Mac Pro 2006 No Video

However I have used the recommended nVidia GT-120 Video Card with 1 Standard DVI and 1Display Port. I plug the Monitor into the DVI incidently it is a Dell Monitor not a Mac monitor, which shouldnt matter. When I power on the unit the white power light comes on solid and I get the infamous 'Chime' of goodness. But no Video is displayed on the monitor. What is going on here. Was I mis advised on the Video Card? Am I not doing something correctly? what is it.

Here is the configuration of hardware:
8 Core Xeon 2.66 (so I Was Told)
2 x 1GB Fully Buffered memory in memory riser A and Memory Slots 1 & 2
nVidia GT-120 PCI-Express card in PCI-e slot #1
DVD-DL Drive set as Cable Select and plugged into the end of the IDE Cable
Western Digital SATA Hard Drive Mounted to the Drive Sled and inserted into the Drive Position closest to the front of the Case where the drive doors are.

To any that can help I will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all that read this sooo much

Regards
Dev

It's very possible you were ill-advised, although not an absolute given. I had the same Mac Pro until last year and did a GPU upgrade that wasn't intended for that machine, but worked. The nVidia card you have is intended for the early 2009 Mac Pros, and requires Mac OS 10.5.6. If it is to work in your Mac, you should at least have 10.5.6 running, and you should also have that card in the bottom PCI slot.

If you are able to get running with those tips, then be sure to run the Expansion Slot Utility to get the most out of your card.
Mac Pro: About the PCI Express slots

G'day and welcome to the forums.

As lifeisabeach points out you have been sold the wrong video card.

For a Mac Pro 1.1, look for a nVidia GeForce 7300 GT original card, an improved performance 8800GT 1st generation model ONLY, or even better an ATI Radeon HD4870 or 5770.

All 2006 model Mac Pro are Xeon Dual Core in 2GHz, 2.66GHz or 3GHz formats.

Mac Pro No Video

Yeah I was told that the Nvidia GT-120 was used in the Mac Pro 2006
also there is no way for me to find out what specs the machine is because of obviously no picture.

so your saying the GT-7300 specifically designed by Apple for the Mac Pro Gen1 will work?

Thank you guy's
ya all have a beer on me.

Regards
Dev

Do not forget the beert!

This is the card:-

Mac Pro 2006-2007 nVidia 7300GT 256MB PCIe Video Card | eBay

For not too much more the same seller will have a 8800GT for 2006 Mac Pro. The 8800 has twice the memory of the 7300 and is much, much faster. It also requires connecting to the mother board via cable so make sure one is included!


http://cgi.ebay.com/1st-Gen-Mac-Pro...819?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item483dada283

i didn't say that card would not work. What I'm saying is that it MAY work, but 10.5.6 or later MUST be installed already, and the card should be in the bottom slot. I did some Googling, and reportedly it may well work. I'm confused a little about the naming scheme though. This eBay listing specifically… very specifically… says that the GT120 will work on the 2006 Mac Pro. It also says that GT120 is Apple's name for the 9500 GT. This auction appears to be a PC version of the card flashed to be usable in a Mac. It's possible that the official Apple GT120 won't run on the 2006 Mac Pro, but apparently these modded ones do.

I just remembered something else. Are there ports for a pair of power cables that connect to the motherboard? If so, are they connected? When I replaced the stock card from my 2006 Mac Pro, I had to use 2 cables for the new card (the ATI Radeon HD 4870). There are two that have to be plugged in to the motherboard, separate from the cables that go to the power supply. Here's the proper cable:
Amazon.com: PCIe PCI-e Power Cable for Mac G5 nVidia ATI Video Card - High Quality: Electronics

Lifesabeach,
I totally understand your mindset on this, however there is no OS installed because it is a new hard drive. Like I said I do get the Chime of goodness which indicates to me that the motherboard and memory are configured correctly. Shouldn't I get at least the white screen with a ? if there is no OS on it, or some sign of life. The green light does stay on the monitor with the little banner moving around that say's no DVI cable connected. Quite frankly this is the first Mac I have had this issue with. In regards to the Video power cables there is no place on the Video Card for the Aux power cable to connect to. I do have some PC based cards that do have this so I am familiar with these and that they need to be plugged in to work. otherwise I am stumped.
I did notice that there are 2 6pin power sockets mounted next to each other on the mother board that appear to be video power. if the machine is sitting upright and the memory boards are down in the lower right these connectors are in the upper left end of the mother board sitting end to end 2 holes wide and six holes long seperated by a little space, for 2 2 x 3 hole power cables to plug into. could this in fact be the wrong card for this machine.


