iM 4,1-14,4 EnableGop: Pre-OpenCore GOP support for EFI-era iMacs and Mac Pros

[MacNB2]

Building of EnableGop is now re-enabled, with an updated build system.

There is now a stable release (which is currently at version 1.3) and then an additional -dev bleeding edge release. EnableGop 1.3 will be released with OpenCore 0.9.2 (in the Utilities/EnableGop folder of the zip file, as normal) as orginally announced, but also a preview version EnableGop 1.4-dev (including the new console mode code, but with no expected changes in behaviour) is available (in the Utilities/EnableGop/Pre-release folder of the zip file).

Since the -dev versions may include untested changes in behaviour, it is definitely recommended not to include them in generic GPU ROMs made for other to use.

Great job. Keep up the great work. Thx 👍

 

[idenis42]

Building of EnableGop is now re-enabled, with an updated build system.

There is now a stable release (which is currently at version 1.3) and then an additional -dev bleeding edge release. EnableGop 1.3 will be released with OpenCore 0.9.2 (in the Utilities/EnableGop folder of the zip file, as normal) as orginally announced, but also a preview version EnableGop 1.4-dev (including the new console mode code, but with no expected changes in behaviour) is available (in the Utilities/EnableGop/Pre-release folder of the zip file).

Since the -dev versions may include untested changes in behaviour, it is definitely recommended not to include them in generic GPU ROMs made for others to use.

I tried version 1.3 in BIOS WX7100. Works.
I tried the version of DEV 1.4 - it works.

 

[czh6888]

If someone lost his original rom. only have a gop rom, how to fix the gop rom back to the original rom. I try to remove the gop.ffs by UEFITool, but it can not work.

 

[tsialex]

If someone lost his original rom. only have a gop rom, how to fix the gop rom back to the original rom.

If the Fsys store and MLB sector are not messed up, you already know that the Fsys store was tampered, a whole BootROM can be reconstructed based on these two.

 

[Macschrauber]

View attachment 2198863If someone lost his original rom. only have a gop rom, how to fix the gop rom back to the original rom. I try to remove the gop.ffs by UEFITool, but it can not work.

If you flashed the EnableGop firmware the first time with my dumper there is a 4MB file

Before_flash_sn_144…_flashchip_date_time.bin in ~/downloads

This is a backup of the previous firmware.

 

[Jobs, Steve]

I write here my experience of yesterday.

Mac Pro 5.1 with Monterey (OpenCore) installed ten minutes before on a m2 500GB Samsung, and with an AMD Radeon Pro WX5100 8GB.

Just after the Monterey install I restarted the Mac Pro on "firmware mode" (keeping power button untill long beep), then used the tool to Dump the original firmware.

Then injected the EnableGop 1.3 version inside the original firmware, and then flashed with the same tool used for dump.

Restarted and now the boot picker comes out when I press ALT key!!

I really really (really reall... endless) wanna THANKS who made this possible!!!!

I have some question:

1 - The firmware I dumped and reflashed is inside a chip on the MacPro or inside a chip on the Vga card? I mean, if I change vga I need to reflash again or it is a "permanent" solution for my MacPro??
I ask because I read many messages about a vga card rom/bios support...

2 - And what about future version(s)? I injected and flashed using the 1.3 version of EnableGOP. Is it better to repeat the whole process when a new version will come out (if so), or better to not touch the firmware anymore as I got all working?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Macschrauber]

I have some question:

1 - The firmware I dumped and reflashed is inside a chip on the MacPro or inside a chip on the Vga card? I mean, if I change vga I need to reflash again or it is a "permanent" solution for my MacPro??
I ask because I read many messages about a vga card rom/bios support...

The firmware is inside the chip of the backplane and the mod is now permanent.

2 - And what about future version(s)? I injected and flashed using the 1.3 version of EnableGOP. Is it better to repeat the whole process when a new version will come out (if so), or better to not touch the firmware anymore as I got all working?

Thanks in advance!!

Imho: If it works let it alone

If you want to upgrade you need the firmware version before EnableGop (1.3 for you). You keep the 4 MB file you dumped before. A 2nd copy is the "before_flash_blabla" 4 MB file I mentioned some posts before.

Keep this file well, if this is without any problems this is a good source to go back in case you mess something with your NVRAM due to Uefi Windows or other circumstances with installing unsupported systems.

The file (and so the firmware chip, of course) holds individual information like serial numbers and IDs of your Mac Pro and is unique. So this is a worthable backup (everyone should have, btw).

 

[Jobs, Steve]

The firmware is inside the chip of the backplane and the mod is now permanent.

Ok, good!!

Imho: If it works let it alone

If you want to upgrade you need the firmware version before EnableGop (1.3 for you). You keep the 4 MB file you dumped before. A 2nd copy is the "before_flash_blabla" 4 MB file I mentioned some posts before.

