Mac Pro 5,1 Mojave startup issues (2009 firmware flash)

[alex1100811]

I’ll try to explain my situation as the detailed as possible.

I have a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro I bought from someone about a month ago. Since purchasing it, I’ve flashed the firmware to 5,1 and began doing hardware upgrades. So far I’ve installed the X5690 Xeon (it’s a single CPU tray version), added 2 2TB drives, 1 4TB drive, and a 256GB Samsung SSD in a pci card for Mac OS and the applications I use. The stock GPU is a GT120, which has lead to a lot of problems with getting windows 10 to run on the device (I modified boot camp to allow it to install windows through a usb drive to another 256gb drive I put into the second SATA connector in the optical bay,but that’s another story for another thread). I was able to install High Sierra and it’s been working fantastic, then finally purchased a new Vega 56 from Ashrock and it’s been awesome for some gaming on Mac OS and Final Cut Pro. I decided to upgrade to Mojave the other night after doing so to my other macs, following all the instructions to properly installing.

After installing, I noticed that I couldn’t get bootcamp to work, neither the original version or the modified one. So I decided to do a NVRAM reset to see if this could help as I saw this has helped others (the error was along the lines of “boot camp assistant is not supported on this Mac)”, and I first noticed this when doing the firmware updates to allow Mojave to instal with the newer High Sierra installer updates. It ran just fine in Mojave using only the Vega 56 as metal is supported on this while the GT120 obviously isn’t. So once I restarted, I tried doing the NVRAM reset but think it pushed the buttons in the wrong order, and now it doesn’t turn on fully.

I’ve noticed that once I put the GT120 in, it does the grey screen you’d normally see but then goes to a windows failed to startup screen? No apple logo or drive selection or anything liek that. I believe this happens only when I connect the GT120 to a monitor, whereas trying to do it by connecting the Vega 56 to a monitor allows only the startup chime to play and no further startup (the chime happens on the GT120 too, but then goes into the windows screen I mentioned before). No screen response, just black and the startup chime. I also have removed every other hard drive besides the SSD drive, so my next course of action is trying to use the GT120 and get into the recovery mode boot with option-c, but I doubt this will work. If any of you have suggestions it would really be much appreciated. I’ve spent quite a lot of time getting this personal project to work and this has been the only roadblock I’ve had thus far.

Thank you,

-Alex

 

[crjackson2134]

Start by eliminating the GT120...

 

[alex1100811]

Start by eliminating the GT120...

I have and it’s still the same issue.

 

[crjackson2134]

I have and it’s still the same issue.

Sorry, that's all I got... Maybe someone else will jump in soon...

the error was along the lines of “boot camp assistant is not supported on this Mac

So you are trying to install at this point as opposed to tying to boot a current install?

BootCamp Assistant isn't supported on Mojave / cMP at all as you've already found. It's best just to install Windows on a separate drive, using a DVD installer for Legacy mode.

You may have already had a similar install setup like this that quit working, but you may need to reinstall as it seems you are trying to do. Forget about BootCamp assistant and install it as you would on a non-Mac PC.

Perhaps @h9826790 will notice this post and chime in with some help, He's pretty knowledgeable on this.

You may want to move this discussion to the sub-forum that's dedicated to Windows/Alternate OS issues. There are some helpful threads/people there who can help you get this worked out.

 

[bookemdano]

Kind of hard to parse all the detail in your post but it sounds like you tried to set Windows as the startup volume and it's stuck in BIOS emulation mode.

Remove every single drive but your Mojave boot volume. Then try another NVRAM reset and make sure you do it correctly this time. Plug in a USB keyboard if you're not already using one and hold down the Command+Option+P+R (on a PC keyboard the equivalent is Windows key+Alt+P+R) keys as soon as you hear the boot chime (or even before that). Keep them held down until you hear a second boot chime.

Then see where you're at.

Edit: In the future, don't use Boot Camp Assistant. Read this thread all the way through--especially the later pages as h98 posted a pretty easy to follow tutorial on how to get Windows working 100% with native tools.

 

[alex1100811]

Sorry, that's all I got... Maybe someone else will jump in soon...



So you are trying to install at this point as opposed to tying to boot a current install?

