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

[tsialex]

This post is a not BootROM exactly related but it's a post that I needed to do for sometime.

I gladly help people and I have a special interest in getting dumps - thanks a lot to people that have been helping me with BootROM dumps - to continue my research and find problems, like the multiple MemoryConfigs that I have been tracking recently.

Let's get to the matter, I'm having trouble with unsolicited PMs asking numerous things, from how to install Windows to how to flash GPUs or how to fake mid-2012 Mac Pros . Another thing, this has been a problem since the start, but lately more people are being disrespectful of my time, to the point that this become untenable and can't continue.

I have to prioritise and I can help more people with my research than trying to help non-sense/lazy/rude people asking things that don't matter. I have limited free time after all.

So, I blocked my PMs to people I don't follow. From now on, if you need my help with BootROM/NVRAM/SPI flash problems and want to ask me something or need help that need to go by PM, please ask me on the thread and I'll send a PM to you. Please don't ask me about unrelated things.

Thanks again to everyone that sent me dumps and provided support, you are great!

 

[flehman]

This post is a not BootROM exactly related but it's a post that I needed to do for sometime.

I gladly help people and I have a special interest in getting dumps - thanks a lot to people that have been helping me with BootROM dumps - to continue my research and find problems, like the multiple MemoryConfigs that I have been tracking recently.

Let's get to the matter, I'm having trouble with unsolicited PMs asking numerous things, from how to install Windows to how to flash GPUs or how to fake mid-2012 Mac Pros . Another thing, this has been a problem since the start, but lately more people are being disrespectful of my time, to the point that this become untenable and can't continue.

I have to prioritise and I can help more people with my research than trying to help non-sense/lazy/rude people asking things that don't matter. I have limited free time after all.

So, I blocked my PMs to people I don't follow. From now on, if you need my help with BootROM/NVRAM/SPI flash problems and want to ask me something or need help that need to go by PM, please ask me on the thread and I'll send a PM to you. Please don't ask me about unrelated things.

Thanks again to everyone that sent me dumps and provided support, you are great!

Sorry that is happening to you...that is terrible given the huge help you have been to so many of us with BootROM questions. Sadly, no good deed goes unpunished.

 

[tsialex]

Sorry that is happening to you...that is terrible given the huge help you have been to so many of us with BootROM questions. Sadly, no good deed goes unpunished.

Unfortunately people asking stupid/criminal things like faking a early-2009 as a mid-2012 are becoming common. I already talked about this in the past, if Apple blocked mid-2010 Macs from Mojave, I’d probably make a post on how SSN/HWC/SON/BD/LBSN/BootBlock of a mid-2012 differ from mid-2010, but doing this for re-sell profit is a line that I don’t cross.

People are people and I can’t change this, but I can prioritize my time stopping unsolicited PMs.

 

[tpivette89]

This post is a not BootROM exactly related but it's a post that I needed to do for sometime.

I gladly help people and I have a special interest in getting dumps - thanks a lot to people that have been helping me with BootROM dumps - to continue my research and find problems, like the multiple MemoryConfigs that I have been tracking recently.

Let's get to the matter, I'm having trouble with unsolicited PMs asking numerous things, from how to install Windows to how to flash GPUs or how to fake mid-2012 Mac Pros . Another thing, this has been a problem since the start, but lately more people are being disrespectful of my time, to the point that this become untenable and can't continue.

I have to prioritise and I can help more people with my research than trying to help non-sense/lazy/rude people asking things that don't matter. I have limited free time after all.

So, I blocked my PMs to people I don't follow. From now on, if you need my help with BootROM/NVRAM/SPI flash problems and want to ask me something or need help that need to go by PM, please ask me on the thread and I'll send a PM to you. Please don't ask me about unrelated things.

Thanks again to everyone that sent me dumps and provided support, you are great!

Does this apply to members you have PM'd prior to this? I had an issue with my 4,1<5,1 a few months ago and you sent me a message asking for a BootROM dump to see what was going on. I have since fixed the underlying issue (bad CPU) and have kind of set my Mac Pro on the back burner. I would still like to have my dump gone over just to be safe, but now it apparently may be difficult to contact you.

 

[tsialex]

Does this apply to members you have PM'd prior to this? I had an issue with my 4,1<5,1 a few months ago and you sent me a message asking for a BootROM dump to see what was going on. I have since fixed the underlying issue (bad CPU) and have kind of set my Mac Pro on the back burner. I would still like to have my dump gone over just to be safe, but now it apparently may be difficult to contact you.

Old PM threads are kept active, so you can continue a thread, but not post a new one to me. I already received PMs tonight from previous PM threads.

