Radeon hd 5770 faulty or something else.

[G hughes]

Hi Mac users.

I have a mac pro 1.1 with 10 gb of memory and core 2 duo processors. About 3 weeks ago the original nvidia 7300 gt card failed and i went searching for a replacement. Thinking it might be nice to upgrade the card i opted for the radeon hd 5770 as the user reports of compatibility for this are possitive with the older mac pros. I got my mate who is Mr Mac, to install the retail version of the apple card into my mac, and it seemed to be running smoothly. Also i installed snow leopard fully up to date as of 3 weeks ago. Windows were much snappier and my mac was flying. However a few hours into my new beast i noticed my monitor would ocasionally flash. Not thinking to much of this i continued using my mac throughout the day without glitches. I went to sleep watching a film and woke up to my mac sleeping. I tried all the usual tricks to wake her up and couldnt do anything. In the end i was forced to hold the power button down and attempt a restart that way. This is when the real problems started. The start up chime was sounding continously and my mac would fail to boot. Again i looked on forums for possible solutions and many were pointing to the memory. I had this checked and my memory was fine. From further research it looked like my logic board might have gone, which for a mac of this age is game over really. I have since had my mac diagnosed from an apple certified repair centre and they reported my graphics card was faulty.I have since turned on my mac and the chime has gone but there is a fuzzy image on the screen of my monitor. Is this really possible to have a faulty graphics card when it worked so welll initially ? If there is anything else you can think of please let me know as this is driving me insane before i send back my card which will take weeks of no computer and having to put up with windows ****

Thanks In Advance

 

[AkuskaUK]

Hi,

First of all, Mac Pro's were never launched with core2duo's, only Xeon's.

A flashed graphics card will always be somewhat unstable, have you tried reapplying your 7300GT to see if this problem still persists?. Some other ways i could try and help is to ask you to reset your P-Ram, restart and on the chime press and hold CMD-Option-P-R for three chimes then let go.

The chime from a mac is a "Self Power On Test", there will be no chime if your system has something wrong with it.

From the sounds of it i would say that the logic board has died.

 

[G hughes]

Hi bud thanks for replying.

My mistake on the comp specs. The 7300 gt card was crashing constantly and alas, i chucked it away. I have tried resetting the pram on the 7300 gt card but i must admit i haven't on the radeon. After the diagnosis the chime sound has gone, this confused me tbh as the repair centre said its my graphics card thats the problem. It went in continously chiming and comes out without apparently any changes to the system but also the chiming has stopped. My initial concerns from browsing forums was the logic board. Do you have any idea how much these cost or maybe recommend me a repair centre which is apple certified but not one of there stores so i can get my mac diagnosed correctly.

G

 

[AkuskaUK]

Hi bud thanks for replying.

My mistake on the comp specs. The 7300 gt card was crashing constantly and alas, i chucked it away. I have tried resetting the pram on the 7300 gt card but i must admit i haven't on the radeon. After the diagnosis the chime sound has gone, this confused me tbh as the repair centre said its my graphics card thats the problem. It went in continously chiming and comes out without apparently any changes to the system but also the chiming has stopped. My initial concerns from browsing forums was the logic board. Do you have any idea how much these cost or maybe recommend me a repair centre which is apple certified but not one of there stores so i can get my mac diagnosed correctly.

G

Hi, if you google for "Apple certified repair centre (your location here)" then it should come up with a few results. Keep checking eBay for a replacement logic board if that fails. The sad problem is, is that logic boards are SERIOUSLY expensive to repair/replace. I would try and source another mac graphics card to use and test, just incase it is just a faulty 5770.

Are your fans going haywire she you try and boot? Is there NOTHING on the screen?

 

[Quaam]

I also have a Mac Pro 1,1 running mac osx 10.6.4 and have a similar situation.

I have a 7300 GT that works perfectly still and I'm trying to upgrade to the ati radeon 5770 apple upgrade kit.

Problem is that when i connect the 5770 card and plug it in, my monitor (gateway fhx2300) doesn't get a signal and there is a continuous chime with a 1-2 second pause inbetween each one. When i replace it back with the original 7300 gt, the computer boots up with no problem.

i tried having both connected, the chime happens again. I tried with both in, but with the power cable not connected to the 5770 and it boots just fine but, obviously, the 5770 is not recognized in system profiler.

I tired the PRAM reset, the the snow leopard graphics update, and even tried doing a clean install of mac os x.

Any ideas?

 

[G hughes]

I also have a Mac Pro 1,1 running mac osx 10.6.4 and have a similar situation.

I have a 7300 GT that works perfectly still and I'm trying to upgrade to the ati radeon 5770 apple upgrade kit.

Have you had any luck getting this sorted mate. It's clear we are having the exact same problem and i have also tried the methods you mentioned.

G

 

[Quaam]

I also have a Mac Pro 1,1 running mac osx 10.6.4 and have a similar situation.

I have a 7300 GT that works perfectly still and I'm trying to upgrade to the ati radeon 5770 apple upgrade kit.

Have you had any luck getting this sorted mate. It's clear we are having the exact same problem and i have also tried the methods you mentioned.

G

No luck yet. I'm having the same issue with the chimes.

I did notice something that i had not before. I decided to look at the logic board while booting to detect any anomalies, and noticed a bright red light on the second chime. It was from the CPU B Fail LED. Weird thing is that it only happens with the ati 5770 installed and not with the 7300 gt.

Right now trying to figure out what that means.