MP 1,1-5,1 MP 5,1 (4,1) doesn't boot with Radeon RX 580 8GB

[nwind]

I have MP 4,1 flashed to 5,1 running High Sierra.
Need to upgrade to Metal GPU and yesterday got OWC card:

OWC Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Upgrade Solution (2010-2012)

Add Metal support to your 2010-2012 Mac Pro Tower and upgrade to macOS 10.14.x Mojave. See 1.5x better performance than Radeon HD 7950.

eshop.macsales.com

No matter what I tried I can’t make it work. I have no signal to display at all on any outputs except DVI, but it’s only gray screen indefinitely and MP doesn't boot to login screen. Screen sharing is enabled on MP and in this “gray screen mode” computer is not accessible.
I just did a fresh install on a new SSD from USB installer to mitigate any potential problems. It boots fine with either HD 5770 or GT 120.

Am I doing something wrong or RX 580 is defective?

I would greatly appreciate any advise.
Thanks!

 

[MarkC426]

The RX580 should work out of the box with Sierra/High Sierra/Mojave.
Your Firmware will upgrade when installing Mojave.

Do you have the correct dual power cable.

 

[nwind]

The RX580 should work out of the box with Sierra/High Sierra/Mojave.
Your Firmware will upgrade when installing Mojave.

Do you have the correct dual power cable.

This was my expectation too.
Board came with correct dual (2x6pin to 1x8pin) cable from OWC.
LED on GPU is blue - correct power.
Both 6-pin power ports on MP board are functional (verified)
Upon power ON both fans on RX580 start spinning then stop and never start again unless I reboot MP

 

[MarkC426]

Fans don't normally spin unless gpu is under load.
I assume the RX580 is the only gpu in your mac.

 

[nwind]

Yes it's the only one and if I replace it with either HD 5770 or GT 120 everything back to normal.
Is there anything else I can do to 100% verify it's defective RX580, or I'm doing something wrong and it's functional.
Unfortunately OWC is slow with their response. I sent them email yesterday and didn't get anything back yet.

 

[fastlanephil]

Maybe the cable?

 

[nwind]

Do you mean power cable?
LED on the RX580 is blue (if cable is not connected it's red) when cable is connected, so I assume it's OK.

 

[nwind]

OWC claims that RX580 is only for MP 5,1 and they can't guaranty it will work on 4,1 flashed to 5,1, but agreed to take it back for checking.Are they correct with their claim? As I know it should be no difference between 5,1 and 4,1 flashed to 5,1.
Could someone confirm it please?

 

[tsialex]

OWC claims that RX580 is only for MP 5,1 and they can't guaranty it will work on 4,1 flashed to 5,1, but agreed to take it back for checking.Are they correct with their claim? As I know it should be no difference between 5,1 and 4,1 flashed to 5,1.
Could someone confirm it please?

A cross-flashed early-2009 is not the same as a real MP5,1.

First the SMC version is different, second it's just the EFI part of the BootROM that is cross-flashed, the NVRAM/BootBlock and the hardwareIDs are all MP4,1 inside the BootROM image. It's these differences inside the BootROM that make MP4,1>5,1 so susceptible of bricking/NVRAM corruption and problems with some GPUs (NVIDIA TITAN is one that is common to not work with MP4,1>5,1).

Anyway, you can always dump your BootROM, save it securely and then flash the MP51.fd from Mojave to test. It won't have any hardwareIDs, since it's a generic non-personalised firmware image, but it's the next best thing to a real MP5,1. After testing, flash back your original dump.

 

[minifridge1138]

I have a Sapphire RX 580 in my 4,1->5,1 right now. Worked out of the box.

I don’t remember there being an LED on the card, but can’t say I ever looked for one.

Post a picture of the card and its box?
Does your card have a firmware toggle switch?

 

[nwind]

A cross-flashed early-2009 is not the same as a real MP5,1.

First the SMC version is different, second it's just the EFI part of the BootROM that is cross-flashed, the NVRAM/BootBlock and the hardwareIDs are all MP4,1 inside the BootROM image. It's these differences inside the BootROM that make MP4,1>5,1 so susceptible of bricking/NVRAM corruption and problems with some GPUs (NVIDIA TITAN is one that is common to not work with MP4,1>5,1).

Anyway, you can always dump your BootROM, save it securely and then flash the MP51.fd from Mojave to test. It won't have any hardwareIDs, since it's a generic non-personalised firmware image, but it's the next best thing to a real MP5,1. After testing, flash back your original dump.

I didn't think about it.
Could you please point me to the instruction how I can do it.
Do you think it might be a problem? I mean that it's 4,1 flashed to 5,1 and not a real 5,1, so card doesn't work because of this.

