GTX680 4GB - ROM Image - Full Boot Screens, Full Clock Rates & PCI-E 2.0 - 5GT/s

[lukesky333]

i have both the 2gb and 4gb variant for mac os, how do i share it for you?

Do you have a newer ROM than that here in this thread?
Does your card work with Windows 10 on a MacPro?

Please share with wetransfer or anything similar...

Thanks for your support.

PS: I need the one for 2GB if its new.

 

[MacZoltan]

i have no clue how old are my files, 1 thing for sure both works on Mac OS, never tried windows 10 more then after the restart which is required after flashing a card if you dont want mishaps under Mac OS
zipped all files i have

 

[parisinvest]

dont install it, you will lost a lot of time to configure it and fix it, and reconfigure it refix it ..... endless, use mac as a mac, use a pc as a pc

 

[MacZoltan]

dont install it, you will lost a lot of time to configure it and fix it, and reconfigure it refix it ..... endless, use mac as a mac, use a pc as a pc

makes no sense what you describe, it takes w mins and the all eorks fine in mac os

 

[marpix]

This might be an odd question, and hopefully it has not already been posted somewhere (lots of GTX 680 post!)...

Anyway I am running Opencore cMP 5,1 Catalina...with a Mac Edition GTX 680...went to make a sandwich...came back and my monitor (using HDMI/LG tv) was showing no input...rebooted, not luck...PRAM reset, no luck...no luck until I installed the old GT 120 and small monitor...not a boot issue...pulled out the card to see what might be going on...does not register at all in Windows PC (with primary graphics card still in place)...

Pulled out my trusty CH341A flashrom USB...clamped up the chip...found the Giga rom...so I thought Great I can reflash it maybe something got tweaked...

Here's what I get when I read it:

Found GigaDevice flash chip "GD25Q20(B)" (256 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.




Here's my problem the chip reader keeps complaining the source chip and pretty much ANY rom I try to use are a size mismatch...the chip is coming back around 256 kB, and all the roms are smaller than that (218 seems the biggest)

Card reader gives me this message:

Error: Image size (218112 B) doesn't match the flash chip's size (262144 B)!




Is this an indication the bios chip on the GTX 680 Mac version died?

And down that road I have modified this CH341A to ONLY use 3.3v...(flashed my Titan Ridge Card with great success after doing the wire mod) are these graphics cards going to demand a 5v flash?

I'm a little lost here...I've ordered a new GPU card...but this GTX 680 was working fine, no issues, no glitch and then it just stopped...wondering in the desert...

Any advice or experienced perspective here would be welcome!

 

[tsialex]

This might be an odd question, and hopefully it has not already been posted somewhere (lots of GTX 680 post!)...

Anyway I am running Opencore cMP 5,1 Catalina...with a Mac Edition GTX 680...went to make a sandwich...came back and my monitor (using HDMI/LG tv) was showing no input...rebooted, not luck...PRAM reset, no luck...no luck until I installed the old GT 120 and small monitor...not a boot issue...pulled out the card to see what might be going on...does not register at all in Windows PC (with primary graphics card still in place)...

Pulled out my trusty CH341A flashrom USB...clamped up the chip...found the Giga rom...so I thought Great I can reflash it maybe something got tweaked...

Here's what I get when I read it:

Found GigaDevice flash chip "GD25Q20(B)" (256 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.




Here's my problem the chip reader keeps complaining the source chip and pretty much ANY rom I try to use are a size mismatch...the chip is coming back around 256 kB, and all the roms are smaller than that (218 seems the biggest)

Card reader gives me this message:

Error: Image size (218112 B) doesn't match the flash chip's size (262144 B)!




Is this an indication the bios chip on the GTX 680 Mac version died?

And down that road I have modified this CH341A to ONLY use 3.3v...(flashed my Titan Ridge Card with great success after doing the wire mod) are these graphics cards going to demand a 5v flash?

