it was surprisingly easy to get into the double wide slot 1 in my late '08 MP. I had problems originally installing it like that while the MP was upright, but while it was laying on its side it was remarkably easier. I think I was just having issues getting the two tabs into the holders for the case's expansion slot openings. Regardless, it appears to fit just fine without any real strain on the card.

[ddorbuck]

I suggest that you follow the procedure indicated just above you post.

Jeanlain, I just want to be sure but where is the "128k vgabios of your PC card (named pc4870.rom)" file found? Searching this thread does not yield it .

Anyone have a rapidshare of d/l link for both the files below?
- get the Mac 4870 rom available in this thread (named 4870.ROM)
- get the 128k vgabios of your PC card (named pc4870.rom)


Thanks. Doug

[The Rominator]

It means THE PC BIOS THAT IS ON WHATEVER 4870 YOU ARE TRYING TO GET TO WORK IN YOUR MAC.


ie...you go out and buy a Powercolor 4870...the Bios you need to start the process is the one that is already on your card.

You need to dump it....per instructions that are given in the thread.

[matthew.russo]

Has anyone tried this HIS card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161236

[tobyg]

Has anyone tried this HIS card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161236

Yes...

Read this thread.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=668710&highlight=H487F512P

Or better yet, search next time.

[jeanlain]

It means THE PC BIOS THAT IS ON WHATEVER 4870 YOU ARE TRYING TO GET TO WORK IN YOUR MAC.


ie...you go out and buy a Powercolor 4870...the Bios you need to start the process is the one that is already on your card.

You need to dump it....per instructions that are given in the thread.

It may be a good idea to start a new thread or edit the first post with a step-by-step procedure, download links, the cards that have been flashed, the limitations...
I'd rather not do it since I have never flashed a card myself and because English is not my first language. But this would be helpful for many.

[zoppa]

I managed to flash a wrong rom into my 4870. :o
Now I can't get past POST on my MacPro even with a second graphics card installed. All damned PCs at work are Dell and the 4870 doesn't fit because the cpu cooling is in the way. :mad:

Is there any way to get past POST, to reflash the 4870?

[pipomolo42]

It may be a good idea to start a new thread or edit the first post with a step-by-step procedure, download links, the cards that have been flashed, the limitations...
I'd rather not do it since I have never flashed a card myself and because English is not my first language. But this would be helpful for many.

Maybe we could use a wiki for this, like the one at http://themacelite.wikidot.com/

[jaberwocky]

Good to hear. Have you tried dual screen?
Others had only one port working with the sapphire cards... Have you installed natit.kext? Or maybe it's because your card is closer to the original design.

Update: Got a second screen for testing purpose today, but no luck with OS-X :apple: (still only Beta-Driver installed).

After PRAM-reset the display connected to the socket away from motherboard displas gray screen, other was blank. After a short while both displays got blue background and shortly after that system beeps and reboots.

If i run OS-X and connected the DVI-cable later the display extends to the second display, but system freezes (only mouse works, but no klicks).

Within VISTA (currently writing from it), no problem. I will take a look at the system log later and read what netkas has written to other people here.

Bye

[The Rominator]

I managed to flash a wrong rom into my 4870. :o
Now I can't get past POST on my MacPro even with a second graphics card installed. All damned PCs at work are Dell and the 4870 doesn't fit because the cpu cooling is in the way. :mad:

Is there any way to get past POST, to reflash the 4870?

If it is doing the thing where it starts to "Gong" but restarts before the "Gong" is even over, it is likely you will need a PC. It may be possible to use an Nvidia card in slot one and this errant 4870 in another slot...not sure.

It may be a good idea to start a new thread or edit the first post with a step-by-step procedure, download links, the cards that have been flashed, the limitations...
I'd rather not do it since I have never flashed a card myself and because English is not my first language. But this would be helpful for many.

I would be happy to edit the first post with some of this info. However, much of what can be learned actually requires reading all 20+ pages here. It is pretty obvious that some people just hit "Last Page" and request a Personal Spoon Feeding. If they wish to benefit from everyones trials & tribulations, they should be willing to at least read about them if not actually live through them all.

I agree that using pipolomos method seems to be the best course of action. It is odd that the first few of us who tried just happened to have cards that Mac ROM worked A-OK on.....now we are finding that MOST 4870's require a custom ROM based on the ROM already present in card.

I am curious about the people who did a few personal edits afterward...what did they do? How did they know it needed it?

I have one Diamond 4870 here that works perfectly and another on a different PCB that crashes when a second display is connected. I am curious if these final tweeks that others did could fix this issue.

[rhildinger]

I managed to flash a wrong rom into my 4870. :o
Now I can't get past POST on my MacPro even with a second graphics card installed. All damned PCs at work are Dell and the 4870 doesn't fit because the cpu cooling is in the way. :mad:

Is there any way to get past POST, to reflash the 4870?

At this time there does not appear to be any way to do this on a Mac Pro as the system startup sequence appears to halt if it attempts to load up a bad EFI option ROM. There is currently no way to make it stop querying video display devices after it finds one that works correctly. The only way you could achieve this would be to flash a modified firmware into the Mac Pro to make it stop loading ROMs after it finds the first working display ROM, and sadly there is no such modified firmware.

[The Rominator]

Update: Got a second screen for testing purpose today, but no luck with OS-X :apple: (still only Beta-Driver installed).

After PRM-reset the display connected to the socket away from motherboard displas gray screen, other was blank. After a short while both displays got blue background and shortly after that system beeps and reboots.

If i run OS-X and connected the DVI-cable later the display extends to the second display, but system freezes (only mouse works, but no klicks).

Within VISTA (currently writing from it), no problem. I will take a look at the system log later and read what netkas has written to other people here.

Bye

This describes behavior I am seeing EXACTLY with attached card. It is of PCB variety #4 on this chart. The one I did on board style #1 could run dual displays via Mac ROM.

I was concerned that I had done the Terminal stuff wrong, but as you have EXACT same behavior, it is a ROM/Driver interaction thing.

Hope we can figure out.

[zoppa]

Thanks Rominator and rhildinger. I will keep on searching for a suitable PC.

[v0n]

HOW TO make yourself power cables (European Edition)

Farnell (www.farnell.com)
Mouser (http://gb.mouser.com/localsites/)

Budget needed for the whole exercise is between 5 and 10 euros.
What you need for two sets of cables:

2 x Molex Micro-fit 3.0, 6 pin connector - Manufacturer P/N 43025-0600 (about 70p each)
Mouser Part No: 538-43025-0600
Farnell Order Code: 672907

12 x 3mm pitch pins/crimp socket contacts, female for Molex Micro-Fit 3.0 - Manufacturer P/N 43030-0001 (about 7p each)
Mouser Part No: 538-43030-0001 or 538-43030-0007 (for thicker wire, but will do)
Farnell Order Code: 1462526 or 1462531 (for thicker wire, but will do)

2 x PCIe specific 6 pin Molex Mini-Fit Jr. connector - Manufacturer P/N 45559-0002 (about 20p each)
Mouse Part No: 538-45559-0002
Farnell Order Code: 1448708

12 x 4.2mm pitch pins/crimp socket contacts, female for Molex Mini-Fit Jr. - Manufacturer P/N 39-00-0039 (about 10p each)
Mouser Part No: 538-39-00-0039 or 538-39-00-0038 (for thicker wire but will do)
Farnell Order Code: 3585141 or 1462545 (for thicker wire but will do)

PCIe connectors seem to be in short supply on continent, but do not be tempted by any alternatives. Do not buy 39-01-2060 or 39-01-2065 as suggested in various online guides or the middle upper pin won't fit PCIe socket and you will have to do some carving. Oh, and order yourself few more pitch pins, just in case you broke or squashed a few.

What else - about 3 meters of good wire. Those you will have to source locally, from some electronics store, as the big boys deliver them by 100m reels, which is "slightly" more than you need.

Most PSU / Molex connections in PC use 10Amp 18AWG wire, which is perfectly suitable for our exercise. Yesterday I measured peak power draw of my 8 core MP by running Crysis demo in loop 10 times and peak reading was 417 watt. Compared to idle MP with 2600XT it looks like at peak ATI 4870 draws 210W more than ATI 2600. Add few more watts if you're overclocking. We are probably talking absolute maximum of 9-10 Amps per external PCIe socket.
I personally chose wire beyond the spec, just in case next year Apple decided to offer some beefed up 4870x2 or even more power hungry card and so, for my installation I picked 15Amp, 18AWG wire, which, in retrospect, by all means is an overkill. It's a little stiffer and thicker than regular wire you see all over your PC thus slightly harder to run inside the case. But if I ever need to split them to power four socket on two cards etc, at least I have enough buffer - as far as wire is concerned it is theoretically rated up to 180W per motherboard socket.

Get yourself some cable ties or a bit of heatshrink sleeve to make the cables tidy as well.

If anyone needs step by step instructions on how to crimp and insert pitch pins into plugs, give us a shout.

Word of advice - on the motherboard end make sure the cable tie is as close to the plug as possible, otherwise it will always be in the way of the C shaped cut out in fan assembly and protrude every time you try to plug and unplug it.
http://ocuk.filmsuk.com/4870_2.jpg

Personally, I bent my cables slightly towards front of the case, making sure they insert in and out easy and then heat shrunk sleeve around the end so it's a bit harder and stiffer, makes life easier. I also run my cables around and through fan cover. Initially I made one cable approx 45cm long modelling it after 8 to 6 pin PCIe interconnect cable in my PC, but it turned out way too long. 20-25cm seems like optimal length.

http://ocuk.filmsuk.com/4870_1.jpg

[The Rominator]

Another tip on the Power Connections....if you have Bluetooth and Airport, there are dainty little connections just to the right of where the PCIE Power plugs go.

VERY easy to knock the antenae connections off as you try plugging in the power.

If after a restart you lose signal strength or Airport doesn't work, have a look at these connections. They are tiny little "snaps"...you will need to be very careful attaching.

18 Gauge wire is best....20 or 22 is easier to insert in the small end pins....but carries less current.

I recomend stranded wire over solid....and it is a good idea to solder once you have crimped....makes it so that the connection CAN'T pull out.

[pipomolo42]

About this original mac rom vs custom rom, I think we can assume that most of the differences is in the AtomBIOS code within the pc bios part of the roms.

AMD has published some docs about the R600 here : http://www.x.org/docs/AMD/ and the R600 and R700 are said to be very close in design, so there's probably a lot that we can use from these docs.

Also, there is an AtomBIOS disassembler which can be found at http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~mhopf/AtomDis/ (it also needs a header file that can be found in the radeonhd project at http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-radeonhd/), wjhich could help us a lot if we start looking for differences between those roms.

[medsource]

While I'm waiting for my Sapphire 1gb to arrive (actually went thru Amazon to get it), I was wondering about the power connections. I know there has been some discussion about power connections.

A few questions on this:

1. Is there a big downside to using the standard 4 prong molex connectors (I'm assuming the ones provided in the package) to standard drive power connectors (like pata HD's and Optical drives)? Is the power draw too much or is routing the cables a pain in the Mac Pros?

2. If true pcie power cables are the way to go, for those who made their own, where did they get the connectors? (mail order vs in store). Did anyone have any luck finding the needed molex bits at Fry's or Radio Shack? I'm in northern california so anyone else with success stories of finding these parts please chime in.

[netkas]

We have new Motmot(framebuffer driver for 4870) version in 9j34 beta, anyone wanna try to test it on 4870 ?

[v0n]

1. Is there a big downside to using the standard 4 prong molex connectors (I'm assuming the ones provided in the package) to standard drive power connectors (like pata HD's and Optical drives)? Is the power draw too much or is routing the cables a pain in the Mac Pros?

You only have two molex connectors in optical drive bay in 08 macs. Or none in 09 macs. Without full specifications of the PSU in hand there is no way of saying if 12V rail those two molexes are on was made to withstand 200W graphics card plus spinning DVD drive in the same time. I understand many tried with 3870 and didn't set anything on fire, but at the end of the day, you have two dedicated connectors on board, so why not use them?


2. If true pcie power cables are the way to go, for those who made their own, where did they get the connectors? (mail order vs in store). Did anyone have any luck finding the needed molex bits at Fry's or Radio Shack? I'm in northern california so anyone else with success stories of finding these parts please chime in.

Mouser is US company. The codes I posted above will work in your country and shipping will be much less. Not to mention you can buy the cables straight from ATI store for $12 each. It's only us in Europe that are slightly disadvantaged.

[The Rominator]

We have new Motmot(framebuffer driver for 4870) version in 9j34 beta, anyone wanna try to test it on 4870 ?

Uhhhh...Yes.

Fingers crossed on the VIOLENT RESTART on dual Display connection being solved. (Only on certain cards)

[jaberwocky]

We have new Motmot(framebuffer driver for 4870) version in 9j34 beta, anyone wanna try to test it on 4870 ?

Yes - should we look at IRC ?

[Konni]

We have new Motmot(framebuffer driver for 4870) version in 9j34 beta, anyone wanna try to test it on 4870 ?

Hello,

I would also try, whre can I get the new Beta ?

[netkas]

our irc has huge netsplit atm so dont go there :)

btw, I found out why my natit didnt work at all on macpro:
i forgot to remove this from plist

<key>IONameMatch</key>
<string>display</string>

here is fixed natit, for tests with dual dvi, and new motmot pkg:

[The Rominator]

Tried new driver...still hard restart on 2nd monitor being plugged in.

[goin3d]

Tried new driver...still hard restart on 2nd monitor being plugged in.

Same on my 4870 1gig.

[TheStrudel]

A thought suddenly occurred to me. Has anybody tried the video output from the analog mini-DIN port? I know analog by going DVI-VGA has not been found to work, but has anybody with a TV/monitor with component, S-video, or composite video inputs tried using that output? I ask because as a video editor, I could use the extra analog output, and I was thinking of doing so. It probably doesn't work, but if it did, it'd be handy. It'd also show that some analog output works - just not through a DVI port.

Anybody interested in trying? If it doesn't work, it's quite probably because the drivers or EFI ROM aren't supporting the necessary analog output tech.

[jaberwocky]

Tried new driver...still hard restart on 2nd monitor being plugged in.

Same fo me, Sapphire 512 MB, OEM-Design.

