Ultimate Thread: 4890 in Mac Pro

[mfka]

So I just got my Sapphire 4890 new edition from Newegg today and am looking to install it and flash it etc. I have NOT yet updated to 10.6.2 so I was wondering if I should do that first BEFORE doing the ROM flash procedure or if I should stay with 10.6.1 and worry about updating later.

IMO it is the same thing.

 

[AnimeFunTv]

Plan of attack

Well, I know I'm boned on my Sapphire Vapor-X a in trying to return it (bought it from a second hand)

Doing further reading my plan of attack for tonight is to recover the original ROM from the Vapor-x and try to mod it via guides found here and here

First would be an attempt to get Natit going, but in order to do that, I would need the original rom, There are two methods I'm going to try, one is booting my MacPro into windows and see if it would recognize the vapor-x in order to dump the rom file. But incase that dose not work, I'll have a separate PC that I can install the card in and dump the rom from there if the Mac wont boot to Windows with the card.

After if that attempt is made, either or not if it was successful. I'll let ya guys know.

 

[Altimeter88]

After a few problems updating my card I got everything working in OSX. I updated my OS first before flashing the ROM and after flashing I had severe tearing. So I did some reading and found a post that recommended using the actual downloadable combo 10.6.2 file for the update followed by installing the QE_CI_Exotic patch 10.6.2.pkg. I must note that I did follow the ATI flashing tool instructions the first time and did install the 10.6.2 from the tool itself before rebooting but that did fix the tearing problem. It was only after downloading the combo file, installing that, then installing the QE_CI_exotic file before rebooting that worked.

After doing this the screen tearing went away and everything seems to be fine in OSX...Bootcamp however is another story.

When I try to boot into bootcamp (I have bootcamp 3.0.1) I have severe artifacts when booting to windows to the point I can barely make out what is behind the artifacts.

If anyone has any suggestings to get this card working in Bootcamp let me know.

FYI the card I have is the Sapphire 4890 new edition with Hynix memory. I have tried flashing with both the E115QA1G ROM posted here as well as a newly released file provided in the ATI Flashing Tool forum. These may be the same file though as they both work in OSX and fail in bootcamp.

 

[MacVidCards]

Needed: Painstaking Researcher !!!

Hopefully you backed up your original ROM first.

It seems you need an EFI ROM made from your original PC BIOS.

Peloche is now MASTER ROM WRITER here, I am sure he would be happy to do one for you, if you can provide the original file

BTW, if somebody who lacks technical skills really wants to help 4870/90 flashing cause...I have an idea.

Ideally, Cindori's App would have EVERY SINGLE 4870 AND 4890 ROM we have ever written in it's ROM folders. So, if somebody were to painstakingly go through all of the 4870 and 4890 posts....group the PC BIOS along with the working EFI ROM that got written, would be great. Even better would be if you created folders for each card with it's part number and perhaps even a pic.

You are ALWAYS better off with a EFI ROM that is written from your cards PC BIOS. Some other cards ROM MAY work, or may have issues, as described above.

On another note, I am going to be listing the first 4890 ever flashed, my MSI 4890, in the marketplace section, if I ever find it.

Works great, I just never use it. Perfect solution if you don't want to take chances on newer cards, especially if you live in LA.

 

[Altimeter88]

Ok, so looks like I need to get an EFI ROM. I am hoping I can use one that someone has already made for this card because I didn't back this one up. Reading some earlier posts it looks like the Hynix card had the same ROM as the other one so hopefully I can just grab one of those that has already been made EFI compatible.

 

[Altimeter88]

So I flashed my card with the following ROMs:
ASTREFIROMFX.rom
E115QA1G.rom
as well as the "mac modified.rom" for the Sapphire New Edition posted in the ATI Flashing Tool thread.

All of these ROMs work fine in OSX but none of them work in Bootcamp (primarily why I got the card is to play games in bootcamp).

My card is the Sapphire 4890 new edition with Hynix memory that was previously reported to have the same ROM (MD5 checksum same as the card with Quimodo memory).

If anyone has any ideas on how to get this card working in bootcamp let me know.

 

[mfka]

My Sapphire works great in bootcamp although i have version 2.something and my chipset is Qimonda.
However maybe you should try to downgrade your bootcamp just to see how it works that way.

