MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro 5.1 chime loop and black Screen.

[tsialex]

Ok then how can I check my cpu tray?

Like I said before, test with another known working Mac Pro.

Can I just remove it an press the diag button and see if the EFI_DONE lites up?

No, it won't. No CPU tray working, no EFI_DONE.

Think a little about what is the function of it, how you gonna load the EFI component of the BootROM to the RAM and execute it without RAM and CPU being present and fully functional?

Can you help me with how to test and find the defective part (if we can).

Again, install each component one at a time on a known working Mac Pro. Do the elimination process, start with the CPU tray, then the PSU and go on from there.

It's literally insane to think that you gonna hook up a multimeter, a scope and a logic analyser to some test points and you gonna debug a system this complex without the circuit diagram being available. This is not a C64 or II anymore.

Now the vid card seems to work because my monitor did lite up a few times so I can eliminate this, I think.

There are bricks that can get to the gray screen, just to your knowledge.

If I follow the service manual and take everything out and put one thing at a time and move to the the next thing until I find the culprit

Do you have access to the Apple's LITTLE FRANK interface?

If not, the minimal config procedure of the Apple Technician Manual is not useful AT ALL, read the thread below:

Mac Pro (Mid-2012) - no video and a very weird mainboard/processor board issue

The diagnose process with minimal config done by an Apple service center depends on custom hardware, the LITTLE FRANK interface, being connected to the Mac Pro, if you don't have access to the interface and to the Apple diagnose servers, you can't follow it.

would it be the most obvious way to do it or is there a better faster way to do this?

Test each component with a known working Mac Pro. Borrow/buy one if you need to.

The only thing that you can do besides testing each component with a known working Mac Pro is taking a shortcut going directly to the SPI flash replacement procedure and see if your Mac Pro boots again.

I have a MATT card just to do this type of test, if the brick then starts to work with the MATT card installed, I'm sure that the SPI is dead/corrupt - but this don't eliminate any CPU tray/PSU problems since your Mac Pro could have more than one issue at the same time.

Btw THANKS for your help in this nightmare of mine I just hope to come back to normal soon.

I pointed the way to do it, now is your time to do the work, can't help you anymore than that.

 

[Siski125]

Like I said before, test with another known working Mac Pro.



No, it won't. No CPU tray working, no EFI_DONE.

Think a little about what is the function of it, how you gonna load the EFI component of the BootROM to the RAM and execute it without RAM and CPU being present and fully functional?



Again, install each component one at a time on a known working Mac Pro. Do the elimination process, start with the CPU tray, then the PSU and go on from there.

It's literally insane to think that you gonna hook up a multimeter, a scope and a logic analyser to some test points and you gonna debug a system this complex without the circuit diagram being available. This is not a C64 or II anymore.



There are bricks that can get to the gray screen, just to your knowledge.



Do you have access to the Apple's LITTLE FRANK interface?

If not, the minimal config procedure of the Apple Technician Manual is not useful AT ALL, read the thread below:

Mac Pro (Mid-2012) - no video and a very weird mainboard/processor board issue

The diagnose process with minimal config done by an Apple service center depends on custom hardware, the LITTLE FRANK interface, being connected to the Mac Pro, if you don't have access to the interface and to the Apple diagnose servers, you can't follow it.



Test each component with a known working Mac Pro. Borrow/buy one if you need to.

The only thing that you can do besides testing each component with a known working Mac Pro is taking a shortcut going directly to the SPI flash replacement procedure and see if your Mac Pro boots again.

I have a MATT card just to do this type of test, if the brick then starts to work with the MATT card installed, I'm sure that the SPI is dead - but this don't eliminate any CPU tray/PSU problems since your Mac Pro could have more than one issue.



I pointed the way to do it, now is your time to do the work, can't help you anymore than that.

