Help with FX5200 Ultra hack

One more thing. The card works fine (if unaccelerated) in OS 9.

So there's definitely no hardware damage.

Strange, eh?

Peace,
Drew

So . . . the drivers aren't working or aren't there . . . or something. Are there any NVidia driver updates? Or do you have Tiger to try (might have updated drivers included?)

dan k

I had the same problem in my QS with a GeForce 4 TI 4600. But mine was a PC flashed one. Is yours?

I suppose it could be a driver issue. I thought they were supported natively in OS X 10.3+... Or rather that OS X has all the nVidia drivers installed by default. I don't have Tiger to try, either. Panther 10.3.3 is the newest disc I've got, and 10.3.9 is installed.

I gave Pacifist a whirl and installed all the nVidia drivers I could find. I get the same result. Of course, I didn't see any FX5200 drivers in the 10.3.3 packages. Still, I'm really an OS X neophyte, and there are lots of things I don't know...

The card is an OEM G5 card, so it's not a flashed PC card.

Peace,
Drew

I'm still struggling with this one. I haven't had any more success than I've noted already. The video card works fine in OS X when the Mac is booted with extensions off, the card works in single user mode, and the video card works in OS 9. But try as I might, I just can't get the 5200 to work in OS X after a regular boot.

Has anybody got any thoughts on this?

The card is an OEM card from a G5 modified to work in a 4x AGP slot.

Peace,
Drew

I've done the hack to three of these cards and all work just fine on my Digital Audio G4. Although I don't have any concrete details, I have heard that there are a select few DA G4s out there that have some issues with certain video cards, most notably the Geforce 5200 and the Radeon 9600 cards pulled from G5s.

Do you have access to any other systems (DA or newer, towers) that you could test the card in? A MDD G4 would probably be a good start, but another DA or a QS G4 would be best as they share very similar architectures. (Any hacked cards that don't work on a DA won't work in a QS also. Most all of the G5 hacked cards will work in a MDD without a problem, assuming the hack was done right).

You might also consider doing a fresh install of OS X onto a separate partition or spare hard drive and removing all non-essential hardware. You have a good deal of extras added on, and although they shouldn't, they could be conflicting in some way. It's also possible that there's a preference that was corrupt, or maybe some 3rd party software installed added something that's screwing things up now. The fresh install will just speed things along in the search for a software issue. If things don't work on a clean install of OS X, you can sorta bet on a hardware malfunction.

When you did the hack, you had to do a bit of cutting of the used section of the AGP connector, right? Otherwise it won't fit into the slot. Perhaps you cut too much and there's a loose connection in there, or a pin isn't making contact? Try installing the card normally and see if that works. If it doesn't, try to carefully push the card forward in the slot, try booting again. Then try pushing back next.

Good luck with it.

Thanks for the comments. I have an alternate DA board (but no alternate case), so swapping boards is possible but a little inconvenient.

For what it's worth, I've also got a Radeon 9600 w/ dual DVI and 128 MB VRAM from a G5 that also doesn't work in my G4. In fact, it's a lot worse - there is no video whatsoever with this card.

The 5200 fits very snuggly without modification, but the back edge of the card edge where it is keyed is very tight over the AGP connector. I didn't trim it, and I thought that the fact it was working when booted with extensions off was a pretty good indication that it was fully seated. I didn't want to do any hardware mods before i knew the card worked... If you think it's worth the risk, I'll try widening the key gap on the card's edge connector.

When I get some time (probably not tonight or this weekend - it's the first time in a while that the wife and I have time off together), I'll swap motherboards and post back with results.

Thanks for the encouragement.

-
Drew

I don't have any problem with the rear end of the card. (I took the holding clip off my AGP slot)

I had trouble with the card near the connector that was dremel'd off. I had to shave a little bit off of that to get it to fit into the AGP slot. Maybe you had a rough time getting it seated?

I've also modded a Radeon 9600, though I've only done the 64 MB card, and have only used it in my MDD. I did a little research on the 128 MB card and saw one instance where a person couldn't get the card to work in his system, I believe it was a MDD G4. It seems as though there may be issues with those cards themselves working in G4s. I intend to get one myself to use in my MDD, so I may do more research on it at some point.

I do think you should consider using a file, or the dremel, to cut off a little bit of the edge nearest the video connectors. That's where I cut all three of my cards to make a better fit and have had them work just great.

Remembering back, I think the first card I did, I might have even cut a little bit too much out, so I had to push the card back a little to make it more stable. Those contacts are pretty small, so it's easy to see how a little bit of play could cause some bad connections.

...I feel stupid.

All this time, and I didn't figure out that the tape job was a little ... over zealous?

I took all the kit out again to try to make it work one more time. You're right, I did have to Dremel off the leading connectors that would have interfered with the ADC power connector on the motherboard. I'd forgotten about that. Anyway, I looked at my tape job and notice that one of the strips of tape (on pin 11) was too wide and also prevented good contact between the card edge and the motherboard AGP slot's pins.

I removed the offending strips of tape, cut some new, slimmer strips, and re-applied the tape. Now the card works like a charm!

Thanks for the help & encouragement. If you hadn't suggested I look at how the card's edge was making contact with the AGP slot's pins, I would never have given it a 2nd thought.

Peace,
Drew