Instal actual (not virtual) Windows on X-Serve

[MacVidCards]

So turns out a GT640 single slot is a nice card for X-Serve 3,1.

Bootscreen and full x16 support, fits inside, etc.

But I really need to work on MXM GPUs in the MXM slot.

And best (only) way to do that is in Windows. Can't be in a virtual environment, needs to be real deal.

From my searching I can't find that this every happened, yet I can't imagine that it isn't possible.

Putting working Win installed disks in just goes to black.

Did anyone every accomplish this?

 

[LightBulbFun]

the thing is the Xserve does not include a BIOS compatibility layer in the EFI for windows so what i would try is setup a EFI windows install on a Mac Pro and insert it into the Xserve. due to how the EFI on most Macs (Mac Pro 5,1 and newer macs being the exception) handles the video modes on the graphics cards it only does UGA and not GOP/ the mode windows needs so you hit enter on the boot screen and it will seem to freeze when actually its Booting windows (Just windows has not taken over the frame buffer) If you remote in you should be able to control windows if it boots and install GPU drivers (or windows may pick them up automatically) i have had good luck with windows ATI 5770 drivers detecting the card and taking it over (aka it will suddenly switch from the EFI boot picker to a windows desktop) I was actually able to install windows in EFI Mode on A MacBook Pro 3,1 (with the MBP3,1 the nvidia drivers never played ball in EFI mode..) MacBook 2,1 (with the MB2,1 the GMA950 drivers didn't detect the built in LVDS LCD properly so got a bit glitchy) and even my Mac Pro 1,1 (Mac Pro was happy running like this) this way (do note windows architecture has to match the EFI architecture in the case of the XS3,1 is 64bit) I hope this helps and makes sense (I have mentioned this before on the Mac Pro Forum heh)

 

[MacVidCards]

Yes, my installed Windows drive showed up as EFI DEVICE, but screen went black. I will try with a Windows UEFI card.

 

[LightBulbFun]

No a Windows UEFI card wont solve the issue... (the Mac will just ignore it of all people you should know ) what im saying is Windows does not know what to make of the EFI UGA output Macintosh EFI cards output so windows does not output anything but if you setup remote desktop or VNC or something you should be able to VNC in and play around and maybe even get GPU Drivers installed... (think of it like a GTX 9xx PC card in a Mac Pro running OS X you dont get any output till the correct drivers kick in... expect here its reversed with windows not getting any output) (also after the screen goes black you should still hear/see drive activity as windows is booting...)

 

[MacVidCards]

Will try more stuff, BTW I can tell you that 3,1 is most likely candidate as earlier machines used ATI 1300XT. This and X1900XT were Apple's first attempts at ATI EFI cards. The cards didn't have PC BIOS at all. To make Bootcamp work on 1,1 MP they put entire BIOS into boot rom.

They did no such thing for X1300 so it will just be a hardware blob with no BIOS . I really need to get some form of Windows or even DOS on the thing, will greatly speed progress.