Hi folks, I am looking to perform the Mac Pro 1.1 to 2.1 firmware upgrade to a MP 1.1 as referred to by the
" Http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,1094.0.html " link. Then I'll do the processor upgrade. I'm a newcomer to MacRumors, so plse bear with me. I'm transferring the text for this from Window's "notepad" so I'm not sure how this will end up looking. I'm new to looking under the hood of Macs, though I've done many Bios upgrades in the PC world. The Mac Pros were beautiful units, and I would like to extend the useful life of the one I have as long as is practical. So, since one is modifying firmware, and I don't want to turn this unit into a doorstop, I'm proceeding with caution.
After doing the download to a PC and unzipping the files, I came to the conclusion that it's easier and safer doing this entirely with Macs. So I did the download to a Macbook Pro, and copied the file to a thumbdrive. The next steps are to copy it onto the Mac Pro's harddrive, connect the Mac Pro to the internet, run the program by double clicking it, and then follow the directions given by the program with respect to the Mac Pro's next boot up. It would seem a REALLY good idea to have the Mac running off an uninteruptable power supply when I do this. Part of this process is the MacPro accessing the internet for "the needed files" to complete the upgrade. Quoting part of the 2011 Netkas entry :
"The download does not contain any firmware updater files or image files. The program creates a small RAM disk, downloads the needed files, copies all of the scripts to the RAM disk, and then runs the scripts. Everything is left on the RAM disk for you to look at and study, if needed."
My concern, and question here is, since it is presently neccessary to have the MacPro go to somewhere (to Apple?) on the internet to get what it needs to do this upgrade, you can only do this procedure for the present and for an unknown amount of time into the future. So what happens when your MacPro can't access it anymore? The Netkas entry says everything is left on the ram disk for you to use, so it seems that if you make a copy of that ram disk, and if you know how to get the upgrade program to run (that is, invoke it), then you'll be self sufficient to do these MP1.1 to 2.1 upgrades in the future. I would like to know how to do this, if someone knows. Thanks
" Http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,1094.0.html " link. Then I'll do the processor upgrade. I'm a newcomer to MacRumors, so plse bear with me. I'm transferring the text for this from Window's "notepad" so I'm not sure how this will end up looking. I'm new to looking under the hood of Macs, though I've done many Bios upgrades in the PC world. The Mac Pros were beautiful units, and I would like to extend the useful life of the one I have as long as is practical. So, since one is modifying firmware, and I don't want to turn this unit into a doorstop, I'm proceeding with caution.
After doing the download to a PC and unzipping the files, I came to the conclusion that it's easier and safer doing this entirely with Macs. So I did the download to a Macbook Pro, and copied the file to a thumbdrive. The next steps are to copy it onto the Mac Pro's harddrive, connect the Mac Pro to the internet, run the program by double clicking it, and then follow the directions given by the program with respect to the Mac Pro's next boot up. It would seem a REALLY good idea to have the Mac running off an uninteruptable power supply when I do this. Part of this process is the MacPro accessing the internet for "the needed files" to complete the upgrade. Quoting part of the 2011 Netkas entry :
"The download does not contain any firmware updater files or image files. The program creates a small RAM disk, downloads the needed files, copies all of the scripts to the RAM disk, and then runs the scripts. Everything is left on the RAM disk for you to look at and study, if needed."
My concern, and question here is, since it is presently neccessary to have the MacPro go to somewhere (to Apple?) on the internet to get what it needs to do this upgrade, you can only do this procedure for the present and for an unknown amount of time into the future. So what happens when your MacPro can't access it anymore? The Netkas entry says everything is left on the ram disk for you to use, so it seems that if you make a copy of that ram disk, and if you know how to get the upgrade program to run (that is, invoke it), then you'll be self sufficient to do these MP1.1 to 2.1 upgrades in the future. I would like to know how to do this, if someone knows. Thanks