My intention is to desestimulate people that don't have sense and don't respect my time, I'll continue helping anyone in need of help about BootROM/NVRAM/SPI flash problems, just ask.

 

[Manzanito]

This post is a not BootROM exactly related but it's a post that I needed to do for sometime.

I gladly help people and I have a special interest in getting dumps - thanks a lot to people that have been helping me with BootROM dumps - to continue my research and find problems, like the multiple MemoryConfigs that I have been tracking recently.

Let's get to the matter, I'm having trouble with unsolicited PMs asking numerous things, from how to install Windows to how to flash GPUs or how to fake mid-2012 Mac Pros . Another thing, this has been a problem since the start, but lately more people are being disrespectful of my time, to the point that this become untenable and can't continue.

I have to prioritise and I can help more people with my research than trying to help non-sense/lazy/rude people asking things that don't matter. I have limited free time after all.

So, I blocked my PMs to people I don't follow. From now on, if you need my help with BootROM/NVRAM/SPI flash problems and want to ask me something or need help that need to go by PM, please ask me on the thread and I'll send a PM to you. Please don't ask me about unrelated things.

Thanks again to everyone that sent me dumps and provided support, you are great!

As someone that got help from you in the past, I’d like to say I’m sorry this is happening and thank you for the outstanding job you’re doing.

 

[flowrider]

There will always be those that will try to beat the system. Shame on them

Lou

 

[tsialex]

I'm trying to find someone who have a real MP5,1 with the basic dual CPU config (E5620 Westmere Quad 2.4GHz) to prove or disprove that the 10.14.4 stuttering is not just a MP4,1>5,1 with E5520 thing, anyone here still have it?

If you still have, can you do some tests with 10.14.4?

P.S.: Bonus points for anyone that changed the original Xeon for a pair of lower clock/power L56xx Xeon, lower the clock the better.
[doublepost=1555724866][/doublepost]Not everyone that follows the BootROM thread tracks everything, so I'm going to summarise the problem:

With 10.14.4, Apple made changes that caused some dual CPU Mac Pros to stutter when playing audio via iTunes/AudioCDs/Garageband/other audio applications. With some Macs this is easily reproduced, basic early 2009 dual CPU, stuttering happens every few seconds for some and two or three times a minute for others.

I tried to reproduce the stuttering and proved some things:

• only happens with dual CPUs trays, never happens with single CPU trays,
• not a MP4,1>5,1 upgrade adverse effect,
• it's not BootROM related, happens with 140.0.0.0.0, 141.0.0.0.0 and 142.0.0.0.0
  
• happens with real MP5,1 with dual CPU tray and E5520.
• same Xeon that has the stuttering with a dual CPU tray don't have it when installed in a single CPU tray, or with boot-args="cpus=1" NVRAM config,
• faster the Xeon, less stuttering happens,
• don't happen at all with 10.14.3, happen less with 10.14.5 DP2.

I'm thinking that this is a NUMA/NMI bug/race condition that affects every dual CPU Mac Pro with 10.14.4, but the higher CPU clock, faster QPI links, bigger caches hide the symptoms.

Every day more people are finding the problem, some are having GPU performance problems with 10.14.4 and dual CPU Mac Pros too, but the problem is more easily identifiable with lower clock Xeons than with faster ones.

 

[tsialex]

In other news, @Whistler Mac sent me his dump and it's the earliest MP4,1 dump to date, by one day from the previous one that I have the dump. Unfortunately, Netkas upgraded to MP5,1 and with overwritten BootBlock.

BD is 20090215:

 

[mrtang42]

@tsialex Hi, I recently picked up a duel CPU MP 4,1->5,1 from the local craigslist for only $100, so I join the party very late. I have followed your posts and learned quiet a lot, then managed to upgrade the GPU to vega 56 reference(secondary bios is only 150w TDP) with out any power modification. It seems 10.14.5 beta 2 is my only option due to the fan issue. Could you help me check if 10.14.5 beta 2 is still available to download for MP? My MP is not receiving any beta push in system update, after a clear install of 10.14.4. But if I use time machine to restore the 10.14.5 beta 2 from my macbook pro, MP will fail to start. It seems apple took down the beta 2 for MP 4,1?
Thank you.
BTW, I dont want to flash the bios of my GPU, because it will increase the TDP.

 

[tsialex]

@tsialex Could you help me check if 10.14.5 beta 2 is still available to download for MP? My MP is not receiving any beta push in system update, after a clear install of 10.14.4. But if I use time machine to restore the 10.14.5 beta 2 from my macbook pro, MP will fail to start. It seems apple took down the beta 2 for MP 4,1?

