MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0

[LightBulbFun]

It's pretty cool, really. I believe the MP4,1/5,1 hold the record in terms of sheer number of OS X/macOS versions they're compatible with. The 4,1 can even install Leopard, but I'm not sure if it's blocked from installing on the 5,1 (and 4,1s flashed to 5,1). But even if so, Snow Leopard to Mojave is a whopping nine versions. And call me an optimist but I think based on past history that chances are high next year's release will have the same compatibility list as Mojave. That would be ten versions!

Leopard will boot fine on a MP5,1 as long as you have Nehalem CPUs and not Westmere CPUs.

as for the system which can boot the most OSs, that would have to go to something like a Early 08 MBP4,1 which can boot 10.4.11 all the way to Mojave with some hacking.

(an iMac7,1 can also do the same if you upgrade the CPU to a Penryn one)

and in theory you could do the same with a MP3,1 but I have not seen anyone boot Tiger one however I suspect it should be possible as I saw a user here boot tiger on an Xserve2,1 which shares the same HW platform as the MP3,1.

Is Snow Leopard compatible with the new firmware?

the answer to that is literally right above you

 

[goMac]

Yeah, it actually works pretty will in Mojave. The GUI is smooth and fast so obviously you don't need metal support for just the interface. Watch video, working on documents, and browsing is not hampered at all.

You shouldn't be able to INSTALL the OS, or use metal accelerated applications properly, but the OS itself is fine.

It's probably a bad idea going forward to run Mojave without a Metal card. Yes, you can get around an run with the unaccelerated frame buffer, or maybe whatever is left of the OpenGL frame buffer. But the interface itself is going to start to be written on top of Metal only.

Just pony up the $200-$300 to get a Metal card before Apple punts you back to the unaccelerated frame buffer and starts ripping out a lot of their OpenGL code.

 

[flowrider]

Just flashed, the new firmware with the newest Mojave installer.

ASUS 1080 Ti.

Full 5.0 GT/s

Check "About This Mac">"System Report">"PCI" and see what it says about Link Speed.

It's cosmetic, I have always measured 5.0 GT/s with my MVC flashed Nvidia cards, even though the PCI report says 2.5 GT/s, as is does now.

Lou

 

[bookemdano]

Leopard will boot fine on a MP5,1 as long as you have Nehalem CPUs and not Westmere CPUs.

as for the system which can boot the most OSs, that would have to go to something like a Early 08 MBP4,1 which can boot 10.4.11 all the way to Mojave with some hacking.

(an iMac7,1 can also do the same if you upgrade the CPU to a Penryn one)

and in theory you could do the same with a MP3,1 but I have not seen anyone boot Tiger one however I suspect it should be possible as I saw a user here boot tiger on an Xserve2,1 which shares the same HW platform as the MP3,1.

Very true, although I meant "official" OS compatibility. I don't think Apple has ever supported any model over more revisions of macOS than the 5,1 cMP. The 4,1 officially stopped at 10.11 (so 7 versions total) but it got an unofficial free ride to 5,1 status. It's really been a pretty remarkable run, especially when you consider the platform has had four firmware updates just this year alone.

 

[eVasilis]

Hi all, just three questions: is it fine to assume that I can do a blind install of the latest firmware (138.0.0.0.0) just by running the 10.14 installer and has anybody with an unflashed nvidia card done so? Is there a difference as to how the gpu integrates with the rest of the OS under the new firmware?

Some info, I am on a 2010 12-core mac pro with a gtx 980, running HS 10.13.6

Thanks

 

[crjackson2134]

It's probably a bad idea going forward to run Mojave without a Metal card. Yes, you can get around an run with the unaccelerated frame buffer, or maybe whatever is left of the OpenGL frame buffer. But the interface itself is going to start to be written on top of Metal only.

Just pony up the $200-$300 to get a Metal card before Apple punts you back to the unaccelerated frame buffer and starts ripping out a lot of their OpenGL code.

I’ve already ponied up. My RX 580 has already shipped. It was an observation, not a recommendation at all.

 

[expede]

Hi!

