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Race to dump the 4870 ROM, Who's first?

ghislain said:
It happened to me also the first time I tried to flash my HD 4870, probably because something went wrong during flashing under Windows (not a good idea!). Unfortunatly, at this point, it seems impossible to reflash the card with the Mac, even when putting back the ATI 7300 since the mac pro refuse to start (gong, gong etc...). So, the only solution for me was to bring back the card to the store for an exchange. Alternatively, re-flash the card in a real PC might still be possible...
Click to expand...

I bricked my card a couple of times but somehow I was still able to boot with it in as long as I had my 7300gt card in as well (with my monitor attached to it) and held down the option key on booting to go into DOS to reflash. Sometimes it took a couple of tries at booting but it eventually worked. I had read comments about bricking a card and needing to get a PC so I was totally depressed but I fought through it with my Mac Pro as my only tool and it worked in the end. Not to say this is the case with everyone and every card but it worked with me.
 
ok, I'm going to call a friend who has a pc, a octocore to see if it may be possible, and I leave it ... but now a question.
what is the correct rom for my card, and if it is possible to use the two DVI outputs
 
erteclas said:
ok, I'm going to call a friend who has a pc, a octocore to see if it may be possible, and I leave it ... but now a question.
what is the correct rom for my card, and if it is possible to use the two DVI outputs
Click to expand...
The only card (so far) that works with dual DVI output is the XFX card. The Sapphire ones do NOT work with dual DVI output.
 
swissmann said:
I see your problem - not enough power cables to go around. I don't know an answer to your question - but I guess that you could boot into windows with it when the proper drivers are installed. So maybe you want to install the drivers and get as much setup as you can before you put in the new card then go from there. Also, booting into DOS might work I kind of think no specific drivers are needed for the card for DOS (total guess) - although I THINK in my trials I at one point did boot into DOS with just my 4870 in. Just try things out and hope you get a picture enough to do the job.

Edit - I forgot to mention that I have used Photoshop, Aperture, and Final Cut Pro already. My use has been light so I didn't see any change except in Aperture where it seems way faster. I've yet to use Motion or any other Adobe apps but am confident all will be much improved over my 2600 card.
Click to expand...

Thank you again, my card is coming friday....As i was researching some of this, is there a good chance that this will break my motherboard or the videocard? I still have 1 year left on my apple protection plan and was thinking would there be any problems if they saw that there was a rom change. Is there anyway to reset anything that im changing if all else fails so that my computer will be back to its previous state? Thats my main question.
 
dudeguy87 said:
Thank you again, my card is coming friday....As i was researching some of this, is there a good chance that this will break my motherboard or the videocard? I still have 1 year left on my apple protection plan and was thinking would there be any problems if they saw that there was a rom change. Is there anyway to reset anything that im changing if all else fails so that my computer will be back to its previous state? Thats my main question.
Click to expand...

This is a risky thing no doubt. I can't say what the risk factor is. I know that I thought I had totally killed my 4870 about 4 times in my trials and each time I was able to get it back to normal to try again and finally success. If your machine does die I would suggest that you take out the 4870 and any other non stock things before you take it to Apple for service just to simplify things. As far as I know the only hardware change that takes place is on the 4870 card (don't hold me to it though.) Good luck.
 
guys, I saw some have 2600xt cards in macpro, can you make some dump ?

ioreg -l -w0 -p IODeviceTree > ~/Desktop/dump.txt

plz pm me it if you can
 
Well, it has been possible to flash the card with the pc4870 rom and now it works, but only one DVI output.
I have read previously, which currently only works with 1 dvi output, but if I have also installed the 2600hd can use the dvi outputs gives the 2600? and one from 4870?
can I use two cards?
 
erteclas said:
Well, it has been possible to flash the card with the pc4870 rom and now it works, but only one DVI output.
I have read previously, which currently only works with 1 dvi output, but if I have also installed the 2600hd can use the dvi outputs gives the 2600? and one from 4870?
can I use two cards?
Click to expand...
That's a good point. Since most people already have one graphics card and they'd be adding another, that could be the dual-monitor solution people with Sapphire cards are looking for. Of course, I don't know the answer. :(
 
Well, I'm gonna pose a few questions I can't find an answer to.

I have a Sapphire 4870 1gb PC version, and I don't have bootcamp, or a PC. So flashing the card isn't easy for me. I do have VMware, but it doesn't recognize the card in GPUZ. This is all in a mac pro 1,1 - yeah, it's the older one.

Tried installing the 10.5.6 drivers, and netkas' updated package, but I'm unable to boot, as Natit is hanging somewhere.

So I want to get the card to work solo, but there's some confusing posts in this thread since it's been about everything under the sun. So here we go:

1. The method using Natit and Netkas' new package does or does not require my specific card EFI string to be inserted into natit?

2. The above method should or should not allow the card to boot into osx without any other cards installed?

3. Flashing is the only option if above does not work?

4. Anyone know a way to get it to flash in VMware?

5. Might a hackintosh work to flash it? I have one of those :)
 
frayedends said:
Well, I'm gonna pose a few questions I can't find an answer to.

