macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

[joevt]

Where is the eeprom chip located on mac pro 3,1 so i can check number?

It's under the Airport card. Just remove the two screws to have a look.

Page 41 of the Service Source document: https://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/macpro/macpro_early2008.pdf

Here is a picture of mine, rotated 180° to read the chip identification numbers (the rom chip is M50FW016):

 

[0403979]

I just published a new blog post about my switch to Linux, and something else. If you're interested, you can read it at /link removed/.

 

[honeycombz]

Hey, got my install completed. Went off without a hitch. Wondering if Startip Manager won’t work for these patched drives anymore? No option boot have to use the startup disk to select diff drives now? Not seeing my patched drives in Startup Manager option boot anymore. This normal?

 

[joevt]

Hey, got my install completed. Went off without a hitch. Wondering if Startip Manager won’t work for these patched drives anymore? No option boot have to use the startup disk to select diff drives now? Not seeing my patched drives in Startup Manager option boot anymore. This normal?

What Mac are you using? Startup Manager (hold option key at boot) only knows about HFS+ partitions and EFI partitions on old Macs. What do you see in Startup Manager?

If your Mac doesn't have apfs in firmware, then you can add APFS.efi to Drivers#### if you want to list those partitions. You could also add NTFS.efi but there's no point doing that (unless you want to try to boot Windows EFI direct from NTFS without OpenCore help or protection).

Read here for some info:
#107

 

[honeycombz]

What Mac are you using? Startup Manager (hold option key at boot) only knows about HFS+ partitions and EFI partitions on old Macs. What do you see in Startup Manager?

If your Mac doesn't have apfs in firmware, then you can add APFS.efi to Drivers#### if you want to list those partitions. You could also add NTFS.efi but there's no point doing that (unless you want to try to boot Windows EFI direct from NTFS without OpenCore help or protection).

Read here for some info:
#107

Mac Pro 3,1. I just see two EFI labeled drives. Yes, option key Startup Manager.

 

[joevt]

Mac Pro 3,1. I just see two EFI labeled drives. Yes, option key Startup Manager.

So you don't have any bootable HFS+ partitions. You can add an icon to every item shown in the Startup Manager (except legacy BIOS Windows options). If you move the EFI partition stuff to a HFS+ partition, then you can change the name from "EFI Boot" to whatever you like.

 

[Dayo]

If your Mac doesn't have apfs in firmware, then you can add APFS.efi to Drivers#### if you want to list those partitions.

Just FYI that the APFS Jumpstart capability has been added to RefindPlus (Based on a modification of the OpenCore feature).

When the corresponding config token is active, RefindPlus will load APFS drivers for specific Mac OS versions as required and dispenses with a need for adding such drivers to RefindPlus.

Advantage beyond convenience is that it will load matching drivers for installed Mac OS versions as opposed to pre-selecting a driver where the user would have to decide on which one to select and which invariably will not match one or more Mac OS versions in situations with multiple versions of Mac OS present.

This feature will show up in the next release due in a little over a week's time.

 

[joevt]

Just FYI that the APFS Jumpstart capability has been added to RefindPlus (Based on a modification of the OpenCore feature).

When the corresponding config token is active, RefindPlus will load APFS drivers for specific Mac OS versions as required and dispenses with a need for adding such drivers to RefindPlus.

Advantage beyond convenience is that it will load matching drivers for installed Mac OS versions as opposed to pre-selecting a driver where the user would have to decide on which one to select and which invariably will not match one or more Mac OS versions in situations with multiple versions of Mac OS present.

This feature will show up in the next release due in a little over a week's time.

If I have 4 macOS APFS installs, does that mean it will load a different driver for each APFS container?

 

[Dayo]

It appears to mimic the way Mac Firmware deals with APFS which is that the firmware does not actually seem to have one apfs driver or the other embedded, but an APFSJumpstart driver.

This may provide some basic filesystem functionality (not sure) but the main task appears to be to load the appropriate apfs driver for a handle when called upon ... presumably this is what jump starting is.

