Nvidia GeForce GTX 9xx with High Sierra

[Kipsley]

Hi everyone. I have not posted much in recent months as my Mac has been doing ok, but I've had to upgrade to High Sierra. With the help of forums such as this I have managed to get High Sierra up and running on my Early 2009 Mac Pro 4.1 with no issues. Only trouble is that my Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 graphics card is no longer supported. I have been told that the "GTX 980 will work fine once nVidia releases the Mojave compatible web drivers". But.. ummmm.. do those drivers work for High Sierra as well? And if so will they be just an automatic update or do I have to go looking for them?

At present I have my machine set for dual boot with High Sierra on one HD and El Capitan on my SSD. High Sierra is awesome but will only use my old 512Mb graphics card (Thank goodness I even kept that) so I'm still using El Capitan till I can get the new drivers.

 

[flowrider]

Your GTX 980 will run just fine in HS. What version are you running? The latest Web Driver for HS 10.13.6 is here:

https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/136062/en-us

But, no boot screen without a Mac EFI.

The Cuda Driver is here:

https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-410.130-driver.html

FYI, Nvidia Web Drivers for Mojave have not yet been released, and no they would not work in HS.

Lou

 

[Kipsley]

Followed your links and downloaded the driver and the update to Cuda. Didn't work. My Mac still defaults to the 512 Mb card when using High Sierra. the EEC can't even "see" the GTX 980 so can't even select it as a pref.

When I looked further to find a fix I was directed to download Clover. Tried that and got a warning about it not being compatible and could damage my system when I went to instal it, so stopped right there.

Might just buy a new AMD card that runs native of HS.

 

[flowrider]

I'll ask the question one more time. What version of HS are you running? You don't want to run Clover on a real Mac. You have never identified your 512gb GPU?

Lou

 

[Kipsley]

Ohh sorry. Version.. ummmmmm...

It's the latest version (10.13.2) and I got it from here http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/

The Apple site would not allow me to download HS from there as this early 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 is not supported. I used the link in the macOS High Sierra Patcher to grab a copy to install, I also ran the built in "patch install" function to apply the patches as recommended in dosdude's Patcher above. And the other Apple card is a Ge Force GT 120. That's the one that works.

When I open the Nvidia Driver Manager, in the ECC tab it tells me that in slot 4 I have the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, and in slot 1 (Where the GTX 980 is) it just gives me "pci device".

Cuba Driver is 396.148 (and I also downloaded and tried 410.130)
Driver is 387.10.10.10.40.105 (The latest)

My Mac is as given below. It is an unflashed 4,1.

 

[chrfr]

It's the latest version (10.13.2)

10.13.6 is the latest version. You should flash the firmware on the Mac Pro to make it a 5,1 and then you don't need to mess with 3rd party OS patches. There's a long thread here in the forum on how to do that.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Correct. You can clean up all your mess with a simple flash of your machine. Then update your firmware, install the correct Nvidia Web Driver, and all should be well, assuming no other gremlins are hiding in your machine.

BYW, are the Castro's happy with your Cuba Driver?

Lou

 

[Kipsley]

It's all good. I've purchased an AMD card that is natively supported by HS. A Radeon Nitro Rx 580.
As for flashing to 5,1.... tried that and it just will not work. I get to the point where it says Restart the machine to complete the process. I do and all it does is restart, then quickly shut down again, to then just start up again as normal. A quick check in "About My Mac" shows it to be 4,1 still. I'm not too concerned about it though as I have HS up and running.

 

[chrfr]

It's all good. I've purchased an AMD card that is natively supported by HS. A Radeon Nitro Rx 580.
As for flashing to 5,1.... tried that and it just will not work. I get to the point where it says Restart the machine to complete the process. I do and all it does is restart, then quickly shut down again, to then just start up again as normal. A quick check in "About My Mac" shows it to be 4,1 still. I'm not too concerned about it though as I have HS up and running.

You need to have a real Mac graphics card for the firmware updates to work on a Mac Pro. It's also often more reliable if you remove any extra graphics cards or unnecessary peripherals during the update process.

 

[Kipsley]

Yes. Used my old GT 120 (thank goodness I kept it). I was able to get my machine to flash to 5,1 by installing a complete fresh install of El Capitan to a new HDD. Using that, I was then able to update my Boot ROM from MP41.0081.B04 to MP41.0081.B07 as that is what was preventing my machine from flashing to 5,1.
I then was able to use the latest version of MacProEFIUpdate.dmg (I used the Sept 2018 version) and the Mac Pro 2009-2010 Firmware Tool with no problems. The 2009 Mac flashed to 5,1 easily.
*Note: Earlier versions of MacProEFIUpdate.dmg did not work for me. I had to use the latest.
Once the Mac was flashed to 5,1 I was able to grab a copy of the latest High Sierra from Apple and instal it to a fresh new HDD. There was a further update to my Boot ROM during this process but it was part of the instal and went without a hitch.

Early 2009 Mac Pro is now....

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MP51.0089.B00

The Nvidia GTX 980 still will not run under HS as it's not supported but I'm ok with that as I have a Radeon Nitro+ RX 580 (8Gb) on the way.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Your GTX 980 will run in HS. The Web Driver for 10.13.6 is in the link I posted above. I'm not sure why you keep insisting it won't run??????? It is is supported by the Web Driver and most assuredly will run on any version of HS with the correct point web driver.

Lou

 

[Kipsley]

Once again I tried to use the links you have given me with same result. GeForce GTX 980 will not run and is not even recognised by HS.

