Help—Mac Pro 4,1 (5,1) won't update to High Sierra; firmware update not applying

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Hi,

I have a 4,1 which I flashed with 5,1 firmware. I had issues with the initial firmware upgrade, but it turned out that using a different HDD fixed that.

However, now I have a new obstacle: the firmware UPDATE associated with High Sierra. When I try to install High Sierra, it gives me a prompt which asks me to press 'Shut Down' (which is shown below the text) and then do the firmware update steps upon startup. However, when I press 'Shut Down,' it prompts me for my password (to install some 'helper' tool), and then doesn't do anything past that. I tried shutting it down manually and holding down the power button upon boot, but the update never applied. I'm currently wondering why this is. I made sure to pull out all other drives from the system + use a sole PCIe device (which is my GT 120).

Anyone have advice?
-Thanks

 

[Synchro3]

If I remember correctly the High Sierra installer did not prompt me for my password.

Install a fresh macOS 10.12.6 on a other volume, and then try the macOS High Sierra installer again.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

If I remember correctly the High Sierra installer did not prompt me for my password.

Install a fresh macOS 10.12.6 on a other volume, and then try the macOS High Sierra installer again.

The installation of Sierra which I have is already fairly fresh; I updated to Sierra, following the 4,1-->5,1 flash. However, I suppose I could try a completely clean installation. Now that I think about it, the current Sierra installation must have had El Capitan or something previously.

 

[h9826790]

Make sure you are still using the "good" HDD for this firmware update.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Make sure you are still using the "good" HDD for this firmware update.

Fairly certain that I am; it ended up being a 500GB HDD that had been sitting around. I think I ought to wipe it and try again.

BTW, can this new firmware be applied separate from the installation (beforehand), or can it only be done during the installation?

 

[h9826790]

Fairly certain that I am; it ended up being a 500GB HDD that had been sitting around. I think I ought to wipe it and try again.

BTW, can this new firmware be applied separate from the installation (beforehand), or can it only be done during the installation?

Not sure if you can extract the firmware update from the installer. But AFAIK, the only official way is via OS installer (during HS installation).

 

[Synchro3]

I have noticed on my MacBook Pro that even the latest 10.12.6 update includes the firmware upgrade (update from 10.12.5 with app store installer).

 

[pl1984]

If I remember correctly the High Sierra installer did not prompt me for my password.

Install a fresh macOS 10.12.6 on a other volume, and then try the macOS High Sierra installer again.

Mine did not either (maybe because mine is a genuine 5,1)

 

[Synchro3]

Does not matter if it is a genuine 5,1 or a upgraded 4,1->5,1. Mine is a 4,1 and no password was prompted.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Hi,

I have a 4,1 which I flashed to 5,1 firmware / upon which I performed a 12-core CPU upgrade. I had issues with the initial firmware upgrade, but it turned out that using a different HDD fixed that.

However, now I have a new obstacle: the firmware UPDATE associated with High Sierra. When I try to install High Sierra, it gives me a prompt which asks me to press 'Shut Down' (which is shown below the text) and then do the firmware update steps upon startup. However, when I press 'Shut Down,' it prompts me for my password (to install some 'helper' tool), and then doesn't do anything past that. I tried shutting it down manually and holding down the power button upon boot, but the update never applied. I'm currently wondering why this is. I made sure to pull out all other drives from the system + use a sole PCIe device (which is my GT 120).

Anyone have advice?
-Thanks

make a high sierra installer USB stick and boot from that, thats what I did, one of the first things it will do is prompt you to apply the firmware update and since your in the installer USB it defo wont ask for any Passwords LOL.

also yeah if you know what your doing its fairly easy to extract the FW update from the installer and manually apply it, (or in theory make an updated 4,1-5,1 tool that directly flashes the new high sierra FW to a stock 4,1)

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

make a high sierra installer USB stick and boot from that, thats what I did, one of the first things it will do is prompt you to apply the firmware update and since your in the installer USB it defo wont ask for any Passwords LOL.

also yeah if you know what your doing its fairly easy to extract the FW update from the installer and manually apply it, (or in theory make an updated 4,1-5,1 tool that directly flashes the new high sierra FW to a stock 4,1)

We did do that, but the firmware update still came up before installation and did not let us proceed further.
[doublepost=1513889298][/doublepost]I am thinking it might be easier to update the firmware within Sierra and THEN go and update to High Sierra. So, I must extract the firmware update from the installer? It's not available anywhere for download?

