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

tsialex · Jun 14, 2020

Hi @tsialex

I was hoping you could check my BootRom that I have extracted for my MacPro5,1 - I think it has the Security Certificate on the NVRam? But to be honest I'm not 100% sure what I should be looking for, and If I do find it how to fix the problem?

I'm 99% sure I have installed windows using UEFI so wouldn't be surprised if the rom has the issue.

My goal is to install 144 without a Metal GPU and then run Windows 10 (legacy)

Thanks for your help!

Code:

DECIMAL       HEXADECIMAL     DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0             0x0             UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
24972         0x618C          CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
35787         0x8BCB          mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
524288        0x80000         UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
549260        0x8618C         CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
560075        0x88BCB         mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
1048576       0x100000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1064960       0x104000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1065216       0x104100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-01-24, rev 0x001c, size 11264
1076480       0x106D00        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1084672       0x108D00        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-01-23, rev 0x001e, size 10240
1114112       0x110000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1130496       0x114000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1130752       0x114100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-01-24, rev 0x001c, size 11264
1142016       0x116D00        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1150208       0x118D00        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-01-23, rev 0x001e, size 10240
1179648       0x120000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 196608, header size: 1, revision: 0, Variable Storage, GUID: FFF12B8D-7696-4C8B-85A9-2747075B4F50
1202824       0x125A88        XML document, version: "1.0"
1343511       0x148017        bzip2 compressed data, block size = 100k
1376256       0x150000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 2686976, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
4063232       0x3E0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: E3B980A9-5FE3-48E5-929B-2798385A9027
4128768       0x3F0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 0, revision: 0, Apple Boot Volume, GUID: 04ADEEAD-61FF-4D31-BAB6-64F8BF901F5A

A binwalk report with double SecureBoot combos (certificates/DBs/PKs):

Code:

DECIMAL       HEXADECIMAL     DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0             0x0             UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
24972         0x618C          CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
35787         0x8BCB          mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
524288        0x80000         UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
549260        0x8618C         CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
560075        0x88BCB         mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
1048576       0x100000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1064960       0x104000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1065216       0x104100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-11, rev 0x001d, size 12288
1077504       0x107100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1085696       0x109100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-08, rev 0x001f, size 11264
1114112       0x110000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1130496       0x114000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1130752       0x114100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-11, rev 0x001d, size 12288
1143040       0x117100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1151232       0x119100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-08, rev 0x001f, size 11264
1179648       0x120000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 196608, header size: 1, revision: 0, Variable Storage, GUID: FFF12B8D-7696-4C8B-85A9-2747075B4F50
1185570       0x121722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1251106       0x131722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1343511       0x148017        bzip2 compressed data, block size = 100k
1376256       0x150000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 2686976, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
4063232       0x3E0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: E3B980A9-5FE3-48E5-929B-2798385A9027
4128768       0x3F0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 0, revision: 0, Apple Boot Volume, GUID: 04ADEEAD-61FF-4D31-BAB6-64F8BF901F5A

This is just the SecureBoot combos:

Code:

1185570       0x121722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1251106       0x131722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986

frenchfrys · Jun 14, 2020

tsialex said:

A binwalk report with double SecureBoot combos (certificates/DBs/PKs):

Code:

DECIMAL       HEXADECIMAL     DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0             0x0             UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
24972         0x618C          CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
35787         0x8BCB          mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
524288        0x80000         UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 524288, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
549260        0x8618C         CRC32 polynomial table, little endian
560075        0x88BCB         mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
1048576       0x100000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1064960       0x104000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1065216       0x104100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-11, rev 0x001d, size 12288
1077504       0x107100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1085696       0x109100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-08, rev 0x001f, size 11264
1114112       0x110000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 16384, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1130496       0x114000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 49152, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: 153D2197-29BD-44DC-59AC-887F70E41A6B
1130752       0x114100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000106a5, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-11, rev 0x001d, size 12288
1143040       0x117100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c0, pf_mask 0x13, 2009-08-20, rev 0x-ffea, size 8192
1151232       0x119100        Intel x86 or x64 microcode, sig 0x000206c2, pf_mask 0x03, 2018-05-08, rev 0x001f, size 11264
1179648       0x120000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 196608, header size: 1, revision: 0, Variable Storage, GUID: FFF12B8D-7696-4C8B-85A9-2747075B4F50
1185570       0x121722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1251106       0x131722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1343511       0x148017        bzip2 compressed data, block size = 100k
1376256       0x150000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 2686976, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
4063232       0x3E0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 1, revision: 0, GUID: E3B980A9-5FE3-48E5-929B-2798385A9027
4128768       0x3F0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 65536, header size: 0, revision: 0, Apple Boot Volume, GUID: 04ADEEAD-61FF-4D31-BAB6-64F8BF901F5A

This is just the SecureBoot combos:

Code:

1185570       0x121722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1251106       0x131722        Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986

Thankyou @tsialex

So my Nvram is clean

Its back to the drawing board as to why my Mac Pro blue screens when running Windows (I've tried 7 and 10) getting a machine check failure, or hardware failures :?

tsialex · Jun 14, 2020

frenchfrys said:
Thankyou @tsialex

So my Nvram is clean

Its back to the drawing board as to why my Mac Pro blue screens when running Windows (I've tried 7 and 10) getting a machine check failure, or hardware failures :?

