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MTYEAGLESCOUT

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 29, 2018
33
13
I am looking for the EFI Rom so I can get the boot screen and boot options on my Mac Pro 2008.
 
LOL if you can learn to write EFI ROMs for video cards you would be quite popular here indeed. Aside from the publicly-available GTX680 and Radeon 7950 ROMs (which were obtained from the genuine Mac editions of those cards), your only other avenue is buying one that MacVidCards has flashed with his EFI ROM (or buying a compatible card elsewhere and sending it into him to flash).

It's a monopoly for sure but thus far no one else with the requisite skills has stepped up.
 
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I would like to do it myself. If the file is available I would like it.

Considering that "the file" in question is 100% the hard work and dedication of Rominator, I think you can kiss this option goodbye.

The ROM is not something that some schmuck found posted on a forum, downloaded it, and then started flogging it to everyone who wanted it for oodles of cashey money; it's something that HE wrote. Asking for someone to post it is just...bad taste.

Cheers.
 
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I am looking for the EFI Rom so I can get the boot screen and boot options on my Mac Pro 2008.

If you want the boot screen there is a cost involved to remove the Flash ram, replacing it with a larger part, that’s been pre-programmed for your 970, enabling EFI and PCIe 2.0 5 Gt/s support.

Hundreds of hours were invested in creating the upgrade by a respected individual who’se efforts have provided an EFI solution that Video Card manufacturers were unwilling to invest in.

Without Rominators passion for the cMP, EFI support for Nvidia cards would have been impossible. Head over to Netkas.org forums to learn more -OR- visit MacVidCards.com for the upgrade.
 
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Is there a way to get the tools and files to create my own Rom or at least edit it so it is EFI I have time on my hands to code it and do the work.
 
Start with eVGA GTX680 for Mac firmware, disassembly/extract the EFI part from it and try to reverse engineer it.
Um what does EFI part look like. Is there any scripts to do so and how would i edit it
I just want to know what I would do after extracting the EFI
 
Um what does EFI part look like. Is there any scripts to do so and how would i edit it
I just want to know what I would do after extracting the EFI
If I was gonna reverse engineer this, I'll start downloading the PC version firmware for the card that eVGA based the for Mac edition and compare one with another, then I'd search for documentation on GOP/UGA EFIs.

If I was adding the EFI blob to another card, I'd start with a similar one, like GTX780, not one based on a much different chip like what you're trying to do and I'd keep a SPI flash programmer/hot air station around.
 
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Start with eVGA GTX680 for Mac firmware, disassembly/extract the EFI part from it and try to reverse engineer it.

Start from the Quadro Mac Edition card may be easier (if the target is Maxwell / Pascal card)

Um what does EFI part look like. Is there any scripts to do so and how would i edit it
I just want to know what I would do after extracting the EFI

NO TOOL / SCRIPT AVAILABLE. You can develop one if you want to.

You best friend probably is the Hex editor at this stage.
 
Start from the Quadro Mac Edition card may be easier (if the target is Maxwell / Pascal card)

I'm curious, what's you rationale for a QUADRO?

Maybe I'm missing something, but a K4000 usually costs a lot more than a GTX 680 and the hardware is almost the same of the GTX 680. Unless you are trying to use the GTX 680 EFI binary blob on a PC K4000?

I've suggested the GTX 780 since the GK110 is almost a revision of GK104, same ports, great chance that anything that runs on the latter runs on the first.
[doublepost=1532254799][/doublepost]
Not worth the hassle in my opinion. Just get a GTX 680. It's only like 38% slower than a 970 and has native drivers.
Btw, has ZERO sense economically, just the cost of SPI programmer/adapters/hot air station/solder flux/solder paste/SPI memories, if you don't already have them.

If he want's a challenge/learn, be my guest, but it's not something that will pay for itself on any economically sense, even having the tools, equipment, supplies and time to do it.
 
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I'm curious, what's you rationale for a QUADRO?

Maybe I'm missing something, but a K4000 usually costs a lot more than a GTX 680 and the hardware is almost the same of the GTX 680. Unless you are trying to use the GTX 680 EFI binary blob on a PC K4000?

I've suggested the GTX 780 since the GK110 is almost a revision of GK104, same ports, great chance that anything that runs on the latter runs on the first.
[doublepost=1532254799][/doublepost]
Btw, has ZERO sense economically, just the cost of SPI programmer/adapters/hot air station/solder flux/solder paste/SPI memories, if you don't already have them.

