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LightBulbFun

macrumors 68030
Nov 17, 2013
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London UK
if you flash your RX 480 with the RIGHT pulse RX 580 BIOS then it should use the framebuffer by default :)

there are a couple Pulse BIOS's that don't get the framebuffer personality

(its down to the part number thats contained in the VBIOS the driver looks for 113-4E3531U or 113-4E353BU if it finds either Part numbers in the cards VBIOS then it will assign the Orinoco framebuffer)
 

donluca

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2018
193
94
Italy
if you flash your RX 480 with the RIGHT pulse RX 580 BIOS then it should use the framebuffer by default :)

there are a couple Pulse BIOS's that don't get the framebuffer personality

(its down to the part number thats contained in the VBIOS the driver looks for 113-4E3531U or 113-4E353BU if it finds either Part numbers in the cards VBIOS then it will assign the Orinoco framebuffer)

Oh gosh, there were two which were identical on the surface... of course my luck wouldn't let me get me the right one.
Unless the Pulse with the Orinoco doesn't use Samsung RAMs? In that case I'm kinda screwed and have to hex edit manually.

EDIT: found it. Of course, it was the other one.
Well, I'll have to wait to go to a friend's house and flash the card AGAIN. The good thing is that this card has a dual BIOS, so I can flash the Orinoco one on the other slot and see which works best for me.
 
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LightBulbFun

macrumors 68030
Nov 17, 2013
2,900
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London UK
Oh gosh, there were two which were identical on the surface... of course my luck wouldn't let me get me the right one.
Unless the Pulse with the Orinoco doesn't use Samsung RAMs? In that case I'm kinda screwed and have to hex edit manually.

EDIT: found it. Of course, it was the other one.
Well, I'll have to wait to go to a friend's house and flash the card AGAIN. The good thing is that this card has a dual BIOS, so I can flash the Orinoco one on the other slot and see which works best for me.

if your card has samsung RAM then you want this VBIOS for Orinoco support :) https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/191713/sapphire-rx580-8192-170324

BTW if you install Windows on your Mac Pro you can flash it without having to use another PC to do so
 
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donluca

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2018
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Italy
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atonaldenim

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2018
239
316
couldn't find any info on the MVC website. Does their flashed 580 support 4k 60hz boot screen? Via DP or HDMI?
Since I just got a UHD 4K monitor, here's a photo of the boot screen on the MacVidCards RX580. (Connected by DisplayPort.) It seems to be running at 3840x2160 resolution (1:1, no retina scaling) as the icons and text are very small. (The monitor doesn't tell me the refresh rate.) Then when the OS loads, retina scaling kicks in and the Apple logo grows to its usual larger size.

rx580-mvc-4k-boot-screen-1.jpg rx580-mvc-4k-boot-screen-2.jpg
 

cdf

macrumors 68020
Jul 27, 2012
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Since I just got a UHD 4K monitor, here's a photo of the boot screen on the MacVidCards RX580. (Connected by DisplayPort.) It seems to be running at 3840x2160 resolution (1:1, no retina scaling) as the icons and text are very small. (The monitor doesn't tell me the refresh rate.) Then when the OS loads, retina scaling kicks in and the Apple logo grows to its usual larger size.

I was afraid of that (see post #63), and I was hoping that this peculiarity would be fixed (MVC Nvidia Maxwell cards did this as well). Luckily, you can fix this with the UIScale NVRAM variable.
 

atonaldenim

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2018
239
316
I was afraid of that (see post #63), and I was hoping that this peculiarity would be fixed (MVC Nvidia Maxwell cards did this as well). Luckily, you can fix this with the UIScale NVRAM variable.
This is very interesting, thank you!
Code:
sudo nvram 4d1ede05-38c7-4a6a-9cc6-4bcca8b38c14:UIScale=%10

With your UIScale nvram setting, I do get a retina scaled (1920x1080 equivalent) Apple logo EFI boot screen on my UHD 4K monitor. However, the option key boot drive selector seems to still be unscaled, at 3840x2160 size (tiny text).

However in the process of booting into recovery mode to disable SIP, to be able to change the nvram setting, I discovered that recovery mode does not work AT ALL with a 4K monitor attached. With the 4K monitor (LG 32UK50T) connected by DisplayPort and a 1920x1080 monitor (Dell S2740L) connected by HDMI, booting into recovery mode v10.14.6 shows the EFI Apple logo at first, but when the OS loads it's just a black screen on both monitors. I never see the recovery mode OS screen.

If I have the 4K monitor powered off when I boot into recovery mode, then the OS displays normally on the 1080p HDMI monitor.

(Also interestingly, with the UIScale nvram setting, the EFI Apple logo is 2x larger than normal on the 1080p monitor when it is the only monitor enabled.)

rx580-mvc-4k-bootscreen-2x.jpg
 
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crjackson2134

macrumors 601
Mar 6, 2013
4,847
1,957
Charlotte, NC
Just for kicks, I wonder what would happen if you have only the 4K monitor connected to display port, and boot into recovery blind with the monitor powered off. Then turn it on to view the screen once booted. Certainly not ideal, but it would be good to know if this works in a pinch.
 
