MP 1,1-5,1 Booting Mojave and Windows 10 on a Mac Pro 5,1 with NVMe drives - some questions

[James Murray]

I have a 2009 Mac Pro that I've upgraded to 5,1, a Radeon RX 580 video card and a 3.06 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon processor. I installed Mojave and Windows 10 on it (both on separate SATA SSD HDs). So far, I'm pretty happy with it but the startup is very slow and it takes a very long time to switch between windows and mac os. I lost the boot screen with my video card upgrade so I have to start the computer completely and use the little bootcamp app after it starts to switch to the OS I want, and this makes it take twice as long.

I was thinking of getting NVMe drives to speed things up. I want to be able to have both mojave and windows installed on the NVMe drives so that they would both start super fast and I could quickly switch between the two OSes. Is this even possible? If so, which PCIe NVMe drive sled is the best to accomplish this? Anyone know where I can find guide on how to do this? Is there any way to get the boot screen back? I'm not super technical so I'd prefer a simple answers to these questions if possible.

 

[Soba]

Mojave on an NVMe drive is trivial and pretty much "plug and play," but Windows is another matter. I'll let others more knowledgeable on this point answer this part.

However, I'm a little surprised to hear your setup is "very slow." My experience was that there was not an enormous difference between booting from SATA SSDs and booting from NVMe in a 5,1. Noticeable, yes, but not very much, even with a Samsung 970 Pro NVMe blade on a Highpoint 7101A PCIe card.

Windows 10 (in Legacy BIOS mode) on my 2010 boots from startup chime to desktop in just under 30 seconds from a Samsung 850 Pro SATA SSD installed in Bay 1, though I'd expect that to take longer if you have a lot of software installed.

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Edit for clarity: I do not run Windows 10 from an NVMe drive because it can wreck the Mac Pro. You should not do this without taking precautions to protect your BootROM. Windows 10 running in UEFI mode can brick any Mac Pro from 2012 or earlier. To run Windows 10 safely on these older Macs, you must install it in Legacy BIOS mode to a SATA drive or AHCI SSD, or you can use special utilities to protect your BootROM (as noted by Macschrauber below). Windows in Legacy BIOS mode running from a SATA drive or AHCI SSD is completely safe with no need for BootROM protections.

In 2019, I ran Windows 10 in UEFI mode from an NVMe drive before the boot certificates problem was discovered and well publicized. When I learned of the danger, I immediately removed UEFI Windows from my system and have run in Legacy BIOS mode since then. There is not a large performance difference, in my experience.
-----

You said you have a 4.06GHz Xeon installed, but please re-check this by running the System Information app in Mojave. (I assume you meant 3.06GHz.) Also, please post what SATA SSDs you are using and how many seconds it takes to boot each OS from the moment you hear the startup chime, just so we can help determine if there's a problem somewhere.

 

[Macschrauber]

Guys, take care of the bootrom, most important make a backup of it.

I made a tool for this. It makes some basic checks of the bootrom health, too.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...es.2333460/page-4?post=32055801#post-32055801

Nvme booting in Win needs Uefi mode but you will need OpenCore or RefindPlus for protecting the bootrom due false written certificates. Also you might get a bootscreen with it.

dont even run the Windows installer thumb drive without protection or you get those certs what will need certain help to get ridd of (if you have no valid backup of your bootrom without certificates).

 

[James Murray]

Mojave on an NVMe drive is trivial and pretty much "plug and play," but Windows is another matter. I'll let others more knowledgeable on this point answer this part.

However, I'm a little surprised to hear your setup is "very slow." My experience was that there was not an enormous difference between booting from SATA SSDs and booting from NVMe in a 5,1. Noticeable, yes, but not very much, even with a Samsung 970 Pro NVMe blade on a Highpoint 7101A PCIe card.

Windows 10 on my 2010 boots from startup chime to desktop in just under 30 seconds from a Samsung 850 Pro SATA SSD installed in Bay 1, though I'd expect that to take longer if you have a lot of software installed.

You said you have a 4.06GHz Xeon installed, but please re-check this by running the System Information app in Mojave. (I assume you meant 3.06GHz.) Also, please post what SATA SSDs you are using and how many seconds it takes to boot each OS from the moment you hear the startup chime, just so we can help determine if there's a problem somewhere.