I didn’t say that your NVRAM is clean, just that you don’t have SecureBoot combos. Several Mac Pros had NVRAM corruption without ever had run Windows.

The best way to check for corruption is to count how many MemoryConfig entries are in the NVRAM, usually it’s around 29 or 30 MemoryConfig entries that you can’t boot anymore.

Run AHT and ASD to check for hardware problems.

scottjua · Jun 27, 2020

waimtrp said:
i can confirmed it work with cMP 4,1/5,1 , i order one and it arrived today , tested it with my 4,1>5,1 , installed to the x16 lane slot , show running at x4 8GT/s , i only have SM951 to test, and even with only one SSD installed, the speed is faster then the x4 adapter i used before , tested with RAID 0 SM951, speed is close to the 7101A , very happy now .
[doublepost=1539780329][/doublepost]
confirmed this card work

Does it have to be in a 16x slot? I was worried about it blocking airflow to the RX580

tsialex · Jun 30, 2020

Apple just released 10.15.6 DP3 build 19G60d. This one has new EFI firmwares for non-BridgeOS Macs, since EFICheck AllowListAll v93 was released too.

Downloading it now.

MP6,1:

Code:

$IBIOSI$    MP61.88Z.F000.B00.2006101810
Copyright (c) 2005-2020 Apple Inc.  All rights reserved.
  Model:        MP61
  EFI Version:  137.0.0.0.0
  Built by:     root@saumon
  Date:         Wed Jun 10 18:10:26 PDT 2020
  Revision:     137 (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 · Jun 30, 2020

New EFI firmwares were assembled on June 19, seems all Macs got updated, I'll confirm it later today.

MM6,1: (went from 284.0.0.0.0 to 286.0.0.0.0)

Code:

$IBIOSI$    MM61.88Z.F000.B00.2006101936
Copyright (c) 2005-2020 Apple Inc.  All rights reserved.
Apple ROM Version
  Model:        MM61
  EFI Version:  286.0.0.0.0
  Built by:     root@saumon
  Date:         Wed Jun 10 19:36:34 PDT 2020
  Revision:     286 (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 · Jul 1, 2020

Complete list of EFI versions as of 10.15.6 DP3 build 19G60d.

Mac:	EFI version:
IM13,1	292.0.0.0.0
IM14,1	146.0.0.0.0
IM14,2	146.0.0.0.0
IM14,3	146.0.0.0.0
IM14,4	204.0.0.0.0
IM15,1	235.0.0.0.0
IM16,1	236.0.0.0.0
IM16,2	236.0.0.0.0
IM17,1	428.0.0.0.0
IM18,1	428.0.0.0.0
IM18,3	428.0.0.0.0
IM19,1	1037.140.50.0.0
MB10,1	428.0.0.0.0
MB8,1	190.0.0.0.0
MB9,1	428.0.0.0.0
MBA5,1	264.0.0.0.0
MBA6,1	122.0.0.0.0
MBA7,1	195.0.0.0.0
MBP10,1	262.0.0.0.0
MBP10,2	286.0.0.0.0
MBP11,1	162.0.0.0.0
MBP11,2	162.0.0.0.0
MBP11,4	199.0.0.0.0
MBP12,1	192.0.0.0.0
MBP13,1	428.0.0.0.0
MBP13,2	428.0.0.0.0
MBP13,3	428.0.0.0.0
MBP14,1	428.0.0.0.0
MBP14,2	428.0.0.0.0
MBP14,3	428.0.0.0.0
MBP9,1	233.0.0.0.0
MM6,1	286.0.0.0.0
MM7,1	249.0.0.0.0
MP6,1	137.0.0.0.0

Several Macs that had 18x.0.0.0.0 or 24x.0.0.0.0 versions got upgraded to 428.0.0.0.0 release. Seems related to Big Sur, since only Big Sur supported Macs got the new EFI release, but not all Big Sur supported Macs got it, for example MM7,1 and MP6,1 didn't got the new 428.0.0.0.0 EFI.

