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

[m-trak]

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

I did try it alone, got stuck in reboot loop with black screen

 

[Macschrauber]

I did try it alone, got stuck in reboot loop with black screen

So maybe it gone south, as a last step test it with a supported system. But this is getting off topic, now

 

[h9826790]

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

May be just poor connection. Take it out, use eraser to clean the PCIe cnonector. Also, give a good blow to the PCIe slot. Then make sure you fully insert the card into the slot.

 

[h9826790]

The dumper can also flash the Mac Pro firmware. It does a verification, a 2nd readout and a full bitwise check of the flash file against the 2nd readout. Also you dont't need to read the SPI flash type as it probes what setting is compatible.

Also it stores the full verbose log of flashrom.

I tested a few times with the dumper. It is very safe indeed. All the required safety precautions have done automatically, highly recommended.

 

[Vergil]

Hi, Everyone, I have been following this for a while and It's great to see this amazing project completed ，Thank you for the hard work of engineers and enthusiasts
As shown in the picture, the backup firmware on my MacPro4.1/5.1 will still show traces of the popularity of previous installation systems, such as OCLP 0.6.1 and Microsoft certificate (previously installed dual systems of MacOS and Win on a single hard drive). However, I am sure that the new mojave system has been reinstalled on the another new hard drive, And there is only one hard drive on the host，but the backup firmware will still display these contents, I want to know if this is safe as the original firmware? thanks!

 

[tsialex]

I want to know if this is safe as the original firmware? thanks!

If your better BootROM image dump is bad as the screenshot, you are in trouble.

Try to deep reset the NVRAM (reset the NVRAM continuously until you hear the fifth chime) - if you can't get a cleaner/better dump, you gonna need a BootROM clean-up and reconstruction.

Cross-flashed early-2009 Mac Pros are mess even when the NVRAM is perfectly clean, your Mac Pro currently is in a fast track to a brick.

 

[Vergil]

If your better BootROM image dump is bad as the screenshot, you are in trouble.

Try to deep reset the NVRAM (reset the NVRAM continuously until you hear the fifth chime) - if you can't get a cleaner/better dump, you gonna need a BootROM clean-up and reconstruction.

Cross-flashed early-2009 Mac Pros are mess even when the NVRAM is perfectly clean, your Mac Pro currently is in a fast track to a brick.

I think this is a good idea. I will try resetting it first, thanks!

 

[Vergil]

Try to deep reset the NVRAM (reset the NVRAM continuously until you hear the fifth chime) - if you can't get a cleaner/better dump, you gonna need a BootROM clean-up and reconstruction.

I think this method works, I think I have got a relatively clean ROM, then I can safely inject EnableGop, thanks again for your professional guidance!

 

[trifero]

Scheduled recreate today the ROM with the one @tsialex made for me, GOP enable for my RX 570 8GB.

As usual , everything worked like a charm.

 

[jggorman]

I have a mac pro 5,1 and access to a pc. I bought an XFX RX 6800 reference model. Does anyone think I should do anything more than the patch to allow boot if I am running open core already?

 

[donluca]

Sadly I have to report that my Sapphire AMD RX480 Nitro flashed to RX580 Pulse doesn't show the boot screen.

I have followed all the steps in https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2378942/page-17?post=32137842#post-32137842 and everything worked without a problem.

I have also dumped the firmware afterwards just to make it extra sure and the enableGop 1.3 was there.

The GPU of course works fine otherwise, but I really hoped I could get the bootscreen to work.

This is on a "vanilla" High Sierra installation.
No OpenCore or anything else.

I have tried all the various ports to no avail.

Maybe I should try flashing a different BIOS to the RX580?

 

[tsialex]

This is on a "vanilla" High Sierra installation.
No OpenCore or anything else.

Doesn't matter at all.

Maybe I should try flashing a different BIOS to the RX580?

You should test with the GPU factory installed firmware, not a firmware mod or another GPU firmware. After you get the pre-boot configuration working, then you can try the RX 480->RX580 mod, but not before.

Also, don't forget to check if your Nitro have the dual firmware switch and if the GPU has it, test with both positions.

 

[donluca]

I forgot to specify that it has the dual bios, on one position I left the original RX480 bios and I've put the RX580 on the other, and I have already tried both to no avail.
I kept the "gaming" bios (the other was marked as "silent", probably lower frequencies and less aggressive fan curve) of the RX480 and flashed the RX580 on the other slot.

