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

[Black Ninja Original]

Hi!

Wonderful work guys!

I want to use an Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 580 with EnableGop but I also have a Nvidea Quadro K5000 Mac Edition as a backup card (this card has Apple EFI already built in). Will there be any conflict between EnableGop and the Quadro K5000's Apple EFI if I decide to use it one day?

Can I install EnableGop on the official Mojave MacPro 5.1 or do I have to be using Opencore to install it?

To install EnableGop I will need to turn off SIP, right?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Macschrauber]

It works with UGA GPUs as well,
You do not need OpenCore for it,
You need to disable sip at least for kexts and approve DirectHW.kext when asked by the Dumper when using an Os newer than Yosemite.

 

[grandosegood]

Thats basically it. Lance made a very detailed video:

Thanks for your reply and all your amazing work! After reading over this thread, am I correct in thinking this should be AVOIDED on mac pro setups that are flashed 4,1>5,1 due to further degrading the bootrom? it's my understanding that flashing 4,1 to 5,1 causes bootrom degradation due to some size mismatch on 4,1 bootrom vs 5,1 bootrom, and that performing this mod can add to that degradation?

 

[tsialex]

Thanks for your reply and all your amazing work! After reading over this thread, am I correct in thinking this should be AVOIDED on mac pro setups that are flashed 4,1>5,1 due to further degrading the bootrom?

This was discussed in detail three pages ago:

EnableGop: Pre-OpenCore GOP support for EFI-era iMacs and Mac Pros

This is highly of-topic for this thread, but since other people can have this in the future, I'll explain the issue. First thing, the MP4,1 BootROM NVRAM volume is designed differently than the one from MP51 firmwares: NVRAM volume stores: MacPro4,1: MacPro5,1: VSS: only one primary and...

forums.macrumors.com

EnableGop is not injected inside the NVRAM volume area, so, no direct connection between injecting EnableGop and bricking because a corrupt BootROM volume, but if you are going to do this, you should repair the BootROM before anything and inject to a clean, correct upgraded, fully working BootROM image.

it's my understanding that flashing 4,1 to 5,1 causes bootrom degradation due to some size mismatch on 4,1 bootrom vs 5,1 bootrom, and that performing this mod can add to that degradation?

You got some facts wrong here, there is no size mismatch anywhere with a cross-flashed early-2009. Read my explanation of the issue linked above.

 

[Black Ninja Original]

It works with UGA GPUs as well,
You do not need OpenCore for it,
You need to disable sip at least for kexts and approve DirectHW.kext when asked by the Dumper when using an Os newer than Yosemite.

Thanks!!!!

 

[goodfidelity]

Hey guys, i tried this with a GTX780 but i dont get any boot image. It is original nVidia card.

Anyone tried that, or have any good idea of why it does not work?

Machine has windows 10, and it is 4.1 upgraded to 5.1.

Thanks!

 

[tsialex]

Hey guys, i tried this with a GTX780 but i dont get any boot image. It is original nVidia card.

Anyone tried that, or have any good idea of why it does not work?

Machine has windows 10, and it is 4.1 upgraded to 5.1.

Thanks!

Not all GPUs of the Kepler era have GOP UEFI firmwares from factory, these are from the pre-UEFI era - UEFI 2.3.1c was only ratified in late 2013 and back in 2014 the GPUs started to become GOP compliant. For example, back then you had to ask eVGA the tech support for the GOP firmware.

Did you tried checking if the GPU have the most recent firmware?

 

[goodfidelity]

Hi Alex!

I used this one:

NVIDIA GTX 780 VBIOS

3 GB GDDR5, 863 MHz GPU, 1603 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

Hard for me to tell if it is good or bad, but card looks just like the picture so i used this BIOS.

When running GPU-Z it says UEFI in the checkbox.

 

[tsialex]

Hi Alex!

I used this one:

NVIDIA GTX 780 VBIOS

3 GB GDDR5, 863 MHz GPU, 1603 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

Hard for me to tell if it is good or bad, but card looks just like the picture so i used this BIOS.

View attachment 2377762

From the BIOS date, is not a UEFI GOP GPU.

UEFI 2.3.1c was only ratified in late 2013 and most GPUs only started to be GOP compliant late in 2014.

For example, late-2013 Mac Pro was not GOP compliant until firmware upgrades later in 2016.

You can try to add GOP to the GPU firmware, Win-raid have a tool/tutorial to do it.