[netkas]

Same fo me, Sapphire 512 MB, OEM-Design.

All blames goes to apple, try natit kext. it fixes dual dvi for hacks.

[jeanlain]

All blames goes to apple, try natit kext. it fixes dual dvi for hacks.
What's the problem with dual DVI? A slightly different design of PC cards, or the apple driver or differences in the BIOS, or both?

[pipomolo42]

A thought suddenly occurred to me. Has anybody tried the video output from the analog mini-DIN port? I know analog by going DVI-VGA has not been found to work, but has anybody with a TV/monitor with component, S-video, or composite video inputs tried using that output? I ask because as a video editor, I could use the extra analog output, and I was thinking of doing so. It probably doesn't work, but if it did, it'd be handy. It'd also show that some analog output works - just not through a DVI port.

Anybody interested in trying? If it doesn't work, it's quite probably because the drivers or EFI ROM aren't supporting the necessary analog output tech.

Well, I used AtomDis to have a quick look at the differences between a PC and Mac rom for the 4870, and the Mac version doesn't have at least two tables, named TV1OutputControl and CV1OutputControl. My guess here would be that those two are used to control TV output and Component or Composite output, and as they are missing from the firmware, I see no reason why ATI would bother implementing these features in the driver.

[jaberwocky]

All blames goes to apple, try natit kext. it fixes dual dvi for hacks.

Tried posted natit (without the new driver) - blue screen if attaching cable to second display.

Bye, jaberwocky

[Bubba Satori]

What a sad state of affairs. And that it doesn't have to be this way, is all the more infuriating. :mad:

[Jimboos]

Apple really needs to get this EFI thing off there co ps but we all know that isn't going to happen anytime soon, but anyway, bq k to the topic at hand. Has there been any progress with 1GB 4870 cards? I've been reading alot about the 512mb but haven't seen alot about the 1GB, does that mean they dont work or have a less sucsesful rate? If they do work does the 1GB show up in system profile? I would test mySelf if I knew how and I had a good hope that it would work Instead of bricking a $200 card. Thanks!

[Konni]

1 GB Cards working, but only with one DVI Port (at the same time).

[Jimboos]

Ah ok, thanks! Does anybody have any sugjestions for 1GB cards that would work?
Also, just wanting to clarify, this will work natively in OSX AND windows or just OSX?

[Pressure]

Apple really needs to get this EFI thing off there co ps but we all know that isn't going to happen anytime soon, but anyway, bq k to the topic at hand.

You are quite wrong. (If I can decipher your post correctly).

It's the rest of the industry that needs to ditch BIOS, and fast.

[Jimboos]

You are quite wrong. (If I can decipher your post correctly).

It's the rest of the industry that needs to ditch BIOS, and fast.

the bios is while very old and outdated, is very useful (but does need to go). Being locked into hardware is not though. While I like osx apple hasn't done anything in the hardware department to help amy of us get good graphics cards (the 4870 being a decent card IMO, love Nvidias 250 series and 280 series, much more reliable and lol, typos cause of the iPhones stupid auto correct =/) but hey, if the BIOS and EFI was gone... Then things would be much nicer, because the bios does need to get out,

[Jimboos]

Would anybody care to post benchmarks for the modded 4870?

[Guiyon]

if the BIOS and EFI was gone...

Then you go back to OpenFirmware or have a non-functional computer. EFI is a BIOS replacement; it does not work in conjunction with the BIOS.

[Jimboos]

An openfirmware would be nice, full customization for all the parts and you can choose your options in terms of OCing
EDIT: lol, nvm OCing, u need the BIOS for that

[Guiyon]

An openfirmware would be nice, full customization for all the parts and you can choose your options in terms of OCing

Nitpicking here but I meant, "OpenFirmware", not "an openfirmware"; this was the Forth-based standard that Apple used to implement their BIOS for the PowerPC line of systems before moving to EFI with the x86 transition (http://www.openfirmware.org). This is a bit offtopic, but there is nothing preventing this now! The main issue is EFI has not gained enough of a foothold for people to actually produce this sort of software for it yet (to my knowledge). Once EFI starts to get a larger install base you'll see manufacturers/hobbyists start to build the tools.

Edit: There is an open source OpenFirmware BIOS implementation called OpenBIOS (http://www.openfirmware.info)

[The Rominator]

Then you go back to OpenFirmware or have a non-functional computer. EFI is a BIOS replacement; it does not work in conjunction with the BIOS.


Yes, it is supposed to be.

As I have been mumbling to myself and now as we have proven with this thread....APple's implementation of EFI on these cards is half-hearted. The EFI functions as a "Hi, How are ya?" but the card is actually running from the good old PC BIOS.

Take the BIOS out of these EFI ROMs and the cards don't work.

[Ferrari904]

Okay took me a few hours to read through this whole thing, but I finally did it. I have a recently purchased (week old) 2009 Mac Pro that I ordered with the ATi Radeon 4870. I am currently using the 24" LED ACD with the miniDisplay Port. I was very interested in getting a dual setup going but was disappointed it was not a CTO from Apple. Then I finally found this thread. After doing all the reading I have a few questions to ask. Is it possible to use the 4870 X2? I wouldn't be using it in Leopard and I understand that it won't work at all. I would want to use it in Windows (Windows 7 to be precise) in a crossfire setup. Would there be a problem though out putting to the miniDisplay Port? If the X2 is not possible then what would it take to just get the 1 GB 4870 to go? Finally what is needed to make this happen? I have netkas tutorial on how to (located on page 9 of this thread) flash a 4870 card. Thanks in advance!

[The Rominator]

Several folks have flashed a 1Gb card.

For the most part they have the SIngle DVI only issue....when a second display is plugged onto other DVI....KAPUTTT!!! the computer crashes and reboots.

Aside from which....NONE of these come with MDP....only the Apple card. So if you want two of those....there are existing threads on that.....either add a 120GT or fire up a small reactor in your basement and run 2 @ 4870s.

On another note...I had some thoughts on 4870 current issues.

When Radeon 9700s are flashed with Mac 9700 ROM...due to the ADC being on lower port...the DVI port has NO VGA in the DVI, in most cases. Odder still is that changing clocks and Dev id in 9800 ROM allowed PC 9700 cards to be 100% fully functional, complete with VGA in the DVI port.

So at first it seemed like a software issue. Then Ebay flasher YoYoMarv figured out that SOME 9700 cards had resistors in a different place and THEY had VGA with standard Mac 9700 ROM.

I believe they even figured out a mod to 9700 ROM to obviate need to move resistors.

So in that case, the missing VGA was fixable either through a ROM tweak, or a hardware mod. Hopefully this VGA on 4870 issue clears up in one or both of these ways.

As far as the DUal Display problem....still a work in progress..I guess we are hopeful that 10.5.7 may have a fix.

[Ferrari904]

I understand that apple is the only one to sell the card with MDP. That is the one and only card I have in my Mac Pro right now. It is also not clear to me if the 4870 X2 will work only in Windows. It doesn't have to work in Leopard, I'll just leave my regular 4870 to that. I just want to be able to Crossfire between the two. Finally I just want to know what mechanical parts or wires I might need to make this happen or is it just plug and play? Thanks, sorry if there is any confusion.

[GodWhomIsMike]

There is a brand new 2GB Radeon HD 4870 model out now!!!!!

I wonder if this card will work with the ROM dump/hack/flash:

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102826


All I know is that card is making me drool. The reviews are showing that it is quieter than a standard 4870 video card.

[tobyg]

There is a brand new 2GB Radeon HD 4870 model out now!!!!!

I wonder if this card will work with the ROM dump/hack/flash:

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102826


All I know is that card is making me drool. The reviews are showing that it is quieter than a standard 4870 video card.

I'm pretty sure that card would not fit in the first slot. That heat sink on the back will surely hit the memory cage, just as the screws on other cards hit the cage.

[The Rominator]

I imagine it would require that the rear heatsink assembly get removed altogether.

I DOUBT that anything can get much use from 2GB of VRAM....but would be worth trying out.

We also still need some brave soul to try a 4870 X2.

I can help with the ROM (using "The Method" as described by pipolomo42) if someone gets any of these oddball cards that we need info on.

[Tastannin]

The review I found online (http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=737&pageid=2) says that this does not look like a reference design card, so it does not sound good in regards to flashing. Newegg has it for $259, and it has three outputs, VGA, HDMI, and Dual-link DVI. No dongles needed.

There is a brand new 2GB Radeon HD 4870 model out now!!!!!

I wonder if this card will work with the ROM dump/hack/flash:

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102826


All I know is that card is making me drool. The reviews are showing that it is quieter than a standard 4870 video card.



I DOUBT that anything can get much use from 2GB of VRAM....but would be worth trying out.



Right now you're probably right. 2GB of VRAM not much good in Leopard. But I think it'll be useful when Snow Leopard hits the streets. ;)

[Bubba Satori]

You are quite wrong. (If I can decipher your post correctly).

It's the rest of the industry that needs to ditch BIOS, and fast.

Why, so the rest of the industry can only offer one or two video cards for their computers ?

[Guiyon]

Yes, it is supposed to be.

As I have been mumbling to myself and now as we have proven with this thread....APple's implementation of EFI on these cards is half-hearted. The EFI functions as a "Hi, How are ya?" but the card is actually running from the good old PC BIOS.

Take the BIOS out of these EFI ROMs and the cards don't work.

In the original context I was referring more to the main BIOS instead of the option ROM implementation but, regardless, it IS a step in the right direction. As for the actual Radeon ROM, I wouldn't of expected a full EFI ROM as AMD's entire line is based around the PC BIOS implementation. It's foolhardy, nevermind expensive, to duplicate all the work AMD already did and end up with a video card that wouldn't support Windows/Linux. As I said previously, once the installed base grows a bit larger I would expect it but at the moment what we have is pretty good.

[mcroger]

Aside from which....NONE of these come with MDP....only the Apple card. So if you want two of those....there are existing threads on that.....either add a 120GT or fire up a small reactor in your basement and run 2 @ 4870s.


Did anybody tried one of these ?

Gainward HD 4870 1024MB Golden Sample - 1 Go DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort - PCI Express (ATI Radeon HD 4870

Gigabyte R487D5-1GD - 1 Go DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort - PCI Express (ATI Radeon HD 4870)

[netkas]

i think this issues with ports is coming from driver, Motmot hass fixed ConnectorsTable which is made for 4870 with MDP from apple, and it lags on our cards, hoping on more universal framebuffer driver from apple.

There is now 4 frambuffers for 4 series cards - Motmot, Quail ( from 10.5.7 beta), Kakapo and Raven (both from 10.5.6 MacPro 09 dvd) - hehe, developers like birds.

Only motmot works for 48x0 for now

[GodWhomIsMike]

There is a brand new 2GB Radeon HD 4870 model out now!!!!!

I wonder if this card will work with the ROM dump/hack/flash:

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102826


All I know is that card is making me drool. The reviews are showing that it is quieter than a standard 4870 video card.


I wonder if this card would work in a Hackintosh with a ROM flash?

[Pressure]

Why, so the rest of the industry can only offer one or two video cards for their computers ?

No, BIOS is holding back the modern PC.

EFI is its replacement. Technology is moving forward afterall.

[Ferrari904]

I'm willling to be the expieramental guinea pig for the 4870 X2 card. I just want be assured that it will work in Windows 7 and that it is easily workable with the 2009 Mac Pro's power supply.

[Jimboos]

So when do we think the industry will be using EFI as the replacement then, if ever? And awsome that they Made a 2gb version, not looking at the internals, the only thing holding the card back from being used is size?

[jaberwocky]

Why, so the rest of the industry can only offer one or two video cards for their computers ?

Well, all the new announced IBM x-Series systems (Intel/AMD x86*) drops BIOS and switch to UEFI 2.x. (ok, wait a few days for official announcement :-)) I believe it will also come down to normal PC's.

But please come back to topic, because this thread is getting spamed with this BIOS/EFI discusion.

Bye, jaberwocky

[Wabash]

The Radeon HD 4890 seems to be an overcloaked version of the 4870 and will be on the market the 6 of april.
Any chance to flash it for the mac pro ? As the gpu is a rv770 as the 4870, is it possible to change the id in the bios card to fake a 4870 and force mac os to recognize it ?

[Tallest Skil]

The Radeon HD 4890 seems to be an overcloaked version of the 4870 and will be on the market the 6 of april.
Any chance to flash it for the mac pro ? As the gpu is a rv770 as the 4870, is it possible to change the id in the bios card to fake a 4870 and force mac os to recognize it ?

What's the point of it? The 4870x2 would still be a better card.

[The Rominator]

The Radeon HD 4890 seems to be an overcloaked version of the 4870 and will be on the market the 6 of april.


Well, if it's CLOAKED, I doubt we'll even see it.:D

Seriously, unless there is a night and day difference, it will likely not be a popular flash.

FI, the 9800GT is a die-shrunk version of 8800GT. So, with a little brain power and some research you can make a Mac 9800GT that is faster than a retail 8800GT......but nobody bothers as it is at best 10-15% faster.

Good thing about 4890 coming out is 4870 will no longer be "the top" and perhaps prices on them will drop as the PC Poser crowd drops them as last year's style.

[GodWhomIsMike]

Well, if it's CLOAKED, I doubt we'll even see it.:D

Seriously, unless there is a night and day difference, it will likely not be a popular flash.

FI, the 9800GT is a die-shrunk version of 8800GT. So, with a little brain power and some research you can make a Mac 9800GT that is faster than a retail 8800GT......but nobody bothers as it is at best 10-15% faster.

Good thing about 4890 coming out is 4870 will no longer be "the top" and perhaps prices on them will drop as the PC Poser crowd drops them as last year's style.

Us "PC Poser" folks are the ones keeping the market going for GPU companies to keep working on better/faster video cards. :p

[Ferrari904]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the 4870 X2. The only thing that I'm not sure how to do is power it. I realize that my current 4870 card is taking up both the power ports. What needs to be done to power another 4870 card?

[The Rominator]

Us "PC Poser" folks are the ones keeping the market going for GPU companies to keep working on better/faster video cards. :p

Yes, and thank GOD for people like you !!!

We would buy the latest and greatest too, if we could.

