BFG 7800GS on MDD G4

[bubbamj]

I own a MDD dual 1.0GHz G4, currently running a G5's Radeon 9600. I bought a new 7800GS for the G4, and made sure it is the 5.70 firmware. Its the BFG 7800GS OC with the big copper heatsink. I can take pictures if needed. Anyway, I went on The Mac Elite's wiki site and downloaded the "GeForce 7800 GS generic (nvflash, gotoh), tmeperature sensor removed for G4 running Leo (gotoh) " ROM and flashed it to the card. I don't have a PCI graphics card besides a flashed Radeon 7000 (for my B&W G3) so it is no use, but I flashed the 7800GS after backing up the current PC ROM, and then erasing the eeprom. So I THINK I did it correctly, though it has some problems. First of all, the device ID matches in both the old PC rom and the new Mac one: 0x00f510de. My MDD is dual booting 9.2.2 and 10.5.8. I went and modified a few OSX kexts in Extensions folder: NVDAN40HalPPC.kext and NVDAResmanPPC.kext and added 0x00f510de to the Info.plist then fixed my disk permissions and rebooted with the 7800GS installed. It loaded past the Apple logo and spinning circle to a blue screen with a frozen mouse, and went no further. I could hear the 7800 fan stop running as soon as I git that blue screen. I can successfully boot into Safe Mode though, and after process of elimination, I discovered that NVDAResmanPPC.kext was causing the hang. Though, even if I removed it (with a backup on USB of course), the Mac booted normally, though I checked in System Profiler, and it DID list as a 7800GS, though it said Core Image was "Software" and Quartz Extreme was not supported. I tried removing AppleHWSensor.kext and modified GeforcePPC.kext to list the device ID, but still nothing works. I cant have NVDAResmanPPC.kext installed at all without the mac hanging on startup, no matter what I try. And I cant open any videogames either, like World of Warcraft. Upon opening it, it states it cannot start 3D acceleration then quits. Halo and the Halo Demo both state an error occurs and quits, and Doom 3 and Quake 4 just simply don't open. These games work fine when I reboot after placing the Radeon 9600 back in. At this point I am unsure of what to do. I can attach pictures of whatever needed, copies of the original PC rom, and the mac rom I flashed, plus the kexts I modified if anyone wants to see them. Help please? Thank you for your time.

[reddrag0n]

Ok, this is what you do.

Instructions For Flashing nVidia 7800 GS.



You need to flash this card in a PC

You will need a PCI card in the PC as well with your monitor connected to this so you can see what you are doing.

1. Download the Mac 7800 GS rom from mac elite, here

themacelite.wikidot.com/local--files/wikidownloads2/gen7800GS_Mac_no_sensor.rom.zip

2. Thank gotoh for the no temp sensor in a G4.

3. Make a windows boot floppy disk.

4. Download the latest version of nvflash from here,

www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1893/NVFlash%205.100.0.1.html

5. Make another floppy disk with the nvflash utility on it & also copy the mac rom onto it.

6. Go into your PC's bios & set your PC to boot from the floppy disk & PCI graphics card.

7. Insert the windows boot disk you made earlier.

7. Place the PCI card and the 7800 GS in your PC.

8. Attach your monitor to the PCI card.

9. Boot your PC with the windows startup disk in the floppy drive & your PC should start to access the floppy & get you to the a:/ prompt.

10. Remove the startup disk & replace with the nvflash utility & mac rom disk.

11. At the a prompt type,

nvflash -4 -5 -6 -j gen7800GS_Mac_no_sensor.rom

Don't forget to type a space between nvflash, the numbers and the rom, it must look exactly as above to work.

12. Hit the return key and nvflash should start reprogramming the rom.

13. When finished switch off the computer and remove the card. Put in your mac, (don't forget to connect the auxiliary power connector. If you see the grey Apple logo screen you are good to go.

If you are putting the card in a G4, you need to tape over the pins 3 & 11 on the reverse side of the card to make the card compatible with AGP 4x.

G5 users should not need to do this.

Instructions on how to do this are here,

themacelite.wikidot.com/pins-3-and-11

I accept no responsibility if you damage your card, your computer or are sucked through a black hole..

[reddrag0n]

Ok, this person has also personally emailed me, and i told them of a few options, but this person doesn't seem to like the answers i gave them.

What they needs is a motherboard with a PCI and AGP slot, or a motherboard with an AGP slot and an onboard video. But this person told me that they have no funds and no way of getting this card flashed, so other than shipping the card off to someone, they are SOL.


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