System Not Recognizing XFX Radeon DD R9 280X (Yosemite, Z77X-UD5H)

[killacam7478]

System Not Recognizing XFX Radeon DD R9 280X (UD5H) (SOLVED)

Hi Guys, needed some direction on getting my new GPU to work. I just bought an XFX Double Dissipation R9 280X. I bought it because I need the 2 mini-display ports. As soon as I plug it in, OS X rejects it and I can't get past the installer (blank screen, sometimes reboots, etc). When I type in the verbose flag, it gets stuck in different areas, but always around when the graphics are trying to load. I tried various boot flags as well, and -x safemode doesn't work.

The first suggestion I read about these 7XXX-type cards is in the Gigabyte BIOS, to set to IGFX as initial graphics, then disable IGFX so it will run through the card. However, my BIOS (F14 I believe) keeps changing the settings I save back to Auto for initial graphics, and Auto or Enabled for Internal Graphics. Very odd, so I can't really follow those instructions. I was also having issues with with a card reader I had installed, so I disabled XHCI Mode.

My next two options, I believe, are to flash the BIOS of my GPU (which I am reading now on how to do, doesn't seem too hard) to an older BIOS, or to install my bootloader into the UFI partition on my SSD drive. I am just hesitate to try these because I don't know what other impacts it will have on my system. The majority of posts I read on getting the 7XXX cards to work are from pre-Mavericks, and i was under the impression that Mavericks (so now Yosemite too) would just be able to read these cards without having to change anything (other than the display settings in the BIOS). I have yet to boot into OS X, but I can into Win7, and I can see the BIOS screen and Chimera using the new card. Before I put the card in, I had Yosemite working well, with audio, with USB 3.0, no sleep no iMessage.

Can anyone confirm if flashing the BIOS of the GPU or using the UFI partition worked for them in Mavericks or Yosemite? Or do I need to add some sort of kext to my system? I'm a bit of a novice so I'm a bit nervous flashing the GPU BIOS (considering I will return this card if I can't get it to work) or adding the UFI partition because I read people can't access their Windows drive after doing so.

i5-3570K
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H (Rev. 1.1, I believe)
4 Sticks of RAM, 4GB/8GB/4GB/8GB
Samsung SSD for OS X, Toshiba HDD for Win7
Yosemite OS X Using Latest Multibeast / Unibeast / Chimera
XFX Radeon DD R9 280X (tried through HDMI and through mDP)

SOLVED
In case anyone buys a new XFX DD R9 280X, I read on how to flash the GPU BIOS. My version was like 015.047 or something like that, but they have older ones on TechPowerup, and I flashed to one from 2013 (like 015.40), specifically a release from 10.17.13. Recognized in Yosemite now. Didn't have to mess with the bootloader, I just disabled the internal graphics and I can see the BIOS and Chimera installer menus. I also followed someone's suggestion (Abbecus) and changed my System Type to Mac Pro 5,1, deleted the kext AppleTYuMCE.kext and my Luxmark score went from ~800 to ~2250.

 

[killacam7478]

As a quick update, I tried booting with IGFX as initial and even have a monitor plugged into HD4000, but it reverts to the GPU if I have it plugged in. I can get into OS X and it runs fine if I use the internal graphics, and when I do, nothing shows up in my System Report (only the HD4000).

I checked the firmware of my card in Windows, and it's showing up as 015.047, which I think is a much newer BIOS. Should I flash it back to an older version?

Also, when I open the kext for AMD7000Controller, I don't see any type of file that I can edit to add my device ID. Is this even necessary in Yosemite? I think my problem isn't the bootloader, I think my issue is that Yosemite isn't seeing the card at all. Please, any help??

 

[HauDrauf]

Hi,

I am having exactly the same issue with my XFX Radeon card. Thanks to you I found the correct Bios and the card runs fine with it (at least it seems so), OS X as well as Windows.
Before that OS X simply resets without further notice just before the login screen appears.

But when using this Radeon BIOS I have problems when entering PC BIOS. The system some times simply hangs. I can not select any boot drive, nothing. Only way to circumvent this is to reflash the original Radeon BIOS which is of course not very useful.

Did you found another solution working with the original Radeon BIOS?
What is exactly the reason that a BIOS is responsible for the card working correctly in OS X?

 

[theSUBVERSIVE]

How are you guys doing with El Captain and Sierra? Is it better to stick with the latest El Captain or there is no problem going to Sierra?

 

[Fl0r!an]

El Capitan and Sierra don't differ in terms of "R9 280X" support.

 

[theSUBVERSIVE]

SOLVED
In case anyone buys a new XFX DD R9 280X, I read on how to flash the GPU BIOS. My version was like 015.047 or something like that, but they have older ones on TechPowerup, and I flashed to one from 2013 (like 015.40), specifically a release from 10.17.13. Recognized in Yosemite now. Didn't have to mess with the bootloader, I just disabled the internal graphics and I can see the BIOS and Chimera installer menus. I also followed someone's suggestion (Abbecus) and changed my System Type to Mac Pro 5,1, deleted the kext AppleTYuMCE.kext and my Luxmark score went from ~800 to ~2250.

What does this kext do?

My card is currently running at 150Mhz instead of 1000MHz. I tested several ROMs from XFX and Asus, but the ones that worked still shows 150MHz.