I suppose it could potentially load multiple versions if this is required.

 

[honeycombz]

So you don't have any bootable HFS+ partitions. You can add an icon to every item shown in the Startup Manager (except legacy BIOS Windows options). If you move the EFI partition stuff to a HFS+ partition, then you can change the name from "EFI Boot" to whatever you like.

I see, it seems that no matter what I select as the startup disk, or which EFI Boot drive I select in the startup manager, it always boots to the same drive. The drive I want it to boot to shows up in terminal if I do bless --getBoot as disk0s1

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk4 499.9 GB disk0s2


with disk4 (MYDISK Pro-SIDD) being the disk I want booted to but it always boots to disk 5 (MYDISK Pro-SI)

/dev/disk4 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +499.9 GB disk4

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume MYDISK Pro-SIDD 366.8 GB disk4s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 41.4 MB disk4s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 507.4 MB disk4s3
4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk4s4



/dev/disk5 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +2.0 TB disk5

Physical Store disk3s2

1: APFS Volume MYDISK Pro-SI 1.2 TB disk5s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 20.7 MB disk5s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 507.4 MB disk5s3
4: APFS Volume VM 20.5 KB disk5s4


Any clue how I can resolve this?

 

[joevt]

I see, it seems that no matter what I select as the startup disk, or which EFI Boot drive I select in the startup manager, it always boots to the same drive. The drive I want it to boot to shows up in terminal if I do bless --getBoot as disk0s1

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk4 499.9 GB disk0s2


with disk4 (MYDISK Pro-SIDD) being the disk I want booted to but it always boots to disk 5 (MYDISK Pro-SI)

/dev/disk4 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +499.9 GB disk4

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume MYDISK Pro-SIDD 366.8 GB disk4s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 41.4 MB disk4s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 507.4 MB disk4s3
4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk4s4



/dev/disk5 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +2.0 TB disk5

Physical Store disk3s2

1: APFS Volume MYDISK Pro-SI 1.2 TB disk5s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 20.7 MB disk5s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 507.4 MB disk5s3
4: APFS Volume VM 20.5 KB disk5s4


Any clue how I can resolve this?

Add APFS.efi driver to Driver####, then you can select the Preboot volumes.
If your using APFS Patch, check the contents of all the EFI partitions and examine the UUIDs that are used in the startup.nsh scripts. If there's only one script but you want to have one for each OS that is located on an apfs partition, then create a tiny HFS+ partition for each containing the EFI Shell (named bootx64.efi in the APFS Patch) and the startup.nsh script, change the UUID to the volume ID of the volume you want to boot. Bless the EFI Shell in each partition.

 

[honeycombz]

hmmm... as it turns out a refreshed the NVRAM and re-ran the post install patches and seems to boot in the drive I want. Moving forward, would be cool to get a better handle on all of this EFI boot stuff as it is a bit new to me. The two separate strtup.nsh files in the diff EFI volumes correspond to their respective drive. Can I just change one to correspond to the drive I want bootable? I don’t really need both drives bootable regularly, really only use the secondary drive in case my primary is down but I do like to keep it updated. Wondering if there is an easy way to switch on and off the bootability of the secondary drive. I am using the APFS patch. Sorry I am not that skilled with all this booting EFI stuff. Is there a link that discusses the procedure for adding an HFS partition to the EFI Shell?

 

[joevt]

hmmm... as it turns out a refreshed the NVRAM and re-ran the post install patches and seems to boot in the drive I want. Moving forward, would be cool to get a better handle on all of this EFI boot stuff as it is a bit new to me. The two separate strtup.nsh files in the diff EFI volumes correspond to their respective drive. Can I just change one to correspond to the drive I want bootable? I don’t really need both drives bootable regularly, really only use the secondary drive in case my primary is down but I do like to keep it updated. Wondering if there is an easy way to switch on and off the bootability of the secondary drive. I am using the APFS patch. Sorry I am not that skilled with all this booting EFI stuff. Is there a link that discusses the procedure for adding an HFS partition to the EFI Shell?