Part of me wonders if Apple rushed 4870 to beat the arrival of 4890?

We will have the "latest & greatest" for about 3 weeks...then once again we will have "last years". Oh well.......

As far as powering the 4870 x2, look in the Dual 4870's in a 2009 thread.

There isn't a good answer....but if you have Applecare, you have fewer worries than the rest of us.

"Yes, Mr. Genius, I was just surfing the web on my Pro when ALL OF A SUDDEN several traces on the PCB BURST INTO FLAMES !!!"

[VirtualRain]

"Yes, Mr. Genius, I was just surfing the web on my Pro when ALL OF A SUDDEN several traces on the PCB BURST INTO FLAMES !!!"

LOL!

"I see Mr. Rominator... what's this residue on the bottom of your case... could it be a fried crossfire connector by any chance?!" :p

[chewietobbacca]

FYI, the 4890 is on the RV790 core, not the RV770 core, so it is doubtful you can flash one card to the other. Also, the 4890 comes clocked stock at 850mhz, but benchmark leaks show it clocking to over 1000 MHz on stock already :eek:

I've come to the conclusion that the soundest evidence that ATI is about to unleash new cards is when Apple adopts their recent ones

[The Rominator]

FYI, the 4890 is on the RV790 core, not the RV770 core, so it is doubtful you can flash one card to the other.
I've come to the conclusion that the soundest evidence that ATI is about to unleash new cards is when Apple adopts their recent ones

May still be possible. By changing device id and clock speeds you can cross-flash the R300, R350, and R360 cores. Different name does not always mean "new".

At least we had Video Card Parity for a couple weeks.

[macz1]

I think there is a chance to get the 4890 working in OS X. The Radeon 4890 does not seem to differ much from the 4870 besides the higher clocks. I think it should work with the same drivers as the 4870 and the ROM-modification procedure we used to get running the various versions of the 4870 could probably work as well for this card...

[matthew.russo]

As far as powering the 4870 x2, look in the Dual 4870's in a 2009 thread.

There isn't a good answer....but if you have Applecare, you have fewer worries than the rest of us.

The FSP booster X5 will do the job. 2 x 6 pin and 2 x 8 pin http://www.fspgroupusa.com/BOOSTERX.asp

I will be using the smaller version (x3) to do crossfire on to apple 4870s.

more info on the dual cards thread

[Ferrari904]

The FSP booster X5 will do the job. 2 x 6 pin and 2 x 8 pin http://www.fspgroupusa.com/BOOSTERX.asp

I will be using the smaller version (x3) to do crossfire on to apple 4870s.

more info on the dual cards thread
Hmm... interesting. Would that be installed in one of the SuperDrive bays? The only problem with that is that I already have two SuperDrives installed in my Mac Pro. Oh well, guess one will have to take a back seat. Its good however to see that there is better solution then just splitting the booster ports on the Mac Pro. I wasn't so content with that idea. Now that there is talk of a 4890 card, I'm having doubts on going ahead with the 4870 X2. Will the 4890 have just one or two cores in it? I guess I'll have to do more research.

[zoppa]

our irc has huge netsplit atm so dont go there :)

btw, I found out why my natit didnt work at all on macpro:
i forgot to remove this from plist

<key>IONameMatch</key>
<string>display</string>

here is fixed natit, for tests with dual dvi, and new motmot pkg:

Sorry for newbie question: how do I apply the natit?

Thanks,
zoppa
P.S.: Found a PC to revive my 4870 Sapphire SKU 11133-03-20R! :))
P.P.S: @pipomolo42: is there any news about sapphire.rom from http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7288415&postcount=315 ?
My 10.5.6 MacPro (early 2008 +10.5.7beta driver) GUI (mouse movement) freezes every 2-4 seconds for some 1/10 s. On bootcamp Vista64 no probs like this.
Strange, I wonder if anyone is experiencing similar issue?

[netkas]

zoppa: http://***********/?q=kexthelper

-----


i waited half year for rv770 support in osx, so i dont think we will see rv790 support anytime soon (4890),rv740 is more likely, it's supported in x2000.kext already ( accelerator, which provides ogl/qe/ci)

[zoppa]

Thanks netkas!

What about the System Profilers view on PCI?
I got Link Speed 2.5 GT/s. On ATI 2600 it was 5 GT/s !?

[kvfb97]

Can anyone let me know if this looks ok?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB-Sapphire-HD4870-PCI-E-20(x16)-3600MHz-GDDR5-GPU-750MHz-800-Cores-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV-HDCP

Haven't seen any UK posts about this in the thread.

Thanks

[c0052350]

i have flashed that same card working in 1,1 mac pro using pimpilo42s hybrid rom posted earlier

[Ferrari904]

do you just put in the cards or do you need to add a "guide" that helps it slide in one of the slots? If so where can I get one?

[jaberwocky]

Thanks netkas!

What about the System Profilers view on PCI?
I got Link Speed 2.5 GT/s. On ATI 2600 it was 5 GT/s !?

The same here - 2.5 GT/s. Other question: what about the first line, No driver installed for ATY/MotmotParent. What does is mean ?
Is this also true for real Apple 4870 cards (or the cards which works here with both DVI-connectors same time). ?

Bye, jaberwocky

[The Rominator]

I just checked that PCI line with both of the 4870's I have here.

My original Diamond running the OEM ROM and the newer Diamond running a custom patched ROM.

Sure enough, the one that can run both screens doesn't have that incidence of the "no driver loaded" but the one that crashes on second DVI connect DOES have it.

I know that in the device tree each card exists as a parent and then as an "A" and a "B" where they two "children" are the two display channels. So for some reason, only one is lining up with the driver and the second is NOT.

Would be great if one or both of our geniuses could come by and have a look. I am sure it has something to do with that MDP nonsense.

I have developer tools on this, so if anyone wants an output from IO tree, or whatever, just say the word.

I have a feeling we may be on to the Dual Port solution !

I am a little concerned about the 2.5Gts thing. I have noticed that the 4870 doesn't bench any faster in OSX than a 9800GT/8800GTS while it screams past them in WIndows. I assumed it was immature OSX drivers.

We have to also remember that we are running these cards in an OS not specifically designed for them.

I am still hopeful that 10.5.7 will bring some changes.

EDIT: Tallest Skil just pointed out in another thread that 2.5GTs is throughput spec of PCIE 1.1 and 5.0 is 2.0.

So we may have yet ANOTHER clue.

If a 2.0 capable machine is running this card at 1.1 then obviously there are still things that driver can improve.

[rhildinger]

I am a little concerned about the 2.5Gts thing. I have noticed that the 4870 doesn't bench any faster in OSX than a 9800GT/8800GTS while it screams past them in WIndows. I assumed it was immature OSX drivers.

I don't think the fault for the poor benchmark lies in our flashed card with custom roms, as the benchmarking sites are using official Apple cards and they are still seeing poor performance. I think we're still dealing with immature drivers...

[BEIGE]

Thanks to pipomolo42 fantastic instructions and help with original rom, here's my slightly modified ROM for Sapphire HD 4870 DDR5 GDDR5 2DVI TVO, the one with the RV770XT chipset, part number 188-1E85-001SA, SKU: 11133-00-20R .

Default clock speeds are returned to Sapphire 4870 Toxic values: Memory frequency is 1000Mhz. Core frequency in 3D mode is set to native 800Mhz, idle speed remains at 500Mhz. Unlocked Windows CCC Overdrive values allow soft overclocking up to 990/1200. Fan spin up bug fix has been applied, so it doesn't go loud in random intervals. Verified to be Winflash friendly under Vista and HDMI works in windows as well.

Download link (http://www.2shared.com/file/5149472/9c427558/s4870_800.html)

It should also work with Sapphire SKU 21133-04, 11133-04, 21133-00 and 11133-03, but we won't know until someone tries.


Hey v0n - so I've ordered one of those 1GB cards from here (https://www.bestdirect.ca/products/190316/21133-04-20R/SAPPHIRE/) and I just want to check: is this file the Mac Radeon's EFI ROM to combine with the BIOS file or both merged already?

[pastrychef]

I followed rhildinger's lead and purchased an XFX HD4870 1GB XXX Edition and used the ROM provided by him. Sleep works fine. Core Image is hardware accelerated and Quartz Extreme is supported. The full 1GB is being recognized. Link speed is at 2.5 GT/s (like everyone else's).

Thanks rhildinger, The Rominator, and netkas for your help! I look forward to OS X 10.5.7.

[pastrychef]

In regards to the Link Speed showing 2.5 GT/s. What do the official Apple 4870s report?

[v0n]

Hey v0n - so I've ordered one of those 1GB cards from here (https://www.bestdirect.ca/products/190316/21133-04-20R/SAPPHIRE/) and I just want to check: is this file the Mac Radeon's EFI ROM to combine with the BIOS file or both merged already?

It's merged and ready to go, but 512Mb versions only. It should actually work for the guy in quote below.

Can anyone let me know if this looks ok?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB-Sapphire-HD4870-PCI-E-20(x16)-3600MHz-GDDR5-GPU-750MHz-800-Cores-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV-HDCP

Haven't seen any UK posts about this in the thread.

[medsource]

So, I can report another success flashing the Sapphire 1GB card I purchased http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-HD4870-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B001J6FS3I/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1238198314&sr=8-1 which is PN 288-xxxxx-xxxxx SKU 11133-04-20R.

A few notes,
Ended up rolling my own power cables by ordering the pins/plugs as mentioned here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7332291#post7332291) and using the wire from two sets of 4-pin molex y-adapters. Total cost was $11 for end result of two working cables.
Winflash wouldn't load if the card was in slot 2 (had my 8800gt in slot one during the flashing process). Ended up using the freedoscd and atiflash method.
Used a spare sata notebook drive (just raw connected it to the mobo without a sled) for the fat32 drive when using freedos cd
elvisizer rom was used to flash the card (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7314503#post7314503)

I have installed the new drivers (posted a few pages back) and have a noticed an issue. Has anyone else noticed that their mouse cursor jumps a bit when dragging around? was this seen in the older driver? This didn't seem to be happening in WinXP just OS X. This is on a early 08' MP running 10.5.6

Other than the mouse jump thing (really annoying but hopefully it's just drivers) everything seems as expected. Granted I'm only using one DVI monitor so I can't report on dual display, vga etc.

[BEIGE]

11133-04-20R

I thought that all 1GB versions started with 21133. Is that different than the one I ordered? **** - did I order the wrong card?

edit - this might just be a Canadian market version. It has a beaver gutting a mountie on the box.

[BEIGE]

In regards to the Link Speed showing 2.5 GT/s. What do the official Apple 4870s report?

Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

that's on my Nehalem with 512 MB Radeon 4870 (I want a 1GB card - that's why I'm here). So am I right in seeing that everyone here is running their flashed cards at half the speed of my official one?

[Ferrari904]

In regards to the Link Speed showing 2.5 GT/s. What do the official Apple 4870s report?
I'm getting 5.0 GT/s. I'm pretty close to ordering a 4870 X2.

[swissmann]

BEIGE and Ferrari904 - Are either one of you planning on selling your Apple 4870 then?

[BEIGE]

BEIGE and Ferrari904 - Are either one of you planning on selling your Apple 4870 then?

well if I can get the 1 GB working okay, I will. I don't need dual-link, just one DVI and no bugs.

[The Rominator]

Good point.

If anyone is in the SoCal / Hollywood area and would like to TRADE a 1Gig card for an OEM Apple one, let me know.

I think there may still be things to learn from the OEM.

(A nice hi-res scan of back of card would also be nice)

[BConvery]

I have a 1 gig Sapphire card I've been trying to flash for a week. None of my friends have a PC that can even have this card installed. If anyone in the Bay Area (Norcal) can help I'd appreciate a PM.

TIA

Bob

[The Rominator]

Bob,

You don't need a PC.

That 8 Meg FreeDOS download, a CD to burn it ont, and aBootcamp FAT32 partition are what you need.

[BConvery]

I'm positive its my fault....but I've tried a bunch of different DOS start up disks and I can't get them to boot up. I guess I need to get a windows (XP or Vista(ugh...)) system on the partition first.....

[jaberwocky]

Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

that's on my Nehalem with 512 MB Radeon 4870 (I want a 1GB card - that's why I'm here). So am I right in seeing that everyone here is running their flashed cards at half the speed of my official one?

It depends on your Mac - my old MacPro 1,1 uses only PCI 1.1 - so max link speed is 2.5 GT/s. Newer ones have PCI 2 which doubles the possible link speed.

Bye, jaberwocky

[Ferrari904]

BEIGE and Ferrari904 - Are either one of you planning on selling your Apple 4870 then?
Sorry, I plan on doing Crossfire in Windows with my cards.

[netkas]

I just checked that PCI line with both of the 4870's I have here.

My original Diamond running the OEM ROM and the newer Diamond running a custom patched ROM.

Sure enough, the one that can run both screens doesn't have that incidence of the "no driver loaded" but the one that crashes on second DVI connect DOES have it.

I know that in the device tree each card exists as a parent and then as an "A" and a "B" where they two "children" are the two display channels. So for some reason, only one is lining up with the driver and the second is NOT.

Would be great if one or both of our geniuses could come by and have a look. I am sure it has something to do with that MDP nonsense.

I have developer tools on this, so if anyone wants an output from IO tree, or whatever, just say the word.

I have a feeling we may be on to the Dual Port solution !

I am a little concerned about the 2.5Gts thing. I have noticed that the 4870 doesn't bench any faster in OSX than a 9800GT/8800GTS while it screams past them in WIndows. I assumed it was immature OSX drivers.

We have to also remember that we are running these cards in an OS not specifically designed for them.

I am still hopeful that 10.5.7 will bring some changes.

EDIT: Tallest Skil just pointed out in another thread that 2.5GTs is throughput spec of PCIE 1.1 and 5.0 is 2.0.

So we may have yet ANOTHER clue.

If a 2.0 capable machine is running this card at 1.1 then obviously there are still things that driver can improve.

!IOreg :))

[The Rominator]

!IOreg :))

I have saved three reports.

The one called "4870_Dual" is a Diamond 512 Meg 4870 running OEM Apple ROM that is running 2 @ DVI's

"4870Dual_Single" is the Dual capable board with just one display connected.