 

[nwind]

I have a Sapphire RX 580 in my 4,1->5,1 right now. Worked out of the box.

I don’t remember there being an LED on the card, but can’t say I ever looked for one.

Post a picture of the card and its box?
Does your card have a firmware toggle switch?

It was "open box item" $268 vs. $370, so there is no box. Looks like it has a small unmarked switch at the PCB edge next to the power connector (see the red arrow on the picture).

 

[tsialex]

I didn't think about it.
Could you please point me to the instruction how I can do it.
Do you think it might be a problem? I mean that it's 4,1 flashed to 5,1 and not a real 5,1, so card doesn't work because of this.

It's not just because it's a cross-flashed early-2009. Something else needs to be wrong, like a corrupted first store on the NVRAM.

Use ROMTool to dump, save the dump securely, shutdown, then enter Firmware Programming Mode and flash MP5.1 from Mojave 10.4.6:

Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd

Test, then flash back the saved dump.

 

[nwind]

It's not just because it's a cross-flashed early-2009. Something else needs to be wrong, like a corrupted first store on the NVRAM.

Use ROMTool to dump, save the dump securely, shutdown, then enter Firmware Programming Mode and flash MP5.1 from Mojave 10.4.6:

Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd

Test, then flash back the saved dump.

Thank you!

BTW I greatly appreciate your help guys!
I'm not exactly a software person, but a hardware one and eventually need this machine to run mostly Windows 10 on two 4K display for CAD SW (Altium in particular).
I like to have decent OS X installation there, but I have other MACs and it's not a priority.

 

[nwind]

It's not just because it's a cross-flashed early-2009. Something else needs to be wrong, like a corrupted first store on the NVRAM.

Use ROMTool to dump, save the dump securely, shutdown, then enter Firmware Programming Mode and flash MP5.1 from Mojave 10.4.6:

Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd

Test, then flash back the saved dump.

BTW if it works with MP51.fd from Mojave why do I want it flash back after test?

 

[tsialex]

BTW if it works with MP51.fd from Mojave why do I want it flash back after test?

Generic firmware upgrade image (MP51.fd) don't have any serials/hardwareIDs inside. You can't log to iCloud/Messages/FaceTime with it.

If it works, then you need to ask/contract someone for a firmware image clean-up/reconstruction.

 

[yurc]

I'm not exactly a software person, but a hardware one and eventually need this machine to run mostly Windows 10

Take precaution when installing Windows 10, Windows 10 in EFI mode (installation using USB method) can write some NVRAM variable on 5,1 and causing firmware worsen every time. Install using legacy method using optical drive is fine. See here.

 

[nwind]

Generic firmware upgrade image (MP51.fd) don't have any serials/hardwareIDs inside. You can't log to iCloud/Messages/FaceTime with it.

If it works, then you need to ask/contract someone for a firmware image clean-up/reconstruction.

I see...
Thinks are not simple )
I should've just get 5,1 from the beggining

 

[nwind]

Take precaution when installing Windows 10, Windows 10 in EFI mode (installation using USB method) can write some NVRAM variable on 5,1 and causing firmware worsen every time. Install using legacy method using optical drive is fine. See here.

Thanks for the tip.
I was planning to do it from DVD, but need to get there first.

 

[MarkC426]

It was "open box item" $268 vs. $370, so there is no box. Looks like it has a small unmarked switch at the PCB edge next to the power connector (see the red arrow on the picture).

Xfx 580's don't generally work on 5.1 mp (Some have got it to work though).
OWC shouldn't be selling this model for Mac's.

 

[minifridge1138]

Agreed that the XFX cards don’t work well in Mac Pros.

If you’re only going to use Windows, then you can use any graphics card you want (within power limits).

 

[nwind]

Xfx 580's don't generally work on 5.1 mp (Some have got it to work though).
OWC shouldn't be selling this model for Mac's.

Interesting why OWC selling them as a specific card for MP. Perhaps they modified them.
BTW what about this little switch at the PCB edge close to the power connector?
What for it there? Is it any possibility it might be in the wrong position what cause the problem?
I thought even if card is not working machine suppose to boot anyway, but it doesn't.

 

[MarkC426]

Have you tried leaving the gt120 in, with monitor connected to it.
See if the RX580 shows up in system profiler.

 

[nwind]

Have you tried leaving the gt120 in, with monitor connected to it.
See if the RX580 shows up in system profiler.

I did. It can't boot either with two cards

 

[MarkC426]

OWC Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Upgrade Solution (2010-2012)

Add Metal support to your 2010-2012 Mac Pro Tower and upgrade to macOS 10.14.x Mojave. See 1.5x better performance than Radeon HD 7950.

eshop.macsales.com

Is this what they said they where selling you.
If so, it's not what you got.

That product info is for a sapphire pulse, which is the card you want.