Windows no longer booting after GPU flash

[P4in]

Hello everyone,

I’m hoping someone can help. I flashed my r9 280x which was working fine in both macOS and Win 10 beforehand just without a boot screen.

The flash seems to have gone fine as I now get a boot screen and it’s detected in MacOS. The issue is, Windows no longer boots. It shows the loading up icon but then goes to a black screen and restarts.

Both OS are on separate drives. If I leave both in it will automatically try and boot Windows. Even if I hold alt I don’t get the option.

If I just leave MacOS drive in it boots fine.

I installed Win 10 via efi using a DVD.

Can anyone recommend anything to try? It would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Edit: this GPU has dual Bios switch too, I switched back to the other bios which was not flashed and it boots into Windows fine.

Maybe I need to reinstall Windows again with the flashes firmware selected. Maybe to seeing a different identifier for the card and just causes a none boot. (Or maybe I am totally wrong and sounding stupid)

 

[flyinmac]

I’d try switching drives around to be sure. In my system, Windows likes drive bay 1.

But otherwise, I’d suspect that something went wrong in the flash, or that the code in the flash is incomplete.

Windows can boot with Macintosh video cards. In fact, I have even run Apple original video cards in Dell computers booting Windows 10. Neither the Dells or Windows 10 appear to care that the Apple code is on the card. Boots and runs just like a PC Card.

 

[P4in]

I’d try switching drives around to be sure. In my system, Windows likes drive bay 1.

But otherwise, I’d suspect that something went wrong in the flash, or that the code in the flash is incomplete.

Windows can boot with Macintosh video cards. In fact, I have even run Apple original video cards in Dell computers booting Windows 10. Neither the Dells or Windows 10 appear to care that the Apple code is on the card. Boots and runs just like a PC Card.

Thanks for the reply. I have just tried going into Windows on the old firmware, uninstalled the GPU drivers, switched firmware back to the flashed and it booted into the desktop! Might just be a flook though. If the issue returns I will try your suggestion. Much appreciated.


Edit: Ok soon as I installed the drivers again and restarted the issue returned and a blue screen appeared.

Also tried switching bays with the same issue.

Going to try a reinstall. Will update the thread if it makes any difference. (Hopefully helps someone somewhere)

 

[flyinmac]

Thanks for the reply. I have just tried going into Windows on the old firmware, uninstalled the GPU drivers, switched firmware back to the flashed and it booted into the desktop! Might just be a flook though. If the issue returns I will try your suggestion. Much appreciated.

Glad you got it working. Could have been a glitch. Or could’ve been that the reflash completed better than the first time. But if it’s working, then I’d call it good.

 

[h9826790]

R9 280X Mac EFI is NOT compatible with Windows UEFI mode, or with Crossfire activated.

If you want dual boot with boot screen, you should install Windows in Legacy mode.

Simple hold C to boot from the DVD, and follow the on screen instruction. That should install Windows in legacy mode.
[doublepost=1524941432][/doublepost]I understand people want the new thing. But TBH, using cMP with UEFI Windows isn't that good. There are few very annoying things. e.g. R9 280X Mac EFI incompatible, or unable to select as "next boot drive" in MacOS system preference. It boot faster, may work better, but for most general users. It usually cause trouble more than benefit (on cMP), unless you know absolutely what you are doing, and you know how to deal with it.

 

[P4in]

R9 280X Mac EFI is NOT compatible with Windows UEFI mode, or with Crossfire activated.

If you want dual boot with boot screen, you should install Windows in Legacy mode.

Simple hold C to boot from the DVD, and follow the on screen instruction. That should install Windows in legacy mode.
[doublepost=1524941432][/doublepost]I understand people want the new thing. But TBH, using cMP with UEFI Windows isn't that good. There are few very annoying things. e.g. R9 280X Mac EFI incompatible, or unable to select as "next boot drive" in MacOS system preference. It boot faster, may work better, but for most general users. It usually cause trouble more than benefit (on cMP), unless you know absolutely what you are doing, and you know how to deal with it.