"4870single_only" is from a later Diamond board that needed a custom ROM and which crashes the Mac if a second display is plugged in.

These are the same exact cards which created the "PCI Cards" outputs some spaces up.

[rapids41]

I followed rhildinger's lead and purchased an XFX HD4870 1GB XXX Edition and used the ROM provided by him. Sleep works fine. Core Image is hardware accelerated and Quartz Extreme is supported. The full 1GB is being recognized. Link speed is at 2.5 GT/s (like everyone else's).

Thanks rhildinger, The Rominator, and netkas for your help! I look forward to OS X 10.5.7.

Great to know! I am reading here for some time and thinking to buy this card too.
Only thing which hold me back is the noise level. Can u tell me how noisy this card is?
Do you here them in 2D? Or should i get a 8800GT when I dont really need the extra performance?
Bye the way did you testet 2 Screens on it? (1920x1200 and 1620x1000 for example)
Greetz Michael

[jeanlain]

It depends on your Mac - my old MacPro 1,1 uses only PCI 1.1 - so max link speed is 2.5 GT/s. Newer ones have PCI 2 which doubles the possible link speed.

Bye, jaberwocky
Good point. It may be that flashed 4870s run in PCIe 1.1 mode, enven in PCI-E 2.0 Mac Pros, which would not make a difference in older Mac Pros.

[netkas]

Rominator, the idea is to insert binimage from dual-dvi capable card to a dual-dvi not capable card, using natit. See, your diamond512 has rom from apple - binimage in ioreg matches apple's too - dual dvi works.
another example from osx86, if 4870 has own binimage in ioreg - it's not capable for dual dvi, once we insert apple's binimage for it - dual dvi works(without reflashing).

p.s. binimage - is a dump of pc bios part in ioreg, for specific card.

[BEIGE]

It's merged and ready to go, but 512Mb versions only. It should actually work for the guy in quote below.

I thought the 1GB cards work as well. Do they need a different modified EFI than the 512? I don't care about dual-link or multiple monitors.

[johnjobs]

Has someone testet a flashed 4870 with the latest SL Build? My 2600xt works fine(and fast :)) but with the 4870 I can´t boot into SL that I have installed with my 2600xt :( I cant´t also boot the SL-DVD with a installed 4870, only what I get is the grey Startup Screen.

Bye

[v0n]

I thought the 1GB cards work as well. Do they need a different modified EFI than the 512? I don't care about dual-link or multiple monitors.

I meant more of a - I'm not sure if 1Gb cards with same SKU as 512Mb cards in Europe are actually identical boards. Tell you what - dump your rom first, save it somewhere, then try my rom. If it doesn't work, we'll make one with Toxic clock values from scratch in a jiffy.

[Spikelite]

I made the wonderful choice to leap head first without looking. I did however call Apple tech support (NEVER AGAIN) and they told me any ATI 4870 would work (lies...).

I have never flashed a card and am terrified at the prospect of doing so but I am going to give it a try.

I got the Sapphire 4870 1GB TOXIC card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Tpk=14-102-815
PN: 288-20E85-T305A
SKU: 11133-14

It has the dual 6 pin power connectors so should be fine there. I am just wondering if anyone has already tried this card and found it to work or not.

If I don't hear anything an EE friend and I are going to muck around with it and see what we can do. I will let you know how it goes.

*crosses fingers*


If it works I may also write a step by step for noobs write up on how to do this for this card and possibly others that use the same steps.


Also would someone mind re-hosting the drivers somewhere not on IRC? Unfortunately I can not get to any IRC channels from where I am at due to network policies and I would like to be able to test the card once I flash it.

Update: I think I am missing something and I have yet to get hands on about this. But would anyone be interested in holding my hand for the backup of the ROM currently on the card? I downloaded GPU-Z (http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/) But it looks like a GUI app and I more expected it to be a CLI app. How does one use this to pull the ROM? If this is a stupid question feel free to note so and I will poke at it more.

[v0n]

Update: I think I am missing something and I have yet to get hands on about this. But would anyone be interested in holding my hand for the backup of the ROM currently on the card? I downloaded GPU-Z (http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/) But it looks like a GUI app and I more expected it to be a CLI app. How does one use this to pull the ROM? If this is a stupid question feel free to note so and I will poke at it more.

http://ocuk.filmsuk.com/gpuz.jpg

[Spikelite]

OK I feel wonderfully stupid right about now.

Anyhow I did that and I found some giant ass block letters saying that the power supplies were not hooked up correctly. I will have to figure out why it isn't getting enough power.

I dumped the ROM using the button notated above and it dumped it to a .bin file I assume this is correct but being a complete novice I figured it doesn't hurt to ask.

I will post the ROM I get off of it once I have one that doesn't include you are a noob power me better in the first 10 lines.

[aconu]

I try to flash this card :
Gainward HD 4870 1024MB Golden Sample - 1 Go DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort - PCI Express (ATI Radeon HD 4870).

One big advantage of this model is the double BIOS, you can switch from normal bios to overclocked bios with a button on the back. If you failed a flash, you can switch to "backup" BIOS and save the card.

I flash it with standard Apple ROM : failure (endless reboot).

Then, i use pipomolo42 method to build a custom BIOS, and i got mixed results. When the mac boot with a display attached to DVI, the screen goes grey, then i can see the black apple (but i don't see the moving progress circle, and i see only grey when i use the alt key at boot). As soon as the window server start, the display goes to sleep mode. The window server is not crashed, i have access to remote desktop.

With a saphire custom ROM, the DVI-D work if i plug the HDMI-DVI adapter on HDMI port. And no image on display port.

I continue my tests.

[The Rominator]

OK I feel wonderfully stupid right about now.

Anyhow I did that and I found some giant ass block letters saying that the power supplies were not hooked up correctly. I will have to figure out why it isn't getting enough power.

I dumped the ROM using the button notated above and it dumped it to a .bin file I assume this is correct but being a complete novice I figured it doesn't hurt to ask.

I will post the ROM I get off of it once I have one that doesn't include you are a noob power me better in the first 10 lines.


All the ROMs have that warning inside.

It is what will flash onscreen if you don't have power connected.

[Spikelite]

OK,

Well I got the ROM out (I hope). Here it is. This is the standard ROM on the Sapphire 4870 TOXIC 1GB

PN: 288-20E85-T305A
SKU: 11133-14

RV770.bin (http://spikelite.com/filehost/RV770.bin)


Using the fixrom.py script here is the mashed up ROM. I still have not tested this and can not do so until I get the drivers. Note that I cant get them via IRC due to some network policies where I currently am.

mac-toxic-4870GB.rom (http://spikelite.com/filehost/mac-toxic-4870GB.rom)


I will let you all know how it goes.

Update: I am thinking this did not go as planned. The GFX card is still working in the PC tower I was using to flash it, I was under the impression that this would no longer work. Here is the output of atiflash.


atiflash.exe -p -fs -fp 0 C:\mac4870.rom
Old SSID: 0051
New SSID: 0051
Old P/N: 113-AX89100-100
New P/N: 113-AX89100-100
Old DeviceID: 9440
New DeviceID: 9440
Old Product Name: TXOFF2 WEKIVA RV770 B50701 BOARD
New Product Name: TXOFF2 WEKIVA RV770 B50701 BOARD
Old BIOS Version: 011.012.000.002.000000
New BIOS Version: 011.012.000.002.000000
Flash type: PM25LV010
20000/20000h bytes programmed
20000/20000h bytes verified

[pastrychef]

I still have not tested this and can not do so until I get the drivers. Note that I cant get them via IRC due to some network policies where I currently am.


Here you go: http://www.sendspace.com/file/gvsi12

[Spikelite]

I do not know if this is running properly but it is running. I am going to hold off on posting all my steps until I get home and can test it in my '09 MacPro but it is working in this older MacPro.

http://spikelite.com/imghost/working-mac-toxic-4870.png

Sadly it is not making a 5.0 link but that could be the nature of the motherboard on this machine rather then the card. I will take another screen shot when I get home.

Here is what the card is:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102815
SAPPHIRE 100243-1GTXSR Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Toxic Edition

PN: 288-20E85-T305A
SKU: 11133-14


Working/Installed ROM: mac-toxic-4870GB.rom (http://spikelite.com/filehost/mac-toxic-4870GB.rom)
Drivers: http://www.sendspace.com/file/gvsi12


Update: Problem detected in this older MacPro. When I connect a screen to the second DVI port I no longer get anything from either port. Also I do not know if it is running dual-link DVI or not as these screens at work suck. This wont be an issue for me as I plan on using this card as the master card for my 25.5" screen and using the GT120 that came with my MacPro as a slave for my 22" screen. However this could be an issue for others.

Update: I got the second port working thru voodoo magic. However now if you connect a second DVI cable you get a nice happy kernel panic.

[aconu]

I finally got my Gainward HD 4870 1024MB Golden Sample working :-)

I've made a custom ROM with the original "normal" BIOS of the card, and here the results :
- you MUST have HDMI-DVI+DVI-VGA adapters connected to HDMI port for DVI-D and VGA ports to work
- DVI-D fully working
- VGA fully working (i've got 1920x1080@60Hz)
- DVI-D+VGA KO (only DVI-D get signal)
- Display Port KO (no signal on my DELL 3008FPW)
- HDMI KO (the port MUST be connected, but no signal)
- 1024 Mo VRAM recognized
- no Natit used
- Bootcamp Vista64 OK

Now, i'm going to flash the "turbo" BIOS :-)

[macz1]

I finally got my Gainward HD 4870 1024MB Golden Sample working :-)

I've made a custom ROM with the original "normal" BIOS of the card, and here the results :
- you MUST have HDMI-DVI+DVI-VGA adapters connected to HDMI port for DVI-D and VGA ports to work
- DVI-D fully working
- VGA fully working (i've got 1920x1080@60Hz)
- DVI-D+VGA KO (only DVI-D get signal)
- Display Port KO (no signal on my DELL 3008FPW)
- HDMI KO (the port MUST be connected, but no signal)
- 1024 Mo VRAM recognized
- no Natit used
- Bootcamp Vista64 OK

Now, i'm going to flash the "turbo" BIOS :-)

WOW! you're a hero! Do you know you are the first to get a VGA signal out of a flashed 4870 in OS X? This is the only thing I was hoping for...
Now a couple of questions:
Did you create the custom ROM using the posted script or did you some other/further modifications?
Did I understand you correctly? You can either have one DVI-D signal OR one VGA signal (using DVI-VGA) from the DVI port and if I want VGA and DVI-D simultaneously I have to get the VGA signal out of the DVI port and DVI out of the HDMI port?

Thanks for posting these encouraging results!

[Spikelite]

Here is the step by step instructions for installing a SAPPHIRE 100243-1GTXSR Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102815)
PN: 288-20E85-T305A
SKU: 11133-14

I have confirmed that this will work for installing this card into all MacPros.

WARNING: Your secondary DVI port will not work and should NEVER be used if you use this card as it will cause a kernel panic. :confused:

NOTICE: I can not promise that this will work for you and/or that nothing will go horribly wrong. Do this at your own risk, but with the reassurance that a noob like me managed to do it and get it working.

These instructions assume you have basic computer skills and that your card is already properly installed inside of the machine you will either be running it on or at least flashing it on.

Things you will need:
1x USB Flash Drive
1X CD-R

1. Download FreeDOS (FreeDOS 153MB (http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.0/fdfullcd.iso))

2. Download GPU-Z (GPU-Z ~428KB (http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1363/mirrors.php))

3. Download the ROM file for this card (mac-toxic-4870GB.rom ~128KB (http://spikelite.com/filehost/mac-toxic-4870GB.rom))

4. Download ATIFlash (ATIFlash ~444KB (http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1123/mirrors.php))

5. Download the 10.5.6 4870 drivers (MacOSX_10-1.5.6_radeon_hd_48x0_drivers ~3.5MB (http://www.sendspace.com/file/gvsi12))

6. Install the 10.5.6 4870 drivers on your Mac by double clicking the .pkg that you downloaded. IMPORTANT: During the installation watch for the "Customize" button. It should be on the 3rd screen. Click it and uncheck the last check box, "Natit".

7. Burn the .iso file for FreeDOS to your CD-R

8. Copy the ROM file, GPU-Z and ATIFlash to your USB flash drive

9. Ensure that the only video card in the box you want to flash this video card is the 4870

10. (Optional but very highly recommended) Run the GPU-Z.exe and click the little green arrow and save the .bin file it gives you to your USB flash drive. Note that this is a windows application and as such you will need to be on a windows box, running parallels, or some other form of emulation.

I did this on a Windows Server 2008 box and it worked fine.

Once you have the .bin make sure it is larger then 64 KB. If it isn't then proceed to post for help.

11. Boot the box that you will be flashing the card in onto the FreeDOS cd. Use option #1 when prompted then #4 at the next screen.

12. I named my USB drive "C" but depending on what you named your this next step will very a little. Type C: or DRIVENAME: and hit enter once you get the DOS prompt.

Next type cd ati and hit tab twice followed by enter once it auto completes the rest of the line.

Now type atiflash.exe -p -fs -fp 0 DRIVENAME:\mac-toxic-4870GB.rom then hit tab twice and then press enter. Obviously DRIVENAME should be the name of your drive, in my case it was C:\mac-toxic-4870GB.rom

It should spew out a list of Old and New information. These may or may not be different. Mine were the same, I don't know why but when i found it to work I stopped asking questions and tanked my lucky stars.

13. Restart your computer and enjoy! It really is this simple, until something goes horribly wrong. But I hope that nothing does go wrong for you. If you have questions this community is very friendly and should be able to answer them. You can also PM me tho who knows if I will respond >_<

[The Rominator]

I finally got my Gainward HD 4870 1024MB Golden Sample working :-)

I've made a custom ROM with the original "normal" BIOS of the card, and here the results :
- you MUST have HDMI-DVI+DVI-VGA adapters connected to HDMI port for DVI-D and VGA ports to work
- DVI-D fully working
- VGA fully working (i've got 1920x1080@60Hz)
- DVI-D+VGA KO (only DVI-D get signal)
-

After reading this I realized there was one set of things I hadn't tried.

So I put the DVI-VGA adapter on each output of a 512 Dual DVI card while connecting Dell 2407 on other connector with VGA and.......................