My APFS patch alternative HFS+ partition is 50 MB (only need room for 10 MB) and looks like this:

It has a .VolumeIcon.icns (must contain a it32 icon - check using Preview.app) which gets displayed in the Finder, Startup Manager, and Startup Disk preferences panel.

It has .disk_label and .disk_label_2x files that I created using a command from my DiskUtil.sh script:
makemultilinedisklabel "/Volumes/Catalina Boot/macOSCatalinaPatcher" "Catalina"$'\n'"10.15.7?"
These files are displayed by Startup Manager (on old Macs, only .disk_labels for blessed HFS+ and APFS volumes are shown - .disk_labels on FAT or NTFS partitions are not shown).
These files can be displayed by the OpenCore graphical picker.

It has a .disk_label.contentDetails file containing text Catalina 10.15.7 [B] file which is displayed by OpenCore textual picker.

apfs.efi is the apfs efi driver from the APFS patch. I have a copy in an EFI partition that I load using the Driver#### nvram variables. This Catalina Boot is a backup boot option in case NVRAM gets cleared. There are commands in the DiskUtil.sh script that can be used to set the DriverOrder and Driver#### variables. The dumpallbootvars shows the current values:

BootCurrent: Boot0000
BootNext:

BootOrder: Boot0080
Boot0080: 1, "Mac OS X", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,97CD1709-FE99-4E1F-BF41-75D379A46CC4,0x28,0x64000)/\EFI\BOOT\bootx64.efi"
Searching: Boot0000
Searching: Boot007F
Searching: Boot0081
Boot0081: 1, "Mac OS X", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x2,0x0,0x0)/HD(10,GPT,977D4C1D-54CA-4594-B9F6-FCABF87AC36C,0x4B405D88,0x174876E8)/VenMedia(BE74FCF7-0B7C-49F3-9147-01F4042E6842,7E98A08505BD8940A1199C16AA7CD67D)/\10D5CE8C-43FE-43F2-8089-DAEDF6485644\System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi"
Searching: BootFFFF
BootFFFF: 1, "", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x2,0x0,0x0)/HD(9,GPT,717720E1-2443-443E-B26D-D85098BC319E,0x2E34C888,0x1D0B9500)/VenMedia(BE74FCF7-0B7C-49F3-9147-01F4042E6842,9494DC23508D8540A389493878A2404B)/\System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi"

DriverOrder: Driver0080
Driver0080: 1, "apfs.efi", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,97CD1709-FE99-4E1F-BF41-75D379A46CC4,0x28,0x64000)/\drivers\apfs.efi"
Searching: Driver0000
Searching: Driver007F
Searching: Driver0081
Driver0081: 1, "FakeUEFI2.efi", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,97CD1709-FE99-4E1F-BF41-75D379A46CC4,0x28,0x64000)/\drivers\FakeUEFI2.efi"
Driver0082: 1, "nv_gop_GF10x", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,97CD1709-FE99-4E1F-BF41-75D379A46CC4,0x28,0x64000)/\efis\nv_gop_GF10x.efi"
Driver0083: 1, "ReloadPCIRom.efi", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,97CD1709-FE99-4E1F-BF41-75D379A46CC4,0x28,0x64000)/\drivers\ReloadPCIRom.efi"
Driver0084: 1, "UgaOnGop.efi", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,97CD1709-FE99-4E1F-BF41-75D379A46CC4,0x28,0x64000)/\drivers\UgaOnGop.efi"
Driver0085: 1, "CrScreenshotDxe.efi", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,97CD1709-FE99-4E1F-BF41-75D379A46CC4,0x28,0x64000)/\drivers\CrScreenshotDxe.efi"
Searching: DriverFFFF

ShellX64.efi is the BootX64.efi file from the APFS Patch. I renamed it so you know it's a EFI Shell. BootX64.efi is the default boot loader (it's called the backup boot loader) which lives at /EFI/BOOT/ on a partition. This is the file that is blessed on this HFS+ partition.

