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Resolved How to tell if GTX 780 Card is Flashed

O

Okta

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 20, 2014
150
72
Hey there,

I bought a used cMP 4,1 from eBay and it came with a GTX 780 Graphics Card. I don't hear the chime, it takes a minute or two before OS X starts to boot but I see the grey screen, apple logo and loading bar before it gets to the login.

When I go to the settings I see 2.5GT/s Link Speed (which I read was just a cosmetic thing).

Does this mean it's an EFI Flashed Card?

The reason why I ask is I'm trying to flash my firmware to get from 4,1 to 5,1 and I don't have the original Video card so I want to make sure I won't make my Mac Pro unusable.

Thanks!

UPDATE: After great advice from ActionableMango to tell me to hold down Option to see it turns out I do have an EFI Certified GTX 780. Thanks again man!
 
Last edited:
When you go to "About this Mac", "System Report", "Graphics/Displays" what does it list as the "ROM Revision"?

Lou
 
Okta said:
Hey there,

I bought a used cMP 4,1 from eBay and it came with a GTX 780 Graphics Card. I don't hear the chime, it takes a minute or two before OS X starts to boot but I see the grey screen, apple logo and loading bar before it gets to the login.

When I go to the settings I see 2.5GT/s Link Speed (which I read was just a cosmetic thing).

Does this mean it's an EFI Flashed Card?

The reason why I ask is I'm trying to flash my firmware to get from 4,1 to 5,1 and I don't have the original Video card so I want to make sure I won't make my Mac Pro unusable.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Try ActionableMango's suggestion, that's the best way to tell if your card has proper Mac EFI.

Also, even you try to upgrade the firmware with non flashed card, you won't brick your Mac. The firmware upgrade simply won't start.

TBH, if your Mac come with a HDD but not SSD, and you have to wait a min or 2 before you can see the Apple logo, and if the loading bar is not start from the beginning when it appear. All these are the symptoms that your card is not flashed.
 
h9826790 said:
Try ActionableMango's suggestion, that's the best way to tell if your card has proper Mac EFI.

Also, even you try to upgrade the firmware with non flashed card, you won't brick your Mac. The firmware upgrade simply won't start.

TBH, if your Mac come with a HDD but not SSD, and you have to wait a min or 2 before you can see the Apple logo, and if the loading bar is not start from the beginning when it appear. All these are the symptoms that your card is not flashed.
Click to expand...

Good to know, when I get home I'll try. Thanks everyone for the help, I'll make sure to update when I can.

Oh, that's fantastic to know. This way I won't screw anything up, it just won't work.

It came with a HDD but I upgraded it to an SSD.

This is the process flow

Press the on button
*wait about a minute or two*
*Grey screen appears*
*10 seconds later an apple logo appears*
*10 seconds later an empty bar appears*
*10 seconds later it goes to the login screen*
 
Follow flowrider's advice. If it is flashed it will either indicate MVC's rom or someone else's who has pirated his work. Given that you can see the boot process it would appear it is flashed in some way. Also, since you hear no chime and it sounds like it's taking a little longer than usual you may want to consider a PRAM reset.
 
If I just bought a Mac Pro and it didn't chime and took a long time to boot up, I'd be concerned. These are not good signs.

Also, grey screen and Apple logo are no longer indicators of a flashed card. MacOS started initializing cards much earlier in the OS boot process. So seeing these screens is no longer an indicator of flashed EFI and video in the pre-boot environment. That's why I suggest holding down OPTION key.
 
ActionableMango said:
If I just bought a Mac Pro and it didn't chime and took a long time to boot up, I'd be concerned. These are not good signs.

Also, grey screen and Apple logo are no longer indicators of a flashed card. MacOS started initializing cards much earlier in the OS boot process. So seeing these screens is no longer an indicator of flashed EFI and video in the pre-boot environment. That's why I suggest holding down OPTION key.
Click to expand...

What do you mean bad signs? It was sold in fully working order, should I try and get a refund?
 
Those symptoms aren't necessarily bad. Any non apple gpu can result in delayed boots, and the chime can disappear for several reasons. Just do a pram reset and see if it chimes.
 
thornslack said:
Those symptoms aren't necessarily bad. Any non apple gpu can result in delayed boots, and the chime can disappear for several reasons. Just do a pram reset and see if it chimes.
Click to expand...

Okay, I will try that. I'll admit I'm a bit worried now. The sound doesn't work at all so maybe the speaker is broken? (When switch it to internal speakers and try to play something it doesn't work)
 
Okta said:
What do you mean bad signs? It was sold in fully working order, should I try and get a refund?
Click to expand...

Well these signs aren't automatically bad, but they are suspicious. It depends on what is causing them. There is supposed to be a chime, so why isn't there? Is the speaker damaged or unplugged? Is the computer not passing POST? (Chime occurs after all hardware in POST test is good.) Or maybe he just went out of his way to disable the chime at the command line--I've done exactly that myself in order to not wake people up.