When the adapter is in the LOWER port (Dual-Link one) and the VGA is in upper, THE VGA WORKS !!!

Well, sorta. It appears to not be getting an accurate EDID as it can't guess what display it is and just calls it a "VGA Display". Most of the res options for it don't work.

1920x1200 is there..but at 76Hz....not LCD frendly.

I had flashbacks to when we were first "breaking" the Nvidia cards. First was 5200 Ultra from which we got regular 5200 cards to work. If you flash the Mac 5200 Ultra ROM to a PC 5200 Ultra, it will work, BUT ONLY VGA COMES FROM DVI PORT.

A very clever man came along named Arti figured out what was happening with our DVI.

The display channels were mixed. ie, the EDID taken from port 0 determined the output to port 1. We never disclosed just how simple this was (once you deciphered the Forth) If you go in to Hexedit and search for "3f3e" and "3736" and SWAP them, suddenley the DVI works. (previously undisclosed secret). You can try this at home, works on all 5200 Ultras.

When we started work on 6800 cards, we had same thing, but more complicated. But if you flash an OEM Mac 6800 ROM onto a PC 6800, you will get VGA only.

WHilst we were hacking our way through this mess, Arti encoraged me to get a strange splitter. It plugs on to a DVI-I and splits it into a VGA AND a DVI-D. This helped diagnose the 5200/6800 channel switching.

I dug through the drawer and got the splitter out. Sure enough, there are TWO SEPARATE SIGNAL IN THAT DVI PORT.

By hooking both sides of this adapter to my 2407, I got two separate images / feeds from the two halves of the splitter.

The DVI one got EDID right, the VGA still got no EDID.

So, what we need is to find where the display connections get channeled in the ROM and switch them.

Most likely, the physical traces on the board are switched, now we need to switch them in the ROM, and we MAY get VGA.

If I had tried Netkas' patented DVI adapter trick earlier, we would have known this much sooner.

Anyone else with working Dual DVI who can try this should (without the wacky splitter anyway)

GOnna try with the Single DVI Diamond now.

[pastrychef]

Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s

that's on my Nehalem with 512 MB Radeon 4870 (I want a 1GB card - that's why I'm here). So am I right in seeing that everyone here is running their flashed cards at half the speed of my official one?

It seems to be running at full speed.

[pastrychef]

Has someone testet a flashed 4870 with the latest SL Build? My 2600xt works fine(and fast :)) but with the 4870 I can´t boot into SL that I have installed with my 2600xt :( I cant´t also boot the SL-DVD with a installed 4870, only what I get is the grey Startup Screen.

Bye

I tried booting from the 10a286 build of the Snow Leopard disc and got the same result. After it finished loading from the disc, the screen flashed to black and then to grey.

When I rebooted, it said the ATIRadeonX2000 driver crashed.

[Spikelite]

This card is now running on my '09 MacPro just fine. I actually didn't even need the 10.5.6 drivers. Don't ask me why tho.

I am still only getting a link speed of 2.5 GT/s X_X

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can fix that? My GT120 is connected at 5.0 GT/s


Update: After doing some crude tests I have determined that despite only getting a 2.5 GT/s link to the card it is about twice as fast as the GT120 with its 5.0 GT/s link. This was simply done by opening wow and watching the FPS change dramatically between my 2 screens on 2 separate cards. I know this is crude but it worked.

[The Rominator]

Well, the "Single Only" Diamond 4870 didn't care for the DVI adapter trick AT ALL.

It did it's "CRASH" trick.

I am attaching the IOReg report from the OLD Diamond 512 Meg 4870 that runs Dual.

This report was taken while it had the DVI to VGA adapter on the lower Dual-Link port and the DVI splitter on the upper port. Thus, both SEPARATE display channels were present in the single, upper DVI port.

The screen shot was taken at same time.

Note that only res close to native was 1920x1080 @ 60Hz. Everything looks a little funny.

It occurs to me that maybe we need to try sending the EDID of the Apple MDP to DVI adapter (single and/or dual link) to finish "turning on" that port.

Maybe a Natit trick?

Does a DVI to VGA adapter have an EDID? What is it triggering? The "Hot Plug" detection is supposed to be momentary, or so I thought.

Meanwhile, I still think we need a scan of 4870 Apple OEM board. Gonna try a fresh thread.

[medsource]

Has there been any other instances of the mouse jumping artifact in the GUI in OS X on the 1gb sapphire (non-toxic) cards? Is it just mine?

If anyone else is seeing this error, have they been able to fix it?

I'm on a sapphire 1gb card using the elvisizer custom hybrid rom on a early 08' MP running 10.5.6 with the latest motmot drivers.

[pastrychef]

Has there been any other instances of the mouse jumping artifact in the GUI in OS X on the 1gb sapphire (non-toxic) cards? Is it just mine?

If anyone else is seeing this error, have they been able to fix it?

I'm on a sapphire 1gb card using the elvisizer custom hybrid rom on a early 08' MP running 10.5.6 with the latest motmot drivers.

No, I have not seen this on mine.

[aconu]

Did you create the custom ROM using the posted script or did you some other/further modifications?


I use the posted script.


Did I understand you correctly? You can either have one DVI-D signal OR one VGA signal (using DVI-VGA) from the DVI port and if I want VGA and DVI-D simultaneously I have to get the VGA signal out of the DVI port and DVI out of the HDMI port?


This card is a bit special, she has :
- one dedicated VGA port (upper)
- one dedicated DVI-D port (bottom)
- one dedicated Display Port port (bottom)
- one dedicated HDMI port port (bottom)
And you can use HDMI to DVI adapter to get a secondary DVI-D.

To get a signal on dedicated DVI-D or dedicated VGA, you must use a HDMI "terminator" on HDMI port (HDMI to DVI+DVI to VGA adapters), or plug a connected HDMI cable.
I never get an image on dedicated display port.
I never get an image on dedicated HDMI (neither HDMI direct, or HDMI->DVI, or HMDI->DVI->VGA).
I has no image on dedicated VGA port if dedicated DVI-D is plugged.
Like Romintaor says, the possible resolutions on VGA port seems very strange (1920x1200@76Hz only, and you can have higher res than that)

So, no dual display at this point :-/

[ddorbuck]

Hey guys. Has anyone downloaded the pc rom for their ATI 4870 from the http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/ site? I have a Visiontek HD 4870 and techpower up has a rom for my card along with roms for a large number of pc video cards. Is this a valid and safe site to use?

Thanks for any info.

Doug D

[macz1]

Hey guys. Has anyone downloaded the pc rom for their ATI 4870 from the http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/ site? I have a Visiontek HD 4870 and techpower up has a rom for my card along with roms for a large number of pc video cards. Is this a valid and safe site to use?

Thanks for any info.

Doug D

Techpowerup is a reliable source generally and downloading the rom from there should work, although dumping the ROM of a PC graphics card is one of the easiest steps of the whole procedure. Unles you do not have Windows installed on your Mac, (the most recent versions of) GPU-z should be able to dump the ROM of the card. Make sure you get a file bigger than 64K.
Of course you can always compare the dumped file to the downloaded one to check whether there are differences...

[goin3d]

For those of you with the 1gig Sapphire cards, how are your bootcamp results? Thus far I have not been able to get my 1gig Sapphire 4870 to work in vista 64 under Vista. (Vista shuts the card down with "device errors") This is with the factory gt120 installed as well.

[Tallest Skil]

For those of you with the 1gig Sapphire cards, how are your bootcamp results? Thus far I have not been able to get my 1gig Sapphire 4870 to work in vista 64 under Vista. (Vista shuts the card down with "device errors") This is with the factory gt120 installed as well.

You can't use mixed manufacturer cards in Vista at all.

[goin3d]

You can't use mixed manufacturer cards in Vista at all.

That's what I thought too but aconu's post above threw me for a loop when he said:

"Bootcamp Vista64 OK"

[aconu]

That's what I thought too but aconu's post above threw me for a loop when he said:

"Bootcamp Vista64 OK"

Yes, but with HD4870 alone.
If i mixed the 4870 with the old 7300GT, the drivers failed to initialize the ATI card.

[hal1984]

Had someone tested the 4890 (simply a 4870 at higher clock speed), or the 4850x2 or 4870x2?

[monoton]

A very clever man came along named Arti figured out what was happening with our DVI.

The display channels were mixed. ie, the EDID taken from port 0 determined the output to port 1. We never disclosed just how simple this was (once you deciphered the Forth) If you go in to Hexedit and search for "3f3e" and "3736" and SWAP them, suddenley the DVI works. (previously undisclosed secret). You can try this at home, works on all 5200 Ultras.


Got a Powermac with FX 5500 flashed with the 5200 ultra rom from arti, VGA works just fine, but the DVI has never worked (either digitally or analog). Think the pines are mapped wrong in firmware. When connecting to it the machine sets up as if 2 monitors are in use, but the screen connected to the dvi remains black. Tried the swap trick with hexedit, did not solve it (this was already done in the rom..). Could you PM me if you have any tips here Rominator?
Sorry for this slight offtopic post, will post relevant stuff here as I have two Sapphire 1GB waiting for flashing..

Has, by the way, someone gotten to try the Sapphire 4870 2GB Vapor-X?? Very interested in hearing about this..

[medsource]

No, I have not seen this on mine.

Could you be more specific as to your specs? eg card, machine, os, version of driver, apple rom vs hybrid rom?

[pastrychef]

Could you be more specific as to your specs? eg card, machine, os, version of driver, apple rom vs hybrid rom?

XFX HD4870 XXX Edition. Machine is in my signature. 10.5.6. Beta drivers provided by netkas. Hybrid ROM.

[medsource]

XFX HD4870 XXX Edition. Machine is in my signature. 10.5.6. Beta drivers provided by netkas. Hybrid ROM.

Hmmm, seems to be a different card. I'm using the 288-xxx sku: 11133-04-20R sapphire card 1gb. Are you using the newer drivers posted a few pages ago, or the original ones from the #irc source? Currently I'm using the ones posted by netkas on page 22 http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7333477#post7333477 . I haven't installed the natit.kext as I have a real mac pro. I'm assuming this is the correct procedure?

A side note, I tried rolling my own frankenrom and it did differ slightly from the one that elvisizer posted (the one I was previously using). I flashed using winflash (command line interface) and the card still works. However, I have no change in OS X with the mouse jump thing (really starting to get annoying).


@ elvisizer, you have this card 'working' are you seeing the mouse jump issue?

@ zoppa, you also reported this problem. Did you find a fix / workaround?

Any input would be helpful...

[BEIGE]

ok - I have to say that I HATE SYSTEM SPECS IN PEOPLE'S SIGS. this thread is the worst trying to find anything by searching "GB" since Ferrari's sig is spamming the page.

STOP THE E-PEEN MADNESS.

[pastrychef]

Hmmm, seems to be a different card. I'm using the 288-xxx sku: 11133-04-20R sapphire card 1gb. Are you using the newer drivers posted a few pages ago, or the original ones from the #irc source? Currently I'm using the ones posted by netkas on page 22 http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7333477#post7333477 . I haven't installed the natit.kext as I have a real mac pro. I'm assuming this is the correct procedure?

I am using the drivers from IRC. I also made them available here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7363905&postcount=628

I removed natit.kext after the installer finished doing it's thing.

[netkas]

A side note, I tried rolling my own frankenrom and it did differ slightly from the one that elvisizer posted (the one I was previously using). I flashed using winflash (command line interface) and the card still works. However, I have no change in OS X with the mouse jump thing (really starting to get annoying).


@ elvisizer, you have this card 'working' are you seeing the mouse jump issue?

@ zoppa, you also reported this problem. Did you find a fix / workaround?

Any input would be helpful...

whats mouse jump thing, explain plz, is it smth like screen shaking ?

The Rominator: this vga things is familar to me, when it cant extract a edid, just use switchresX to add custom modes (16:10 modes e.g.)

All my hopes is on 4850 mobility osx drivers now.

for example, Hypoprion - a driver for imac's 2600 (which was mobility cards) worked for desktop cards, only one output and only vga lol, then we discovered the proper driver was lamna, but its another story.

[MacUser2525]

whats mouse jump thing, explain plz, is it smth like screen shaking ?



The first thing that popped into my head when reading that was the mouse lag you get when running a Nvidia card like the 8800gt on a Hackintosh from the AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext for DRM that was added in 10.5.6 perhaps it rears its ugly head yet again here...

[medsource]

whats mouse jump thing, explain plz, is it smth like screen shaking ?

What I'm seeing is that the pointer jumps an unspecified distance every 1-2 seconds when dragging across the screen in the direction of motion.

Example: I put the pointer at the far left middle of the screen and begin to move it to the right at a constant pace. As the pointer moves, every so often it will jump further to the right by a seemingly random distance inline with my direction of motion (eg if I'm moving to the right then the jumps will also be to the right, left if moving left, up if moving up etc). This will happen about every 1-2 seconds while moving in any direction. It's kinda like a hiccup of sorts, sometimes its only a few pixels that it jumps, other times it's a good 20% of the screen distance. It does seem to jump larger distances when moving the pointer faster.

Again, this doesn't happen in XP Pro. I dunno if it's in the apple rom timings or clock speeds? Driver issue (I've tried both the #irc original version and the newer one posed on page 22)? I'm at a loss.

Again any input is appreciated.

[PatrikL]

I'm using 2x 4870 Sapphire's in my Mac Pro 8-core 2,8ghz right now.
But, the lower card gets warm and sounds pretty much.
Have anybody bought a aftermarket cooler for the 4870 to their mac pro?
Please tell me if you could recommend any.
I've been looking at Thermalright t-rad2 and Schyte mouseor (or something like that) but dont know wich one to choose.

//BR
Patrik

[zoppa]

whats mouse jump thing, explain plz, is it smth like screen shaking ?


My 10.5.6 MacPro (early 2008 +10.5.7beta driver) GUI (mouse movement) freezes every 2-4 seconds for some 1/10 s. On bootcamp Vista64 no probs like this.

@medsource: no fix or workaround yet

[jaberwocky]

What I'm seeing is that the pointer jumps an unspecified distance every 1-2 seconds when dragging across the screen in the direction of motion.