Any other suggestions?
Dev

webdevii said:

Lifesabeach,
I totally understand your mindset on this, however there is no OS installed because it is a new hard drive. Like I said I do get the Chime of goodness which indicates to me that the motherboard and memory are configured correctly. Shouldn't I get at least the white screen with a ? if there is no OS on it, or some sign of life. The green light does stay on the monitor with the little banner moving around that say's no DVI cable connected. Quite frankly this is the first Mac I have had this issue with. In regards to the Video power cables there is no place on the Video Card for the Aux power cable to connect to. I do have some PC based cards that do have this so I am familiar with these and that they need to be plugged in to work. otherwise I am stumped.
I did notice that there are 2 6pin power sockets mounted next to each other on the mother board that appear to be video power. if the machine is sitting upright and the memory boards are down in the lower right these connectors are in the upper left end of the mother board sitting end to end 2 holes wide and six holes long seperated by a little space, for 2 2 x 3 hole power cables to plug into. could this in fact be the wrong card for this machine.

Click to expand...

I can't recall my exact experience with the ATI Radeon 4870 that I had, which was not intended for that Mac either but most certainly would work IF you had 10.5.6 or later installed, but you may HAVE to have 10.5.6 installed first for the drivers. The EFI version on the mainboard may be otherwise incapable of recognizing the card. Macs don't use BIOS or otherwise have a VGA fallback to use for limited graphics compatibility with any graphics card that gets plugged in, afaik.

Really, my only recommendation is to put back in the old card (you can have both in… just put the old one in an upper slot), stay connected using that until the OS is installed and fully updated, then switch your monitor to the new one and see what happens.

I did some additional Googling, and OWC confirms that the Apple-branded GT-120 will work perfectly well in the 2006 Mac Pro if you have the one with the 800 MHz bus. If you do have that model, then follow my recommendation above.

As for the PCIe power cords… if the card doesn't have the ports, then obviously you don't need them. As for whether or not you have the right card, this is what the correct Apple version looks like. The version shown in the eBay auction I linked to before looks quite different, and is what the PC version would look like. The PC version will only work IF it has been properly flashed to make it compatible.

EDIT: That OWC link had me a little confused. I don't believe the Mac Pro 1,1 had an 800 MHz memory bus option at all from more reading. They likely were referring to the 2008 models. Still... my prior recommendation stands if you want to try to make this work. The GT-120 appears to be an "inferior" card to the 4870, and since I know personally that the 4870 will work if you meet the OS version requirements, the GT-120 should also.

Again there is no way I can get an OS in if I do not have video. kinda that double edge gotcha!

Lifesabeach, I do have a Snowleopard install DVD how to I get it to boot directly to that install disc, I believe it is the Alt/Option key on a PC keyboard while holding the C key can you confirm. Keep in mind I got this machine without video card, memory or hard drive. I have since added the correct memory FB-667 in pairs. and the Hard Drive Bracket that allows 1 SATA drive to slide in via the bracket. and by getting the chime of goodness I do believe the memory is correct. just no fricken picture, and no installed OS

thank You for anything you can assist.

Dev

Further investigation reveals that the GT-120 Card I purchased from FeeBay, does identify as a GeForce 9500 when installed in a PC, I was a little taken back by that, I believe they did re-flash the firmware to be a wanna be mac card.

Another thing is there any tell tale sign I can look for on the motherboard or anywhere else to confirm what model this is. the only placard on the bottom is the generic disclaimers this copyrighted by that and so forth, C2006. That is why I am assuming that this is a Gen 1 2006 model Mac Pro with 2 Intel Xeon Processors in it. I am desperate now. If I cant find any reasonable answers here I am going to head to my shop Monday morning and do the trial by error deal.

I've seen the link where OWC says that the GT-120 works in the 1st generation Mac Pro's...which sounds great.

@webdevil: Assuming that this is true...there is always the possibility that the GT 120 video card you have is no good/busted.

- Nick

webdevii said:

Further investigation reveals that the GT-120 Card I purchased from FeeBay, does identify as a GeForce 9500 when installed in a PC, I was a little taken back by that, I believe they did re-flash the firmware to be a wanna be mac card.

