Mac Flashing of Matrox PCI

[redghost]

I have been happily popping Matrox Millenium cards into PCI macs and flashing the ROMs for while. Nice to have alternatives to the ATI cards, but I have hit a block! The Millenium II 4 meg cards are not wanting to take the Flash (1.31 Rom) I have no trouble getting the 8 meg versions to work and the Millenium I cards are fairly consistant about flashing (I do have some really stubborn ones, and those get stuffed in old PCs).

What am I doing wrong with the 4 meg cards? Do I need to use an older ROM? Maybe the gods hate me. Using a 7300/400 G3 with 512m ram and OS 8.6. The onboard video powers Apple monitor, the Matrox will handle the Sony 19". Powerdesk 2.0 and what I found to be the most recent ROMs on the Matrox site.


HELP please

[Greebe]

It appears you have the correct and latest BIOS for the card, problem is it appears you have a PC card and not a Mac card... those can't be converted. Sorry

[redghost]

been there

I have yet to come upon a Mac Matrox card. All the cards I use are
PC cards, either OEM, or retail Mill I or II. There is a 60% success rate in flashing them, and the only cards that do not flash well at all are the Mill II 4meg. I have set up around 50 PCI macs with the cards, so wonder what specific is being the deterent to flash on the 4 meg, not the pat answer (incorrect empirically) that a PC card will not function in a mac.

If there is somebody who has really worked with the cards that can provide data, that would be nice.

[Wombat]

If there were someone here that needed help and could treat others with respect, and not being a smartass, that would be nice.

[Greebe]

redghost... my statement isn't my own, but that of Matrox Tech Support manager Haig... can't get more knowledgable that that now can you?!

[redghost]

I in no manner intended to be a smart*ss, just wanted somebody who has actually worked with them and used more than the corporate line to answer the query. As we all are aware, after ENRON, we should take what corportate types say with large grains of salt. I need folks who have hacked (meaning one will disregard that corporate truth and search for a higher truth). I already know what Matrox claims to be FALSE, so constant referal to the falsehood will not make it a truth, since Empirical data has shown it to be wrong.

AGAIN, a call to Macintosh users of the cards who know something more about this issue, please respond.

[Greebe]

LOL did you know that you were about to be givin an app that would convert your PC card to a Mac card? The reason I said that in past tense is because after the above post it's not going to happen...

I in no manner intended to be a smart*ss, just wanted somebody who has actually worked with them and used more than the corporate line to answer the query.

Yeah I used "my" main line... seeing that I am a beta tester and have direct contact with Matrox support daily as such it's not a problem... but it is for you now.

and yes you were being an emperical smartass.

I highly doubt that you will find anyone here is a Mac head... but good luck on your search.

Oh and by the way, next time don't screw the pooch.

[Greebe]

Sense your such the enlightened type I'd suggest reading the Forum Survival Guide at your earliest convieniance.

[redghost]

Greebe:


AGAIN.. Not meaning to come across as high and mighty or insulting, JUST ASKING for ASSISTANCE, from somebody who is able/willing to provide the data I need. I have perused the Forum guide already and am in debt to all who moderate and provide support here.

Based on your responses to me, I take it that you are being a little sensitive about my questions. Since you do Beta these boards, I know that you are aware of much more than the standard dork like me who is just trying to keep a good card out in the world. If you need to insult me, that is fine, but do not infer that I engage in beastiality, as that is rude.

I am also aware that there is a dearth of Mac support for the Matrox, and that 99% of the cards are in use in windows machines. Since there is such a need for constant upgrades to PC, and not to a Mac, I find the life expectation of the hardware I am putting the cards in will far outlive the typical use of a Matrox card, which I find to be popped out of most PC within 2-3 years and sold for scrap. Not a noble end for a Great Card!.. so if the card has an added 6 years of life, why not allow it to do a GREAT job in a platform that will still allow it to work?

Sorry that you take my request personally, and that you felt that I had not already exhausted the ability and desire of Matrox.com to help. Nor that I already knew what their corporate quote on Macintosh support is. I am looking BEYOND the standard answers. If you desire not to help, so be it. I will continue my quest.

Thank you

[Ali]

Greebe, you seem a bit harsh there. First you say:

Originally posted by Greebe
It appears you have the correct and latest BIOS for the card, problem is it appears you have a PC card and not a Mac card... those can't be converted. Sorry

Then you say you were going to send an app to him that will convert the card into a Mac card.

