Successfully flashed XFX 4890: model HD-489a-ZDEC
Just wanted to post my experience with getting my XFX 4890 working.
Mac Pro1,1 (upgrading from original 7300 card)
Dell ST2210 22" monitor running at 1920 x 1080
XFX HD-489a-ZDEC (picked it up used on ebay for $170)
1 PCIe power cable for Mac G5 ($13 ebay)
1 Molex Y splitter power cable ($6 Best Buy)
1 2-Molex to 1-PCIe adapter (came with 4890)
After installing the card I realized the Y splitter cable I bought was kind of short. I'm actually running the Mac Pro with the case open right now, because I had to run the Y splitter from the unused DVD drive power plug out the side of the case then down to the video card. The cable gets caught in between the side panel and the SATA drive carriages, preventing the side panel from snapping closed. I think I'll just prop the side panel against the side to minimize dust getting into the case.
Anyway, from there I fired up Windows XP in Boot Camp. Card booted fine into a low resolution, Windows found the latest ATI drivers, downloaded and installed, rebooted into 1920 x 1080, everything looked crisp. Ran Settlers 7 in Windows to test out the new card and it ran beautifully for about half an hour.
Then I ran into a strange problem that has plagued the Windows side of the card. While running Settlers, Windows suddenly and unexpectedly shut down. No error message - just all of a sudden programs and windows started closing, then the whole machine powered down. After rebooting the same thing happened very shortly, after maybe 5 minutes of use.
At first I was afraid I was overheating the card or the motherboard, but a diagnostic of the sensors showed all four cores were running cool at around 43 degrees C, and the 4890 was running at a perfectly acceptable 62 degrees. Despite this, the random Windows shutdowns do seem to be heat related - after booting Windows after a couple hours rest I can get it to run for about half an hour before it unceremoniously powers down. After that each time I reboot I get progressively less time before shutting down, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Leaving the computer powered off so it can cool down for an hour or so then allows me to get a half hour running before it shuts down. Even happened to me once in DOS using Ultimate Boot CD.
I haven't resolved this problem, but I wanted to use the card in Mac OS anyway, so I turned my attention to trying to flash the card in the limited time I had before Windows shut down.
I ran into an error using GPU-Z trying to back up the original ROM: "BIOS reading not supported." A Google search turned up a new build of GPU-Z that fixed the problem:
GPU-Z BIOS fix build Saved the backup ROM, then turned my attention to trying to flash a ROM that Peloche had supplied for another forum member who had also bought an HD-489a-ZDEC:
Rokusaburo_EFIROMFX.rom.zip
I could not get atiflash.exe to work on my machine - every time I tried to run it I got an error: "exiting due to signal SIGSEGV." I tried both versions 3.79 and 3.60, in both DOS using Ultimate Boot CD and even in Terminal in Windows XP - same exact error every time. Finally, in frustration I decided to try
Winflash in Windows XP, despite warnings I had read from several forum members - success! Winflash loaded Peloche's ROM in less then a minute and I rebooted into Mac OS using the Boot Camp control panel before Windows had a chance to shut down on me.
Mac OS booted fine, although I definitely noticed some graphics lag, especially in the Dock. Fired up Zeus, injected Natit, then downloaded and installed the QECI 10.6.3 update. Restarted Mac OS and everything was zippy. Ran the Mac version of Portal via Steam and Spore just to confirm the card was working - everything looked beautiful. Card's been running perfectly since then, with no heat or fan issues or random shutdowns like in Windows.
On a slightly unrelated topic, I also tried using the VGA cable and DVI-to-VGA adapter that came with my monitor just to see if I could recycle an old cable. Per other forum members' warnings, the flashed 4890 did not display using VGA - I could hear the hard drive loading up but the monitor remained dark. On a lark I tried plugging the DVI adapter into the second DVI port, and instantly the Mac loading screen appeared on my monitor. I ran Mac OS perfectly on the VGA cable for probably an hour, then shut down. Upon restarting, I again was faced with a black screen, so I unplugged the DVI adapter from the second port and plugged it back into the first - poof, monitor turned on and Mac OS appeared! Obviously plugging and unplugging a VGA adapter every time you turn on the computer is not an ideal solution, and in fact the real deal breaker is that after putting Mac OS to sleep and then waking it up no amount of switching ports could make the VGA cable work. I went back to the DVI cable and everything works normally, but if anyone is interested in investigating the VGA problem with flashed 4890s maybe my experience will offer some clues.
Thanks to Cindori for Zeus and his flashing guide, and a big thanks to Peloche for writing the modified HD-489a-ZDEC EFI ROM. And to all the other forum members for the many tips and solutions you've all posted.