MP 1,1-5,1 4.1>5.1 W3520 to X5690 Upgrade Help!

[taiji212]

Hi,

I have 2009 Nehalem Single CPU 4.1>5.1. Original owner. Been working fine for many years.
Upgraded CPU W3520 to X5690
Rarely boots normally. Most of the time, no boot chime.
Once it boots, everything works normally. No issues with temps or fans.

SMC reset is the only thing which improves chances of boot chime. But it only helps like 20% of the time. Have to hold power button down to shut down, then try again with random success rate.
Did PRAM resets many times.

Bought new X5690. No improvement.
Put old W3520 and boot is 100% normal.

I tried reseating CPU and tray multiple times.
Cleaned CPUs and reapplied pea size thermal paste multiple times.
I tried different tightenings of heatsink, since the X5690 is slightly thicker than the W3520.

Can my Mac Pro handle the X5690? Should I choose a different CPU? Both W3520 and X5690 are 130W. Not sure what the issue is. Any help greatly appreciated. If you need any other information, let me know.

Thanks!!!

Other system specs:
High Sierra
Nvidia GTX 1080, Radeon HD4870 when needed
24GB RAM triple channel
2 SSDs, 1 HDD

 

[taiji212]

Both X5690's were purchased used from Amazon. Maybe they're both defective? Should I try purchasing a new one?

 

[taiji212]

Also, my 4.1>5.1 Boot ROM Version is MP5.1.007F.B03
Should I update this?

 

[tsialex]

Also, my 4.1>5.1 Boot ROM Version is MP5.1.007F.B03
Should I update this?

Yes, with the processor that works, don't try to upgrade your BootROM with a non-perfectly working system.

You will have to do two firmware upgrades, MP51.007F.B03 -> MP51.0089.B00 with High Sierra and MP51.0089.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0 with Mojave, read the first post of the thread below:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[GlynH]

You will have to do two firmware upgrades, MP51.007F.B03 -> MP51.0089.B00 with High Sierra and MP51.0089.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0 with Mojave, read the first post of the thread below:

Sorry for jumping in on this thread but I am always a little confused when I see references to;

MP51.007F.B03 & MP51.0089.B00 for example.

I get what Boot ROM versions 140.0.0.0.0 and 144.0.0.0.0 are referencing as I can see them in System Report for example but what do the MP51.xxxx reference?

Is this the name of the firmware file that is part of either macOS High Sierra or Mojave that flashes the final Boot ROM version or something?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

 

[tsialex]

Sorry for jumping in on this thread but I am always a little confused when I see references to;

MP51.007F.B03 & MP51.0089.B00 for example.

I get what Boot ROM versions 140.0.0.0.0 and 144.0.0.0.0 are referencing as I can see them in System Report for example but what do the MP51.xxxx reference?

Older BootROM nomenclature, pre-Mojave era, where Apple used the model name of the Mac as a prefix and the version numbers are on hexadecimal.

Is this the name of the firmware file that is part of either macOS High Sierra or Mojave that flashes the final Boot ROM version or something?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

Since 2018 Apple removed the Mac model name from the prefix and changed version numbers to decimal, for all Macs, but the BootROM lineage is exactly the same.

• MP51.0089.B00 = 137.0.0.0.0
• MP51.008A.B00 = 138.0.0.0.0
• MP51.008B.B00 = 139.0.0.0.0
• MP51.008C.B00 = 140.0.0.0.0
• MP51.008D.B00 = 141.0.0.0.0
• MP51.008E.B00 = 142.0.0.0.0
• MP51.0090.B00 = 144.0.0.0.0

You can see all the MacPro5,1 BootROM releases, from the oldest EFI update to the newest on the post below:

MP5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0

For MacPro5,1 BootROM upgrades, please read the first post of the thread below to know how to do the firmware upgrade: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mp5-1-what-you-have-to-do-to-upgrade-to-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions-thread.2142418/ For MP4,1 to MP5,1 cross firmware flashing...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[GlynH]

Thanks Alex...I knew I'd seen something somewhere! ?