I have a Sapphire 4870 1gb PC version, and I don't have bootcamp, or a PC. So flashing the card isn't easy for me. I do have VMware, but it doesn't recognize the card in GPUZ. This is all in a mac pro 1,1 - yeah, it's the older one.

Tried installing the 10.5.6 drivers, and netkas' updated package, but I'm unable to boot, as Natit is hanging somewhere.

So I want to get the card to work solo, but there's some confusing posts in this thread since it's been about everything under the sun. So here we go:

1. The method using Natit and Netkas' new package does or does not require my specific card EFI string to be inserted into natit?

2. The above method should or should not allow the card to boot into osx without any other cards installed?

3. Flashing is the only option if above does not work?

4. Anyone know a way to get it to flash in VMware?

5. Might a hackintosh work to flash it? I have one of those :)
Click to expand...

I'll answer the best I can. I tried to use Netkas method so as not to flash and my XFX card went all crazy so I had to manually delete the files installed.

I ended up flashing the card in the end and I think backing up the ROM would be your only step that you couldn't complete using only VMWare (unless not installing bootcamp prohibits the DOS boot CD to boot). In VMWare you should be able to create a bootdisk with all the pieces you need on it and then you will boot from the CD in DOS to flash.

I'm not entirely sure this would work but if it were me I would think it was worth a try. A big problem is that you won't have the original rom backed up to restore to if you mess up - which I highly discourage. Also, like I said maybe the mac pro won't boot from the boot CD. Someone earlier mentioned you might need to go through the bootcamp setup even if you don't install a windows OS through it. I really don't know. Hope this offers some guidance. Check out my tutorial earlier for more help.
 
Yeah, but I think the card you used was the XFX, right? I had heard some ppl had probs getting that one to work, but I saw a few posts about someone using the sapphire that DID work - so it only added to the confusion lol.

I'm not going to flash without a backup, that wouldn't be smart, in case it didn't work. Creating the boot CD I'm gonna try anyway to see if I can boot from it - I think it will work, even without bootcamp.

If not, I'll run the setup, but not actually install windows.

Anyone who HAS gotten a single Sapphire 4870 1g to run solo - post it up, let's see what exactly you had to do for that specific card.
 
but one question.
the problem that with the sapphire can not use the dual link is the rom, right?

or is osx problem.
10.5.7 where the exit might be solved ...?

can be used in the MacPro two ati cards?. the 2600hd and the 4870?
need to install anything?
 
Yes, you can use two cards. I'm doing that right now myself - Radeon 2600XT sitting on top of my flashed Sapphire (same as yours), one DVI output from there, one from the 4870. The only real issue I can find with this is that it appears to result in the expansion slot being much hotter. Then again, ambient temperatures picked up around me recently, and it could be that the 4870 normally runs in the 34-40°C range. Anybody doing something similar, or running just a 4870 want to confirm/deny that?
 
erteclas said:
but one question.
the problem that with the sapphire can not use the dual link is the rom, right?

or is osx problem.
10.5.7 where the exit might be solved ...?

can be used in the MacPro two ati cards?. the 2600hd and the 4870?
need to install anything?
Click to expand...

That is correct as I understand it.

By the way, you have exactly same card I have. Did you make backup of your rom? If so, can you post the file or save it because I cannot save mine. I would like to have backup from same card, then I can flash new card.
 
I did not have a backup of the rom of my card. what I have done is that a friend of mine has a pc with two PCIe ports, and is in the pc, where it could flash the card with another rom .. specifically listed on page 36 post 886
 
strudel, which is your 4870 card?, because I with mine, the sapphire, if I connect a monitor on the 2600hd, and the ati 4870 the other, leaving only the image of the 2600, but if I disconnect the card 2600, the monitor, then the image output from the 4870
 
Flash 4890 for Mac Pro

I was thinking if it's possible to flash a XFX 4890 with both DVI working since I use 2 23 Apple Monitors.
4890 is faster than 4870 and us less power idling and much cooler which makes it a perfect card for Mac Pro. I suggest people focus more on flashing the 4890.


Early 2008 Mac Pro, 8x2.8GHz, 2.5TB, 10GB RAM, 2 23" Apple Monitor
 
I have the same card as you. I plugged in my main monitor to the 4870 first, then after I booted, I plugged the second monitor into the 2600. Worked. As soon as I plug anything into the second DVI port on the 4870, I get a crash.
 
dear thestrudel, did you use these files. ATY_Motmot.kext, ATI_Init.pkg, Natit.kext.tar.bz2?.
the truth that I have read the entire thread, and I am quite confused.
could be explained step by step what you have done?
 
Well, I'm going to sleep, here in Spain is 2:16 in the morning ..
a hug to everyone and thanks for everything ...
 
I have the .app package that updates the 1900XT firmware, and I was looking through it and note there's a pkg that has the ATIFacelessFlash binary, and in the resources section of the package there is a rom file (R580Alopias_1.202_EBC.ROM) for flashing the 1900.

So. If we change a few strings in the main info.plist file, I wonder if it's possible to flash a different card this way, using the same flasher ATI made?
 
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