Your query #2 in the question should work as well. I have a feeling the quotes interfere with the query. If you're copy-pasting from Microsoft products (or other word processors), ensure all quotes are simple single or double quotes (' and ") and not stylized quotes ( ’ ).
See the difference here:
## first line is your query, second line is mine
SNPs <- getBM(attributes=c('ensembl_gene_id'), filters = 'germ_line_variation_source',values=’SGRP’, mart = mygenome)
SNPs <- getBM(attributes=c('ensembl_gene_id'), filters = 'germ_line_variation_source',values='SGRP', mart = mygenome)