 

[AnimeFunTv]

Part 1a - Sucess

Well I'm here to report that after about an hour of diffrent setups, I finally got my Sapphire Vapor-X to work under BootCamp, I have already taken a snap shot of the specs via GPU-Z and also sucessfully backed up the rom image of that card as well. I also have it hooked up to my Samsung HDTV so I know its working.

Next is to go back to OSX and create a custom Natit and see if it would allow me to load the Vapor-X into OSX.

GPU-Z snapshot - Link


I Have also attached a ziped file of the 131072 bytes of the ROM image off the Vapor-X incase anyone hasnt been able to retrive it.

If ya'll have any tips for me to create a custom Natit, please let me know.

 

[astro768]

After a few problems updating my card I got everything working in OSX. I updated my OS first before flashing the ROM and after flashing I had severe tearing. So I did some reading and found a post that recommended using the actual downloadable combo 10.6.2 file for the update followed by installing the QE_CI_Exotic patch 10.6.2.pkg. I must note that I did follow the ATI flashing tool instructions the first time and did install the 10.6.2 from the tool itself before rebooting but that did fix the tearing problem. It was only after downloading the combo file, installing that, then installing the QE_CI_exotic file before rebooting that worked.

After doing this the screen tearing went away and everything seems to be fine in OSX...Bootcamp however is another story.

When I try to boot into bootcamp (I have bootcamp 3.0.1) I have severe artifacts when booting to windows to the point I can barely make out what is behind the artifacts.

If anyone has any suggestings to get this card working in Bootcamp let me know.

FYI the card I have is the Sapphire 4890 new edition with Hynix memory. I have tried flashing with both the E115QA1G ROM posted here as well as a newly released file provided in the ATI Flashing Tool forum. These may be the same file though as they both work in OSX and fail in bootcamp.

When I tried the Sapphire 4890 new edition with Hynix memory few days back, everything was working fine including bootcamp ( besides few flickers on boot screen ).
Did you install the latest catalyst driver in bootcamp ?

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

 

[AnimeFunTv]

I'm abit burnt out tonight, but looking up at the rom from what I can tell its a Sapphire 'New Edition' with a Hex starting at '55 AA7C' problem is thats about as fair as I can go, everything else is pretty much over my head.

I did try modding Natit, and it looks like I modded it right, but when using Kext Helper, I do not know if it installed it in its right place or not; I still cant boot the Vapor-X into OSX after Kext Helper attempted to install it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. =(

 

[Altimeter88]

When I tried the Sapphire 4890 new edition with Hynix memory few days back, everything was working fine including bootcamp ( besides few flickers on boot screen ).
Did you install the latest catalyst driver in bootcamp ?

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

Well the problem starts as soon as you choose the "Windows" option to boot. Right after that the screen has artifacts and you can't see much during the boot process. The first time I could kind of make out what I was doing and booted to XP, downloaded the latest driver and installed it and rebooted. After the reboot the problem didn't go away and when it got to XP it blu screened and the message on the blue screen was something related to the video card. Again though, through this entire process I couldn't tell what 80% of the stuff was on the screen because there are artifacts everywhere.

So I don't think it is a driver issue because the problem starts before the OS even loads...I think it is related to the EFI and how bootcamp emulates a BIOS for windows.

If you guys have any other tips I am willing to try anything, thanks again.

Also if anyone has an original BIOS for this Sapphire Hynix card I would like to try flashing it back to the original and see if there are problems with bootcamp with the original BIOS which I think should work without a problem. Then if that works, I can try flashing again to one that works with OSX.

 

[AnimeFunTv]

Big Update!!!

Doing some searching in the forums I attempted to install this version of Natit Following what Cindori's post mentioned, I reinstalled the Vapor-X card and turned on my MacPro, and to my surprise IT WORKED! I am currently using an Natit Injected, Sapphire Vapor-X card! Whooo!! And I was about to call it a night but this has got me pumped up! Now I'm hoping to attempt a Flash of the Sapphire New Edition rom and see if that will work to have a native ability to use the card without an injection. =)

 

[Peloche]

Doing some searching in the forums I attempted to install this version of Natit Following what Cindori's post mentioned, I reinstalled the Vapor-X card and turned on my MacPro, and to my surprise IT WORKED! I am currently using an Natit Injected, Sapphire Vapor-X card! Whooo!! And I was about to call it a night but this has got me pumped up! Now I'm hoping to attempt a Flash of the Sapphire New Edition rom and see if that will work to have a native ability to use the card without an injection. =)

Hi AnimeFunTv,

I'm a bit lost, which card do you have Vapor X, New Edition or both ?