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

 

[taiji212]

Yes, with the processor that works, don't try to upgrade your BootROM with a non-perfectly working system.

You will have to do two firmware upgrades, MP51.007F.B03 -> MP51.0089.B00 with High Sierra and MP51.0089.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0 with Mojave, read the first post of the thread below:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

Thanks, Alex.
So, x5690 requires these newer BootROMs? The CPU works fine once it gets past the boot chime.

 

[taiji212]

Yes, with the processor that works, don't try to upgrade your BootROM with a non-perfectly working system.

You will have to do two firmware upgrades, MP51.007F.B03 -> MP51.0089.B00 with High Sierra and MP51.0089.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0 with Mojave, read the first post of the thread below:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

I plan to stay on High Sierra. Do I do the second update with my HD 4870 and quit before installing Mojave?

Also can you answer my question in my prior post?

Thanks!

 

[Warrington]

So, x5690 requires these newer BootROMs? The CPU works fine once it gets past the boot chime.

W3520 was a 45nm Nehalem quad-core, while X5690 is a 32nm Westmere-EP hex-core, this is why it won't work properly with the old firmware.

For the second update you will need a Metal card. Sometimes this second update only works from an APFS High Sierra.

 

[bmoore262]

W3520 was a 45nm Nehalem quad-core, while X5690 is a 32nm Westmere-EP hex-core, this is why it won't work properly with the old firmware.

Is this why when I replaced a W3565 with a X5690 in my MP running High Sierra that It sat with a gray screen for a longer than usual boot time before eventually booting up?

 

[Warrington]

I'm not sure, I have no experience with W3565, but it was also a 45nm Nehalem.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks, Alex.
So, x5690 requires these newer BootROMs? The CPU works fine once it gets past the boot chime.

No, MP51.007F.B03 have full microcode support for it.

While technically X5690 is a Gulftown Xeon instead of a Westmere-EP (exactly like the single-cpu counterpart W3690), the CPUID is the same 206C2h as the other Westmere Xeons Apple sold with mid-2012s (W3680, E5645, X5650, and X5675).

The question is, you are using an early-2009 cross-flashed to MP5,1 and we long know that the cross-flashing process makes a real mess inside the BootROM and having it upgraded to the current 144.0.0.0.0 release with the most recent microcodes would be the first thing that I'd try.

I plan to stay on High Sierra. Do I do the second update with my HD 4870 and quit before installing Mojave?

Without a METAL GPU, you can't run the Mojave firmware upgrade, so, you can upgrade up to MP51.0089.B00 with the High Sierra 10.13.6 Mac App Store full installer.

W3520 was a 45nm Nehalem quad-core, while X5690 is a 32nm Westmere-EP hex-core, this is why it won't work properly with the old firmware.

Wrong info, see above.

 

[Warrington]

While technically X5690 is a Gulftown Xeon instead of a Westmere-EP (exactly like the single-cpu counterpart W3690), the CPUID is the same 206C2h as the other Westmere Xeons Apple sold with mid-2012s (W3680, E5645, X5650, and X5675).

W3680 and W3690 are Westmere's, they have nothing to do with W3520, which is a Nehalem. Now you know better than Intel?

Long story short: Nehalem is the 45nm architecture, Westmere is the 32nm architecture. It is derived from Nehalem, but Westmere CPUs have additional features.

Useful hint: W35xx are Nehalem's, W36xx are Westmere's. There is no hex-core Nehalem whatsoever, all hex-cores are Westmere, although there are some quad-core Westmere's as well. Gulftown is not an architecture, all Gulftown's are hex-core Westmere's.

 

[tsialex]

This is just your obsession to say ”You're wrong", some sort of a "magister dixit" complex.

W3680 has nothing to do with W3620. Now you know better than Intel?

Just open MP51.007F.B03 - you can still get it today with Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5 - with plain binwalk or dosdude1 Apple Microcode Tool and check it, you will see Intel 0x000206c2 microcodes. Now open cpu-world.com page for X5690 and see what is the CPUID for it (206C2, to save you a click).

