Unflashed GTX 970 Running on OS X Default Driver Mac Pro 5,1 Yosemite

[PistonLegs]

I noticed something weird today.

I have a Mac Pro 5,1 with 10.10.3 (14D136). I am running an EVGA GTX 970 SC, unflashed, straight from the store. My NVIDIA Web Driver version is 346.01.02f02.

When I look at the NVIDIA Driver Manager is says I am using the OS X Default Graphics Driver. Is that even possible? Is it just some kinda weird glitch?

I did try to switch it to the NVIDIA Web Driver, and did the requested reboot. It took 4 or 5 times longer to boot when I did that, and when it finally booted, it still said OS X Default Graphics Driver. I also tried reinstalling the web driver, to no avail.

The card seems to work fine. Also, I am not sure if I just didn't notice it before, but I don't think this problem existed when I first updated to 02f02.

The only thing I can think of that has changed is that last night we had a decent sized thunderstorm come through. So I decided to shut down and unplug the Mac, even though I have a battery backup for it. I shut it down and unplugged and turned off the battery backup. But there was not surge or power loss. It had the slow boot when I turned it on this morning.

At this point, since everything seems to be working, I am just wondering if it's possible I am running on the default driver and am not getting all I can out of the card. If it isn't possible to run an unflashed card on default drivers, then I'll just chock this up to a weird glitch. Also, my boot time sucks now, which I'd like to fix.

Thanks for looking!

 

[666sheep]

Type:

kextstat | grep nvidia

in Terminal and see what driver version is loaded.

 

[PistonLegs]

Thanks for the reply! I actually figured it out. I ended up putting my old Quadro back in, boot up, switch the drivers to the web driver, then put the 970 back in. Seemed to fix it.

I'm not sure how it got messed up like that. Just out of curiosity I'd still like to know if the 970 can run on the default driver. I'm guessing not. I'm guessing it was still web driver but just wasn't loading properly.

Guess I'll always keep the old card around to put back in when I need it! That is, until I can send the 970 to Macvidcards to flash .

 

[blairdobbs]

I've got a similar situation, I have a Mac 4,1 running 10.10.3 (14D136) with an unflashed GTX980, and I've installed the NVIDIA Web Driver version 346.01.02f02.

I also have the NVIDIA Driver Manager saying I am using the OS X Default Graphics Driver. I can switch to the nVidia driver and reboot, but it still comes back showing the OS X Default driver selected.

I tried 666Sheep's tip and terminal gives me:

Last login: Tue Apr 28 22:30:56 on console
xxxxxx:~ xxxxxxx$ kextstat | grep nvidia
  107    2 0xffffff7f82684000 0x2d7000   0x2d7000   com.nvidia.web.NVDAResmanWeb (10.0.3) <102 94 81 12 7 5 4 3 1>
  109    0 0xffffff7f829ca000 0xd00000   0xd00000   com.nvidia.web.GeForceWeb (10.0.3) <108 107 94 81 12 7 5 4 3 1>
  110    0 0xffffff7f836ca000 0x1ff000   0x1ff000   com.nvidia.web.NVDAGM100HalWeb (10.0.3) <107 12 4 3>
  118    0 0xffffff7f81d05000 0x2000     0x2000     com.nvidia.CUDA (1.1.0) <4 1>
xxxxxx:~ xxxxxxx$

I'm assuming that means I have the NVIDIA web driver loaded and that the NVIDIA Driver Manager is just not reporting it correctly? I also was under the impression that the OS X Default Graphics Driver wouldn't work with this card.

 

[flowrider]

When you open and check the Cuda Preference Pane, what does it show?

Lou

 

[blairdobbs]

It shows the same info as your screenshot. Here's mine:

 

[PistonLegs]

Do you have an NVIDIA card with EFI laying around? Try putting that card in, switch to the web driver, then put your 980 back in. That's what worked for me.

Might even work with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 that comes with the Mac.

 

[flowrider]

It shows the same info as your screenshot. Here's mine:

Well, then it shows your running the Nvidia Web Driver

Lou

 

[blairdobbs]

Awesome


(PistonLegs, I'll have to try that later on, got some work to finish and all my work software is still on Mavericks install)

 

[PistonLegs]

I did notice that the issue was causing my boot time to be very slow. It also, for some reason, prevented me from using BootChamp to boot to Windows.

So it seems like even if it's still running on the right driver, it has problems.

 

[blairdobbs]

When I have a chance to put my GTX980 back into the system, would it be helpful if I ran some benchmarking app? And if the numbers seemed comparable to folks who are not having this issue, then maybe we can conclude that its a relatively harmless bug? (apart from the slower boot times.)

 

[PistonLegs]

I imagine the 980 and 970 can't even run on the default driver, so you're probably fine. But I'm sure you could find some benchmarking out there to compare to.

I am pretty sure swapping the drivers from default to web driver while you have an EFI card in there will solve the problem though.

 

[JaguarGod]

I am running the EVGA GTX 970 in 10.10.3 and it does not run on the OS X driver. Black screen. Works only with the nVidia Web driver.

