MP 1,1-5,1 Just getting started on upgrading my Mac 5,1

[wnlewis]

I'm just getting re-started on upgrading my Mac 5,1. I would like to run Monterey or newer, Windows 10 or 11, and Linux. It has two 6 core Westmere processors (3.33), a Radeon RX580 Saphire Pulse (either native Mac or flashed, I don't know), 3 x 2 Tb EVO 860 SSDS in IcyDock boxes (soon to be 4 of them when the next one comes), 16 Gb of RAM. I currently have Mojave and Catalina on it. Everything was running well, but it did not want to go higher than Catalina.
So, I need to know what I can do in terms of hardware and where I can learn to reinstall good OpenCore software for it.
I can follow instructions to the letter, but I need to know where to start so that I wind up with a good stable platform that can boot into several different OS's.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I upgraded a 17" MacBook Pro to Monterey using OCLP and it is happy and works well. However, OCLP on this machine has not worked, so I think that I had better take it step by step, part by part. Thanks.

 

[flaubert]

You won’t be able to go past Monterey with stock OpenCore. Instructions for the manually configured OpenCore process are in post #1 of this thread:

Manually Configured OpenCore on the Mac Pro

In this guide, you'll learn how to use OpenCore to install, run and update macOS Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey on the 2009–2012 Mac Pro, ending up with a clean unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac. The approach described in this guide is for setting up and configuring...

forums.macrumors.com

If you plan to boot into several different OS’es you should look into the MyBootMgr threads in this section of the forum.

 

[solaris8x86]

I'm just getting re-started on upgrading my Mac 5,1. I would like to run Monterey or newer, Windows 10 or 11, and Linux. It has two 6 core Westmere processors (3.33), a Radeon RX580 Saphire Pulse (either native Mac or flashed, I don't know), 3 x 2 Tb EVO 860 SSDS in IcyDock boxes (soon to be 4 of them when the next one comes), 16 Gb of RAM. I currently have Mojave and Catalina on it. Everything was running well, but it did not want to go higher than Catalina.
So, I need to know what I can do in terms of hardware and where I can learn to reinstall good OpenCore software for it.
I can follow instructions to the letter, but I need to know where to start so that I wind up with a good stable platform that can boot into several different OS's.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I upgraded a 17" MacBook Pro to Monterey using OCLP and it is happy and works well. However, OCLP on this machine has not worked, so I think that I had better take it step by step, part by part. Thanks.

Monterey is the end of line for an Opencored Mac Pro 5,1. Beyond that mac os version would suffer a lot of instabilities and incompatibilty issues on Mac Pro 5,1. Especially the hardware acceleration problem (h264, h265) for the graphic cards.

I decommissioned my Mac Pro 5,1 since 2 months ago that it had been serving me for 13 years since 2010. And picked the Mac Studio Max (silicon mac) at home and Macbook Pro 2019 i9 (intel Mac) at work (still an intel, due to I have to run a lot of Linux VMs) as a total replacement for my Mac fleet.

 

[wnlewis]

You won’t be able to go past Monterey with stock OpenCore. Instructions for the manually configured OpenCore process are in post #1 of this thread:

Manually Configured OpenCore on the Mac Pro

In this guide, you'll learn how to use OpenCore to install, run and update macOS Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey on the 2009–2012 Mac Pro, ending up with a clean unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac. The approach described in this guide is for setting up and configuring...

forums.macrumors.com

If you plan to boot into several different OS’es you should look into the MyBootMgr threads in this section of the forum.

Excellent! Thanks! Starting now. This is stuff I want and need to learn.

 

[wnlewis]

Monterey is the end of line for an Opencored Mac Pro 5,1. Beyond that mac os version would suffer a lot of instabilities and incompatibilty issues on Mac Pro 5,1. Especially the hardware acceleration problem (h264, h265) for the graphic cards.

I decommissioned my Mac Pro 5,1 since 2 months ago that it had been serving me for 13 years since 2010. And picked the Mac Studio Max (silicon mac) at home and Macbook Pro 2019 i9 (intel Mac) at work (still an intel, due to I have to run a lot of Linux VMs) as a total replacement for my Mac fleet.

Good information! Thanks! I have to be able to continue to run Windows 10 and/or 11 in order to run SolidWorks natively for engineering consulting work. A MacBook Pro would either have to be purchased at the maximum capability, or I would need to get the necessary ball grid array equipment and learn how to do that.

 

[wnlewis]

Also, I need to recover the Catalina drive that I can't access right now due to the mess up of the OpenCore that I put on this machine several years ago. I'm wondering if there is a ROM that is messed up and if there is, how do I restore/replace it?

 

[Dayo]

I'm wondering if there is a ROM that is messed up

Not booting some Mac OS version has nothing to do with your ROM and if the ROM was *really* messed up you would, ceteris paribus, know it right away as your Mac would not boot. That being said, your ROM might still be *somewhat* messed up for totally unrelated reasons. You might therefore want to look for posts on this forum by the mighty hacker, @Macschrauber, and follow the link in his signature to a tool that will help check your ROM.

I can follow instructions to the letter, but I need to know where to start

Navigate to the MyBootMgr thread by using the link in my signature and follow the instructions there to the letter.

 

[wnlewis]

Thank you

Not booting some Mac OS version has nothing to do with your ROM and if the ROM was *really* messed up you would, ceteris paribus, know it right away as your Mac would not boot. That being said, your ROM might still be *somewhat* messed up for totally unrelated reasons. You might therefore want to look for posts on this forum by the mighty hacker, @Macschrauber, and follow the link in his signature to a tool that will help check your ROM.


Navigate to the MyBootMgr thread by using the link in my signature and follow the instructions there to the letter.

Thank you! Will do. Have to wait until I'm off work to start in on the instructions I've been given.