Sorry, I don't understand what you mean? So, I cannot take the card which was in a Pro and use it in my G5 but I need to do something to it first in a Pro?
I have access to such card but no Pro so that would be a problem.
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Radeon X1900 G5 Mac Edition Cheap 'n Easy Flashing Guide
- Thread starter z970
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I have access to such card but no Pro so that would be a problem.
That's it. The G5 uses OpenFirmware. The Mac Pro 1,1/2,1 uses 32-bit EFI firmware. A graphics card designed for one type of firmware won't work with the other. You'd need to "flash" your EFI X1900 to make it work in the G5... but that assumes there's a suitable ROM for it. I don't know if there is, but hopefully others will chime in.
The X1900 XT for MacPro has an EFI rom. You need a card with an Open Firmware rom to work in a G5. You can't flash the OF rom to the MacPro card as it has a different memory amount.
I'm sure someone could do it for you on this forum if you ask nicely.
Yes, surely but I think we are all so spread around the globe shipping stuff around quickly becomes too expensive. I need to ask locally if there is somebody with a PC and necessary skills. Now that I think I no longer know anybody who uses a Windows desktop. 🧐 10-15 years ago different story.I'm sure someone could do it for you on this forum if you ask nicely.
After checking the X1900 specs and performance figures vs. the 6600LE 😱 I immediately I ordered the card and took a glimpse in local graigslist -kind of a page. It seems I can get an operational PC with Pci-e slot and Win10 for 20-30 euros so that might be a solution for me. 🤮 Or I can recruit my brother to do it, he should have suitable machines at work as he works as IT-support for a large corporation. I think I am good now. 😎
Ps. thanks for the OP for this thread and all the info needed!
Ps. thanks for the OP for this thread and all the info needed!
Thank you, today I flashed the x1900 GT successfully with these instructions! No problems whatsoever. 😎
Note: section 9 on the fist page is missing a required parameter. Original is this: "If you want to backup the X1900's original ROM to the current directory, enter 'atiflash -s backup.rom'. ".
The backup command needs the adapter number too, mine was zero (section 8) so this worked for me: 'atiflash -s 0 backup.rom'. "
Note: section 9 on the fist page is missing a required parameter. Original is this: "If you want to backup the X1900's original ROM to the current directory, enter 'atiflash -s backup.rom'. ".
The backup command needs the adapter number too, mine was zero (section 8) so this worked for me: 'atiflash -s 0 backup.rom'. "
BTW, only I got x1900GT starting with cooler at full speed? It became more silent only after MacOS boots (but not in Linuxes).
if thats in tiger, thats "normal", if you read one of the manuals for the official X1900 it mentions it too
its just a cosmetic bug, but ATI's own control panel/program should report the full 256MB
thanks!!!if thats in tiger, thats "normal", if you read one of the manuals for the official X1900 it mentions it too
its just a cosmetic bug, but ATI's own control panel/program should report the full 256MB
After following the instructions from z970, I successfully flashed an X1900 GT with the firmware from The Mac Elite, and it boots in my Powermac G5. The only problem is I am not getting any video on my 30 inch apple cinema display, the white light just flashes slowly. I tested with a Dell monitor at standard 1080x1920 resolution and am getting a good display. With Dual displays, Dell and cinema I get a display on the Dell and the cinema remains blank.
Has anyone else seen this issue? I'm assuming it's a driver issue. I tried both 10.4.11 with the ATI drivers installed, and 10.5.9 Sorbet Leopard with the same result. My mac is correctly identifying the card as ATI Radeon X1900 GT with 256 MB of VRAM. Obviously, I want to use my G5 with the 30 inch cinema, and the X1900 GT should support 2560x1600, so theoretically it should work. If this is not possible with the X1900, is there a video card besides the stock one that can?
Has anyone else seen this issue? I'm assuming it's a driver issue. I tried both 10.4.11 with the ATI drivers installed, and 10.5.9 Sorbet Leopard with the same result. My mac is correctly identifying the card as ATI Radeon X1900 GT with 256 MB of VRAM. Obviously, I want to use my G5 with the 30 inch cinema, and the X1900 GT should support 2560x1600, so theoretically it should work. If this is not possible with the X1900, is there a video card besides the stock one that can?
Quick update. I turned the whole computer off and went to work for a couple of days. When I got home, I turned the power on and the 30 inch Cinema displayed the Apple Logo as the system booted up. It now works. I didn't do a thing, and am not sure why it didn't display on the Cinema display when I first tried it. The X1900 runs quietly, and works as intended.
This is evergreen, and has just worked this afternoon on a retail Sapphire branded X1900GT.
Fwiw I also am not seeing any reduciton in fan RPM in OS X. But who cares, it's not like we use these in anger anymore.
is this this loud card?
think i have flashed such one also with the help of a site called "ma elite" but the card sometimes shows only white screen; sometimes it functions alright.
but since the card is so loud, dont bother me.
would think, the quadro 4500fx should be more silent option.
EDIT: sorry, probably confused the "loud" card with a Nvidia 7800 GT, if such is available for G5. very loud, my bad.
think i have flashed such one also with the help of a site called "ma elite" but the card sometimes shows only white screen; sometimes it functions alright.
but since the card is so loud, dont bother me.
would think, the quadro 4500fx should be more silent option.
EDIT: sorry, probably confused the "loud" card with a Nvidia 7800 GT, if such is available for G5. very loud, my bad.