 

[AnimeFunTv]

Hi AnimeFunTv,

I'm a bit lost, which card do you have Vapor X, New Edition or both ?

this is the card I have

 

[Peloche]

this is the card I have

Ok so it's Sapphire Vapor-X 4890 1 GB GDDR5 PCI-E for sure but OC or not OC (Over Clocked) ?

And did you backup the original rom ? In case you have it, could you please make it available I'll make your customized EFIROM.

Could you also take a photo of the label underneath with P/N and SKU# (hide the serial number) or note them.

 

[AnimeFunTv]

Ok so it's Sapphire Vapor-X 4890 1 GB GDDR5 PCI-E for sure but OC or not OC (Over Clocked) ?

And did you backup the original rom ? In case you have it, could you please make it available I'll make your customized EFIROM

I appreciate that, and yes I have the original rom, i have it here in my previous post. but as far as I know, I dont se any 'OC' in the model no on the card it self to it may just be a regular Vapor-X

 

[Cindori]

AnimeFun,

if that natit works for you, you should try flashing too with the rom inside that zip.

 

[AnimeFunTv]

AnimeFun,

if that natit works for you, you should try flashing too with the rom inside that zip.

Tried it, It didn't work, BUT, I was able to still connect using Back to My Mac, However, I tried flashing it with the supplied ROM in the ATI Flash app, and that ultimately stopped my night, it kept rebooting with the chime going off every 2 seconds upon restart. I'm gonna have to find a way to boot to dos and re-flash the old fashion way unless there is a way to do it on OSX. But so far everything leads up to a DOS re-flash.

 

[Peloche]

I appreciate that, and yes I have the original rom, i have it here in my previous post. but as far as I know, I dont se any 'OC' in the model no on the card it self to it may just be a regular Vapor-X

Ok thanks, here attached your customized EFIROM

md5
b0657576c6c9e05e0c4c9e37b4319b60

Good luck,

 

[AnimeFunTv]

Ok thanks, here attached your customized EFIROM

md5
b0657576c6c9e05e0c4c9e37b4319b60

Good luck,

Thanks I really appreciate it. I'll have to try that when I get the chance to boot to DOS.

Thank you again! ^.^

 

[Peloche]

Thanks I really appreciate it. I'll have to try that when I get the chance to boot to DOS.

Thank you again! ^.^

You're welcome.

Just as a reminder, to flash your card with atiflash you must use DOS on a PC, and not DOS under XP or bootcamp, you have to boot on a DOS floppy disk on a PC.

You can make a bootable floppy disk with (on a PC)

http://jphdupre.chez-alice.fr/win_xp/ntfs/DKT_boot98_NTFS.exe

and use atiflash

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1650h/atiflash375.zip

 

[Peloche]

How to flash under DOS

Thanks I really appreciate it. I'll have to try that when I get the chance to boot to DOS.

Thank you again! ^.^

Just in case you need some help:

(advantage to use atiflash on DOS is mainly that atiflash won't flash any bad file, it'll tell you that the file is not correct)

The PC must have a PCIe port.

1 - On a PC make a bootable floppy disk with:

http://jphdupre.chez-alice.fr/win_xp/ntfs/DKT_boot98_NTFS.exe

2 - On your HHD root on PC you have to copy the following files:

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1676h/9-10_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu.exe

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1650h/atiflash375.zip

Your original ROM

Your EFIROM

3 - You should have, may be, to modify the bios to be able to boot from your floppy disk.

4 - Unzip atiflash and stop the PC.

5 - Install your New Graphic Card and keep the other video card on which the display is connected.

6 - Reboot on floppy disk (on mine i pressed F8 and boot menu appears).

7 - Once rebooted you'll see which letter has been given to your HDD (if you have a cd/dvd rom if should be C and D for the HDD).

