Flashing R9 280X for boot screens/PCI System Information

[Jacob William Turnbill]

I just signed up for this site to THANK the OP. I have been hunting for confirmation that this GPU works with 2x Xeon quad-core 3.0 GHZ and 667 RAM models of the Mac Pro. This answers my question. Apologies for not answering the question, but I wanted to leave this here for the OP.

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

In general the AMD Radeon 7950/280 and 7970/280X cards work in all 2006-2010 Mac Pros once OS X initializes the desktop. They are not officially supported by either Apple nor AMD, and PC cards will not show up properly in System Information but otherwise work ok in Yosemite.

Flashing them with a Mac EFI firmware gives them boot screens and makes them recognized properly by System Information as a fully initialized PCIe card.

It's a similar AMD Tahiti-based GPU as a single FirePro D700 used in the 2013 Mac Pro.

 

[tpluth]

MacVidCards - a couple posts back I posted my original ROM image, which is 256kb. Can you tell me how to stitch the EFI into that? I'm using Mr. Zarniwoops ROM now, but it crashes the AMD driver in Windows.

 

[mnlth0]

In general the AMD Radeon 7950/280 and 7970/280X cards work in all 2006-2010 Mac Pros once OS X initializes the desktop. They are not officially supported by either Apple nor AMD, and PC cards will not show up properly in System Information but otherwise work ok in Yosemite.

Flashing them with a Mac EFI firmware gives them boot screens and makes them recognized properly by System Information as a fully initialized PCIe card.

It's a similar AMD Tahiti-based GPU as a single FirePro D700 used in the 2013 Mac Pro.

Just wanted to personally thank you again. Your ROM worked flawlessly on my MSI R9 280X 3G! Thank you.

 

[MacVidCards]

MacVidCards - a couple posts back I posted my original ROM image, which is 256kb. Can you tell me how to stitch the EFI into that? I'm using Mr. Zarniwoops ROM now, but it crashes the AMD driver in Windows.

It dumped a 256K image because you have a 256K chip.

Open it in a hex editor, right at 65536 is where break usually is. Both the EFi and the BIOS will begin with "55AA" followed by a byte that tells you the length in 512 byte blocks.

Anyhow, you only need the first 65536, then place the EFI posted here right behind it. You should end up with something that is 131072 long (128K).

Just be sure that the 256K rom you started with had a UEFI after the BIOS, otherwise the last rom indicator and checksum will be wrong.

 

[tpluth]

It dumped a 256K image because you have a 256K chip.

Open it in a hex editor, right at 65536 is where break usually is. Both the EFi and the BIOS will begin with "55AA" followed by a byte that tells you the length in 512 byte blocks.

Anyhow, you only need the first 65536, then place the EFI posted here right behind it. You should end up with something that is 131072 long (128K).

Just be sure that the 256K rom you started with had a UEFI after the BIOS, otherwise the last rom indicator and checksum will be wrong.

Works perfectly now. Now to remove R17...

 

[mnlth0]

Guys, I was hesitant to remove R17, but will do it now. I'm interested, apart from 5GT/s showing, can it affect having more than two monitors at the time?

Currently, my MSI R9 280X Gaming (same as Mr. Zarniwoop's and using his ROM) can only output signal only at two monitors at the time. I'm interested to know can this be because of R17 transistor?

My MSI R9 280X has DVI, HDMI and two mDP ports.

Cheers!

edit: all ports are functioning, but I can't more than two at the time connected at monitor and working : (

 

[tpluth]

That's strange that all four ports work but you can only use two at a time. I was able to use four simultaneously.

Just for grins, do a PRAM and SMC reset and see if anything changes.

 

[Fl0r!an]

At least on of the 3 displays has to be connected directly via Display Port or an active mDP to DVI/HDMI/VGA adapter, did you remember that?

 

[mnlth0]

At least on of the 3 displays has to be connected directly via Display Port or an active mDP to DVI/HDMI/VGA adapter, did you remember that?

No I did not, I didn't know that!!!111 I have DVI, HDMi and mDP to DVI adapter (but I doubt it's active)... so I'm betting that's the case! Thank you!

 

[mnlth0]

That's strange that all four ports work but you can only use two at a time. I was able to use four simultaneously.

Just for grins, do a PRAM and SMC reset and see if anything changes.

I'll try it, thank you! Looks like Fl0r!an explained why I'm having this issue!

 

[mnlth0]

At least on of the 3 displays has to be connected directly via Display Port or an active mDP to DVI/HDMI/VGA adapter, did you remember that?

Yup, that was it! Thanks : )

 

[tpluth]

I've been noticing that my Mac Pro is taking longer to wake from sleep since I put in the 280X. One or two screens come up immediately, but the third takes 30 seconds or so and the Bluetooth mouse is non-responsive until it does.

Anyone else seeing similar behavior?

 

[reddemonic]

i read the whole thread but i keep getting mixed answers. do i need external PSU or not to power up a single 280x? thanks guys!

 

[h9826790]

i read the whole thread but i keep getting mixed answers. do i need external PSU or not to power up a single 280x? thanks guys!

If your basic work flow is running furmark, and you don't do anything to share the power loading but just use a single 6 to 8pin adaptor. AFAIK, YES, you will need a external PSU, otherwise it may shut down your mac due to excess power draw on a single line.