So I have been away for a while. If I change my Firmware from 89´ to 138 do the link-speed increase from 2,5 to 5 GT/s? Should I change my NVMe M.2 form slot 3 to slot 2? Or what did this firmware update do? Did it change PCI 2.0 to PCI 3.0? Does anybody see an increase in Benchmark also? Or should I stay put on my 89' and rest until the official release of Mojave?

Best regards

/Per

 

[tsialex]

Hi!

So I have been away for a while. If I change my Firmware from 89´ to 138 do the link-speed increase from 2,5 to 5 GT/s? Should I change my NVMe M.2 form slot 3 to slot 2? Or what did this firmware update do? Did it change PCI 2.0 to PCI 3.0? Does anybody see an increase in Benchmark also? Or should I stay put on my 89' and rest until the official release of Mojave?

Best regards

/Per

Your hardware didn't change, still PCIe2.0. Now GPUs are correctly identified and run at 5.0GT/s. Changing slots won't change anything for PCIe SSDs.

Benchmarks got some little/marginal increase.
[doublepost=1534446317][/doublepost]

Hi all, just three questions: is it fine to assume that I can do a blind install of the latest firmware (138.0.0.0.0) just by running the 10.14 installer and has anybody with an unflashed nvidia card done so? Is there a difference as to how the gpu integrates with the rest of the OS under the new firmware?

Some info, I am on a 2010 12-core mac pro with a gtx 980, running HS 10.13.6

Thanks

Download DP7/PB6 then open the installer, most people got the firmware update instructions screen but for some the update was blocked with some cards (GTX1080, RX470 and even a supported EFI GTX680). We still don't know exactly why, but we're trying to figure.

With Nvidia cards, Apple change Metal support in Mojave, from family1v3 in 10.13.6 to family1v4 in Mojave.

 

[flowrider]

Your hardware didn't change, still PCIe2.0. Now GPUs are correctly identified and run at 5.0GT/s.

As I indicated in my earlier posts - not always.

Lou

 

[tsialex]

As I indicated in my earlier posts - not always.

Lou

Correct me, but the GPUs that didn't show 5GT/s on 138.0.0.0.00 are the Nvidia ones with power savings that downgrade the link, no?

 

[eVasilis]

Your hardware didn't change, still PCIe2.0. Now GPUs are correctly identified and run at 5.0GT/s. Changing slots won't change anything for PCIe SSDs.

Benchmarks got some little/marginal increase.
[doublepost=1534446317][/doublepost]
Download DP7/PB6 then open the installer, most people got the firmware update instructions screen but for some the update was blocked with some cards (GTX1080, RX470 and even a supported EFI GTX680). We still don't know exactly why, but we're trying to figure.

With Nvidia cards, Apple change Metal support in Mojave, from family1v3 in 10.13.6 to family1v4 in Mojave.

Thanks for your reply! I went through with it and now bootrom is 138.0.0.0.0. However, my gpu is still reported as family1v3; correct bandwidth though.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks for your reply! I went through with it and now bootrom is 138.0.0.0.0. However, my gpu is still reported as family1v3; correct bandwidth though.

Did you check on Mojave? 1v4 only on Mojave, 1v3 on 10.13.6

If you checked on Mojave, what's your GPU?

 

[handheldgames]

From my true 5,1 I'm still blocked from a Mojave B7 full install from Mojave b7 / firmware 0089 with a rx480 and a 7950 with EFI. I hoped using the 7950 would get past the error.

Once I can install High Sierra on a separate SSD, I'll attempt the upgrading the EFI firmware from a fresh upgrade of Mojave. Hopefully that task won't be blocked.

Thus far I have a 2009 upgraded to Mojave b7 / 0138 and NVME. A 2010 with b7 / 0089 is blocked from 0138, and a 2009 with 0085 is on the sidelines, waiting for the dust to clear.

 

[tsialex]

From my true 5,1 I'm still blocked from a Mojave B7 full install from Mojave b7 / firmware 0089 with a rx480 and a 7950 with EFI. I hoped using the 7950 would get past the error.

Once I can install High Sierra on a separate SSD, I'll attempt the upgrading the EFI firmware from a fresh upgrade of Mojave. Hopefully that task won't be blocked.

