Thank you Jayson for this news about Sierra ! The new cMP's firmware you have is certainly the reason why you don't have problemls anymore under Sierra.I spent a couple hours in Sierra today with my RX 580 and it didn’t restart itself. I’m running macOS in a 240GB SATA 2 SSD in drive bay 2.
The strange thing is that the card works perfercly in my cMP 4,1 at home (same model of cMP than the one at work).Faulty RX 580, return it while you can.
I try a new fresh install of sierra in the cMP 4,1 (with firmware 138.0.0.0.0). Let's see.
Well, tell me what info you're looking for (and maybe how to access it) and I'll be happy to give it to you.I have a hint that the problem may be related with the override-version Base_XX.
Apple started with Base_17 in February 2009 and continuously updated the hardware descriptor until the end of 2011 with Base_21 version. Since this compressed blob is stored in the private part of the NVRAM, firmware upgrades don't touch the file. Sensor resolution is directly tied with this. Maybe that's the motive for some having the fan problem and others not, I need people with the problem to test if it's related.
Well, tell me what info you're looking for (and maybe how to access it) and I'll be happy to give it to you.
I need to upgrade your Base_XX to Base_21 (same as mid-2012) and you to test if the behaviour changed.
Do you know how to do a dump of your BootROM? You can use ROMTool.zip, SIP needs to be disabled (Boot with Recovery, open Terminal, run "csrutil disable" and reboot back). Please compress your dump and PM me it.
Not the SMC firmware, you can't dump it by software. Your BootROM firmware.Well, with one monitor everything is running fine in a cMP 4,1.
I stressed the card with 3D stuff like fur mark, etc, or Valley (benchmark unigine) with everything at maximum.
Now let’s to see if I’ll have a problem with two screens…
Aaaaaaaand running same stuff but with two screens cause reboot…
By the way I use a new 8pin to dual mini6pin cable from modDIY.
Sadness…
By the BootROM you mean the SMC version of the cMP, isn't it ?
I'm afraid I'll have trouble then, because my SMC version will be different than my processor version...
--> I tried to put dual core (2x4) 4,1 processor into an original 5,1 cMP once : the system was capable to run, but all the fans of the cMP were at 100% all the time, without possibility to manage them. It was because the version of the processor was not the same than the SMC version of the Mac.
Yep, we are.I already upgraded the BootROM :
I updated the firmware and BootROM a while ago so this cMP 4,1 can be see as a 5,1.
BootROM was then MP51.007F.B03.
I tried also MP51.0084.B00, then MP51.0089.B00, and I'm now with 138.0.0 as you can see :
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
Memory: 32 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 5,86 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: 138.0.0
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5
Or are we speaking of something else ?
High Sierra had 5 firmware upgrades, from MP51.0083.B00 with 10.13DP5 to MP51.0089.B00 with 10.13.6, Mojave DP7 has 138.0.0.0.0.You guys are way over my head now.
Strange thing is, I upgraded to High Sierra which means my firmware was upgraded too right? Then, like I said before, I downgraded back to Sierra (on the same drive) and I started getting the restarts again.
Then I put Sierra on a separate SSD and put Windows on it's own SSD and haven't had a restart since. I can't really explain how it's any different from before, but like I said, I spent a couple of hours in Sierra yesterday because I was too lazy to reboot and I also spent a lot of time in Safari and nothing happened.
High Sierra had 5 firmware upgrades, from MP51.0083.B00 with 10.13DP5 to MP51.0089.B00 with 10.13.6, Mojave DP7 has 138.0.0.0.0.
Just check, System Information > Hardware > BootROM version.I switched back and forth within days though.
1. First Sierra install was on a 2-partition SSD with Sierra and Windows ... random restarts in Sierra
2. Upgraded straight to High Sierra (had to put my old card back in to do the firmware update) and didn't have any restarts
3. Erased my High Sierra partition and installed Sierra once again and had restarts within minutes.
4. Erased entire SSD and only put Windows on it and installed Sierra once again on it's own SSD drive (SATA 2) and haven't had a restart yet.
I'm pretty sure I kept the same firmware I had from the High Sierra install the entire time.
I'm off work for today, but will do that for sure tomorrow.@Jayson A
It would be a lot simpler and much more helpful if you could just dump your current BootRom and let @tsialex check it for errors / updates. He's not talking about firmware upgrades you have done. He is able to upgrade a part of the firmware that you have no access to. It MAY fix or lead to a fix for you. In any case, it can't hurt, it can only help.
If you can't get an EFI GPU in anyway, we can circumvent the need for one with ROMTool.
1) Disable SIP
2) Dump your BootROM with ROMDump
3) Compress and PM me your BootROM dump
4) I'll extract your Mac Pro identifiers from the BootROM and insert on 138.0.0.0.0
5) Put your Mac Pro in Flashing Programming Mode
6) Upgrade your BootROM with ROMTool
Hello everybody,
I finally had the time to do flahsthe BootRom of the cMP 4,1, using the BootRom @tsialex kindly modified for me.
Saddyl, after the BootRom flash, the cMP had a reboot again with the RX580... Even if now it's uopgraded to Base_21...
The reboot occured under Sierra. Didn't have the time to try under High Sierra. Now this cMP is used by a client for at least a month...
But I have other ones (cMP original 5,1).
I really want to know what's causing the restarts and the crazy fan behaviour. Seems related with power.Sounds like your letting it beat you........
Still don’t understand why people are getting these restarts though?
I don't think it's related with 138.0.0.0.0, people has been restarting and with crazy fan behaviour for a long time before Mojave. Now we're finding that some BootROMs have problems, but even after those are corrected the restarts and fan behaviour continues.Was not getting restarts when testing with Sapphire PULSE RX 580 8GB with 10.13.6 17G65 on authentic 5,1 with dual 3.46, 128GB RAM, and boot ROM MP51.0089.B00. No HDDs inside the system. Only SSDs, PCIe SSDs (via Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 and Duo X2 SATA adapters), and PCIe USB (during test).
GPU was powered via this dual mini 6-pin to standard 8-pin cable:
https://www.moddiy.com/products/Apple-Dual-Mini-PCI%2dE-6%2dPin-to-Standard-PCI%2dE-8%2dPin-Video-Card-Cable.html
Ran GPU and application tests for about 8-10 hours total before shutdown with Sapphire PULSE RX 580 8GB and did not encounter restarts.
If anyone has a spinning HDD in your system AND is encountering random restarts, try removing the spinning HDD and see if that helps the issue at all. Only other thing I suspect right now is it may be related to the Mojave beta firmware.
I have had no issues with this Radom fan behaviour using the RX580 pulse 8gb. they spin up on start up to then sit idle and then when under load they spin up to cool, then return to idle again. I ran valley for 5 hours continuously on my original boot rom, I have since done the exact same thing on tsialex modded boot rom, with NVMe as OSX drive and still never had a random restart.
I wonder if all these dual 6pin mini to 8 pin cables are born equal. this is the cable I purchased. not the cheapest I know, but it is 18wg
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132763006769?ViewItem=&item=132763006769