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Dumb Questions from a Windows Guy... (video card troubleshooting)

Tom2112

Well-known member
So I got an Apple GeForce 4 video card upgrade for my G4 Quicksilver. It's definitely a Mac card, as it has the proprietary Apple monitor connector as well as a DVI port. So I yanked the old ATI Rage card out and put the GeForce in, then fired up the G4... and I didn't get any video. :(

Now, if I was working on a Windows box (what I'm familiar with), I would boot it into safe mode and make sure the driver was installed... But I have no idea if safe mode is even a thing on Macs.

So, time for the stupid questions:
Do I need to put the old card back in, then install some drivers?
Is there a Mac "safe mode" that I can use to install the drivers?
Or do Macs have some magic built-in drivers or updater or something I'm missing?
Or, am I just crazy and should follow normal "bad video card" troubleshooting proceedures because it should have displayed something. (all I got was a blank screen and a "no signal" error on the monitor)

Thanks in advance,
Tom
 

Tom2112

Well-known member
BTW, I am booting in OSX 10.4. Later I hope to try out OS 9.2.2.
 
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Byrd

Well-known member
Hi Tom,

What's the Geforce 4 GPU, and which Mac do you think it came from?

Owing to a change in AGP 8X pinouts you might need to tape pins 3 & 11, see here:


Answering some Qs, in a Mac if it works you'll get grey screen on boot, no need for drivers at this stage - extensions that load later will enable acceleration and other features.
 

Tom2112

Well-known member
I tried Googling the part numbers on the card, but didn't get anywhere...
It does clearly say it is an nVidia model A74... whatever that is. Surprisingly, I couldn't find much on that model in Google. Some suspect it is a GeForce4 MX from a Mirrored Drive Doors G4... I don't know.

Here's pics of the card if anyone cares to ID it.
 

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Tom2112

Well-known member
Some of the GeForce4 MX cards were AGP 4x, some were 8x. So I may need to mod the card as you suggested Byrd. Thanks for the info!
 

Byrd

Well-known member
Hi Tom,

Later Quicksilver models did come with Geforce 4 MX GPUs; it should just work. However, check if yours is keyed to AGP 8X and the usual troubleshooting - cleaning card contacts, resetting CUDA before start up.

JB
 
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