Flashing R9 280X for boot screens/PCI System Information

[Earl Urley]

It's really just shocking how you spend good money on a (then) new card and when you look at it years later, the factory thermal grease looks like someone glopped it on literally with an ice cream scoop.

Also, I have the cooling unit from another MSI 280X in reserve, in case the fans burn out. It's actually from my first 280X, but I tried to remove that damn resistor for the full 5 GT speed and in doing so the card died somehow.

And then Apple comes along and resolves the issue with a firmware upgrade out of nowhere..

What's funny is that I'm running BOINC on a Mac Pro 5,1, hexacore CPU, Mojave 10.14.3, and the GPU BOINC work units take only 17 minutes to process.. on an 8-core iMac Pro running 10.14.3 with a Vega 64, the work units take 20 minutes to finish.. eh?! Somethings wrong with this picture, but it aint on the old 5,1's side.

 

[JulianGray]

Hey guys! i'm trying to get a msi 280x working on my 3,1 mac pro AT ALL. whenever I try it, I get no visual at all. Using a mini 6 pin pcie and mini 6 pin pci to 8 pin adapter for power right off the board.

Am I missing something? I just get a black screen. Completely unflashed. works great in my PC.

Mac is running mojave.

 

[Alex Sanders74]

Hey guys! i'm trying to get a msi 280x working on my 3,1 mac pro AT ALL. whenever I try it, I get no visual at all. Using a mini 6 pin pcie and mini 6 pin pci to 8 pin adapter for power right off the board.

Am I missing something? I just get a black screen. Completely unflashed. works great in my PC.

Mac is running mojave.

Which video port are you using? DVI would be my first choice. Also, what screen are you connecting to? Could be a combo of both....

 

[JulianGray]

I've tried using all the ports with a few different displays. I don't think it's a power issue, as the fans are spinning up, but I can't get any visual at all on any port/monitor configuration.

One thing to note, Obviously I have no way of telling whether or not I'm booting into mac OS because I have no boot screen. It may be stalling before getting into the operating system for all I know.

 

[tsialex]

Hey guys! i'm trying to get a msi 280x working on my 3,1 mac pro AT ALL. whenever I try it, I get no visual at all. Using a mini 6 pin pcie and mini 6 pin pci to 8 pin adapter for power right off the board.

Am I missing something? I just get a black screen. Completely unflashed. works great in my PC.

Mac is running mojave.

MP3,1 + any AMD GCN GPU + Mojave don't, and never will, work.

2008 Mac Pros don't have SSE4.1 instructions that AMD GCN GPU drivers since High Sierra are complied to use.

AMD GCN GPUs are anything newer than, and including, HD 7xxx.

 

[JulianGray]

MP3,1 + any AMD GCN GPU + Mojave don't, and never will, work.

2008 Mac Pros don't have SSE4.1 instructions that AMD GCN GPU drivers since High Sierra are complied to use.

AMD GCN GPUs are anything newer than, and including, HD 7xxx.

AH! good to know. Luckily it was just an extra card i've got lying around. was just trying to clarify. Trying to switch it to AMD because the current state of nvidia drivers ;(

 

[Homi2]

Hello,
I´m new her. I need some help please.
My System: MacPro 2012, 5.1, High Sierra 10.13.3 (an important Software for me does not support a later system), Gigabyte R9 280X Rev.2
The GPU is already flashed, I have Boot Screen, works with 3 Monitors, 5GT.

My Problem now: If I boot with windows (windows 8.1, Legacy install) everything works fine, but only when I use a second Grafikcard (HD2600XT) together with the R9 280X installed.
But if I try to boot windows only with the R9280X installed, it stocks before the LogIn window. (Boot with ALT, then select "EFI")

I tried al lot of things, also made new BootRoms. Nothing helped.

Is my problem the windows system? Or is it maybe an UEFI EFI incompatibility? Or another Rom?

Sorry for my bad english....
Could anybody help me?
Thanks

 

[startergo]

Hello,
I´m new her. I need some help please.
My System: MacPro 2012, 5.1, High Sierra 10.13.3 (an important Software for me does not support a later system), Gigabyte R9 280X Rev.2
The GPU is already flashed, I have Boot Screen, works with 3 Monitors, 5GT.

My Problem now: If I boot with windows (windows 8.1, Legacy install) everything works fine, but only when I use a second Grafikcard (HD2600XT) together with the R9 280X installed.
But if I try to boot windows only with the R9280X installed, it stocks before the LogIn window. (Boot with ALT, then select "EFI")

I tried al lot of things, also made new BootRoms. Nothing helped.

Is my problem the windows system? Or is it maybe an UEFI EFI incompatibility? Or another Rom?

Sorry for my bad english....
Could anybody help me?
Thanks

I don't quite understand what you do . You said Windows 8 is installed in legacy mode yet you say " boot with alt then select EFI".
Anyway if it Is an EFI Windows you might have issues with the driver. For me updating the driver to Microsoft basic display adapter worked . Also if it is EFI install then you should be using UEFI or EFI ROM to boot.

