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Problems with AMD 7970 graphics not working (with secondary 6870)

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seanparkerfilms

seanparkerfilms

Joined
Jul 3, 2011
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30
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 7
CPU
i7-8700K
Graphics
GTX 1080 Ti
Hi all, was trying two things at once today -- upgrading my fully working two-year-old Hackintosh to a Mavericks installation (from 10.7.3) and also installing a new graphics card, the AMD 7970 to replace my 6870.

I read up on all the issues with 7970 cards and how you need to either have integrated graphics (I don't, my motherboard is GA-Z68X-UD5-B3) or a secondary graphics card. I tried putting the 7970 into my PCIe x16 slot and the 6870 into a PCIe x8, got a fully bootable Mavericks installation going with the 6870 plugged into the display, and then switched over to plugging my display into the 7970. Knowing that the current bootloaders don't support 7970, I set the BIOS to use the PCIe x8 slot as the initial graphics display (my motherboard version is F6 if that matters, I noticed it was a lot simpler than the screenshots others were posting of how to adjust display settings on their own builds), so it looked like everything was all set to work.

I get boot errors (just a couple gibberish characters if I recall) from trying to start up with the 7970 though. I know the card is fine, because I can boot into Windows while running it. Did I miss a step? The guides I've found have been more in-depth about how to use integrated graphics to make this setup work, and a bit more vague when it comes to how to use two different cards.

Appreciate any help or advice you can give. Thanks so much for your time!

My system:
GA-Z68X-UD5-B3
i7-2600 K Processor
8 GB RAM
AMD 7970 + 6870 Graphics
750w Power Supply
 
seanparkerfilms said:
Hi all, was trying two things at once today -- upgrading my fully working two-year-old Hackintosh to a Mavericks installation (from 10.7.3) and also installing a new graphics card, the AMD 7970 to replace my 6870.

I read up on all the issues with 7970 cards and how you need to either have integrated graphics (I don't, my motherboard is GA-Z68X-UD5-B3) or a secondary graphics card. I tried putting the 7970 into my PCIe x16 slot and the 6870 into a PCIe x8, got a fully bootable Mavericks installation going with the 6870 plugged into the display, and then switched over to plugging my display into the 7970. Knowing that the current bootloaders don't support 7970, I set the BIOS to use the PCIe x8 slot as the initial graphics display (my motherboard version is F6 if that matters, I noticed it was a lot simpler than the screenshots others were posting of how to adjust display settings on their own builds), so it looked like everything was all set to work.

I get boot errors (just a couple gibberish characters if I recall) from trying to start up with the 7970 though. I know the card is fine, because I can boot into Windows while running it. Did I miss a step? The guides I've found have been more in-depth about how to use integrated graphics to make this setup work, and a bit more vague when it comes to how to use two different cards.

Appreciate any help or advice you can give. Thanks so much for your time!

My system:
GA-Z68X-UD5-B3
i7-2600 K Processor
8 GB RAM
AMD 7970 + 6870 Graphics
750w Power Supply
Click to expand...

I have exactly the same problem, but I do have intergrated graphics. Chimera gives me error messages tho. Do you get the boot 0 error?

The only way for me to fully boot into mavericks with my HD 7970 is with the Unibeast USB stick.
 
Interesting! I hadn't tried booting from the USB drive with the 7970 active, and yeah, that works for me too. Actually typing this from the system in that configuration (obviously not an ideal solution though). So that's interesting...

Checked in "About this Mac" and it does recognize the card there, saying AMD Radeon HD 7xxx 3072 MB. Just need to figure out why I can't boot into it from the hard drive alone.

As for the Boot 0 error, I did see Boot 0 flash on the screen before booting up into this from the USB drive, but I'll check if that's the case when trying to boot from the hard disk.

EDIT: Tried booting from the hard disk with the 7970, and I think I did get the Boot 0 error. Attached is a capture of how it looked plus a close-up of the gibberish symbols on the side of the screen.
 

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seanparkerfilms said:
Interesting! I hadn't tried booting from the USB drive with the 7970 active, and yeah, that works for me too. Actually typing this from the system in that configuration (obviously not an ideal solution though). So that's interesting...

Checked in "About this Mac" and it does recognize the card there, saying AMD Radeon HD 7xxx 3072 MB. Just need to figure out why I can't boot into it from the hard drive alone.

As for the Boot 0 error, I did see Boot 0 flash on the screen before booting up into this from the USB drive, but I'll check if that's the case when trying to boot from the hard disk.

EDIT: Tried booting from the hard disk with the 7970, and I think I did get the Boot 0 error. Attached is a capture of how it looked plus a close-up of the gibberish symbols on the side of the screen.
Click to expand...