I am using 2 Seagate 3.5" firecuda SSD drives (2TB each). One for Mac OS and the other for Windows. I just noticed that these are actually "hybrid" SSD drives. I'm not sure what that means, but perhaps that's my problem, maybe they aren't true SSD drives and that's why it's so slow. I measured the time it took to startup and switch between OSes:


Time between power on and startup chime - 20s
Time between startup chime and mojave login screen - 2m 30s
Time between login and ability to actually use my mac (load up of apps) - 2m 45s
Time to load startup disk app (to switch to windows) - 45s
Time between clicking restart and startup chime - 50s
Time between chime and windows login screen - 1m 10s
Time between login and ability to actually use windows (load up of apps) - 3m 20s

So that's over 10m to login to windows if it was already set to startup on mac. I also notice slowness even after the apps are loaded in both OSes, it takes around 6 or 7 minutes for it to fully settle in after login and run smoothly, and even then, there's a bit of a lag, it seems to be getting worse too. I use logic to record music and lately I've been getting errors that the disk can't keep up with the recording. I'm also getting cpu overload errors (btw you are right my cpu is a 3.06, not a 4.06 that was a typo). Speaking of which, this is a 2009 mac with only one cpu chip. I know that there are some out there that have the bays with two cpus, perhaps I should have gotten that instead, I would like to upgrade that, but I'm not sure if that requires a whole new mac pro.


Perhaps all I need to do is swap out my hybrid SSDs for true SSDs? Should I get the NVMe just for the mac and get an SSD for the windows side? What would be easier and give me the most bang for my buck?

 

[James Murray]

Guys, take care of the bootrom, most important make a backup of it.

I made a tool for this. It makes some basic checks of the bootrom health, too.

Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

Nvme booting in Win needs Uefi mode but you will need OpenCore or RefindPlus for protecting the bootrom due false written certificates. Also you might get a bootscreen with it.

dont even run the Windows installer thumb drive without protection or you get those certs what will need certain help to get ridd of (without a flashing back a bootrom backup).

This is a little too technical for me. Can you explain it in a step by step guide?

 

[Soba]

I am using 2 Seagate 3.5" firecudas SSD drives (2TB each). One for Mac OS and the other for Windows. I just noticed that these are actually "hybrid" SSD drives. I'm not sure what that means, but perhaps that's my problem, maybe they aren't true SSD drives and that's why it's so slow. I measured the time it took to startup and switch between OSes:


Time between power on and startup chime - 20s
Time between startup chime and mojave login screen - 2m 30s
Time between login and ability to actually use my mac (load up of apps) - 2m 45s
Time to load startup disk app (to switch to windows) - 45s
Time between clicking restart and startup chime - 50s
Time between chime and windows login screen - 1m 10s
Time between login and ability to actually use windows (load up of apps) - 3m 20s

So that's over 10m to login to windows if it was already set to startup on mac. I also notice slowness even after the apps are loaded in both OSes, it takes around 6 or 7 minutes for it to fully settle in after login and run smoothly, and even then, there's a bit of a lag, it seems to be getting worse too. I use logic to record music and lately I've been getting errors that the disk can't keep up with the recording. I'm also getting cpu overload errors (btw you are right my cpu is a 3.06, not a 4.06 that was a typo). Speaking of which, this is a 2009 mac with only one cpu chip. I know that there are some out there that have the bays with two cpus, perhaps I should have gotten that instead, I would like to upgrade that, but I'm not sure if that requires a whole new mac pro.


Perhaps all I need to do is swap out my hybrid SSDs for true SSDs? Should I get the NVMe just for the mac and get an SSD for the windows side? What would be easier and give me the most bang for my buck?

I edited and clarified my post a bit above.

Your hybrid drives are old-style spinning hard disk drives that use a small integrated SSD for caching to speed up disk access. They are far slower than an SSD. The APFS file system that Apple introduced with High Sierra is designed for SSDs and does not perform well on spinning HDDs.

It is also possible your drives are failing, so please make sure you have good backups of your system.