Westmere is not supported by MP4,1 firmwares, but fully supported with MP5,1 BootROMs and Apple sold dual CPU mid-2012s with X5650 and X5675 hexacores, like I wrote on my previous post.

You are wrong and posted incorrect info. Btw, it's W3520 (CPUID 106A5), not W3620 that don't even exist.

 

[tsialex]

Useful hint: W35xx are Nehalem's, W36xx are Westmere's. There is no hex-core Nehalem whatsoever, all hex-cores are Westmere, although there are some quad-core Westmere's as well. Gulftown is not an architecture, all Gulftown's are hex-core Westmere's.

Really? You think that writing this in a condescending way to me you gonna make for the fact that you are wrong with MP51.007F.B03 support for Westmeres?

 

[Warrington]

not W3620 that don't even exist.

W3620 was a typo, I edited that post. The OP had a W3520 and I wrote W3520 correctly multiple times, before the W3620 typo.

 

[Warrington]

the fact that you are wrong with MP51.007F.B03 support for Westmeres?

Yes, I was wrong on that one. However, I'm not wrong on the "magister dixit" part, I've noticed it about 5 times, before I mentioned it.

 

[tsialex]

Is this why when I replaced a W3565 with a X5690 in my MP running High Sierra that It sat with a gray screen for a longer than usual boot time before eventually booting up?

When you change the CPU for a model with a different memory controller, the configuration data for all DIMMs installed needs to be loaded via I2C and the SPDs cached inside the main VSS store of the NVRAM, each DIMM have it's own MemoryConfig entry, this takes some time.

When you have a full VSS store, garbage collection needs to parse and backup the valid entries from the main VSS store circular log to the secondary VSS store, fully erase the primary VSS store area and finally save the valid entries now stored in the secondary VSS to the primary with the new MemoryConfig entries, this takes considerable time to do while in POST (the grey screen that you refer).

Also, the secondary VSS store could already have data, making the process to take even more time since it needs to be erased before the main one valid entries are saved there.

 

[taiji212]

No, MP51.007F.B03 have full microcode support for it.

While technically X5690 is a Gulftown Xeon instead of a Westmere-EP (exactly like the single-cpu counterpart W3690), the CPUID is the same 206C2h as the other Westmere Xeons Apple sold with mid-2012s (W3680, E5645, X5650, and X5675).

The question is, you are using an early-2009 cross-flashed to MP5,1 and we long know that the cross-flashing process makes a real mess inside the BootROM and having it upgraded to the current 144.0.0.0.0 release with the most recent microcodes would be the first thing that I'd try.


Without a METAL GPU, you can't run the Mojave firmware upgrade, so, you can upgrade up to MP51.0089.B00 with the High Sierra 10.13.6 Mac App Store full installer.


Wrong info, see above.

Thanks Alex.
From your thorough upgrade post, it seems I can use my GTX 1080 for the second update, and quit before installing Mojave?

 

[Macbookprodude]

Yes, with the processor that works, don't try to upgrade your BootROM with a non-perfectly working system.

You will have to do two firmware upgrades, MP51.007F.B03 -> MP51.0089.B00 with High Sierra and MP51.0089.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0 with Mojave, read the first post of the thread below:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

Is it possible to just upgrade the firmware without metal graphics card ? Here in Ukraine, we can't afford such high things.

 

[tsialex]

Is it possible to just upgrade the firmware without metal graphics card ? Here in Ukraine, we can't afford such high things.

GPU METAL support is a pre-requisite of the Mojave firmware upgrade, you asked this before. Even a $30 NVIDIA GT710 will work for the upgrade.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks Alex.
From your thorough upgrade post, it seems I can use my GTX 1080 for the second update, and quit before installing Mojave?

Yes, it will work, but you need to upgrade to MP51.0089.B00 before and this one requires a GPU with Mac EFI support. MP51.0089.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0 requires the METAL GPU. It's a two steps upgrade for anyone with an earlier firmware than MP51.0089.B00, your case.

 

[Macbookprodude]

I already have MP51.0089.B00

 

[Macbookprodude]

ardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3,33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 6.4 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MP51.0089.B00