BootCamp Assistant isn't supported on Mojave / cMP at all as you've already found. It's best just to install Windows on a separate drive, using a DVD installer for Legacy mode.

You may have already had a similar install setup like this that quit working, but you may need to reinstall as it seems you are trying to do. Forget about BootCamp assistant and install it as you would on a non-Mac PC.

Perhaps @h9826790 will notice this post and chime in with some help, He's pretty knowledgeable on this.

You may want to move this discussion to the sub-forum that's dedicated to Windows/Alternate OS issues. There are some helpful threads/people there who can help you get this worked out.

I’ll take a look there. The situation before was that Windows 10 was on its own 250gb HDD and worked for the most part, apart from crashing whenever grpahics drivers were attempted to be installed and either caused a new instal of windows or just needing a reboot.

Regardless, I’m gonna try some of these suggestions to get it to fully boot, I’ve taken the GT120 out and am going to try a NVRAM reset again but properly. Hopefully it’ll boot up fully
[doublepost=1541271923][/doublepost]

Kind of hard to parse all the detail in your post but it sounds like you tried to set Windows as the startup volume and it's stuck in BIOS emulation mode.

Remove every single drive but your Mojave boot volume. Then try another NVRAM reset and make sure you do it correctly this time. Plug in a USB keyboard if you're not already using one and hold down the Command+Option+P+R (on a PC keyboard the equivalent is Windows key+Alt+P+R) keys as soon as you hear the boot chime (or even before that). Keep them held down until you hear a second boot chime.

Then see where you're at.

Edit: In the future, don't use Boot Camp Assistant. Read this thread all the way through--especially the later pages as h98 posted a pretty easy to follow tutorial on how to get Windows working 100% with native tools.

I’ll take a look thank you for the suggestions! I’ll read this thread after attempting so other options to get it to boot to Mac OS at all
[doublepost=1541272655][/doublepost]Okay I’ll make this simpler:

I removed every hard drive I have except the Mac OS SSD I have in the PCI slot (it’s the top 4x raid slot). Took out the GT120 and connected my monitor to the Vega 56 and still nothing after a NVRAM reset sounded successful. The second chime happened but still nothing appeared on screen and it just shut down.

The only other idea I have would be putting the GT120 back and attempting to get to recovery mode? I don’t know if Mojave stops this on non-metal cards but before I was at least able to get the greysceen on before the failed to open windows screen appeared. I’d like to clarify that windows screen also appeared when I had no other dives in as well so it must be that windows emulation mode mentioned before? I’ll do more research on the topic but I’m open to any suggestions at this point.

 

[h9826790]

My suggestion is:

0) shut down the Mac
1) remove GT120
2) keep Vega 64
3) keep all HDD / SSD installed
4) Press and hold Command + Option + P + R
5) press (do NOT hold) power button to boot
6) unltil you hear the 4th start up time, release the keys

This should bring you back to MacOS. If not, hold Command + R to boot into recovery mode and re-install macOS (as long as you didn't format any drive, should not delete any user data but simply re-install Mojave again on top of the existing OS).

If Windows is dead, there is not much you can do except re-install it. My guide is here, you may go to have a look.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ut-a-boot-screen.2114788/page-9#post-26689280

 

[startergo]

If you use GT-120 and Vega together on Windows you must set basic video driver for the GT-120, otherwise, it will freeze or go to a black screen mostly on boot, but even when you are running Windows. Anyway, try getting in safe mode by trying more than 3 times to boot Windows. It will present this option after the 3rd unsuccessful boot. Use both cards to get to safe mode and when you set the basic video driver for GT-120 see if the Vega driver is installed and you have an output

 

[alex1100811]

My suggestion is:

0) shut down the Mac
1) remove GT120
2) keep Vega 64
3) keep all HDD / SSD installed
4) Press and hold Command + Option + P + R
5) press (do NOT hold) power button to boot
6) unltil you hear the 4th start up time, release the keys

This should bring you back to MacOS. If not, hold Command + R to boot into recovery mode and re-install macOS (as long as you didn't format any drive, should not delete any user data but simply re-install Mojave again on top of the existing OS).

