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ATI Radeon 9800 pro problem

M

macboy13

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 10, 2011
24
0
I've recently upgraded the graphics card in my dad's Power Mac G4 mdd to an

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB of vram (the card is a pc card but it was flashed to work on a mac)

The card is a nice upgrade form the NVidia Geforce 2MX but the card has a problem

The problem is a boot up issue

Sometimes you need to zap the PRAM to get the thing to boot
The card requires some power form the internal power supply which i have done

I am trying so many methods to get the thing to boot without having to zap the PRAM

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the machine???
 
macboy13 said:
I've recently upgraded the graphics card in my dad's Power Mac G4 mdd to an

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB of vram (the card is a pc card but it was flashed to work on a mac)

The card is a nice upgrade form the NVidia Geforce 2MX but the card has a problem

The problem is a boot up issue

Sometimes you need to zap the PRAM to get the thing to boot
The card requires some power form the internal power supply which i have done

I am trying so many methods to get the thing to boot without having to zap the PRAM

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the machine???
Click to expand...

I'd be inclined to re-flash it....
 
macboy13 said:
I've recently upgraded the graphics card in my dad's Power Mac G4 mdd to an

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB of vram (the card is a pc card but it was flashed to work on a mac)

The card is a nice upgrade form the NVidia Geforce 2MX but the card has a problem

The problem is a boot up issue

Sometimes you need to zap the PRAM to get the thing to boot
The card requires some power form the internal power supply which i have done

I am trying so many methods to get the thing to boot without having to zap the PRAM

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the machine???
Click to expand...

How long have you had the card? Is this a new issue, or has the MDD always had a booting problem with the 9800 since it was initially installed?

Also, how old is the PRAM battery?
 
archtopshop said:
How long have you had the card? Is this a new issue, or has the MDD always had a booting problem with the 9800 since it was initially installed?

Also, how old is the PRAM battery?
Click to expand...

its a fairly new pram battery
about 7 months old

and the problem started with the radeon 9800

never had a single boot problem with the geforce 2mx

i hope i dont have to get a new 1

i ordered it from australia on ebay for 140 bucks

and no returns
 
I ran a flashed 9800pro almost from the moment I got my first QS many moons ago. I may have even got it from someone here, but anyways nottaproblemo for over 5 years ! What a great upgrade from the original GF2...........
 
PC cards flashed for Macs

macboy13 said:
I've recently upgraded the graphics card in my dad's Power Mac G4 mdd to an

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB of vram (the card is a pc card but it was flashed to work on a mac)

The card is a nice upgrade form the NVidia Geforce 2MX but the card has a problem

The problem is a boot up issue

Sometimes you need to zap the PRAM to get the thing to boot
The card requires some power form the internal power supply which i have done

I am trying so many methods to get the thing to boot without having to zap the PRAM

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix the machine???
Click to expand...

I have bad news for you. Flashed cards will always have problems unless you find the perfect one! Sorry to say that but not only you risk to ruin the card if Flushing goes wrong, even if you succeed you will always have problems and at some point it will stop working. This is why you find very expensive PPC video cards on ebay. Very few cards are known to work perfectly.
 
adddictedtomac said:
I have bad news for you. Flashed cards will always have problems unless you find the perfect one! Sorry to say that but not only you risk to ruin the card if Flushing goes wrong, even if you succeed you will always have problems and at some point it will stop working. This is why you find very expensive PPC video cards on ebay. Very few cards are known to work perfectly.
Click to expand...
This guy is full of crap.

So long as you find a PC card that has the same board layout as the Mac one (I went through this with my flashed XFX 4870 1GB card in my Mac Pro; had to get a "reference" version of the card), and you have the appropriate ROM, you're golden.

Yes, I suppose you could brick a card. That's why you always back up the ORIGINAL ROM first, so you can flash it back if necessary to at least get a working PC card you can return to the store.

And as to "at some point it will stop working"? What the heck does that mean? It'll work so long as the hardware doesn't fail or an OS update doesn't somehow kill your ability to use the card.
 
lannister80 said:
This guy is full of crap.

So long as you find a PC card that has the same board layout as the Mac one (I went through this with my flashed XFX 4870 1GB card in my Mac Pro; had to get a "reference" version of the card), and you have the appropriate ROM, you're golden.

Yes, I suppose you could brick a card. That's why you always back up the ORIGINAL ROM first, so you can flash it back if necessary to at least get a working PC card you can return to the store.

And as to "at some point it will stop working"? What the heck does that mean? It'll work so long as the hardware doesn't fail or an OS update doesn't somehow kill your ability to use the card.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your kind and civilized reply. I guess you did not read the part where is said 'Very few cards are known to work perfectly.'
 
GermanyChris said:
But the young man has one of those cards.
Click to expand...

If you are referring to 'lannister80' ;

His reply is not based on a PowerMac, he succeeded on a Mac Pro which are technically very close to PCs. (Hint: see Hackintosh)

Here is a link from someone who installed an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB (flashed) card which at first worked perfectly and eventually 'fried itself'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV4D...DvjVQa1PpcFMHJsmMWQhAuVwuKCKERBtZyHGLIkXWRF0=

Hey I am not an expert but at least I respect other people's opinions and most of all I enjoy reading this forum because I do learn new things.