I'm using High Sierra 10.13.6
Installed both your links as given by you above.
Nvidea web driver is 387.10.10.10.40.105 and is given as being "up to date".

In the Nvidia Driver Manager Preferences under the ECC tab, I get the following...

Slot 1 pci10de,fbb
ECC not supported.

Slot 2 No device found

Slot 3 No device found

Slot 4 NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
ECC not supported

In "About this Mac" I get.....

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Boot ROM Version: MP51.0089.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5

Other than that, I don't know what else to tell you. The GTX card is 4 Gb and I'm replacing it with a Radeon RX580 8Gb anyhow. That card is natively supported under HS.

 

[Kipsley]

I really have to stop now. I've been at this for hours and I'm getting nowhere. I now have Clover Configurator and I can't even find the config file it wants. I can find EFI, but no such file exists. That's it for me and I've had enough.

 

[flowrider]

The ECC tab is not for your card. It's for cards with ECC memory, which your card does not have. Again, it doesn't apply to you, or to me. Nothing you have displayed says your card is not working. what does it say under "Graphics/Displays"?

Lou

 

[Kipsley]

Graphics/Displays says....

Video Card
Display GPU PCIe Slot 1 <<GTX 980 is here (Works in El Capitan)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 GPU PCIe Slot 4


Display: << Should read NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Dynamic, Max):
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x13c0
Revision ID: 0x00a1
Kernel Extension Info: No Kext Loaded.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 120:
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-4
PCIe Lane Width: x4
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 512 MB
etc...

I have the latest Cuda, and the very latest Nvidia graphics driver. Even so, and as you can see, High Sierra doesn't ever see that the GTX is even there.

 

[chrfr]

I have the latest Cuda, and the very latest Nvidia graphics driver. Even so, and as you can see, High Sierra doesn't ever see that the GTX is even there.

You may need to allow the Nvidia extensions in the Security and Privacy System Preference after you install. The 980 should be working fine in High Sierra if it works in El Capitan, as long as you have the correct driver.
From the download page:

Installation Note:
Because of improvements in macOS security, the Security & Privacy Preferences may open during the installation process. If it does, click “Allow” in order for the NVIDIA Graphics Driver to load, then return to the Installer and click “Restart”.

 

[Kipsley]

Ok. I'll be really really specific then.

I have HS build 17G65. I downloaded the latest Nvidia driver for that specific build from Nvidia.
I installed Nvidia Driver 387.10.10.10.40.105
During the instal I was asked to "allow" due to security settings. I did "allow", and the install ran to completion and then I was prompted to restart the machine, and this I did.
I then....
Downloaded the very latest Cuda Driver, that being 410.130 (I also tried with 396.148)
I installed that. There was no prompting to "allow" and at the end of the install it said it installed successfully and there was no need to (or prompt) to restart.
I did a restart anyhow. It restarted using the GT 120.
My machine is as given in above posts.
Graphics/Video is as given in above posts.
HS does not even "see" my GTX card.
All it says is...
Display GPU PCIe Slot 1
or...
Slot 1 pci10de,fbb (If you look in the EEC Payne)

I have also tried the "Open the Nvidia Driver Manager.... Select "NVIDIA Web Driver". Then Restart" trick and it just defaults to the GT 120.

HS can't "see" the GTX 980. According to HS it has no kext loaded for it (ie:
Kernel Extension Info: No Kext Loaded.)

... shrugs.

 

[flowrider]

Your frustrated, I'm frustrated. Something's obviously wrong, Again, the ECC pane dies NOT apply. But, it appears that it is showing the slot as empty. Have you tried the card in slot 2? Are all the connectors clean?

Lou

 

[Kipsley]

It won't make any difference.

Note:... Kernel Extension Info: No Kext Loaded

 

[flowrider]

I give up - You know best!

Lou

 

[Kipsley]

Well this could be the answer...... A few days ago when I downloaded the driver 387.10.10.10.40.105 from the official Nvidia site, under the "Supported Products" tab it had Geforce 900 series given as being one of the supported products.

Seems someone has been doing a bit of editing to this page in the last 1 or 2 days as the 900 series is now missing from the list.

https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/136062/en-us

I can't find anywhere where I can find a Driver for the 900 series. I can find many forums and threads were you can perform "hacks" to make the 387.10.10.10.40.105 driver work, but many of these seem a bit and I am no programmer.

Clearly all I should have to do on my 10.13.6 machine is to install Cuda version 396.148, and then install the required driver for a GeForce series 900 card (without any fancy hacking).

So my question is this. Is there anyone here with an early 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 flashed to 5,1 running High Sierra 10.13.6 who has been able to run an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 by "simply" just installing Cuda and the above given driver?

If so, I'd love for you to PM me.

 

[chrfr]

Well this could be the answer...... A few days ago when I downloaded the driver 387.10.10.10.40.105 from the official Nvidia site, under the "Supported Products" tab it had Geforce 900 series given as being one of the supported products.

I've been running this driver with a 970 since it was released, so whether or not it shows as supported, it works.

 

[Kipsley]

And your system.....?

 

[chrfr]

And your system.....?

Mac Pro 5,1 running 10.13.6.

 

[flowrider]

Seems someone has been doing a bit of editing to this page in the last 1 or 2 days as the 900 series is now missing from the list.

And again, you are wrong. That list has never changed. It includes only retail Apple supported cards. All the cards on that list are supported natively by MacOS drivers. My GTX 1080 is also not on the list, but it's supported just like your GTX 970 with the Nvidia Web Driver.

Lou