If you're not a developer, how were you able to ask about the boot screens?! Who did you reach out to and what did you ask them?
Simply go to bugreport.apple.com to report the bug. In my experience, most reports will get Apple engineer's reply.
If you're not a developer, how were you able to ask about the boot screens?! Who did you reach out to and what did you ask them?
3:807 0:041 ConsoleControl ok
3:815 0:008 UgaDraw ok
3:823 0:008 GraphicsOutput ok
3:832 0:008 Available graphics modes for refit.conf screen_resolution:
3:840 0:008 Curr. Mode = 0, Modes = 0, FB = 0, FB size=0x0
3:848 0:008 SetMaxResolution: found best mode 0: 0x0
3:890 0:041 - already set
4:494 0:431 Error setting graphics mode 3 x 0; using default mode!
Available modes are:
4:584 0:470 Error setting graphics mode 1024 x 768; using default mode!
Available modes are:
$ cd RefindPkg
$ git clone https://git.code.sf.net/u/jief7/refind u-jief7-refind
Next Loader can boot NVMe drives without any firmware modification, but it cannot be installed on an NVMe drive itself. It must be installed on an AHCI drive or USB 2.0 drive. Although there is no specific Firmware requirement for Next Loader, it is recommended to use MP51.0084.B00 or higher.@abdyfranco, can you give more specific instructions on how to do the testing, including any system requirements (like a minimum ROM version), and how to capture log data?
I have a 2010 cMP 5,1 (not a flashed 4,1) currently using the rEFInd boot loader, with an R9 280x GPU, and an NVME 960 EVO on a Lycom DT-120 card. The R9 280x is flashed for Mac boot screens, but I think if I flip the card's ROM switch to the other position it will behave as a standard PC card that supports GOP.
I noticed the "install.sh" script in the root folder, and reading through I saw that it prompts for a volume to wipe and install the bootloader on. This sounds something like what rEFInd does when installing on the EFI partition. So I wiped my NVME drive, and created two partitions: one for the bootloader, and the other for High Sierra. I cloned a High Sierra boot drive onto a "Boot" partition of the NVME, and called the other "UEFI". Then I ran your install script, told it to wipe the volume called "UEFI", and to become the primary bootloader. It ran without errors, although I did get prompted to install the Xcode command tools in order to run "SetFile" (or something like that). I let it download and install the tools, which succeeded, but the installer seemed to have finished by then. I shut down the computer, flipped the GPU's ROM switch to the PC position, and rebooted.
Unfortunately nothing ever happened -- after the chime, I waited a couple of minutes, but the monitor stayed black (no signal) and never came to life. I shut down, flipped the GPU's ROM switch to the Mac position, and restarted. Eventually I got a gray screen, and after about a minute got the icon of a blinking folder with a question mark -- I think that was the Mac EFI taking over and being unable to read the NVME drive. I couldn't find any log files.
Do I need a particular BootROM or macOS version? Do I need to inject my BootROM with code for NVME boot support? My cMP 5,1 is normally running El Capitan 10.11.6, and my BootROM is version 15G20015 -- with no NVME boot drive support. With El Capitan I use a version of the HackrNVMeFamily kext created by RehabMan's patch-nvme scripts, which lets me use NVME as a data drive but not a boot drive.
Thank you very much for your feedback. I see the NVMe boot is working completely well.I installed Next Loader to a partition on a clean USB drive connected to a front-panel USB 2.0 port.
I rebooted with the GPU still in "Mac" mode. After the chime, in about 3 seconds I got a gray screen, then about 5 seconds later I got a small red box at the bottom of the screen saying "hit any key to continue". I hit the spacebar and immediately saw some console output, captured with my phone:
View attachment 780589
A couple of seconds later I got the boot menu screen:
View attachment 780590
I selected the NVME drive and then it began the normal boot process, and soon enough I was in High Sierra:
View attachment 780591
Congratulations, booting from a NVME drive works great!!
Then I shut down the machine, flipped my GPU switch to "PC" mode, and restarted. Sadly the screen never came to life after waiting a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee that my GPU's PC ROM is original, since I bought the card flashed for Mac. I noticed that the caps lock key was working, and I tried hitting the return and arrow keys in case I just couldn't see the output, but nothing happened. I could get an RX580 or some other "known good" GOP-capable card if that's what you need for testing. And I'm sure having some kind of logging mechanism would be helpful.
Thank you very much for your feedback. I see the NVMe boot is working completely well.
From what I read in other messages in this thread, Apparently the firmware performs a kind of verification of the GOP driver before loading it and if the card has been modified the driver is marked as invalid. It is possible that flashing the graphics card for Mac, altered that verification, But I'm not 100% sure.
Hi. Thank you for your work, to the community.
