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Need help installing GeForce 6600 on Mac G5
mausmalone
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I tried this in G&T and got nowhere, so here we go again ...
I am not by any means a Mac user ... I have a passing familiarity with them, but I don't use them at home and I only occasionally use one at work for specific purposes. The fiscal year has rolled around here and we've decided to update the work G5 to be better suited for video editing (something we just started doing this year). So aside from more RAM, we wanted to upgrade the graphics card to support 2 monitors and a TV for live preview.
I didn't know much about the current state of PC/Mac compatibility so I hopped on MacMall thinking that I'd better get something that they say will work on a Mac. Picked out a GeForce 6600 AGP, wrestled with the case for a bit, and after some consternation got the card installed.
But when I power the machine on, I get nothing. No signal whatsoever. No beep codes. Nothing. In fact, it sounds like it's starting up normally and then waiting at the login screen ... but the monitors never get signal. (EDIT: and I know that the system is responsive because I can eject/insert the CD tray from the keyboard)
I know I didn't screw something up in the G5 case because I've switched back and forth between the old card and new card a few times now and it functions perfectly with the old card. Is there something else I'm doing wrong here? Can anybody give me some pointers when it comes to installing a new AGP card on a G5?
I am not by any means a Mac user ... I have a passing familiarity with them, but I don't use them at home and I only occasionally use one at work for specific purposes. The fiscal year has rolled around here and we've decided to update the work G5 to be better suited for video editing (something we just started doing this year). So aside from more RAM, we wanted to upgrade the graphics card to support 2 monitors and a TV for live preview.
I didn't know much about the current state of PC/Mac compatibility so I hopped on MacMall thinking that I'd better get something that they say will work on a Mac. Picked out a GeForce 6600 AGP, wrestled with the case for a bit, and after some consternation got the card installed.
But when I power the machine on, I get nothing. No signal whatsoever. No beep codes. Nothing. In fact, it sounds like it's starting up normally and then waiting at the login screen ... but the monitors never get signal. (EDIT: and I know that the system is responsive because I can eject/insert the CD tray from the keyboard)
I know I didn't screw something up in the G5 case because I've switched back and forth between the old card and new card a few times now and it functions perfectly with the old card. Is there something else I'm doing wrong here? Can anybody give me some pointers when it comes to installing a new AGP card on a G5?
mausmalone on
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My friend just went through a similar problem with his G5.
He bought a 30 inch widescreen as a second monitor, plugged it in, zero signal.
Went back to Comp USA, they told him the stock video card with the G5 doesn't have enough juice to support those two monitors (they were big monitors), so they made him buy a highend Radeon card, when he installed it, same thing except this time, zero power, zero error codes.
Turns out that the power supply isn't enough to power the video card, when he took it to the Apple Store they told him that it's not worth replacing the power supply because of the design, it's a pain in the ass to take out, and they didn't have a bigger one in stock.
He ended buying a Matrox video card that was specifically for dual monitors (not 3D gaming), and a slightly smaller monitor and lived happily ever after.
TL;DR - G5 power supplies are shit, and may not be giving enough power to the new GF6600, start there.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
The sucky part is that the old video card supported dual monitor, but both the monitors we have are VGA only ... and getting an ADC -> VGA converter is actually considerably more expensive than just getting a new GPU.
The way I've dealt with this on PC's is to disconnect EVERYTHING you can from the power supply and see if it works. This is probably easier on a PC, as it is more likely to have secondary HDD's, multiple CD/DVD drives, tons of case fans, etc.