Since you say you're not very technical, you might be best off with the most straightforward solution: install an NVMe drive (or several such drives) on a PCIe card for use with Mojave, but boot Windows from a SATA SSD connected to an onboard SATA port. This is what I chose for my system.

It sounds like you switch frequently between Windows and macOS, so you would benefit from a solution that gives you boot screens and thus lets you choose your OS from the startup manager (accessible by holding the Option key after you hear the startup chime). One option is to get a flashed graphics card that fully supports the Mac Pro. I also went this route in my system. I bought the flashed card from MacVidCards, but their service is not good and I don't recommend them.

As mentioned by Macschrauber, there are some software options available that might give you a boot screen with your current graphics card. I'll let others guide you on this point, as I am not too familiar with them.

 

[James Murray]

I edited and clarified my post a bit above.

Your hybrid drives are old-style spinning hard disk drives that use a small integrated SSD for caching to speed up disk access. They are far slower than an SSD. The APFS file system that Apple introduced with High Sierra is designed for SSDs and does not perform well on spinning HDDs.

It is also possible your drives are failing, so please make sure you have good backups of your system.

Since you say you're not very technical, you might be best off with the most straightforward solution: install an NVMe drive (or several such drives) on a PCIe card for use with Mojave, but boot Windows from a SATA SSD connected to an onboard SATA port. This is what I chose for my system.

It sounds like you switch frequently between Windows and macOS, so you would benefit from a solution that gives you boot screens and thus lets you choose your OS from the startup manager (accessible by holding the Option key after you hear the startup chime). One option is to get a flashed graphics card that fully supports the Mac Pro. I also went this route in my system. I bought the flashed card from MacVidCards, but their service is not good and I don't recommend them.

As mentioned by Macschrauber, there are some software options available that might give you a boot screen with your current graphics card. I'll let others guide you on this point, as I am not too familiar with them.

Thanks for your help. I'm thinking of ordering this:

High Point SSD7101A-1 NVMe RAID Controller​

SAMSUNG 970 PRO SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive with V-NAND Technology (MZ-V7P1T0BW) Black/Red​

I think, rather than buy a separate SATA SSD for windows, I want to try installing Mac on 2 of the blades, and windows on the other two, I also want to set it up so that I have a boot screen. Can someone send me instructions on how to do this safely, if possible? If it's too risky I'll just go with a separate SATA SSD for windows, but I want to see what's involved with setting up an EFI first. This way I get the boot screen, and a windows that is running off the fastest drives.

 

[Macschrauber]

This is a little too technical for me. Can you explain it in a step by step guide?

disable sip,
run the dumper by right-click, open

 

[James Murray]

disable sip,
run the dumper by right-click, open

I don't really understand, sorry. What is sip and what is the dumper? Can you explain in more detail?

Also, how much faster is NVMe than a simple solid state drive that is connected through SATA? It seems like the latter is a much cheaper option. I was thinking of getting two of these:

SK hynix Gold S31 500GB SATA Gen3 2.5 inch Internal SSD | SSD 500GB | Up to 560MB/S | Solid State Drive | Compact 2.5' SSD Form Factor SK hynix SSD | Internal Solid State Drive | SATA SSD​

One for mac and one for windows. It's only a little over $100 won't have to get an expensive PCIe adaptor.

 

[Macschrauber]

I don't really understand, sorry. What is sip and what is the dumper? Can you explain in more detail?

it's really basic Mac tech

sip:

Disabling and Enabling System Integrity Protection | Apple Developer Documentation

Disable system protections only temporarily during development to test drivers, kernel extensions, and other low-level code.

developer.apple.com

dumper:
That tool that reads out the content of a firmware chip. The Firmware is what's been loaded first to get the machine alive when you turn it on. It's in a hardware chip. It's the most important software part of the machine. A malfunction of it is a serious problem and can lead the machine to be useless (a brick).

my dumping tool is called RomDump Macschrauber.app and needs to be run with right click - open as it is not signed.

Sip must be disabled (or run a System from the day when sip was not implemented).

Thats because the dumper (exactly Flashrom, a CLI tool embeded in my dumper) needs to load a kernel extension what is not signed, too.

I do basically the same as Dosdude1 with his RomTool, but my Tool has special analysing features and is made especially for the Mac Pro 4.1/5.1.

