Resolved Flashing MSI R7950 Twin Frozr Boost/OC Edition

[arivee]

I am hoping starting this new thread would bring to fore a query I've had gotten buried in another thread. Sincere apologies to the admins if this is irrelevant or redundant - please delete/merge if necessary.

That said - as the post above mentions, I am looking for folks who have successfully flashed their MSI 7950 Twin Frozr OC edition.

I have used two roms based on the 7XXX thread from Netkas' website - the roll your own option (no boot screen, card shows up as 7xxx) and the generic rom Rominator provided (boot screen shows up but doesn't go any further, the computer keeps rebooting itself - even bootcamp) - thank goodness for dual BIOS!

As plain as that - I am looking for folks who succeeded in flashing their MSI R7950 Twin Frozr Boost/OC Edition and if they could share their ROM.

TIA!

 

[h9826790]

Study the thread and make your own ROM is the way to go.

 

[VAGDesign]

I believe the mistake was the device id. If you insert 697a as netkas wrote by mistake, you will get 7xxx.
If you read my guide here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-7950-black-edition-card-for-mac-pro.1893886/
You will see that the device I'd should be 679a. This gives you the right model 7950.

I hope this helps.

 

[arivee]

THANK YOU VAGDesign!!! That fixed it!

If no one has stated it on Netkas' thread, I will happily do so. I've been pulling my hair - what little is left of it - trying to resolve the issue. I am uploading my Mac ROM just in case the next poor fellow with the same card encounters the same problem.

Attached is the 'roll your own' ROM for an MSI R7950 Twin Frozr III OC/Boost Edition for Mac. IT IS NOT a text file but I could not upload the file any other way.

 

[VAGDesign]

I'm glad this was it
I've been there and when I tried back in June to flash my card, I saw the error. That's why I've noted it on my guide.
I wonder still, why @netkas haven't corrected it on his guide...

Anyway, have fun with your card!
Cheers!

 

[flatfourtwenty]

I've got a native windows 10 install running on a different hard drive, and every time I try to flash I get a subsystem id mismatch error. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, I've tried to research the issue to no avail. My last step is to make my own rom, but I thought having the exact same card would let me use arivee's rom. Any advice?

2006 Mac Pro 1,1 flashed to 2,1; 2x Quad Core 3ghz Xeon X5365
OS X 10.11.6 El Cap on Journaled 1TB
Windows 10 Pro on NTSF 500GB
32GB RAM

MSi R7950 Twin FrozrIII
shows as this in system report:
Chipset Model: AMD Radeon HD 7xxx
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 3072 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x679a
Revision ID: 0x0000

Dual bios switch, both backed up. Tried flashing in Windows 10 with ATIwinflash


I have a 7300GT uninstalled right now.

No boot screens. Currently boot into one OS then switch using either control panel or bootcamp utilities.

 

[h9826790]

You should create the 7950 Mac EFI ROM by yourself. That's the only way to make sure the ROM has no compatibility issue with your card.

 

[flatfourtwenty]

I ended up doing exactly that late last night.

-Booted into Windows, dumped the rom using GPU-Z.
-Booted into OS X, ran the script from Netkas, ended up with a patch rom.
-Booted back into Windows, flashed the card with the new rom.

-Finally, booted into OS X with a boot screen.

So, for anyone in the future reading about flashing: even if it's the same exact card and setup... it still might not work for you. I installed Java and Python for OS X as mentioned, ran the script in OS X and done within minutes.

I attached my rom for anyone in the future. Might be useful, but probably not.

I thought I'd save time by using a pre-made rom, I actually lost an order of magnitude more time trying to get the wrong rom to work.

 

[fendersrule]

This is a great thread. I may be picking up this same card for $70 shipped to get me through until the GTX 1070 and 1080 drop. Having two roms on this thread will probably near-gauaranee success with flashing without creating me own.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't flash? I do 50% of gaming in MacOS, and 50% of gaming in Windows 10.
[doublepost=1498158716][/doublepost]More questions:

Do you guys get PCIe 2.0 with the above Roms after flashing?

