MP 1,1-5,1 10.14.6 update has halted my Sapphire RX580 from booting into Mojave (Please help)

[JMVB]

Jesus. Can't you have some mercy on me? I've been stressing on this for two days and I can't comprehend a page full of all of that electronics jargon. My eyesight is already gone from using computers my whole life and I've been feeling my way through installing and reinstalling these cards like I'm defusing a bomb wearing a blindfold. C'mon man. Seriously. Everything is a blur to me close up and I don't have glasses. or contacts, plus everything is squeezed into these chassis like a fat girl getting dressed for prom. Jeez. I have no idea what's relevant to me in that forum post and I'd have to read every dam word... this could take me lifetimes and I've got to get this computer operational asap. (Yes, I know there's supposed to be an 'n')

I don't have any prior mac OS versions downloaded, so am I supposed to download the previous version now and install that prior to installing mojave. Is there not any easier way. This is beyond messed up...

You can download High Sierra here

How to Download a Full macOS High Sierra Installer App

Many Mac users who are attempting to download macOS High Sierra from the Mac App Store will find that a small 19 MB version of “Install macOS High Sierra.app” downloads to the /Applicat…

osxdaily.com

Here is described firmware update process

Here, the easiest way to install Opencore

You can go to Catalina (even big sur) if you want.

Personally, I would recommend stay in Mojave, works very good for me, and the OS is officially supported

 

[mattspace]

Jesus. Can't you have some mercy on me? I've been stressing on this for two days and I can't comprehend a page full of all of that electronics jargon.

Chill, Mojave is doable, but has quirks. Firewire target disk mode is not something people recommend.

The process is, follow the part you've been recommended to read marked:

"How to successfully clean install with a PC GPU:"

First step is you need to create a USB drive with the OS installer to boot the machine, then you disconnect all the drives apart from the blank one you're going to install the OS upon, and reboot, the system will see the USB drive as the only bootable volume, and then it will start the system install.

Here's Apple's instructions for getting the installer and creating the usb - it's a simple cut & paste job for terminal.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Note, you need to make sure you don't have the Mojave installer located on any drive connected to your machine, otherwise the download link will just try to run the copy you already have.

Do all those parts with your old GPU still in the system, then power off, pull the old GPU and any other drives apart from the blank one (that means you may need to get into the SATA drives above the optical, if there's a bootable system on that one).

The guide for disassembling the hardware is here:

https://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/macpro/macpro_early2009.pdf

Once your system is in the correct state - new GPU, a single internal blank drive, and USB installer plugged in, power up, and the system should proceed to boot and install. You may find that the display works better when connected to HDMI during the install.

This is the simplest the process gets. There is not an easier version that produces a reliable, trustworthy system.

 

[macguru9999]

tpname if you look at my last post it tells you what to do. I forgot about the fact that your rx580 is unflashed, but thats even more reason to follow what i said. do a clean install of 10.13 with the old card, run all the updates, then swap in the rx580, then run the 10.14.6 installer the way we said and it will do the firmware update before installing the new os. Actually run the firmware update on the old video card if it lets you, then when it restarts swap the video and install the os. do not interrupt the firmware update. you cannot run the firmware update any other way afaik. If the install fails you are left in the dark without a boot screen (the way you are now). If that bothers you get a flashed card !

 

[KeesMacPro]

@tmpname1

I think you've come to the right place to ask for any help on how to get this machine up and running reliably (there's loads of nonsense on the internet).
As you can see the same link was posted by different people including myself about how to get Mojave installed the right way.
I understand this thread may be overwhelming but can be seen as a list of all possible scenarios that will work or not.
If a scenario is not the case for you, skip the paragraph.
Unfortunately there are no shortcuts or workarounds to get this solved fast and without some preparation (=reading)....
Try to keep your head cool and go step by step methodically.

Short version:
1. Install High Sierra with a usb installer made with createinstallmedia and the ATI 5770 installed
2. swap the GPUs to find out if your RX580 still works (if not you'll need another Metal card)
3. upgrade High Sierra to Mojave

When you get there , you'll have a magnificent machine running very stable and a smile on your face.
Hang in there

EDIT: It's not clear to me which fans exactly were running at full speed , if (which I doubt) this is still the case after a clean Mojave install, you can install MacsFanControl , set all fans to auto and post a screenshot running at idle.
There are ways to solve this.

 

[mattspace]

EDIT: It's not clear to me which fans exactly were running at full speed

I'm wondering if he's experiencing the PCI high speed fan on cold boot issue. I seem to recall when I've tried Mojae, it tended to last for a lot longer than under high sierra.

 

[tmpname1]

To ALL. Thank you for your input.

