Noob needs help with GTX 1060

[Eriskumma]

Hello.

New here and wondering if anyone could help me.
I have a mid 2010 Mac Pro, running High Sierra with flashed GTX 680 and had an impression from different forums etc that it could be upgraded to 10xx with no problems. So, saved my money and finally got me a GTX 1060, but it seems it's not just update drivers->put card in->enjoy what I was expecting. It boots up but gives just a black screen and 1060 fans are not working, same thing when booting to Windows 10.
I've been googling the solution and all that I can find is way beyond my skills or understanding, tried to read the stickies and also tried forum search but didn't understand most of the stuff I found so if anyone can give me easy to follow, simple, step-by-step instructions or link somewhere it would be awesome.

-V

 

[DearthnVader]

Did you install the correct nVidia Web Drivers for your macOS build number and did you make sure the system is booting to the Web Drivers, not the builtin drivers?

Did you connect the Aux power to the card?

 

[Eriskumma]

Web drivers are the latest ones (387.10.10.10.40.105) and are working as should with GTX680 so I assume they are correct. If you mean 6-pin pcie connector with aux power then yes, it's connected.

 

[DearthnVader]

Web drivers are the latest ones (387.10.10.10.40.105) and are working as should with GTX680 so I assume they are correct. If you mean 6-pin pcie connector with aux power then yes, it's connected.

Maybe you have a bad card, do you have a PC to test it in?

 

[Eriskumma]

Haven't got another pc but I don't think the card is bad, it's new after all. Do you know if 1060/10xx-series has some known, common issues like that, I'm completely out of loop with new tech? Of course it's possible that the card is faulty, but that would be quite a bad luck considering how rarely I buy anything new.

 

[DearthnVader]

Haven't got another pc but I don't think the card is bad, it's new after all. Do you know if 1060/10xx-series has some known, common issues like that, I'm completely out of loop with new tech? Of course it's possible that the card is faulty, but that would be quite a bad luck considering how rarely I buy anything new.

Wait for others to chime in, I haven't used any newer nVidia cards, however, I assume you just install the Web Drivers, make sure the nVidia Driver Control Panel is set to Web Drivers, and it reports the Web Drivers are active upon reboot.

Then it's just a matter of making sure the card has all it's power connectors connected.

Some Mac Pro's have issues with some PCI-E cards requiring them to be installed in a certain order, as far as slots, but that rarely comes up.

Please tell us what Mac Pro you have, what PCI-E cards you have installed, and your macOS build number?

 

[Eriskumma]

Ok, thank you for your time and efforts.

Web drivers are selected, but don't know if they stay that way after switching cards since the screen is black. I chose the 1060 just because it needs just one 6-pin power cable so it's easy to connect without any adapters, have the cables since GTX680 needs 2x6-pin and they work fine with it. Tested them both separately with 1060, and also tested both gpu-slots with no difference.

This is mid 2010 MP 5,1, 12-core 3,46GHz with 64GB ram, 2 ssd:s and storage hd, boot rom version 140.0.0.0.0, smc version for system & tray is 1.39f11.
There are no other cards besides GPU and only peripheral in active use is audio interface through USB. (Steinberg UR44)
System version is macOS 10.13.6 (17G65) and kernel version Darwin 17.7.0. Also Win10 on Boot Camp with latest updates.

Oh yeah, one peculiarity with 1060 is that if the ac-power cord is plugged in and even when it's shut down there's a led shining on the card next to 6-pin socket which seemed weird to me. Thought that it could mean it doesn't get enough power which shouldn't be an issue since 1060 is rated at 120W and if slot gives 75W and 6-pin 75W that shouldn't be a problem.

I do have the original Radeon 5770 which can be installed with GTX 1060 in case it could help with problem solving.

EDIT. Forgot the specs for the 1060. It's ASUS GTX1060 Dual OC 6GB. (DUAL-GTX1060-O6G)

 

[northernmunky]

We do the same thing, our Mac Pro's also boot to a black screen if theres a system update which kills the NVIDIA graphics driver because it needs a new version.
The way we get around that is to let it boot up and remote into the machine using Screen Sharing/Remote Desktop. Then I can fix the graphics drivers / or see whats going on and reboot and it comes up normally.

Do that - remote in using another machine and check the PCI slot in System Profiler and make sure its actually seeing the card at all. If not, then that will rule out it being a driver issue and you can turn to hardware being the cause.

But yes, that card should work, so my first thought is power delivery to the card and make sure its seated properly in the slot. Even if its not getting the 6-pin power delivery the fans should still spin from the PCIe power.

 

[DearthnVader]

Ok, thank you for your time and efforts.

