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Bricked Mac Pro 5,1 2010

Puriwat Kaewkrathok

Puriwat Kaewkrathok

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 26, 2019
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Hello, I am using Mac Pro 5,1 2010

About a week ago, I wanted to update to Mojave and the programs wanted me to upgrade my Mac Pro firmware. So I did it but shortly power cut occurred. After that I tried to boot up and my Mac Pro won't boot up. I surfed internet finding solution how to fix bricked EFI and decided to buy program called "CH341A programmer" from internet then I tried to flash EFI to the chip nothing happened still bricked Power on but no boot sound. Please share your advise so we can fix this problem Thank you!
 
Wrong forum I'd say dude. If I were you I'd try the Mac Pro forum - suspect you'll get some good advice - some very MP knowledgeable people over there
 
Puriwat Kaewkrathok said:
Hello, I am using Mac Pro 5,1 2010

About a week ago, I wanted to update to Mojave and the programs wanted me to upgrade my Mac Pro firmware. So I did it but shortly power cut occurred. After that I tried to boot up and my Mac Pro won't boot up. I surfed internet finding solution how to fix bricked EFI and decided to buy program called "CH341A programmer" from internet then I tried to flash EFI to the chip nothing happened still bricked Power on but no boot sound. Please share your advise so we can fix this problem Thank you!
Click to expand...

Most people get a replacement motherboard.
 
Have you tried this?

https://web.archive.org/web/20151222081021/https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1557

“Important: Don't unplug, shutdown, or restart your computer while the update is taking place. Interrupting a firmware update can render your computer unusable. If this happens, take your machine to an Apple store or authorized service provider or perform the recovery yourself using another Macintosh computer to download the Firmware Restoration CD disk image from http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/. This software allows you to create a CD which you can use to restore your machine to working order.”

Firmware Restoration CD 1.9
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1320?locale=en_US
 
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for this said:
Have you tried this?

https://web.archive.org/web/20151222081021/https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1557

“Important: Don't unplug, shutdown, or restart your computer while the update is taking place. Interrupting a firmware update can render your computer unusable. If this happens, take your machine to an Apple store or authorized service provider or perform the recovery yourself using another Macintosh computer to download the Firmware Restoration CD disk image from http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/. This software allows you to create a CD which you can use to restore your machine to working order.”

Firmware Restoration CD 1.9
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1320?locale=en_US
Click to expand...


Curious about how this could possibly work with a corrupted ROM chip. If the MP won't boot from hard drive, will it boot from CD in order to restart the firmware update? Surely it relies on the EFI being in place to do that in the first place?
 
weckart said:
Curious about how this could possibly work with a corrupted ROM chip. If the MP won't boot from hard drive, will it boot from CD in order to restart the firmware update? Surely it relies on the EFI being in place to do that in the first place?
Click to expand...

Yep, it's designed as a fail-safe for precisely that situation. The Mac Pro opens its optical drive tray and keeps it open prior to a firmware update for this reason—to allow you to insert the CD if the update goes awry and the system is bricked.

It's not foolproof, but it can repair a botched BootROM flash in some situations.
 
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Puriwat Kaewkrathok said:
Hello, I am using Mac Pro 5,1 2010

About a week ago, I wanted to update to Mojave and the programs wanted me to upgrade my Mac Pro firmware. So I did it but shortly power cut occurred. After that I tried to boot up and my Mac Pro won't boot up. I surfed internet finding solution how to fix bricked EFI and decided to buy program called "CH341A programmer" from internet then I tried to flash EFI to the chip nothing happened still bricked Power on but no boot sound. Please share your advise so we can fix this problem Thank you!
Click to expand...

There is a firmware recovery CD , but it doesn't always work . I lost a MP4,1 > 5,1 board when its upgraded firmware became corrupted due to an unhealthy interaction with a High Sierra security update . Recovery CD failed to save the board and I was forced to replace it . You might be luckier !

Remember , when you use the recovery CD you must only have an Apple EFI graphics card installed ( like a GT 120 or ATI 5770 ) in your Mac . Remove all non-EFI graphics cards from your Mac before you use the CD .

 
Snow Tiger said:
There is a firmware recovery CD , but it doesn't always work . I lost a MP4,1 > 5,1 board when its upgraded firmware became corrupted due to an unhealthy interaction with a High Sierra security update . Recovery CD failed to save the board and I was forced to replace it . You might be luckier !

Remember , when you use the recovery CD you must only have an Apple EFI graphics card installed ( like a GT 120 or ATI 5770 ) in your Mac . Remove all non-EFI graphics cards from your Mac before you use the CD .

Click to expand...
What is a CD?🤣
 
DearthnVader said:
What is a CD?🤣
Click to expand...

It's a shiny little circular thingy that has all your facebook materials and medical records stored on it for the next thousand years .

Technically , they're not CDs but Verbatim M-Disc 100 GB Blue-ray disks that can be read and written on a $50 drive installed internally in a Mac Pro 4,1 or 5,1 . You don't even need any special software , just macOS .

I'd recommend the LG WH14NS40 model .
 
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Snow Tiger said:
It's a shiny little circular thingy that has all your facebook materials and medical records stored on it for the next thousand years .

Technically , they're not CDs but Verbatim M-Disc 100 GB Blue-ray disks that can be read and written on a $50 drive installed internally in a Mac Pro 4,1 or 5,1 . You don't even need any special software , just macOS .

I'd recommend the LG WH14NS40 model .
Click to expand...

I know you're kidding but optical do discs have a life span. For burned discs (since referencing personal data) I think it's only a decade or so.
 
thisisnotmyname said:
I know you're kidding but optical do discs have a life span. For burned discs (since referencing personal data) I think it's only a decade or so.
Click to expand...

These aren't your father's optical discs ! They're new and improved ! Better substrates and all ... From the manufacturer ( although they say the discs only last for several hundred years ) . Gee , who's counting ?

 
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I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, it's my first time on MacRumors. I installed Windows 10 on my Mac Pro 5.1 and ended up signing multiple Secure Boot certificates to it. I am worried about corruption on my Mac and bricking it. Does anyone know how to fix this? I bought a new graphics card and want to update it to Mojave but am don't want to do more damage. Does anyone have any advice or can push me in the right direction?
 
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