FYI, on my Sapphire 512 MB / custom ROM i can't see this :) Sorry for you.

Bye, jaberwocky

[skyhand]

I'm just awaiting the power cables from ATI for this card that I ordered from Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291

I've never flashed a card before (nor have I ever flashed anyone in public, for that matter...) so hopefully I will avoid screw-ups and land upon a successful ROM to post here. Unless anyone's already beat me to the punch on this ASUS? Regardless, if someone wants the dumped, pre-tweaked ROM, let me know and I'll upload it when the cables arrive this week. FWIW, it's a pretty swanky looking card with piping that rivals tricked out Civics... :D

[gmontag]

I am working on getting one these cards to work as posted by others. However, I am having issues with this card flickering under windows vista. I have been to XFX website and they have a new bios to flash the card with.

If I install the new bios and then flash the bios posted here that would put the flicker back in would it not? I was hoping to not have to do all the rom customizations.

I did find it neat that I can boot the system using the 2600 for OSX and have the 4870 work fine in windows.

I wanted to point the flicker issue since I have seen other posts about issues with the OEM ATI 4870 cards.

I am not sure about the power draw on this card but when I put it in my regular PC instead of a 8800 GTS the system will not boot.

[The Rominator]

My original DIamond did originally flicker in Windows.

By merely changing the clockspeed by a few Hz, it would go away.

Weird...but it worked.

But yes, if you use a posted ROM here, it will replace the "flicker fixed" one you now have.

You should just build your own follwoing Pipolomo42's superb instructions out of your NEW rom.

[netkas]

What I'm seeing is that the pointer jumps an unspecified distance every 1-2 seconds when dragging across the screen in the direction of motion.

Example: I put the pointer at the far left middle of the screen and begin to move it to the right at a constant pace. As the pointer moves, every so often it will jump further to the right by a seemingly random distance inline with my direction of motion (eg if I'm moving to the right then the jumps will also be to the right, left if moving left, up if moving up etc). This will happen about every 1-2 seconds while moving in any direction. It's kinda like a hiccup of sorts, sometimes its only a few pixels that it jumps, other times it's a good 20% of the screen distance. It does seem to jump larger distances when moving the pointer faster.

Again, this doesn't happen in XP Pro. I dunno if it's in the apple rom timings or clock speeds? Driver issue (I've tried both the #irc original version and the newer one posed on page 22)? I'm at a loss.

Again any input is appreciated.

try to use another one dvi port

[gmontag]

When I flashed my XFX card they had an ati flash program that worked in windows. Having a windows version to flash the cards would make it easier to flash the cards. Not that booting a cd rom and typing one command is that hard but....

[medsource]

try to use another one dvi port

Hmmm, hadn't thought of that. I'll give it a whirl in a few (currently at work). However, isn't the DVI closest to the connector the dual link and the other is a single? Technically this shouldn't affect my monitor (24inch 1900x1200) right? Granted, I won't know until I test, but it's worth checking it out. Also, I'll try other screen resolutions on the primary port to see if that makes any difference.

Results to follow...

[medsource]

When I flashed my XFX card they had an ati flash program that worked in windows. Having a windows version to flash the cards would make it easier to flash the cards. Not that booting a cd rom and typing one command is that hard but....


I used this http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1364/Winflash_2.0.1.7.html (atiwinflash) to flash my card for the second time (did freedos method the first time) and it worked just fine. I did it via command line interface and the flash command was the same syntax as the regular atiflash just substituting atiwinflash for the app. Took longer to flash (2 min vs 2 sec) but it did work (for me at least).

[medsource]

try to use another one dvi port

No change in the mysterious mouse jumping issue. Changing resolutions also has no effect.

Is there a way to change the clock speeds for the os x side if that is the culprit? I know it's relatively easy to do on the PC side either with software or with modifying the rom file.

Thoughts?

[The Rominator]

First find out if it fixes it in WIndows...easy enough to change for OS X if so. No sense bothering if it doesn't.

[zoppa]

First find out if it fixes it in WIndows...easy enough to change for OS X if so. No sense bothering if it doesn't.

I don't see the issue, I call it mouse freeze, when I boot to Vista64.
With the original ATI 2600 everythings fine in Leopard, too.
So it is definitely 4870 related.

[jjhny]

My Question;

What cards work without the mouse "jumping" problem and with both DVI ports operating and not freezing the machine when a second monitor is plugged in? Can those who have made it work just post the name and model of a working card (s)?

Does anyone have a card that works without problems? I would be happy with a standard 512 MB card - I don't care about crossfire or having 1 GB or 2GB or 50 GB of card memory - I would just like a card I know I can flash and that will work without endless problems.

Thanks in advance!

[medsource]

First find out if it fixes it in WIndows...easy enough to change for OS X if so. No sense bothering if it doesn't.

Like above, this mouse jump problem doesn't happen in XP Pro, nor does it happen with my 8800GT. Just the 4870 in OS X.

So are the clock speeds different in XP than in OS X? I'm guessing yes as they use different portions of the rom at boot time right?

I can see the speeds in XP Pro using the catalyst control center; but how do I find them in OS X? Is there a tool I should be using that I haven't stumbled upon yet?

If the clocks are different, then the card I have might hate the ones apple has chosen and this hatred is displayed as the mouse jump/hiccup (as I am using a 1gb variety and apples is a 512mb as just one of the diffs).

[BEIGE]

success - this card works:

https://www.bestdirect.ca/products/190316/21133-04-20R/SAPPHIRE/

1 GB Sapphire 21133-04-20R. Tested with some complex scenes in Maya/Mudbox for Mac and Cinebench. No errors. Only getting 2.5 link speed but I don't need dual link. Haven't tried a second monitor but I don't need that either.

Used winflash in Vista 64-bit since I already had it installed on this machine's boot camp drive.

No mouse jumping. QE and CoreImage supported. The only problem is that the heatsink screws on the bottom of the board are too big for the Nehalem Mac Pro. I had to use the ones from the Apple card so I'll have to get a replacement set of short screws.

[zoppa]

This one has mouse hiccups on both DVI ports. Second monitor and VGA not tested yet.

Sapphire HD4870 512 M GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI-I/TVO
PN 288-10E85-030SA
SKU# 11133-03-20R

[jaberwocky]

This one has mouse hiccups on both DVI ports. Second monitor and VGA not tested yet.

Sapphire HD4870 512 M GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI-I/TVO
PN 288-10E85-030SA
SKU# 11133-03-20R

I have exactly the same card and no mouse problems - so there must be some other differences!

Bye

[BConvery]

Beige, which ROM did you use? I just flashed the exact same card and can't wait to get home and try it. I used elvisizer's from page 19 of this thread.

[BEIGE]

I used the one from page 1 here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=668710). Should I have used the elvisizer? Will that enable dual-link?

Just curious - does lack of 5.0 GT/s affect gaming/realtime 3D performance?

[panzer06]

We have a 2.66 with 2x dual core Xeon 2.66 and the x1900. Can we buy a 3870 or 4870 for this system? Do these mods work on the older Mac Pro?

Cheers,

[BEIGE]

hmm - so any ideas how to get the link speed up to 5.0 GT/s for a 1 GB Sapphire and Nehalem Mac Pro?

[The Rominator]

We have a 2.66 with 2x dual core Xeon 2.66 and the x1900. Can we buy a 3870 or 4870 for this system? Do these mods work on the older Mac Pro?

Cheers,

The beauty of the ATI cards is that they work on ALL Mac Pros ever made.

Easy to figure out.

[zoppa]

hmm - so any ideas how to get the link speed up to 5.0 GT/s for a 1 GB Sapphire and Nehalem Mac Pro?

Nope.

SCNR :D

[BEIGE]

is it a problem with the card or the ROM? Are the Sapphire 1 GB cards rated for dual link?

[BConvery]

Well, I have to say a big thanks to all that have posted here. I am now running a 1 gig Sapphire 4870 in my 2008 MP. I flashed it with evisizer's ROM from page 19 and it works like a charm. I am running one 23" ACD, getting 2.5 GT/s and ridiculous framerates from Wow (I know, I know its not that demanding, but its what I play). The mouse is smooth. I'm very happy.

So thank you to netkas, Rom, pipomolo42, elvisizer and everyone for your work. I've never done this before but it worked out beautifully.

Net cost? $175...and some time doing my homework, awesome.

[jjhny]

I am looking at a card that either you, Elvizer or Beige flashed. No models like that in the US that I can find. Looked some more and found these which look visually to be the same.

Is this the same card?? Le us know.

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

[BConvery]

I am looking at a card that either you, Elvizer or Beige flashed. No models like that in the US that I can find. Looked some more and found these which look visually to be the same.

Is this the same card?? Le us know.

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

Thats the one that I have...exactly.

[medsource]

So I used RBE on my frankenrom to up the clock speeds to core 800, mem 1000 and idle 600 applied the fan speed fix and saved the new rom. I then flashed it using atiwinflash. The rom took just fine and CCC reports the new speeds. When I boot back into OS X (which still worked thankfully) the mouse jump issue is still there.

I dunno if the EFI is overriding the new clock settings as I have no way to check these values in OS X. If anyone has a util to do this then by all means chime in. If the bios settings made in RBE extend to both XP and OS X then this is a non-issue.

In short if I'm running the new clock speeds in OS X then the mouse jump issue might not be related to clock speed.

At this point I'd be interested to see if anyone got the newegg 1gb version to work (though amazon pointed to the same card). If it does I might return my card to amazon and go thru newegg.

[netkas]

hmm - so any ideas how to get the link speed up to 5.0 GT/s for a 1 GB Sapphire and Nehalem Mac Pro?

You will not feel difference, so dont bother :)

[yepper]

Hi, I think searched and read everything. HIS 1GIG 4870 with Mac Pro 1,1 not working at all. Cant get to any screens whatsoever to even Flash. 2 power cables plugged in. Slot 1.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161247

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

[The Rominator]

So...you can't get to DOS?

Does your card look like the pic? (ie....red fan at far end?)

You should be able to reach DOS or Windows.

[TheStrudel]

So I know I asked before, and it was surmised that the table for analog output is missing. Bummer - no three displays powered by the same card via S-video/component.

I'm now wondering if it's possible to drop in the tables for that from the Mac 3870 ROM into our frankenROMs for the 4870 and thereby get analog output. I don't know enough about Graphics cards and EFI/BIOS to know, so is this ludicrous suggestion even possible? It seems worth looking into if it is, because I can't imagine doing analog output from a 4870 is all that different from a 3870.

Anybody like to give it a try in the name of science? Or mac users?

[BEIGE]

You will not feel difference, so dont bother :)

actually - my benchmarks in Mudbox are lower with the 2.5 transfer rate. Ditto for Cinebench but it could be the card. It's kind of a drag - I need the card for 3D in OS X, not gaming in Windows, so the lack of bandwidth is annoying. No one knows how to fix this? Is anyone getting 5.0 GT/s with a flashed card?

[BEIGE]

what happens if you flash a similar card with just the ROM copied from the Apple card?

I'd be willing to settle for one DVI port at 5.0 GT/s

[yepper]

So...you can't get to DOS?

Does your card look like the pic? (ie....red fan at far end?)

You should be able to reach DOS or Windows.

Yeah i have a black screen, I get the apple chime everything starts up sounds like it continues to boot into osx.. But I have a black screen. Ive tried holding the c button down to force DOS boot disk but it doesnt help. I have all the latest firmware updates etc. Im stumped. The card is well seated... cables power/dvi connected... one dvi with an adapter. (ive tried all scenarios with the DVI ports)...

[jjhny]

Yeah i have a black screen, I get the apple chime everything starts up sounds like it continues to boot into osx.. But I have a black screen. Ive tried holding the c button down to force DOS boot disk but it doesnt help. I have all the latest firmware updates etc. Im stumped. The card is well seated... cables power/dvi connected... one dvi with an adapter. (ive tried all scenarios with the DVI ports)...

First, a non flashed card won't work in OSX. So either put in a second card to work from - plus the unflashed card, or put in the original card and then set the computer to boot from bootcamp. Then pull the original card and it should see the new card. Think about it, if you could use the unflashed card in OSX - why would you need to flash it????

[medsource]

So, I caved and called amazon to setup an exchange of my card. They were more than willing to do the swaperoo gratis (nice!). I'll have the new card on Friday and will begin the flashing anew. Hopefully the mouse jump issue disappears. In the meantime I'm going to try a temp fresh install of OS X to see if that might be the culprit (dunno why as I'm not running anything too goofy, just mac fuse).

Results to follow...

Oh and again if anyone gets the 1gb non-toxic sapphire card from newegg and does not get the mouse jump issue please report in.

Cheers.

[yepper]

First, a non flashed card won't work in OSX. So either put in a second card to work from - plus the unflashed card, or put in the original card and then set the computer to boot from bootcamp. Then pull the original card and it should see the new card. Think about it, if you could use the unflashed card in OSX - why would you need to flash it????

Thanks for the reply, but I thought that if you used the C key it would boot up into the DOS disk. Regardless, Ill try to setup startup disk as Windows and see what I get. I didnt realize it before but my reFit had dissappeared and is now back . So maybe that will help as well. I did realize that an unflashed card wouldnt work in OSX , but i thought that I would at least get something else at boot up. Anyway, thanks.

[lynxmuc]

First, a non flashed card won't work in OSX.

By the way, will a non-flashed card not work at all in OS X, or can it just not be used as the primary (or only) card for booting? That is, if I were to put a non-flashed 4870 (or any PC card, for that matter) next to my existing X1900, could I use the 4870 for a second (third, fourth) screen in OSX? I'd guess OSX would just ignore the card, even if it had a driver, but am I right in that assumption?

[The Rominator]

By the way, will a non-flashed card not work at all in OS X, or can it just not be used as the primary (or only) card for booting? That is, if I were to put a non-flashed 4870 (or any PC card, for that matter) next to my existing X1900, could I use the 4870 for a second (third, fourth) screen in OSX? I'd guess OSX would just ignore the card, even if it had a driver, but am I right in that assumption?

For this little trick to work, the card with an OSX EFI would need to be in same family.

So, a PC 3870 works in OSX as long as there is a Mac 3870.

And a PC 4870 works in OSX as long as there is a Mac 4850/4870 to load the EFI.