I'm assuming you do get the correct OC speeds after flash?

What is a good process for the "make your own" rom? I'll be using my Mac Pro 5,1. Windows is EFI natively installed on a seperate SSD.

I'm pretty program illiterate, so I'm hoping there's a really clear step-by-step process.

 

[h9826790]

This is a great thread. I may be picking up this same card for $70 shipped to get me through until the GTX 1070 and 1080 drop. Having two roms on this thread will probably near-gauaranee success with flashing without creating me own.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't flash? I do 50% of gaming in MacOS, and 50% of gaming in Windows 10.
[doublepost=1498158716][/doublepost]More questions:

Do you guys get PCIe 2.0 with the above Roms after flashing?

I'm assuming you do get the correct OC speeds after flash?

What is a good process for the "make your own" rom? I'll be using my Mac Pro 5,1. Windows is EFI natively installed on a seperate SSD.

I'm pretty program illiterate, so I'm hoping there's a really clear step-by-step process.

Boot screen won't help anything about gaming. But won't hurt either. However, if you plan to use crossefire, you can't booth with the Mac EFI ROM. That will cause BSOD.

No, flash won't give you PCIe 2.0 speed. That required hardware mod (remove resistor R17).

No, it won't keep your OC clock speed, but the card will run at the flashed ROM speed. Since you plan to download a ROM here but not create your own ROM. It's hard to tell if your card will run faster or slower. In fact, the only way to make sure the ROM work properly is to make your own Mac EFI ROM.

I wrote the step by step guild somewhere in this forum. You may try the search function.

 

[fendersrule]

Thanks! Does removing the R17 resister have any downsides? If not, seems like a "duh" thing to do. Will definitely try the "pry" method. I have the right tools to do that.

So with creating my own rom, I can make sure that the core speed is 80GHz faster (which is the stock OC speed). Is there any part of the rom file that tells the card to run at Pcie 1.0 or Pcie2.0, or is that all in the resister being present or absent?

I'll try to search for your guide. Any idea of keywords?

 

[h9826790]

Thanks! Does removing the R17 resister have any downsides? If not, seems like a "duh" thing to do. Will definitely try the "pry" method. I have the right tools to do that.

So with creating my own rom, I can make sure that the core speed is 80GHz faster (which is the stock OC speed). Is there any part of the rom file that tells the card to run at Pcie 1.0 or Pcie2.0, or is that all in the resister being present or absent?

I'll try to search for your guide. Any idea of keywords?

No worries, I get the link for you.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/help-overclocking-12-core-mac-pro.1762165/#post-19497121

Yes, no matter what clock speed your card come with, the self created Mac EFI ROM will keep it.

No, it's all about the resistor, nothing to do with the software.

There is virtually no downside of the R17 mod (unless your card still has warranty). However, no real world advantage as well. The card's performance is virtually identical regardless running at PCIe 1.1 or PCIe 2.0 (assuming install in a X16 slot). So, in general, it's not worth to do that. You take the risk of damaging the card (remove only R17 is safe, but during the process, may accidentally damage some other resistor), but trading virtually nothing in return.

 

[fendersrule]

Yea, thanks! You're very knowledgeable and I appreciate all your insights!

I'll take a look at the R17 resister. I've done something similar with PowerMac G4 processors before. If it all looks "damage prone", then I'll skip it.

Thanks again, I'll look at the link in the coming days and get mentally prepped for it. I was able to pick up the card for $70 shipped, with the original packaging, and from a trusted owner who has never OC'd it. I think that was a decent score for a decent card. It will allow me to breathe better for 1440p gaming (especially coming from a 5770, hah!)

 

[fendersrule]

Had a chance to read your thread! I think I got the gist of it, but not sure how to go about step 6).

1) Put unflashed 7950 OC into Mac Pro.
2) Boot into windows. download "GPU-Z" and backup the vBios into a rom file.
3) Put rom file on a USB drive. Probably make a "PCBios" folder and stuff it in there.
4) Boot into OSX (won't get boot screen, OSX should appear hopefully)
5) get device ID
6) Place the fixrom script (this is where I'm lost, where is this script, and how do I get it?) to the USB drive.
7) Execute the fixrom script from the terminal (drag and drop method)
8) follow rest of steps (which seem straight forward). Basically, create the EFI-ready rom in terminal and boot back into windows and flash it with AtiWinFlash.

