MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro 5,1 OCLP 2.4 - Sequoia boot to black, no response

[kkinto]

After months of trouble-free operation (including an OTA update to Sequoia 15.6) my Mac has stopped cold booting. On startup I simply get a black screen and everything is unresponsive, including keyboard(s) (via USB hub). If I boot with opt key I don't get the light grey screen I should (GOP mod to firmware) but get the same icons on black (all grey disk icons and EFI boot). The keyboard does not work so it just sits on that screen until eventually it restarts itself back to the black screen (no caps lock light either).

If NVRAM is reset (4 chimes) I can boot as normal to Mojave. If I restart from Mojave I can use option key to get bootpicker screen (grey now as expected) and keyboard functions and now I can select EFI boot and then black screen OC picker and I can select Sequoia and boot just fine. If I restart from Sequoia all is good and it boots as expected.

Once mac is shutdown and then later/next day restarted this all begins again. Sometimes holding option key will give me a grey screen, in which case I can select EFI boot and then OC bootpicker select Sequoia drive. Other times the bootpicker screen is black and then I have to clear NVRAM due to keyboard not operational and get back to Mojave and then repeat as above.

I have changed nothing in configs since it was running perfectly. What happens now as described is 100% repeatable - from a cold boot or a restart. One works, other doesn't.

Once I have got back to getting the grey bootpicker screen (Apple) then EFI boot can be selected (keyboard is functional) and I am good till next shutdown. If I get the black bootpicker then my Mac is stuck as in this mode keyboard doesn't not work and shutdown must be forced with power.

I have no idea what the black bootpicker screen on option-boot is. It looks identical to the apple one but on black. And once it comes up I am screwed.

I have gone as far as to re flash firmware but to no avail.

So:
If I boot normally from power off: black screen.
If I boot from power off with option - and get grey bootpicker -> select EFI boot -> select Sequoia -> boots fine
If I boot from power off with option and get BLACK bootpicker (no idea why) -> I have no keyboard -> not able to select EFIboot and so no boot. Only way to get grey bootpicker again is via NVRAM reset and Mojave.
When Sequoia is running and I do a warm restart it boots fine by itself without needing book picker.

Any ideas?

Thnx

 

[reader50]

Check voltage (or just replace) your PRAM battery. If you're lucky, that's all it is. Also, an SMC reset might be helpful.

Any chance you installed OC or OCLP to a 2nd drive's EFI partition at some point? It sounds like your MP is defaulting to a wrong install somewhere. Forcing the firmware boot picker allows you to point it to the correct EFI install.

 

[kkinto]

I dont have a new battery to replace the old one at the moment. The is no other EFI containing Opencore stuff on any other drive. I have tried SMC reset. No change.

 

[tsialex]

First thing to check is the RTC battery, replace it if the voltage is below 3.00VDC. RTC not working will cause all sort of issues.

 

[kkinto]

First thing to check is the RTC battery, replace it if the voltage is below 3.00VDC. RTC not working will cause all sort of issues.

OK thanks. I have managed to find another battery and changed it.It seems the Mac is now booting OK but I can no longer connect my bluetooth mouse!

I have tried many PRAM resets and SMC but nothing seems to help anymore. The bluetooth can only identify a nearby Mac Mini.

When booting in Mojave the magic mouse appears and works as expected. I have removed the OCLP bluetooth spoof kext which usually gives problems after rebuild and reinstalling it but that did not help unfortunately.

 

[tsialex]

OK thanks. I have managed to find another battery and changed it.

Remember that you need to replace it with a real BR2032! Order one.

It seems the Mac is now booting OK but I can no longer connect my bluetooth mouse!

I have tried many PRAM resets and SMC but nothing seems to help anymore. The bluetooth can only identify a nearby Mac Mini.

When booting in Mojave the magic mouse appears and works as expected. I have removed the OCLP bluetooth spoof kext which usually gives problems after rebuild and reinstalling it but that did not help unfortunately.

Did you reset the RTC after changing the battery? You need to press the RTC reset button once the battery was replaced.

Did you re-flash the reconstructed image? Start fresh, without any BT variables inside the NVRAM, then you start to investigate your OCLP config issues.

Btw, since it works with Mojave, this is essentially a OCLP config issue.

 

[tsialex]

Another thing, after Mojave, Apple changed the syntax of the NVRAM BT related entries/variables (there are two different ones for configuring the BT controller and devices), you always need to re-boot again when you change from Mojave to Catalina and newer, vice-versa too, to have the BT working.

