Mac Pro 5,1 (Mid 2010) GTX 770 black screen in Windows 8

[Ron Harrison]

Hi, I've got a Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010) and I've put an Nvidia GTX 770 in it and I'm trying to get it to work in Windows 8.1. I got into the installation yesterday by booting off of the W8.1 DVD with the 770, but I had to exit it because I had multiple drives plugged in and it wouldn't let me continue, so now I've unplugged everything but the the drive I'm trying to install on and I believe between that time period I also did a PRAM reset by holding down: Option, Command, P and R. After all that I can't get anything to appear on screen it's just black no matter what I do, I've tried a GTX 980 too so it's obviously not the graphics card. The only way I can get any kind of picture on the screen is if I use the stock ATI Radeon 5770 that it shipped with. I'm so lost now and I have no idea what I should do.

I will answer any additional questions people may have.

Thank You

 

[h9826790]

Hi, I've got a Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010) and I've put an Nvidia GTX 770 in it and I'm trying to get it to work in Windows 8.1. I got into the installation yesterday by booting off of the W8.1 DVD with the 770, but I had to exit it because I had multiple drives plugged in and it wouldn't let me continue, so now I've unplugged everything but the the drive I'm trying to install on and I believe between that time period I also did a PRAM reset by holding down: Option, Command, P and R. After all that I can't get anything to appear on screen it's just black no matter what I do, I've tried a GTX 980 too so it's obviously not the graphics card. The only way I can get any kind of picture on the screen is if I use the stock ATI Radeon 5770 that it shipped with. I'm so lost now and I have no idea what I should do.

I will answer any additional questions people may have.

Thank You

It sounds like your graphic card indeed.

PRAM reset bring you back to MacOS.

And if your 770 is a Rev B card, then you need Nvidia web driver to display anything (same as your 980), otherwise, black screen only (identical to your current situation).

 

[Ron Harrison]

It sounds like your graphic card indeed.

PRAM reset bring you back to MacOS.

And if your 770 is a Rev B card, then you need Nvidia web driver to display anything (same as your 980), otherwise, black screen only (identical to your current situation).

I understand that, though I'm not trying to install MacOS at all, just Windows and before I did the PRAM reset I was able to see the Windows installation menu while using the 770. So all I'm trying to do is install Windows only, sorry if I didn't make that clear.

 

[thornslack]

Install windows with the 5770 installed. You need access to the boot screens it provides. Then install nvidia drivers once windows is loaded. Then shut down and swap your 770 back in.

 

[h9826790]

I understand that, though I'm not trying to install MacOS at all, just Windows and before I did the PRAM reset I was able to see the Windows installation menu while using the 770. So all I'm trying to do is install Windows only, sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I know, but after PRAM reset, the cMP automatically go to MacOS / OSX partition on next boot, which means no GPU driver available in your case (because it WON'T go back to the Windows installation process now), which also means black screen.

 

[Ron Harrison]

Alright, thank you both, I will put the Radeon 5770 back in and install Windows, install the Nvidia drivers and the 770 and hope for the best. I will post back once I've done it.

Thanks again!
[doublepost=1506962871][/doublepost]Bad news.... I reinstalled Windows 8 using the Radeon 5770 and set the default boot device as the SSD with Windows 8 on it, then I took out the 5770 and put in the 770 and I get nothing.... just solid black... I then put the 5770 back on and boom, instantly appears and boots straight into Windows 8.

 

[Ron Harrison]

It's very odd, when I put in the GTX 770 it does indeed get into Windows even though I can't see anything, when I adjust the volume it makes sounds out of the internal speaker so I know it's got it to the desktop. I'm stumped I literally can't think of why I'm not getting any signal.

 

[Ron Harrison]

Ok, I got it to go to the installation screen again by installing Mac

 

[Joel-mic]

Have you had any luck? Because I'm running into the same problem here.

I've wiped the drives (no Mac OS install present at all). Installed Windows 10 (using the Mac edition nvidia 680). Installed nvidia drivers.

I can boot to windows 10 just fine. But when I try to swap in a 770, a PC version 680, or a 780ti, I get nothing but a black screen. Only the Mac version 680 will show me anything.

As I understood it, the mac GPUs are EFI enabled so you can display the boot menu etc. But, I assumed a non-supported card would at least start displaying something once Windows actually launched.

 

[Joel-mic]

It's very odd, when I put in the GTX 770 it does indeed get into Windows even though I can't see anything

Hey, I just had luck last night messing with this some more.

I used the built-in remote desktop feature (I had to set it up and test while using the working Mac Edition GTX 680). Then, I powered down, swapped the 770, and powered up. No signal, black screen. I used the remote desktop to see that my "nvidia control panel" option in the desktop right-click menu had disappeared. So, using remote desktop, I re-installed the latest nvidia driver and disconnected from remote desktop. The screen came back, and worked upon subsequent resets.

It seems that upon putting in the 770 (same happened with a 780ti that I tested) and rebooting, Windows is clearing out/disabling the nvidia drivers I had previously installed.

I believe you have to use Microsoft's native remote desktop feature (not something like Chrome Remote Desktop... people say it relies on a working GPU).