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News Archive for Monday, March 19th, 2012:

Mac Upgrades/Mods | Storage | Video | Audio/Home Theater | macOS Updates/Tips/WiFi
= Recent Articles/Updates =
Report on Nvidia Lion Drivers w/GTX580 card (fans not running) in 08 Mac Pro:
(For later driver updates, see our Mac Nvidia Drivers Download page.)
Reply to Nvidia's driver post for OS X Lion on Feb 28, 2012.

"After reading about supposed GTX580 support in the new nVidia drivers, (they were actually older than the drivers in 10.7.3, but were said to have support for more GPUs) I put a Zotec GTX580 in my MacPro 3,1 (2008) and it worked fine, except no fan! I used the 2 six pin connectors from the motherboard and adapted one with a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter. The card worked great for 3 minutes, until it overheated. I tried a second card, just to make sure the fan wasn't actually broken, and it did the same thing.
(Both cards worked fine when I put them back into the GPU powerhouse they came from, a 4 x GTX580 box running linux and an ASUS "Supercomputer" motherboard, one of the benefits of working in a University Physics dept!)

I'm hoping someone might have an idea about why the fan didn't come on. Could the 6-pin headers on the Mac Pro's motherboard just not have enough watts or something?
(I asked if he had a way to power the card from an external supply as a test. (To rule out any problems with the Mac Pro supply/adapter))
No luck with an external power supply. The fan pulses a few times on startup, then stops dead. The same professor is ordering another GPU box, so I'm going to try and see if we can go with another brand of GTX580. If I ever get one I'll let you know.
-Mike C."

Assuming the card was functioning (video ok, etc) at least for awhile - but the fan never ran (even at boot/startup) - maybe the fan control also relies on driver/software communication? (Just guessing on my part, but if so you'd think it would have a failsafe mode - i.e. default to full speed if no rpm/control signal.)
   (The original netkas comments on this from last month had some new posts there, including one from this reader about the problem. No reply yet as of Monday (Mar 19, 2012) AM.)

On the subject of Mac Pro Pwr Supply/Adapters - Back in April 2010 I had a reader report he ran (simultaneous) both a GTX-286 card and an ATI 4870 (w/Y adapters, as both are dual 6-pin cards and only 2 cables) in his 2009 Mac Pro. I had asked to confirm he had stressed both cards w/o problems but he said he had seen none at that time. (Of course that was w/different cards, different OS/drivers and a later Mac Pro but I was curious if there would be any issue (short or long term) with adequate current for both those cards at once.)
More Aux Power connectors (incl. 8-pin) have been on my wish list for future Mac Pros for years. (And of course, more (and more frequent) graphics card options/line updates.)
 

Apple Software Installer Update 1.0 for OS X 10.6.8:
(Download page linked)
"About Apple Software Installer Update 1.0
This update addresses an issue that may prevent certain Apple software from installing. This update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X 10.6.8."

I wish Apple would include more specific info/examples of the problem.

(I remember a software update problem years ago in older OS X versions where SU would attempt to run an incompletely downloaded updater/installer (IIRC). But I never ran into that one as I already had the habit of using D/L vs Software Update.)
 

Apple/Products related News/Rumors/Op-Ed/Updates:

Apple Support/How-To/Troubleshooting Article Updates:
(below are from March 2012 - Apple may have removed them by the time you read this.)


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