I'm a little lost here...I've ordered a new GPU card...but this GTX 680 was working fine, no issues, no glitch and then it just stopped...wondering in the desert...

Any advice or experienced perspective here would be welcome!

Remove it from the board and check if you can read it correctly, buy a new one, program it with the original firmware of your card and solder it back.

SPI flash of this age is common to fail with Mac Pro backplanes, but GPUs don't have the NVRAM writes, so it's a little unexpected for it to fail.

 

[marpix]

Thanks Alex, always appreciate your input...when you say "SPI flash of this age is common to fail with Mac Pro backplanes" is there a chance my backplane is getting worn out and glitchy here? I did recently also lose one of my RAM sticks...just started giving me an error, moved it to other slots, was definitely bad and did not read at all...

Or perhaps the PSU is getting wonky?

Thanks, stay safe!

 

[tsialex]

Thanks Alex, always appreciate your input...when you say "SPI flash of this age is common to fail with Mac Pro backplanes" is there a chance my backplane is getting worn out and glitchy here? I did recently also lose one of my RAM sticks...just started giving me an error, moved it to other slots, was definitely bad and did not read at all...

Or perhaps the PSU is getting wonky?

Thanks, stay safe!

SPI flash memories fail over time, you can't change that. The good news is that a brand new replacement is very cheap, less than $2, and it's very easy to solder with hot air. If the problem is the SPI, it's easy/cheap enough for a hobbyist to replace it.

It's a ~10 year old Mac, maintenance are become more frequently with some things needing to be replaced, but replacement parts are readily available and cheap enough to not worry about.

PSU dying can cause all sort of problems, usually starting with sleep problems. I wrote a post about it.

 

[tsialex]

Pulled out my trusty CH341A flashrom USB...clamped up the chip...found the Giga rom...so I thought Great I can reflash it maybe something got tweaked...

Here's what I get when I read it:

Found GigaDevice flash chip "GD25Q20(B)" (256 kB, SPI) on ch341a_spi.




Here's my problem the chip reader keeps complaining the source chip and pretty much ANY rom I try to use are a size mismatch...the chip is coming back around 256 kB, and all the roms are smaller than that (218 seems the biggest)

Card reader gives me this message:

Error: Image size (218112 B) doesn't match the flash chip's size (262144 B)!

You are using the piece of shi_ ch341a Windows software? Install flashrom, brew has it, and use it from now on.

 

[marpix]

You are using the piece of shi_ ch341a Windows software? Install flashrom, brew has it, and use it from now on.

That was from flashrom...using my macbookpro via usb...all of those messages were from flashrom, copied and pasted..

 

[tsialex]

That was from flashrom...using my macbookpro via usb...all of those messages were from flashrom, copied and pasted..

Ok, did you tried padding the images?

 

[st0kes]

That was from flashrom...using my macbookpro via usb...all of those messages were from flashrom, copied and pasted..

Hi marpix, did you get to the bottom of this? I've had a dead gtx680 that I took apart today to try and flash the bios with an external programmer and I'm getting exactly the same Flashrom error as you.

I bought the card on ebay and it arrived dead - I've already tried renewing the thermal paste but thought I'd try putting an original or Mac bios on it in case the previous owner bricked it.

Thanks

 

[marpix]

Not yet, Alex suggest padding the flash file and I've tried to google how to do that but so far I've had no luck...

Just out of curiosity what OS were you running when it broke?
[automerge]1588624971[/automerge]
By the way just gt the RX 560 everything is working again...definitely broken video card...I'll try re-flashing once i figure out how to pad the files...since this card is now something I can experiment on...I might even try to find a replacement bios chip and fo that route...

 

[st0kes]

Hi marpix, did you get to the bottom of this? I've had a dead gtx680 that I took apart today to try and flash the bios with an external programmer and I'm getting exactly the same Flashrom error as you.

I bought the card on ebay and it arrived dead - I've already tried renewing the thermal paste but thought I'd try putting an original or Mac bios on it in case the previous owner bricked it.

