MP 1,1-5,1 After OpenCore installation no Boot / no Chime

[bawunderl]

Hi all
I think i made a really bad misstake.

Weeks ago i tried to install OpenCore on my MacPro.

Just for you to know my specs:
Its a Mac Pro 4.1 witch i upgraded with a 5.1 to use faster Memory and X5680 CPUs

At the time when i installed OpenCore i had an NVMe SSD (SM951 AHCI) with Catalina on it and a SSD Drive with Windows 7 installed and two HDDs as Data Storage. Since then my Mac was running with 140.0.0.0 Boot Rom.

The strange things started when i looked after the efi partition. On my NVMe as well on the Windows SSD there was no EFI Partition.
Finally i found it on my DATA Disk (an WD VelociRaptor). As described on a Wiki i copied the EFI folder and the configuration plist.
Unfortunately the instructions i used where incomplete. Saldy I just recently i found your detailed instructions which probably would have worked.

So then i tried to reboot my system everything worked well, with the bootpicker i could switch between the two OS Disk's. I booted up on Mac Catalina.
Everything fine so far.
But next time i booted up my system i accidentally hit reset NVRAM.

Since that moment my Mac wont work anymore.
I tried to Start with alt+cmd+r+p command / tried to run the machine in minimal configuration / tried to reset smc
But everthing without success.

Does anyone of you have a clue how i can repair my broken Mac?

In the last days/weeks i read a lot about reflashing Boot Rom on a MacPro. But i don't know if it would help.
At the moment i have access to a second MacPro 4.1 with upgraded 144.0.0.0.0 Firmware and a 140.0.0.0.0 Firmware dump.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[cdf]

By resetting the NVRAM, your Mac is no longer booting through OC and has lost the -no_compat_check boot argument. Always have a supported OS like Mojave installed on a disk in Bay 1. You can use your other Mac to prepare one. This installation will ensure a bootable fallback when you reset the NVRAM.

 

[bawunderl]

By resetting the NVRAM, your Mac is no longer booting through OC and has lost the -no_compat_check boot argument. Always have a supported OS like Mojave installed on a disk in Bay 1. You can use your other Mac to prepare one. This installation will ensure a bootable fallback when you reset the NVRAM.

Thanks for your help @cdf So that means i can use the mojave SSD wich i have in my other Mac Pro to boot the broken one again. And thats it?

 

[cdf]

Thanks for your help @cdf So that means i can use the mojave SSD wich i have in my other Mac Pro to boot the broken one again. And thats it?

Put your Mojave SSD (it is SATA, right?) in Bay 1. Your machine should boot to it after an NVRAM reset (if not, remove your other drives). Once you can get into Mojave, have a look at the guide.

 

[bawunderl]

Put your Mojave SSD (it is SATA, right?) in Bay 1. Your machine should boot to it after an NVRAM reset (if not, remove your other drives). Once you can get into Mojave, have a look at the guide.

Yes its a SATA SSD. I just inserted the Mojave SSD, and the GT120 and Processor Tray. But it still wont happen anything. I pressed for more than a minute cmd+alt+r+p and nothing happens. Is there another way to reset NVRAM?

Thanks for your awsome guide i will try to install OC as soon as my Mac will run again ;-)

 

[cdf]

Yes its a SATA SSD. I just inserted the Mojave SSD, and the GT120 and Processor Tray. But it still wont happen anything. I pressed for more than a minute cmd+alt+r+p and nothing happens. Is there another way to reset NVRAM?

Thanks for your awsome guide i will try to install OC as soon as my Mac will run again ;-)

With the GT 120, if you hold the Option key, you should at least see the native boot picker, to confirm that your firmware is fine. If you are having trouble getting to the boot picker or resetting the NVRAM, you can try a wired Apple keyboard.

 

[bawunderl]

With the GT 120, if you hold the Option key, you should at least see the native boot picker, to confirm that your firmware is fine. If you are having trouble getting to the boot picker or resetting the NVRAM, you can try a wired Apple keyboard.

I tried both (Boot Picker and reset NVRAM) with original wired Apple Keyboard without success. Could it be that boot rom is going to be modified with OpenCore?

 

[startergo]

I tried both (Boot Picker and reset NVRAM) with original wired Apple Keyboard without success. Could it be that boot rom is going to be modified with OpenCore?

It can be filled with rubbish if you had the wrong setting for debug logging, but normally nvram clear should take care of those. Try removing all your drives and keep pressed OPT+CMD+P+R for quite a while with a wired Apple keyboard. Try changing the USB ports if you don't see any results. Also make sure you have the original Apple video card with boot screen installed.

