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Frequently Asked Questions About NVIDIA PC (non-EFI) Graphics Cards
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ALL 3rd-party SSDs work just fine with Yosemite El Capitain & any other version of OS X. That article refers to problems with using an unsupported hack to enable TRIM.
^^^^Gosh darnit we all know that TRIM is only enabled with Apple's trim command on OS 10.10.4 or later. On earlier 10.10 OS's TRIM is available, but with precautions, with the use of Trim Enabler or Disk Sensei. And there are versions of Trim Enabler that go all the way back to OS 10.6.8 which can be enabled with no precautions. Let's please stop issuing this foolish misinformation and get back on topic PLEASE!!!!!!!
Lou
Lou
Hello all,
I posted in a "sudden crash" thread before this. I hoped the random crash was related to the graphics card which ultimately failed.
i am at this stage now and for an hour or 2 have searched this FAQ thread.
Mac Pro 2008 3.1 El Capitan Asus GTX 970 Strix Hardware and OS have been tested with the repair shop card but not the 970, so assume all is good.
Now trying to boot at home with the 970 and I have no graphics, when booting normally it keeps rebooting. I boot CMD-S and still have no graphics. I agree with the Tweaky Mac post earlier.
Did I miss a middle step before I try Single-User Mode?
I posted in a "sudden crash" thread before this. I hoped the random crash was related to the graphics card which ultimately failed.
i am at this stage now and for an hour or 2 have searched this FAQ thread.
Mac Pro 2008 3.1 El Capitan Asus GTX 970 Strix Hardware and OS have been tested with the repair shop card but not the 970, so assume all is good.
Now trying to boot at home with the 970 and I have no graphics, when booting normally it keeps rebooting. I boot CMD-S and still have no graphics. I agree with the Tweaky Mac post earlier.
Did I miss a middle step before I try Single-User Mode?
Did you install the latest version of the nVidia web drivers for El Capitan? You will need the correct version of the drivers to match your version of El Cap (10.11, 10.11.1, 10.11.2).
No unfortunately, I'm in between. I can't see graphics to install or fix anything. I read there is a way to boot in single user mode for the purpose of entering a string, this would ignore nvidia graphics? This would force the graphic mode to EFI only. Problem I have not solved is this card has no EFI if I read the posts right. Maybe I totally misunderstood. Obviously I am flailing but hoped there was a command line approach I could try.
Thank you very much for the quick answer.
The only solution I've heard of is to set up screen sharing with another Mac, but that needed to be done beforehand - so that is a sort of post-mortem remark. Best bet still this point is to reinstall the old GPU with EFI, install the correct web drivers, select the Web Drivers as your graphics drivers, then you can shut down and install the 970 again.
Afaik You need to enter single user mode using a graphics card that will give you a boot screen. You can't use an unflashed card for that.
I thought you could get a boot screen if you connected the GPU to the monitor via VGA.
Not sure how it's supposed to accomplish that as it can't even speak with EFI and isn't even initialized before the drivers loads (the drivers basically bootstraps the card)
But how do you do anything in single user mode if you can't see what you are typing?
That's really the problem, you will be in single user mode but still have a black screen
Correct. Once you are in this situation with an unflashed card the only way out that I know of is to install the old card with EFI (i.e. your old 5770, 5870, GT120, etc.) so that you can get to the desktop and try to fix the problem.
I am not sure if I am right. Is the single user mode like terminal?
If you hit "a" there will be an "a", as long as you know the exact command need to be typed and entered. It's possible to do it blindly.
It's not easy, no confirmation from the screen, but as long as no mouse pointing action required, it's doable. Just like those guy typing password blindly (for their FileVault).
The biggest question is can we really fix that in single user mode? If yes, what is the command?
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Sure, that'd work but you have no way of knowing you actually succeeded getting into Single user mode so you could be typing away in vain
I have an unflashed GTX 980. I have a question when I'll update to El Capitan 10.11.3. The web driver won't be correct any more. What happens then? A black screen or continuous rebooting. If the first thing happens, I can solve it with screen sharing, but otherwise I would be in trouble. Can someone confirm that you only get a black screen after a system update?
Or should I choose the MacOS X driver and then update, then reboot and install the new webdriver with screen sharing?
Or should I choose the MacOS X driver and then update, then reboot and install the new webdriver with screen sharing?
You do not want to install the next OS update until nVidia releases new web drivers that are compatible with the new OS build number. Usually this takes a few days. You have to install the OS first, then the drivers. With an unflashed card you have to physically replace the card with a GPU with EFI to install the web drivers, then you can reinstall the 980.
If you update the OS without doing anything else, then you'll be stuck in a boot loop. In that event, the only solution would be to replace or remove your 980, then update web drivers, reinstall, etc.
To prevent all that trouble, you need to use the sudo nvram boot-args="nv_disable=1" command first, as described in the first post in this thread. Then you can screen share in, update web drivers, enter the sudo nvram boot-args="nvda_drv=1" command, and reboot. Do this correctly and you don't have to touch your hardware.
I described the process previously in this post. You might want to read through that thread.
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Isn't it easier then to select the Macos drivers in the Nvidia Driver Manager before updating and reselect with screensharing the NVidia Web driver after the system update and rebooting?
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