Keep this file well, if this is without any problems this is a good source to go back in case you mess something with your NVRAM due to Uefi Windows or other circumstances with installing unsupported systems.

The file (and so the firmware chip, of course) holds individual information like serial numbers and IDs of your Mac Pro and is unique. So this is a worthable backup (everyone should have, btw).

Uhm... yes you right, it's a very good idea to save that original firmware file.
Maybe I make a backup of that plus the other logs files

 

[zozomester]

h9826790​

I've been on the forum for a long time. Question, Radeon VII still not working properly with native Boot screen?
Thank you!

 

[h9826790]

h9826790​

I've been on the forum for a long time. Question, Radeon VII still not working properly with native Boot screen?
Thank you!

Bmju created a few different versions of EnableGop(Direct) for me to test.

We also tried both flash the Mac and flash the Radeon VII.

So far, always the same result (artefacts when holding Option key to boot).

We believe it's something related to the timing. However, we just can't figure out what the actual problem is, and how to fix it.

Since the boot screen works really flawless as long as OpenCore DirectGopRendering is enabled. And the native boot screen is somewhat usable. And we are really running out of ideas. Therefore, we agreed to stop there. So that Bmju can move forward for some other stuffs.

TBH, if you have any idea, you may voice out. Even you can't test it by yourself. Most likely I can still do the testing part for you.

 

[zozomester]

Bmju created a few different versions of EnableGop(Direct) for me to test.

We also tried both flash the Mac and flash the Radeon VII.

So far, always the same result (artefacts when holding Option key to boot).

We believe it's something related to the timing. However, we just can't figure out what the actual problem is, and how to fix it.

Since the boot screen works really flawless as long as OpenCore DirectGopRendering is enabled. And the native boot screen is somewhat usable. And we are really running out of ideas. Therefore, we agreed to stop there. So that Bmju can move forward for some other stuffs.

TBH, if you have any idea, you may voice out. Even you can't test it by yourself. Most likely I can still do the testing part for you.

I'm sorry, I hope it will be resolved. Thank you for your work!

 

[Bmju]

Bmju created a few different versions of EnableGop(Direct) for me to test.

We also tried both flash the Mac and flash the Radeon VII.

So far, always the same result (artefacts when holding Option key to boot).

We believe it's something related to the timing. However, we just can't figure out what the actual problem is, and how to fix it.

Since the boot screen works really flawless as long as OpenCore DirectGopRendering is enabled. And the native boot screen is somewhat usable. And we are really running out of ideas. Therefore, we agreed to stop there. So that Bmju can move forward for some other stuffs.

TBH, if you have any idea, you may voice out. Even you can't test it by yourself. Most likely I can still do the testing part for you.

@h9826790 - I think when we were doing thorough testing, earlier in this thread, that you actually had one case where the artefacts were present, even with DirectGopRendering enabled, in OpenCore itself? That, in a way, gives me less hope for a sane fix. :-( But if I had to guess the issue, I would say it is related to memory layout or MMIO setup - some minor issue here that shouldn't matter, but does - rather than timing.

Vit's previous assumption was that it was a memory cache settings issue, and that if we researched into that, we would find out how to fix it. I did research that, and found - unexpectedly - that the firmware on these Macs does not apply Write Combining caching for graphics memory (newer firmware, on Macs and others, does), and that applying it could noticeably speed up DirectGopRendering especially, but even the normal rendering of quite a few GPUs. So that was an unexpected and useful side effect, but still no fix. (There are no differences in memory caching settings for this card, compared to others.)

 

[h9826790]

@h9826790 - I think when we were doing thorough testing, earlier in this thread, that you actually had one case where the artefacts were present, even with DirectGopRendering enabled, in OpenCore itself? That, in a way, gives me less hope for a sane fix. :-( But if I had to guess the issue, I would say it is related to memory layout or MMIO setup - some minor issue here that shouldn't matter, but does - rather than timing.

Vit's previous assumption was that it was a memory cache settings issue, and that if we researched into that, we would find out how to fix it. I did research that, and found - unexpectedly - that the firmware on these Macs does not apply Write Combining caching for graphics memory (newer firmware, on Macs and others, does), and that applying it could noticeably speed up DirectGopRendering especially, but even the normal rendering of quite a few GPUs. So that was an unexpected and useful side effect, but still no fix. (There are no differences in memory caching settings for this card, compared to others.)

That's correct. In one of the test, I use BootKicker to make the cMP auto load OpenCore on the next boot. Despite ProvideConsoleGop and DirectGopRendering are both enable, that particular boot shows artefacts.

However, I tried a few times but fail to reproduce that.

That's the only boot shows difference result so far. And I think there is no way to trace back if I made any human error in that particular boot (e.g. DirectGopRendering wasn't actually enabled).

