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Amethyst

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2006
599
287
step by step about software side - http://netkas.org/?p=106

well, you can try to install drivers with 8800 gt installed, then shut down macpro, insert 275gtx and try to boot it ( u will not see anything until os booted)

if it doesnt work - swap 275 to 8800gt and it should boot.
netkas can i use HD2600XT instead 8800gt?
 

netkas

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
even better for you. since u dont need power cables for gt120

2600xt, it might work, for example gt120 and 4870 works fine together

that cards swapping needed only if u dont have enough power cables...
 

risingforce

macrumors newbie
May 15, 2009
14
0
even better for you. since u dont need power cables for gt120

2600xt, it might work, for example gt120 and 4870 works fine together

that cards swapping needed only if u dont have enough power cables...

Netkas thank you very much;). I was hesitating between buying a 4890 or GTX260/275 (especially by the noise of the fan at idle), but which are not lellendo reviews buy. Any suggestions?

Greetings
 

netkas

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
with gtx2xx you will not need to wait for patched x2000.kext after os upgrade ( 4890 needs it)
 

peskaa

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2008
2,104
5
London, UK
Is the lack of display during boot going to be permanent? (ie: will I ever be able to get into Bootcamp by holding down alt and then selecting boot volume?)
 

10THzMac

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
376
0
Is the lack of display during boot going to be permanent? (ie: will I ever be able to get into Bootcamp by holding down alt and then selecting boot volume?)
I do not know the answer to this, but I get around it by setting the startup disk and doing a restart on either side. I have got used to seeing a blank screen until just before login.
 

10THzMac

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
376
0
So to sum up where I got to - it's completely contradictory.....

Mac Pro 1:
8800GT + Zotac GTX 260 89xM VRAM. 260 up and running with QE/CI, link 2.5GTs, Cuda not working properly (OpenGL score a few posts back)

Mac Pro 2:
8800GT + Palit 285 2G VRAM. System highly unstable. Sometimes sticks at blue screen, sometimes at finder load. I got it up ONCE out of 20 or so boots and then the 285 was up with QE/CI, Cuda not working properly. I have reloaded and reinstalled everything

Go figure. These machines are both early 08 Mac Pro and machine 2 is also running the 285 happily under Snow Leopard with an injector. Both machines OK under bootcamp/XP, so hardware in place.

I have one idea left, which is related to what I had to do under snow leopard to get corevidia to work with my 285 a while back. I masked the injector to only talk to the 285 via its PCI ID and also did a custom setting of NVCAP based on my card ROM. It will take me a while....

one hour later - no luck with that plan. I am going to wait for my official Mac 285 and see what the drivers on that disk do with netkas injector - maybe I can get two 285s up. OWC say 7 days.....
 

tezro

macrumors regular
Sep 7, 2007
175
1
I'm a bit confused on all this injection and stuff.

If I got it right, the injector thing is some sort of a trick to make a videocard work without it having a EFI?
And the BIOS videocard can work without a EFI videocard supporting it, but you won't see the boot up screen?
 

peskaa

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2008
2,104
5
London, UK
Alright, this isn't working for me.

I installed the Injector and Drivers (that order) under OS X with the 8800GT (Slot 2) plugged in and powered - single 23" display.

Turned the Mac Pro off, and switched power cables over to the GTX 275 (Slot 1) and powered back up, 30" display connected. I got nothing but a black screen on both DVI ports. I then tried to power up with no display connected, and then adding it in (like, 5 mins later) but again, just black.


Suggestions?
 

10THzMac

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
376
0
I'm a bit confused on all this injection and stuff.

If I got it right, the injector thing is some sort of a trick to make a videocard work without it having a EFI?
And the BIOS videocard can work without a EFI videocard supporting it, but you won't see the boot up screen?

As far as I understand it that is spot on. My 260 only fires up as the desktop is displayed. Still no luck with the 285 on the other machine. I am giving up till my Mac 285 arrives and will see if the drivers on that disk make any difference compared to the quadro ones.
 

peskaa

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2008
2,104
5
London, UK
As a thought, would replacing my 8800GT with a GT 120 do anything? This way I'd have a powered EFI card the whole time?
 

10THzMac

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
376
0
As a thought, would replacing my 8800GT with a GT 120 do anything? This way I'd have a powered EFI card the whole time?