Ok thanks as for to borrow another computer this isn’t an option here because I just live in a small town and to buy another Mac well then what is the use to fix mine if I get a working one(???). Yes I can still try to fix mine and keep it as a spare but it’s $$$$ that I don’t have that much to spend. I think the best thing to do right now is just get another Mac Pro on the net and just use it. I never thought that fixing a Mac Pro would be so complicated. I’ve had macs since 2000 and NEVER had an issue like this, I had a power Mac lc g5 and it worked like a charm until Apple decided to get into intel chips so was kinda force to change to the Mac I have now. Ok so big thanks for your help and guidance.

 

[Siski125]

I was just thinking this morning about that diag button that I tried, did I need to turn on my Mac Pro before pressing the button or leave it off but plugged into a power source?

 

[tsialex]

I was just thinking this morning about that diag button that I tried, did I need to turn on my Mac Pro before pressing the button or leave it off but plugged into a power source?

Connected to AC, powered on. This is on page 35 of the Apple Technician Guide…

 

[Siski125]

Connected to AC, powered on. This is on page 35 of the Apple Technician Guide…

Ok will get back to you with the results.

 

[Siski125]

Ok will get back to you with the results.

Well same thing didn't lit up darn!!!!! I know that there is a file or some files that logs crash report or something so that I can check what could of happen to just give me an idea. Btw changed the battery it was 2.93v I know it's not a bigi but just changed it while I was there. So now my options are a gamble for me but leaning on getting a backplane BUT still VERY interested in #3. I wish I had another mac to test the components BUT don't have any. One thing that kinda bothers me about the backplane is that the serial # won't be the same as mine so when I log in to FB, icloud etc.... how am I gonna do this??? The other option was to change the rom and flash it but like you siad I won't be able to log in FB iCloud etc.. and since I never did something like this (flashing) and I just red again how you did it but to me it's not clear. Ok I can get the rom chip from digikey and the rom flaser from Amazon BUT next it's all???? Where do I get the program to "burn" the rom chip, what program that I need to write or copy on the chip and after how do you anable icloud FB etc.. to work with the new chip? I've red 38-41 from your other post that you snet to me in #3 option and it's just not clear to me how you do it. Yes I'm a newbie in this situation and I just need guidance or step by step to do this. So if your willing to help me with this step by step then I'm ready to dive in and do it!!! Now I can get the chip in 2-3 days so on Monday, the rom burner I can get from Amazon (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07TVNVT78...colid=RA9WS9ZZ1OGU&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it) [Hope it's the right one], then I need the program to make the rom burner work, Win or Mac. If it's Windows only I have win XP on my MacBook that I can use. I'd rather pay around $40 to do this OR pay $400+ for a backplane. So are you willing to help me? Let me know soo so that I can order tonight and have every thing by Monday or Tuesday if any delays and during the week I'll prepare the backplane and remove the rom. So again THANKS for your help!!!!

 

[tsialex]

There are 7 hardwareIDs that differentiate one Mac Pro from the other, it's not just the serial number like you are assuming. It's not an end user procedure to do it, since there are several checksums that need to be calculated exactly right/with the correct endianness plus free space indicators that need to be exact or your Mac Pro won't even POST and you'll have to desolder the SPI flash again.

After your Mac Pro working with MP51.fd, it's time to pay a firmware engineer to do a BootROM reconstruction. My service fee is very reasonable, MR users ask me for this service constantly, and you'll get a fully working and complete never booted BootROM image that you gonna flash to your Mac Pro via ROMTool.

This is not news or even complicated, you can get your backplane working again with a replacement SPI flash memory flashed with MP51.fd exactly how it's documented since September 2018, all your questions are answered there, like how to use flashrom. Please read and follow exactly what the posts show, I'm a busy person and I document my findings so someone with the basic knowledge can reproduce it without my help - I'm not going to re-write it here.

I never used the Windows ch341a app, just flashrom, maybe someone else can help you with that.