Still available for MP5,1 that have the Developer Seed profile installed:





MP4,1 was never supported and is blocked for every new release after ElCap:

 

[mrtang42]

@tsialex My MP is flashed to 5,1. It just can not receive any public beta. It did once. but after I reinstall the system, it no longer finds any public beta. I guess I will need to wait the 10.14.5 official one. Do you know where can I download the stand alone beta update package?

 

[tsialex]

@tsialex My MP is flashed to 5,1. It just can not receive any public beta. It did once. but after I reinstall the system, it no longer finds any public beta. I guess I will need to wait the 10.14.5 official one. Do you know where can I download the stand alone beta update package?

10.14.5DP2 is working correctly with Developer Seed catalog. Did you installed the Public Beta profile? I never used the Public Beta profile and can't help you with this catalog.

 

[mrtang42]

10.14.5DP2 is working correctly with Developer Seed catalog. Did you installed the Public Beta profile? I never used the Public Beta profile and can't help you with this catalog.

I did install the public beta profile. My macbook pro performs fine. Just the MP behaves very strange.

 

[Manzanito]

I'm trying to find someone who have a real MP5,1 with the basic dual CPU config (E5620 Westmere Quad 2.4GHz) to prove or disprove that the 10.14.4 stuttering is not just a MP4,1>5,1 with E5520 thing, anyone here still have it?

If you still have, can you do some tests with 10.14.4?

P.S.: Bonus points for anyone that changed the original Xeon for a pair of lower clock/power L56xx Xeon, lower the clock the better.
[doublepost=1555724866][/doublepost]Not everyone that follows the BootROM thread tracks everything, so I'm going to summarise the problem:

With 10.14.4, Apple made changes that caused some dual CPU Mac Pros to stutter when playing audio via iTunes/AudioCDs/Garageband/other audio applications. With some Macs this is easily reproduced, basic early 2009 dual CPU, stuttering happens every few seconds for some and two or three times a minute for others.

I tried to reproduce the stuttering and proved some things:

• only happens with dual CPUs trays, never happens with single CPU trays,
• not a MP4,1>5,1 upgrade adverse effect,
• it's not BootROM related, happens with 140.0.0.0.0, 141.0.0.0.0 and 142.0.0.0.0
  
• happens with real MP5,1 with dual CPU tray and E5520.
• same Xeon that has the stuttering with a dual CPU tray don't have it when installed in a single CPU tray, or with boot-args="cpus=1" NVRAM config,
• faster the Xeon, less stuttering happens,
• don't happen at all with 10.14.3, happen less with 10.14.5 DP2.

I'm thinking that this is a NUMA/NMI bug/race condition that affects every dual CPU Mac Pro with 10.14.4, but the higher CPU clock, faster QPI links, bigger caches hide the symptoms.

Every day more people are finding the problem, some are having GPU performance problems with 10.14.4 and dual CPU Mac Pros too, but the problem is more easily identifiable with lower clock Xeons than with faster ones.

That’s my exact config. I’m out for the weekend, but tell me what tests need to be done and I’ll do them as soon as I get home.

-Edit- Apparently the test is only to play audio files. From memory, I haven’t had audio playback issues since upgrading to 10.14.4, but will confirm when I get home tomorrow.

 

[LightBulbFun]

I'm trying to find someone who have a real MP5,1 with the basic dual CPU config (E5620 Westmere Quad 2.4GHz) to prove or disprove that the 10.14.4 stuttering is not just a MP4,1>5,1 with E5520 thing, anyone here still have it?

If you still have, can you do some tests with 10.14.4?

P.S.: Bonus points for anyone that changed the original Xeon for a pair of lower clock/power L56xx Xeon, lower the clock the better.
[doublepost=1555724866][/doublepost]Not everyone that follows the BootROM thread tracks everything, so I'm going to summarise the problem:

With 10.14.4, Apple made changes that caused some dual CPU Mac Pros to stutter when playing audio via iTunes/AudioCDs/Garageband/other audio applications. With some Macs this is easily reproduced, basic early 2009 dual CPU, stuttering happens every few seconds for some and two or three times a minute for others.

I tried to reproduce the stuttering and proved some things:

• only happens with dual CPUs trays, never happens with single CPU trays,
• not a MP4,1>5,1 upgrade adverse effect,
• it's not BootROM related, happens with 140.0.0.0.0, 141.0.0.0.0 and 142.0.0.0.0
  
• happens with real MP5,1 with dual CPU tray and E5520.
• same Xeon that has the stuttering with a dual CPU tray don't have it when installed in a single CPU tray, or with boot-args="cpus=1" NVRAM config,
• faster the Xeon, less stuttering happens,
• don't happen at all with 10.14.3, happen less with 10.14.5 DP2.