If he want's a challenge/learn, be my guest, but it's not something that will pay for itself on any economically sense, even having the tools and time to do it.

This is the only other guy I know in this forum can flash the Nvidia GPU by himself.

He mod the MVC ROM in his own way, so that the ROM can fit inside the original chip (no extra solder work required), or fit other card that MVC never sell (e.g. 1070Ti)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/my-mvc-flashed-gtx-1080.2043192/page-4#post-24727283

From memory, he mentioned in another post that Mac EFI looks like from the Quadro.
 
This is the only other guy I know in this forum can flash the Nvidia GPU by himself.

He mod the MVC ROM in his own way, so that the ROM can fit inside the original chip (no extra solder work required), or fit other card that MVC never sell (e.g. 1070Ti)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/my-mvc-flashed-gtx-1080.2043192/page-4#post-24727283

From memory, he mentioned in another post that Mac EFI looks like from the Quadro.

There was another guy on the forum who can do it too who posted details about the EFI. I can’t find the thread right now. He said the EFI is in 5 parts? Not simple like the AMD 7950. Started with rom from K5000 Mac Edition?
[doublepost=1532282780][/doublepost]Actually noticed GTX 780 is about the same speed at the 970 and has native drivers. If you want an Nvidia card I’d go for that one. MVC sells them and flashes them. Probably wouldn’t be that hard to figure out the EFI rom working with the GTX 680 and Quadro K5000 Mac roms since it’s also Kepler. Looks like you can get a 780 with dual bios so that would be good in case your modified rom didn’t work.
 
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There was another guy on the forum who can do it too who posted details about the EFI. I can’t find the thread right now. He said the EFI is in 5 parts? Not simple like the AMD 7950. Started with rom from K5000 Mac Edition?
[doublepost=1532282780][/doublepost]Actually noticed GTX 780 is about the same speed at the 970 and has native drivers. If you want an Nvidia card I’d go for that one. MVC sells them and flashes them. Probably wouldn’t be that hard to figure out the EFI rom working with the GTX 680 and Quadro K5000 Mac roms since it’s also Kepler. Looks like you can get a 780 with dual bios so that would be good in case your modified rom didn’t work.

Edit: Looks like the 780 requires soldering, so nevermind.

From memory, that “5 parts” guy was actually MVC.
 
MVC is an old hand at flashing/modifying Mac compatible GFX cards, and to be quite honest, it's not worth driving yourself insane looking for patterns in a Hex editor.

But if you must, the first thing you need to understand is the UGA part of the rom is compressed, so you'll need to decompress it before you open it in a hex editor. I think the user @pipomolo42 had some scripts around this sub-forum many years ago that would do this.

Somewhere in the PCI header of the rom it points the the UGA rom. The other part is the older PC Vbios.
 
There was another guy on the forum who can do it too who posted details about the EFI. I can’t find the thread right now. He said the EFI is in 5 parts? Not simple like the AMD 7950. Started with rom from K5000 Mac Edition?

I believe you're thinking of this thread.

But I don't think you are remembering the results correctly. Yes, he provided a lot of ROMs all in one shot, and some people got excited, but they didn't do anything. His excuse was that they "should" have worked, but later admitted he didn't have an actual card to test them on.

That was a terrible thing to foist untested ROMs on people while stating in very clear terms that they were fully functional working ROMs. His exact words:
"I have created five Mac Pro compatible ROMs that are fully functional, with all DVI ports and everything working properly."

Once people had tried them out and they didn't work, he said he'd get the actual card and provide better ROMs soon, but he never delivered. It was all a crazy waste of time. He hasn't been seen from since under that login. About the only nice thing I can say about his ROMs is that they didn't brick anyone's GPU.
 
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I believe you're thinking of this thread.

But I don't think you are remembering the results correctly. Yes, he provided a lot of ROMs all in one shot, and some people got excited, but they didn't do anything. His excuse was that they "should" have worked, but later admitted he didn't have an actual card to test them on.

That was a terrible thing to foist untested ROMs on people while stating in very clear terms that they were fully functional working ROMs. His exact words:
"I have created five Mac Pro compatible ROMs that are fully functional, with all DVI ports and everything working properly."

Once people had tried them out and they didn't work, he said he'd get the actual card and provide better ROMs soon, but he never delivered. It was all a crazy waste of time. He hasn't been seen from since under that login. About the only nice thing I can say about his ROMs is that they didn't brick anyone's GPU.

Yeah I remember reading the roms didn’t work. He was just teasing people I suppose.
 
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