Mac Pro Starts up to Secondary Display?

[kroehm1972]

Greetings all,

I've been reading these threads on these forums for quite a while now. I have learned quite a lot. I have a 2006 Mac Pro 1,1 and it was pretty much original. I took the plunge and wanted to upgrade the video card but didn't want to shell out the $249 for a 5770. I had read that the 6870 would work out of the box. So I bought one off ebay, unused for $90, put it in and it worked fine. I put the original Nvidia 7300 GT in the top pci-express slot and the 6870 on the bottom. So it was working fine and I even installed the kext found else ware in these forums with kext helper so my steam games and DVD player would work. Now, the problem is, all of a sudden, I'll start the mac pro up and it starts to a wallpaper only desktop. Right clicking and bringing up the change background option says it's a secondary desktop. I can only see my dock and icons by switching to the 7300 and if I switch it back to the 6870 THEN it'll show me the dock like the regular desktop...How can I get it back to normal. I've tried resetting the PRAM, the SMC, time machine restore. Quite frustrating. Oh, I'm running OS X Lion 10.7.5, please help.

 

[brand]

I even installed the kext found else ware in these forums with kext helper...How can I get it back to normal.

Don't install hacked kexts and use a fully supported video card would be a start.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^An ATI HD6870 (flashed or not) will work just fine in OS10.7.5, except it will be limited to a Link Speed of 2.5 GT/s. There's absolutely no reason not to use it. The video card is not the source of the OPs problem.

Lou

 

[kroehm1972]

So, Brand, what you're saying is, I should spend between $250-$450 on a graphics card that is specifically for the Mac, even though the 6870 works perfectly fine, up until this issue I've encountered. I am the original owner of my Mac Pro, and I am well aware of it's limitations. I think I did alright spending $90 for the Sapphire 6870. I appreciate your opinion, but it really doesn't solve my issue. I appreciate your feedback Lou.

 

[chabig]

Take out the original video card and only run the new one.

 

[kroehm1972]

Right on....

Take out the original video card and only run the new one.

Yup, That's what I wound up having to do. I figured it was time for a fresh start as well, so I initially reformatted the HDD, and re-installed OS X 10.7.5 Lion and it still started up to the "secondary display". So in the end I wound up taking out the 7300 GT and Ta-Dah, no more issues. I'm good to go now and would like to thank you all for your input.