My issue is that I don't have a Windows PC anymore and I've read a user suggesting not to flash the card on a Mac Pro on Bootcamp, so I'm afraid I'm kind of stuck.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

I forgot to specify that it has the dual bios, on one position I left the original RX480 bios and I've put the RX580 on the other, and I have already tried both to no avail.
I kept the "gaming" bios (the other was marked as "silent", probably lower frequencies and less aggressive fan curve) of the RX480 and flashed the RX580 on the other slot.

My issue is that I don't have a Windows PC anymore and I've read a user suggesting not to flash the card on a Mac Pro on Bootcamp, so I'm afraid I'm kind of stuck.

I know not an exact comparison scenario but I was able to boot a live Linux usb efi mode boot on my Xserve 3,1 (which is essentially a 4,1 Mac Pro) and used it to flash the vbios of the AMD WX 4150 MXM GPU (which is essentially RX 560) several times. I’d like to think you could do the same using the mac pro to flash the RX 480.

 

[MacNB2]

I forgot to specify that it has the dual bios, on one position I left the original RX480 bios and I've put the RX580 on the other, and I have already tried both to no avail.
I kept the "gaming" bios (the other was marked as "silent", probably lower frequencies and less aggressive fan curve) of the RX480 and flashed the RX580 on the other slot.

My issue is that I don't have a Windows PC anymore and I've read a user suggesting not to flash the card on a Mac Pro on Bootcamp, so I'm afraid I'm kind of stuck.

With OpenCore, you can run the Open UEFI shell for the boot picker which will give you a command shell.
From this shell, you can use amdvbflash.efi command line tool to flash the AMD GPU without of having to use Linux or Windows. I did that a while back to add UEFI to a legacy VBIOS.

See my earlier post here where I posted the amdvbflash.efi command.
If you run the command on it's own, it will give you the Usage. It's quite easy to use.

 

[donluca]

With OpenCore, you can run the Open UEFI shell for the boot picker which will give you a command shell.
From this shell, you can use amdvbflash.efi command line tool to flash the AMD GPU without of having to use Linux or Windows. I did that a while back to add UEFI to a legacy VBIOS.

See my earlier post here where I posted the amdvbflash.efi command.
If you run the command on it's own, it will give you the Usage. It's quite easy to use.

That's great, thank you so much! I wasn't aware of this option, I'll probably go this route since you've reported success doing this.

I guess the syntax is similar to the DOS tool? Where does it look for/save the vBIOS?
I have zero experience with EFI shell, I guess that there are the usual suspects such as mount command for USB drives and such?

Since I don't remember what the hell I flashed onto this card I'll probably first make a backup of both the vBIOS, load them up on a Linux/Windows VM and see what's in there and then choose and flash another vBIOS to see if I can get the bootscreen.

EDIT: also, if you don't mind, can you share a vBIOS dump of your card since it is a known working card for getting the bootscreen?
So I don't have to go to techpowerup and try 20 different vBIOS.
If your vBIOS has support for the same memory my RX580 has I think we're set.

 

[MacNB2]

I guess the syntax is similar to the DOS tool? Where does it look for/save the vBIOS?
I have zero experience with EFI shell, I guess that there are the usual suspects such as mount command for USB drives and such?

Yes the syntax is similar to DOS & Linux.
See here for quick overview.

Configure your OpenCore config.plist file to ensure that you have enabled OpenUEFI:

Copy the amdvbflash.efi to your Opencore EFI Tools folder (/EFI/OC/Tools)
Restart your system and at the OpenCore boot picker, press SPACE BAR to view the UEFIShell menu. E.g:

Press ENTER to start the UEFI Shell. It will list all the drives and partitions it finds. Usually, the first one on the list is your OpenCore ESP. If you see lots of drives & partitions, the list will scroll off the screen so type the following:
map -b command and it will stop the scrolling after one screenful.
Take a note of the first listed FSXX and select it. E.g. in my case it was FS13 :



Change the working folder to Tools as shown above and run ls to list the contents of the Tools folder.
If you do not see your amdvbflash.efi listed then you are in the "wrong" drive.

Assuming you see the flasher, enter amdvbflash -i command to find out the AMD adapter number you have (should only be one listed if you only have card). E.g:

Since I don't remember what the hell I flashed onto this card I'll probably first make a backup of both the vBIOS, load them up on a Linux/Windows VM and see what's in there and then choose and flash another vBIOS to see if I can get the bootscreen.

To backup your your current VBIOS, enter amdvbflash -s 0 my-dump.rom as shown above.
It will be stored in your current folder from where you ran the command (i.e. in the Tools folder).

