Thread
flashing a PC video card to mac?
Hey guys. I my recent conquest, I found a Nvidia Geforce 2 MX 200 PCI. I thought this would be the perfect upgrade to my ATI Rage 128, and hoped I could finally get quartz extreme running.
However, I know you have to flash it first, so I searched around and found this that I thought had everything I needed.
I downloaded the Mac OS X version first, because I did not have 9 on the machine at the time (I do now). I ran it after reading the readme, and it did not work. It kept kicking out with an unknown error.
I then put OS 9 on my machine, downloaded the 9 version, and ran it. It said it ran successfully, so I shut down, put the card in the 66mhz slot, hooked up the monitor, and it never got a signal.
I then got the windows version, put it on a floppy, and back into the machine it came from. I booted off the disk, ran the program, and it said there was an unknown error. It then told me to reboot, so I did, and it still was working on the PC, so I assume it never even got to flashing the ROM.
Anyone have any ideas? I would like to see some graphical goodness.
-digital
However, I know you have to flash it first, so I searched around and found this that I thought had everything I needed.
I downloaded the Mac OS X version first, because I did not have 9 on the machine at the time (I do now). I ran it after reading the readme, and it did not work. It kept kicking out with an unknown error.
I then put OS 9 on my machine, downloaded the 9 version, and ran it. It said it ran successfully, so I shut down, put the card in the 66mhz slot, hooked up the monitor, and it never got a signal.
I then got the windows version, put it on a floppy, and back into the machine it came from. I booted off the disk, ran the program, and it said there was an unknown error. It then told me to reboot, so I did, and it still was working on the PC, so I assume it never even got to flashing the ROM.
Anyone have any ideas? I would like to see some graphical goodness.
-digital
You need to research what the error was. The problem with trying to flash most PC cards to Mac is that they put a smaller chip in the PC cards and the mac ROM will not fit in it.
They also rig the PC ATA card so you cannot flash them to run on a Mac too.
They also rig the PC ATA card so you cannot flash them to run on a Mac too.
Oh, how I long for the days of the 3dfx Voodoo cards. 
Incidentally, ATI has cards now that should work on both platforms without flashing, but I'm guessing this doesn't apply to our older Macs. :
Incidentally, ATI has cards now that should work on both platforms without flashing, but I'm guessing this doesn't apply to our older Macs. :
I have actually been trying to do exactly the same thing with an AGP GeForce2 MX200 64M (TV-out), and have had the same results using the above mentioned site. The card has been sitting on my desk for months now without me getting any furthur with it. I would be very interested to hear of any solutions for the problem.
Incidentally, I have tested my card and it works fine in PCs, but when I try it in my G4 the screen displays a TV signal-like "static" effect and a lot of other garbage. Maybe the PC MX200s just aren't suited for Mac use.
Incidentally, I have tested my card and it works fine in PCs, but when I try it in my G4 the screen displays a TV signal-like "static" effect and a lot of other garbage. Maybe the PC MX200s just aren't suited for Mac use.
Unknown_K provides the reason for this not working on Macs in his post above yours.
I had a Creative-branded GeForce2 MX200, and it worked great under 10.4. However, when I updated to 10.4.3 or anything over the base 10.4, my mouse cursor turned into a weird square whose colors would randomly change. Everything else looked just fine, but the mouse was an oversized box of garbage. Very difficult to use with accuracy.
I never figured out what was wrong with it, so I put the original RAGE 128 back in, which I suppose is good because my stupid monitor died and I could only replace it speedily with an ADC display.
It may have worked if I kept the kexts from 10.4, but it didn't occur to me until I pulled the card. I'll work on it when I get time, if I don't get any of the GeForce4 models that I also grabbed to work.
I never figured out what was wrong with it, so I put the original RAGE 128 back in, which I suppose is good because my stupid monitor died and I could only replace it speedily with an ADC display.
It may have worked if I kept the kexts from 10.4, but it didn't occur to me until I pulled the card. I'll work on it when I get time, if I don't get any of the GeForce4 models that I also grabbed to work.