After posting at discussions.apple.com, I was encouraged to run Apple Hardware Test to test for any hardware faults. Live in the UKHi, Ive been experiencing some fan spin-up issues on my Mac Pro 1,1 (late 2006 1st gen. Also, check out Other World Computings Processor Tray Upgrade Program. They also offer up 128GB 1333MHZ RAM and graphics card upgrades for Mac Pro towers. They are offering both tray replacements as well as complete setups with 1-3 year warranties. Or you can email them or call them (1-855-EDIT-BAY).Ever since I installed the 5770 however, the screen remains blank until JUST before OS X has fully loaded (sometime AFTER the grey Apple logo would ordinarily appear on-screen, but before Finder opens up).1 Razer Core X. After a moment or two of darkness, the grey screen & Apple logo appear, followed eventually by Finder. As everyone knows, after pressing the Mac's power button, a chime is heard. You should start a new discussion - that is a different topic.I first noticed a change in the boot process after installing the 5770 graphics card. Now you have changed subjects to ask about crappy half-baked solutions that Might work for less money. Kappy answered that question well.At first, I didn't think much about it. Welcome to our guide to Mac eGPUs. Jump straight to our full best mac egpus list.
A quick Google search confirms that this version is associated with Mac Pros which have been upgraded with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card.So now I'm now stuck without the ability to run ANY kind of pre-boot diagnostics, etc. System Profiler identifies my current boot ROM version to be "MP11.005C.B08". I'm fairly sure the computer is not frozen because it responds to key combinations like "control-command-option-eject", the keyboard shortcut for "fast shutdown".I have experimented with various other start-up key combinations (like "c", or "command-option-p-r" to flash the PRAM, etc.), and have confirmed (just by listening to the sounds that the Mac Pro makes while it's booting, for lack of any visual confirmation) that those "low-level" boot processes are in fact working properly.My suspicion is that the new 5770 graphics card isn't being initialized early enough in the boot process, maybe as a result of the boot ROM upgrade that took place when I installed it. After hitting power, and pressing "d", the optical drive spins up, and I can hear that the system disk is being read, and then everything quiets down, and there I am sitting in front of a blank screen. As best as I can tell, everything loads up normally, except that I can't see it. Best Graphics Card Pro 1 1 Password Entry PromptUnfortunately when I "d" boot, with my original system software "Mac OS X Install Disc 1" in the drive, the screen stays dark the whole time. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!Mac Pro 1,1, 6 GB RAM, OS X 10.6.7, ATI Radeon HD 5770 GPUI missed the "multi-quote" memo, so I'll address your points in order.2. If the ATI/Apple engineers haven't written a firmware/boot ROM fix (assuming that is what's needed) by then, Perhaps it will finally be time to buy a new computer :/Please do not hesitate to re-post this on any other forum where you believe it might be relevant. Not being a qualified technician, I understand that many of my assumptions may be speculative, but I believe that I've been thorough so far.Fortunately, this problem is not debilitating for me right now, but I can foresee having troubles in the future (like when it comes time to upgrade the OS to Lion). Booting to the EFI password entry prompt as it was supposed to, but failing to route that low-level process to the video card - all I could see is the blank screen).So, dear reader, thank you for having the patience to read about my problem. Stalling/Crashing somehow 2. It seems like a lot of fuss (plus, my computer would be down while my only graphics card is "in the shop") only to discover that it's not a broken card, just a symptom of incompatibility.I believe what I'm going to do is find a cheaper, FULLY compatible graphics card on e-bay (perhaps the GeForce 7300, which was the stock card for this Mac Pro when I bought it) and use it for diagnostic purposes. My guess is that getting another card isn't going to fix the problem. That it's not officially supported for use in my computer. I COULD call up Apple and tell them to replace my card, but I'm quite leery that they'll tell me exactly the same thing as when I bought it. With whom I carefully discussed my purchase told me) for older Pro users like myself.4. It IS true that Apple only documents the 5770 to be supported for 2010 and later Mac Pros, but they still recommend them (w/ out warranty, support, etc. Quicktime player for windows and macAs is probably common with home users who refuse to seek hands-on guidance, the solution turned out to be obvious, and I feel really dumb. Just to re-cap, since it's been a few days Last time I posted, I was still struggling to get my Radeon 5770 graphics card to display anything during the boot process.Well, problem solved. I can only assume that there's some kind of technical limitation for backwards compatibility that simply can't be worked around for older machines.Thanks again for all your help, DeltaMac!Hi DeltaMac, as usual, thanks for your continued help with my issue. G whiz.Furthermore, the problem is well documented, if I'd only known what I was looking for.Apple Hardware Test has reported no failures, and my fan issue seems to have been resolved for the moment, though I still get periodic sleep/wake issues which are probably just related to too many devices plugged into the USB hub, hard for me to say.Thanks again, you're a credit to the forum. So all I had to do to fix this problem was either unplug my TV from the mini-display port, or turn it on, and perform the diagnostics on the TV instead. Even when the TV is off, the 5770 defaults all pre-boot processes to the mini-display port.
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