 

[James Murray]

it's really basic Mac tech

sip:

Disabling and Enabling System Integrity Protection | Apple Developer Documentation

Disable system protections only temporarily during development to test drivers, kernel extensions, and other low-level code.

developer.apple.com

dumper:
That tool that reads out the content of a firmware chip. The Firmware is what's been loaded first to get the machine alive when you turn it on. It's in a hardware chip. It's the most important software part of the machine. A malfunction of it is a serious problem and can lead the machine to be useless (a brick).

my dumping tool is called RomDump Macschrauber.app and needs to be run with right click - open as it is not signed.

Sip must be disabled (or run a System from the day when sip was not implemented).

Thats because the dumper (exactly Flashrom, a CLI tool embeded in my dumper) needs to load a kernel extension what is not signed, too.

I do basically the same as Dosdude1 with his RomTool, but my Tool has special analysing features and is made especially for the Mac Pro 4.1/5.1.

Ah I see, so this tool backs up your firmware? When would I run this?

 

[Macschrauber]

Ah I see, so this tool backs up your firmware? When would I run this?

as soon as possible, before you start to deal with Uefi Windows.

If you get certificates with unprotected NVram (what's stored in the Firmware) you can flash your backup back and the certificates get away.

Of course you need a protector like OpenCore or RefindPlus to protect your Firmware if you want to use Uefi Windows.

If your nvram is not super healthy (whats not expected) those certificates can lead to a fragmented nvram and so some day to a brick.

 

[James Murray]

as soon as possible, before you start to deal with Uefi Windows.

If you get certificates with unprotected NVram (what's stored in the Firmware) you can flash your backup back and the certificates get away.

Of course you need a protector like OpenCore or RefindPlus to protect your Firmware if you want to use Uefi Windows.

If your nvram is not super healthy (whats not expected) those certificates can lead to a fragmented nvram and so some day to a brick.

Is bootrunner a safe alternative to Uefi? I heard bootrunner provides a boot screen.

 

[Macschrauber]

Is bootrunner a safe alternative to Uefi? I heard bootrunner provides a boot screen.

See https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-drives-some-questions.2316833/post-30434289

 

[James Murray]

See https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-drives-some-questions.2316833/post-30434289

This is the same post from above. I already ran your dumper software. I'm not sure what to do with the files it generated though. I'm assuming I use this to restore my bootrom in case my mac gets bricked, but not sure how. Do you have any step by step instructions that show you how to set up my mac so that it has a boot screen? Should I use bootrunner?

 

[Macschrauber]

if the dumper has not reported certificates you have at least a good rom file to flash back if you get certificates.

Check regulary if you use Uefi Windows.

We are in circles. Check RefindPlus or OpenCore as the boot loader to go.

RefindPlus can load csm/legacy/bios windows and chainload OpenCore for protected Uefi Windows booting
OpenCore can load protected Uefi Windows and chainload rEFInd or Refindplus for csm/legacy/bios windows.

both of them can provide a bootscreen if your GPU has a valid GOP bios.

 

[Dayo]

Should I use bootrunner?

Not the best choice. Especially if you run UEFI Windows.

To amend the rhythmic summary by @Macschrauber, RefindPlus can load UEFI Windows with certificate protection as well as load Legacy Windows.

For other reasons however, it is not a case of RefindPlus OR OpenCore, but one of RefindPlus AND OpenCore for flexibility and power (my view). You can find instructions on using MyBootMgr to easily set both up to work together by following the link in my signature.

Assuming you don't already have UEFI Windows certificates in the ROM, which the dumper should have told you (run it again if not sure), shut down your Mac, disconnect any drives containing Windows or Linux, restart the Mac and immediately hold down the "COMMAND", "OPTION", "P" and "R" keys until you hear at least four chimes, then let go and load Mac OS. Once in Mac OS, run the dumper again to get a ROM version as "clean" as possible without needing special reconstruction.

If you already have such certificates in your NVRAM, send a PM to @Macschrauber to clean your ROM up for you.

Save a copy of your ROM file to a USB stick and keep in a drawer. Don't worry about the flashing process for now as you can ask about that if the eventuality arises.