My guess is this is irrelevant to the problems you are having. When I got my 260 up on another machine that machine was happy to boot with only that card live, though I had to suffer a black screen until right before the finder came up.

Two other points are: (a) you can power the 8800 from the optical bay (b) there have been odd reports that the 120 is actually fussier than the 8800 about cards it lives with. I would not spend money on a 120 right now.

I think that either (i) there is some further mod to the 285 drivers over the quadro ones or (ii) netkas might just have to tweak his injector a bit - there might be some settings hard-wired into code that work with 260/280 but not with 275/285. Might be nvcap, memory or (less likely) PCI IDs. My Mac edition 285 should come in about a week so I can do some more expts then.
 

peskaa

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2008
2,104
5
London, UK
Both my SuperDrive bays are full (of SuperDrives), so I can't pull power from there unfortunately. I'm really reluctant to go the external power route, as the whole point of this set up has been to have a clean, sleek and powerful Mac Pro without dangling wires.

Guess I'll wait for Netkas to chime in with any ideas for the GTX 275 (incidentally, it's a BFG OC edition card, 896MB VRAM - http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx275896oce.aspx).


Where are you getting your 285 from, and for how much may I ask? I can't find a UK retailer, and importing is going to hit me with huge import taxes/fees (probably in the order of an extra £100, taking the card to over £400!). If it really comes to it down the line I'll bite the bullet and buy one.
 

EmersonKB

macrumors newbie
Jun 8, 2009
1
0
Thanks for this netkas.

I had my GTX260 working perfectley yesterday, including dual monitor support! (2xDVI ports)

Unfortunately I stuffed up when upgrading to 10.5.7 yesterday and so I've had to reinstall from scratch. I'm now happily on 10.5.7 and have installed the Nvidia Enabler and drivers you supplied.

However, I cannot for the life of me get dual monitors to work again!

Any suggestions?

I've got a GTX260 with 896mb ddr3 ram
 

netkas

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
I'm waiting for nvcap from gtx285_mac or quadro4800_mac, as soon as i get it, dual-dvi should work imho
 

10THzMac

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
376
0
Both my SuperDrive bays are full (of SuperDrives), so I can't pull power from there unfortunately. I'm really reluctant to go the external power route, as the whole point of this set up has been to have a clean, sleek and powerful Mac Pro without dangling wires.
...
Where are you getting your 285 from, and for how much may I ask? I can't find a UK retailer, and importing is going to hit me with huge import taxes/fees (probably in the order of an extra £100, taking the card to over £400!). If it really comes to it down the line I'll bite the bullet and buy one.

I think someone said you could split the optical power OK. Aesthetics understood. I am used to wires and bits all over. Ordered from Other World computing. Novatech are selling, sort of, at:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?EVG-285A

but want £436 for it......they keep saying they will have one tomorrow.
 

10THzMac

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
376
0
I'm waiting for nvcap from gtx285_mac or quadro4800_mac, as soon as i get it, dual-dvi should work imho

NVCAP from PC 285 with 2G RAM is

04000000 00000f00 00000000 00000007 00000000

which is not a sequence I have seen elsewhere. I got this by running nvcap maker from rom dump. I will do same with mac version as soon as it arrives.
 

netkas

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
woot, just got right nvcap(same as for 8800gt_mac) from somewhere, will make an injector in few mins, anyone willing to test ?
 

10THzMac

macrumors 6502
Dec 17, 2007
376
0
Netkas is genius - official

Macenstein lives - OpenGL etc to follow. n.b. VRAM funny but we are nearly past caring
 

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netkas

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
seems like kext fails to read vram size of unPOSTed card, in this case, it gets VRAM,TotalSize from plist, you can edit plist of aty_init and change there Vram,totalsize value in nvidia section (use property list editor from xcode ).
its little endian 32-bit value there, in your case, you need to multiple value by 2.
 

peskaa

macrumors 68020
Mar 13, 2008
2,104
5
London, UK
Alas, still no-go with the GTX 275. Getting the boot chime, but screen stays black. Are there any changes needed get the injector to recognise a 275 rather than a 285?
 

netkas

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
1,198
394
Alas, still no-go with the GTX 275. Getting the boot chime, but screen stays black. Are there any changes needed get the injector to recognise a 275 rather than a 285?

try to plug/unplug display cables, 275 works fine on osx86
 
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