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Frequently Asked Questions About NVIDIA PC (non-EFI) Graphics Cards
- Thread starter Asgorath
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Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm having a hard time finding an answer. I have an old radeon 2600xt laying around that came with my old 3,1. How exactly does the boot screen work if I install both the old card and an unflashed card together? Will it just show up or do I have to move the monitor connection to the other card? Can I hook up through the 2600 and get the main card to do the heavy lifting or is there no way that will work?
My guess would be to have both cards connected to your monitor, then switch inputs based on what you need. For example, switch the monitor to DVI when you want to see boot screens and then switch it to HDMI/DP for when you're booted up and your driver is loaded.
Depends on your monitor. If you monitor autoswitches inputs, then you won't need to do it manually.
You aren't specifying what you mean by "heavy lifting". GPU work is generally done by the card that's connected to the monitor. The exception are GPU compute tasks, which will use GPU resources regardless of video output connection--for example FCPx will use both GPUs in the Mac Pro 6,1 for "heavy lifting" even though one of them is not connected to a display.
Did Apple deprecate support for using the X key on startup to force booting a MacOS partition or has APFS broken this functionality?
I'm certain this used to work but it doesn't seem to work on my Mac Pro now. Will a PRAM reset still send me into a boot loop?
I'm certain this used to work but it doesn't seem to work on my Mac Pro now. Will a PRAM reset still send me into a boot loop?
It's non-EFI graphics card, so I can't see the bootloader screen to see what I'm doing, unfortunately.
Not sure why, but the "X" key seems completely useless on the cMP. May be it only work for "Bootcamp installation" (Windows installed on a partition from the primary macOS boot drive), and we rarely do that on the cMP.
For PRAM reset, AFAIK, NO. But may be still OS / GPU dependent. In my case, non flashed GTX1080Ti with High Sierra is OK. The computer will still boot, but just need to re-enable web driver via remote control after PRAM reset.
Ah, thank you! I seem to remember the PRAM reset used to cause a boot loop due to something not playing nice with SIP, web drivers and 10.13.0. I've since disabled the nvram protection from SIP, so fingers crossed should work fine!
New Web Driver - Just Out:
https://images.nvidia.com/mac/pkg/387/WebDriver-387.10.10.10.30.106.pkg
Don't know what it does. Cuda working with the new driver.
Lou
https://images.nvidia.com/mac/pkg/387/WebDriver-387.10.10.10.30.106.pkg
Don't know what it does. Cuda working with the new driver.
Lou
A quick test shows the bug that causing glitches in FCPX preview in fixed. Not sure if the colour bug also fixed yet. But so far so good, super smooth.
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Everything looks fine with the 387.10.10.10.30.106 driver so far. No issues with GTX 1080 FE on MacPro 5,1 with 10.13.4 build 17E199 and CUDA version 387.178. No color issues, but was not running into color issues with previous driver.
No specific info in the release notes about the .106 driver:
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/133627/en-us
New in Release 387.10.10.10.30.106:
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/133627/en-us
New in Release 387.10.10.10.30.106:
- Graphics driver updated for macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 (17E199)
- Contains performance improvements and bug fixes for a wide range of applications.
- Includes NVIDIA Driver Manager preference pane.
- Includes BETA support for iMac and MacBook Pro systems with NVIDIA graphics
Do wish there were some legit release notes, but grateful that we even have working drivers.
Seems like the .106 driver is replacing the .103 driver and they've pulled the .103 references in the updater XML code. Not something they typically do for updates. Would assume it's fairly big bug fix. With the reports it fixed FCPX issues, does look like that is the case.
When they release multiple drivers for a single OS build number, they always replace the existing entry in the XML code from what I've seen. They only leave the old entry there when the OS build number changes, so that people using either OS build number will still get a driver from the auto-updater.
Is anyone else getting a DOS-like solid white "dot" in the upper left when shutting down Mac Pro with the latest NVIDIA web driver?
Haven't noticed it previously. It is not creating any actual issues with shutting down or preventing shut down from happening. Just holds on that for a few seconds until white power light on the 5,1 tower turns off. Does not show when powering back on or at any other time. Not noticing any other "issues" with the driver and not sure I'd even consider this an issue.
Not happening every single time. Seems to only happen if the machine runs for awhile (engaging GPU). If startup, let run for few minutes, then fairly quickly shutdown, it does not happen.
Haven't noticed it previously. It is not creating any actual issues with shutting down or preventing shut down from happening. Just holds on that for a few seconds until white power light on the 5,1 tower turns off. Does not show when powering back on or at any other time. Not noticing any other "issues" with the driver and not sure I'd even consider this an issue.
Not happening every single time. Seems to only happen if the machine runs for awhile (engaging GPU). If startup, let run for few minutes, then fairly quickly shutdown, it does not happen.
I am having exactly the same problem with the 387 drivers on a MacPro 5.1 with W3690 and 1080 Ti (non EFI). Had this with every 387 driver, thus i am running 378.10.10.10.25.106 for now.
Do you have SIP disabled? I have, could this be the problem?
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SIP is enabled and has been since one of the 10.13.2 security updates. Was basically required in order to install the corresponding NVIDIA web driver update at that time. Had to re-install the official GTX 680 Mac Edition for the updates around then.
Using a non-modified stock NVIDIA "branded" GTX 1080 Founders Edition.
Dual 3.46Ghz with 128GB RAM, MP51.0085.B00 boot ROM version (firmware update), 1.39f11 SMC.
Again, I would not say it's an actual problem or an issue right now. It is not causing any noticeable issues and is not preventing shutdown. Just something that I've observed with the latest 387.10.10.10.30.106. Did not notice this with the .103 driver previously.
Ah, OK. I have this at startup, so it's a major problem. The UI never comes up with 387 drivers. If it's only at shutdown for you, then of course this is not a problem.
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