But I can tell you that when you set the FreeDOS CD as boot disc whilst and EFI card is in, and then switch to the PC only card, the boot to CD takes an extended time.....it seems like it isn't working but then....bang, up pops that FreeDOS screen. Requires patience

[jjhny]

By the way, will a non-flashed card not work at all in OS X, or can it just not be used as the primary (or only) card for booting? That is, if I were to put a non-flashed 4870 (or any PC card, for that matter) next to my existing X1900, could I use the 4870 for a second (third, fourth) screen in OSX? I'd guess OSX would just ignore the card, even if it had a driver, but am I right in that assumption?

The issue is the ROM on the video card - these are PC compatible cards, not Mac cards. OSX is looking for the EFI BIOS written for the mac (which the cards do not have). That is what the flashing is all about. We have to make a Franken ROM from the BIOS of the PC card mated with the Apple 4870 EFI code. Netkas and Rominator know more about this. As for your question: No - until flashed they won't work in OSX as a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.

[yepper]

Thanks for the reply, but I thought that if you used the C key it would boot up into the DOS disk. Regardless, Ill try to setup startup disk as Windows and see what I get. I didnt realize it before but my reFit had dissappeared and is now back . So maybe that will help as well. I did realize that an unflashed card wouldnt work in OSX , but i thought that I would at least get something else at boot up. Anyway, thanks.

Okay, update. It was partly the fact that I had Refit loaded I think. Anyway I got to FreeDoS and updated the firmware following netKas's website. That seemed to work just fine. But when i try to start OSX i have a blue screen and a White box as a cursor. So me thinks its the driver? Any ideas?

[bilboman]

Hi I need help :D

I have bought a Gainward HD 4870 512MB GS card (http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=82) for my 1st generation MacPro.

I have flashed the card following the instructions of this page: http://netkas.org/?p=90

The problem is that when I boot the Macpro with the new card the mac doesn't boot it keeps doing the same boot sound again and again.

If i set the turbo mode on the card the Macpro seems to boot but doesn't show anything on the display.

I have an Apple Cinema Display 23" i have try both DVI outputs on the card.

What should I do ?

Thank you very much.

[gzfelix]

Hi I need help :D

I have bought a Gainward HD 4870 512MB GS card (http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=82) for my 1st generation MacPro.

I have flashed the card following the instructions of this page: http://netkas.org/?p=90

The problem is that when I boot the Macpro with the new card the mac doesn't boot it keeps doing the same boot sound again and again.

If i set the turbo mode on the card the Macpro seems to boot but doesn't show anything on the display.

I have an Apple Cinema Display 23" i have try both DVI outputs on the card.

What should I do ?

Thank you very much.

Do you mind if putting a picture of your card here?

[The Rominator]

Hi I need help :D

I have bought a Gainward HD 4870 512MB GS card (http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=82) for my 1st generation MacPro.

I have flashed the card following the instructions of this page: http://netkas.org/?p=90

The problem is that when I boot the Macpro with the new card the mac doesn't boot it keeps doing the same boot sound again and again.

If i set the turbo mode on the card the Macpro seems to boot but doesn't show anything on the display.

I have an Apple Cinema Display 23" i have try both DVI outputs on the card.

What should I do ?
Thank you very much.

You need to find the the instructions to make your own ROM. Pipolomo42 was kind enough to write them out.

The cutting out during initial Gong is classic sign you need a custom ROM.

I would swear a guy was here with a similar Gainward....one with a VGA and HDMI port maybe?

[bilboman]

Rominator thanks for responding. Do you mean this instructions?
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7297669&postcount=344

[yepper]

Hi all,
So I used netkas instructions to update rom on this card , all seemed to work. But i have 2 blue screens with a white square. (not placing blame obviously, just trying to describe process) .
So im going back to try the other process... with perl script, and I didnt back up the whole rom as stated by others.. 64kb. What do you do next to hopefully work your way back to try the perl script? I downloaded a .bin from techPowerUp and a bin from a 512mb HIS card.

thanks for any help
s

[The Rominator]

Hi all,
So I used netkas instructions to update rom on this card , all seemed to work. But i have 2 blue screens with a white square.

thanks for any help
s


Hey, did you try it with just one screen connected?

[yepper]

Hey, did you try it with just one screen connected?

I did, and it was the same .. one blue screen one white square.

[sboerup]

I just purchased a Sapphire 4870, the same card that Pipolomo42 used (22133-00), it was the last any local store had in stock.

Im waiting for the power cables, but the amount of custom ROMs flying around here is daunting. I've never done this before, but hope it goes well.

Anyone know which page had the custom ROM for this card that Pipolomo42 posted?

I'll be available for further testing if anyone wants to help since I don't really know what I'm doing :)

[swissmann]

Did anyone else see the electronista article on the 4890 being announced? I wonder what kind of effect this will have on the 4870 prices. Also, sad to see that before Apple can even ship a card it has been replaced by something better. I wonder if the 4890 could be flashed? It is too bad it isn't in a PC/Mac configuration (so far as I can tell).

[sboerup]

I don't want to take this thread off base, but I thought it was pretty related. A user on another forum says he is using a 9800 without flashing the ROM to EFI, by using the NVdarwin.kext he is operating his new Nehalem with the 9800 as his only card . . .

Is this real or is there more info that we don't know yet?

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-desktops/144994-what-graphics-cards-can-i-put-new-mac-pros.html

[medsource]

New/replacement card arriving from amazon later today...

I did find out some interesting preliminary stuff regarding the mouse hiccup issue.

When booting off my 10.5 (10.5.2 I think) DVD that came with my mac pro, jumping / hiccup issue IS NOT THERE in the installer screens / apps.

When booting in safe boot mode the jumping / hiccup issue persists.

Resetting of NVRAM / PRAM had no effect.

This makes me think that the issue may be software / driver conflict. I'll try the new card and if the jumping issue persists I'll start diving into software to see if I can narrow it down. If it comes to that, I'm assuming the system will still boot to the finder if I kill the ati drivers posted earlier? I assume this as I was able to boot from the DVD just fine. And then, if killing the drivers eliminates the jumping / hiccup issue... any suggestions as to what might be interfering given that it persists in safe boot mode?

@ zoppa: are you running any tweaks or odd software that may be running at the system level that might be causing a conflict? The ones I can come up with off the top of my head are tinkertool, mac fuse, little snitch, m$, adobe cs3...

More to follow later tonight...

[nasabaer]

Hi all,

so i finally got my hands on an Gainward 4870 golden Sample 1GB VRAM.
I flashed it with the instructions in this thread.
BTW: i own an actual Mac Pro 09 model that i would equip with these card.

Therefore i think i have the neccessary ATI drivers already installed on my system (no need for extra installation ? )

So.... finally: the system chimes and boots up. but when the login screen should appear i always get a black screen. System is boot up and running - but i cannot see anything.
Its the same with the posted Sapphire Toxic ROM.

Could anyone help me ?
Thanks a lot

nasa

[zoppa]

@ zoppa: are you running any tweaks or odd software that may be running at the system level that might be causing a conflict? The ones I can come up with off the top of my head are tinkertool, mac fuse, little snitch, m$, adobe cs3...


Hi medsource,
I'm running mac fuse, ntfs-3g, little snitch, m$, virus barrier x5, pureftpd, logitech control center...
Updated ntfs-3g yesterday without luck. I will investigate when I find some spare time. But I'm on Mac (early 2008 MP 2x2,8 GHz) only for around one year and have no clue of deeper matters (usually I just use it with pleasure :). So any hints on getting info out of the system are welcome.
It's strange that m$ os is doing better.
Must be some driver/software environment thing.

P.S.: Also tried jaberwockys rom.

[zoppa]

@nasabaer: You'll need the 10.5.7 beta drivers.

btw, how do I check if the 10.5.7 beta drivers are installed correctly?
All ATIRadeon related files in my /System/Library/Extensions are dated Dec 2007...

[BEIGE]

just tried elvisizer's modified ROM. My Nehalem machine still shows up with 2.5 GT/s connection. Is it some sort of relevant clue that I have two options in my PCI devices and only one monitor connected?:

[The Rominator]

Hi all,

so i finally got my hands on an Gainward 4870 golden Sample 1GB VRAM.
I flashed it with the instructions in this thread.
BTW: i own an actual Mac Pro 09 model that i would equip with these card.

Therefore i think i have the neccessary ATI drivers already installed on my system (no need for extra installation ? )

So.... finally: the system chimes and boots up. but when the login screen should appear i always get a black screen. System is boot up and running - but i cannot see anything.
Its the same with the posted Sapphire Toxic ROM.

Could anyone help me ?
Thanks a lot

nasa

Did you read the whole thread?

I'm pretty sure someone did a Gainward already.....had the funky HDMI / VGA outputs?

[swissmann]

I saw an Ebay listing for a flashed 1GB 4870 claiming both DVI ports worked. I emailed the seller for verification and the reply was: "Yes, both DVI ports on this card work simultaneously". I've been following this thread very closely and I might have missed it but I thought that all of the 1 GB cards wouldn't do 2 monitors simultaneously. Did I miss something? Maybe the seller is one of you??? Can anyone verify success with a 1 GB card where both DVI's work together? If not maybe there is something to be learned from this auction. Thanks.

[thehimay]

So I don't recall if anyone did post anything yet, but I finally swapped back in my old 8800GT 'cause I'm really missing the dual monitor setup right now. But because of that, ran a quick Xbench on each card after bootup to check if there really is much of a difference (World of Warcraft hasn't demonstrated anything remarkable for improved performance yet).

Stock 8800GT:

Quartz Graphics Test 223.00
Line 204.33 13.60 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 265.81 79.36 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 217.75 17.75 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 218.32 5.51 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 217.74 13.62 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 190.38
Spinning Squares 190.38 241.51 frames/sec
Frankenrom Flashed 1GB Sapphire HD4870 (P/N 288-20E85-130SA, SKU 11133-04-20R)

Quartz Graphics Test 222.66
Line 217.43 14.48 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 262.46 78.36 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 213.49 17.40 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 215.37 5.43 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 211.92 13.26 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 211.85
Spinning Squares 211.85 268.74 frames/sec

I'm assuming these are the relevant numbers from Xbench. Regardless, it wasn't very promising to see no significant difference.:(

Edit: If there's a better application(s) for stress-testing the card, I'm willing to try that out instead. Just throw me some suggestions and/or settings I need to run them.

[BEIGE]

Xbench is garbage and hasn't been updated in years. I've tested the Quadro FX 5600 (which is basically an 8800 GT with more memory) and the Radeon 4870 and the Radeon is faster on the Mac because of better drivers by ATI. Apple writes terrible drivers for the Nvidia products.

It's faster in Maya, Mudbox (3x), Cinebench, Windows games. everything.

[TheStrudel]

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the poor performance of the 4870 at present is due to immature drivers - Barefeats found the 8800GT to outperform the 4870 on the Nehalem Mac Pro (though not Harpertown...) on apps and earlier testing, though their newest game run showed a hefty advantage to the 4870 (only on Nehalem). As soon as 10.5.7 drops - which should be soon - expect the 4870 to whomp it in tests, benchmarking and apps. That said, I'm wondering how well the flashed 4870s will run when 10.5.7 drops. I want to wait for it before I drop cash on a Sapphire 1 GB card and flash.

Again, still curious - would it even be possible to hack the analog output from the 3870 into the 4870 ROM? Nobody weighed in on it, and I think it's worthy of a little curiosity? Does anybody have enough experience to say, or failing that, a nice theory of how it could be done?

[nasabaer]

@zoppa: thanks - but i already own a mac pro 09 - and the ati drivers are already in i thought.
so ok - i will give the 10.5.7 drivers a shot.

and yes - i have seen that someone has already done the rom for the Gainward 1gb GS card... but i miss a funktion to send a PM here in this forum.

[aconu]

@zoppa: thanks - but i already own a mac pro 09 - and the ati drivers are already in i thought.
so ok - i will give the 10.5.7 drivers a shot.

and yes - i have seen that someone has already done the rom for the Gainward 1gb GS card... but i miss a funktion to send a PM here in this forum.

Yes, i did it, with a custom ROM made with pipomolo42 script. With the original Apple ROM, you get the endless boot chime.

I repeat what i said earlier, with this card, you MUST use an HDMI "terminator" on the HDMI port to get image on DVI or VGA port. I use the HDMI->DVI adapter, plus an DVI-VGA adapter, but you can use a connected HDMI cable.

I you understand french, i wrote a news here :http://www.macbidouille.com/news/2009/03/29/en-attendant-la-radeon-hd4890

[aconu]

I repeat what i said earlier, with this card, you MUST use an HDMI "terminator" on the HDMI port to get image on DVI or VGA port. I use the HDMI->DVI adapter, plus an DVI-VGA adapter, but you can use a connected HDMI cable.

I think this HDMI trick is driver related, before window server start i've got image on DVI or VGA port without the HDMI adapter.

[The Rominator]

Again, still curious - would it even be possible to hack the analog output from the 3870 into the 4870 ROM? Nobody weighed in on it, and I think it's worthy of a little curiosity? Does anybody have enough experience to say, or failing that, a nice theory of how it could be done?

That might be possible but I feel that nobody is gonna bother.

It doesn't seem that anyone here has a real handle on what goes on INSIDE the ATI roms.

So, you are talking about alot of bother to gain a function that is only of value to SOME people....and a shrinking group at that, judging by the CRTs I see on curbs everywhere.

Did you notice that I found VGA to work on my DUal DVI DIamond? Means it is likely it works on ALL Dual DVI 4870s....with certain limitations. (most notably it becomes a SIngle DIsplay card)

[netkas]

just tried elvisizer's modified ROM. My Nehalem machine still shows up with 2.5 GT/s connection. Is it some sort of relevant clue that I have two options in my PCI devices and only one monitor connected?:

my p45 machine shows same, i think its system profiler bug

[netkas]

Xbench is garbage and hasn't been updated in years. I've tested the Quadro FX 5600 (which is basically an 8800 GT with more memory) and the Radeon 4870 and the Radeon is faster on the Mac because of better drivers by ATI. Apple writes terrible drivers for the Nvidia products.

It's faster in Maya, Mudbox (3x), Cinebench, Windows games. everything.

if u look inside nvidia driver's plist, u will see nvidia copyright there, not apple's.

