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GTX680 + Philips BDM4065UC 4K - 60Hz boot problem

N

nigelbb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 22, 2012
1,157
282
I just bought a Philips BDM4065UC 4K 40" Monitor & am using it with my Mac Pro 3,1 with a GTX680 flashed with Mac EFI. The problem I have is that I can only use Display Port 1.2 & thus 60Hz refresh if I have another monitor connected too. If I only have the 4K screen connected I get no display even if I plug in a regular mentor to a DVI port after I have booted (HP LP2465 1920 x 1080). If I have both the Philips 4K & HP LP2465 connected then all is well except if I have the 40" 4K monitor I don't need another 24" monitor & it doesn't leave much space on my desk.

If I set the monitor to Display Port 1.1 then I see the Apple boot screen & all is OK except I don't want a monitor with a 30Hz refresh as my main screen.

I have tried switching between OS X driver & Nvidia web drivers without any change in behaviour.

Is this a known problem or is there a workaround that I am missing?
 
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Only the Flashed Maxwell card can output 4K 60Hz boot screen on the cMP. In other words, there is no way that your 680 can do it.
 
I'm not bothered about having a boot screen as I have a GT120 & a ATI 2600 that I can install if necessary. What I want to know is whether there is anything that I can do to have 4K@60Hz without always having another monitor plugged into the GTX680. If that's the way it is then OK & my suspicion is that something funky is going on if I only have the 4K screen attached as I suspect it's hanging part way through before completing the boot sequence as when I hit the power button it switches off instantly instead of requiring me to press & hold.
 
Something is not right. I used my flashed GTX 680 with a 4K monitor for months and it worked fine.

When you boot with the Philips and the HP connected, is the Philips operating at 60Hz?
 
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pastrychef said:
Something is not right. I used my flashed GTX 680 with a 4K monitor for months and it worked fine.

When you boot with the Philips and the HP connected, is the Philips operating at 60Hz?
Click to expand...
Are you sure that you were running 4K@60Hz?

It's definitely operating at 60Hz if I set the monitor to DP 1.2 if it's left at the default DP 1.1 then it's only 30Hz

BTW This Philips BDM4065UC 4K 40" Monitor is amazingly good value for money. It has a variety of input (even VGA!) & comes with all the cables HDMI, DP, VGA, RS23, audio (printer manufacturers take note). It has a built in USB 3.0 hub. The screen quality is amazing.For the last 7-8 years I've been using a 30" 2560 x 1600 HP LP3065 so this screen seems like a logical upgrade with pretty much the same pixel density as the 30" but with more screen real estate. I got it at a bargain price for £506 delivered from Debenhams although I see the price today is £30 more.
 
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pastrychef said:
I'm positive I was at 60Hz.

You didn't answer my question. When you have the Philips and the HP connected, is the Philips operating at 60Hz?
Click to expand...
Sorry I thought that I did answer. The only way I can get the Philips 4K screen operating at 60Hz is if I boot up with the HP connected. If I boot without the HP connected by DVI then booting does not complete if the Philips is set to DP 1.2. If set to DP 1.1 it works at 30Hz with or without the HP 1920x1200 connected.
 
That's really weird. So, you've confirmed 60Hz works. You just can't get the computer to boot when it is set to DisplayPort 1.2 when it is the only monitor... Are there any error logs from the times it fails to boot?

Try this:

1. Connect the Philips to Mac Pro via HDMI.
2. Boot up.
3. Connect DisplayPort 1.2 cable.
4. Disconnect HDMI cable.

Does it work at 60Hz when you do this?
 
nigelbb said:
I just bought a Philips BDM4065UC 4K 40" Monitor & am using it with my Mac Pro 3,1 with a GTX680 flashed with Mac EFI. The problem I have is that I can only use Display Port 1.2 & thus 60Hz refresh if I have another monitor connected too. If I only have the 4K screen connected I get no display even if I plug in a regular mentor to a DVI port after I have booted (HP LP2465 1920 x 1080). If I have both the Philips 4K & HP LP2465 connected then all is well except if I have the 40" 4K monitor I don't need another 24" monitor & it doesn't leave much space on my desk.

If I set the monitor to Display Port 1.1 then I see the Apple boot screen & all is OK except I don't want a monitor with a 30Hz refresh as my main screen.

I have tried switching between OS X driver & Nvidia web drivers without any change in behaviour.

Is this a known problem or is there a workaround that I am missing?
Click to expand...

See fl0r!an's post here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mac-pro-2010-2012-5-1.1935713/#post-22209853

Seems it's a known issue? I had a similar problem with the Radeon 7950. I never tried connecting multiple monitors to see if it would solve it, but that would have been unacceptable for me anyway. I ended up buying a GTX 750 Ti and had MacVidCards flash it with EFI--sucks to have had to pay more $$ but it does work great.
 
If I do this I don't need the second monitor

1. Connect the Philips to Mac Pro via HDMI.
2. Boot up.
3. Disconnect HDMI cable.
4. Connect DisplayPort 1.2 cable.
5. Change display refresh rate from 30Hz to 60Hz in System Preferences -> Displays
 
nigelbb said:
If I do this I don't need the second monitor

1. Connect the Philips to Mac Pro via HDMI.
2. Boot up.
3. Disconnect HDMI cable.
4. Connect DisplayPort 1.2 cable.
5. Change display refresh rate from 30Hz to 60Hz in System Preferences -> Displays
Click to expand...

