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alhazred823

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2017
9
0
Atlanta, GA
Hi All,

This is literally my first post, but have been a lurker for many years! I recently had an opportunity that netted me a free mac pro 5,1 (Mid-2010) and decided to upgrade the !@#$ out of it. I upgraded the CPUs to the 5960s, upgraded the RAM to 32gb, installed USB 3.0 card and (2) PCIe SSDs. Then my last hurdle was the GPU; and I have fallen and can't get up. I am hoping someone out there has either had my same issue or knows what i may be doing wrong.

I first bought a GTX 980ti off ebay, just a stock PC version. I did my research and this showed to be the card for me. I do work in 3D modeling apps like Maya/Zbrush, and I was planning on dual booting into windows so i could game. So i order the mini 6pin to 8pin cable, download latest drivers from MVC, install both drivers and latest CUDA, while the original Radeon is in the machine. I also set up screen sharing with my mbp just in case, because i notice that the Nvidia web drivers keeps defaulting to OSX default driver. Despite changing it in preferences/locking it. There is seemingly enough power as the lights come on and the fans spin. I know that no boot screen will show, but after 10 mins of looking at a blank/black monitor screen i decide its not working. So i attempt to screen share in from my laptop, and it just hangs on "connecting". After another 10 mins I assume its a no go. Do some web research and see that the GPUs like this especially the 980ti edition, may need more power. So i order more cables: 2x Mini6 to 8pin, and Sata to 6pin. Just to see if its because the GTX card isn't getting enough power. Still same result.

So i think maybe the card is bad and i am about to contact the seller and cry, but before i do that, let me put it in a Win 10 PC i have. 980ti loads up no issue. Looks/works great!

I had a MSI GTX 970 in the PC, and figure well this must be a lower rated card let me try this in my cMP instead. Using both the low power/extra power set up, i get the same blank/black screen.

So if you have stayed thru my story this long, Thank you! If you see anywhere I might have gone wrong or have any suggestions on what to do next, besides send it to MacVidCards or contact them, cause my piggy bank is empty and can live without a boot screen.

I am using the latest version of macOS Sierra and downloaded the latest nvidia/cuda drivers from MVC:
Should I try installing El Capitan?
Should I trade the GTX 970 for an ATI RX 480?

Any words of wisdom, support, troubleshooting ideas, etc. would be more than appreciated!

Thanks for reading!!
 
Hi pastrychef!

Thanks for the quick response! Yes i did try, but i may have done it wrong. I am not familiar with boot arg/terminal interfacing. I used my old ATI Radeon to boot into the OS, opened Terminal and typed the codes he listed but kept getting error message. I am not sure I am doing it correctly. Thanks again for any help you can provide!
 
Entering the commands is easy.
  1. Launch Terminal.
  2. Copy the following and paste to Terminal. Then press the Enter key.
    Code:
    sudo nvram boot-args="nvda_drv=1"
  3. Quit Terminal.


You can check to make sure that the command is saved to NVRAM with the following command in Terminal.
Code:
nvram -p



*Remember, if the Nvidia web drivers are already installed, you should not have "nv_disable=1" in NVRAM.
 
Last edited:
Entering the commands is easy.
  1. Launch Terminal.
  2. Copy the following and paste to Terminal. Then press the Enter key.
    Code:
    sudo nvram boot-args="nvda_drv=1"
  3. Quit Terminal.


You can check to make sure that the command is saved to NVRAM with the following command in Terminal.
Code:
nvram -p



*Remember, if the Nvidia web drivers are already installed, you should not have "nv_disable=1" in NVRAM.
[doublepost=1491481783][/doublepost]I get the following error when type that code into Terminal.