Click to expand...

Does the GT 120 card you have look like this:



...and if so...does it have just one Mini-Display port & one full sized DVI port? I'm just trying to figure out of you have a genuine GT 120 card...or a flashed one. Also...how much did you pay for it?

- Nick

webdevii said:

Again there is no way I can get an OS in if I do not have video. kinda that double edge gotcha!

Click to expand...

I understand that…. thus my suggestion to put the old card back in if you had it. It seems you left out a lot of details in your original post.

pigoo3 said:

I've seen the link where OWC says that the GT-120 works in the 1st generation Mac Pro's...which sounds great.

@webdevil: Assuming that this is true...there is always the possibility that the GT 120 video card you have is no good/busted.

- Nick

Click to expand...

Nick, thanks for your imput, however as far as the 'Broke Theory', it does work in a PC and it Identifies as a GT 9500 Nvidia.
So I am assuming this was originally a 9500 flashed to Mac code to be a wannabe.

Thank You Nick for your input as any and all helps. I am just going down to the shop tomorrow where I have access to boxes of misc video cards, both mac and pc, hoping I get lucky. I am sick of buying cards based on one's opinion, I do appreciate the opinions, but to date none have worked. My bank account is starting to dwindle. hehe haha

Latez
Dev

lifeisabeach said:

I understand that…. thus my suggestion to put the old card back in if you had it. It seems you left out a lot of details in your original post.

Click to expand...

The way I got this machine is this
No memory
No Hard Drive
No DVD Drive
No Video Card
No Install DVD
Memory has been solved
Hard Drive has been Solved
DVD Has been Solved
Video has not.
I am assuming a Snow Leopard 10.6 OS will work.. if not I have Brown Leopard 10.5, I even have Lion 10.7 Developers Preview.
Like I mentioned before the Machine powers on and Chimes normally just no picture, the Monitor light stays green and does not go amber as if it was not connected.
Let me know what else I need

pigoo3 said:

Does the GT 120 card you have look like this:

...and if so...does it have just one Mini-Display port & one full sized DVI port? I'm just trying to figure out of you have a genuine GT 120 card...or a flashed one. Also...how much did you pay for it?

- Nick

Click to expand...

Yes it looks just like that down to the fan and the Display Port and DVI port

Nick the Card looks just like the one in the picture, 1 Display Port and One DVI port I paid $78.00 for it in FeeBay (eBay)

webdevii said:

Yes it looks just like that down to the fan and the Display Port and DVI port

Click to expand...

That most certainly is the Apple version of the card then. Interesting how it works in a PC though. I would have thought it'd only work in a Mac due to EFI. What I'm wondering now if it's an Apple card that was flashed to work in a PC. In fact, I did some reading and it doesn't normally work in a PC without some hackery.

At any rate, if the card will work with 10.5.6 in that Mac, then it will work with Snow Leopard. You can try getting Snow Leopard and booting from the install disc, but even then I can't say that the card will be recognized until SL is actually installed. And we are still facing the likelihood that this card has been modified to work in a PC rather than a Mac.

At this point it seems you have 2 choices: get Snow Leopard and if you can get video when booting from that install disc, then you will be good to go and can proceed. Or get back to the person you got the card from and explain that it doesn't work in your Mac.

lifeisabeach said:

That most certainly is the Apple version of the card then. Interesting how it works in a PC though. I would have thought it'd only work in a Mac due to EFI. What I'm wondering now if it's an Apple card that was flashed to work in a PC. In fact, I did some reading and it doesn't normally work in a PC without some hackery.

At any rate, if the card will work with 10.5.6 in that Mac, then it will work with Snow Leopard. You can try getting Snow Leopard and booting from the install disc, but even then I can't say that the card will be recognized until SL is actually installed. And we are still facing the likelihood that this card has been modified to work in a PC rather than a Mac.

At this point it seems you have 2 choices: get Snow Leopard and if you can get video when booting from that install disc, then you will be good to go and can proceed. Or get back to the person you got the card from and explain that it doesn't work in your Mac.

Click to expand...

Thank you btw, Now using a PC keyboard what are the key commands to make it boot to the Snow Leopard DVD. I think it is Option/Alt and C for CD.
but I could be mistaken.