bless --info /Volumes/Catalina\ Boot
finderinfo[0]:      2 => Blessed System Folder is /Volumes/Catalina Boot/
finderinfo[1]:     47 => Blessed System File is /Volumes/Catalina Boot/macOSCatalinaPatcher/ShellX64.efi
finderinfo[2]:      0 => Open-folder linked list empty
finderinfo[3]:      0 => No alternate OS blessed file/folder
finderinfo[4]:      0 => Unused field unset
finderinfo[5]:      2 => OS X blessed folder is /Volumes/Catalina Boot/
64-bit VSDB volume id:  0x0922FE1CFA46F197

startup.nsh is the script from the APFS Patch that the EFI Shell executes. Mine has some extra stuff for setting the text mode width and height to the max for my display, setting Slot 2 to 5 GT/s (for PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 cards), and for enabling USB on a GC-ALPINE RIDGE. The search for the apfs.efi driver is modified to only find the one on this partition (the folder name macOSCatalinaPatcher is unique to this partition).

echo -off
mode 320 84

set StartupDelay 1
set -v efishellmode 1.1.2

echo "Enabling PCIe 2.0 for slot 2..."
mm 0000010009C 42 -w 1 -PCIE -n
mm 0000010007C 20 -w 1 -PCIE -n
mm 0000010009C -w 1 -PCIE -n

echo "Enabling Alpine Ridge (bus 0f and 10)..."
mm 000f000054C 00 -w 1 -PCIE -n
mm 000f000054C 0D -w 1 -PCIE -n
mm 0010000054C 00 -w 1 -PCIE -n
mm 0010000054C 0D -w 1 -PCIE -n
mm 000f0000548 -w 1 -PCIE -n
mm 00100000548 -w 1 -PCIE -n

echo "Searching for APFS driver..."

for %i in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F
  if exist fs%i:\macOSCatalinaPatcher\apfs.efi then
    load fs%i:\macOSCatalinaPatcher\apfs.efi
    connect -r
    map -u
  endif
endfor


echo "Searching for macOS installer..."

set macOSBootFile "com.apple.installer\boot.efi"
set targetUUID "95D70B0C-973F-402F-99BC-7E37C3D2B572"

for %m in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F
  if exist "fs%m:\%targetUUID%\%macOSBootFile%" then
    echo "Starting macOS installer..."
    fs%m:\%targetUUID%\%macOSBootFile%
    exit
  endif
endfor

echo "Searching for macOS boot file on Catalina Preboot..."

set macOSBootFile "System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi"
set targetUUID "23DC9494-8D50-4085-A389-493878A2404B"

for %m in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F
  if exist "fs%m:\%targetUUID%\%macOSBootFile%" then
    echo "Starting macOS..."
    fs%m:\%targetUUID%\%macOSBootFile%
    exit
  endif
endfor

echo "Searching for any macOS boot file..."

for %m in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F
  if exist "fs%m:\%macOSBootFile%" then
    echo "Starting macOS..."
    fs%m:\%macOSBootFile%
    exit
  endif
endfor
echo "Boot file not found, exiting..."
exit

Catalina_Boot.worksheet is a BBEdit worksheet containing some commands to examine and setup this partition. It has the bless command to make this the default booter:
sudo bless --folder /Volumes/Catalina\ Boot/macOSCatalinaPatcher --file /Volumes/Catalina\ Boot/macOSCatalinaPatcher/ShellX64.efi --setBoot
Remove --setBoot if you just want to bless the file as the booter for this HFS+ volume (works for APFS volumes too - but you may want to use my patched bless version at https://github.com/joevt/bless since normal bless only works with the Preboot and Recovery partitions).