However, for normal use, it seems the card can just stay within the power envelope. Also, you may use your own method to share the power loading between the 2 6pin source, or use the SATA port to supply power etc to eliminate the problem. Or even get a direct access the to PSU power line to draw the power. All these are the pure internal power solutions which good enough for the 280X.

 

[reddemonic]

sounds complicated. i don't want to damage my PSU. i think i'll stick to a 7950 HD for now.

 

[mamfo]

Works perfectly now. Now to remove R17...

Hello
which version of your card? It will be the same as mine? you can put your rom to download?
Tks.

 

[fiatlux]

Dumped the ROM of my ASUS DirectCU II TOP R9 280x. It is 256K in size like for others.

http://1drv.ms/1IZLPDN

The script seems to have worked but produced a cryptic error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "fixrom.py", line 110, in <module>
    op_rom.fix()
  File "fixrom.py", line 90, in fix
    self.data[-1] = chr(0x100 - sum)
ValueError: chr() arg not in range(256)

Should I go ahead and flash? I am not too used to hex editors on the Mac and would prefer not to brick my card.

BTW, I have two annoying issues with this R9 280x:

• occasional graphic glitches ("snow") that force me to sleep/wake from sleep to get rid of
• GPU acceleration slower than w/o GPU acceleration in Lightroom CC (could be a Lr bug)

Any chance that flashing would solve this?

 

[h9826790]

Don't flash it. The ROM is not ready yet if you get that error.

Where did you place and run the script?

 

[fiatlux]

I copied everything and ran the script in a "fixrom" folder on my DOS "ATIFLASH" volume. I realise I may not need to run the script from the DOS volume (where I dumped the ROM) but it should not make any difference, should it?

Here is the atiflash "all info" output, if helpful:

Adapter  0    (BN=05, DN=00, PCIID=67981002, SSID=30061043)
    Asic Family        :  Tahiti        
    Flash Type         :  M25P20/c    (256 KB)
    Product Name       :  6798HB.15.41.0.0.AS02
    Bios Config File   :  AS02.bin      
    Bios P/N           :  113-AD47800-101
    Bios Version       :  015.041.000.000.000000
    Bios Date          :  11/19/13 03:20
    ROM Image Type     :  Hybrid Images
    ROM Image Details  : 
        Image[0]: Size(65536 Bytes), Type(Legacy Image)
        Image[1]: Size(57856 Bytes), Type(EFI Image)

 

[fiatlux]

Ok, I did everything I could think of (using other R9 280x modified ROMs, manually patching 128k and 256k ROM dumps...) and never got anything working.

I conclude that either the ASUS R9 280X DC2T is special enough that the generic patching approach won't work (it seems to have a specific PCB layout) or that the 256k ROMs need some special treatment. I certainly could not find anybody reporting success with that specific card, or any card with a 256k ROM.

I put it back on sale and reverted to my old GT120 for the time being. Unsure whether I should go for a more generic HD7970 or R9 280X that would be easier to patch, or a more modern and efficient GTX 9xx (whith all the unknowns about future OS support).

 

[Fl0r!an]

I could have a look at the ROM later when I come home. I'd assume your problem is that parts of the (unsual large) UEFI are not overwritten by the Mac EFI thus causing problems.

However, your card isn't a really good choice for flashing because of it's custom port layout (2x DVI, DP, HDMI instead of 2xmDP, HDMI, DVI). 1 DVI port (and most likely the HDMI port, too) will be unusable after the flash.

 

[pierrox]

I got an MSI R9 280X Gaming 3GB video card, and it worked great out-of-the-box, but I wanted to get boot screens and get it recognized in the PCI section of System Information. I chose this card because it's not too expensive, and clearly others have had good compatibility experiences in Mac Pros with Mavericks and Yosemite.

Would like to say thanks for that post!
I read it all, as well as the Netkas link you put in the first page. I decided to get the same card as you as some research showed that it's a pretty popular one.

Couldn't find a 7970.efi here or there, and didn't want to flash my card directly with your ROM (even though it's the same card) as it has a slightly newer ROM. Ended up dumping my ROM and adding manually the EFI part from yours to the end of the file. Ran fixrom.py as it seemed compulsory (or at least recommended), took a deep breath, flashed the card with that new ROM. And boom, boot screen and card appearing as R9 280X in Sys Profiler. Neat.

Did some quick test, it seems the second Minidisplay port won't work. DVi fine, first MiniDisplay OK - monitor hooked via an Apple DVi adapter. Couldn't test the mDP as I don't have an adapter nor compatible monitor. Haven't tried to reboot or reset PRAM/SMC as it was getting late.
Wonder if I could find a different EFI that might fix that?

 

[Fl0r!an]

Normally both mDP should work. Attach your ROM dump here, then I'll have a look if your 2nd mDP has a odd port mapping.

 

[pierrox]

Normally both mDP should work. Attach your ROM dump here, then I'll have a look if your 2nd mDP has a odd port mapping.

Here it is.
This morning, I plugged the second Minidisplay (only one screen) and booted fine. Must have been something I did wrong last night.
Thanks for looking into the ROM see if there's room for improvement.