That's exactly right. It has something to do with the EFI in combination with DP1.2 (which wasn't around when the EFI for these cards was being developed). There are lots of ways to work around it--but basically it comes down to not having the DP1.2 port connected to the monitor during boot.

So you could solve it by the process you described above, or:

Physically power off the monitor or unplug its power cable before boot, then switch back on/plug back in once the Mac is booted (note that for me, just soft powering off the monitor was not enough--power had to be completely cut for it to boot).

or

Leave the 4K monitor connected via DP, but change the monitor to DP1.1 mode before booting/rebooting. Then once its booted switch the monitor back to DP1.2 mode.

Personally I thought all those solutions sucked. The 7950 people have it a bit easier because those cards have a dual BIOS switch, so they could use the PC side normally (no boot screen but the mac boots fine with the DP1.2 monitor connected) and just switch it over to the EFI side and use DP1.1/HDMI/DVI when they needed a bootscreen for diagnostics purposes. For me though, because I use FileVault and want to be able to use rEFInd I wanted the bootscreen & 4K@60Hz. The only solution for that is an MVC-flashed Maxwell card.
 
bookemdano said:
Physically power off the monitor or unplug its power cable before boot, then switch back on/plug back in once the Mac is booted (note that for me, just soft powering off the monitor was not enough--power had to be completely cut for it to boot).
Click to expand...

This does not work. For some reason I cannot boot the Mac Pro headless it needs a functioning monitor. BTW I am not using FileVault or anything else that requires an intervenyion during the boot process.
bookemdano said:
Leave the 4K monitor connected via DP, but change the monitor to DP1.1 mode before booting/rebooting. Then once its booted switch the monitor back to DP1.2 mode.
Click to expand...
This doesn't work either. The Philips OSD controls don't appear unless there is some sort of video input so it requires setting to DP 1.1 before shutting down then booting & then changing to DP 1.2 then unplugging & re-plugging the DP cable to get the 60Hz option available in System Preferences -> Displays

I am reluctant to rely on plugging/unplugging cables as not only is it inconvenient to reach round the back of the Mac Pro under my desk but it would only be a matter of time before either the plug or the socket got messed up reaching round & doing it blind. Happily I don't boot very often as mostly I rely on Sleep but the simplest & most reliable option is to keep a regular monitor attached to one of the other ports on the GTX680. Unfortunately I got rid of all my small old LCD monitors quite recently but there is just room for a 24" monitor on my desk.

Incidentally to put the price of this Philips 4K screen into perspective I have twp HP LP2465 24" 1920x1200 screens that cost me €600 each about 10 years ago which was a bargain employee purchase price when the retail was about €1000. The HP LP3065 30" 2560 x 1600 was €900 about 8 years ago again at a special employee price when the retail was probably >€1500. This 40" Philips 3840 x 2160 screen cost me £506 or the equivalent of about €640. There is nothing particularly wrong with the HP screens & I can only hope that the Philips gives me such good service for so many years
 
nigelbb said:
This does not work. For some reason I cannot boot the Mac Pro headless it needs a functioning monitor. BTW I am not using FileVault or anything else that requires an intervenyion during the boot process.

This doesn't work either. The Philips OSD controls don't appear unless there is some sort of video input so it requires setting to DP 1.1 before shutting down then booting & then changing to DP 1.2 then unplugging & re-plugging the DP cable to get the 60Hz option available in System Preferences -> Displays

I am reluctant to rely on plugging/unplugging cables as not only is it inconvenient to reach round the back of the Mac Pro under my desk but it would only be a matter of time before either the plug or the socket got messed up reaching round & doing it blind. Happily I don't boot very often as mostly I rely on Sleep but the simplest & most reliable option is to keep a regular monitor attached to one of the other ports on the GTX680. Unfortunately I got rid of all my small old LCD monitors quite recently but there is just room for a 24" monitor on my desk.

Incidentally to put the price of this Philips 4K screen into perspective I have twp HP LP2465 24" 1920x1200 screens that cost me €600 each about 10 years ago which was a bargain employee purchase price when the retail was about €1000. The HP LP3065 30" 2560 x 1600 was €900 about 8 years ago again at a special employee price when the retail was probably >€1500. This 40" Philips 3840 x 2160 screen cost me £506 or the equivalent of about €640. There is nothing particularly wrong with the HP screens & I can only hope that the Philips gives me such good service for so many years
Click to expand...

If you don't use filevault2 and you don't really want to jump through hoops in order to successfully boot your Mac have you considered just reflashing the card with the stock BIOS? I'm almost positive the problem you're having is due to the EFI you flashed. You could always pick up a cheap GT120 to install if you need the bootscreen or recovery partition or something.
 
bookemdano said:
If you don't use filevault2 and you don't really want to jump through hoops in order to successfully boot your Mac have you considered just reflashing the card with the stock BIOS? I'm almost positive the problem you're having is due to the EFI you flashed. You could always pick up a cheap GT120 to install if you need the bootscreen or recovery partition or something.
Click to expand...
I already have a GT120 & a ATI Radeon 2600 that I could use but really there is no need. I don't boot/reboot very often & it's easier to either leave a monitor connected to DVI on the GTX680 or just connect one as needed which is more convenient than either fitting/removing a GT120 or leaving it in all the time unconnected but still generating heat & adding fan noise.
 
Hi there,

I have a Macpro5,1, a Zotac GTX680, and I'm seriously considering this exact Phillips 4K monitor but found this thread when searching. Did you find a solution to this? Curious.

Thanks
 
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