Note: to set a file on a non-HFS+ or APFS volume as the default booter, use the --mount option for bless:
bless --mount /Volumes/EFI --file /Volumes/EFI/Boot/BootX64.efi --setBoot


As an alternative, you may arrange the files such that the Startup Disk preferences panel will also list the partition. For example, rEFInd has an --ownhfs install option which produces something like this:

The necessary or important files are:
System/Library/CoreServices
boot.efi - this is the file that will boot - it is a renamed refind.efi - in the case of the APFS Patch, this would be a renamed Shell.efi
mach_kernel - zero length file - it just needs to exist for Startup Disk preferences panel to believe this is an actual macOS.
SystemVersion.plist - put a version number in here that the Startup Disk preference panel will show. Or don't. Doesn't matter.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>ProductBuildVersion</key>
        <string></string>
        <key>ProductName</key>
        <string>rEFInd</string>
        <key>ProductVersion</key>
        <string>0.12.0</string>
</dict>
</plist>

All the files mentioned for the Catalina Boot should also be included in the locations shown in this screenshot. startup.nsh belongs in the same folder as the EFI Shell.

Read more at:
#86
#101
#107
#108

 

[The.316]

I have a Late 09 iMac that I loaded Mojave on. Everything was working fine until last night. I turned it off last night, and when I woke up this morning, it would not turn on. The chime plays. The Apple logo appears, and it’s starts loading, only to start the fan up, and the load bar disappears halfway through. I can enter Safe mode fine. And I enters Single user mode, but nothing seems to work, Any ideas?

 

[honeycombz]

I have a Late 09 iMac that I loaded Mojave on. Everything was working fine until last night. I turned it off last night, and when I woke up this morning, it would not turn on. The chime plays. The Apple logo appears, and it’s starts loading, only to start the fan up, and the load bar disappears halfway through. I can enter Safe mode fine. And I enters Single user mode, but nothing seems to work, Any ideas?

View attachment 1717495

View attachment 1717496
View attachment 1717499


View attachment 1717501
View attachment 1717501

You try running post install again? Force cache rebuild?

 

[The.316]

You try running post install again? Force cache rebuild?

I I haven’t. It’s been so long since I’ve done this instal. What do I have to do to do the post install again?

 

[honeycombz]

You need to boot from the flash drive of the patcher tool

 

[honeycombz]

Anyone run into any issues with a Mac Pro 3,1 and the fact that Photoshop 2021 needs to have SSE4.2? Can’t get the program to open and wondering if the writing is on the wall for me and this aging machine unless there are other patches floating around.

 

[joevt]

Anyone run into any issues with a Mac Pro 3,1 and the fact that Photoshop 2021 needs to have SSE4.2? Can’t get the program to open and wondering if the writing is on the wall for me and this aging machine unless there are other patches floating around.

There's a fix maybe? #12,763

 

[brian.tully]

Mojave Patcher and frequent lsd segfaults -- related?

I was wondering if anyone else using Mojave Patcher is experiencing frequent lsd (LaunchServicesDaemon) crashes. Ever since installing Mojave Patcher I was noticing lsd crashes on a weekly basis, but now am noticing that lsd crashes on a daily basis (sometimes multiple times a day).

I've done a ton of Googling on the topic, which led me to rebuild the launch services database and clear out the LaunchServices files in /var/folders (both using Onyx and manually from the Terminal). However I've not been able to resolve the frequent lsd segfaults.

I've also reinstalled Mojave + Mojave Patcher (over the existing install) to see if that would "fix" something at the system level, with no luck.

Has anyone else experienced this and/or know of a workaround?

Or anyone know of a good resource on how to interpret and debug a crash log?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I have a Late 09 iMac that I loaded Mojave on. Everything was working fine until last night. I turned it off last night, and when I woke up this morning, it would not turn on. The chime plays. The Apple logo appears, and it’s starts loading, only to start the fan up, and the load bar disappears halfway through. I can enter Safe mode fine. And I enters Single user mode, but nothing seems to work, Any ideas?

View attachment 1717495

This looks like your GPU just died, have seen this more than a dozen times with such iMacs - luckily you can now add a Metal GPU - take look at the thread following the first link of my signature. Welcome to the club!

 

[honeycombz]

There's a fix maybe? #12,763

This looks to be the fix folks. A bit cumbersome to implement and not sure how stable but it gets the job done. Forget about the Neural Filters, crashes.