 

[ngollop]

someone please help me. I have just purchased a brand new EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked and get get it to work at all. I put it inside my mac pro 5,1 and it does not get passed the black screen. Already have the latest Yosemite 10.10.4 drivers installed

 

[JaguarGod]

someone please help me. I have just purchased a brand new EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked and get get it to work at all. I put it inside my mac pro 5,1 and it does not get passed the black screen. Already have the latest Yosemite 10.10.4 drivers installed

Might seem like a dumb question, but are you using the nVidia web drivers or the OS X driver?

 

[h9826790]

Already have the latest Yosemite 10.10.4 drivers installed

I am not a Nvidia guy, but AFAIK "installed" is not good enough, you have to switch to the web driver as well, otherwise it won't load.

 

[ngollop]

Might seem like a dumb question, but are you using the nVidia web drivers or the OS X driver?

M pretty sure that the web drivers is the one checked and activated, and yet, nothing. Im really confused. For me it should work like this.

 

[pastrychef]

M pretty sure that the web drivers is the one checked and activated, and yet, nothing. Im really confused. For me it should work like this.

Have you tried to disable the built-in drivers from Terminal?

 

[ngollop]

I am not a Nvidia guy, but AFAIK "installed" is not good enough, you have to switch to the web driver as well, otherwise it won't load.

Yes i know, thats what I did. I switched to the web drivers option and made sure it was enebled. Still nothing

 

[ngollop]

Have you tried to disable the built-in drivers from Terminal?

No I havent, how could I do that and how would this work better than just asking the Drivers Manager to load the web drivers instead?

 

[pastrychef]

It shouldn't be any better than using the driver manager, but since you are using a video card without EFI boot screens, I am would be more confident with using Terminal to do the switch.

Please refer to step #24 of the first post here.

 

[ngollop]

It shouldn't be any better than using the driver manager, but since you are using a video card without EFI boot screens, I am would be more confident with using Terminal to do the switch.

Please refer to step #24 of the first post here.

I have been reading a lot about this step, but did not manage to get it working. How should I do it since I plug in my HD and the screen is black? Could I boot my HD with my mac book as a screen and do it from there? Should I just open the terminal and type in this command? I did this once, it asked for a password and since I had none, I did not insert and It kept returning an error

 

[pastrychef]

What do you mean by "plug in your HD"? Are you using an external hard drive?

You can't use your MacBook as a monitor.

When Terminal asks for a password, it is referring to your user password. You can change it in System Preferences/Users & Groups



The easiest way to do it would probably be to:

1. Plug in old video card and pull out your GTX 970.
2. Boot in to OS X.
3. Launch Terminal.
4. Enter the two commands exactly as show in step #24 in the Nvidia video cards sticky. (enter password as needed)
5. Reboot.
6. Shut down.
7. Swap out your old video card for the GTX 970.
8. Boot in to OS X.

 

[ngollop]

What do you mean by "plug in your HD"? Are you using an external hard drive?

You can't use your MacBook as a monitor.

When Terminal asks for a password, it is referring to your user password. You can change it in System Preferences/Users & Groups



The easiest way to do it would probably be to:

1. Plug in old video card and pull out your GTX 970.
2. Boot in to OS X.
3. Launch Terminal.
4. Enter the two commands exactly as show in step #24 in the Nvidia video cards sticky. (enter password as needed)
5. Reboot.
6. Shut down.
7. Swap out your old video card for the GTX 970.
8. Boot in to OS X.

I have a drawr in which i insert my hard drive and vonnect it via usb to my mac book, change the boot drive through system preferences and am able to load my hd on my mac book. I no longer have the old working card so this would be the only way to reach my mac pro osx (through my mac book). After loading it this way, i open terminal and type in these commands, reboot, put my hd back in my mac pro and boom? It works?

 

[ngollop]

I have a drawr in which i insert my hard drive and vonnect it via usb to my mac book, change the boot drive through system preferences and am able to load my hd on my mac book. I no longer have the old working card so this would be the only way to reach my mac pro osx (through my mac book). After loading it this way, i open terminal and type in these commands, reboot, put my hd back in my mac pro and boom? It works?

What do you mean by "plug in your HD"? Are you using an external hard drive?

You can't use your MacBook as a monitor.

When Terminal asks for a password, it is referring to your user password. You can change it in System Preferences/Users & Groups



The easiest way to do it would probably be to:

1. Plug in old video card and pull out your GTX 970.
2. Boot in to OS X.
3. Launch Terminal.
4. Enter the two commands exactly as show in step #24 in the Nvidia video cards sticky. (enter password as needed)
5. Reboot.
6. Shut down.
7. Swap out your old video card for the GTX 970.
8. Boot in to OS X.

By the way, i already managed to install the latest 10.10.4 drivers on my mac pro hd (the one im connecting to my mac book as an "external drive"), using the FPE tool apple provides. Seems to me that i am very close to a solution...