Guide for Flashing AMD Radeon HD 6970 in your Mac Pro

[whyme466]

See my original posting in 6970 efi discussion.  I have 2 graphics cards in my configuration: (EFI) GT120 driving 30 in Apple Cinema Display (boot screen generally appears on this display, Dual Link DVI connection), and (non-EFI) HD6970 for HDMI 1.4a connection to Panasonic 50VT25 3D display (viewed from 3 feet).  I (unsuccessfully) attempted to flash this 6970 card.  I also have/use a newer HD7970, but I do not really need the 7970 until 2 3D display issues are resolved, preventing 3D Eyefinity configurations using large 3D HDTVs.  I am not aware of any EFI support for the 7970 yet, so a GT120 would still be required for booting Mac OS .  I would prefer to use only one graphics card, eventually.

I believe the blank screens are caused by confusion between the 2 graphics cards and their display assignments. I have not tried reconnecting the displays to other interface connectors after flashing, however.

Update:  Reflashed 6970 rom with efi version from this discussion, and displayed all DVI connections in search for missing startup Apple boot screen.  Unfortunately, boot screen still not available from either GT120 or EFI-flashed 6970 hardware.  Had to remove flashed 6970 to continue, since default OS boot was Snow Lion.  With only GT120 in computer, Snow Lion booted right away, and reported system crash (Snow Lion seems to crash with 6970 in backplane, using either Sapphire factory or netkas-based EFI roms, at least in my computer). Restored factory settings for 6970, and OS booting via (Apple) GT120.

[icemac]

I read in the other thread you are using a sapphire card try flashing it using this rom.

[whyme466]

Thanks for the file, icemac.

Unfortunately, same result - I cannot obtain Apple boot screen on either display (Panasonic - connected to 6970 HDMI, and Cinema Display - connected to either GT 120 DVI or either HD 6970 DVI connector), unless I restore the original ROM data.  An ideal efi flashed rom would co-exist with another efi-based graphics card.  I should note that during the repeated hardware flashing process, the DOS boot screen would occasionally appear on the Panasonic display (via HDMI connection), rather than the usual Cinema Display.

[Rominator]

Past experience is what you should be considering here.

The lower DVI port is the ONLY legacy port that can be connected if you want to see DVI boot screen.

So no other DVI/VGA/HDMI connections made.

And you need to be sure the EFI device id is same as the BIOS device id.

[krysstoff]

Hello,

i flash my sapphire HD6970 2gb with 2x Mini display port, 1x hdmi, 2 dvi ; but i have a problem, that don't work on 10.8.3 and no apple grey screen on boot.

i boot with freedos and atiflash on bootcamp partition, i verify with atiflash -i

i save myrom.rom with atiflash -s 0 myrom.rom 20000

and use romcreator and 6970.efi.rom to add efi at myrom.rom, all seem alright, no error.

and i reboot with freedos, i unlockrom with atiflash -unlockrom 0

and i flash with atiflash -f -p 0 myrom.rom

and don't work, black screen and reboot all the time. On bootcamp and windows, running 3 screens without problems,

what i do wrong ?

any idea ?

[Rominator]

You have left out the most important part.

WHAT ROM DID YOU FLASH WITH ?

Where did it come from?

How did you make it?

Did you save your original ROM first?

How are we supposed to guess all of this?

[krysstoff]

yes

1- i save rom first

2. Get netkas 6970 Efi http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1118.0;attach=928

3. Get Netkas Rom Creator http://netkas.org/?p=943

4. Open Rom creator and select Your downloaded Bios in the select Bios Rom box and select Netkas Efi in the select Efi rom box then click create Rom
Tip name the file something short and only one word for easier DOS use (i used efi.rom)

5. i flash my card with atiflash -p -f 0 efi.rom

there is dual bios with a switch on my hd6970

i do an atiflash -checkpn to check if are the same PN.

i do atiflash -ai

i see hybrid rom on image 1

all seem good

efi6970.rom = the rom i use to flash my card, i create it with my original rom (6970.rom) and romcreator with 6970.efi.rom

sorry for my bad english

[krysstoff]

You have left out the most important part.

WHAT ROM DID YOU FLASH WITH ?

Where did it come from?

How did you make it?

Did you save your original ROM first?

How are we supposed to guess all of this?

i tell you i save myrom with atiflash, and i use romcreator !

[jmaynard]

So I was going to follow these instructions on my shiny new 6970.

Unfortunately, Netkas ROM Creator seems to have disappeared.

Where do I find it? Or is there another way to create the ROM?

[Nur710]

What about HD 6950? Is it the same way?

[Bunga-Bunga]

Hello,

all links to romcreator.zip are dead. Can anyone send me the .zip?

[reyne]

Bump.

Anyone here kind enough to upload a copy of the old Netkas app please?

Thanks!

Hello,

all links to romcreator.zip are dead. Can anyone send me the .zip?

[JebusKrist]

Just curious if anyone has a working 6970 rom they could send? I tried Sapphire6970efi.rom as well as efi6970.rom from this thread both with the same results kernel panics and other oddities. The card itself is a standard Sapphire 6970. Thanks

[Rominator]

the efi part doesn't change, you just need to put your PC BIOS with it

reason I quit bothering with 6970 was with various OS updates it would work or get broken, you may need to do whatever the fix was to make it work

I forgot long ago when I sold mine off

good luck

[weyerma]

Hi all

Can someone upload the Netkas Rom Creator again ?
Links are dead :-(