I just installed a Sapphire HD7950 Mac edition video card to replace the stock card.
Before I upgraded, I could play sound through the speakers in the monitor.
After I upgraded to the HD7950 Mac edition, it only plays sound through the internal speakers of the computer.
I have a Mac Pro 2012. Does anyone know if I need to update the video drivers for it to work normal?
Thanks!
Mac Pro, iOS 9.1
What model Mac Pro and how is the monitor connected to the Mac?
What options are listed in System Preferences>Sounds>Output?
I don't think it should affect your sound, but I could be wrong about that. Hold down the option key and click on the speaker icon at the top of your screen. this will show you a full list of all the sound inputs and outputs on your mac. other than that, go with what IIIaass said, maybe zap pram: hold down apple, option, p and r keys on reboot, hold down for 3 bongs then release and let computer boot up as per usual. Well, it was worth a try
JB
Model: Mac Pro 2012
Previous video card: HD5780
Monitor: LG 29" wide screen i believe
Connection: Mini-display port
The installation was straightforward, Both video cards are the same size and both use 2 power supply cables.
Previously, I remember in the Output section of settings there was an option to choose the LG Monitor speakers but now its not an option.
Sound/Output options
a) internal speakers
b) line out
c) digital out
On the top right I dont see a speaker.
I see these icons: Time Machine, Wifi, Day, Time, my name, search, 3 dots/lines (notifications menu).
I have 2 monitors connected -- should have mentioned that in the previous reply.
When I first rebooted after installing, it chose my 2nd monitor as the primary (which is turned 90 degrees) and happened to be off. I kept waiting for my main wide screen to show the start up menu but after the grey screen with apple logo nothing happened. I thought, let me just turn on the other monitor and there it was. I switched the monitor settings around and it works. I ran benchmarks on it and it performs much faster than the previous setup...just no sound (except via the internal Mac speakers) and I'm not able to choose the monitor as a sound source.
Do I need to reinstall monitor drivers perhaps? or install video card drivers?
I didnt use the CD that came with it because I read that the Mac should just recognize it and work.
I can try the zap pram tonight.
The HD 7950 is not an original Apple supplied card and even though Apple themselves do supply the drivers for this card (in fact drivers for this card for Macs are not available from AMD) Apple have chosen to be rather silly about it. As a result for example even though Macs can do audio via HDMI e.g. on the Mac mini and MacBook Pro, and even though this card has a HDMI port which supports audio and works as standard in Windows via Boot Camp Apple do not enable audio via the HDMI port in OS X.
It is highly likely that in this case Apple have also 'failed' to enable audio via Mini Displayport on this card even though it definitely is capable of it.
I have not tried doing audio via the Mini Displayport on this card but I have via the HDMI, as mentioned above as standard it does not work in OS X not even in El Capitan, however I have found a solution that does enable audio via HDMI and this might also work for Mini Displayport. It involves installing a free third-party kext file and the only drawback is that this kext requires enabling 'developer' mode for kexts i.e. allowing unsigned kexts. (As standard Yosemite and El Capitan only allow signed kexts.) I can confirm this approach works for Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan at least for the HDMI port.
See http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-hdmi-audio.1499797/page-9#post-2043907 7
Thanks - I returned it for a warranty repair/replacement...so will find out soon if a new one will work.
I returned the card to OWC and contacted the manufacturer. Unfortunately there is still no solution. How is it that OWC + the manufacturer don't know how to make the sound work. They are the only people who make and sell these video cards (I could not find anyone else selling them).
OWC said:
Thank you for being so patient. We have received and tested your Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition. It has passed all testing, although it would not play audio for us either. According to a senior technician, this is not uncommon with non-Apple audio cards and OS X 10.8 or later. There is a procedure to install a supplemental HDMI Audio kernel extension. Source: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-hdmi-audio.1499797/
I contacted the manufacturer and they said:
Mac OSx does not allow audio through the HDMI port from this card. Therefore your audio has to be from your Mac Pro not from the card.
It seems that sound was not activated on any ports on this card...but why doesn't anyone know that for sure?
I tried installing the HDMI Audio kernal which I found on the link you gave me: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-hdmi-audio.1499797/page-9#post-2043907 7
It didn't help. I'm really surprised this is so hard. I didn't expect to be spending 10+ hours trouble shooting my new video card...really disappointed.
Thanks for everyone who tried to help. I guess this card is just not capable of playing sound to the monitor and I have to give up.
It is definitely possible to get audio working via the HDMI port using that kext extension as I have done it myself. However as I mentioned it does need developer mode enabling which I don't think its own installer does. I used Kext Utility to do this see http://www.hackintoshosx.com/file/4279-kext-utility-el-capitan-ready/ but there are other methods like setting a PRAM option via sudo nvram boot-args=kext-dev-mode=1, or editing the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist file.
Could you give step by step instructions explaining how this is done? I have the exact same issue. Just bought a Mac Pro 2012 with El Capitan installed and I upgraded the graphics card to Radeon HD 7950 3GB mac edition. Sound works through windows bootcamp side, but not the mac. There's no HDMI option through sound preferences either.
K10ud wrote:
Could you give step by step instructions explaining how this is done? I have the exact same issue. Just bought a Mac Pro 2012 with El Capitan installed and I upgraded the graphics card to Radeon HD 7950 3GB mac edition. Sound works through windows bootcamp side, but not the mac. There's no HDMI option through sound preferences either.
Yes you have hit the same problem I did, Apple failing to support audio via a PCIe card even though it can do it as proven via Boot Camp and Windows. Please send Apple either a bug report requesting this feature as an enhancement - if you have a bug report account, or use this page. See http://www.apple.com/feedback/mac-pro.html
Here are the steps I have used to successfully enable audio on a Mac Pro 2010 with a Radeon HD7950 in El Capitan and Sierra.
PS. You will not be able to adjust the volume on the Mac, the volume can only be adjusted in the display/tv itself. This is normal. Apple send the audio unaltered in a digital format down the cable, to adjust the volume would require first converting it to analogue, adjusting the amplitude and then converting it back to digital. Apple choose to leave that to the output device. Apple could have supported CEC - Consumer Electronics Control something they have added to the Apple TV 4 but this requires built-in hardware support so cannot be enabled simply via software. I would again however suggest that people log enhancement requests with Apple so that future Mac models do have CEC support.
Thanks John, this worked PERFECTLY. It works just like it did before I upgraded the card. I really appreciate you taking the time to share this fix. gooday
Upgraded to HD7950 Video Card but sound no longer working