After you have saved a copy of your ROM, shutdown and reconnect any Windows/Linux drives and use MyBootMgr to set RefindPlus/OpenCore up afterwards.

 

[Macschrauber]

restart the Mac and immediately hold down the "COMMAND", "OPTION", "P" and "R" keys until you hear at least four chimes, then let go and load Mac OS. Once in Mac OS, run the dumper again to get a ROM version as "clean" as possible without needing special reconstruction.

if he do this he needs either a Mac OS without system integrity protection (https://developer.apple.com/documen...ling_and_enabling_system_integrity_protection)
or he needs the addtional step to disable s.i.p.

the kext for flashrom needs s.i.p. off when running a system with s.i.p.

side note: My most important tool drive for firmware things runs in 10.9 Mavericks as it has no s.i.p.

 

[Dayo]

Are the tool requirements not the same regardless of whether NVRAM is reset or not? According to Post 15, he was already able to run the tool as you noted in Post 16.

A bit lost as to what would change with regards the requirements when NVRAM is reset ... I know SIP would be switched on, but the OP must have been able to disable this at some point to run the tool in the first place or am I missing something?

 

[Macschrauber]

Yes, DirectHw.kext needs sip disabled. Only workaround is add it to OpenCore to use it without sip disabled.

But imho this is a security issue, I, or better my dumper loads and unloads the kext as needed.

It is just active while reading or flashing.

I added Flashing when the dumper is started with holding the option key, btw.

 

[James Murray]

Not the best choice. Especially if you run UEFI Windows.

To amend the rhythmic summary by @Macschrauber, RefindPlus can load UEFI Windows with certificate protection as well as load Legacy Windows.

For other reasons however, it is not a case of RefindPlus OR OpenCore, but one of RefindPlus AND OpenCore for flexibility and power (my view). You can find instructions on using MyBootMgr to easily set both up to work together by following the link in my signature.

Assuming you don't already have UEFI Windows certificates in the ROM, which the dumper should have told you (run it again if not sure), shut down your Mac, disconnect any drives containing Windows or Linux, restart the Mac and immediately hold down the "COMMAND", "OPTION", "P" and "R" keys until you hear at least four chimes, then let go and load Mac OS. Once in Mac OS, run the dumper again to get a ROM version as "clean" as possible without needing special reconstruction.

If you already have such certificates in your NVRAM, send a PM to @Macschrauber to clean your ROM up for you.

Save a copy of your ROM file to a USB stick and keep in a drawer. Don't worry about the flashing process for now as you can ask about that if the eventuality arises.

After you have saved a copy of your ROM, shutdown and reconnect any Windows/Linux drives and use MyBootMgr to set RefindPlus/OpenCore up afterwards.

What is UEFI Windows? Is that what I'm using? How can I tell if I have UEFI Windows certificates? I ran the tool and it generated files, I have attached them here. Is my ROM good? FYI I am running Windows on an SATA SSD right now, not through PCI and I don't have a boot screen so I'm not sure if this is even necessary. Also what is RefindPlus and OpenCore?

Edit: Deleted Attachment as advised.

 

[Dayo]

Delete the attachment in your last post as it contains potentially confidential information about your Mac.

Looking at the output in the attachment, your ROM seems ok and free of certificates. You probably don't have UEFI Windows.

Follow the link to MyBootMgr in my signature for instructions on implementing RefindPlus and OpenCore.

Try a web search if you need further background information about them.

Remember to delete the attachment as earlier advised.

 

[tsialex]

Is my ROM good?

This is a very early manufactured single CPU mid-2010 early-2009, there are 19 MemoryConfig entries - 16 inside the main VSS store (should be at most 7 for a single CPU Mac Pro with working garbage collection)and 3 in the secondary - with 19 29 DIMM SPD caches for Kingston 9965516-049.A00LF DIMMs.

Garbage collection failed long ago and right now you have just 23315 bytes available from the 65548 of the fist VSS store.

Btw, the BootBlock installed AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1010071430 is incompatible with PCIe switched cards like SSD7101A-1, Apple solved this with the 144.0.0.0.0 release thanks to the numerous reports and debugging from @crjackson2134, but can only be installed with a BootROM reconstruction.