Thanks

I followed txialex's advice and padded the rom. Flashed ok. Now waiting for my thermal paste to arrive so I can try it out!

Command used in Linux was:

truncate -s 262144 GTX680-4GB-ROM.rom

Cheers.
[automerge]1588625594[/automerge]

Not yet, Alex suggest padding the flash file and I've tried to google how to do that but so far I've had no luck...

Just out of curiosity what OS were you running when it broke?
[automerge]1588624971[/automerge]
By the way just gt the RX 560 everything is working again...definitely broken video card...I'll try re-flashing once i figure out how to pad the files...since this card is now something I can experiment on...I might even try to find a replacement bios chip and fo that route...

The card arrived to me broken. I assume the previous owner was using Windows but he didn't seem very interested in giving me detail and claimed the card worked before he shipped it. I tried it in a PC and Mac before declaring it dead. It would get as far as the spinning dots loading screen in Win10 but would enter a reboot cycle before reaching the Windows login screen. In the Mac it did nothing at all. (actually it would enter a Chime, reboot, Chime, reboot cycle)

 

[vinaypundith]

I would like to add another card to the confirmed flashable cards list: the Galaxy GeForce GTX 680 4gb variant.
I just flashed one today, using all the instructions from this post (#95) of this same thread, and the card is now working great in my 2008 model Mac Pro 3,1 running MacOS 10.15.4 Catalina. It shows boot screens on the HDMI port and both the DVI ports. Haven't tested the DisplayPort because I don't have a monitor with that connection.
I flashed it using a non-UEFI Windows 8 desktop PC.
One issue, though, is that in MacOS, it was severely glitching out at first. This can be fixed by opening the Kepler BIOS Tweaker mentioned in the beginning of this thread, and adjusting the clock speeds and power limits to match what the card's original BIOS had.
One thing to note: DO NOT USE A DVI TO VGA ADAPTER!!!!!!! This caused me MANY days worth of headache, as when I connected my ViewSonic 21 inch 1080p monitor using a VGA cable to the GTX 680's DVI port via an adapter, the screen would go blank halfway through the MacOS bootup process. If there was an HDMI monitor connected, it would switch video output to that, and turn off the main display. However that issue didn't show up in OS 10.11 El Capitan, and only came when I tried to use 10.15 Catalina. Everything works well now (in Catalina too) now that I connected the screen directly through DVI.

 

[thenoobiestnoob]

Here is a step-by-step version for flashing a GTX680 card in Windows. There is also a FreeDOS method, but I don't know anything about that.

Do this at your own risk. Some exotic GTX680s cannot be flashed successfully (some can). Nearly all plain ones can. If you are concerned about it, pick one that's already been verified by someone else in this 4GB thread you're in right now, or this other thread for 2GB models: Confirmed and Possible Flashable GTX680 Models.

Notes:

• You have to boot Windows natively on your Mac Pro or on a PC (do not do this in a virtual machine like VMWare or Parallels).
• The GTX680 card must be installed in the computer. Don't have any other video cards installed at the same time.
• There is no point in flashing a GTX 680 for a Mac Pro 1,1 or 2,1. You will not gain boot screens.

1) Obtain these files:

• An older version of NVflash (5.134) that works with GTX 680 cards, from here.
• If you have a 2GB card, get the ROM for it here. This is from EVGA.
• If you have a 4GB card, get the ROM for it here. This is from Fl0r!an.

2) Unzip NVflash.zip.

3) Unzip the ROM file. For 2GB cards, the 2GB ROM filename ends in .BIN; rename it to end in .ROM. The 4GB ROM is fine.