Thus far I have a 2009 upgraded to Mojave b7 / 0138 and NVME. A 2010 with b7 / 0089 is blocked from 0138, and a 2009 with 0085 is on the sidelines, waiting for the dust to clear.

PM me with the ROM dump from the Mac that you're blocked. Maybe I have a solution for this, but I have to check first your BootROM dump.

 

[eVasilis]

Did you check on Mojave? 1v4 only on Mojave, 1v3 on 10.13.6

If you checked on Mojave, what's your GPU?

Just got it. I am on 10.13.6 so it's justified. My GPU is a GTX 980 so I can't install Mojave yet as there no drivers out.

Cheers

 

[flowrider]

Correct me, but the GPUs that didn't show 5GT/s on 138.0.0.0.00 are the Nvidia ones with power savings that downgrade the link, no?

Mine is a GTX 1080. So maybe yes. However, as I have said it's a cosmetic issue. Cuda-Z and OceanWave show that it is indeed 5 GT/s.

Lou

 

[tsialex]

I'm developing a easier way (with just one hex edit) to personalise Apple LOCKED.fd files with UEFITool. I tested this with @crjackson2134 with MP51.0089.B00.LOCKED.fd and MP51.fd (138.0.0.0.0) BootROMs.

Seems to work nicely and once you hex edited the module you can reapply to every BootROM released by Apple. This will be important injecting NVMe from now on.

So no more anxious hex edits all over the place. I'll later write up what's needed to do. If someone want's to test it too, PM me.

 

[MisterAndrew]

There doesn't seem to be much logic to which GPUs the installer will like. Works on RX 580, 560, and Vega FE, but not Vega 56 or RX 480?

 

[tsialex]

There doesn't seem to be much logic to which GPUs the installer will like. Works on RX 580, 560, and Vega FE, but not Vega 56 or RX 480?

Yeah, it's really weird. We need more data to infer anything.

 

[tpivette89]

Just tried to download the full installer from 10.13.6 using an unflashed 7970 (fire vault disabled) and was blocked (only option after clicking was to "quit"). Seems as though this particular card is also prevented for some reason. Strange, as I was able to do it just fine on other versions. I'm on firmware 89.

Does the firmware update come with the HS installer? Or is it just the newest Mojave beta?

 

[XNorth]

That's interesting. Does it still have the fan speed issue?

I just posted here that out of nowhere the Vega FE is running quiet for the first time, but extremely hot. I'm going to reboot and see if this is a fluke or what.

 

[tsialex]

Just tried to download the full installer from 10.13.6 using an unflashed 7970 (fire vault disabled) and was blocked (only option after clicking was to "quit"). Seems as though this particular card is also prevented for some reason. Strange, as I was able to do it just fine on other versions. I'm on firmware 89.

Does the firmware update come with the HS installer? Or is it just the newest Mojave beta?

Mojave DP7/PB6 only.

I've flashed one Mac Pro with HD 7870 (7950 Mac EFI) and another with eVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition. So if you could update to MP51.0089.B00 with your card, you should update to 138.0.0.0.0. Something is going on…

 

[tpivette89]

Mojave DP7/PB6 only.

I've flashed one Mac Pro with HD 7870 (7950 Mac EFI) and another with eVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition. So if you could update to MP51.0089.B00 with your card, you should update to 138.0.0.0.0. Something is going on…

For whatever reason, being on 10.13.6 would not let me download the full Mojave installer. Once I switched to my Mojave partition (PB 6), I was able to download it and successfully install the 138 firmware.

 

[Pavo]

There doesn't seem to be much logic to which GPUs the installer will like. Works on RX 580, 560, and Vega FE, but not Vega 56 or RX 480?

My Sapphire Nitro+ OC RX 480 worked just fine.

 

[handheldgames]

I upgraded a 2nd 2009 cMP with a rx480 this evening from 0085 to 0138 using a fresh install of 10.3.6 and the Mojave installer. Upgrading to NVME works as expected. Rebooting into Mojave the RX480 is running at 5.0 GTS and to my surprise, the rx480 audio driver is also loaded. My Crossover 324k once again outputs audio over Display Port.

Christmas has a come early this year. I can finally use my Mac Pro as a htpc.