Is It Possible to Change BIOS on a graphics card to EFI?

Question

I'll be using a PC graphics card in my Mac, but I know that there won't be a boot screen because PC graphics cards use BIOS instead of EFI.

Is it possible to replace the graphics card's BIOS with EFI so I can get a boot screen? If it is, how can it be done?

Solution

Yes, you can use Boot Camp to start your Mac with the Windows operating system, and access the ROM programming features of the native PC drivers.

Certain NVIDIA and ATI/AMD cards are more easily converted that others.

There are several online forums which are somewhat dedicated to exchanging information about the process of obtaining an EFI ROM or making your own.

My profile is currently limited to showing only two examples:

The forums on netkas.org RampageDev Graphic Guides

There are quite a few discussions at MacRumors also.

Certain ATI cards are very flexible, to the point of being able to read their ROM, modify it, and flash it back to the card.

Comments

[Tetsujin]

They can be flashed on a PC, but not on a Mac - the simplest trick is to just keep your old card in case you ever need the boot screen & swap it back in.

[Daniel B]

You’re mistaken. It’s an EFI driver issue. Although related to the graphics card, it is completely unrelated to the card’s BIOS.

[Jblagden]

Okay. I was hoping to be able to do that because a PC graphics card won't display a boot screen on a Mac. I guess it won't be much of an issue.