AMD and Nvidia GOP update (No requests, DIY)

I’m not really the guy to run on unlimited supply of patience, so this will be more a mix of tutorial, tool to do the job for you, assistance (“as long as you don’t insist with unlimited/unrelated questions” kind) and ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEES. Users should read this again, I am not offering any...

winraid.level1techs.com

 

[goodfidelity]

From the BIOS date, is not a UEFI GOP GPU.

UEFI 2.3.1c was only ratified in late 2013 and most GPUs only started to be GOP compliant late in 2014.

For example, late-2013 Mac Pro was not GOP compliant until firmware upgrades later in 2016.

You can try to add GOP to the GPU firmware, Win-raid have a tool/tutorial to do it.

AMD and Nvidia GOP update (No requests, DIY)

I’m not really the guy to run on unlimited supply of patience, so this will be more a mix of tutorial, tool to do the job for you, assistance (“as long as you don’t insist with unlimited/unrelated questions” kind) and ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEES. Users should read this again, I am not offering any...

winraid.level1techs.com

Oh, so the EFI mod on Mac Pro will only work with newer PC cards, not the old ones that can run in Mac OS with no (additional) drivers?

Like GTX 780 and the old Titan card, (before Titan X).

Those both run with no (additional nVidia ) drivers in Mac OS.

Seems someone put out the Mac ROM there too:

EVGA GTX 780 VBIOS

3 GB GDDR5, 863 MHz GPU, 1502 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

But maybe that card will not work now that there is a special EFI in the Mac? Will it work with Mac-Boot-Screen flashed cards after the EFI mod?

 

[goodfidelity]

You are mixing things here.

EnableGOP requires a GPU that supports GOP from factory. I've already explained that - a GPU that do not have UEFI GOP support won't work.




You are mistaking things here, there are no GPU that works without drivers. Maybe you are trying to say that macOS already have the drivers for the GPU.

Anyway, this have no correlation with GOP support at all since there are Kepler GPUs released later than the UEFI 2.3.1c ratification by several OEMs that are perfectly UEFI compliant, like the famous HP GT 630.

Several GPU makers only started to include GOP with Maxwell GPUs, eVGA is the most common offender.



MacVidCards flashed GPUs and EnableGop do not mix. If you have a MacVidCards flashed GPU, stolen/ebay/etc, the GPU will only work after macOS already loaded the GPU drivers.

With a MacVidCards GPU, you have to remove EnableGop from the MacPro BootROM.

yeah, i understand that you need drivers to run the hardware but what i meant was additional drivers, as installing another driver on top of what is built in to the OSX. Apple dropped that, so nVidia cards are no-go in later OSX releases.

I have a Titan X 12Gb Card actually in another PC. Maybe i should try to swap them over. That one should have way more updated firmware standard.

Maybe it will end up with the 6800 XT anyways, i dont know.

Good thinking, thanks again for explanation, as always!

 

[tsialex]

Oh, so the EFI mod on Mac Pro will only work with newer PC cards, not the old ones that can run in Mac OS with no drivers?

EnableGOP requires a GPU that supports GOP from factory. I've already explained that - a GPU that do not have UEFI GOP support won't work until macOS loaded the GPU drivers, so, no pre-boot configuration support.

A easy way to check if the GPU is GOP compliant is to see if OpenCore can provide the BootPicker, if so, the GPU is UEFI GOP compliant.

Like GTX 780 and the old Titan card, (before Titan X).

Those both run with no drivers in Mac OS.

You are mistaking things here, there are no GPU that works without drivers. Maybe you are trying to say that macOS already have the drivers for the GPU.

Anyway, this have no correlation with GOP support at all since there are Kepler GPUs released later than the UEFI 2.3.1c ratification by several OEMs that are perfectly UEFI compliant, like the famous HP GT 630.

Several GPU makers only started to include GOP with Maxwell GPUs, eVGA is the most common offender but there are others, like Gigabyte.

Seems someone put out the Mac ROM there too:

EVGA GTX 780 VBIOS

3 GB GDDR5, 863 MHz GPU, 1502 MHz Memory

www.techpowerup.com

But maybe that card will not work now that there is a special EFI in the Mac? Will it work with Mac-Boot-Screen flashed cards after the EFI mod?

MacVidCards flashed GPUs and EnableGop do not mix. If you have a MacVidCards flashed GPU, stolen/ebay/etc, the GPU will only work after macOS already loaded the GPU drivers.

With a MacVidCards GPU, you have to remove EnableGop from the MacPro BootROM.