Web drivers are selected, but don't know if they stay that way after switching cards since the screen is black. I chose the 1060 just because it needs just one 6-pin power cable so it's easy to connect without any adapters, have the cables since GTX680 needs 2x6-pin and they work fine with it. Tested them both separately with 1060, and also tested both gpu-slots with no difference.

This is mid 2010 MP 5,1, 12-core 3,46GHz with 64GB ram, 2 ssd:s and storage hd, boot rom version 140.0.0.0.0, smc version for system & tray is 1.39f11.
There are no other cards besides GPU and only peripheral in active use is audio interface through USB. (Steinberg UR44)
System version is macOS 10.13.6 (17G65) and kernel version Darwin 17.7.0. Also Win10 on Boot Camp with latest updates.

Oh yeah, one peculiarity with 1060 is that if the ac-power cord is plugged in and even when it's shut down there's a led shining on the card next to 6-pin socket which seemed weird to me. Thought that it could mean it doesn't get enough power which shouldn't be an issue since 1060 is rated at 120W and if slot gives 75W and 6-pin 75W that shouldn't be a problem.

I do have the original Radeon 5770 which can be installed with GTX 1060 in case it could help with problem solving.

EDIT. Forgot the specs for the 1060. It's ASUS GTX1060 Dual OC 6GB. (DUAL-GTX1060-O6G)

You seem to have the correct Web driver for your macOS build, I really can't say what the issue is, without a PC to test the card, we can't rule out the card itself is bad.

It's unfortunate the nVidia releases drivers that are beta and expects the community to support their products while they reap all the profits.

All is not lost, it's still very early on a holiday here on the US East coast, later in the day, when others that know more than me wake up, likely someone will know better how to get you going.

 

[Eriskumma]

We do the same thing, our Mac Pro's also boot to a black screen if theres a system update which kills the NVIDIA graphics driver because it needs a new version.
The way we get around that is to let it boot up and remote into the machine using Screen Sharing/Remote Desktop. Then I can fix the graphics drivers / or see whats going on and reboot and it comes up normally.

Do that - remote in using another machine and check the PCI slot in System Profiler and make sure its actually seeing the card at all. If not, then that will rule out it being a driver issue and you can turn to hardware being the cause.

But yes, that card should work, so my first thought is power delivery to the card and make sure its seated properly in the slot. Even if its not getting the 6-pin power delivery the fans should still spin from the PCIe power.

Remote use is a bit of a problem since all I have besides the Pro is old, crappy Surface tablet and iPhone 3GS. I might have some old partially working linux laptop somewhere, maybe I'll test that if it still fires up and can run some vnc-viewer. Or ask some friend with a laptop to visit. Card should have been properly seated, and took it out many times while testing so at least one of those times it must have been seated in. But of course it isn't impossible, have to give it a new try later and make absolutely sure that the bugger is in as it should. That led kinda does indicate to power issues, probably not there for decoration.
[doublepost=1542887195][/doublepost]

You seem to have the correct Web driver for your macOS build, I really can't say what the issue is, without a PC to test the card, we can't rule out the card itself is bad.

It's unfortunate the nVidia releases drivers that are beta and expects the community to support their products while they reap all the profits.

All is not lost, it's still very early on a holiday here on the US East coast, later in the day, when others that know more than me wake up, likely someone will know better how to get you going.

Oh yeah, you guys are having a holiday, happy Thanksgiving.

Have to test the tips northernmunky gave, just to rule out the possibility of power issues. And as you said, it can be busted from the box, I have exceptionally bad karma with anything relating to computers and it seems I collect all the rare bugs and problems so if the card itself is bad that actually wouldn't surprise me. I'm just trying to be optimistic that at least once it's just me being a complete idiot instead of something being broken.

 

[Eriskumma]

My little old 3GS surprised me yet again and happily provided remote use. It seems like it switched to default OSX driver when switching cards, got it changed to web driver through vnc and it booted up with a picture and everything seems to work as it should. Haven't tried windows yet so might still have some tweaking ahead. But anyway thank you northernmunky for the tip.
That led is still shining, must be some sort of indicator that the power plug is on in case of tinkering with the card, don't know, any info is welcome. Other funny thing is that the card doesn't get recognised as GTX 1060 but "NVIDIA Chip Model 6143 MB". But that doesn't matter as long it works.

EDIT. Looks like Windows works also after a bit slow first start, probably just system making changes on the background or something. Seems like this tech adventure has a happy ending, thanks to DearthnVader and northernmunky, you are awesome.

 

[LeChat]

@Eriskumma did you use just one or both of the aux PCIe power slots to power your GTX1060?
Also, any feedback after +1 year of use?
Thanks!