 

[Homi2]

If I try to boot windows (only R9 280X installed) this happens:
Switch on with ALT, I decide "EFI BOOT", then it ends in black screen, no login window.

 

[startergo]

If I try to boot windows (only R9 280X installed) this happens:
Switch on with ALT, I decide "EFI BOOT", then it ends in black screen, no login window.

If you can get to safe mode (normally 3 unsuccessful boots gives you the option to select safe mode) than you can change the driver. Or if you have 2 cards and can see the windows OS you can replace the driver .

 

[Homi2]

Ok, I did a clean install, a lot of time...
Now everything works perfect, 3 Monitors, OSX, Windows, Bootscreen...
Thank you

 

[startergo]

Ok, I did a clean install, a lot of time...
Now everything works perfect, 3 Monitors, OSX, Windows, Bootscreen...
Thank you

How did you install Windows in EFI or legacy mode?

 

[Homi2]

I did a clean windows 10 legacy install without Boot Camp-assistent on a separate ssd. During installation no other harddiscs installed.
Manual Bootcamp Drivers installer 5.1.5621.

My actual working System is 10.13.3.
I also installed for testing Mojave on another harddisc. Seems to work fine, also with the Gigaybyte R9 280X with 3 Monitors.
Boot Rom now 140.0.0

 

[dor1angray]

New here, all flashing instructions clear, bought 280x - first is from PowerColor (eBay seller sent me thinking I could not tell it from MSI lol, reported it to eBay and ended up keeping it since the seller did not want to pay the return shipping) and then another 280x now from MSI since I knew I needed an MSI for sure to have the boot screen. Both GPUs are used.

Have both of the power cords, running El Capitain on my Mac Pro 2.1 (2006 upgraded to 2.1), after inserting either of the cards into the 16x PCI, their fans are spinning, I hear the booting chime, but no video from either of them (inserted one at a time). If I insert the original GeForce GPU alongside, I see that OS X is booting but in the PCI utility is not showing the other card.

From what I understand, the MSI 280x should work out of the box, just without the boot screen, but neither of the cards is giving any video output from any of the ports, tried them all including DVI, miniDP, and HDMI.

Could it be that I was unfortunate enough to get a lemon with both eBay cards?.. I did not expect any luck with the one from PowerColor, but I was quite surprised not to get the MSI to work OOB. I don’t have Windows installed so cannot switch the OS in bootcamp to see if Windows sees the cards. No spare tower here as well to plug it in and see it the cards work at all.


Do I need to do something extra to my Mac Pro to have the card detected? Any specific BIOS/OS X system files manipulations? If not and it should really boot into a clean OS X El Capitain and recognize the card after getting to the password menu any ideas on how to diagnose the cards to see what’s wrong (without Windows) would be much appreciated.

 

[Macschrauber]

Try a linux thumb drive, should get a video signal out of it.

Also Freedos (what you need for flashing) gives simple text output.

10.7.5 and later must give video signal, if fully supported I cannot tell at the moment.

 

[tsialex]

New here, all flashing instructions clear, bought 280x - first is from PowerColor (eBay seller sent me thinking I could not tell it from MSI lol, reported it to eBay and ended up keeping it since the seller did not want to pay the return shipping) and then another 280x now from MSI since I knew I needed an MSI for sure to have the boot screen. Both GPUs are used.

Have both of the power cords, running El Capitain on my Mac Pro 2.1 (2006 upgraded to 2.1), after inserting either of the cards into the 16x PCI, their fans are spinning, I hear the booting chime, but no video from either of them (inserted one at a time). If I insert the original GeForce GPU alongside, I see that OS X is booting but in the PCI utility is not showing the other card.

From what I understand, the MSI 280x should work out of the box, just without the boot screen, but neither of the cards is giving any video output from any of the ports, tried them all including DVI, miniDP, and HDMI.

Could it be that I was unfortunate enough to get a lemon with both eBay cards?.. I did not expect any luck with the one from PowerColor, but I was quite surprised not to get the MSI to work OOB. I don’t have Windows installed so cannot switch the OS in bootcamp to see if Windows sees the cards. No spare tower here as well to plug it in and see it the cards work at all.


Do I need to do something extra to my Mac Pro to have the card detected? Any specific BIOS/OS X system files manipulations? If not and it should really boot into a clean OS X El Capitain and recognize the card after getting to the password menu any ideas on how to diagnose the cards to see what’s wrong (without Windows) would be much appreciated.

How you are powering the 280x? You need to connect at least two miniPCIe 6pin to PCIe 6pin to the GPU.

 

[dor1angray]

Try a linux thumb drive, should get a video signal out of it.

Also Freedos (what you need for flashing) gives simple text output.

10.7.5 and later must give video signal, if fully supported I cannot tell at the moment.