If Windows is dead, there is not much you can do except re-install it. My guide is here, you may go to have a look.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ut-a-boot-screen.2114788/page-9#post-26689280

Thank you so much man, this didn’t work either unfortunately. I’ll try doing the recovery mode method next. I thought you needed an EFI GPU in order to get to recovery mode? Or am I just incorrect?
[doublepost=1541273150][/doublepost]

If you use GT-120 and Vega together on Windows you must set basic video driver for the GT-120, otherwise, it will freeze or go to a black screen mostly on boot, but even when you are running Windows. Anyway, try getting in safe mode by trying more than 3 times to boot Windows. It will present this option after the 3rd unsuccessful boot. Use both cards to get to safe mode and when you set the basic video driver for GT-120 see if the Vega driver is installed and you have an output

Thanks for the windows suggestion, do you know of a list of metal supported GPUs that are EFI and would let me switch between OS X and windows 10? I know the GT12 isn’t supported on windows anymore.

 

[startergo]

[QUOTE/]
Thanks for the windows suggestion, do you know of a list of metal supported GPUs that are EFI and would let me switch between OS X and windows 10? I know the GT12 isn’t supported on windows anymore.[/QUOTE]
GT-120 is still supported, but it is not a good idea to run them together. I only use them both for troubleshooting.
The only 3 good working cards with EFI for Mojave should be:

• Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
• Nvidia Quadro K5000 for Mac
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

 

[alex1100811]

This is the message if attempted to boot to anything with GT120, I’ve tried recovery mode with just the Vega 56 and nothing happens. Just black screen then shuts down. Then again with GT120 installed and connected to the monitor instead just to see what happens after the NVRAM resets (again, no windows partition or anything liek that installed). Could it be the monitor I’m using possibly? It’s an old 20in apple Cinema Display. And to connect it to the Vega 56 I need the dvi to hdmi adapter.

 

[startergo]

This is the message if attempted to boot to anything with GT120, I’ve tried recovery mode with just the Vega 56 and nothing happens. Just black screen then shuts down. Then again with GT120 installed and connected to the monitor instead just to see what happens after the NVRAM resets (again, no windows partition or anything liek that installed). Could it be the monitor I’m using possibly? It’s an old 20in apple Cinema Display. And to connect it to the Vega 56 I need the dvi to hdmi adapter.

Now press F8. It will restart again and it will give a bunch of options. You can select safe mode with networking

 

[alex1100811]

Now press F8. It will restart again and it will give a bunch of options. You can select safe mode with networking

I’m just trying to get into Mac OS nothing windows 10 related anymore. This is just what happens with the GT120 installed. What’s odd is when I do however it flashes black and blue for a few a second and stays on that screen with the other options. So in short nothing responds when I do this.

 

[startergo]

I’m just trying to get into Mac OS nothing windows 10 related anymore. This is just what happens with the GT120 installed. What’s odd is when I do however it flashes black and blue for a few a second and stays on that screen with the other options. So in short nothing responds when I do this.

Let me get this straight:
Are you trying to use GT-120 only with Mojave?

 

[alex1100811]

Let me get this straight:
Are you trying to use GT-120 only with Mojave?

No I’m just trying to get the Mac to boot into Mac OS at all, it doesn’t startup fully. I tried what @h9826790 suggested and neither of those options worked. So just as a test I tried to get to recovery mode with the GT120 connected to see what would happen and that’s what happens. There’s no other drives except the Mac OS drive in the PCI slot (it was never partitioned for windows either, I always had windows in its own drive).

 

[bookemdano]

Is your Windows partition on a different disk? Pull that out of the machine entirely, along with every other disk that isn't your macOS disk.

Is the NVRAM reset completing properly? When you hold down Command+Option+P+R you should be hearing a second boot chime after a few seconds. Are you hearing that?

 

[alex1100811]

Is your Windows partition on a different disk? Pull that out of the machine entirely, along with every other disk that isn't your macOS disk.

Is the NVRAM reset completing properly? When you hold down Command+Option+P+R you should be hearing a second boot chime after a few seconds. Are you hearing that?

Yes to both. I’ve already done both of these and done the suggestions from others above in the thread. I just don’t get why I can’t boot into Mac OSX Mojave at all at this point. Not even recovery mode.

 

[bookemdano]

Another question: With the Vega out, GT-120 installed, and only your macOS disk installed in the cMP, what do you get on the screen when you boot up?

