I have a Mac Pro Quad-Core Xeon running Snow Leopard. I installed a ATI Radeon HD 5450 graphics card as a second video card. The system profiler shows the card in Slot 2 but it says that there is no kext loaded. The drivers for the ATI 5xxx cards are supposed to be in the OS. How do I get the system to recognize it?
Hi Grant,
I have been speaking to you about my mac pro with ate radeon hd 3870 pc card running el capitan on my post, I've just come across this post and noticed you have posted on it too, I see this changing on device id and wondering if i should be given this a go?
Find /System/Library/Extensions/ATI2000Controller.kext
(right click and select "Show Package Contents")
find the file info.plist within that kext.
Scroll down a ways until you get to a line called <key>IOPCIMatch</key>, after that should be a <string> line with lots of 0x0 numbers in it.
use some type of texteditor and add the device ID of your video card to the end of that <string>, an HD5450 should be 0x68F91002.
You can find the Device ID by installing the video card in an additional slot and going to "About This Mac" -> "More Info" -> "System Report" -> "Graphics Displays".
You should see Device ID 0x68f9.
Add 1002 to end of that value, so it reads 0x68F91002.
Reboot computer and OSX should now display it as ATI Radeon 5000 with correct memory amount. You can plug it into the main graphics slot. You will not get a white boot screen, but it will eventually show the desktop.
But should i try and change the device id in ATI2000Controller.kext? or could i use the AMD3000Controller.kext to enter the device id? thanks
Hi Grant,
I have been speaking to you about my mac pro with ate radeon hd 3870 pc card running el capitan on my post, I've just come across this post and noticed you have posted on it too, I see this changing on device id and wondering if i should be given this a go?
Find /System/Library/Extensions/ATI2000Controller.kext
(right click and select "Show Package Contents")
find the file info.plist within that kext.
Scroll down a ways until you get to a line called <key>IOPCIMatch</key>, after that should be a <string> line with lots of 0x0 numbers in it.
use some type of texteditor and add the device ID of your video card to the end of that <string>, an HD5450 should be 0x68F91002.
You can find the Device ID by installing the video card in an additional slot and going to "About This Mac" -> "More Info" -> "System Report" -> "Graphics Displays".
You should see Device ID 0x68f9.
Add 1002 to end of that value, so it reads 0x68F91002.
Reboot computer and OSX should now display it as ATI Radeon 5000 with correct memory amount. You can plug it into the main graphics slot. You will not get a white boot screen, but it will eventually show the desktop.
But should i try and change the device id in ATI2000Controller.kext? or could i use the AMD3000Controller.kext to enter the device id? thanks
I am not sure you decided that card would be supported.
If you want it to light up under Mac OS X, it needs to have Apple firmware. To the best of my knowledge there is none for that card, only the Apple-branded 5770 and 5870.
Take it back. There are forums with tips on what 3rd party cards work or can be flashed or have minimal support but never seen that model mentioned.
Find /System/Library/Extensions/ATI5000Controller.kext
(right click and select "Show Package Contents")
find the file info.plist within that kext.
Scroll down a ways until you get to a line called <key>IOPCIMatch</key>, after that should be a <string> line with lots of 0x0 numbers in it.
use some type of texteditor and add the device ID of your video card to the end of that <string>, an HD5450 should be 0x68F91002.
You can find the Device ID by installing the video card in an additional slot and going to "About This Mac" -> "More Info" -> "System Report" -> "Graphics Displays".
You should see Device ID 0x68f9.
Add 1002 to end of that value, so it reads 0x68F91002.
Reboot computer and OSX should now display it as ATI Radeon 5000 with correct memory amount. You can plug it into the main graphics slot. You will not get a white boot screen, but it will eventually show the desktop.
I realize this post goes back about 6 months, but it was very helpful to me.
I have one question: what is the purpose of the "1002" addition after the device ID; that is, what does "1002" stand for or mean in the plist string?
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Hi, Thanks for the post.
I have put the radeon in an extra PCIe slot and it comes up as
Type: GPU,
Vendor: ATI(0x1002),
Device id: 0x68f9,
Revision 0x0000,
I am trying to chnge the device ID but it won't let me ad the 1002. Any suggestions?
THX for any help !!
This seems to have worked fine for me, going from the stock (256M ATI 2600) video card in my MacPro3,1 running 10.7.5 ("Lion") to a "SAPPHIRE 100292DDR3L ATI HD5450" with 1G from newegg. 4x the video ram, HDMI, and fanless, for $30: I can live without a boot screen for that (but I am saving the old card!) I edited the .plist file with a plain text editor ("sudo emacs ...") and it worked without any glitches that I can see.
Hi! I've just put a sapphire radeon 5450 512 mb on my macpro 1,1 2006 and it works great whitout any changes.
I've just take the geforce out and replaced with the radeon. Nothing else.
(I may have spoken too soon about "no glitches." Portal2 crashes during startup from Steam. :-( )
Hi alexfromromeno-
What version of Mac OS X are you running on your old Mac Pro silver tower?
Do you think this is an original, unmodified card, or a card flashed with Apple firmware?
Do you get the screens with the gray Apple and the spinner, or does it jump straight to the login screen or desktop?
ATI Radeon HD 5450