I have a question about the AGP version of this card. I am talking about the rare GeCube X1950XT equipped with the same R580 GPU of the PCIe counterpart.
I was lucky enough to find one and it is already on its way to me. My dream to use it in my MDD is about to vanish because of the oversized doble-fan heatsink, too much tall to permit the case lid to close (and maybe so thick to interfere with the RAM sticks, I will see for sure when the card will arrive here). This card design looks so customized that I doubt I could replace the hetasink it with a thinner one mantaining the same cooling performance.
However if it would be flashable to Mac firmware I could place it in a first generation G5.
In the meantime I have read a lot the MacElite guides and looks like converting an Apple PCIe firmware to AGP one is a matter of changing some hex values but while it seems quite feasible on the nVidia cards, I've read nothing about the ATI cards... only the firmware reduction is explained.
Before wasting too much time and made unrecoverable damages I have a simple question: assuming the memory chips of this GeCube are the same used on the X1900GT Mac Edition (same manufacturer, same timings, etc.) how much editing would be needed to perform on the PCIe firmware to be accepted as an AGP one?
Many thanks in advance
I was lucky enough to find one and it is already on its way to me. My dream to use it in my MDD is about to vanish because of the oversized doble-fan heatsink, too much tall to permit the case lid to close (and maybe so thick to interfere with the RAM sticks, I will see for sure when the card will arrive here). This card design looks so customized that I doubt I could replace the hetasink it with a thinner one mantaining the same cooling performance.
However if it would be flashable to Mac firmware I could place it in a first generation G5.
In the meantime I have read a lot the MacElite guides and looks like converting an Apple PCIe firmware to AGP one is a matter of changing some hex values but while it seems quite feasible on the nVidia cards, I've read nothing about the ATI cards... only the firmware reduction is explained.
Before wasting too much time and made unrecoverable damages I have a simple question: assuming the memory chips of this GeCube are the same used on the X1900GT Mac Edition (same manufacturer, same timings, etc.) how much editing would be needed to perform on the PCIe firmware to be accepted as an AGP one?
Many thanks in advance
Well, the card arrived today and I have verified it works fine and cool in a regular PC: very very strange card with a Peltier cell between the GPU and the heatsink. The side thickness, as can be seen in the attached photo, interfere with the first two RAM sockets but putting the 1Gb RAM sticks closer to the CPU allows the Radeon and the RAM to take their own place even if they are almost in touch each other.
After taping the usual pins 3 & 11 on the AGP connector with a Kapton foil I have plugged it in my MDD along a Mac Edition 9200 PCI and this is what the system (10.5.8) is seeing (still the PC firmware inside):
At this point I am open to any suggestion about the ROM editing, I confirm that this particular card is equipped with an R580 GPU just like the X1900GT Mac Edition (GPU-Z info).
After taping the usual pins 3 & 11 on the AGP connector with a Kapton foil I have plugged it in my MDD along a Mac Edition 9200 PCI and this is what the system (10.5.8) is seeing (still the PC firmware inside):
At this point I am open to any suggestion about the ROM editing, I confirm that this particular card is equipped with an R580 GPU just like the X1900GT Mac Edition (GPU-Z info).
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very awesome find! I had read about that GPU some while back, and did wonder if one could be flashed but never actually seen one, very cool to see someone here has one and is trying to flash it
how familiar are you with GPU flashing and the such like, if you know what your doing, and know the various methods for reviving a card from a bad flash
I would just try and flash it with the standard X1900 G5 firmware first of all since that seems to work as is with X1950 XT's etc
how familiar are you with GPU flashing and the such like, if you know what your doing, and know the various methods for reviving a card from a bad flash
I would just try and flash it with the standard X1900 G5 firmware first of all since that seems to work as is with X1950 XT's etc
Well, this was a bit unexpected: Atiflash reports TWO eeproms on this card, different in size. I have dumped both of them and comparing the two files with HexFiend the content is identical, 64 kb size. Should I proceed in flashing both?
It is, indeed, and it make sense since the R580 was targeted to PCIe only however I've never seen a specific firmware for a bridge. My dumb guess is that device "0" is the one the system use in reality while the "1" in list is there for backup purposes only.
Late in the morning I will do same reflash experiment hoping for the best (or at least in a reversible manner).
I have prepared different copy of the Mac X1900GT with different Vendor/PCI string, maybe at a certain point a grey apple logo will come out
Late in the morning I will do same reflash experiment hoping for the best (or at least in a reversible manner).
I have prepared different copy of the Mac X1900GT with different Vendor/PCI string, maybe at a certain point a grey apple logo will come out
No luck, sadly. I have either flashed the card with the stock X1900GT Mac firmware (0210 4072) or with the one modified to match the card Device ID (0210 4472) and no bootscreen at all, also connecting the monitor to the 9200 PCI the System Info show no more cards on slot 0, like it is disappeared. In the end I reflashed back the card to its original PC firmware and for now I will keep it as is, clearly the conversion method MacElite explain for the nVidia cards does not apply to the ATI ones.
If someone is curious to take a look, this is the original PC firmware of the GeCube card.
If someone is curious to take a look, this is the original PC firmware of the GeCube card.
Q: Where can I find the PC firmware to flash this card back? I can't locate my backup.
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TechPowerUp
Extensive repository of graphics card BIOS image files. Our database covers submissions categorized by GPU vendor, type, and board partner variant.
TechPowerUp
Extensive repository of graphics card BIOS image files. Our database covers submissions categorized by GPU vendor, type, and board partner variant.