I replied based on my own research and experience.

Unfortunately, once in a while you will find someone to disrespectfully 'flame you', (violating the rules) but hey no one is perfect!
 
Last edited:
adddictedtomac said:
If you are referring to 'lannister80' ;

His reply is not based on a PowerMac, he succeeded on a Mac Pro which are technically very close to PCs. (Hint: see Hackintosh)

Here is a link from someone who installed a similar card which at first worked perfectly and eventually 'fried itself'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV4D...DvjVQa1PpcFMHJsmMWQhAuVwuKCKERBtZyHGLIkXWRF0=

Hey I am not an expert but at least I respect other people's opinions and most of all I enjoy reading this forum because I do learn new things.

I replied based on my own research and experience.

Unfortunately, once in a while you will get someone to 'flame you' in the process, (violating the rules) but hey no one is perfect!
Click to expand...

I know who you were replying to..

The 9800 was also a PPC card.

You're telling a young man not to do something that is/has been done many times and will be just as dependable as the apple version
 
GermanyChris said:
I know who you were replying to..

The 9800 was also a PPC card.

You're telling a young man not to do something that is/has been done many times and will be just as dependable as the apple version
Click to expand...

Sorry, the original questions was :'ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB of vram (the card is a pc card but it was flashed to work on a mac)' NOT A PPC card.


Obviously I did not make my self clear, but I did include a video link of someone who had a flashed card and it did work well for a short period of time.

Have a look at the video I linked, you might be able to understand what I meant.
 
adddictedtomac said:
Sorry, the original questions was :'ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB of vram (the card is a pc card but it was flashed to work on a mac)' NOT A PPC card.


Obviously I did not make my self clear, but I did include a video link of someone who had a flashed card and it did work well for a short period of time.

Have a look at the video I linked, you might be able to understand what I meant.
Click to expand...

But the 9800 is also a PowerPC card..i.e. the same board different ROM..

It'll work forever without issue
 
GermanyChris said:
But the 9800 is also a PowerPC card..i.e. the same board different ROM..

It'll work forever without issue
Click to expand...

Exactly. The 9800 Pro was made for Macs as well, it's just extremely rare (I believe it was a build to order option?), hence why it is so expensive when you do come across one on sites like eBay, it's got nothing to do with complications arisen through flashing the ROM... In fact this is why flashing the PC version is "popular" simply because the PC version of the card is much easier to come by, and when you flash the ROM on one of these cards you're going to be using the ROM from the Mac version of 9800 Pro...

So adddictedtomac, going as far as saying "You'll always have problems" is quite frankly, an exaggeration.
 
Xandros said:
Exactly. The 9800 Pro was made for Macs as well, it's just extremely rare (I believe it was a build to order option?), hence why it is so expensive when you do come across one on sites like eBay, it's got nothing to do with complications arisen through flashing the ROM... In fact this is why flashing the PC version is "popular" simply because the PC version of the card is much easier to come by, and when you flash the ROM on one of these cards you're going to be using the ROM from the Mac version of 9800 Pro...

So adddictedtomac, going as far as saying "You'll always have problems" is quite frankly, an exaggeration.
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for your feedbacks.

The reason I said what I said is strictly because of this:

http://thomas.perrier.name/otherStuff/ati9800convertEN.html

In this article, you will find that certain cards will need more work to be converted to Mac cards. Have a look at it.

On the video link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV4D...DvjVQa1PpcFMHJsmMWQhAuVwuKCKERBtZyHGLIkXWRF0=

you see that probably this is what happened to this guy, and eventually the card 'fried itself'.

It might be a good opportunity for some of us who had a successful experience to give more info on this for the rest of us who are interested in converting PC cards to Mac. (including myself)


So, which brand of ATI Radeon 9800 Pro are best for this?

Are there any other cards that may be just flashed and can become very good Mac cards? Are there available drivers for these cards; stock or custom?

Any input positive or negative about this, in my opinion will be vastly beneficial.

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
666sheep said:
For better performance and more features it's worth to install ATI DISPLAYS 4.5.7

...and most of 9800s do work perfectly, it's one of easiest cards to flash ;)
Click to expand...

Is this working with every ATI card or specifically for the 9800?
Would you add the ATI link to the PowerMac FAQ? (I think you should do it, because it was you who posted it :)).
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1091765/

On the cards to be the best to be flashed: doesn't themacelite.com have a list of makes, that are easy to flash?
 
adddictedtomac said:
Thank you for that link.

According to that link, the ATI 9800 Pro 'Requires taping or cutting Pins 3 & 11', in addition to flashing!

So I was not so 'full of crap' after all!

That is why the guy at the video link that I provided had his card' fried'.
Click to expand...

I don't know about 9800pro cards, but I plugged my 6200 without tapping some times on my g4 and it never fried..
 
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