Major Graphics Problem After Swapping Systems

We have 4 2009 Mac Pros that were updated to 12-core Westmere machines with 1333mhz memory. All running perfectly, however one of the chassis of the first one we purchased was pretty beat up and the person using it wanted one of the new ones we just got with a perfect chassis.

I figured that since they are the same components I could simply swap out the hard drives and all would be well. Apparently not.

First I swapped the hard disks and then I swapped the video cards (they wanted the ATI 4870 instead of the GT120 just like the bad chassis machine).

I booted up and all seemed to be fine, except for a few major things that crept up shortly thereafter.

1. AutoCAD 2015 said it was no longer registered. OK, it took a little while to resolve everything but I'm guessing that the activation is tied to the hardware ID of the machine. Uninstall, clean up, reinstall, reactivate. Yay!

2. When opening an AutoCAD document I received a "display driver is missing or corrupt" error. Spent a while troubleshooting that one only to find that Photoshop was also reporting a display driver issue and was disabling all hardware acceleration.

I tried reseating the card, re-installing the 10.10.3 combo update (and the supplemental), and nothing is working. Beyond that, when the OS boots into the main Yosemite screen, the display has horizontal scrolling lines that move from the bottom of the screen to the top 3x and then all seems to be fine (i.e. no more flickering).

I don't know what to do here and this user cannot work. Hopefully someone has a good idea (and please don't suggest going back to the old chassis because that's apparently not in the cards). I really don't want to have to format and re-install as that takes forever.

MacVidCards said:

What you describe sounds like no driver loaded for GPU.

Install and run OpenGl Viewer. If it says "Apple Software Renderer" instead of GPU name then you can be certain.

Some flashed 4870 have issues, especially XFX brand.

But the rolling black lines coming from bottom and 2 apps complaining about no drivers is a pretty solid sign.

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I will do that. Thanks.

Btw, this is not a flashed 4870. This is a stock Apple 4870. The Mac Pro itself was flashed from a 4,1 to a 5,1 with new processors and RAM installed. Nothing more.

Also, this graphics card was in the machine with the beat up chassis working just fine a few hours ago. I simply swapped it to the new chassis.

Yup, that's the problem. It's falling back to the Apple Software Renderer.

System report shows that the correct information and says the driver is available/installed, but it's apparently not loading.

How can I resolve this?

Yes. Like I said, it's coming up in System Profiler

Just in case I pulled the card, disconnected all the cables and put it back in, checking everything. No change.

Yes, but since it was just working it seems odd that the card would go bad like that, yet still present normally.

Is there a way to force the drivers to load? I tried a kextload AMD4800Controller.kext and it went through, but no change.

AMD4800Controller
AMDFrameBuffer
AMDSupport

Those are all loaded according to System Profiler -> Extensions

Yup, that's exactly what I did and it's presenting in a different machine with a brand new install of Yosemite, the exact same way. Hard to believe that it went bad all of a sudden like that, but I guess that's what happened.

Thanks for sticking with me and showing the OpenGL Viewer.

MacVidCards said:

Check the back side of card down near the gold fingers that plug into slot.

The most common cause of GPU failure during install is knocking off some of the tiny capacitors down there.

It is also possible that the power pins someone got broken.

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I've looked at the card extensively and cannot see any damage, but lets say that is what is going on. What can you do about it?

IowaLynn said:

I would assume that you have enough Macs and spare parts, and access to a known good GPU...

How about investing in a newer AMD or Nvidia that is better supported now with 10.9.5 and above? No funds for Mac Edition 7950 or 680 (or above)?

Also possibly need to find a source for a new 2009, either entire case or mobo?

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I've already replaced the card. That's not the point of my last question. My question was, if I was to somehow identify an issue as MacVidCards described, what if anything can be done about it?

MacVidCards said:

When the little caps get knocked off it all depends on if the pad remains. The pad is the small metallic area it sat on. Pretty easy to replace if pads still there.

Anytime a card is fine, then moved and then not working anymore my first guess is physical damage. It's a total crapshoot with those little pieces. Sometimes they aren't needed, sometimes they are crucial.

Look carefully with a lot of light. Pads where nothing was ever doldered will have round shiny surface. Pads where something was ripped off will have broken surface, fractured and not smooth.

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Now I understand what you're saying. You're talking about capacitors getting bent off the card. I've been working with computers for a very long time and am pretty capable when it comes to working with components. No caps got knocked off.

When we bought this system not too long ago we got it from a guy who apparently got it from someone else who was selling off-lease used machines. The chassis was really messed up to the point that it wobbles when you stand it up.

My guess is that the video card got pretty knocked around over the years and when I removed it and blew off the dust/debris with compressed air yesterday, it finally died.