Do I create a bootable Freedos flash drive and Mac Pro will be able to boot from it? Though that due to the system limitations I could not use a thumb drive for any OS installation/booting (e.g. Windows for bootcamp cannot be installed from a Thumb Drive, it must be an installation DVD).

Also, how do I select it at the time of booting if the 280X GPU is already in and I am getting no video?

Thank you!
[doublepost=1550507859][/doublepost]

How you are powering the 280x? You need to connect at least two miniPCIe 6pin to PCIe 6pin to the GPU.

Yes I am using 2 cables from the MB: one is 6 to 8 pin and the other is 6 to 6 pin. Does the fact that both fans are starting to spin mean it is getting enough power and the cables are alright?

Also, does it matter which BIOS switch position is selected on the card?

Just trying to isolate the root cause of the issue and figure out if I was so unlucky to have both cards DOA or there is something else wrong outside the 280X (poor cables? any additional tweaks required to be made in the system files of El Capitain, etc.)

Thanks for your input!

 

[Macschrauber]

Do I create a bootable Freedos flash drive and Mac Pro will be able to boot from it? Though that due to the system limitations I could not use a thumb drive for any OS installation/booting (e.g. Windows for bootcamp cannot be installed from a Thumb Drive, it must be an installation DVD).

you can either burn the Freedos CD or - as I did - DD the image to a spare spinner and boot Freedos from Sata. Never got Freedos to boot from a USB thumb drive.

pull all bootable devices and after a while you will get the Freedos wall of text when the driver kicks in, same as with MacOs and GPUs without Mac EFI in Rom.

 

[Pentaxer]

My flashed 280x -> 7970 has boot screen only on DVI. Signal on DP and mDP appears only after OS boot.

Is it bug (wrong flashing)?


PS: it looks like that one.

 

[mediabunker]

Hi all,
After plenty of reading and trying several methods of flashing my MSI R9 280X 3gb, I've finally got it up and running (I ended up simply using a hex editor to add the 7970.rom efi section onto my stock rom image!).

At the beginning of this thread, changing the name of the card from 'AMD Radeon HD 7970' is discussed but it does not give any advice on how to edit the ROM file ourselves. I've done the obvious and changed the text in the EFI section to read 'AMD Radeon R9 280X' but it still shows the 7970 information.

Could anyone point me in the right direction? I've enclosed my working rom image for reference.

Many thanks to anyone who can help.

 

[owbp]

I've finally got it up and running (I ended up simply using a hex editor to add the 7970.rom efi section onto my stock rom image!).

The best and fastest advice i can give you is to take @Mr. Zarniwoop's ROM from first page and cut out already edited R9 280X EFI part, paste it into your ROM insted of 7970 one and run script to fix oprom (you dont need to run script if you're editing UEFI rom from your MSI card).

 

[mediabunker]

Excellent thought, why didn't I think of that!? Anyway, I've added in the EFI part as you say and it works a treat!! Many thanks.

 

[Auggie]

After successfully flashing an XFX 7970 using the Netkas script on its original ROM, for my second MacPro5,1 I decided to splurge on the newer 280X and roll my own EFI as well, but ATIWinFlash (under Win10) coughs up an error "SubsystemIDs mismatch".

I've read on other forums to either use ATIFlash or use CMD prompt with switches to manually invoke the utility in order to "override" that error.

It's a Club3D R9 280X (reference style design with single DVI, dual DP, and HDMI) and from several auctions on eBay offering the Mac-Flashed version (albeit for mucho dinero), it appears this should be Mac-EFI friendly.

Don't want to muck this up so awaiting advice...

 

[h9826790]

After successfully flashing an XFX 7970 using the Netkas script on its original ROM, for my second MacPro5,1 I decided to splurge on the newer 280X and roll my own EFI as well, but ATIWinFlash (under Win10) coughs up an error "SubsystemIDs mismatch".

I've read on other forums to either use ATIFlash or use CMD prompt with switches to manually invoke the utility in order to "override" that error.

It's a Club3D R9 280X (reference style design with single DVI, dual DP, and HDMI) and from several auctions on eBay offering the Mac-Flashed version (albeit for mucho dinero), it appears this should be Mac-EFI friendly.

Don't want to muck this up so awaiting advice...

Dump the ROM, make the EFI ROM from it. DO NOT cross flash another EFI ROM onto this card.

 

[Auggie]

Dump the ROM, make the EFI ROM from it. DO NOT cross flash another EFI ROM onto this card.

Umm... Ya, that's exactly what I said I did: rolled my own using the Netkas script on its original ROM (the script simply copying over the Mac EFI to the original ROM, at least that's what I understand it does). But ATIWinFlash coughs up that error.

Didn't use anyone else's ROM, nor did I use the ROM from my XFX 7970, period. I used the original ROM on the Club3D card, which is 66K in size (same as the XFX 7970 ROM size). Clear as mud?