Resolved Need Help Flashing a Radeon X1950 XT

[Shadow9x99]

I'm trying to flash a Radeon X1950 XT for my DC 2.3GHz PMG5. As usual, this seemed very easy and straightforward in the beginning, but has now become a blackhole of suffering that has devoured about 8 hours of my time and a small chunk of my finger.

For starters, I'm using the PPC VBIOS I found on this macrumors thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/flashing-a-fx4500-for-a-g5.1556317/#post-17066824

Initially I was using FreeDOS on a bootable USB and ATIFlash 3.99. I backed up my rom, and did a blind flash in a Dell Optiplex 7010. It didn't work, I put it in the G5 and the fans spin up to full speed without anything being displayed (it did bong though).
At this point it wouldn't display anything anymore in the Dell 7010, so I switched it to an old HP with onboard graphics. Tried flashing it again with the same result.
So then I thought "Hey, maybe I need MS DOS and not FreeDOS" so I formated my USB and installed MS DOS. Unfortunately, I (foolishly) forgot to copy over my backed up rom before doing that so there's no going back now.
I tried again, with MS DOS (IDK what version, I used Rufus which can automatically make a bootable DOS USB) and the result was the same. Here's a screenshot of what ATIFlash says after flashing, it would seem the flashes are successful so IDK what the issue is:

The reason it shows so many fields changing is because I had just successfully flashed a stock PC X1950 XT rom I found online.

I'm using ATIFlash 3.99 because anything newer gives me an error about insuficiant extended memory when I try to run it. I booted the G5 with the GeForce 6600 in Slot 1 to see what it would say about the Radeon, you can see the results of that below:


So, after about 8 hours of trial and error and filleting my finger pretty good on one of the dozens of times I moved that GPU out of the PC and in the G5 for testing, I gave up.

If anyone has some tips/advice I'd really appreciate it

 

[LightBulbFun]

fairly obvious one, but have you made sure to plug in the 6 pin power connector from the G5 to the 6 pin power connector on the video card?

im not sure if ATIFlash has this option like NVFLASH does

but try see if theres an option to completely erase the the EEPROM then flash the Mac ROM to it

 

[Shadow9x99]

fairly obvious one, but have you made sure to plug in the 6 pin power connector from the G5 to the 6 pin power connector on the video card?

im not sure if ATIFlash has this option like NVFLASH does

but try see if theres an option to completely erase the the EEPROM then flash the Mac ROM to it

Yup, power was plugged in. I also tried running PCIE power from a PC power supply in case something wasn't working right in the G5. As far as I know, ATIFlash doesn't have an option to erase the chip.

 

[DearthnVader]

I don't know for sure, but try this rom.....

 

[weckart]

Some more info about flashing the card here

http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/x1950xt-roms-g5

I flashed the same card with a ROM from Macrumors back in the day. Worked first time for me, so dunno what the issue is. All I remember is that you had to have the exact X1950XT from Sapphire with the right cartoon female on the fan or it wouldn't work. Not sure if there were other X1950XTs floating around from other OEMs.

 

[Shadow9x99]

This just got more perplexing...

I don't know for sure, but try this rom.....

With this ROM flashed, the G5 doesn't bong and when it's in with the 6600 it doesn't even show up in the Graphics section of System Profiler. It's listed in PCI as a VGA-Compatible Controller.

Some more info about flashing the card here

http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/x1950xt-roms-g5

I flashed the same card with a ROM from Macrumors back in the day. Worked first time for me, so dunno what the issue is. All I remember is that you had to have the exact X1950XT from Sapphire with the right cartoon female on the fan or it wouldn't work. Not sure if there were other X1950XTs floating around from other OEMs.

Is this what your card looked like? I'm pretty sure I read that the robot girl was the right card:


The Macintosh Garden copy of the ROM behaves exactly the same as the copy I get here with one exception: the G5 doesn't bong with that ROM flashed (it did with the macrumors ROM). I tried flashing in a PC with a PCI GPU (something from the Radeon 7000 series I had lying around) and that didn't change the behavior of ATIFlash or it's effects at all.

This has me absolutely stumped.

 

[weckart]

Is this what your card looked like? I'm pretty sure I read that the robot girl was the right card:
.

That's the right card. I rather suspect the MG has the Intel version of the ROM as some people used the X1950XT on their hackintoshes back in the day.

 

[Jubadub]

I had issues with flashing this card, too. What was REQUIRED for it to work for me, though, was:
- You NEED a PCI VGA graphics card, even a SUPER cheap-ass one, and have that selected in your BIOS. I needed to select the PCI/PCIExpress option (as opposed to PCIExpress/PCI, and as opposed to using the integrated graphics option anywhere);
- I remember I needed a SPECIFIC ATIFlash version, from a specific range. It was neither the latest nor the newest (but it was closer to the latest than it was close to the earliest). It was, still, some late-ish version.