To flash a new VBIOS, enter amdvbflash -p 0 my-new.rom

EDIT: also, if you don't mind, can you share a vBIOS dump of your card since it is a known working card for getting the bootscreen?
So I don't have to go to techpowerup and try 20 different vBIOS.
If your vBIOS has support for the same memory my RX580 has I think we're set.

That's generally not a good idea as I do not know what VRAM my Nitro+ RX580 uses and it could brick your card.

 

[donluca]

Thank you so much for the detailed guide!
I'll tackle this tomorrow.

Polaris Bios Editor can show all the information of a vBIOS (and make modifications, if one wants), that's why I asked you for the dump of your card: I'll compare it in Polaris Bios Editor to mine and see if they have the support for the same VRAM and other parameters to see if they are compatible.
If they are, you have saved me lots of time and effort, otherwise I'll just have to start trying out compatible vBIOS until I get the bootscreen.

 

[MacNB2]

Thank you so much for the detailed guide!
I'll tackle this tomorrow.

Polaris Bios Editor can show all the information of a vBIOS (and make modifications, if one wants), that's why I asked you for the dump of your card: I'll compare it in Polaris Bios Editor to mine and see if they have the support for the same VRAM and other parameters to see if they are compatible.
If they are, you have saved me lots of time and effort, otherwise I'll just have to start trying out compatible vBIOS until I get the bootscreen.

Here you go. Use at your own risk

 

[donluca]

Trust me, I'm an engineer™

Thanks again!
I'll be back tomorrow with updates!

 

[donluca]

I'm completely unable to get the bootscreen working on OpenCore, no matter what, which means I can't enter OpenShell and input commands.
I've tried putting back the original graphic card (HD5870) and I get the bootscreen, but no dice with my RX580, whether with the original RX480 bios or the 580.

Seems like Linux is going to be my last possibility, short of asking a friend to borrow a PC and do the flashing there.

 

[donluca]

God bless linux, it worked and luckily the vBIOS MacNB2 kindly provided had the support for the same VRAM as mine.
I have discovered a big issue though: if you alter the vBios in any way, then bootscreen won't work.

This is a disaster because the stock RX580 ROM has clocks too high for the RX480, so I have to somehow edit it or it will crash when I try to run something intensive.
I've tried with the lowest clocked RX580 I could find and it still crashed when I benchmarked Unigine Valley.

I'm afraid I'll have to look for alternate vBIOS with lower clocks speeds that will give me a bootscreen...

EDIT: found it!! This Gigabyte one is very very similar to my Sapphire and gives me bootscreen, very nice clock speeds and it's perfectly stable, I've been running Unigine Valley for one hour and it never crashed.

Phew, thanks everyone, I finally have bootscreen support!
Shoutouts to @Ludacrisvp for the hint of using Linux! ;D

 

[MacNB2]

God bless linux, it worked and luckily the vBIOS MacNB2 kindly provided had the support for the same VRAM as mine.
I have discovered a big issue though: if you alter the vBios in any way, then bootscreen won't work.

This is a disaster because the stock RX580 ROM has clocks too high for the RX480, so I have to somehow edit it or it will crash when I try to run something intensive.
I've tried with the lowest clocked RX580 I could find and it still crashed when I benchmarked Unigine Valley.

I'm afraid I'll have to look for alternate vBIOS with lower clocks speeds that will give me a bootscreen...

EDIT: found it!! This Gigabyte one is very very similar to my Sapphire and gives me bootscreen, very nice clock speeds and it's perfectly stable, I've been running Unigine Valley for one hour and it never crashed.

Phew, thanks everyone, I finally have bootscreen support!
Shoutouts to @Ludacrisvp for the hint of using Linux! ;D

Glad you solved your problem.

How were you able to boot Linux without boot screen ?

 

[donluca]

Glad you solved your problem.

How were you able to boot Linux without boot screen ?

I just disconnected every drive and booted only with Fedora (which is my main Linux distro) Live on a usb pen drive.

The grub bootloader has a countdown and it will boot automatically when it ends, so it was just a matter of waiting before Wayland kicked in and gave me a screen to work on.

EDIT: and now I have to understand why Martin Lo's wifi patch is not working for me... the bluetooth patch worked without issues, but the wifi one is not behaving :/
I'm happily on Monterey btw.

 

[piotrbaranski1]

Hi.
I try to flash rx 480 with no success
Please someone send me file , maybe i done a mistake in in terminal or the wrong file
I want just flash card, not Mac pro.


EfiRom not available!

UEFIRomExtract not available!

EnableGop.efi,vBiosInsert.sh mycard.rom , UEFIRomExtract, EfiRom
Which file im miss?