 

[Siski125]

Again, most hard bricks are caused by the failure of the SPI flash, it's a US$ 2 component easily available, MXIC MX25L3206E, just replace it! Btw, yes, you can use a MXIC MX25L3206E as a modern replacement for the two older models

Hi there I just checked at Digikey and it's not in stock not even mouser has it DARN. I checked the specs of it just a but and wondered if the "new' one had more read/write times and still same 100.000 times so no different OR modern as you say.

 

[tsialex]

There are three different supported SPI flash memory models, you can only use one of the three:

• SST 25VF032B
• MXIC MX25L3205D
• MXIC MX25L3206E

There are no other models supported by efiflasher and you can't make a substitution for another equivalent SPI flash memory model not on the list above.

 

[Siski125]

There are three different supported SPI flash memory models, you can only use anyone of the three:

• SST 25VF032B
• MXIC MX25L3205D
• MXIC MX25L3206E

There are no other models supported by efiflasher and you can't make a substitution for another equivalent SPI flash memory model not on the list above.

Hi there and THANKS for the "update" on the chips I'll check back at DigiKey for it but IF ever they don't have them where can I find them? I tried Mouser for the one you told me (modern) and they don't even stock it.

I just red a post (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-4-1-5-1-bricked-by-high-sierra-security-update.2270541/) and the way I can understand it I could copy my rom with romtool in my bricked mac and copy it over to a new chip but how do you know if my mac's rom isn't good? If it can be done this way gee it would be so sweet. I ordered the rom reader CH341A from Amazon will get it this monday and btw I bought a backplane too. The question is how long will my "new" backplane last until it bricks up on me. That is why I'm trying to understand all of this rom thing so that I don't end up buying backplanes every time my mac bricks.

Ok for now what I see is that I need to do all of this on OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) right, so that the SIP isn't locked and that RomTool works.

Thanks for the help!!!

 

[Siski125]

Ok just checked DigiKey for the parts none in stock and obsolete for SST 25VF032B the other 2 are not listed so now what?

 

[tsialex]

Hi there and THANKS for the "update" on the chips I'll check back at DigiKey for it but IF ever they don't have them where can I find them? I tried Mouser for the one you told me (modern) and they don't even stock it.

Right now everything is in short supply, search for alternative channels, like eBay/AliExpress.

I just red a post (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-4-1-5-1-bricked-by-high-sierra-security-update.2270541/) and the way I can understand it I could copy my rom with romtool in my bricked mac

If your Mac was booting. This is only valid for a working Mac Pro.

and copy it over to a new chip but how do you know if my mac's rom isn't good?

Let's be real, this is a firmware engineer job.

Back in the day, even Apple AASPs exchanged the backplane asking ~$900 and then the defective one was sent to a specialized repair centre to be refurbished.

For your bricked one, you can dump the SPI once desoldered with an external flash programmer like ch341a and try, but you will have to solder (and desolder back, if it's corrupt). This is not exactly productive.

If it can be done this way gee it would be so sweet. I ordered the rom reader CH341A from Amazon will get it this monday and btw I bought a backplane too. The question is how long will my "new" backplane last until it bricks up on me.

You will never know, you can get a lightly used backplane with low erase/re-write cycles or one that will die with the next Security Update.

That is why I'm trying to understand all of this rom thing so that I don't end up buying backplanes every time my mac bricks.

Ok for now what I see is that I need to do all of this on OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) right, so that the SIP isn't locked and that RomTool works.

Thanks for the help!!!

 

[Siski125]

Right now everything is in short supply, search for alternative channels, like eBay/AliExpress.


If your Mac was booting. This is only valid for a working Mac Pro.

Let's be real, this is a firmware engineer job.

Back in the day, even Apple AASPs exchanged the backplane asking ~$900 and then the defective one was sent to a specialized repair centre to be refurbished.

For your bricked one, you can dump the SPI once desoldered with an external flash programmer like ch341a and try, but you will have to solder (and desolder back, if it's corrupt). This is not exactly productive.


You will never know, you can get a lightly used backplane with low erase/re-write cycles or one that will die with the next Security Update.

