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Problems With GTX 285 Mac Edition

W

wispy007

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 1, 2010
40
0
Melbourne, Australia
i have just bought a second hand GTX 285 Mac Edition. The card looks in good condition but I'm having major issues trying to get my mac to recognise it. I have a 2009 mac pro which has the "08" firmware.

The problem i have is that the card spins the fan up full speed and and no video is displayed (black screen) when booting the machine.

I have read the reviews of this card and when the card was released there was an issue where a black screen was displayed if you did not install the drivers before installing the card. I have tried to install the drivers but my system reports that no updates are necessary.

I can place my original GT card in slot two and boot with that and when i look in the system profiler PCI slot one does not show up!

I have tried on my existing system disk and also with a fresh install but to no joy :-(

Has anyone else experience this or do i just have a dead card?
 
What OS version are you on?

285 GTX was released after 2009 MP, meaning you would have to update the OS to a newer version then the default one.
 
Hmm. I have an '09 (Nehalem) Mac Pro, and I also bought a used GTX285 that works fine, even though I prefer (and switched back to) Apple's 5870 upgrade card, even for use in After Effects / Premiere CS5.

I do recall installing an nVidia CUDA driver that activated something in the GTX285, but I don't recall if I did that prior to installing the card or not. It shows up as CUDA Driver Version 3.2.17, but checking it now shows there is an update (which I haven't done yet) to 4.0.17. Also, greyed out below my 3.2.17 version, it reads "GPU Driver Version 1.6.26.31 (256.00.35f05)"

I don't know if any of this helps.
 
I'm installing the update, reinstalling my GTX285, and seeing what happens. I'll report back in a bit.
By the way, I'm on 10.6.7 as well.
 
Last edited:
Hey, I'm up on the GTX 285 now, after updating to that newer CUDA driver.

Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B07

Maybe you have a borked-up card... I hope not, though.
 
More System Profile info that may help you figure it out:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 1024 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x05e3
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3434
Displays:
DELL G2210:
Resolution: 1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Cinema HD:
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285:

Name: NVDA,Display-B
Type: display
Driver Installed: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x05e3
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x3842
Subsystem ID: 0x0010
ROM Revision: 3434
Revision ID: 0x00a1
Link Width: x16
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s
 
Thanks for your help.

I have come to the conclusion that the card is a dead duck :-(

The original seller has refunded my money, it's good to see there are still honest people on ebay.

Now should i get the 5870 in it's place .........
 
wispy007 said:
Thanks for your help.

I have come to the conclusion that the card is a dead duck :-(

The original seller has refunded my money, it's good to see there are still honest people on ebay.

Now should i get the 5870 in it's place .........
Click to expand...

A 5870 is a good choice... though unfortunately it is a bit old, but we don't have much of a choice.
 
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