DECIMAL       HEXADECIMAL     DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0             0x0             UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
24972         0x618C          CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
35787         0x8BCB          mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
243907        0x3B8C3         BIOS version: MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1904121248
524288        0x80000         UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
549260        0x8618C         CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
560075        0x88BCB         mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
768195        0xBB8C3         BIOS version: MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1904121248
1048576       0x100000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1064960       0x104000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1065216       0x104100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-11, rev 0x001d, size 12288
1077504       0x107100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1085696       0x109100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-08, rev 0x001f, size 11264
1114112       0x110000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1130496       0x114000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1130752       0x114100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-11, rev 0x001d, size 12288
1143040       0x117100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1151232       0x119100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-08, rev 0x001f, size 11264
1179648       0x120000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 196608, header size: 1, revision: 0, Variable Storage, GUID: FFF12B8D-7696-4C8B-85A9-2747075B4F50
1179688       0x120028        NVRAM start of the 1st VSS store
1179766       0x120076        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (i)
1181814       0x120876        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (j)
1183649       0x120FA1        NVRAM bluetoothActiveControllerInfo
1187246       0x121DAE        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1189294       0x1225AE        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1192903       0x1233C7        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1194951       0x123BC7        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1197522       0x1245D2        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1199570       0x124DD2        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1202141       0x1257DD        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1204189       0x125FDD        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1207178       0x126B8A        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1209226       0x12738A        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1212215       0x127F37        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1214263       0x128737        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1216374       0x128F76        NVRAM SIP state, type: (w)
1217324       0x12932C        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1219372       0x129B2C        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1245255       0x130047        NVRAM start of the 2nd VSS store
1245302       0x130076        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (i)
1247350       0x130876        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (j)
1249185       0x130FA1        NVRAM bluetoothActiveControllerInfo
1252782       0x131DAE        NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1343511       0x148017        bzip2 compressed data, block size = 100k
1345189       0x1486A5        HardwareID Base_xx: 20
1345198       0x1486AE        HardwareID 11-digits SSN: H00xxxxx4PD
1345215       0x1486BF        HardwareID 3-digit HWC model: 4PD
1376256       0x150000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 2686976, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1416827       0x159E7B        BIOS version: MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1904121248
1614976       0x18A480        Apple NVMe EFI Module
4063232       0x3E0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: E3B980A9-5FE3-48E5-929B-2798385A9027
4128768       0x3F0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 0, revision: 0, Apple Boot Volume, GUID: 04ADEEAD-61FF-4D31-BAB6-64F8BF901F5A
4128867       0x3F0063        BootBlock version: AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1010071430
4194000       0x3FFED0        HardwareID MLB/LBSN: C07xxxxxxUHDC, BuildDate: 1006xx1006xxx

Edit: correction, it's a refurbished early-2009 made in 201006xx, long after Apple started to build mid-2010, and not a mid-2010.

 

[tsialex]

Btw, people focus too much on UEFI Windows SecureBoot and forget the real underlying issue.

The UEFI Windows Secure Boot certificate/public key/db combo won't damage your BootROM, the issue is that SecureBoot occupy valuable real state inside the NVRAM making the garbage collection work more to compensate. Then two different failures can happen overtime:

• the garbage collection fails, the VSS store circular log corrupts itself and you have a software brick (that can be revived with some questionable tricks like hot flashing from a MATT card).
• the NAND cells that store the VSS store region of the NVRAM volume are overused by the frequent cycles of erase/rewrite and the whole SPI fails and now you have a hardware defect to repair - the SPI flash memory needs replacement.

Anyway, garbage collection fails overtime even without ever being touched by Windows UEFI SecureBoot, like your dump. The NVRAM volume was designed back in 2008ish with early-2009 Mac Pro and used until mid-2012 and is not resilient enough for today's usage of the NVRAM by modern macOS releases - it's the Achilles heel of Mac Pro. Apple used a much improved design with late-2013 Mac Pro, where the usage is spread and not localized like with early-2009 to mid-2012 Mac Pros.

 

[James Murray]

So what does this mean? Do I need bootrom reconstruction even if I do not set it up for multi-boot? FYI I'm not planning on upgrading past Mojave any time soon.