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Flashed 7970 Hosed my 3,1

M

mdindestin

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
38
3
Northwest Florida
Installed a used flashed 7970 from e-bay (not from MacVideoCard). It booted up OK, but it started blinking after playing a high def video for a few minutes.

I checked the system and noticed only two of the six memory modules were recognized putting the system down to just 4 GBs.

I shut down and reseated the ram. When I try to power back up, I got a black screen and a blinking power light.

After putting the 8800 back in, I still have a black screen, but also have the video card fan humming.

Would appreciate any thoughts or recommendations.
 
mdindestin said:
Installed a used flashed 7970 from e-bay (not from MacVideoCard). It booted up OK, but it started blinking after playing a high def video for a few minutes.

I checked the system and noticed only two of the six memory modules were recognized putting the system down to just 4 GBs.

I shut down and reseated the ram. When I try to power back up, I got a black screen and a blinking power light.

After putting the 8800 back in, I still have a black screen, but also have the video card fan humming.

Would appreciate any thoughts or recommendations.
Click to expand...

If all memory isn't showing up it usually means CPU and heatsink aren't installed correctly.
 
mdindestin said:
I noticed you're saying CPU and not GPU.

I never had the black screen or memory not being recognized before the graphics card was installed.
Click to expand...

It could be both issues happening to you at the same time. A GPU really shouldn't have any effect on your system memory not showing up.

Before you do anything. Shut down the computer. Unplug the power cable. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds. Install your default GPU. Then plug the power cable back in, switch it on and reset the PRAM. If there is no hardware problem hopefully your system will reset.
 
Reseating the ram again got it to reboot. It still shows only 4 GB of ram, but it's working.

I reset the PRAM.

Diagnostics says it has a memory failure on DIMM 1 on Riser A.

Here's how the memory slots are configured:

Riser A (Top):
1 Hynex 1GB (Red light on)
2 Hynix 1 GB
3 OWC 2 GB (Red light on)
4 OWC 2 GB

Riser B (Bottom):
1 Empty
2 Empty
3 OWC 2 GB
4 OWC 2 GB
 
Thanks, I agree. I'm also going to pick up 32 GBs of 677 Mhz memory from a local computer shop for $80 and start fresh and see what happens. I've been wanting to do this anyway.
 
There are not many alternatives to this. Usually it should work right away when installing the card.
 
I won't recommend anyone to get a flashed card from an unknown source. It's just worse than a normal PC Card.

For a normal PC Card (e.g. 7950), we know they work OOTB, but just no boot screen. For a poorly flashed card, anything can happen and there is almost no way for us to help you if anything goes wrong.

Anyway, what do you mean by booting with bad results? No screen or glitches?
 
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h9826790 said:
I won't recommend anyone to get a flashed card from an unknown source. It's just worse than a normal PC Card.

For a normal PC Card (e.g. 7950), we know they work OOTB, but just no boot screen. For a poorly flashed card, anything can happen and there is almost no way for us to help you if anything goes wrong.

Anyway, what do you mean by booting with bad results? No screen or glitches?
Click to expand...

I'm the OP that bought the 7970 that worked for a few minutes before I started getting memory errors of all things. I suppose it could be coincidence, but seems strange.

I went to MacVidCards website, but he didn't have any 7950s in stock.
 
1) how you power the 7970?

2) you've mentioned about the RAM problem? Is it fixed? Is it possible that the 7970 actually works but because of the RAM problem make it looks bad?

3) if the 7970 is not here any more, then forget about it, what do you mean by bad booting result from the 7950?

4) is the 7950 a dual 6pin card or a 6+8 config? Do you power it correctly?

5) there is no need to go for MVC to get a flashed 7950, there are quite a few post here discuss how to do it (the latest one is about how to flash a R9 280X, which is the same card as the 7970). It's very straight forward and fool proof. TBO, I prefer MVC spend his time on making some real high end GPU (e.g. Titan X) or flash the R9 nano for Mac, rather than spend time on flashing the old 7950 to put on his store which virtually everyone can do on their computer with almost zero knowledge about EFI.
 
h9826790 said:
1) how you power the 7970?

2) you've mentioned about the RAM problem? Is it fixed? Is it possible that the 7970 actually works but because of the RAM problem make it looks bad?

3) if the 7970 is not here any more, then forget about it, what do you mean by bad booting result from the 7950?

4) is the 7950 a dual 6pin card or a 6+8 config? Do you power it correctly?

5) there is no need to go for MVC to get a flashed 7950, there are quite a few post here discuss how to do it (the latest one is about how to flash a R9 280X, which is the same card as the 7970). It's very straight forward and fool proof. TBO, I prefer MVC spend his time on making some real high end GPU (e.g. Titan X) or flash the R9 nano for Mac, rather than spend time on flashing the old 7950 to put on his store which virtually everyone can do on their computer with almost zero knowledge about EFI.
Click to expand...

The 7970 came with two cords, an 8 to 6 pin and a 6 pin to 6pin. The 7950 has a dual 6 pin configuration.

The ram problem is fixed since I replaced all the ram. I was wanting to upgrade anyway.

Interesting comments on the R9 280X. Has it been thoroughly tested on a 3,1?

Until I get a 5K 27" iMac in a year or so, I just want to edit videos in FCPX with an adequate Open GL card and not have to be an IT guy.

I will test the 7950 for the first time this weekend.
 
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