4) Copy the above files to a single folder that is easily accessible from the command prompt. I suggest you make a new folder C:\mango. If you come up with your own folder name, don't use spaces in it. The folder should include the following files:

nvflash.exe (and related files from the ZIP)​

gtx680mac.rom (for 2GB cards)​

GTX680-4GB-ROM.rom (for 4GB cards)​

5) Open a command line window:

Click Start button, type CMD, and press Enter. (A command line window will open.)​

6) In the command line window, navigate to the folder with the files. To use my example, the command would be:

cd c:\mango

7) Save your existing firmware to a file for backup in case you want to flash the original back in. I recommend you don't use spaces in the filename.

nvflash -b Backup.rom

8) Flash in the new firmware. The following example shows the 4GB ROM file, but substitute the proper filename for your card:

nvflash -4 -5 -6 GTX680-4GB-ROM.rom

9) If it asks for confirmation, press yes. When it says to wait, wait.

10) After it is successful, reboot and you will see boot screens.

11) Celebrate.

-----------
If you want to flash your old ROM back in, use step 8 but replace the filename with your backup ROM filename (Backup.rom from the example) from step 7.
-----------
Note For Windows 10 EFI Users: In a couple of cases a GTX680 flashed with EFI ROM installed into a Mac Pro running Windows 10 installed in EFI mode may have very long boot times or may boot to a black screen. This does not happen if Windows 10 is installed in CSM/BIOS mode.

Words cannot express how grateful I am for your step by step. After hours and hours and hours of failed attempts and research... IT FINALLY WORKED! I've flashed 2x GTX 680 Classified 4GB cards back to back and they both boot seamlessly with boot screen and recovery and everything. I am beyond grateful. Thank you!

 

[ActionableMango]

Words cannot express how grateful I am for your step by step. After hours and hours and hours of failed attempts and research... IT FINALLY WORKED! I've flashed 2x GTX 680 Classified 4GB cards back to back and they both boot seamlessly with boot screen and recovery and everything. I am beyond grateful. Thank you!

Glad to help.

If you run into any problems, don't ask me.

 

[thenoobiestnoob]

What are getting at!? You make me nervous. So far no issues. In both my mac pro 3,1 and 5,1.

 

[ActionableMango]

What are getting at!? You make me nervous. So far no issues. In both my mac pro 3,1 and 5,1.

Sorry, it was just a joke. I don't have any Macs any more so I'm not around much. I used to scan through threads every day, mostly to learn but also to try to help people.

 

[thenoobiestnoob]

Ah, well you were doing God's work, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates it

 

[bigfoley]

I succesed to flash zotac Gtx 680 4gb, with 6+6pins. Thanks for providing this brilliant rom image

What exact rom did you use, I tried and have had no luck getting El Capitan to boot.

 

[bigfoley]

Got my Zotac 680 today. Initially when trying to flash the card then refused with PCI Subsystem Mismatch.

Crossed Fingers, did the nvglash -4 -5 -6 name_of_rom.rom file and forced on.

Had a bit of cursing initially but an SMC reset did the trick and have working boot screens and a work GPU card.

Now for the W3680 Processor Upgrade over the Weekend

Which OS were you running?

 

[Kakirman]

As promised, here's the Zotac ROM. Same EFI as before (so all ports working, but no injection in OS X), just built around the stock Zotac ROM file.

After 3 years, I revive the subject of Fl0r!an. I have tried many 680 rums. I even tried this rum. For some reason everything went wrong. Last hope I flashed the rum I found in another source. The card must have said enough now that the flag of rebellion has been raised. I installed it as a dual card of mac 1.1 (I also save it for mac pro 1.1. I put the zotac 680 in Slot 1 and my old original card in Slot 2. I started Windows by capturing images from the old original card. I immediately looked at the device manager. Yes, the card was there as hardware. I flashed the card from my last hoped backup. Bingo ... The card is back. I wrote this rum of Fl0r!an on the card again. After writing I installed it in mp 5.1. Our prayers were accepted.

Edit:
Test results:
Positive Results
1. All ports (view) active.
2. Boot screen is active.

Negative Results:
1. 2 second screen blackout when switching from boot screen to splash screen.
2. When the Power Mac wakes up when it goes into sleep mode, there is no picture. In this case I have to restart the machine (by holding down the power button).