Ahh that makes sense. (And is disappointing) but thanks for clearing it up. The only reason I wanted to use EFI is because I read that you need it if you want to use a ACHI drive for booting. I would like to use an ACHI drive in the future. But I guess you can’t have it both ways.

 

[h9826790]

Ahh that makes sense. (And is disappointing) but thanks for clearing it up. The only reason I wanted to use EFI is because I read that you need it if you want to use a ACHI drive for booting. I would like to use an ACHI drive in the future. But I guess you can’t have it both ways.

You mean boot from PCIe AHCI SSD?

 

[P4in]

You mean boot from PCIe AHCI SSD?

Yeah, I was planing to get a PCIE adapter card to put a ACHI drive onto later on.

 

[owbp]

What @h9826790 said, Tahiti's EFI ROM is a no-no for Windows UEFI installation.

You could leave things as they are, flick the switch to PC UEFI BIOS that you used before flashing and revert to Mac EFI ROM only when you need bootscreens.

 

[h9826790]

Yeah, I was planing to get a PCIE adapter card to put a ACHI drive onto later on.

That's even more trouble. PCIe SSD is considered external on the cMP. And you can't just install Windows to an external drive. More work around will be required.

TBH, Just for OS / boot / apps loading etc. Using normal SATA SSD, plug that into the native SATA II port inside the cMP, running Windows in Legacy mode... is the most trouble free way to running Windows 10 on cMP.

 

[P4in]

That's even more trouble. PCIe SSD is considered external on the cMP. And you can't just install Windows to an external drive. More work around will be required.

TBH, Just for OS / boot / apps loading etc. Using normal SATA SSD, plug that into the native SATA II port inside the cMP, running Windows in Legacy mode... is the most trouble free way to running Windows 10 on cMP.

Would that also be the same for a PCIE 2.5 SATA 3 adapter board where you can plug the SSD directly onto the board? (Just trying to think of ways to get the max speed possible on this older tech)

 

[h9826790]

Would that also be the same for a PCIE 2.5 SATA 3 adapter board where you can plug the SSD directly onto the board? (Just trying to think of ways to get the max speed possible on this older tech)

AFAIK, Yes and No.

It seems the Apricorn Velocity card can boot Windows, but still not 100% OOTB.

And most other SATA III card simply not support booting Windows on cMP.

Anyway, there won't be any noticeable difference for running OS. Of course, when you copying files to other high speed SSD, then SATA II connection obviously will be the bottleneck.

 

[P4in]

Thank you very much for the assistance. This community is awesome. I am now installed with legacy windows 10 and can use the boot screen.

Only issue now is...if my GPU is set to the flashed Bios, it can’t do anything in 3D in Windows for some reason. Itl either crash or nothing will happen if I load anything with 3D elements to it.

Edit: I think il just have to use the card without the flashed firmware and sacrifice the boot screen. I should be able to restart into each drive as long as I get into any OS right?

 

[h9826790]

Thank you very much for the assistance. This community is awesome. I am now installed with legacy windows 10 and can use the boot screen.

Only issue now is...if my GPU is set to the flashed Bios, it can’t do anything in 3D in Windows for some reason. Itl either crash or nothing will happen if I load anything with 3D elements to it.

Edit: I think il just have to use the card without the flashed firmware and sacrifice the boot screen. I should be able to restart into each drive as long as I get into any OS right?

Did you create the Mac EFI BIOS by yourself? Your symptom looks like that you flash a wrong BIOS to the card.

 

[P4in]

Nope, I used the Efi Bios from this post:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...pci-system-information.1808938/#post-20207022

My card is the exact same one so I thought this would work fine.

Edit: Alright I got a little further with the issue. I uninstalled all AMD software and the driver from Device Manager. I then uninstalled all the redistro packs. I unplugged the WiFi usb so that Windows wouldn’t automatically try and locate a driver. When I restart everything was fine but if I power off completely and then start up the issue comes back.