 

[h9826790]

Had a chance to read your thread! I think I got the gist of it, but not sure how to go about step 6).

1) Put unflashed 7950 OC into Mac Pro.
2) Boot into windows. download "GPU-Z" and backup the vBios into a rom file.
3) Put rom file on a USB drive. Probably make a "PCBios" folder and stuff it in there.
4) Boot into OSX (won't get boot screen, OSX should appear hopefully)
5) get device ID
6) Place the fixrom script (this is where I'm lost, where is this script, and how do I get it?) to the USB drive.
7) Execute the fixrom script from the terminal (drag and drop method)
8) follow rest of steps (which seem straight forward). Basically, create the EFI-ready rom in terminal and boot back into windows and flash it with AtiWinFlash.

Search function is your friend

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/zeus-modern-options-for-gpu-update.2033944/page-2#post-24385008

 

[fendersrule]

Thanks. Still not terribly clear though. I'm not sure if that is replacing steps, or adding steps to the process. I'd like to try to make full instructions for other noobs like me. Hopefully me asking questions can help others. I'm pretty stupid!

I'm trying to take a MSI 7950 OC and just want to add EFI to it, not play around with the clock speeds.

That folder that is linked on netkas does contain the "fixrom" script. So I guess what you're saying is that's the only file I need from that folder. The rest, I can ignore. So:

1) Put unflashed 7950 OC into Mac Pro.
2) Boot into windows. download "GPU-Z" and backup the vBios into a rom file.
3) Put rom file on a USB drive. Probably make a "PCBios" folder and stuff it in there.
4) Boot into OSX (won't get boot screen, OSX should appear hopefully)
5) get device ID
6) Go here http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,5619.0.html and snatch the fixrom script from the folder. Create a "fixrom" folder on the USB drive and dump the fixrom script in it.
7) Execute the fixrom script from the terminal (drag and drop method)
8) follow rest of steps (which seem straight forward). Basically, create the EFI-ready rom in terminal and boot back into windows and flash it with AtiWinFlash.

Is that dead on?

 

[h9826790]

Thanks. Still not terribly clear though. I'm not sure if that is replacing steps, or adding steps to the process. I'd like to try to make full instructions for other noobs like me. Hopefully me asking questions can help others. I'm pretty stupid!

I'm trying to take a MSI 7950 OC and just want to add EFI to it, not play around with the clock speeds.

That folder that is linked on netkas does contain the "fixrom" script. So I guess what you're saying is that's the only file I need from that folder. The rest, I can ignore. So:

1) Put unflashed 7950 OC into Mac Pro.
2) Boot into windows. download "GPU-Z" and backup the vBios into a rom file.
3) Put rom file on a USB drive. Probably make a "PCBios" folder and stuff it in there.
4) Boot into OSX (won't get boot screen, OSX should appear hopefully)
5) get device ID
6) Go here http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,5619.0.html and snatch the fixrom script from the folder. Create a "fixrom" folder on the USB drive and dump the fixrom script in it.
7) Execute the fixrom script from the terminal (drag and drop method)
8) follow rest of steps (which seem straight forward). Basically, create the EFI-ready rom in terminal and boot back into windows and flash it with AtiWinFlash.

Is that dead on?

After you dump the ROM, make sure it's 128k in size. Otherwise, the script may not work.

After the script create the ROM, check if process in terminal to see if there is any error message.

There are few files comes with the fixrom script. You need the whole folder (ALL of them), not just the makers.sh file inside.

From memory, this script only works with VBIOS but not EFI ROM. But I am not 100% sure about this. In any case, you can simple use VBE7 (in Windows) to open the dumped ROM and save it again. This will automatically disable the EFI part.

 

[fendersrule]

I guess I'm a little lost now...

Maybe I can use GPU-Z and backup my rom, then try the two Bios files on this thread to flash mine. One of them are very much likely to work.

