MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 2009 Uninstall OCLP and Install Old OS

[caliguy1965]

I am looking to sell 1 of my Mac Pro's and figure it's safest to sell without OCLP OS installed.
How do I uninstall OCLP Monterey completely and install last supported OS on my 2009 Mac Pro flashed to 5,1 with metal gpu (AMD Radeon RX560 4GB).

From system report:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per Processor): 8 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 32 GB
System Firmware Version: 9999.999.999.999.999
OS Loader Version: 540.120.3~37
SMC Version (system): 9.9999
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5

1: How do I remove OCLP completely?
2. Which OS will run on this system without OCLP?

 

[caliguy1965]

This hardware info have no useful information about the firmware, OC/OCLP is spoofing most of it.



Nuke the disk you gonna erase with sudo gpt destroy diskXX, do a deep NVRAM reset, remove all other disks that can have an ESP of OC/OCLP.

After that do a clean install of a supported macOS release.



This will depend on the real firmware version that is already installed to the Mac Pro BootROM, you'll need 144.0.0.0.0 to install Mojave, MP51.0089.B00 to install High Sierra.

Your best bet is to install/boot a Sierra disk, Sierra is the last macOS release that works with the factory installed firmware/no need to check the BootROM version, then do all the upgrades needed, follow the steps on the first post of the stickie thread below:

MacPro5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (10.13/10.14 BootROM upgrades instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

Thank you for the response, I appreciate it.

This hardware info have no useful information about the firmware, OC/OCLP is spoofing most of it.



Nuke the disk you gonna erase with sudo gpt destroy diskXX, do a deep NVRAM reset, remove all other disks that can have an ESP of OC/OCLP.

After that do a clean install of a supported macOS release.



This will depend on the real firmware version that is already installed to the Mac Pro BootROM, you'll need 144.0.0.0.0 to install Mojave, MP51.0089.B00 to install High Sierra.

Your best bet is to install/boot a Sierra disk, Sierra is the last macOS release that works with the factory installed firmware/no need to check the BootROM version, then do all the upgrades needed, follow the steps on the first post of the stickie thread below:

MacPro5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (10.13/10.14 BootROM upgrades instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

Thank you for the response, I appreciate it.
I updated the FW from 4,1 to 5,1 as per the linked post.

1. I assume the disk contains OCLP Monterey will good to use for installing Sierra after the "Nuke" terminal command...... correct?
2. Use Sierra not El Capitan?

 

[caliguy1965]

My stickie post have nothing to do with cross-flashing an early-2009 to MacPro5,1, is to upgrade a MacPro5,1 with a factory installed or an outdated BootROM release to the most recent firmware release.



Yes.



El Capitan works for knowing the current BootROM version, but not for upgrading it.

Again, read my linked post completely, there are 7 years of knowlegde there.

Got it, thank you.
Unfortunately, I'm stuck trying to to create Sierra install disk, I enter the correct command in terminal (done this many times in the past) terminal then asks for my password and once I enter it the cursor moves down to the next line but that's it....nothing after that. Happened a few times and so last time I gave it about an hour and nothing change nor did it make a disk in the background.
I've tried a couple of different disks and made sure the command was correct.
Any ideas?
I'm thinking it might be easier to sell with OCLP Monterey or maybe I should just update to OCLP Sequoia 15.5 (if it's stable)

 

[reader50]

As I see it, you have a few OS options. I'm assuming you get the firmware up to 144.0.0.0.0 first.

Stock boot options (no patching needed):
Sierra or High Sierra if you don't include a Metal-compatible GPU.
Mojave if you include a Metal GPU.

Patched install options:
Catalina using the DosDude install tool.
Big Sur using OCLP (delete OCLP after.)

Big Sur is interesting - you can direct-boot on a 4,1 or 5,1 after OCLP has installed and patched. Update to the latest version with OCLP, make sure it direct-boots, then you can delete the OCLP app. Also the /EFI/EFI/OC/ folder. Then select Big Sur in Startup Disk.

Monterey - might be the same as Big Sur. I've had inconsistent results trying to direct-boot into Monterey after installation. It might vary by Monterey point version. Definitely check if it works before deleting OCLP.

Ventura or later - OCLP must remain, will not direct-boot under any circumstances.

If I sold with an OS later than Mojave, I'd include a Mojave partition just in case. So if their patched install stopped working for whatever reason, they'd have a bootable option to fall back to. Where they might perform repairs, reinstall OCLP, etc.

I might even include a text file on the Mojave desktop, outlining how to recover from possible failures. Including links to support resources and relevant MR threads.

 

[caliguy1965]

Nuke the disk you gonna erase with sudo gpt destroy diskXX, do a deep NVRAM reset, remove all other disks that can have an ESP of OC/OCLP.
After that do a clean install of a supported macOS release.

Can I nuke a different disk that I will use to install Sierra and then remove all disks including the one with OCLP Monterey......if I can't install Sierra I would hope I can boot back into the OCLP Monterey disk.
Or is that not an option?

 

[caliguy1965]

Big Sur is interesting - you can direct-boot on a 4,1 or 5,1 after OCLP has installed and patched. Update to the latest version with OCLP, make sure it direct-boots, then you can delete the OCLP app. Also the /EFI/EFI/OC/ folder. Then select Big Sur in Startup Disk.

Thank you for your response and this Big Sur option, I appreciate it.

1. What do you mean by "make sure it direct-boots" for Big Sur......I just want to make sure I understand before starting anything.
2. Once Big Sur is installed and running with OCLP removed ......will I be able to install Mojave on another drive?

 

[reader50]

1. What do you mean by "make sure it direct-boots" for Big Sur......I just want to make sure I understand before starting anything.

Reboot with Option held down to bring up the firmware boot picker. Then select your Big Sur install. This lets you check if your Mac Pro can boot directly into it, without going through OCLP.

2. Once Big Sur is installed and running with OCLP removed ......will I be able to install Mojave on another drive?

You can install Mojave on another drive or partition at any time. Before or after messing around with Big Sur or any other macOS version.

My drives are extensively partitioned. I have every macOS version installed, from Snow Leopard through Sequoia. This allows for easy software testing, or booting back to play old games that no longer run in later OS versions.

 

[caliguy1965]

Yes, but you you need to remove all disks that have an OC/OCLP ESP and do the deep NVRAM reset.



Big Sur does not boot with a MacPro5,1 without OC/OCLP.

You are mistaking Big Sur for Catalina, Catalina is the last macOS release to boot with a MacPro5,1 without OC/OCLP - Catalina just requires
sudo nvram boot-args="-no_compat_check" to boot.

Ok, thank you. I have time to do this now and I will do:
1. Nuke a different SSD or HDD
2. Deep reset NVRAM......hold down option, command, P& R
3. Make sure disks are removed except install disk & target disk
4. Install Sierra from bootable install disk created with apple terminal command.

Sound good?

 

[caliguy1965]

How about reading again what I've wrote from the start and trying to do it before asking to confirm soemthing that I've wrote from the start?!?

Thank you for your help but you seem to forget not everyone is as good as you are at this and not necessarily great at understanding and following instructions......with work and everything else going on for me atm, I don't have the time to figure everything out and have a learning experience that you so obviously want.
The time you spent with your response you could have just responded to the actual question......save us both time

Again, I appreciate the time you have spent on this but I'm going to move on and will figure it out.....Thank you

 

[Dayo]

The time you spent with your response you could have just responded to the actual question......save us both time

The time you spent writing this nonsense could have been spent reading what was provided to spare everyone a lot of agony ... not to speak of wasted resources of the website.