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cdf

macrumors 68020
Jul 27, 2012
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Recovery mode on a 4K display works as expected with an unflashed RX 580, so it is quite unfortunate if this feature is missing with the MVC version.
 

bookemdano

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 29, 2011
1,514
846
Have you tried recovery mode without the UIScale NVRAM variable? It most likely has nothing to do with it, but just to be thorough I would test recovery without that parameter.

Also, have you tried booting into recovery with just the 4K monitor attached (and powered on)? Also try it with just the 1080p monitor. Do you get a black screen in both of those cases as well? Dual monitor setups can sometimes cause issues.
 

Eneco

macrumors regular
Jul 1, 2018
153
23
Maybe I'll give this a try and see if by enabling the Orinoco Framebuffer will solve those problems.
Hell, my flashed RX480 is *exactly* the same as the Pulse RX580, there's absolutely no good reason for it to not use it.

While we're at it, can anyone point me to the thread with the guide to enable Orinoco?

if you flash your RX 480 with the RIGHT pulse RX 580 BIOS then it should use the framebuffer by default :)

there are a couple Pulse BIOS's that don't get the framebuffer personality

(its down to the part number thats contained in the VBIOS the driver looks for 113-4E3531U or 113-4E353BU if it finds either Part numbers in the cards VBIOS then it will assign the Orinoco framebuffer)

I'm running a RX 480 (non flashed) and I keep reading about the "Orinoco" framebuffer on this forum and was wondering what's the difference compared to the regular "Radeon" framebuffer. Are there any performance improvements?
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
This is very interesting, thank you!
Code:
sudo nvram 4d1ede05-38c7-4a6a-9cc6-4bcca8b38c14:UIScale=%10

With your UIScale nvram setting, I do get a retina scaled (1920x1080 equivalent) Apple logo EFI boot screen on my UHD 4K monitor. However, the option key boot drive selector seems to still be unscaled, at 3840x2160 size (tiny text).

However in the process of booting into recovery mode to disable SIP, to be able to change the nvram setting, I discovered that recovery mode does not work AT ALL with a 4K monitor attached. With the 4K monitor (LG 32UK50T) connected by DisplayPort and a 1920x1080 monitor (Dell S2740L) connected by HDMI, booting into recovery mode v10.14.6 shows the EFI Apple logo at first, but when the OS loads it's just a black screen on both monitors. I never see the recovery mode OS screen.

If I have the 4K monitor powered off when I boot into recovery mode, then the OS displays normally on the 1080p HDMI monitor.

(Also interestingly, with the UIScale nvram setting, the EFI Apple logo is 2x larger than normal on the 1080p monitor when it is the only monitor enabled.)

View attachment 851899

Do you mean, even only ONE 4K monitor connected to the MVC flashed RX580, and NO any other monitor connected (in other word, single 4K monitor setup), your card still can't boot into recovery mode?
 

Synchro3

macrumors 68000
Jan 12, 2014
1,987
850
Proof of contrary: I just booted into recovery mode with one 4K monitor (Acer Nitro XV273K) attached. No UIScale nvram setting edited.

MVC RX 580 with EFI.

IMG_1916.JPG IMG_1921.JPG

Did you check if your recovery volume is corrupted? System settings - > iCloud -> ,Find my Mac' will not work if the recovery volume is corrupted or inexistent.
 
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atonaldenim

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2018
239
316
Have you tried recovery mode without the UIScale NVRAM variable? It most likely has nothing to do with it, but just to be thorough I would test recovery without that parameter.

Also, have you tried booting into recovery with just the 4K monitor attached (and powered on)? Also try it with just the 1080p monitor. Do you get a black screen in both of those cases as well? Dual monitor setups can sometimes cause issues.
Okay good news. It seems to be a problem with the 4K + 1080 dual display setup.

With one 4K monitor attached, it will boot into recovery mode just fine, and with 2x retina scaling to boot (1080 equivalent).

The 1080p HDMI monitor must be completely disconnected to get an image on the 4K monitor.

Strangely, if I boot into recovery mode with both monitors attached and get black screens on both, unplugging the 1080 monitor makes the 4K monitor suddenly work. Then, plugging the 1080 monitor back in, makes the 1080 monitor work too!

Also @crjackson2134 you’re right, power cycling the 4K monitor after booting into recovery mode with black screens will make both monitors start working too. That’s probably the easiest solution!

Thanks for the tip, I didn’t realize dual displays could be a problem in recovery mode, I’d never seen that before with dual 1080 displays.

Also - it did behave the same way (black screens in recovery mode) before I set the UIScale nvram option. I encountered the problem when I first tried to boot into recovery mode to disable SIP and set the nvram option.
 

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