MP 1.1 - 4870 Graphic Card - Boot Conundrum

[mediumfries]

Hi

Ive replaced my X1900 with a Sapphire HD 4870 1 GB card.

Im getting some undesirable startup behaviours from both of the video ports and was wondering if anyone had encountered the same. Many forum searches have found nothing similar.

If I use the lefthand port (when looking at back of machine) I get a boot screen after which everything goes black and I get no more display signal.

The right hand port works fine - boot screen and general use - but only if i plug in the display after the chime. If the display is plugged in from the very beginning then I again get no signal. So I have to unplug the display and restart.

Ive tried detecting displays via a system prefs hotkey and an apple script in my login items but this has no effect.

I flashed the card via ZEUS. Ive tried a few different ROMs via FREYA and others online to no effect.

Its not the end of the world - but it would be nice not to have to keep unplugging/replugging the display.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

 

[666sheep]

I'd start from creating custom ROM from your PC BIOS using pipomolo42 method - manually. There were many revs of 4870, so finding right ROM for your card could be hard and time consuming. BTW, what OS you're using? 1GB 4870s had similar issues in 10.5 Only remedy was upgrade to 10.6

 

[mediumfries]

Hey Thanks!

Ill give that a try.

Im using 10.7.5 - with upgraded X5355s and the 2.1 Firmware upgrade.

Cheers

 

[cryingrobot]

Hey Thanks!

Ill give that a try.

Im using 10.7.5 - with upgraded X5355s and the 2.1 Firmware upgrade.

Cheers

I have the same build and used with the same OS without any problems. It very well could be a hardware issue. Make sure the card is in firmly and try it out on another machine to see if the card is OK.

 

[Neodym]

Ive replaced my X1900 with a Sapphire HD 4870 1 GB card.

Im getting some undesirable startup behaviours from both of the video ports and was wondering if anyone had encountered the same. Many forum searches have found nothing similar.

Unless you got it very cheap, i'd get rid of that old, loud and hot card and go for something more recent (like e.g. a 6850 or 6870), which works right out of the box without all the flashing hassle (excep for the known issues: missing boot screen, no Apple DVD player, no Steam games - with the last two to be mitigated by ATY_Init.kext). Provided you could give it back easily to get something better...