PCIe SSD won't work with gtx 680 installed

[gogul1]

Hi guys just tried to upgrade my mac pro 3.1 by buying a kfa gtx 680 (pc) card and changing boot drive from hdd to the PCIe ssd i got.
I used a kingston ssdnow 300, a velocity solo x1 pcie card and the gtx 680 card together but it won't boot.
I cloned the original boot drive using Carbon Copy Clone.

I plugged the old GPU in (ati radeon 2600) and could boot that way. I changed the boot drive by holding down the options key and chose SSD. It then booted.
I then took out the old GPU, put in the new card and started it up but get nothing but a black screen.
I then put the old HDD back into the drive 1 slot and it boots up again with the KFA card installed.
Really odd, not sure whats happening. Seems as if the gtx 680 and ssd in pcie slots (both in the two x16 slots) don't work together. When it doesn't boot it reverts back to the original hdd bootable in drive slot 1.
Any ideas?
Somebody else have this issue?

 

[nufanec]

680 probably drawing all the power and there isn't enough left for the SSD.

 

[gogul1]

Depressing

That sounds depressing. The card uses 2 6pin connectors. Was asssured that it would work with 680 but that could definetly be a factor. Cheers does make sense.
Any ideas on a workaround or did I just get F'd in the A for a PCIe card?

 

[tomvos]

I use a Apricorn Solo X2, a Sonnet FW400, and a EVGA 680 GTX in a 5.1 Mac Pro. I never noticed any boot issues like you describe. So I guess this is not a general restriction, but perhaps just some unfortunate configuration.

Did you connect both power cables from the mainboard to the 680GTX power connectors? These alone should provide 150 Watt to the GPU. Usually there should be enough power left for the other PCIe slots.

Have you tried any of the other PCIe slots?

 

[gogul1]

Yes

Tried it in the other slots still won't boot. I used carbon copy clone and the repaired permissions as per the instructions.
I then took out the original hdd just to be sure. Will try in a sata drive to see if that has any bearing.

Actually can't do that, don't have an adapter to put 2.5" drive into one of the sata ports....
Would it work via usb with an external sata connector?

Update: yes it works if I connect it to usb ports on front of mac. Looks like it's a power issue like nufanec said.
Is there a fix for this type of issue? Anyone had this and worked out what to do? Would love to run via PCIe as the speed would be far better and be one less bottleneck in the mac.

Update 2:
When I plugged it back into the PCIe slot the SSD can be read. I tried to use disk utility to clone the original HDD to the SSD but it says
"The start up disk cannot be used as a restore source.
To use this disk as a source, restart your computer using the recovery system and open Disk Utility again.

Its odd I can read the SSD from the PCIe card so some power must be going into it. Any explanation?
I ran disk speed test and the speed of the SSD is clocking in at
127.7 MB/s write and 173.2 read speed.
Seems a bit slow to me as it should easily get 400 MB/s as per everyone elses tests.

Ok put the SSD into drive slot 1 and removed HDD completely. It boots fine.
Tried speed test and am pretty much getting the same results. Will pull SSD from netbook, clone drive and see if that has any bearing on the matter.

 

[ghislain]

I use a Apricorn Solo X2, a Sonnet FW400, and a EVGA 680 GTX in a 5.1 Mac Pro. I never noticed any boot issues like you describe. So I guess this is not a general restriction, but perhaps just some unfortunate configuration.

Did you connect both power cables from the mainboard to the 680GTX power connectors? These alone should provide 150 Watt to the GPU. Usually there should be enough power left for the other PCIe slots.

Have you tried any of the other PCIe slots?

Same for me. No boot problem from SSD bootcamp or SSD MacOS with my 5.1 Mac Pro with a flashed GTX 680

 

[gogul1]

Mine is 3.1 so maybe there is something wrong with this model exclusively. Its 2.8ghz eight core xeon one.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Try this!

