After firmware 5.1 update computer will not boot

[TheLastEra]

The other day I tried upgrading my Mac Pro 2009 firmware to 5.1.
I got past the install part but when I restarted the mac to finish
the upgrade I accidentally pulled out the video cord for 5 seconds then put it back in
and left it in for 15 minutes but had a black screen the entire time.
I don't know if the firmware upgrade went through because now I permanently
have a black screen, no boot sound on startup, USB does not respond and keyboard has power
but does not respond. Power works fine. Fans are working nice and quiet. Could it possibly be that
the firmware did upgrade to 5.1 but because I have a quad-core 2.66 Ghz Nehalem processor
it needs a different processor like a hex core Westmere to boot up. I am at a loss!

 

[h9826790]

The 5,1 firmware is fine for the Quad 2.66. I did that before, no problem. In fact, you must upgrade the firmware with the old CPU, and only upgrade the CPU to Westmere after the firmware is upgraded to 5,1.

 

[TheLastEra]

The 5,1 firmware is fine for the Quad 2.66. I did that before, no problem. In fact, you must upgrade the firmware with the old CPU, and only upgrade the CPU to Westmere after the firmware is upgraded to 5,1.

The 5,1 firmware is fine for the Quad 2.66. I did that before, no problem. In fact, you must upgrade the firmware with the old CPU, and only upgrade the CPU to Westmere after the firmware is upgraded to 5,1.

That's the problem. I don't know if the firmware upgrade went through. My computer starts up fine but with no boot sound
and I have a black screen. This happened after I tried installing firmware 5.1 but didn't complete the install. Is there a way that I could burn the firmware file to disc from a pc and have my mac run it automatically to completely install the firmware.
Maybe change it to an ISO file. The disc drive works.

 

[scott.n]

Removing your video cable "shouldn't" cause any issues. How far did you get when you were attempting to boot? Did you hold the power button until you heard the low beep and saw the flashing light? If not, try that again.

Are you able to reset NVRAM (aka PRAM) with your keyboard? Have you tried resetting SMC?

Also, what video card are you using?

 

[TheLastEra]

Removing your video cable "shouldn't" cause any issues. How far did you get when you were attempting to boot? Did you hold the power button until you heard the low beep and saw the flashing light? If not, try that again.

Are you able to reset NVRAM (aka PRAM) with your keyboard? Have you tried resetting SMC?

Also, what video card are you using?

After the install I reset it. Held the power button down and saw the flashing light and heard the beep but the screen stayed black. Never saw the upgrade on the screen. Tried holding the button down many times afterwards with no red light or boot sound. I can't reset the PRAM with the keyboard. The power light is on but caps lock and number lock light will not go on. The keyboard will not respond to anything. The computer is not reading any USB ports. I don't know how to reset the SMC. Could you tell me exactly how to do this?
[doublepost=1458175354][/doublepost]

After the install I reset it. Held the power button down and saw the flashing light and heard the beep but the screen stayed black. Never saw the upgrade on the screen. Tried holding the button down many times afterwards with no red light or boot sound. I can't reset the PRAM with the keyboard. The power light is on but caps lock and number lock light will not go on. The keyboard will not respond to anything. The computer is not reading any USB ports. I don't know how to reset the SMC. Could you tell me exactly how to do this?

The video card is a GTX 120

 

[ActionableMango]

I don't know how to reset the SMC.

The official procedure is to unplug the power cord for at least 15 seconds.

According to the service manual, this may not be enough if you are having problems booting. You may also need to do an RTC reset (pull the battery out while unplugged for 20 seconds). The RTC battery is near the PCIe slots.

If that doesn't work, need to check the status LEDs inside.

 

[h9826790]

I don't know how to reset the SMC. Could you tell me exactly how to do this?[doublepost=1458175354][/doublepost]

remove power cord for 15s

 

[TheLastEra]

The official procedure is to unplug the power cord for at least 15 seconds.

According to the service manual, this may not be enough if you are having problems booting. You may also need to do an RTC reset (pull the battery out while unplugged for 20 seconds). The RTC battery is near the PCIe slots.

If that doesn't work, need to check the status LEDs inside.[/QUOTE

remove power cord for 15s

Tried to reset the SMC many times but that doesn't do the trick. Now I know where the RTC battery is I will try that next. Where are the LED lights located? How do I reset the PRAM without the keyboard not responding? I think this is a necessity.

 

[ActionableMango]

All I am doing is walking you through the troubleshooting steps of the service manual, and there are many to go. But this would be much faster for you to do yourself with the service manual in front of you, plus the pictures are helpful. Search for the "2009 Mac Pro Service Manual" and go to page 27.

 

[Machines]

That's the problem. I don't know if the firmware upgrade went through. My computer starts up fine but with no boot sound
and I have a black screen. This happened after I tried installing firmware 5.1 but didn't complete the install. Is there a way that I could burn the firmware file to disc from a pc and have my mac run it automatically to completely install the firmware.
Maybe change it to an ISO file. The disc drive works.

There is a firmware restoration CD program that you can download from Apple , for a Mac Pro 4,1 (2009) :

Firmware Restoration CD 1.8

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL976?locale=en_US

Then you can start from scratch again with your project (and don't unplug anything)

 

[superparati]

Hi,

I recently bought a MacPro 2009 in order to replace my 2006 and today I decided to update the firmware 4.1 to 5.1
I used Mavericks, the last updated version.

After downloading the netkas tools and the apple firmware update 1.5 I try to follow the steps but nothing come up.
I tried several times - with or without additional hard drive as well as graphic card or no and I discover though the process that the 2010 EFI within the ramdisk created by the Mac Pro 2009-2010 Firmware Tool was corrupted.

You can easily replace the 2010 EFI dmg by:

• Renaming the Apple's DMG from "MacProEFIUpdate" to 2010EFI
• Replacing the 2010EFI dmg with yours.

Problem solved