 

[LightBulbFun]

We did do that, but the firmware update still came up before installation and did not let us proceed further.

thats whats meant to happen, you click shut down then you press and hold the power button down till it beeps then let go and it does the firmware update...

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...in-high-sierra-for-cmp.2060505/#post-24874046

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

thats whats meant to happen, you click shut down then you press and hold the power button down till it beeps then let go and it does the firmware update...

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...in-high-sierra-for-cmp.2060505/#post-24874046

I understand that, but it simply doesn't want to work. Even if I shut down manually, the update itself doesn't work. After the tone, the machine simply bongs and then boots right back up. Reminds me of how many issues I had getting the initial 4,1-->5,1 flash to work. I ended up using some random 500GB HDD and it finally worked; however, this same disk is being used without any luck.
[doublepost=1513893363][/doublepost]Okay, update: my brother looked within the installer's files and did not see a 5,1 firmware update anywhere—only 6,1 firmware files. He even re-downloaded the installer to see if it would fix this, but to no avail. The firmware update files are just not there or something...

I feel I might need to download HS from some other source. I wonder if dosdude1 has it on file.

 

[LightBulbFun]

I understand that, but it simply doesn't want to work. Even if I shut down manually, the update itself doesn't work. After the tone, the machine simply bongs and then boots right back up. Reminds me of how many issues I had getting the initial 4,1-->5,1 flash to work. I ended up using some random 500GB HDD and it finally worked; however, this same disk is being used without any luck.
[doublepost=1513893363][/doublepost]Okay, update: my brother looked within the installer's files and did not see a 5,1 firmware update anywhere—only 6,1 firmware files. He even re-downloaded the installer to see if it would fix this, but to no avail. The firmware update files are just not there or something...

I feel I might need to download HS from some other source. I wonder if dosdude1 has it on file.

ok so your in the USB installer and you click shut down as in the shut down button in the installer not the one in the menu bar right? then you press and hold get the tone and it does not apply the update?. because shutting down manually probably wont work, you have to click the shut down button provided bellow the long string of text telling you how to update the Firmware.

to check if its actually trying to do something mount the EFI partition. the EFI updater program and the EFI update file it self will be there. if its actually tying to update

also do you actually know where to look for the Mac Pro 5,1 FW files in the installer app? because I just downloaded a fresh copy of 10.3.2 and its there alright.

 

[fairuz]

ok so your in the USB installer and you click shut down as in the shut down button in the installer not the one in the menu bar right? then you press and hold get the tone and it does not apply the update?. because shutting down manually probably wont work, you have to click the shut down button provided bellow the long string of text telling you how to update the Firmware.

to check if its actually trying to do something mount the EFI partition. the EFI updater program and the EFI update file it self will be there. if its actually tying to update

also do you actually know where to look for the Mac Pro 5,1 FW files in the installer app? because I just downloaded a fresh copy of 10.3.2 and its there alright.

We (I'm with the OP) booted from the installer disk and clicked shut down. It showed the beach ball for a few seconds then did nothing, didn't shut down. We shut it down in the Apple menu and booted it up by holding the button. That made it flash the lights and play the tone, but it didn't update the firmware. Same thing if we ran the installer application from Sierra.