If you had an app that would do what he wants, then say what he wants cant be done, isnt it you being a smartass?

Anyway, RedGhost, I would suggest going to the Matrox tech support forums, and asking for this app there. Haig is a nice guy, and not a smartass, and as long as it isnt against Matrox Policy, Im sure he will send you that app.

Good luck

Ali

Edit: opps, spelt Haigs name wrong.

[Greebe]

ALi,
1. see PM
2. going to Matrox tech support forums will result in no change in resolving his issue

[redghost]

Greebe,

Thanks for the words of encouragement. As you point out, Matrox is not able to provide the data I need. I am interested in finding out which other Matrox cards had ROMs for use in a Mac. If you have any data regarding the use of the G series PCI, that would be much appreciated.

thanks again

red

[gpd]

More MilII Mac conversion truble (posted on one other thread also)

Redghost and everybody else with an interest in this


I'm also into the game of putting a new bios onto a "PC" Millenium II and getting it running. Chiefly just because I had it around, out of use
and a friend aof mine needed a second display for her grey G3/300 swedish MacOS 9.2 . Now I seemed to have slipped into obsession mode, I won't let that board get
the better of me.....

The board in question is a 4Mb ( yes one of those ) Millenium II (PCI of course) 708-04 RevA, with a bar code label saying AAP81116 and another
label with p/n 4356 and s/n 4824460.

What I did was slipping it into her G3, where it showed up as an unknown PCI board in the system info utility. I had already installed what I believe is the latest
software (PowerDesk) which I downloaded from Matrox. The reflashing of the bios (1.30) went well judging from the absence of error messages, but when I rebooted the Mac probably
started but no display, neither on the built in graphics adapter nor on the MilII. My theory is that the MilII got the higher PCI priority which let it be the primary display, but that might be wrong.

Removing the MilII restored the G3 to normal.

Before flashing i tried running the PowerDesk sofware but it terminated with "This software cannot run on this computer". Probably no graphics adapter found.

I then took board home and tried it in my 7200/90 running Swedish MacOS 8.6 . No video on the MilII here either, nor any success in running PowerDesk, the same message as on the G3.
But this time I had a display on the build in graphics adapter, probably becuse the 7200s original isn't on the PCI bus.

The sys info utility on my 7200 shows the doard as:



Type of card: display
Name: MTRX,Mistral
Model: -
ROM No: -
Revision: 0
Manufacturer id:102B


Matrox told me that they didn't recommend or supported using a "PC" MilII on a Mac but the only difference where the bios code, I explicitly asked them if there
where any other h/w differencies and the said no.

The Flash ROM on the board is a 28F512 ( 512 kbit -> 64 Kb ) so the bios should fit. The Mac bios image (*.bin) is nearly 64Kb, twice the size of the PC. It makes sense since
a RISC CPU like the PPC generates 2- times as large binary code as does a CISC (x86) CPU.


Any help and input on this issue would by very appeciated.


/Göran

[redghost]

GPD,
I have had minimal luck with the Mil II 4megs. Seems there is a bug in the Bios that does not allow it to keep the flash for a mac. Another issue is the lack of support for anything over OS 8.5, but most of the Mill I and the 8meg II will function fine under 9.x. I can share a patch back, so that you can un-fry the card. This will allow you to check the card on a PC and if it work there, you may have to re-install the drivers (international) on the G3.

Another issue that I remember is that the B/W G3 has a different addressing of the PCI bus than the older PPC. I may be wrong, but Matrox do not seem to work well on the new hardware.

My best guess as to options. -- Re-install the drivers, and powerdesk. Zap PRAM, install the card (newly flashed on a different mac). Reboot, rezap, and see if that helps.

[pruckelshaus]

I hate to dredge up such an old thread, but...

I'm having the same problem, Mac 9500/150, 48MB RAM, MacOS 8.6

The Matrox card in question is a 4MB Millenium II with a 4MB memory upgrade. I tried flashing it with the BIOS flash utility I found on Matrox' web site, but no dice -- no video on reboot. System information shows the card but has no details on ROM#, model, etc., other than displaying it as a Mystique.

If it is at all possible to flash this card so that it will work on a Mac, could someone fill me in on how to do it?

BTW, I did try to post this to the Matrox support forums, but I get a message that their forums were "closed" except from 9-5 M-F. Since when did the internet become nine to five? Sorry, but that's pretty damned lame of Matrox.

Thanks

Pete