If you do not reboot, the variables are set for the previous version you used and will not work with the macOS version you changed to - no BT at all.

 

[kkinto]

Thanks Alex. No I did not reset the RTC! I tried to find out what that button was but could not find any info. I had a feeling it might have been linked. I will try that.
Yes I got a BR2032 - I previously did this and ordered 2 as I cannot seem to find them in my country.
I have been testing all sorts of OCLP configurations as I really don't understand them, even reading and rereading documentation makes no sense. I tried older backups when mouse was working fine, did new ones. No luck. I noticed that sometimes my keyboard works in OCLP bootpicker and then with other configs it doesn't etc.
I will open up again and try that button. And then I will reflash the ROM again and try the rebooting. I will have to read up how to use the RTC reset button.

EDIT - No that did not change anything. I pressed the white button next to battery (with power cord in but Mac off).
I removed all drives except Mojave HDD and NVRAM reset x4. In Mojave recovery I turned off SIP and shutdown/restart in firmware mode and re-flashed firmware. Once booted with opencore EFI drive installed again I have the exact same result. The mouse will never appear in the "nearby devices".
And now in Mojave bluetooth is crossed out and no longer works. In system information it says “no information found”
In sequoia/monterey the system information is the same as before and Bluetooth seems on but will not show the mouse.

Spoiler: System Info for Bluetooth (Sequoia)

Bluetooth Controller:
Address: 28:F0:76:0A:54:23
State: On
Chipset: BCM_20703A1
Discoverable: On
Firmware Version: v169 c4825
Product ID: 0x0001
Supported Devices: 0x382039 < HFP AVRCP A2DP HID Braille AACP GATT Serial >
Transport: USB
Vendor ID: 0x004C (Apple)
Not Connected:
macmini:
Address: 58:B0:35:83:C71
kk_iPad:
Address: 4C:56:9D:2C:61:63
iphone-kk:
Address: A49:31:21:6C:45

 

[tsialex]

And now in Mojave bluetooth is crossed out and no longer works. In system information it says “no information found”

Reboot and check again. You need to boot twice to have BT working between Mojave and newer macOS releases or vice-versa.

 

[kkinto]

Reboot and check again. You need to boot twice to have BT working between Mojave and newer macOS releases or vice-versa.

Thanks Alex. I rebooted and via GOP bootpicker back into Mojave and bluetooth was functional again and immediately finding phone/ipad/mac mini and also my magic mouse which connected without problem. I was a little worried I had screwed something up with the Bluetooth when removing the video card etc to get at the battery.

Booting seems stable and predictable now.

In Sequoia or anything else (Monterey/Sonoma) with OCLP I have no mouse. Wifi works fine. I am not sure how to solve with OCLP but I will have to look into it. Previously there was a "bluetooth-Spoof.kext" that caused a problem unless removed from OCLP EFI and config. But that kext is not present in the current EFI / OC config. The system info on Mojave is much longer and more items:

Spoiler: System Infor Bluetooth (Mojave)

Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 6.0.14d13
Hardware, Features and Settings:
Name: mre’s Mac Pro
Address: 28-F0-76-0A-54-23
Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes
Handoff Supported: Yes
Instant Hot Spot Supported: Yes
Manufacturer: Broadcom
Transport: USB
Chipset: 20703A1
Firmware Version: v168 c4823
Bluetooth Power: On
Discoverable: Off
Connectable: Yes
Auto Seek Pointing: On
Remote wake: On
Vendor ID: 0x05AC
Product ID: 0x8290
HCI Version: 4.2 (0x8)
HCI Revision: 0x12D7
LMP Version: 4.2 (0x8)
LMP Subversion: 0x21A8
Device Type (Major): Computer
Device Type (Complete): Mac Desktop
Composite Class Of Device: 0x380104
Device Class (Major): 0x01
Device Class (Minor): 0x01
Service Class: 0x1C0
Auto Seek Keyboard: On
Devices (Paired, Configured, etc.):
04-69-f8-bb-bb-76:
Address: 04-69-F8-BB-BB-76
Major Type: Peripheral
Minor Type: Keyboard
Services:
Paired: Yes
Configured: Yes
Connected: No
Firmware Version: 0x0000
Class of Device: 0x05 0x10 0x2540
kk_iPad:
Address: 4C-56-9D-2C-61-63
Major Type: Miscellaneous
Minor Type: Unknown
Services:
Paired: No
Configured: Yes
Connected: No
Firmware Version: 0x0000
Class of Device: 0x00 0x00 0x0000
xmre:
Address: A4-D9-31-21-6C-45
Major Type: Miscellaneous
Minor Type: Unknown
Services:
Paired: No
Configured: Yes
Connected: No
Firmware Version: 0x0000
Class of Device: 0x00 0x00 0x0000
mikey-mouse:
Address: 7C-6D-62-EB-81-0D
Major Type: Peripheral
Minor Type: Mouse
Services: Apple Wireless Mouse
Paired: Yes
Configured: Yes
Connected: No
Manufacturer: Apple (0x3, 0x31C)
Firmware Version: 0x0084
Vendor ID: 0x05AC
Product ID: 0x030D
Class of Device: 0x05 0x20 0x2580
Host Connectable: Yes
EDR Supported: No
eSCO Supported: No
SSP Supported: No
Minis-Mouse:
Address: E4-8B-7F-13-8D-6B
Major Type: Peripheral
Minor Type: Mouse
Services: Apple Magic Mouse
Paired: Yes
Configured: Yes
Connected: No
Manufacturer: Apple (0x3, 0x31C)
Firmware Version: 0x0306
Vendor ID: 0x05AC
Product ID: 0x030D
Class of Device: 0x05 0x20 0x2580
Host Connectable: Yes
EDR Supported: No
eSCO Supported: No
SSP Supported: No
Services:
Bluetooth File Transfer:
Folder other devices can browse: ~/Public
When receiving items: Accept all without warning
State: Disabled
Bluetooth File Exchange:
Folder for accepted items: ~/Downloads
When other items are accepted: Save to location
When receiving items: Accept all without warning
State: Disabled
Bluetooth Internet Sharing:
State: Disabled
Incoming Serial Ports:
Bluetooth-Incoming-Port:
RFCOMM Channel: 3
Requires Authentication: No

So now I think you're right about OCLP configuration it must definitely be the problem. Unfortunately I get no response on their Discord ever. Also it seems, every OS I am running when I rebuild the EFI makes a different configuration even though the "Settings" are made the same. I think the problem is coming in the way it automatically decides on your hardware and somehow the OS seems to affect this.

 

[kkinto]

To try and solve the mouse/bluetooth I went back to following this video as it had worked before. I was also using the Opencore Configurator app like he explained except it did not identify the bluetooth-spoof.kext as present so I assumed it was not installed. However when I mounted and examined the EFI / OC config and the Kexts folder it actually was in there and enabled in the config. So I removed it from kexts and config and rebooted. But even though Bluetooth is now not crossed out and although it appears to be working, it cannot find the mouse.

 

[krakman]

Has your computer accidentally updated itself to Sequoia 15.7 beta?

 

[kkinto]

No its still 15.6 with auto updates off.

This is contents of NVRAM via terminal - not sure if its helpful. I can't really find out any OCLP info I understand about what the two bluetooth item values in there mean?

Spoiler: nvram -xp

% nvram -xp
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>SystemAudioVolume</key>
<data>
Og==
</data>
<key>SystemAudioVolumeDB</key>
<data>
+g==
</data>
<key>bluetoothExternalDongleFailed</key>
<data>
AA==
</data>
<key>bluetoothInternalControllerInfo</key>
<data>
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=
</data>
<key>boot-args</key>
<string>keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 -lilubetaall -btlfxallowanyaddr ipc_control_port_options=0 -nokcmismatchpanic</string>
<key>csr-active-config</key>
<data>
AwgAAA==
</data>
<key>fmm-computer-name</key>
<data>
aU1hYyBQcm8=
</data>
<key>run-efi-updater</key>
<data>
Tm8A
</data>
</dict>
</plist>

 

[kkinto]

After many many many boots and changing almost every possible setting with OCLP I have come to the conclusion that something is broken now with the bluetooth hardware. Wifi is working perfectly though so I don't reall understand what might be the problem. Even in Mojave, the only OS where it recognises and lists every bluetooth device it will not connect to any of them anymore, no matter how many restarts.

Mouse connects perfectly to my mac mini so that's not the problem here.

Since the mouse was working perfectly with the current system and OCLP 240 before I began to have problems with the booting and opened mac to change the battery I must assume something got screwed up when I was getting access to the battery. I can't figure out any other possibilities any more.

 

[reader50]

Have you tried booting into Mojave without OCLP? ie - hold option on boot, and select Mojave via the firmware boot picker. Mojave will run on a 4,1 or 5,1 either through OCLP, or without.

If BT settles down in Mojave when it's direct-booted (twice in a row per tsialex) then you'd know your hardware is OK.