I did it on FreeDOS, but chances are it would work on Windows, too (which is not recommended by people, saying there's a good chance of something interfering). Regardless, on FreeDOS, I remember I needed to grab some extra file (for FreeDOS itself) to be able to run programs, precisely to get around the "insufficient memory" problem, and then I had to run THAT file inbetween each time I wanted to REopen ATIflash. Either that, or I'd have to reboot each time after running a given version of ATIflash. And maybe some versions of ATIflash wouldn't even run at all unless if I ran that file first. Foggy memory here.

I don't remember the name of the file and some of the other details, like the exact ATIflash version I used, though, because it's been quite a long while since I did it, but I repeat: you must meet the 2 requirements I highlighted above. Or, at the very least, that was what had to be done in my case, with my setup.

EDIT: Oh, and please, I hope you are using the ROM from this post, meaning post #22 found in page 1 of that thread. That is THE ROM. I'm not sure which ROM is up there on the Macintosh Garden.

EDIT 2:

Is this what your card looked like? I'm pretty sure I read that the robot girl was the right card:

This is the card I flashed and still proudly have, no doubt. You got the right card!

Looking better at your troubles, it seems you really might need that file I mentioned to get past the "insufficient memory" problem to give you access to the RIGHT version of ATIflash (which I forgot which one it was, sorry!)
And, again, on top of using a PCI card alongside to aid you, please please please make sure on your BIOS settings, in case it hasn't been done yet, it is set to use PCI/PCIe, not PCIe/PCI and not inegrated VGA or integrated graphics.

I wish you success! I'll look back into what file I used on FreeDOS to get past the memory issue, just for you, so I'll be back here in a bit...

EDIT 3: HDPMI32.EXE . Look it up and obtain it. Run it each time you see the "insufficient memory" error. Grab as many ATIflash versions you can, and prioritize testing with the latest ones, and go down from there.

 

[Jubadub]

EDIT 2: This is the card I flashed and still proudly have, no doubt. You got the right card!

Wait, I made a little mistake here. It actually shouldn't matter, but I just took out my ATI X1950XT 256Mb to double check, and it turns out mine is this one:

Just correcting myself for the sake of technicality, because most likely the flashing would work 100% just as well in either case.
I see there are some other versions out there, including another one which features the same female character as mine, but doing another pose. Eitherway, the one I just posted is the exact one I have.

 

[Shadow9x99]

THAT DID IT!

I used Rufus to make a FreeDOS USB, put a Radeon 7000 in the PCI slot, set the graphics to PCI in the BIOS of my old Athlon 64 based HP Pavilion, and used ATIFlash 3.89 to flash the ROM from MacRumors to the card. I actually didn't need HDPMI32.EXE since the versions of ATIFlash prior to 4.xx work without it.

Getting to the boot screen takes a bit longer now, but everything works perfectly and the card scores 16,040 in OpenMark. It was a long road, but I couldn't be happier with the result. Thank you to everyone for their help and suggestions!

 

[dextructor]

THAT DID IT!

I used Rufus to make a FreeDOS USB, put a Radeon 7000 in the PCI slot, set the graphics to PCI in the BIOS of my old Athlon 64 based HP Pavilion, and used ATIFlash 3.89 to flash the ROM from MacRumors to the card. I actually didn't need HDPMI32.EXE since the versions of ATIFlash prior to 4.xx work without it.

Getting to the boot screen takes a bit longer now, but everything works perfectly and the card scores 16,040 in OpenMark. It was a long road, but I couldn't be happier with the result. Thank you to everyone for their help and suggestions!

Thinking about preservation for the future generations, can you please make a zip with all your files to help others who may try this latter? Thanks!

 

[Shadow9x99]

Thinking about preservation for the future generations, can you please make a zip with all your files to help others who may try this latter? Thanks!

Good Idea.

 

[Jubadub]

Glad that you made it. Enjoy the X1950 XT club!

If you want to use the card on Tiger and not just Leopard, it's recommended you install these drivers from ATI/AMD: https://www2.ati.com/drivers/MacX1900G5.dmg
Highly recommend doing that on a fully-updated 10.4.11 installation.

 

[starmax]

Hey all, re-visiting this thread as I am going to flash an X1900XT (not GT) 256MB. From what I can tell, the x1950xt is just a small speed bump over the x1900xt, so I am thinking this ROM will work. I did something similar years ago when I flashed my 280x with a 7950 Mac ROM for my Mac Pro.

Anywho, I created a FreeDOS boot disk and dumped the x1900 ROM on an old Sandy Bridge PC I had laying around. The ROM file is about 2x the size of the x1950Mac Rom attached here, is that normal? Anyone else attempt this with an X1900XT?

Thanks!

 

[thespecificocean]

Cross posting from another thread.