nvram: Error setting variable - 'boot-args': (iokit/common) general error

users-Mac-Pro:~ MacProJD$

this is what i get when i type nvram -p:


bluetoothInternalControllerInfo %15%82%ac%05%00%00%11Zx%ca9%c0q%0c

prev-lang:kbd en:0

EFIUpdaterApp_Result %02%06%84%00

fmm-computer-name user%e2%80%99s Mac Pro

bluetoothActiveControllerInfo %15%82%ac%05%00%00%00%00%11Zx%ca9%c0q%0c

efi-apple-payload0 <array><dict><key>IOMatch</key><dict><key>IOProviderClass</key><string>IOMedia</string><key>IOPropertyMatch</key><dict><key>UUID</key><string>00000C2B-340D-0000-C958-0000261C0000</string></dict></dict><key>BLLastBSDName</key><string>disk0s1</string></dict><dict><key>IOEFIDevicePathType</key><string>MediaFilePath</string><key>Path</key><string>\EFI\APPLE\FIRMWARE\MP51_007F_03B_LOCKED.fd</string></dict></array>%00

SystemAudioVolume :

efi-apple-payload0-data %02%01%0c%00%d0A%03%0a%00%00%00%00%01%01%06%00%02%1f%03%12%0a%00%02%00%00%00%00%00%04%01*%00%01%00%00%00(%00%00%00%00%00%00%00%00@%06%00%00%00%00%00+%0c%00%00%0d4%00%00%c9X%00%00&%1c%00%00%02%02%04%04\%00\%00E%00F%00I%00\%00A%00P%00P%00L%00E%00\%00F%00I%00R%00M%00W%00A%00R%00E%00\%00M%00P%005%001%00_%000%000%007%00F%00_%000%003%00B%00_%00L%00O%00C%00K%00E%00D%00.%00f%00d%00%00%00%7f%ff%04%00

SystemAudioVolumeDB %fa

EFIBluetoothDelay %b8%0b

users-Mac-Pro:~ MacProJD$
 
As you can see, "nvda_drv=1" is nowhere to be found there. That's why it keeps going to the built-in drivers which will not work work the GTX 970 or 980 Ti.
 
sudo nvram boot-args="nvda_drv=1" doesn´t work in OSX 10.12 Sierra anymore

You must type

sudo nvram nvda_drv=1

to activate the driver

sudo nvram nv_disable=1

to deactivate the driver
 
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Reactions: pastrychef
so do you have the 6pin to 8 already or you just order it. You will need it. I have tested mine last time and will not show the screen at all because as a dummy I forgot to plug in one of the power cable to the video card. Also you mention you have an ATI and Nvidia. That is two different drivers of video card. Pull out the Ati card and use only the NVidia card under preference make sure you go under Nvidia and switch the driver to the NVidia driver instead of the MAc driver for the NVidia card. If you don't have the 8 pin cable yet then that might be your problem. Because if you don't switch to the NVidia drives first before rebooting the mac it will not show anything on your screen.
 
I have a Gigabyte 980 Ti but I chose to buy an external PSU to power it. I didn't want to steal power from the DVD or two other HDD just to power this card. Did you seat the card tight? And did you make sure the video cable is attached to the back of the card? I know this is basic but just making sure...
 
sudo nvram boot-args="nvda_drv=1" doesn´t work in OSX 10.12 Sierra anymore

You must type

sudo nvram nvda_drv=1

to activate the driver

sudo nvram nv_disable=1

to deactivate the driver

Thanks, I've updated the FAQ to reflect this information.
 
Thank you all so much for your help!! You guys are great!

Unfortunately I am still having issues. I have the Mini 6 -8pin, and the Mini 6- 6pin that came with the mac pro plugged into the mother board and both completely plugged into the MSI GTX 970. Lights are on and fans spin on start up. After its booted the fans do stop. Does that mean i need more power? I read that the 970 only needs 175watts to power, for simple use, so didn't think i would need external PSU. If i game hard then maybe, but just to run macOS it should be fine with the 6/8pin no?