Hi Alex and THANKS for the reply, yeah I know with this Covid thing it's not easy to get parts today but I will look into it on ebay/Aliexpress.

BTW I was thinking, I'm getting a backplane this week and I was thinking that since the rom is good on that board why can I just copy that good rom and put it on a new rom chip (when they'll be available) and solder it on my bad backplane?? Logical? Like I said it's ONLY a thought here. Again THANKS Alex!!!

 

[Siski125]

Btw can I just copy the rom (good one) directly from the board or I need to remove it?

Someone told me to investigate the reason why my Mac bricked, I told him that it was the rom chip was at the end of its life because of its read/write cycle. But IF it’s caused by something else where do I start to find the cause? I know console app in utilities documents things about the Mac I wonder if I can see anything in there? If so where would those files be in the dir?

Thanks!!!☺️

 

[Siski125]

S

 

[tsialex]

Btw can I just copy the rom (good one) directly from the board or I need to remove it?

My first post on this thread have this info clearly stated.

Someone told me to investigate the reason why my Mac bricked, I told him that it was the rom chip was at the end of its life because of its read/write cycle.

SPI flash failure from overuse of the NAND cells is one of reasons of a backplane failure to boot, it's not the only way or even the most common backplane failure caused by the BootROM.

NVRAM volume corruption is the most common one, by far.

But IF it’s caused by something else where do I start to find the cause? I know console app in utilities documents things about the Mac I wonder if I can see anything in there? If so where would those files be in the dir?

Thanks!!!☺️

How about you do the basic first and check if your backplane can be revived with MP51.fd?

This is the post number 41 of this thread and from the questions you ask you didn't even checked that and now you want to investigate other possible failure modes that demand advance and multi-disciplinary knowledge.

Even if you are asking this with the fear that something in your main disk have some issue that can corrupt the BootROM of your replacement backplane again, you can always install a brand new disk/nuke the old disk and start fresh with a clean install.

BTW I was thinking, I'm getting a backplane this week and I was thinking that since the rom is good on that board why can I just copy that good rom and put it on a new rom chip (when they'll be available) and solder it on my bad backplane??

Wow, no one ever thought of that!

What you are proposing is to make a clone. When Apple detects it on the next security audit they will block both your Mac Pros and your iCloud/Messages/FaceTime logins and you will have lot's of explaining to do to with Apple support to unlock your accounts.

Clones are easily identifiable by Apple since the MAC Addresses are not stored inside the backplane BootROM and out of reach of most wannabe hackers or people going the easy way.

Each Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controller has its own SPI flash memory for the firmware and configuration - MAC Address are stored with the configuration data.

Logical?

Like I said it's ONLY a thought here. Again THANKS Alex!!!

Some of your thoughts on this thread don't pass basic reasoning, even more after I clearly explained that Macs are not C64/AppleII/90's PCs that have one identical firmware/BIOS/ROM image for millions of units - each Mac have it's own unique/tailored BootROM and the BootROM is an image that contains different things/with different purposes inside and it's serialized with 7 different and distinct identifiers - please read post #32 here, this was clearly explained on the first phrase of that post.

 

[Siski125]

How about you do the basic first and check if your backplane can be revived with MP51.fd?

Ok got the chip out no bigie here but didn't use that much kapton tape as you did hehehe, took about 1mi 1/2 to get it out maybe less. Ok now to plug this sucker in a "v" clip and disable the SIP and hopfully RomTool would read it BUT don't have a chip to try it. BTW where is the MP5.1.fd file? I have the pic of that page and wonder if this is the file (first on) that I must get. Yeah it's not like in the past in my old Commode/Amiga days where you could swap chips without any of this stuff that we have now that is all serialized. It's been a very long time that I didn't do "hacking" hardware since my Commodore/Amiga days so I forgot allot of what I did at that time and didn't "keep up" with the advancements since. So I can say that I'm a newbie to all of this BUT I don't have the time to learn all of this like I did when I was a kid.