 

[Bmju]

That's correct. In one of the test, I use BootKicker to make the cMP auto load OpenCore on the next boot. Despite ProvideConsoleGop and DirectGopRendering are both enable, that particular boot shows artefacts.

However, I tried a few times but fail to reproduce that.

That's the only boot shows difference result so far. And I think there is no way to trace back if I made any human error in that particular boot (e.g. DirectGopRendering wasn't actually enabled).

Ah - hmm - tyvm for the clarification. I guess if we cannot reproduce at all then it's hard to be sure. I thought of a couple of new tests to try, I'll PM you.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Anyone here brave enough to test these builds on Mac Pro 3,1 or iMac9,1 using the vBIOS mod way?
Works with AMD cards on iMac9,1 - unlike the official version - tested by @dfranetic and me - the usual suspects.

Have fun and please report back!

Edit: Version 1.3 attached originally and on special request the smaller footprint version 1.1 has been added

 

[m-trak]

Hi! First of all let me thank all of you guys figuring this stuff out, amazing work!
I have applied EnableGop to the firmware of all three of my Mac Pros.

I have some issues with two similar Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX580's. One of them won't show Apple Boot Manager at all - and not even OpenCore boot manager is displayed, just goes straight to login.

The other one shows Apple boot manager and open core on one screen, but this screen becomes screen no.2 inside macOS.

Something to do with the firmware on the 580's, right? Any known fixes for this?

 

[h9826790]

Hi! First of all let me thank all of you guys figuring this stuff out, amazing work!
I have applied EnableGop to the firmware of all three of my Mac Pros.

I have some issues with two similar Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX580's. One of them won't show Apple Boot Manager at all - and not even OpenCore boot manager is displayed, just goes straight to login.

The other one shows Apple boot manager and open core on one screen, but this screen becomes screen no.2 inside macOS.

Something to do with the firmware on the 580's, right? Any known fixes for this?

If you have two identical RX580, then all you need to do is just dump the ROM out from the RX580 that can show boot picker, and flash that to the RX580 which can't show the GOP boot screen.

 

[Macschrauber]

If you have two identical RX580, then all you need to do is just dump the ROM out from the RX580 that can show boot picker, and flash that to the RX580 which can't show the GOP boot screen.

Also check the physical bios switch (if present) is set to gaming.

 

[m-trak]

If you have two identical RX580, then all you need to do is just dump the ROM out from the RX580 that can show boot picker, and flash that to the RX580 which can't show the GOP boot screen.

That is definitely what I should have done, instead i flashed with a rom that just gives me distorted image XD . And now my gt120 won't show bootscreen at all, with or without any of the RX580s inserted. How did that happen?

If I were to replace it, which card is a noticeable and sensible step up from the 580?

@Macschrauber thanks none of my 580s have that switch, they're all single bios I guess.

 

[Macschrauber]

@Macschrauber thanks none of my 580s have that switch, they're all single bios I guess.

the switch is really tiny, if the gpu has one it will rescue it

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/bios-switch-instruction-jpeg.254288/

 

[m-trak]

I booted to Windows and managed to flash the 580 with amdvbflash 2.9.3. Took power to the 580 from another mac pro. All good now! Just a small annoyance: with this Bios version, the Apple startup manager and OC shows first on the right screen, then in macOS you need to swap to left screen (in my dual screen setup). A minor cosmetic thing tho..

Three cMPs happily running now with enabled gop, OpenCore, windows dual boot. Final Cut is finally fun to use, and everything else is flying except for Serato DJ, that one is bugging me. Thanks again for sharing knowledge!

Adapter 0 in the picture was the tricky one, with bios p/n 049. The picture is from after flashing, to 04B. 04B being one that works, but swaps displays.

 

[m-trak]

I booted to Windows and managed to flash the 580 with amdvbflash 2.9.3. Took power to the 580 from another mac pro. All good now! Just a small annoyance: with this Bios version, the Apple startup manager and OC shows first on the right screen, then in macOS you need to swap to left screen (in my dual screen setup). A minor cosmetic thing tho..

Three cMPs happily running now with enabled gop, OpenCore, windows dual boot. Final Cut is finally fun to use, and everything else is flying except for Serato DJ, that one is bugging me. Thanks again for sharing knowledge!

Adapter 0 in the picture was the tricky one, with bios p/n 049. The picture is from after flashing, to 04B. 04B being one that works, but swaps displays.

My GT120 might have died in the process though. Hopefully I will never need it again

 

[Macschrauber]

My GT120 might have died in the process though. Hopefully I will never need it again

You cant mix GT120 (and other) GPUs in Systems higher than High Sierra.

 

[m-trak]

You cant mix GT120 (and other) GPUs in Systems higher than High Sierra.

It booted once with the 580, but then no more. Did I brick it?

 

[Macschrauber]

It booted once with the 580, but then no more. Did I brick it?

Dont think so, you can try it allone , it should work with uga framebuffer support at least for a basic gui on one display.