Mac Pro (2010) + Latest Firmware + AMD R9 NANO 4 GB (Pc) Factory Default
Bay 1 - HD - macOS High Sierra (GUID) HFS+
Bay 2 - HD - macOS Mojave Beta (GUID) HFS+
Bay 3 - HD - Windows 8.1 x64 (EFI) NTFS
Bay 4 - HD - Windows 10 x64 (EFI) NTFS
> Boot installed on USB 2.0 flash Drive...
No success; black screen on boot!
Kind regards,
Xanix
So far, only works on the 3,1, tests with the 5,1 shows the GOP driver linked and loaded for AMD cards, but the Graphics Modes not being reported.
Yesterday I was doing some tests with an EFI shell, and I think it can be very useful to debug and see why the GOP drivers of the graphics card are not being loaded. This would however require two graphics cards, one with Mac EFI and one with GOP.
I compiled Jief_Machak's version of rEFInd, that should have support for initializing graphics cards that have a GOP rom on them. Pretty much any resent graphics card should work.
So how can I read logs data, because loader is defintely loading at startup (USB drive's LED is flashing)?
Next Loader (inherited from rEFInd) does not generate any kind of log file, however I am already working on implementing a log registration system for a future version.
I have a Mac Pro 4,1 flashed to 5,1 an NVIDIA GT 120 and a Sapphire RX 580 Pulse which I'd like to test this on. However, there's something I don't understand:
UEFI and GOP specifically provide a pre-boot environment to notify you about POST errors, no disks found, etc. UEFI also provides post-boot services and lots of other things.
How does loading a new UEFI image on the drive help with displaying a boot screen? Isn't the boot screen displayed before the drives are even enumerated? Does blessing the EFI image copy it into some sort of drive-independent NVRAM?
In a true UEFI environment, it happens just as you say, The GOP drivers of the card are loaded before anything else during the pre-boot phase.I have a Mac Pro 4,1 flashed to 5,1 an NVIDIA GT 120 and a Sapphire RX 580 Pulse which I'd like to test this on. However, there's something I don't understand:
UEFI and GOP specifically provide a pre-boot environment to notify you about POST errors, no disks found, etc. UEFI also provides post-boot services and lots of other things.
How does loading a new UEFI image on the drive help with displaying a boot screen? Isn't the boot screen displayed before the drives are even enumerated? Does blessing the EFI image copy it into some sort of drive-independent NVRAM?
Thanks to the fact that EFI is extendable, there is a small possibility that by manipulating the EFI environment once loaded into the Mac Pro through an application, a UEFI GOP graphics card can be initialized.
The Graphics Output Protocol supports this capability by providing the EFI OS loader access to a hardware frame buffer and enough information to allow the OS to draw directly to the graphics output device.
Here are my results with my MacPro4,1 flashed to a 5,1 with a Sapphire Radeon RX 580:
Before and after installing Next Loader, there's no boot screen. However, after installing Next Loader, my boot process got "stuck" on the black screen. I had to press return on the keyboard to continue booting. I presume this is because Next Loader is attempting to show me a boot picker UI and waiting for input--however, my GPU isn't displaying anything at this point so I don't see the screen. I also see the lights on my USB drive, onto which I installed Next Loader, flash near the start of the boot sequence.
I haven't modified the ROM on my RX 580, so unless there's something else going on with my machine, I don't think it's modified GPU ROMS that are keeping GOP display from working on MacPro4,1 machines flashed to 5,1.
Next, I'll try and squeeze my GT 120 card in the machine to see if there are any errors.
I presume this is because Next Loader is attempting to show me a boot picker UI and waiting for input
I'm not sure anyone has been successful in reverting to 4,1 firmware. I recall a thread here a month or so ago wherein someone was trying and was ultimately unsuccessful. It would probably be possible if someone currently running 4,1 firmware would use ROMDump to dump their ROM and submit it to tsialex. But I'm not sure he's found anyone to do that yet. So if anyone sees this who hasn't yet flashed up to 5,1, please get PM tsialex before you do!A 4,1 with a 5,1 firmware is effectively a 5,1, you'd have to revert to the 4,1 firmware to tell us anything new.
I'm not sure anyone has been successful in reverting to 4,1 firmware. I recall a thread here a month or so ago wherein someone was trying and was ultimately unsuccessful. It would probably be possible if someone currently running 4,1 firmware would use ROMDump to dump their ROM and submit it to tsialex. But I'm not sure he's found anyone to do that yet. So if anyone sees this who hasn't yet flashed up to 5,1, please get PM tsialex before you do!
BF5041EB 1D000000 00000000 00000000 FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF
FFFFFFFF 6804FFFF 0F09E91B F3000000 78563412 0000FFFF
BF5041EB 1D000000 00000000 00000000 FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF
FFFFFFFF E802FFFF 0F09E9FB F2000000 78563412 0000FFFF
I'm not sure anyone has been successful in reverting to 4,1 firmware.
Pardon my ignorance, but why can't I just use the Firmware Restoration CD 1.8? I haven't tried this yet. Does it refuse to go back to the MacPro4,1 firmware because it thinks the machine is a MacPro5,1?