Hi guys just tried to upgrade my mac pro 3.1 by buying a kfa gtx 680 (pc) card and changing boot drive from hdd to the PCIe ssd i got.
I used a kingston ssdnow 300, a velocity solo x1 pcie card and the gtx 680 card together but it won't boot.
I cloned the original boot drive using Carbon Copy Clone.

I plugged the old GPU in (ati radeon 2600) and could boot that way. I changed the boot drive by holding down the options key and chose SSD. It then booted.
I then took out the old GPU, put in the new card and started it up but get nothing but a black screen.
I then put the old HDD back into the drive 1 slot and it boots up again with the KFA card installed.
Really odd, not sure whats happening. Seems as if the gtx 680 and ssd in pcie slots (both in the two x16 slots) don't work together. When it doesn't boot it reverts back to the original hdd bootable in drive slot 1.
Any ideas?
Somebody else have this issue?

Install your new hardware as follows:

PCIe slot#1 (x16) GTX-680 (PC) --|
PCIe slot#2 (x16) Solo X1         --- input selector or 2 separate monitors
PCIe slot#3 (x4)  ATI 2600 (Mac)-|
PCIe slot#4 (x4)  spare?

1. Use CCC to restore your back-up to the SSD mounted on the Solo X1 whilst installed in PCIe slot#2.
2. Make sure the GTX680 (NO BOOTSCREEN for PC GPU's) is powered with two 6-pin from the mobo, ONE CABLE FROM EACH MOBO CONNECTOR!!!
3. The ATI 2600 needs no additional power!
4. Select for bootscreen the input for your monitor connected to the ATI 2600 (use alt-key for boot options)

GL & Cheers on your upgrades. You'll be happy maccing again on your 'new' MP 3.1!

 

[elvisizer]

this is a compatibility problem with the SSD's pci card, not a power problem. I have a mac pro 3,1 and both an apricorn solo x2 and an older OCZ revodrive x2, which is another pci-e SSD.
The ocz drive works fine in my mac pro with an nvidia 680 (the OCZ is my windows boot drive), but I had the same experience as you with the apricorn- put that in, and the mac would not boot.
I did some research with the apricorn support people, and the problem was pci bus contention- the apricorn cards are very picky about what other cards are on the pci bus, and the nvidia card conflicted with it in my mac pro.
it's definitely not a power problem- the OCZ actually has 4 SSD modules on it in a 4-way raid and draws more power than the apricorn, and has worked without any problems alongside the 680 for over a year.
so, I didn't really chase this down all the way- I just chucked the solo card at a friend and didn't worry about it anymore . . .I wouldn't be surprised if you could find a magic combo of the right slots for each card that DOES work. keep moving it around until you've tried every combination possible . . . . . Good luck!!!

 

[gogul1]

Ok so put gtx 680 slot 1
Pcie ssd in slot 2
And the radeon (ye old ******) card in slot 3.
I put the DVI cable into the radeon card.
I then booted and held down ALT for disk choice and chose the ssd. No other drives were installed. It worked! The SSD booted up.

Now it's running back on the old radeon card again.
Can I still use the gtx 680 in this set up?

Also speed test is maxing out at 170 mbs bit slow isn't it?

 

[MacVidCards]

So, why not flash the 680?

Or choose boot disk in system preferences so you don't need the boot screen?

In any case, not being very scientific, would be helpful to figure out if problem is lack of EFI on the 680.

 

[gogul1]

Will be interesting to see. Installed the crucial m500 into the sata 1 port and get a disk write speed of 134.5 but 269.9 mbs in read speed.
How is my pcie slower at reading than my sata slot?! Weird.

Update: i cloned Original kingston SSD over to the Crucial M500 and get a read speed of
137.2 MB/s and write speed of 266.7 MB/s
It's better but still feel it's a tad lacklustre from the 4-500 everyone else gets. Is it just because of it being a 3.1 mac pro?

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Ok so put gtx 680 slot 1

OK

Pcie ssd in slot 2

OK

And the radeon (ye old ******) card in slot 3.

OK

I put the DVI cable into the radeon card.

OK

I then booted and held down ALT for disk choice and chose the ssd. No other drives were installed. It worked! The SSD booted up.
Now it's running back on the old radeon card again.

OK for bootscreen (maintenance) as you saw.

Can I still use the gtx 680 in this set up?

Yes, depends on how many/what inputs your monitor has?
- Do you have two 6-pin powercables for the GTX-680?
- Do you have an extra monitor at hand perhaps?
- If you have two inputs on your monitor:
--- connect the GTX680 to an input with i.e. DVI
--- connect the ATI 2600 to an input with i.e. DVI

Also speed test is maxing out at 170 mbs bit slow isn't it?

Yes, way to slow! Let's first get you on-the-go with the GTX, Oke?

 

[gogul1]

Unplugged the Dvi lead from back of radeon card and plugged it into the gtx 680. It works!
Yes 2 6 pin power cables too.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Unplugged the Dvi lead from back of radeon card and plugged it into the gtx 680. It works!
Yes 2 6 pin power cables too.

Congrats: Good for you!!!

Please share with us your system profiler information for the GTX-680.

Perhaps you could get yourself a second hand (very cheap) 2nd monitor 15-19" to connect with the AT 2600, so you can have the bootscreen for maintenance (selecting bootdrive can be done in OS X) as well?

 

[gogul1]

What do you need to know, there's a lot of stuff in there

----------

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 2047 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x1180
Revision ID: 0x00a2
ROM Revision: VBIOS 80.04.28.00.66

Displays:
S24B150:
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz (1080p)
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Display Serial Number: H4MD500473
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Television: Yes

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Thanks! The GTX-680 is up-and-running. What about the SSD performance?

 

[gogul1]

Performance is slow.
I did another thread for this and someone said it's likely because of the Velocity X1 and the SSD 120GB speed. Likely the best performance I can get until I can afford a better SSD and PCIe card methinks.

Going to try and do bootcamp and get a version of Windows 7 running so I can play games optimally.

Any advice on this would be awesome too. I made a USB boot drive to install windows but with the GTX 680 installed it's obviously a bit more difficult to boot into a different OS now that there is no apple logo etc
I do not have a second screen or afford one at the mo (plus I have no space!)

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Performance is slow.
I did another thread for this and someone said it's likely because of the Velocity X1 and the SSD 120GB speed. Likely the best performance I can get until I can afford a better SSD and PCIe card methinks.

Going to try and do bootcamp and get a version of Windows 7 running so I can play games optimally.

Any advice on this would be awesome too. I made a USB boot drive to install windows but with the GTX 680 installed it's obviously a bit more difficult to boot into a different OS now that there is no apple logo etc
I do not have a second screen or afford one at the mo (plus I have no space!)

TIP: BootCamp Windows 7 using the XT 2600 during the whole installation, the (basic) drivers for the GTX will be installed on installation of Windows 7. Later you can tweak the Nvidia driver version to your likings for the GTX in Windows 7. After installation of BootCamped Windows 7, connect your monitor to the GTX again. You can switch OS from within OS X & Windows 7, so no bootscreen OS selection is needed.

GL & Cheers

 

[gogul1]

TIP: BootCamp Windows 7 using the XT 2600 during the whole installation, the (basic) drivers for the GTX will be installed on installation of Windows 7. Later you can tweak the Nvidia driver version to your likings for the GTX in Windows 7. After installation of BootCamped Windows 7, connect your monitor to the GTX again. You can switch OS from within OS X & Windows 7, so no bootscreen OS selection is needed.

GL & Cheers

Ah! That's great. I have the radeon reinstalled and am now trying to read up on installing windows 7 for bootcamp. Already created a USB via a youtube video. Had to do some technical stuff to allow boot camp assistant to create the USB using an ISO but all went successfully (by what I can see).
Will now watch some vids on how to install win7.
Wish me luck, as you can see I'm a forum goblin and post any useless question that pops into my head on here. Apologies if this becomes irritating. I tend to post on forums early as I'm not sure when I'll get a reply.

Hmmm "no bootable device found" typical, installed on 16gb usb stick. Was assured it would work. Now how do I return to my mac os system?

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Ah! That's great. I have the radeon reinstalled and am now trying to read up on installing windows 7 for bootcamp. Already created a USB via a youtube video. Had to do some technical stuff to allow boot camp assistant to create the USB using an ISO but all went successfully (by what I can see).
Will now watch some vids on how to install win7.
Wish me luck, as you can see I'm a forum goblin and post any useless question that pops into my head on here. Apologies if this becomes irritating. I tend to post on forums early as I'm not sure when I'll get a reply.

Always glad to help, so no problem asking all those questions but try to keep your trials-and-error about the GTX in the same topic. It's easier for other members to help you.

Happy BootCamping!

 

[gogul1]

Always glad to help, so no problem asking all those questions but try to keep your trials-and-error about the GTX in the same topic. It's easier for other members to help you.

Happy BootCamping!

Will try. It's a pain when you follow all the instructions but it still goes wrong eh? Everyone has been great and am very appreciative of all the help so far you guys are AWESOME.

Now to find out why there is no bootable device found...

 

[m4v3r1ck]

will try. It's a pain when you follow all the instructions but it still goes wrong eh? Everyone has been great and am very appreciative of all the help so far you guys are awesome.

Now to find out why there is no bootable device found...

ymw!

your mac stores certain settings in a special memory area even if it is turned off. On intel-based macs, this is stored in memory known as nvram; on powerpc-based macs, this is stored in memory known as pram.

Information stored in nvram / pram includes:

Speaker volume
screen resolution
startup disk selection
recent kernel panic information, if any

if you experience issues related to these functions, you may need to reset the nvram or pram. For example, if your mac starts up from a startup disk other than the one you've specified in startup disk preferences, or if a "question mark" icon appears briefly when your mac starts up, resetting nvram / pram may help.

Note: Os x does not store network settings in nvram / pram. If you are troubleshooting a network issue, resetting it will not help.

resetting nvram / pram
1. Shut down your mac.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), option, p, and r. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the command-option-p-r keys before the gray screen appears. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
5. Release the keys.

After resetting nvram or pram, you may need to reconfigure your settings for speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, and time zone information. If issues persist, your mac's logic board battery (not a portable mac's rechargeable battery) may need to be replaced. The logic board battery helps retain nvram/pram settings when your computer is shut down. You can take your mac to a mac genius or apple authorized service provider to replace the battery on the logic board.

gl

 

[m4v3r1ck]

What do you need to know, there's a lot of stuff in there
Displays:
S24B150:
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz (1080p)
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Display Serial Number: H4MD500473
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Television: Yes

Samsung S24B150BL 23.6" LED Monitor.

D-Sub (VGA), DVI-D

This monitor features one DVI and one VGA port that enable you to connect a laptop so you can work or play on a larger screen. To switch between inputs, simply press the source button on the monitor.

Get a DVI <-> VGA adapter. You got the cable with the monitor.

Connect DVI -> GTX-680
Connect VGA -> ATI 2600

So you'll have bootscreen on the ATI 2600 & OS's on the GTX-680, just by switching the input selector on your monitor!

 

[gogul1]

Samsung S24B150BL 23.6" LED Monitor.

D-Sub (VGA), DVI-D

This monitor features one DVI and one VGA port that enable you to connect a laptop so you can work or play on a larger screen. To switch between inputs, simply press the source button on the monitor.

Get a DVI <-> VGA adapter. You got the cable with the monitor.

Connect DVI -> GTX-680
Connect VGA -> ATI 2600

So you'll have bootscreen on the ATI 2600 & OS's on the GTX-680, just by switching the input selector on your monitor!

Excellent will try that. But after resetting the pram I reboot the mac but still get the question mark folder. Hmmmm how do I ensure it boots from my pcie SSD. Seems like such a silly thing to happen.