In the installer, I opened InstallESD.dmg then looked through the contents of FirmwareUpdate.pkg or something like that; I don't have it in front of me right now. One of the dirs called "EFI" or something in the contents had these ".fd" files with ROM version names as prefixes. I was looking for "MP51.0083.B00.fd", but the only Mac Pro firmware file was "MP61[...]" (there were also "MBP[...]" and others). Not sure if these are the right files or if I'm looking at something else. Sorry if this is vague; I can boot up the machine in a few hours and check it out.

Thanks for your help.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

ok so your in the USB installer and you click shut down as in the shut down button in the installer not the one in the menu bar right? then you press and hold get the tone and it does not apply the update?. because shutting down manually probably wont work, you have to click the shut down button provided bellow the long string of text telling you how to update the Firmware.

to check if its actually trying to do something mount the EFI partition. the EFI updater program and the EFI update file it self will be there. if its actually tying to update

also do you actually know where to look for the Mac Pro 5,1 FW files in the installer app? because I just downloaded a fresh copy of 10.3.2 and its there alright.

I pressed the 'Shut Down' button shown within the window, directly below the text which tells you how to complete the firmware update. The button is NOT grayed-out whatsoever, but it is definitely unresponsive when I press it. When I tried it while booted into my desktop, it was the same way; however, it prompted me for my password so that it could install some 'helper tool'—then I saw the spinning pinwheel for a few seconds, then nothing at all. Pressing the 'Shut Down' button would bring up the same thing again.

Where exactly do you find the FW within the installer app? I need to make sure my brother was looking in the correct place.

 

[LightBulbFun]

so even in the USB installer once you click shut down nothing happens? Interesting

what I would do is, remove all mass storage devices apart from that HDD that worked for you before, then try and do the FW update, if its still giving you issues check that HDDs EFI partition and see if it at least put the files in place.

the Mac Pro 5,1 BootROM files are here: /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware

the Reason its not with the other Firmware files, is the Mac Pro 5,1 is of an older architecture when it comes to its BootROM sub system. its the only Mac supported by Sierra/High sierra whos Boot ROM cant update it self without user interaction for example.

 

[fairuz]

so even in the USB installer once you click shut down nothing happens? Interesting

what I would do is, remove all mass storage devices apart from that HDD that worked for you before, then try and do the FW update, if its still giving you issues check that HDDs EFI partition and see if it at least put the files in place.

the Mac Pro 5,1 BootROM files are here: /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware

the Reason its not with the other Firmware files, is the Mac Pro 5,1 is of an older architecture when it comes to its BootROM sub system. its the only Mac supported by Sierra/High sierra whos Boot ROM cant update it self without user interaction for example.

Thanks so much. I found the ROM files. The firmware updater wasn't working despite everything being removed except the HDD, so I was just going to figure out how to manually flash the firmware. But something seems to be wrong as I'm unable to mount the EFI partition by the normal methods. `diskutil mount` and `bless` complain about bad sector sizes!

I guess my EFI partition is somehow messed up. The first thing I'll try is reinstalling Sierra onto a blank disk.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Thanks so much. I found the ROM files. The firmware updater wasn't working despite everything being removed except the HDD, so I was just going to figure out how to manually flash the firmware. But something seems to be wrong as I'm unable to mount the EFI partition by the normal methods. `diskutil mount` and `bless` complain about bad sector sizes!

I guess my EFI partition is somehow messed up. The first thing I'll try is reinstalling Sierra onto a blank disk.

if your EFI partition is screwed up then yeah it wont work as the EFI partition is where firmware files are stored/put for the firmware update.

 

[fairuz]

Ok. I installed Sierra onto a separate physical disk (separate partition didn't work) to force it to create a new EFI partition. That solved the issue. On my way to installing High Sierra now! Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Ok. I installed Sierra onto a separate physical disk (separate partition didn't work) to force it to create a new EFI partition. That solved the issue. On my way to installing High Sierra now! Thanks everyone for the help.

Aha—see? I was saying that that's what ended up getting the initial 4,1-->5,1 flash to work. (Granted, I did that with El Capitan, in my efforts to get it flashed and updated to Sierra.)