As a result, my purpose of using this card was just to test the mojave version. I will install clean on the system. After installing both mojave and Windows ... Windows according to the instructions in the "https://crystalidea.com/blog/classic-mac-pro-and-windows" reference, I may no longer need the boot screen. So after doing all these, I will convert the GTX 680 to its original rom. I thank everyone.

 

[goodfidelity]

After 3 years, I revive the subject of Fl0r!an. I have tried many 680 rums. I even tried this rum. For some reason everything went wrong. Last hope I flashed the rum I found in another source. The card must have said enough now that the flag of rebellion has been raised. I installed it as a dual card of mac 1.1 (I also save it for mac pro 1.1. I put the zotac 680 in Slot 1 and my old original card in Slot 2. I started Windows by capturing images from the old original card. I immediately looked at the device manager. Yes, the card was there as hardware. I flashed the card from my last hoped backup. Bingo ... The card is back. I wrote this rum of Fl0r!an on the card again. After writing I installed it in mp 5.1. Our prayers were accepted.

Edit:
Test results:
Positive Results
1. All ports (view) active.
2. Boot screen is active.

Negative Results:
1. 2 second screen blackout when switching from boot screen to splash screen.
2. When the Power Mac wakes up when it goes into sleep mode, there is no picture. In this case I have to restart the machine (by holding down the power button).

As a result, my purpose of using this card was just to test the mojave version. I will install clean on the system. After installing both mojave and Windows ... Windows according to the instructions in the "https://crystalidea.com/blog/classic-mac-pro-and-windows" reference, I may no longer need the boot screen. So after doing all these, I will convert the GTX 680 to its original rom. I thank everyone.

Thanks for sharing all this info, it is very valuble for the users here.

Also i get ver thirsty after all this talk about rum.

//GF

 

[Grindhouse]

After scouring the web I located a modded rom file for the 4GB version of the card. Its obviously the rom from the 2GB Mac card, same one thats been posted here on Mac Rumors. Version number and date are identical. However its been modified to work with the 4GB card. So I flashed my cards, one at a time to be safe, and low and behold I have my beautiful EFI boot screens back. Didnt really know how much I missed them but so glad to have them back.

At this point theres only one issue. My stock speeds of 1085MHz GPU & 1150MHz Boost have now dropped to 1006MHz GPU & 1059MHz Boost. These are the stock 2GB reference card values. Boooo.

I spent several hours combing through the hex of the rom in an attempt to locate the errant bits. Although familiar with hacking hex its a process that is tedious and can make your head hurt and eyes cross after a few hours. So I took a break and turned to scouring the web again for Nvidia Rom Hacking information. I found on a German web site a wonderful win utility with GUI for editing the clock speeds and several other parameters of the BIOS imbedded in the rom. Kepler BIOS Tweaker v1.25.exe

Heres what I didnt know. Will both the BIOS section and EFI section of the rom need edits to restore my clock speeds? I figure probably yes. This was a Windows utility to edit the BIOS so I thought at best Id have my clock speeds restored in Windows but still have the slower clocks when in OS X.

I did the edit to both cards restoring my clocks to 1085MHz & 1150MHz and wrote the roms back to the cards. Rebooting to windows showed my clocks back to normal. Now booting to OS X was the surprise. The clocks are now back to the higher speeds in OS X as well! So the EFI needs no edit only the BIOS.

These cards are working awesome, full boot screens, full clock speeds & PCI-E 2.0. Just as if you walked in an Apple Store and pulled them off the shelf. (If you could)

Good Stuff..... Enjoy ! ROM and utilities attached below for the adventurous.

The rom is just as I found it with reference card speeds. But you can tweak it with the included utilities.

View attachment 420309 View attachment 420310

Hey, thanks a lot for the files!!
But how do you power your card?
I get the 'Please connect the power cable(s),...') error.
I use 2 original Apple 6 TO 6 pins power cables.
MacPro mid2010 and the EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified version. (It has 2x 8 pins connectors)

Cheers!