 

[h9826790]

I guess I'm a little lost now...

Maybe I can use GPU-Z and backup my rom, then try the two Bios files on this thread to flash mine. One of them are very much likely to work.

TBH, for a dual ROM design graphic card. You are worrying too much. The procedure looks complicated, however, the best way to learn it is just do it. During the process, you will know what I was talking about. Without actual experience, you have no picture in your mind, which makes everything looks hard to follow. In fact, the procedure during ROM creation can't break anything. If you are not happy, you don't have to flash that ROM to your card. But IMO, that "uncertain ROM" still much safer than any ROM image you download from here which is not design for your card.

If you don't mind to flash a ROM that not even design for your card. You should try to make your own ROM first. In general, the worst case is just the EFI part not working. Which means exactly the same as your card does now. It won't break anything. (By considering you are a careful person, will try to ask all details as much as possible, I don't think you will do anything stupid to break your card if something looks wrong during the procedure)

You are willing to take a risk to flash a ROM that may brick / damage your card . But not willing to learn something, and create a ROM that won't brick your card (no matter the EFI part work or not). IMO, you are worrying too much about failure to learn, but worry too less about damaging the card. Which doesn't quite make sense to me.

Anyway, as you said, there are few ROMs avail on this forum, most likely one of them will work. As long as you only mod one of the ROM on you card, but keep the other one untouched. You should never brick the card. TBH, the worst case is not the ROM doesn't work, but the voltage, fan profile, etc not fit your card. e.g. Which can kill your card after certain period of time. Or causing corrupted screen, overheat, etc. This is why creating your own ROM is much safer than randomly flashing a ROM to your card.

 

[fendersrule]

Thanks. Well, I'd feel better if I had an open line of communication with you. Are you on gchat, or something? Message me if you're interested on being on "standby"! I'd really appreciate it. I've flashed cards before (back in 2007), but I always had a rom to select and use. I'd like to use the "make your own" method, but I'm going to have questions a long the way when things don't work as suspected.

For example, "dual rom card"...how do I know which one to overwrite? Stuff like that would be nice to OC you while I'm at a current step and have questions. Otherwise, this would take several days using a cautionary approach, which is how I do things. Would rather blow through it in good speed and have the least amount of downtown for my Mac Pro.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks. Well, I'd feel better if I had an open line of communication with you. Are you on gchat, or something? Message me if you're interested on being on "standby"! I'd really appreciate it. I've flashed cards before (back in 2007), but I always had a rom to select and use. I'd like to use the "make your own" method, but I'm going to have questions a long the way when things don't work as suspected.

For example, "dual rom card"...how do I know which one to overwrite? Stuff like that would be nice to OC you while I'm at a current step and have questions. Otherwise, this would take several days using a cautionary approach, which is how I do things. Would rather blow through it in good speed and have the least amount of downtown for my Mac Pro.

I am happy to help. If possible, I prefer to keep everything open at here rather than go private.

1) If I make any mistake, more chance other members can pick up.
2) As a record here for others to study.

But of course you can PM me anytime you want, if there is any issue that you believe go private is better.

For the dual ROM question. Either ROM is fine. Both are designed for your card. Some card come with different ROM. Some cards simply come with duplicated ROM.

In case the ROMs are different (e.g. difference clock speed). It's just your personal preference to choose which ROM to use.

For me, I will make Mac EFI ROM for both ROM. And flash the one that I want (e.g. the faster one).

In case it comes with legacy ROM and UEFI ROM but with same clock speed. Mod the legacy one.

 

[fendersrule]

Kudos to h9826790. He was there every step of the way.

Yes, this is easy and I could have done it by myself, but it was nice of him to look over my shoulder. There's a few "gotcha" moments. Truly a remarkable guy.

At the end, I found that the flashed EFI rom for the MSI 7950 Frozr does not like Windows 10 EFI boot drive. When it booted into windows, all I saw was a blue and black screen, that would alternate back and forth. Sometimes the Mac Pro would just randomly shut off.

I threw in a spare spinner and installed Windows in bios mode. The flashed card worked, just as expected, but Bios in a Windows installation? Once you get used to a Windows 10 EFI SSD, you kinda don't want to go back. High-res during boot, faster-than-MacOS boot times (even with a MacOS SSD plugged up to a 6 Gb/s card), Windows is screaming on an EFI SSD!

Instead of zeroing out my Windows SSD and converting it to BIOS, I decided to flash the card back. Right now as-is, it works perfectly in MacOS. Works perfectly in Windows 10.

What doesn't work is being able to switch between the drives. Holding "alt" doesn't work for the boot during a black screen with the Apple Bluetooth keyboard. It's almost like if the computer doesn't get proper video, it will start to ignore input. I've never got command + R to work, either.

Of course with a Windows EFI drive, "Restart Into Mac OS X" option from the boot camp menu does not work. It just restarts into Windows 10.

My MacOS drive doesn't show as a drive in Windows 10, anywhere. Of course system profiler will show it, but it's not mounted, or accessible in any way.

There's GOT to be a work around. I'll try plugging up a USB keyboard to see if key commands work during boot. It's pretty easy, because if you hold alt (by memory), the MacOS drive is the first to show. So just hit "enter" after a few seconds.

Getting it back to Windows is going to be another thing to worry about. Holding "Alt" and hitting right twice will do that.

There has to be a work around as opposed to doing this blindly, because that will get tiring (I boot back and forth about twice a day). Is there any apps, software, tweaks that will allow you to boot to another drive in Windows 10 and in Mac OS to ease this pain?

I'll try to the wired keyboard trick and report back.

But I'd rather deal with this, then to deal with a non-working Windows 10 EFI SSD drive by leaving the card flashed. I won't give that up!
[doublepost=1498543815][/doublepost]Wired keyboard has zero difference. Hmm, how's a man going to get back into MacOS? Apple + P + R does it!

 

[h9826790]

Then Apple HFS+ driver not working in the current version Windows 10 (not in the creator update as well). Luckily I got my Paragon HFS+ free licence some time ago, and it works flawlessly in Windows 10.

Since you can't access recovery partition at this moment. It's a bit hard to fix that "unable to go back" issue. If you can access recovery partition, you may disable SIP, and then use bootchamp in MacOS. Which will boot you to Windows only once, and automatically go back to MacOS on the next boot.

 

[fendersrule]

Sounds like I need to throw my 5770 back in and perform this in recovery mode:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/ma...system-integrity-protection-rootless-3638975/

Would love to be able to use bootchamp in MacOS to be able to get me back and forth.

I'll post some feedback on this. The flashing process must be different than how apple does it on their GPUs. The 5770 Apple GPU had no problem with the windows EFI drive, but the current flashing process will cause the card to barf when it sees a windows EFI drive.

I had to install windows 10 on a spare HDD (in bios mode) in order to flash the card back. EZ!

 

[h9826790]

Sounds like I need to throw my 5770 back in and perform this in recovery mode:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/ma...system-integrity-protection-rootless-3638975/

Would love to be able to use bootchamp in MacOS to be able to get me back and forth.

I'll post some feedback on this. The flashing process must be different than how apple does it on their GPUs. The 5770 Apple GPU had no problem with the windows EFI drive, but the current flashing process will cause the card to barf when it sees a windows EFI drive.

I had to install windows 10 on a spare HDD (in bios mode) in order to flash the card back. EZ!

I think you can simply flip the ROM switch to boot with a PC VBIOS on your 7950. Why need to flash again?

It's nothing to do with the flash procedure, but the EFI itself. Even the official Sapphire 7950 Mac Edition has the same problem. And your card is actually using that EFI.

Since you can boot to EFI Windows with PC BIOS. If you really want to flash the original ROM back in. All you need to do is.

1) select non EFI rom on your 7950.

2) boot Windows 10 (I assume you pre select the Windows 10 boot drive before the last shut down)

3) after boot to desktop, open the side panel and flip the switch on the card. YES, you don't need to shut down. That will not damage anything.

4) and now you can flash any ROM to the card to replace your EFI ROM.