It's hardware vendors who writes drivers for osx, not apple. Same with ATI.

[MacUser2525]

my p45 machine shows same, i think its system profiler bug

I have a p45 system it shows an 8800gt properly with the 5.0 GT/s for the link speed so unless it is a specific to the card you guys are using bug it will show correctly.

[zoppa]

btw, how do I check if the 10.5.7 beta drivers are installed correctly?
All ATIRadeon related files in my /System/Library/Extensions are dated Dec 2007...

I tried jaberwockys rom (thanks mate!), he has the same card, but the mouse hiccups persist.
This rom binary differed from the rom I flashed first (sapphire.rom). Strange as both were made for the same card.

@medsource does your new card work?

[macz1]

I flashed a Gainward 4870 GS 1GB for my 2008 mac Pro a couple of days ago and besides the known little problems (2.5 GT/s and HDMI-DVI-VGA adapter trick) it's working very well on my good old CRT.
I had to use atiflash and freedos because winflash didn't work for me. I flashed both romchips, one with a Mac+PCstandardBIOS hybrid ROM and the other with reduced clock settings (ironically instead of the 'turbo'-BIOS).
At 450/300MHz the card consumes significantly less power, is still more than fast enough for every 2D-application and it's even quieter than it is with stock settings...

[BEIGE]

if u look inside nvidia driver's plist, u will see nvidia copyright there, not apple's.

It's hardware vendors who writes drivers for osx, not apple. Same with ATI.

http://macosx.com/topics/os-x-nvidia-drivers-p2.html

"I called nVIDIA for support. They told me that they do not write the drivers for the Mac OS and that I should talk with Apple."

ATI is different but this is commonly known about the Nvidia drivers.

[netkas]

strings NVDAResman | less
....
@(#)PROGRAM:NVDAResman PROJECT:GraphicsDrivers DEVELOPER:x BUILT:Dec 4 2008 18:49:03
NVDA
com.nvidia.NVDA
....

strings GeForce | less
...
@(#)PROGRAM:GeForce PROJECT:GraphicsDrivers DEVELOPER:nvidia BUILT:Dec 4 2008 18:48:46
...


NVDAResman & NVDANV50Hal kexts - framebuffer and low level stuff

Geforce kext - kernel layer for acceleration (gl/qe/ci)


strings ATIRadeonX2000 | less
...
@(#)PROGRAM:ATIRadeonX2000 PROJECT:GraphicsDrivers DEVELOPER:ATI BUILT:Feb 4 2009 21:55:58
...


wanna argue with facts ?

[skyhand]

Okay, I usually hold my own with technical stuff like flashing a card for the first time, however I'm stumped on a road block...

Followed the steps on page 14 — dumped my card's ROM, naming it pc4870.rom as instructed. Downloaded the 4870 ROM here, got the "fix" script too. Fired up Terminal, rechecked all file names, entered their correct paths in the script (thus the / before the file names), however I repeatedly get an error:

dd if=/4870.rom of=efi.part bs=1 skip=63488 count=49152
49152+0 records in
49152+0 records out
49152 bytes transferred in 0.319648 secs (153769 bytes/sec)
=blocknum=`printf %d "'\`dd if=/pc4870.rom bs=1 skip=2 count=1 2>/dev/null\`"`
size=$(($blocknum * 512))
dd if=efi.part of=/pc4870.rom bs=$size seek=1 conv=notrunc
dd: bs must be between 1 and 2147483647
python /fixrom.py /pc4870.rom /pc4870.rom

The "bs must be..." line is there every time, so I haven't applied the modified ROM that results. Here's the data afterward:

Before:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x275, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x9e)
RawData (size=65536)

After:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x275, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x9e)
RawData (size=65536)

Doesn't look like it did anything, so I know I'm doing something wrong here...


Could one of you highly skilled vets take a look at my ROM and the above data and enlighten me?

Aside from this, the card is kicking a$$ on the Windows side. Fired up some games and the framerates are insane on high settings!

BTW, attached pix of the card for anyone who cares to view.

[jaberwocky]

The "bs must be..." line is there every time, so I haven't applied the modified ROM that results. Here's the data afterward:


I guess you did not name & save your extrated org. ROM as /pc4870.rom (following you post) - so blocknum will be 0, wich causes dd to fail.

Bye, jaberwocky

[nasabaer]

so ... ok.. finally.. call me dumb haha.. but i couldn t get the gainward to work. even with the hdmi terminator etc. fixes.. no chance.

today i got a sapphire 4870 1gb and flashed it with the toxic rom posted here and this card runs flawless on my 09er mac pro.

IMPORTANT: the screws on the bottom side that are holding the cooler are to long so the card won´t fit into the lowest pci-e slot.
so remember to get some replacement screws eventually.

nasa

[BEIGE]

strings NVDAResman | less
....
@(#)PROGRAM:NVDAResman PROJECT:GraphicsDrivers DEVELOPER:x BUILT:Dec 4 2008 18:49:03
NVDA
com.nvidia.NVDA
....

strings GeForce | less
...
@(#)PROGRAM:GeForce PROJECT:GraphicsDrivers DEVELOPER:nvidia BUILT:Dec 4 2008 18:48:46
...


NVDAResman & NVDANV50Hal kexts - framebuffer and low level stuff

Geforce kext - kernel layer for acceleration (gl/qe/ci)


strings ATIRadeonX2000 | less
...
@(#)PROGRAM:ATIRadeonX2000 PROJECT:GraphicsDrivers DEVELOPER:ATI BUILT:Feb 4 2009 21:55:58
...


wanna argue with facts ?

lol. Just because a law has the word Republican on it, doesn't mean it's not written by Exxon. That's not a fact. You're the only guy around asserting this so you're going to need to come up with something better than that.

[BEIGE]

I suggest you run around the net telling everyone that they're wrong.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-8238.html

edit - but because I'm interested in finding out the truth about this, I'll get in touch with someone at Nvidia. I write for a tech site so I shouldn't have much trouble getting an answer

[BEIGE]

alright - I just got off the horn with someone at Nvidia and they confirmed that Apple writes the drivers for all Nvidia products. Call them for yourself if you don't believe me: Tel: 408-486-2000.

The secretary forwarded me to a pretty bad connection in what was likely India but he confirmed it. Free advice: never challenge a journalist about "the facts" without some good **** to back it up

if I seem a bit pissy about this, it's because I'm currently selling a Quadro FX 5600 on eBay at a great loss because the drivers absolutely suck, thanks to Apple.

[medsource]

I tried jaberwockys rom (thanks mate!), he has the same card, but the mouse hiccups persist.
This rom binary differed from the rom I flashed first (sapphire.rom). Strange as both were made for the same card.

@medsource does your new card work?

In a word... no.

So the new card flashes fine (tried elvisizer rom, my own frankenrom and a modded 'faster' frankenrom with the fan fix); but, all attempts resulted in the mouse jump/jerk/hiccup (whatever we're calling it) persisting.

I then did a clean install of 10.5.1 (default settings) from my 08' 2x2.8gHz 4GB MP DVD's and low and behold no mouse jump. I updated to 10.5.6 only... still no mouse jump. I then installed the beta drivers and blamo! mouse jump happens.

So... dunno if it's my machine, ram, the card (granted it's the second one) or something else. I'm officially stumped! All I know is that the drivers hate something or because they are beta, they aren't mature yet.

I'm tempted to return everything and plug away with my paltry 8800gt for a while longer; but, I'll probably keep at it for the weekend.

Anyone with any other ideas???

[skyhand]

I guess you did not name & save your extrated org. ROM as /pc4870.rom (following you post) - so blocknum will be 0, wich causes dd to fail.

Bye, jaberwocky

I'm not following you. The ZIP i uploaded is not the name of my dumped ROM, if that's what you're saying. Also, when I run the script as-is, without adjusting the paths (i.e. leaving pc4870 as is with no paths prior), Terminal cannot find the ROMs. So I enter the full paths and all works fine until that one command line. My dumped ROM is named pc4870.rom and the other is 4870.rom.

Sorry to be such a noob at this :o Any further help is appreciated...

[BEIGE]

I just got word that the ATI cards on eBay are 2.5 GT/s so obviously they haven't got it all right.

[The Rominator]

Well, that out put definetely says it isn't finding the file it wants where it should be.

I asked some questions like this and nobody answered so I figured it out myself.

I ended up placing the cursor where a file need to be in the commands and then dragging the files to the window. Gives it the proper path no matter what.

[skyhand]

Well, that out put definetely says it isn't finding the file it wants where it should be.

I asked some questions like this and nobody answered so I figured it out myself.

I ended up placing the cursor where a file need to be in the commands and then dragging the files to the window. Gives it the proper path no matter what.

Thanks for the tip! However, I tried that very same thing and have been repeating the process to no avail. It's kinda frustrating actually. :) Here's exactly what's in the terminal window (dragging and dropping the files to the window to avoid any path typos):

Last login: Fri Apr 3 12:43:24 on ttys000
kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ dd if=/Users/kt/Desktop/4870.rom of=efi.part bs=1 skip=63488 count=49152
49152+0 records in
49152+0 records out
49152 bytes transferred in 0.341438 secs (143956 bytes/sec)
kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ blocknum=`printf %d "'\`dd if=/Users/kt/Desktop/pc4870.rom bs=1 skip=2 count=1 2>/dev/null\`"`
kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ size=$(($blocknum * 512))
ks-mac-pro:~ kt$ dd if=efi.part of=/Users/kt/Desktop/pc4870.rom bs=$size seek=1 conv=notrunc
dd: bs must be between 1 and 2147483647
kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ python /Users/kt/Desktop/fixrom.py /Users/kt/Desktop/pc4870.rom /Users/kt/Desktop/pc4870.rom
Before:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x275, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x9e)
RawData (size=65536)

After:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x275, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x9e)
RawData (size=65536)

I cannot see where I'm going wrong, but then that's with my layman's eyes. :)

[The Rominator]

Is your PC ROM the full 128K?

If you don't put "20000" at end of dump line, it will be 64K.

[skyhand]

Yep. It's 128k (131,072 bytes to be precise). I just checked the file permissions on everything and I'm set to read & write — I thought maybe it was a permissions issue. I'm completely stumped here. :confused: Would one of you be able to take a crack at it? If it works for you, then it's obviously some setting that I'm overlooking. Or not. :)

Link to my card's ROM:
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=165593&d=1238778925

[medsource]

When I made my frankenrom I had all the files (backups actually) in the same directory (I made an arbitrary one for this purpose... actually called it frankenrom). I then launched terminal and navigated to that directory. Once there, THEN I ran the script in total (just did a copy paste of the whole thing) and it runs fine. I made NO modifications to the script.

See if that works for you.

[jaberwocky]

I cannot see where I'm going wrong, but then that's with my layman's eyes. :)

insert "echo $size" and "echo $blocknum". I guess both are 0, so there
is some problem while calculating blocknum

>kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ blocknum=`printf %d "'\`dd if=/Users/kt/Desktop/pc4870.rom bs=1 skip=2 count=1 2>/dev/null\`"`
>kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ size=$(($blocknum * 512))

echo $blocknum
echo $size

P.S. I expect your MacPro will be getting hot with your choosen card, cause it's not a dual-slot card (exhausting all/most of heat on the top slot). It will heat up your mac and drives! Keep watching you internal drive heat !

Bye, jaberwocky

[skyhand]

insert "echo $size" and "echo $blocknum". I guess both are 0, so there
is some problem while calculating blocknum

>kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ blocknum=`printf %d "'\`dd if=/Users/kt/Desktop/pc4870.rom bs=1 skip=2 count=1 2>/dev/null\`"`
>kts-mac-pro:~ kt$ size=$(($blocknum * 512))

echo $blocknum
echo $size

P.S. I expect your MacPro will be getting hot with your choosen card, cause it's not a dual-slot card (exhausting all/most of heat on the top slot). It will heat up your mac and drives! Keep watching you internal drive heat !

Bye, jaberwocky

Added those lines but still the same problem.

How do you mean it's not a dual slot card? It takes up two slots (one of them being a vent to suck in cool air). Regardless, I've been watching the temp and it hovers around 30˚ to 35˚ C.

Oh, and I tried running Terminal from a specific directory and not modifying the script at all, but I'm STILL getting that blasted "dd: bs must be between 1 and 2147483647" error. :mad:

[sboerup]

OK I'm ready to get my Sapphire 512mb flashed, but I don't have a PC. I've been searching all afternoon for a method to flash my card via atiflash.exe, but I need to get into BIOS. Without a PC, is there anyway to do this?

I tried FreeDOS but it didn't recognize my USB drive which had the new ROM and atiflash. I couldnt get my USB to act as a boot device either. Any help will be much appreciated!

[BEIGE]

I tried FreeDOS but it didn't recognize my USB drive which had the new ROM and atiflash. I couldnt get my USB to act as a boot device either. Any help will be much appreciated!

use boot camp and winflash - that's what I did

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1122/Winflash_2.0.1.2.html

[Shrapnel]

Added those lines but still the same problem.

How do you mean it's not a dual slot card? It takes up two slots (one of them being a vent to suck in cool air). Regardless, I've been watching the temp and it hovers around 30˚ to 35˚ C.

Oh, and I tried running Terminal from a specific directory and not modifying the script at all, but I'm STILL getting that blasted "dd: bs must be between 1 and 2147483647" error. :mad:

The echo command doesn't really do anything that would fix whatever the problems is. However, the comment to add it was to help diagnose where the error is. Echo will simply print what is being stored in each of those variables. One is based off of the value of the other, so if the first one is wrong, they both will be. Let's see what the values are for each and see if we can't help.

BTW - I was able to flash my 1GB Sapphire because of the help of this thread.

Thanks goes out to The Rominator, pipomolo, and netkas. :cool:

-Shrapnel

[sboerup]

use boot camp and winflash - that's what I did

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1122/Winflash_2.0.1.2.html

I just installed it in BootCamp, but I don't see an option to "backup" the factory ROM. Can Winflash do this?

[zoppa]

In a word... no.
I'm tempted to return everything and plug away with my paltry 8800gt for a while longer; but, I'll probably keep at it for the weekend.


That's what I'm gonna do. :(