For anyone in the future reading who has a similar issue with the video out on their GPU, here's how I solved my particular situation...

1) Installed ATI 5770 card with no other PCIe slots full, restarted and turned off FileVault Decryption in System Preferences.
2) Created a Time Machine backup of the current OS state on a separate internal drive.
3) Got a copy of High Sierra from a neighbor friend and created a boot/install disk using Image Disk Creator on a separate computer.
4) With High Sierra Installer in USB slot rebooted holding down ⌘R to get into recovery mode. (I believe you can also select the installer from inside the OS in System Preferences to boot into recovery mode)
5) Once inside recovery mode reformatted the existing partition to APFS and then installed High Sierra onto it.
6) After computer restarts with High Sierra installed I removed the ATI 5770 and replaced with RX580 GPU to insure it was outputting a video signal.
7) Installed Mojave 10.14.6 installer file from App Store.
8) Installer asked to shutdown the computer and gave instructions to hold down the power button until it started to blink or make a chime tone.
9) Once installed, the fan issue was fixed temporarily as I did not have to run the GLView GPU test to ramp up the fans then wait for them to idle back down.
10) Rebooted using ⌘R and tried to use Time Machine snapshot to reinstall my computer content and settings, but every snapshot failed with an error.
11) Made a Mojave USB installer, again using Image Disk Creator on the same laptop running El Capitan. (Which consequentially was the only MacOS which I could get to run that program for some reason)
12) Reformatted the original disk I had upgraded from High Sierra to Mojave using the App Store downloaded file so I could do a Clean install of Mojave without any High Sierra involvement.
13) Installed Mojave using USB installer.
14) At the very end of the Mojave install where the Migration Assistant asks if you want to reinstall from a Time Machine backup I elected to do that and the Time Machine backup worked.
15) Roughly forty seven minutes later the computer finished and rebooted to my previous computer state before all of this ugliness began. Complete with an updated BootRom, but also the fan issue returned.

There were a couple of extensions I had to approve to work once the computer rebooted in System Preferences and had to reset up a couple of my tweaks and fstab configurations, but it doesn't look like I will have to reinstall anything.

Even though the About this Mac shows Mojave is on 10.14.6 when I look for updates its still showing 10.14.6 as an available update. I don't know why, (I suspect it may have something to do with the Time Machine migration, but I'm no expert), nor care as I will not be installing any more updates (Unless I forget not to). I've learnt my lesson this time. The computer seems snappier and it gave me a chance to clean the dust out of it and I finally put an old harddrive which was just sitting around to use.

Overall, I'm happy that I do not have to reinstall any software that I can tell at this point. I'm afraid to try and reinstall the 10.14.6 update just to try and make the notification go away because if it messes up I'll have to reinstall the OS and I don't have the time, but I am sure my OCD will kick in somewhere down the road after I've forgotten this traumatic event and attempt again, but for now I'll just let things ride as I've got lots of work to catch up on.

Thank you for you time and assistance.

Attached is a screenshot of what the fans idle is after the GLView GPU test has been run. Before the PCI and PS fan speeds and about double.

 

[tsialex]

To ALL. Thank you for your input.

For anyone in the future reading who has a similar issue with the video out on their GPU, here's how I solved my particular situation...

1) Installed ATI 5770 card with no other PCIe slots full, restarted and turned off FileVault Decryption in System Preferences.
2) Created a Time Machine backup of the current OS state on a separate internal drive.
3) Got a copy of High Sierra from a neighbor friend and created a boot/install disk using Image Disk Creator on a separate computer.
4) With High Sierra Installer in USB slot rebooted holding down ⌘R to get into recovery mode. (I believe you can also select the installer from inside the OS in System Preferences to boot into recovery mode)
5) Once inside recovery mode reformatted the existing partition to APFS and then installed High Sierra onto it.
6) Installer asked to shutdown the computer and gave instructions to hold down the power button until it started to blink or make a chime tone. (I believe this is where the BootRom was updated to 144.0.0.0.0)
7) After computer restarts with High Sierra installed and BootRom updated I removed the ATI 5770 and replaced with RX580 GPU to insure it was outputting a video signal.
8) Installed Mojave 10.14.6 installer file from App Store.
9) Once installed, the fan issue was fixed temporarily as I did not have to run the GLView GPU test to ramp up the fans then wait for them to idle back down.
10) Rebooted using ⌘R and tried to use Time Machine snapshot to reinstall my computer content and settings, but every snapshot failed with an error.
11) Made a Mojave USB installer, again using Image Disk Creator on the same laptop running El Capitan. (Which consequentially was the only MacOS which I could get to run that program for some reason)
12) Reformatted the original disk I had upgraded from High Sierra to Mojave using the App Store downloaded file so I could do a Clean install of Mojave without any High Sierra involvement.
13) Installed Mojave using USB installer.
14) At the very end of the Mojave install where the Migration Assistant asks if you want to reinstall from a Time Machine backup I elected to do that and the Time Machine backup worked.
15) Roughly forty seven minutes later the computer finished and rebooted to my previous computer state before all of this ugliness began. Complete with an updated BootRom, but also the fan issue returned.