Hi everyone. I'm having a hell of a time flashing a Connect3d x1900gt with the MacElite x1900gt rom. Here are all of the things i've tried.

1. Tried with dual PCIe video cards, single gpu. Using FreeDos as well as Win98boot.iso files to boot.
2. Tried totally separate system with intel igpu and gpu.
3. atiflash 3.15 - Won't recognize the card
4. atiflash 3.99 - Sees the card but tried every flag I can think would make a difference just gives the error as seen in the screenshot.
5. Tried a mix bag of versions of atiflash and the ones that can see the card gives the same error or variations on Invalid PC BIOS Image, Rom Not Erased, etc.

So I've never gotten it to flash at all. What the heck am I doing wrong here?? I've uploaded both the dumped rom as well at the EliteMac x1900gt rom for your reference.

 

[MacPig]

I'd like to share my success flashing an X1900 XT with the ROM from post #12 of this thread.

I'm not sure which vendor my card came from as it has an aftermarket cooler fitted but I'll post some pictures to possibly help anyone else on the hunt for a good G5 GPU.

This card absolutely destroys the GeForce 6600 I was using previously. It's unbelievable.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

This card absolutely destroys the GeForce 6600 I was using previously. It's unbelievable.

How about comparison with GeFroce 7800 GT?

 

[z970]

@thespecificocean The Connect3D X1900 GT was the first card that I successfully flashed for my Late '05 G5. I used the latest stable version of FreeDOS, ATIFlash 4.07, and the stock ROM from The Mac Elite (just as you are).

I would suggest using ATIFlash 4.07, if you haven't gotten it working already.

 

[MacPig]

How about comparison with GeFroce 7800 GT?

The X1900 XT is more powerful than the 7800 GT or even GTX on paper. I can't vouch for how it actually compares in games or heavy workloads but I can't see how cards with fewer shaders and overall far worse theoretical performance could ever compare.

There's no real reason to buy one of the OEM Nvidia cards beside the aesthetics.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

I've got x1950GT (with molex 4pin additional power connector), is there some way to flash it for G5Quad? 7800GT flashed without any troubles, but I want Radeon .

 

[RSWEB]

Worked great for me! Flashed my X1950XT for my G5 Quad with no issues. The card has to be the one in the attached photo (and the 256mb version).

ROM + latest version of Rufus attached. ATIFlash Commands here : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/how-to-use-atiflash.57750/

 

[MrVitalic]

I'd like to share my success flashing an X1900 XT with the ROM from post #12 of this thread.

I'm not sure which vendor my card came from as it has an aftermarket cooler fitted but I'll post some pictures to possibly help anyone else on the hunt for a good G5 GPU.

View attachment 1674994
View attachment 1674996
View attachment 1674995

This card absolutely destroys the GeForce 6600 I was using previously. It's unbelievable.

Resurrecting an old thread.

I’m actually using a x1900gt on my quad and since the spahire x1950xt is very hard to find, I’l check to buy a x1900xt instead.

So far my GT card behave normally (fan are not always full blast)

So is your x1900xt behave normally ? And if the rom control the gpu clock, is your XT downgraded to a GT ?

We could post some gpu mark score under tiger or leopard to compare.

I’m running prey atm on a 30’ cinema display, and the fps jump from 50 to 15 lol. Everything maxed. So it would be nice to have something a bit beefier.

Also, my card is 256mg (as stated in ati control panel). But in tiger system profiler, the card show 128mg. A bit weird.

 

[DearthnVader]

Also, my card is 256mg (as stated in ati control panel). But in tiger system profiler, the card show 128mg. A bit weird.

There is a developer tool from Apple called the OpenGL Driver Monitor, you can still get it for OS X PPC from the Apple Developer website with the free developer account. With it you can see thing such as vram in use and free vram.

That way you can see if you are in fact getting a 256mb frambuffer or a 128mb framebuffer.

A quick and dirty test in Jaguar or greater is to command+new a bunch of Safari windows as QE will fill the frame buffer temporally and you can see in drive monitor if it exceeds 128MB.

 

[netsrot39]

Worked great for me! Flashed my X1950XT for my G5 Quad with no issues. The card has to be the one in the attached photo (and the 256mb version).

ROM + latest version of Rufus attached. ATIFlash Commands here : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/how-to-use-atiflash.57750/

Thanks for sharing the .zip file. It worked for me too with the same card (the one with the humanoid robot). It is now in one of my PowerMac G5s where I previously had the FX4500 installed. According to an Xbench test I did the X1950XT is even faster than the FX4500 despite having half the RAM! I really love the card and I'm looking forward to playing around with it more in the future. I also flashed a similar card (X1900GT) but to a different ROM. While the X1900GT also works great, the X1950XT thankfully does not have its fan on full blast all the time. All in all, a great experience so far!

 

[pc297]

Does anyone know if the X1950XT rom from the Garden will work on the AGP version of the X1950XT?

Cheers,