Did you try the ALT/OPTION key at startup yet? I hope you have a Mac EFI GPU. In my opinion, a Mac Pro sold with a non-EFI GPU is not "fully working condition". At a minimum, there should be full disclosure about that, including the ramifications. I know a lot of people here get by without it, but that's a personal choice they made for themselves--I don't think there should be an assumption that it is okay to make that choice for others and not say anything.
 
Okta said:
Good to know, when I get home I'll try. Thanks everyone for the help, I'll make sure to update when I can.

Oh, that's fantastic to know. This way I won't screw anything up, it just won't work.

It came with a HDD but I upgraded it to an SSD.

This is the process flow

Press the on button
*wait about a minute or two*
*Grey screen appears*
*10 seconds later an apple logo appears*
*10 seconds later an empty bar appears*
*10 seconds later it goes to the login screen*
Click to expand...

So far, your “symptoms” shows that you have a flashed card. But still better check if the boot manager can be display properly. This is the definitive way to check if “boot screen” available.

The GPU’s ROM version “should be” modified, however, since it can be modified. Someone can actaully modify a Mac EFI ROM to show the original firmware version. Even worse, a cheater may mod the ROM version to show MacVidCards to pretend a flashed card (but that’s actually just a normal ROM). Therefore, he can ask for higher price. IMO, not the best way to determine if the card is properly flashed.

That “a min or 2” also sounds very strange to me. I never use a flashed Nvidia Card, not sure if that can cause a delay boot. But unless you have 128Gb RAM and some particular PCIe cards (e.g. a PCIe SATA III card for your SSD), you should not need to wait that long to see the pure grey screen (before Apple logo appear).

The no “don” sound may be simply the High Sierra default behaviour. Perform a PRAM reset will know the answer.

In any case, if you are running High Sierra, you ahiuld be 100% safe to perform PRAM and SMC reset. Try that, and see if can fix the delay or the chime.
 
h9826790 said:
Even worse, a cheater may mod the ROM version to show MacVidCards to pretend a flashed card (but that’s actually just a normal ROM). Therefore, he can ask for higher price. IMO, not the best way to determine if the card is properly flashed.
Click to expand...

Hmm, never heard of that happening. AND, I never said it was the best way to determine if the card was properly flashed, but it sure is a good indicator, That's the reason I suggested it. IMHO, the OP should check the GPU ROM version just as a point of reference.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
Hmm, never heard of that happening. AND, I never said it was the best way to determine if the card was properly flashed, but it sure is a good indicator, That's the reason I suggested it. IMHO, the OP should check the GPU ROM version just as a point of reference.

Lou
Click to expand...

I never said you said that. I just said that’s not the best way and explained why.
 
^^^^But you gave a bunch of reasons why he shouldn't. But, again it sure is a good indicator. And to the OP, a flashed card does not increase boot times. I'm on my third MVC flashed card now, and my machine boots normally.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
^^^^But you gave a bunch of reasons why he shouldn't. But, again it sure is a good indicator. And to the OP, a flashed card does not increase boot times. I'm on my third MVC flashed card now, and my machine boots normally.

Lou
Click to expand...

Yes, I told him should not use that as a reference to decide if the card is properly flashed. And I gave him the reason. Is that reason not valid?

Even if that can’t be used to confirm the card is properly flashed or not. In which post which sentence I ask him not to do that?

You sudently quote my post and make it looks like I said your suggestion is wrong, but I never said that.

Any now you said I ask OP don’t follow your suggestion. I also never said that. I just explained what can happen even if he check the ROM version.

The fact is, even his card has an unmodded MVC ROM, it still may not a properly flashed card. Someone can steal MVC’s ROM and flash it onto a “wrong” card. Did you heard this happened before? I did, in this forum.

But thanks for telling us that MVC flashed card won’t cause any boot delay. I have no experience on this matter.
[doublepost=1521757661][/doublepost]Flowrider, something not related to the thread (but because I know you read this thread, so I ask here. Hope OP don’t mind). May I know if you see any colour bug in the latest web driver? From memory, you are running a 1080 with the latest MacOS and the latest web driver. Is that correct?

Quite a few of Maxwell and Pascal card users experience that colour bug. Did you experience that as well?

I just want to know more info on this matter. And see if able to sort out the “criteria” or work around.

In my case, I can avoid the bug by enable Reduce Transparency. But this seems won’t work on Maxwell card. So, if you also experience this, I want to know more from your case (e.g. if Reduce Transparency help).

Anyway, hope that you didn’t hit any bug, but still thanks in advance.
 
h9826790 said:
So far, your “symptoms” shows that you have a flashed card. But still better check if the boot manager can be display properly. This is the definitive way to check if “boot screen” available.

The GPU’s ROM version “should be” modified, however, since it can be modified. Someone can actaully modify a Mac EFI ROM to show the original firmware version. Even worse, a cheater may mod the ROM version to show MacVidCards to pretend a flashed card (but that’s actually just a normal ROM). Therefore, he can ask for higher price. IMO, not the best way to determine if the card is properly flashed.

That “a min or 2” also sounds very strange to me. I never use a flashed Nvidia Card, not sure if that can cause a delay boot. But unless you have 128Gb RAM and some particular PCIe cards (e.g. a PCIe SATA III card for your SSD), you should not need to wait that long to see the pure grey screen (before Apple logo appear).