THANKS Alex!!!

 

[Siski125]

Ok tried to do a dump BUT it ask me what chip do I have but what they gave me isn't there (pic), mine is a (SS25VF0328). So what do I do now? The first pic is what it THINKS that I have and the other pic is the choice of chips to chose from but the one I have isn't there.

THANKS!!

 

[tsialex]

BTW where is the MP5.1.fd file?

The very first post of mine on this thread already have this info. It's extremely disrespectful of my time rewriting things and going in circles like this.

 

[tsialex]

Ok tried to do a dump BUT it ask me what chip do I have but what they gave me isn't there (pic), mine is a (SS25VF0328). So what do I do now? The first pic is what it THINKS that I have and the other pic is the choice of chips to chose from but the one I have isn't there.

THANKS!!

SST25VF032B is autodetected, so you are trying to read a backplane that have another SPI flash model, a MXIC that have multiple models for the same chipID.

You have to check U8700 for the model used on the backplane you want to dump.

 

[Siski125]

SST25VF032B is autodetected, so you are trying to read a backplane that have another SPI flash model, a MXIC that have multiple models for the same chipID.

You have to check U8700 for the model used on the backplane you want to dump.

Here's a pic that I took from the chip that I removed from the backplane and yes I do confirm that is chip U8700 (Rom written beside it) beside the 2 graphic card power plugs.

I just want to say that I'm sorry if I don't seem to respect you in any way, it is NOT my attention to do so in any way. I don't want to argue with you , get you mad, disrespect you, piss you off in ANY WAY, again I am sorry if I make you feel this way because of my actions here and to be honest with you I'm not doing this on purpose.

Thanks!!☺️

 

[tsialex]

Here's a pic that I took from the chip that I removed from the backplane and yes I do confirm that is chip U8700 (Rom written beside it) beside the 2 graphic card power plugs.

Going in circles again. Don't matter the SPI flash model removed from the dead backplane, but the model installed on the working one that you are trying to dump with ROMTool.

ROMTool will never ask you to confirm the SPI flash model when is a SST 25VF032B, it's a one model only chipID.

If ROMTool asks you to confirm the model of the SPI flash memory from the backplane, it's not a SST 25VF032B, it's a MXIC 25L320___ and you need to look at U8700 and see the exact model since this chipID is used by multiple models of SPI flash memories manufactured by Macronix.

If you select the wrong model, you can brick the backplane - not a common occurrence with Mac Pros, but crucial to some MacBook Pros that will surely brick if the wrong model is selected.

 

[Siski125]

Ok here's the pic of my backplane where the rom was but I don't see anything beside what is written on the board to tell me the chip #.

 

[tsialex]

Ok here's the pic of my backplane where the rom was but I don't see anything beside what is written on the board to tell me the chip #.

Please read again my last post, it's not difficult to understand that SPI that was installed on the dead backplane have nothing to do with the new backplane that you are trying to dump with ROMTool - Apple used multiple sources of the SPI flash memory with early-2009 to mid-2012 Mac Pros:

• SST 25VF032B
• MXIC MX25L3205D
• MXIC MX25L3206E

It's the model installed right now on the new backplane.

 

[Siski125]

Please read again my last post, it's not difficult to understand that SPI that was installed on the dead backplane have nothing to do with the new backplane that you are trying to dump with ROMTool - Apple used multiple sources of the SPI flash memory with early-2009 to mid-2012 Mac Pros:

• SST 25VF032B
• MXIC MX25L3205D
• MXIC MX25L3206E

It's the model installed right now on the new backplane.

I didn’t get my other backplane the pic is my bricked one. My other backplane is stuck at customs for the past 3 days!! I just want to practice on this dead board to know if I’m doing it right but again I need new rom chips and I think that I saw some at Shop jimmy I’ll check later or tomorrow on this. I just wanted to do a dump and save it so that when I get my new board I could make a copy (backup) if ever…. But I still want to try and fix my bricked one. Now dl’ing mojave.