MP 1,1-5,1 FIXED - Help Needed - RX580 Hangs on Boot (cMP5,1)

[tsialex]

@tsialex - thanks I found them.

I am having a heck of a time restoring to a USB stick. I finally got the OS partition restored and ran the tests. Every test passed except for the Airport module (I have replaced mine) with the GT120 installed so no hardware issues with AHT or the OS portion of ASD. I haven't been able to restore the EFI portion - keep having problems with the "disk being busy" and not unmounting.

In any event I'm fairly certain that my hardware is OK so I would suspect something with the RX 580 I have though it works fine in Windows and with Safe Mode.

I don't know if you or anyone else has other thoughts besides trying another GPU.

Thanks

Maybe it's really a mining card with incorrect firmware, very weird that the VRAM from AboutMyMac is completely wrong, never saw that before. There is also a possibility that the heatsink is not from this card and the label with the ID is incorrect for this PCB, not unexpected with mining rigs when they take the heatsink from one dead card and install on another one. Maybe you can remove the heatsink and double check the manufacturer of the VRAM to be sure about the firmware.

Did you flashed both RX 580s?

 

[sfalatko]

Maybe it's really a mining card with incorrect firmware, very weird that the VRAM from AboutMyMac is completely wrong, never saw that before. There is also a possibility that the heatsink is not from this card and the label with the ID is incorrect for this PCB, not unexpected with mining rigs when they take the heatsink from one dead card and install on another one. Maybe you can remove the heatsink and double check the manufacturer of the VRAM to be sure about the firmware.

Did you flashed both RX 580s?

I did - they acted the same. I have to assume that they both were mining cards.

The About My Mac was from Safe Mode boot - would it report correctly?

I can remove the heatsink - I assume when I do that I'll need to reapply the thermal paste - correct?

 

[sfalatko]

@tsialex - I ordered some thermal paste and I should be able to remove the heatsink and check the memory soon. Looking at the card I doubt it has been removed before - there are a few stickers on the heatsink screws that look like they may be factory applied.

 

[sfalatko]

@tsialex - well I couldn't stand it so took the heat sink off. It has Hynix memory though it is marked H5GC8H24AJR.

All the RX 580 VBIOS on TECHPOWERUP reference H5GQ8H24MJR for Hynix memory. Not sure what else might give me insight into what the card is - a broken RX 580 or something else.

Also - it does seem to work fine in Windows but only in Safe Mode on macOS but then reports that very strange memory size.

 

[tsialex]

@tsialex - well I couldn't stand it so took the heat sink off. It has Hynix memory though it is marked H5GC8H24AJR.

All the RX 580 VBIOS on TECHPOWERUP reference H5GQ8H24MJR for Hynix memory. Not sure what else might give me insight into what the card is - a broken RX 580 or something else.

Also - it does seem to work fine in Windows but only in Safe Mode on macOS but then reports that very strange memory size.

Size is the same for both memory chips, but only checking the data sheet to know the diffs.

Did you tested with another Mac Pro to confirm that is not something weird with yours?

 

[sfalatko]

Size is the same for both memory chips, but only checking the data sheet to know the diffs.

Did you tested with another Mac Pro to confirm that is not something weird with yours?

@tsialex - unfortunately I don't have another cMP available to test with. Perhaps when I get the heatsink reinstalled I'll try it in slot 2 to see if I get a different result.

I admit - while I'm still learning a lot - nothing much makes sense as to what might be happening but as you have commented elsewhere without some way to verify either my cMP or the RX 580 are known good I have too many variables to figure it out....

 

[sfalatko]

@tsialex - so I was able to pick up another RX 580 that wasn't used for mining and it works in my cMP.

For the rest of the story - I then took that working RX 580, backed up the ROM and flashed it with the Apple Dev Kit ROM - and it wouldn't work. I reflashed it with the ROM it came with and it is working.

The ROM it came with (113-4E353BU-O6Q) is listed on TECHPOWERUP as supporting they type of HYNIX memory on my "non working" card. So I flashed this rom to my non working card and it now works in macOS. I did try some different roms and to modify the part number in the working rom to spoof macOS for the ORINCO frame buffer but did not have success. Thank goodness for the dual bios card.

I appreciate your help - good idea to check the ROM chips.