EDIT: Do you have a USB installer drive for Mojave? Or any version of macOS?

 

[crjackson2134]

Okay, so a little bit more info is needed here.

Exactly what type/brand of PCIe card do you have your macOS installed on?

If its a 2.5” drive, pull the card and mount the drive in Bay 1.

THEN try the NVRAM (aka PRAM) reset if it doesn’t boot.

 

[alex1100811]

Another question: With the Vega out, GT-120 installed, and only your macOS disk installed in the cMP, what do you get on the screen when you boot up?

EDIT: Do you have a USB installer drive for Mojave? Or any version of macOS?

That windows screen IS what pops up with the GT120. I know it’s very weird, there’s no other drives except my Mac OSX on the SSD. I haven’t tried it with the Vega out and only the gt120 but I’m going to assume the same thing will happen.

Edit: Yes the same thing happened with just the GT120, very odd. However, I have started noticed different reactions with choosing different function key options that it mentions. F1 restarts the machine while F8-10 just pull-up errors regarding EFI? I didn’t get to read it enough before doing F1. Very weird especially with no windows drive or partition at all.
[doublepost=1541276682][/doublepost]

Okay, so a little bit more info is needed here.

Exactly what type/brand of PCIe card do you have your macOS installed on?

If its a 2.5” drive, pull the card and mount the drive in Bay 1.

THEN try the NVRAM (aka PRAM) reset if it doesn’t boot.

Yes it’s a 2.5 drive, I’ll give that a go and see if that makes a difference. I’m just worried that it’ll show up differently or should it be okay?

 

[bookemdano]

OK, sounds like your EFI partition got screwed up by Windows (there's no other explanation for why you'd get that Windows screen with only your macOS drive installed). Do you have a macOS USB installer drive? If not, do you have access to another Mac you can make one from? You need to reinstall macOS.

 

[alex1100811]

OK, sounds like your EFI partition got screwed up by Windows (there's no other explanation for why you'd get that Windows screen with only your macOS drive installed). Do you have a macOS USB installer drive? If not, do you have access to another Mac you can make one from? You need to reinstall macOS.

I have other macs yes, assuming it’d need to be Mojave on a USB drive? Not really sure where to go with this step but I can do some research on it as well.

 

[crjackson2134]

That windows screen IS what pops up with the GT120. I know it’s very weird, there’s no other drives except my Mac OSX on the SSD. I haven’t tried it with the Vega out and only the gt120 but I’m going to assume the same thing will happen.

Edit: Yes the same thing happened with just the GT120, very odd. However, I have started noticed different reactions with choosing different function key options that it mentions. F1 restarts the machine while F8-10 just pull-up errors regarding EFI? I didn’t get to read it enough before doing F1. Very weird especially with no windows drive or partition at all.
[doublepost=1541276682][/doublepost]
Yes it’s a 2.5 drive, I’ll give that a go and see if that makes a difference. I’m just worried that it’ll show up differently or should it be okay?

Based on your last post, you may have accidentally damaged your macOS install with an attempted Windows install.

 

[alex1100811]

Based on your last post, you may have accidentally damaged your macOS install with an attempted Windows install.

That doesn’t make sense because I didn’t attempt any windows install once on Mojave, just reset the NVRAM and it hasn’t been turning on since. If I can get this to boot finally I’m just going back to High Sierra just too many issues

 

[bookemdano]

I have other macs yes, assuming it’d need to be Mojave on a USB drive? Not really sure where to go with this step but I can do some research on it as well.

Yes. It's very easy to make one. You need an 8GB or larger USB drive. This page has two different methods you can follow.

Once you make the USB installer then plug it into your cMP and boot up holding the "c" key on the keyboard. You will need your Vega installed. Do not install the GT-120. There will be a black screen for several minutes, but eventually the installer should load up Follow the steps to install macOS on your existing partition.

If you have critical files on your macOS drive that you don't have backed up, then you may want to connect that drive to another computer first to try to copy over the files you care about, just in case. Re-installing macOS is supposed to preserve everything but if your partition scheme is screwed up it may be necessary to wipe the existing partitions to get macOS to install.

Edit: If you're willing to go back to High Sierra then make a High Sierra USB installer via similar steps. Then you can just use your GT-120 and have the benefit of seeing everything that's going on.