There were a couple of extensions I had to approve to work once the computer rebooted in System Preferences and had to reset up a couple of my tweaks and fstab configurations, but it doesn't look like I will have to reinstall anything.

Even though the About this Mac shows Mojave is on 10.14.6 when I look for updates its still showing 10.14.6 as an available update. I don't know why, (I suspect it may have something to do with the Time Machine migration, but I'm no expert), nor care as I will not be installing any more updates (Unless I forget not to). I've learnt my lesson this time. The computer seems snappier and it gave me a chance to clean the dust out of it and I finally put an old harddrive which was just sitting around to use.

Overall, I'm happy that I do not have to reinstall any software that I can tell at this point. I'm afraid to try and reinstall the 10.14.6 update just to try and make the notification go away because if it messes up I'll have to reinstall the OS and I don't have the time, but I am sure my OCD will kick in somewhere down the road after I've forgotten this traumatic event and attempt again, but for now I'll just let things ride as I've got lots of work to catch up on.

Thank you for you time and assistance.

Attached is a screenshot of what the fans idle is after the GLView GPU test has been run. Before the PCI and PS fan speeds and about double.

You are mistaken everything about BootROM upgrade on your write-up. High Sierra 10.13.6 have MP51.0089.B00 as a BootROM upgrade while Mojave 10.14.6 have 144.0.0.0.0 and you can't upgrade to any 1xx.0.0.0.0 BootROM series with a HD 5770 since the efiflasher requires a METAL supported GPU.

 

[tmpname1]

You are mistaken everything about BootROM upgrade on your write-up. High Sierra 10.13.6 have MP51.0089.B00 as a BootROM upgrade while Mojave 10.14.6 have 144.0.0.0.0 and you can't upgrade to any 1xx.0.0.0.0 BootROM series with a HD 5770 since the efiflasher requires a METAL supported GPU.

So instead of the BootRom updating during the High Sierra install, it was during Mojave. Sure, that makes sense. I put "I believe" that is where it happened, but it definitely could have been during the Mojave install. I will change so as to not be confusing to others. Thanks. Also, as an aside, thanks to your advice years ago I kept my original ATI card which is how I still had it to do all of this so thank you once more. I was under a different username at that time.

Have an awesome day.

 

[JMVB]

Obviously, inside your time machine backup (made it from a patched mojave installation) is something wrong messing your system. Thats why your fans run ok in a fresh installation and full speed once backuped

You should do a clean installation again and backup only your accounts, and programs. Not system files and preferences

 

[tmpname1]

Obviously, inside your time machine backup (made it from a patched mojave installation) is something wrong messing your system. Thats why your fans run ok in a fresh installation and full speed once backuped

You should do a clean installation again and backup only your accounts, and programs. Not system files and preferences

You may be right, but when you're talking about a couple years worth of going through setting up stuff just the way you want them and its allowed me to work from day to day without problems, (except the fan issue which is easily, albeit not necessarily conveniently, resolved), I'll pass.

Besides I just had the battery in my 3GS expand the other day, which means all of apples internal non-removable batteries will expand one day just like the one did in my macbook pro years ago, (thankfully it was a removable battery which I was able to replace and not lose my investment), however as I was still using the 3GS as a voice recorder and mp3 player I guess the jokes on me, the consumer.

Everyone is renting apple's products. Ipads, iphones, macbook airs, anything with a non-removable battery, so if this Mac Pro lasts me another 3-4 years and I don't have to go through the headache of fixing things that apple got wrong to make the fans run like they're supposed to, (like putting the eject button on the wireless keyboard right above to the delete key which is in constant use), with software hacks I'll consider it a wash and just move on.

I'm done giving a c about electronics...especially apple electronics.

Thanks though for the consideration. Its appreciated regardless.

 

[JMVB]

I'm not in your shoes. I can't judge what settings are important to you.
You may have some point about apple complains, but in this particular case, you can't blame they about messing your stuff for use patched software, specially if to get mojave installed on your mac, you don't need it at all ...

 

[KeesMacPro]

I'm wondering if he's experiencing the PCI high speed fan on cold boot issue. I seem to recall when I've tried Mojae, it tended to last for a lot longer than under high sierra.

Sounds to me like the racing fan bug : PCI and PS fans.