I launched Terminal and now it does say nvda_drv 1, when i type "nvram -p"

SystemAudioVolume :

efi-apple-payload0-data %02%01%0c%00%d0A%03%0a%00%00%00%00%01%01%06%00%02%1f%03%12%0a%00%02%00%00%00%00%00%04%01*%00%01%00%00%00(%00%00%00%00%00%00%00%00@%06%00%00%00%00%00+%0c%00%00%0d4%00%00%c9X%00%00&%1c%00%00%02%02%04%04\%00\%00E%00F%00I%00\%00A%00P%00P%00L%00E%00\%00F%00I%00R%00M%00W%00A%00R%00E%00\%00M%00P%005%001%00_%000%000%007%00F%00_%000%003%00B%00_%00L%00O%00C%00K%00E%00D%00.%00f%00d%00%00%00%7f%ff%04%00

SystemAudioVolumeDB %fa

nvda_drv 1

EFIBluetoothDelay %b8%0b

users-Mac-Pro:~ MacProJD$

Again blank screen on monitor, tried plugging in via HDMI, and DVI, neither show anything. I tried screen sharing into my mac pro again with my laptop and it just hangs trying to connect. That leads me to believe the OS never fully loads?


Is there anything else I can try? Is this card just not compatible?

I put the Radeon back in and when it loads its back to OSX driver selected. Even tho i went into preferences and saved it to load Nvidia web driver. Sorry to use and abuse you guys for tech support, but any help you can provide would be so appreciated!
 
In regards to the fan, many GTX 970s have fans that do not spin up until there's some load on card. So, I don't think that's anything to be concerned with. Just make sure that the fan does spin up when you put load on it.

The only thing I can think of to try would be to try and use "nv_disable=1" to see if the card can boot in to macOS without any drivers.

I don't remember having read of MSI GTX 970s having problems in the Nvidia thread... It should work...
 
Hi All,

I just wanted to post an quick update as i somewhat found a solution. I stumbled on an MVC blog post that described my defaulting to OSX driver issue:

http://www.macvidcards.com/blog/nvidia-web-driver-wont-load-easy-fix

so i reset my PRAM and when macOS loaded, my Nvidia driver was finally set to default. I thought that was the answer, then i put my 970 in and restarted. Still my monitor stayed black. Anger consumed, i did one last test; installed El Capitan 10.11.6 on a second SSD.

...boom...

login screen booted up and 970 was recognized and running (6/8 pin). I don't know what this means... non flashed nvidia cards wont work out of the box on macOS Sierra? 10.12.4 at least?

then i saw that nvidia is working on Pascal drivers for mac so looks like ill be eyeing 1080/titans to replace this 970 anyway :) kind of sucks to be stuck in El Capitan, but i'll live.

Wanted to thank all of you guys for your help!
 
That´s interesting. I am glad, that the card is finaly working...

I had a horrible experience with my flashed 980 and Sierra.
Everything worked under El Capitan, but after upgrading to Sierra, i got only a black screen. I tried everything. I made a clean install on a external drive. Same thing, black screen...(and the fanspeed increased)...
After many reboots... I just wanted to give up and go back to Elcapitan.

After searching the forums about this problem,i found a post in a hackintosh forum. Use only one monitor...
I tried that and bam...OSX Sierra booted up normally. So the problem was using two Displays...
But i want to use 2 Displays. Another post suggested, to use only hdmi or Displayport. No DVI.
I bought the cables and now all Displays are working... So since Sierra there is a problem with the DVI Connection...

At last, i was very happy, that everything worked again...
 
Oh really??? thank you for sharing your story about Sierra! i have been using DVI this whole time! maybe thats my trouble, I will boot my Sierra drive via hdmi and see if that works for me too.
 
AUser2017,

You are a genius! Thank you for sharing the tidbit about the DVI issue in Sierra. I am now in macOS Sierra 10.12.4 with MSI GTX 970 running nicely! THANK YOU!!!!!
 
No problem at all... It took me hours to find out the information, that the DVI isn´t working in Sierra... But thanks to the hackintosh forum, cause for me everything works fine now in Sierra...

Great news, that your card ist working now in Sierra...

So no power issue or driver issue...

I am glad...
 
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