Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I installed a non-flashed NV GTX 980 in my 2008 Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.10.2 after first installing WebDriver-343.02.0f02 for the Quadro 5000. I also entered in Terminal the following commands separately:
nv_spanmodepolicy=1
nvda_drv=1
which were supposed to enable the Mac OS X boot screen so I could use the Option key on boot or restart to select other startup disks. I still do not get the boot screen.
Did I miss something? Thx
Maybe if you have not already read through this thread
So I got the GTX 980 "Mac Edition"
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1838090
Last post right now from MacVidCards:
"Black screen.
I found the issue much more likely to come up with 3,1 Mac Pro. This is in fact why we don't list Thomas working in 3,1 when in fact they do but are much more prone to PCIE SSD issues.
If you read through the "NGFF PCIE SSD" thread you wi see several instances where people had issues with a boot drive being recognized as boot drive. This is where I got idea to simply change slots. I was only able to create the situation once in 4,1. I am running Sintech adapted xp941 and Apple SSD blades with I issues.
Typically changing slots or doing PRAM reset will fix. Keep in mind slots 3 & 4 are on a switch sharing same 4 lanes. You can't raid 3 & 4 and get better speeds. Has to be 2 & 3 or 2 & 4. My guess is that the "can't find boot drive" issue that PCIE SSDs have occasionally doesn't play well with our 980 EFI.
I have been able to fix every time rather easily on 4,1."
Maybe if you have not already read through this thread
So I got the GTX 980 "Mac Edition"
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1838090
Last post right now from MacVidCards:
"Black screen.
I found the issue much more likely to come up with 3,1 Mac Pro. This is in fact why we don't list Thomas working in 3,1 when in fact they do but are much more prone to PCIE SSD issues.
If you read through the "NGFF PCIE SSD" thread you wi see several instances where people had issues with a boot drive being recognized as boot drive. This is where I got idea to simply change slots. I was only able to create the situation once in 4,1. I am running Sintech adapted xp941 and Apple SSD blades with I issues.
Typically changing slots or doing PRAM reset will fix. Keep in mind slots 3 & 4 are on a switch sharing same 4 lanes. You can't raid 3 & 4 and get better speeds. Has to be 2 & 3 or 2 & 4. My guess is that the "can't find boot drive" issue that PCIE SSDs have occasionally doesn't play well with our 980 EFI.
I have been able to fix every time rather easily on 4,1."
The only supported way to have Option-Boot show the Startup Manager screen is to have a genuine Apple-firmware card installed.
With any other card combination, you will have to go back to the folks who told you that would work and ask them why it does not.
Thanks hatter. I did not precede the Terminal commands with "sudo nvram boot-args=...". However, I 'm led to believe from the thread that it will not work anyway. Since the 980 works fine otherwise in my 3.1 with PCIe SSD card as a boot volume and booting into boot camp using System Preferences, I will likely not mess around and further. If I do and it works, I'll post the results.
You could consider sending it to MacVidCards to have him flash and provide the support needed.
And for now if/when you might ever need to use 10.10.0 installer.... so I would make a reliable bootable clone backup of your system.
For Windows I use Paragon Software to clone Windows (if it is on its own drive is also easier to restore).
CAVEATS
The GeForce GTX 980 was modified by MacVidCards to present a normal startup screen. We used NVIDIA's web driver for the Quadro K5000 for Mac. An unmodified GTX 980 will boot under OS X Yosemite if you don't care about a boot screen. http://barefeats.com/gtx980.html
Yes, I got the boot-args from a later BareFeats article. Am following up with rob-art. Thx.
You have 100% confused what is going on.
The boot args are to enable 5K display via the GTX980.
Has NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH BOOTSCREENS.
You need a GTX980 and a Dell UP2715K to use those boot args for anything.
The boot screens are only present when there is a Mac EFI on the card.
Pretty amazing that an older Mac Pro can run a 5K display in OS X while the nifty new cylinder can't do it yet.
Yep, that's it. Thx
I have a MacPro mid 2010
if I install a GTX 980 without firmware apple, what happens?
After startup is recognized or not?
You need to install the Nvidia Web drivers for the card to work.
http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p49/Nvidia_GTX_980_Ti_6_GB.html
With a non-flashed card you will not see anything on the screen until right before the login screen loads.
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Setup
