GeForce 9800 fan startup problem

[littleghost]

I've got a 2006 Intel Dual Core Mac Pro 1,1. A few years back the ATI Radeon card (1900?) overheated and fried it before the warnings on it came out. About that time I had just gotten a tablet computer and so I used that as a replacement while I figured out what to do with the mac pro. I eventually got the memory recovered, a new HD and graphics card.

I've been using it now without problems for 6 months to a year. All of a sudden the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT is loudly ramping up the fan speed on startup. The first time, I panicked, shutdown the computer and looked for extra dust or anything in the fan. Started it back up and no extra speed or noises, I think everything's fixed. But now anytime its been off for a bit it dangerously ramps up the fan speed at startup and then after a shutdown and restart, it's fine.

I've seen a bunch of posts/issues with the 9800 in this forum and elsewhere, but no one seems to have my exact problem and the fan sounds worse almost everytime. I'm worried because one post said the 9800 GT wouldn't work with my computer, even though it has for awhile and the system profiler actually says it's a 8800 GT, not a 9800. Is there a driver patch or some way to cap the speed on startup everytime? I'm really worried and I've spent too much on this comp from a bad graphic card already.

Mac Pro 1,1
OSX 10.6.8
2 x 2.66 Dual-Core Intel Xeon

EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
--what the system profiler says it is:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
512 MB
0x0602

I have no idea how long it's thought it has the 8800 card.

 

[derbothaus]

If I remember right the 9800GTX is a SLI bridged dual PCB GPU, no?
It IS 2x 8800GT's. OS X will only ever use 1 GPU as it does not support SLI external or internal bridge. So System profiler sounds correct. And if you don't game in Windows, yes, you spent too much money and could have just got a single 8800. I had a 9800 in my Conroe 2.93GHz based Game PC but swapped it for GTX 280 when it came out as it was more stable.

 

[MacVidCards]

9800GT is just a rename of 8800GT

If someone has flashed it to run as Mac EFI 8800GT that could be cause of fan issue

G92a (Mac 8800GT and SOME 9800GT) and G92b (later 9800GT and 9800GTX and GTS250) are just slightly different chips and primary difference for flashing is that fan speed control is different.

If this is issue, you might be better off to flash it back with ORIGINAL 9800GT bios and just use Nvidia "magic" drivers. If you don't have original BIOS, don't guess.

 

[derbothaus]

Ah, yes. I was thinking of the 9800GX2. Nvidia went crazy with G92 models around that time.

 

[littleghost]

9800GT is just a rename of 8800GT

If someone has flashed it to run as Mac EFI 8800GT that could be cause of fan issue

G92a (Mac 8800GT and SOME 9800GT) and G92b (later 9800GT and 9800GTX and GTS250) are just slightly different chips and primary difference for flashing is that fan speed control is different.

If this is issue, you might be better off to flash it back with ORIGINAL 9800GT bios and just use Nvidia "magic" drivers. If you don't have original BIOS, don't guess.

So is it a question of finding the BIOS, or knowing ahead of time what the BIOS was? Because I definitely don't know what it was. Am I screwed then? Because I'd think that the fact it rights itself on the second startup every time would be something I could work from, but I've no idea how.

 

[MacVidCards]

So is it a question of finding the BIOS, or knowing ahead of time what the BIOS was? Because I definitely don't know what it was. Am I screwed then? Because I'd think that the fact it rights itself on the second startup every time would be something I could work from, but I've no idea how.

Try putting it to sleep and waking back up. With some GTX265s that works.

But if you don't have original BIOS, don't start guessing.

 

[littleghost]

Try putting it to sleep and waking back up. With some GTX265s that works.

But if you don't have original BIOS, don't start guessing.

Shutting it down and restarting works for resetting the fan temporarily. But the next time it starts up after the reset, it goes right back to the runaway speed. And that's only a temporary fix at best; because while it might be my imagination, the runaway speed seems to be getting worse each time. I'm worried that either I'm doing cumulative damage to the motor, or that if I don't shutdown quick enough after startup, then I'll break it.
Is there maybe a non-hardware/firmware solution? Like disconnecting the fan and putting in separate fan that's not even hooked up to the card?

 

[666sheep]

Remove the card and see if there any stickers on backside. Most of 8800s and 9800s had BIOS version and product number stickers. Put these numbers in Google and try to identify your card. Then search techpowerup database for original PC ROM. Back up current ROM and flash with PC one. Then use "magic drivers" as MVC said.

...or put NV Silencer rev 5 on it.

 

[littleghost]

Remove the card and see if there any stickers on backside. Most of 8800s and 9800s had BIOS version and product number stickers. Put these numbers in Google and try to identify your card. Then search techpowerup database for original PC ROM. Back up current ROM and flash with PC one. Then use "magic drivers" as MVC said.

...or put NV Silencer rev 5 on it.

Well, I found a print on the card itself: N11071, but I think I may have found the cause and solution to the problem. I've recently had a sound jack hooked up in the front because that was the best solution to an audio problem for recording things on my screen. It looks like so far if I just keep it unplugged while starting up the fan acts normally. No idea why that would affect a graphics card, but so far I'm keeping my fingers crossed.