I'm thinking that this is a NUMA/NMI bug/race condition that affects every dual CPU Mac Pro with 10.14.4, but the higher CPU clock, faster QPI links, bigger caches hide the symptoms.

Every day more people are finding the problem, some are having GPU performance problems with 10.14.4 and dual CPU Mac Pros too, but the problem is more easily identifiable with lower clock Xeons than with faster ones.

for what its worth my MacPro5,1 configured as per my signature does not experience any audio stuttering

(curiously back when I rocked a MacPro2,1 as my main machine, the audio would randomly stutter for a period then go away, never did quite figure that one out)

I do wonder what graphics cards are the audio issues happening with?

IIRC 10.14.4 enabled DP/HDMI audio on Polaris Video cards, I wonder if that might be causing issues?

 

[tsialex]

for what its worth my MacPro5,1 configured as per my signature does not experience any audio stuttering

High clock, faster QPI, bigger caches mask the problem. @cdf is noticing worse benchmark numbers, tho.

(curiously back when I rocked a MacPro2,1 as my main machine, the audio would randomly stutter for a period then go away, never did quite figure that one out)

I do wonder what graphics cards are the audio issues happening with?

Stuttering happens with GTX 680 and RX 580 on my Macs and I booted 10.14.4 with GT120, still happens.

IIRC 10.14.4 enabled DP/HDMI audio on Polaris Video cards, I wonder if that might be causing issues?

No, this is NUMA/NMI related. The problem vanishes with cpus=1.

 

[Alex Sanders74]

I'm trying to find someone who have a real MP5,1 with the basic dual CPU config (E5620 Westmere Quad 2.4GHz) to prove or disprove that the 10.14.4 stuttering is not just a MP4,1>5,1 with E5520 thing, anyone here still have it?

If you still have, can you do some tests with 10.14.4?

P.S.: Bonus points for anyone that changed the original Xeon for a pair of lower clock/power L56xx Xeon, lower the clock the better.
[doublepost=1555724866][/doublepost]Not everyone that follows the BootROM thread tracks everything, so I'm going to summarise the problem:

With 10.14.4, Apple made changes that caused some dual CPU Mac Pros to stutter when playing audio via iTunes/AudioCDs/Garageband/other audio applications. With some Macs this is easily reproduced, basic early 2009 dual CPU, stuttering happens every few seconds for some and two or three times a minute for others.

I tried to reproduce the stuttering and proved some things:

• only happens with dual CPUs trays, never happens with single CPU trays,
• not a MP4,1>5,1 upgrade adverse effect,
• it's not BootROM related, happens with 140.0.0.0.0, 141.0.0.0.0 and 142.0.0.0.0
  
• happens with real MP5,1 with dual CPU tray and E5520.
• same Xeon that has the stuttering with a dual CPU tray don't have it when installed in a single CPU tray, or with boot-args="cpus=1" NVRAM config,
• faster the Xeon, less stuttering happens,
• don't happen at all with 10.14.3, happen less with 10.14.5 DP2.

I'm thinking that this is a NUMA/NMI bug/race condition that affects every dual CPU Mac Pro with 10.14.4, but the higher CPU clock, faster QPI links, bigger caches hide the symptoms.

Every day more people are finding the problem, some are having GPU performance problems with 10.14.4 and dual CPU Mac Pros too, but the problem is more easily identifiable with lower clock Xeons than with faster ones.

Sent two dumps to you previously for E5620 duals. You could review those if they'll help. Not running Mojave at present on either, so can't let you know if the stuttering is a problem. Each has a GTX970 installed so Mojave isn't an option at present.

Side note, I appreciate immensely all the help you gave in the past to not only myself, but all of the other legit people that love these cheese graters. Unfortunate that you have so many others pestering you...

 

[tsialex]

10.14.5 DP3 released, build 18F118d. Downloading it now.
[doublepost=1555956614][/doublepost]Still 141.0.0.0.0:

MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1812191621
‰Apple ROM Version
  Model:        MP51
  EFI Version:  141.0.0.0.0
  Date:         Wed Dec 19 16:15:33 2018
  Build Type:   Release

[doublepost=1555956805][/doublepost]MP6,1 got a new BootROM, 130.0.0.0.0:

$IBIOSI$ MP61.88Z.F000.B00.1904121119
Copyright (c) 2005-2019 Apple Inc.  All rights reserved.
Apple ROM Version
  Model:        MP61
  EFI Version:  130.0.0.0.0
  Built by:     root@saumon
  Date:         Fri Apr 12 11:19:25 PDT 2019
  Revision:     130 (B&I)
  ROM Version:  F000_B00
  Build Type:   Official Build, Release
  Compiler:     Apple clang version 3.0 (tags/Apple/clang-211.10.1) (based on LLVM 3.0svn)

 

[tsialex]

This is the most recent BootROM for every supported Mac that don't use T2/BridgeOS. Some MBPs and iMacs share EFI with others.