Let me bookmark this thread, please keep me updated if you make any progress! I've searched and I'm now looking to save the boot part of unibeast usb on my SSD.

Ill post if I make any progress.

Edit: I found this, I do not have much time at this moment but I will look into it later.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/25-boot0-error-official-guide.html
 
Okay, hmmm. In that case, I don't think I'm having the Boot 0 error after all, since it actually displays "Boot 0: done" -- it just happens to be the last thing that seems to work before it freezes up. I do have a 2TB drive in my system, but I'm only using it for backup and data storage, not booting the OS.

I will keep everyone informed of my progress should any breakthroughs happen. I'm not that hopeful about this solution, but I'm considering making a Mountain Lion installation in case Mavericks is the issue here. Alternatively, I might just have to bite the bullet and get a motherboard with integrated graphics (assuming that works for me, sounds like it's an issue for you as well). That'll be my last resort though... it seems like there's got to be a way to solve this.
 
seanparkerfilms said:
Okay, hmmm. In that case, I don't think I'm having the Boot 0 error after all, since it actually displays "Boot 0: done" -- it just happens to be the last thing that seems to work before it freezes up. I do have a 2TB drive in my system, but I'm only using it for backup and data storage, not booting the OS.

I will keep everyone informed of my progress should any breakthroughs happen. I'm not that hopeful about this solution, but I'm considering making a Mountain Lion installation in case Mavericks is the issue here. Alternatively, I might just have to bite the bullet and get a motherboard with integrated graphics (assuming that works for me, sounds like it's an issue for you as well). That'll be my last resort though... it seems like there's got to be a way to solve this.
Click to expand...

boot0: done is still the boot 0 error I think. Did you install the
  1. Realtek ALC889 codec in multibeast?

Do you maybe have skype? You could send me a pm so we can talk a bit on skype. :)
 
Pretty sure I did Realtek ALC889, yes. I'll send a PM now.

Edit: Can't send a PM for some reason. Maybe we need to be friends here on the site first.
 
Umm.... you do integrated graphics. The catch is that you can't plug in any monitor as the motherboard doesn't have any ports for it. This is one of those early Z68 motherboards for people who both wanted to use QuickSync for video encoding but not be bothered with integrated graphics. The cheat was to simply enable the graphics via the chipset but not have any means of connecting to a monitor. This works fine on the Windows side but it is likely an issue in the OS X space as it expects a monitor to be connector there.

I have similar hardware, a Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4, a Radeon 6870 and a Radeon 7970. I only managed to get the Radeon 7970 to work by itself when the integrated graphics was plugged in. I 'cheated' that by having a monitor with more than one input to use.

I'd explicitly upgrade to OS X 10.9 first, then get the system to boot using the Radeon 6870, then plug-in the Radeon 7970 and go from there.
 
You're saying mine has integrated graphics? According to everything I've looked up, your Z68 motherboard has integrated graphics but mine does not. PCStats says "Meet the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 motherboard, a non-integrated graphics take on the new Intel Z68 chipset."

In the BIOS, there's no option for anything aside from PCIe x4, x8, or x16 slots for my initial display, no "IGFX" or other integrated graphics-related option mentioned in the guides. Is that what you mean by enabling it via the chipset?

As for your suggestion, I just want to clarify what I should do. I have a working 10.9 installation right now when using the 6870. If I boot up my computer with the 7970, it doesn't work. Am I supposed to switch to the monitor from the 6870 to the 7970 while the system is still running?
 
seanparkerfilms said:
You're saying mine has integrated graphics? According to everything I've looked up, your Z68 motherboard has integrated graphics but mine does not. PCStats says "Meet the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 motherboard, a non-integrated graphics take on the new Intel Z68 chipset."

In the BIOS, there's no option for anything aside from PCIe x4, x8, or x16 slots for my initial display, no "IGFX" or other integrated graphics-related option mentioned in the guides. Is that what you mean by enabling it via the chipset?

As for your suggestion, I just want to clarify what I should do. I have a working 10.9 installation right now when using the 6870. If I boot up my computer with the 7970, it doesn't work. Am I supposed to switch to the monitor from the 6870 to the 7970 while the system is still running?
Click to expand...

You was able to boot into os x with the HD 7970 with your Unibeast USB right? The point is: Chimera does not support HD 7970, they put various tricks of booting in OS X with it using intergrated graphics: But it does simply not work.

Now what we should try to do is: Get the Unibeast bootloader on your SSD/HDD ( if possible) because with unibeast I can just boot fine.
 
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