 

[brian.tully]

I saw that many people were using Mojave Patcher on their MacPro 3,1 with APFS, and that there were performance benefits with APFS over HFS+. When installing Mojave Patcher (upgrading from El Capitan) I didn't see an option to convert to APFS, so I assumed it wasn't possible at the time. But seeing that others were using APFS had me reconsider. I read that it's possible to convert to APFS from the Recovery Boot https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/upgrade-mac-apfs-after-high-sierra/ and just gave it a try. The conversion to APFS only took a few minutes. However now when I try to boot, I see console/terminal output at the boot screen, along with a message something to the effect of the "boot file could not be found. exiting now". I booted up to my Mojave Patcher USB and then tried to select my hard drive as the startup disk, but get a message "Running bless to place boot files failed".

Did I just brick my Mac?

Since the conversion to APFS can't be reversed, is my only option to erase the drive and reformat as HFS+ and do a restore from Time Machine backup?

Assuming that gets my Mac working again, does this mean I cannot use APFS on my MacPro 3,1 -- even with Mojave Patcher?

Can someone please help me so I can stop hitting my head against my desk?
Thanks in advance.

 

[internetzel]

I saw that many people were using Mojave Patcher on their MacPro 3,1 with APFS, and that there were performance benefits with APFS over HFS+. When installing Mojave Patcher (upgrading from El Capitan) I didn't see an option to convert to APFS, so I assumed it wasn't possible at the time. But seeing that others were using APFS had me reconsider. I read that it's possible to convert to APFS from the Recovery Boot https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/upgrade-mac-apfs-after-high-sierra/ and just gave it a try. The conversion to APFS only took a few minutes. However now when I try to boot, I see console/terminal output at the boot screen, along with a message something to the effect of the "boot file could not be found. exiting now". I booted up to my Mojave Patcher USB and then tried to select my hard drive as the startup disk, but get a message "Running bless to place boot files failed".

Did I just brick my Mac?

Since the conversion to APFS can't be reversed, is my only option to erase the drive and reformat as HFS+ and do a restore from Time Machine backup?

Assuming that gets my Mac working again, does this mean I cannot use APFS on my MacPro 3,1 -- even with Mojave Patcher?

Can someone please help me so I can stop hitting my head against my desk?
Thanks in advance.

I did the same - with the same result.
But I managed to repair it, although it wasn't easy at all.
I basically followed the instructions from here: https://www.tecklyfe.com/boot-failures-after-converting-macos-ssd-to-apfs/
The needed process in our case is described in the comments - although if I remember correctly there are some syntax errors in the commands. You need to know what those commands are supposed to achieve before trying them out; double check the syntax!

 

[brian.tully]

I did the same - with the same result.
But I managed to repair it, although it wasn't easy at all.
I basically followed the instructions from here: https://www.tecklyfe.com/boot-failures-after-converting-macos-ssd-to-apfs/
The needed process in our case is described in the comments - although if I remember correctly there are some syntax errors in the commands. You need to know what those commands are supposed to achieve before trying them out; double check the syntax!

Thank you for that link, @internetzel
Interestingly enough, I found a similar process in the following YouTube video

However, even following those steps to the letter, I still got the same error when trying to boot from my hard drive. I then booted into the Mojave Patcher USB boot disk to see if I could select my internal drive as the startup disk (before following the above process I was unable to select it without an error). This time I was able to select it as a startup disk, but when it booted up I got the same terminal boot screen with the verbose output resulting in the same error "Boot file not found, exiting..."

So I bit the bullet and erased my drive and reformatted as HFS+ again and now am in hour 5 of a 14 hour restore from Time Machine Backup

Other than following the steps listed at the URL you posted, did you have to update your MacPro 3,1 EFI via some installer/updater? My gut tells me that unless I'm able to update the EFI I probably won't be able to use APFS.

On a related note, have you noticed any benefits of using APFS over HFS+? If I'm not going to get any performance/stabilty benefits I may just convince myself to stick with HFS+ and not jump through any more hoops.

Thanks again!