 

[bawunderl]

It can be filled with rubbish if you had the wrong setting for debug logging, but normally nvram clear should take care of those. Try removing all your drives and keep pressed OPT+CMD+P+R for quite a while with a wired Apple keyboard. Try changing the USB ports if you don't see any results. Also make sure you have the original Apple video card with boot screen installed.

Made another try. Installed the keyboard on all possible USB Ports with pressing cmd+alt+r+P for minimum 1 minute but nothing happens.

I have no boot screen (with original Apple GPU) and aswell no boot chime.

I will get next week EasyFlash form CMIzapper will then try to dump my Rom. Maybe someone of you can have a look over it to check if my firmware is ok.

 

[startergo]

will get next week EasyFlash form CMIzapper

Are you talking about this one? @tsialex can he communicate with the main firmware through the Little Frank connector while booted? Maybe with a fast professional programmer? Probably the easier route will be to de-solder the chip.

 

[bawunderl]

Are you talking about this one? @tsialex can he communicate with the main firmware through the Little Frank connector while booted? Maybe with a fast professional programmer? Probably the easier route will be to de-solder the chip.

Yep, Harald form CMI told me that it will work with the MacPro (Little Frank)
But yeah we will see ;-)

 

[Macschrauber]

you could remove your flash ic, dump it (very important if you have no backup of your individual firmware) and solder a new flash IC in with a generic 144 Firmware to bring it back with no identity.

Maybe I can help with rebuilding your firmware from your messed one. Alex is the firmware expert but very busy so I can help with basic treatments.

 

[tsialex]

Are you talking about this one? @tsialex can he communicate with the main firmware through the Little Frank connector while booted? Maybe with a fast professional programmer? Probably the easier route will be to de-solder the chip.

I know about MP5,1 cmizapper EasyFlash for some time, but I don't know if it really works at all. Nobody that I know ever bought it since costs a lot more than a replacement backplane on eBay, would be interesting to know that it works.

Seems cmizapper EasyFlash is just converting SPI signals present on LittleFRANK connector in a way that you could interact with via a SPI flash programmer. I'd like to see how they solved the parasitic drain problem.

 

[bawunderl]

Hi all, i'm a little bit further.

I had a lot of time (cause of Corona) to make some research. I watched a lot Videos from Trammell and Pedro to have a better clue what im doing here. ;-)

In the mean time i received the parts from cmizapper.
I took Matt Card, to see if my MacPro will boot. First i plugged the Matt Card into my running MacPro wich worked fine.
So after that i tried the same in my bricked MacPro wich aswell worked fine. So it's finally the Rom witch is corupted.

@tsialex You where right, with the EasyFlash i tried to dump the Rom with flashrom with no success.
So i took some Chipquick and desoldered the chip.
Now i was able to dump the Rom, and did some search after false parts.

I found something strange in the NVRAM Part of the Rom.
In all my other dumps (of the running MacPro) there is only one VSS store inside the NVRAM but my Bricked Rom has two of them.
Do you think that this would be the problem?

@Macschrauber Danke für das Angebot, komme gerne darauf zurück ;-) Thanks for your offer come back to it

 

[tsialex]

Hi all, i'm a little bit further.

I had a lot of time (cause of Corona) to make some research. I watched a lot Videos from Trammell and Pedro to have a better clue what im doing here. ;-)

In the mean time i received the parts from cmizapper.
I took Matt Card, to see if my MacPro will boot. First i plugged the Matt Card into my running MacPro wich worked fine.
So after that i tried the same in my bricked MacPro wich aswell worked fine. So it's finally the Rom witch is corupted.

@tsialex You where right, with the EasyFlash i tried to dump the Rom with flashrom with no success.
So i took some Chipquick and desoldered the chip.
Now i was able to dump the Rom, and did some search after false parts.

I found something strange in the NVRAM Part of the Rom.
In all my other dumps (of the running MacPro) there is only one VSS store inside the NVRAM but my Bricked Rom has two of them.
Do you think that this would be the problem?

@Macschrauber Danke für das Angebot, komme gerne darauf zurück ;-) Thanks for your offer come back to it

First thing, check if it's the same #19.

Second, a correct NVRAM volume have *TWO* VSS stores.

 

[bawunderl]

First thing, check if it's the same #19.

Second, a correct NVRAM volume have *TWO* VSS stores.

With the Matt Card plugged on, my bricked Mac boots, without a problem.

The Matt Card has a 144 Bios and the Bricked Chip had an 140 Bios on it.

Matt Card:

Bricked Chip: