# Installing Ati Radeon 9800 Pro Mac 128mb Card



## SpiralOcean (Oct 19, 2005)

Help!!!

I got an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac 128mb card from eBay so I can run motion on my dual 1ghz g4.  I am having the darndest time installing it.

When I boot up with the ATI card, I see the gray screen with the Apple logo on it and the spinning circle, then I see the blue Aqua Screen, then nothing happens.

Usually what happens is I see the OS progress bar as OSX loads up and then the user signin prompt.

I can boot into safemode with the card installed, and 'work', but the card isn't being utilized.  Core Image and Quartz Extreme report as not supported in the system profiler.

I have downloaded the files from ATI:
August 2005 ATI Card ROM Flash
ATI Displays driver 4.5.6

I am running Tiger, 10.4.2.

I have flashed the ATI card about 10 times, using the system admin, root, and having safemode on.  I never see a window pop up alerting me to the firmware version to be replaced (which is what the ATI readme says will happen), but the ATI software says that the installation was successful.

Can anyone help me?

Thank you.


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## nixgeek (Oct 19, 2005)

Are you sure this wasn't a PC card that was flashed for use on a Mac and then advertised as being a Mac card?  We've had other posts about the same exact thing and they swore that it was a Mac-supported card when in fact it was a PC-only video card.

Incidentally, ATI now makes cards that support both the Mac and PC instead of having seperate cards for each platform.  You might want to look into that.


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## SpiralOcean (Oct 19, 2005)

I had other replies to this post that I am pretty sure it was in fact a PC card that was flashed.

 Tested the card with TechTools. When I look at the card through TechTools, it tests the card and labels it as: 
Card Model: Radeon 9800 XT, R360 
Which is different than what the SystemProfiler labels it? 
This is supposed to be a 9800 pro mac, R350. 
 The part number on the ATI software says this is an ATI Radeon 
9800 Pro Mac Edition: 109-A07502-00 
However, printed on the card is the number: 
109-A07500-00 
Which is a PC version of the card? 

I am starting to suspect this was a PC card flashed to work on a mac, even though the seller specifically stated that his cards were not flashed. But I don't want to jump to conclusions.


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## nixgeek (Oct 19, 2005)

You might want to report that seller to eBay and see what reparations can be made.


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## SpiralOcean (Oct 19, 2005)

Thanks... I'm in the process right now of sending the card back and communicating with the seller.  Haven't gone to eBay authorities yet, I'm trying to work it out with the seller.


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## UmarOMC (Oct 21, 2005)

This usually requires a MacOS reinstall... but that was in the Panther days do you have OS X 10.4, and/or, does your G4 work fine otherwise (without the 9800)?


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## SpiralOcean (Oct 21, 2005)

My g4 works fine without the card.
The card worked when I would do a safe reboot, however, it was also neutered doing the safe reboot.
I installed a fresh copy of 10.0 on a seperate hard drive, installed the ATI drivers, booted up into that OS, and got the same results.


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## psychicVTEC (Dec 17, 2005)

So, the PC ATI cards wont work period.  This is my understanding from all the responses on this subject.  So, there is no way to get a PC ATI card to work in a G4 or G5 at all?


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## SpiralOcean (Dec 17, 2005)

There are a lot of posts over at the apple discussion forums and elsewhere where people appear to have got them working?  It never worked for me... and I'm having problems with a Mac ATI card.  See this post...

http://www.macosx.com/help/qview.php?questionid=19554#53835


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