The no “don” sound may be simply the High Sierra default behaviour. Perform a PRAM reset will know the answer.

In any case, if you are running High Sierra, you ahiuld be 100% safe to perform PRAM and SMC reset. Try that, and see if can fix the delay or the chime.
Click to expand...

I do have 128GB of RAM and a PCI-E SSD 512GB Drive (SSUBX). I suppose that would explain the slow boot up.

I do agree that having a non-EFI card isn't "fully" working. I tried to reset the PRAM and SMC but without the chime I can't tell if it worked or not. I think the speaker is broken as no sound (at all) comes out of the machine.

I want to flash it to 5,1 but I heard that 4,1 without EFI cards won't let that be done. I suppose I will try.
 
Okta said:
I do have 128GB of RAM and a PCI-E SSD 512GB Drive (SSUBX). I suppose that would explain the slow boot up.

I do agree that having a non-EFI card isn't "fully" working. I tried to reset the PRAM and SMC but without the chime I can't tell if it worked or not. I think the speaker is broken as no sound (at all) comes out of the machine.

I want to flash it to 5,1 but I heard that 4,1 without EFI cards won't let that be done. I suppose I will try.
Click to expand...

In fact, PRAM reset can also test if the card has Mac EFI.

1) keep press Command + Option + P + R
2) short press power button to boot

In your case, may need to keep hold down the keys for 5min due to abnormal long POST.

If your card is flashed, you should see the grey screen, then black again, then grey, then black again...... as long as you keep the keys hold down, it should just keep repeating.

If you can see this, then your card is flashed. Also, even with it chime, this still a confirmation that the PRAM reset is performed.

But if the screen stay black for 5min. Then your card should be not flashed.

But this is not as good as the “boot manager test”, e.g. if you have a slow start up monitor, you may miss that short grey screen during a PRAM reset. But the boot manager test won’t have this protential problem.
 
h9826790 said:
Flowrider, something not related to the thread (but because I know you read this thread, so I ask here. Hope OP don’t mind). May I know if you see any colour bug in the latest web driver? From memory, you are running a 1080 with the latest MacOS and the latest web driver. Is that correct?

Quite a few of Maxwell and Pascal card users experience that colour bug. Did you experience that as well?

I just want to know more info on this matter. And see if able to sort out the “criteria” or work around.

In my case, I can avoid the bug by enable Reduce Transparency. But this seems won’t work on Maxwell card. So, if you also experience this, I want to know more from your case (e.g. if Reduce Transparency help).

Anyway, hope that you didn’t hit any bug, but still thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Yes I have a Gigabyte GTX 1080 Gaming G1 card flashed by MVC. I do have Reduce Transparency enabled and experience no anomalies. I am on OS 10.3.3 with Web Driver 387.10.10.10.25.161.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
Yes I have a Gigabyte GTX 1080 Gaming G1 card flashed by MVC. I do have Reduce Transparency enabled and experience no anomalies. I am on OS 10.3.3 with Web Driver 387.10.10.10.25.161.

Lou
Click to expand...

Thanks, so this Reduce Transparency tricks may only work on Pascal cards.
 
Okta said:
I do have 128GB of RAM and a PCI-E SSD 512GB Drive (SSUBX). I suppose that would explain the slow boot up.

I do agree that having a non-EFI card isn't "fully" working. I tried to reset the PRAM and SMC but without the chime I can't tell if it worked or not. I think the speaker is broken as no sound (at all) comes out of the machine.

I want to flash it to 5,1 but I heard that 4,1 without EFI cards won't let that be done. I suppose I will try.
Click to expand...

OMG I AM DYING OF SUSPENSE. Please hold down ALT/OPTION at bootup and tell us what happens. :D
 
ActionableMango said:
OMG I AM DYING OF SUSPENSE. Please hold down ALT/OPTION at bootup and tell us what happens. :D
Click to expand...

...it came up. I'm flabbergasted. I can choose between Macintosh HD and Recovery. Does that mean I have an EFI Certified GTX 780?
[doublepost=1521824523][/doublepost]
ActionableMango said:
OMG I AM DYING OF SUSPENSE. Please hold down ALT/OPTION at bootup and tell us what happens. :D
Click to expand...

Side note, I'm trying to use the Firmware Flash Tool but I get "Must be connected to internet" error.

I've downloaded the 1.5 2010 Firmware from Apple's website and I've mounted it (but not clicked installed) then opened the application and it doesn't work. Any ideas on how to fix that?
 
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Reactions: ActionableMango
Okta said:
...it came up. I'm flabbergasted. I can choose between Macintosh HD and Recovery. Does that mean I have an EFI Certified GTX 780?
Click to expand...

Thank you. Yes, it does.

Sorry I don't know about the firmware tool. It just worked for me.
 
OK, with all this talk about Reduce Transparency, I got curious, I turned it off this morning. Now I remember why I turned it off in the first place, I don't like the effect. Anyway, with it turned off, I had absolutely no color anomalies. I'm going to turn it on now.

Lou
 
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