8 - When prompt A: type D: (if HDD is D)

9 - Then:

atiflash -i
in order to know the number of your New Graphic Card

atiflash -ai 0 (if your New Graphic Card is 0), you can then verify that it's the correct card that you want to flash

10 - This step is up to you, is not compulsory

then you are going to flash your GPU with your original rom:

atiflash -p -fs -fp 0 your_original_rom_file_name

And reboot on HDD, install 9-10_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu.exe to be sure that your card is working on Windows

when you are convinced that it works reboot on floppy disk


11 - atiflash -p -fs -fp 0 your_EFIROM_file_name

12 - Reboot on HDD and connect your screen onto your Card, if it works well on Windows you can now install it on Mac Pro.

13 - Xfingers and start MacPro.

14 - You'll have anyway to install qe_ci_exotic_10.6.2 from Mr. Netkas if you are with 10.6.2 or the corresponding package for 10.6.1

Good luck

 

[Peloche]

After a few problems updating my card I got everything working in OSX. I updated my OS first before flashing the ROM and after flashing I had severe tearing. So I did some reading and found a post that recommended using the actual downloadable combo 10.6.2 file for the update followed by installing the QE_CI_Exotic patch 10.6.2.pkg. I must note that I did follow the ATI flashing tool instructions the first time and did install the 10.6.2 from the tool itself before rebooting but that did fix the tearing problem. It was only after downloading the combo file, installing that, then installing the QE_CI_exotic file before rebooting that worked.

After doing this the screen tearing went away and everything seems to be fine in OSX...Bootcamp however is another story.

When I try to boot into bootcamp (I have bootcamp 3.0.1) I have severe artifacts when booting to windows to the point I can barely make out what is behind the artifacts.

If anyone has any suggestings to get this card working in Bootcamp let me know.

FYI the card I have is the Sapphire 4890 new edition with Hynix memory. I have tried flashing with both the E115QA1G ROM posted here as well as a newly released file provided in the ATI Flashing Tool forum. These may be the same file though as they both work in OSX and fail in bootcamp.

Hi Altimeter88,

If this could help you (mainly points 3 and 4):

In order to test Sapphire 4890 New Edition (NE) outputs, i wanted to be sure that they were running on XP, instead to remove again the GPU from MP, installed it on PC and reverse, i've installed Bootcamp (3) and XP.

XP alone can't be installed with Bootcamp (minimum required is XP SP2).

1 - Fortunately i found a tutorial (in french) "how to integrate SP3 within XP and make a bootable cd" http://www.tutoriaux-excalibur.com/integrer-sp3-xp.htm, this tutorial is using nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/index.html).

2 - After XP installation and reboot, BootCamp XP was not using NE, 30" ACD connected to NE DVI was black, only NVidia 7300 GT was working on 20" ACD.

3 - With 20" ACD connected to NVidia, i did install Catalyst 9.10 http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/downloads/download_index_01.aspx?psn=0006

and open Catalyst Center,

4 - With the help of Catalyst Center, XP was running 4890 NE with a 30" ACD attached to DVI and 20" ACD to HDMI / DVI adaptor.

5 - DP to be tested may be tomorrow on OS X and XP (DP / DVI adaptor not yet received).

6 - Keyboard is apple alu wired cable and mouse is bluetooth Mighty Mouse 4 buttons.

7 - Mighty Mouse was not working, i've been obliged to connect an USB one.

8 - The problem for the mouse IMHO is that XP didn't scan for bluetooth equipment, i've opened Config Panel, Bluetooth, asked XP to be detectable, Mighty Mouse was detected, paired and is working very well.

9 - I'll try again with Magic Mouse if she likes to visit my house a day, shipped on 28th Oct, not yet arrived, she has, may be, crossed Oil Can Harry's path …

 

[Peloche]

Sapphire Radeon Hd 4890 New Edition Ports

Update to point 5 of post #1273:

OS X part works well:
I've just received http://www.indipc.fr/connectique,ada...9-4487.fr.html , unpacked it, plugged it in DP port, 30" ACD works on DVI and 20" ACD on DP with the help of adaptor,

BootCamp XP part works as well

and voilà:

 

[mfka]

Update to point 5 of post #1273:

OS X part (BootCamp XP part to come):
I've just received http://www.indipc.fr/connectique,ada...9-4487.fr.html , unpacked it, plugged it in DP port, 30" ACD works on DVI and 20" ACD on DP with the help of adaptor, and voilà:

Hey mate,

So that means if i order apple led display it will work.

Thats Great!