10.14.5 DP3 EFI Version table:

Mac:	EFI version:
IM13,1	285.0.0.0.0
IM14,1	137.0.0.0.0
IM14,2	137.0.0.0.0
IM14,3	137.0.0.0.0
IM14,4	197.0.0.0.0
IM15,1	228.0.0.0.0
IM16,1	227.0.0.0.0
IM16,2	227.0.0.0.0
IM17,1	166.0.0.0.0
IM18,1	172.0.0.0.0
IM18,3	172.0.0.0.0
IM19,1	220.260.167.0.0
MB10,1	175.0.0.0.0
MB8,1	181.0.0.0.0
MB9,1	181.0.0.0.0
MBA5,1	257.0.0.0.0
MBA6,1	115.0.0.0.0
MBA7,1	186.0.0.0.0
MBP10,1	255.0.0.0.0
MBP10,2	278.0.0.0.0
MBP11,1	153.0.0.0.0
MBP11,2	153.0.0.0.0
MBP11,4	191.0.0.0.0
MBP12,1	184.0.0.0.0
MBP13,1	233.0.0.0.0
MBP13,2	256.0.0.0.0
MBP13,3	256.0.0.0.0
MBP14,1	194.0.0.0.0
MBP14,2	194.0.0.0.0
MBP14,3	194.0.0.0.0
MBP9,1	226.0.0.0.0
MM6,1	278.0.0.0.0
MM7,1	242.0.0.0.0
MP5,1	141.0.0.0.0
MP6,1	130.0.0.0.0

 

[bsbeamer]

Strange, there's no listing for MBP11,3? Mine is currently at Boot ROM Version 151.0.0.0.0 and SMC Version (system) 2.19f12 with 10.14.4 (18E226).

 

[tsialex]

Strange, there's no listing for MBP11,3? Mine is currently at Boot ROM Version 151.0.0.0.0 and SMC Version (system) 2.19f12 with 10.14.4 (18E226).

Some Macs use/share EFI from other models, probably yours use the same from MBP11,2:

 

[LightBulbFun]

MBP11,3 uses same BootROM update files as MBP11,2 hence why ya dont see it on the list

same goes for the MBP9,2 sharing the MBP9,1s stuff etc

 

[tsialex]

New record by long margin, 29 different MemoryConfigs setups in the NVRAM:

1. 0x120076
2. 0x120ee2
3. 0x1216e2
4. 0x121ee2
5. 0x1228b0
6. 0x1230b0
7. 0x1238b0
8. 0x1245a3
9. 0x124da3
10. 0x1255a3
11. 0x1260f4
12. 0x1268f4
13. 0x1270f4
14. 0x127da9
15. 0x1285a9
16. 0x128da9
17. 0x1298fa
18. 0x12a0fa
19. 0x12a8fa
20. 0x12b34d
21. 0x12bb4d
22. 0x12c34d
23. 0x12d172
24. 0x12d972
25. 0x12e172
26. 0x130076
27. 0x130ee2
28. 0x1316e2
29. 0x131ee2

If anyone still thinks that this is a fluke…

Why the firmware are keeping this past memory configs? This takes time to parse and check, don't make any sense to keep this.

 

[LightBulbFun]

View attachment 834029
New record by long margin, 29 different MemoryConfigs setups in the NVRAM:

1. 0x120076
2. 0x120ee2
3. 0x1216e2
4. 0x121ee2
5. 0x1228b0
6. 0x1230b0
7. 0x1238b0
8. 0x1245a3
9. 0x124da3
10. 0x1255a3
11. 0x1260f4
12. 0x1268f4
13. 0x1270f4
14. 0x127da9
15. 0x1285a9
16. 0x128da9
17. 0x1298fa
18. 0x12a0fa
19. 0x12a8fa
20. 0x12b34d
21. 0x12bb4d
22. 0x12c34d
23. 0x12d172
24. 0x12d972
25. 0x12e172
26. 0x130076
27. 0x130ee2
28. 0x1316e2
29. 0x131ee2

If anyone still thinks that this is a fluke…

does this actually mean anything?

its there, but does it have any effect and can it be cleared by PRAM?

just mentioning this because its easy for people to get fear mongered into things that might not actually mean anything especially if people dont understand what they are looking at