Code:

Apple ROM Version
  BIOS ID:      IM171.88Z.F000.B00.2006161817
  Model:        IM171
  EFI Version:  428.0.0.0.0
  Built by:     _securitya@osx400
  Date:         Tue Jun 16 18:17:39 2020
  Revision:     428 (B&I)
  ROM Version:  F000_B00
  Build Type:   Official Build, RELEASE
  Compiler:     clang-1103.0.29.20
  UUID:         38BB1E53-CD49-3D0A-AF15-0DF7E7299BAB
  UUID:         8EC4FB17-FF8A-3EA0-AD18-E3D57D8D5418

kitcostantino · Jul 2, 2020

I am trying to find an answer. i have a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 dual processor that i had to replace he backplane board on recently. prior to replacing the backplane, it started to boot, then stopped. going through the troubleshooting, (tech guide) i still could not get it to boot. all of the symptoms and troubleshooting pointed to a power issue, so i pulled the power supply from my other working good 2010 just to eliminate that as a possible point of failure. when it remained in the same state, i rolled the dice on a used 2012 5,1 server backplane. it resolved the power issue, but was on BootRom MP51.0084.B00. So i made an installer usb, put in a new ssd, and never was able to get it to work. after reading through MacPro Upgrade group on FB and posting with several replies, i still, after almost a week, cannot get any installer to work. i even pulled spare cloned drives of my Mojave install, as it was suggested the lack of a hdd with Mac OS on it would prevent install. i also made several install ssds/usb and none will boot, nor install to the 5,1. the machine just loops on the loading screen (white with apple logo and progress bar) literally for hours. i have gotten it into recovery a few times, but again, it wont let me install from my (updated to the no expiry) installers for el capitan, high sierra, etc). after hours of white screen bootloop yesterday, i noticed a red light on the proc tray boardpowered off. the tray itself, despite only having 7gb ram, boots in my previous 5,1 fine. i picked up a pair of 3.46ghz x5677, and am tempted to install them just to rule out proc. but im wondering if there is a boot rom issue between the new board and my drives. the northbridge is intact and not broken. i have spemt the last week trying to get this machine up and running. Despite many helpful suggestions, and days/hours of searching for answers myself, i feel like i missed some rudimentary step in updating the boot rom. any basic logicboard swap step i missed?
i
UPDATE/EDIT: thank you for your help @tsialex
While i was not able to get Sierra to make a bootable installer, (apparently, the createusb still has issues with the updated non-expired cert version). i was able to get El Capitan to create a usb installer and update. Also, now i see why the 5,1 I bought had El Capitan, and nothing higher installed. The seller probably had a hard time. Thank you for the intel, brother. you made my week.

tsialex · Jul 2, 2020

kitcostantino said:
I am trying to find an answer. i have a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 dual processor that i had to replace he backplane board on recently. prior to replacing the backplane, it started to boot, then stopped. going through the troubleshooting, (tech guide) i still could not get it to boot. all of the symptoms and troubleshooting pointed to a power issue, so i pulled the power supply from my other working good 2010 just to eliminate that as a possible point of failure. when it remained in the same state, i rolled the dice on a used 2012 5,1 server backplane. it resolved the power issue, but was on BootRom MP51.0084.B00. So i made an installer usb, put in a new ssd, and never was able to get it to work. after reading through MacPro Upgrade group on FB and posting with several replies, i still, after almost a week, cannot get any installer to work. i even pulled spare cloned drives of my Mojave install, as it was suggested the lack of a hdd with Mac OS on it would prevent install. i also made several install ssds/usb and none will boot, nor install to the 5,1. the machine just loops on the loading screen (white with apple logo and progress bar) literally for hours. i have gotten it into recovery a few times, but again, it wont let me install from my (updated to the no expiry) installers for el capitan, high sierra, etc). after hours of white screen bootloop yesterday, i noticed a red light on the proc tray boardpowered off. the tray itself, despite only having 7gb ram, boots in my previous 5,1 fine.

You have to start from Sierra, the most recent macOS release that works without a firmware upgrade.

See the If nothing above works for you, try this: section of the first post of the thread below:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

Install Sierra from your working Mac Pro to a new/erased disk, then move to the other one, upgrade the firmware to High Sierra, then download and open the Mojave installer to upgrade to the current 144.0.0.0.0 firmware.

aLukaT · Jul 4, 2020

tsialex said:
I knew that isn’t gonna work, but let’s test…

View attachment 780084

View attachment 780082
[doublepost=1536320679][/doublepost]My Mac Pro is incredibly dirty and I cleaned with compressed air less than two months ago.

Hey,

I've bricked my MP 5,1 with forced shutdown during Firmware Upgrade and spent days trying to resurrect it. I've ordered new backplate yesterday of Ebay and today, I've tried this...

My programator managed to see the chip, and managed to erase it, but couldn't verify it after reading. I tryied booting up, but it didn't boot up, and opened machine off...

I've cleaned dust around chip, removed the battery, disconnected PSU and held power button for few seconds - and then flashed it with MP51_007F_03B_LOCKED.fd

And it lives!

I've dumped broken firmware if it is any use to you... and can send it if you need it for some research :d

I flashed it with:
flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c MX25L3205D/MX25L3208D -w /Users/aelte/Desktop/MAC\ PRO\ /FLASH/MP51_007F_03B_LOCKED.fd

h9826790 · Jul 4, 2020

aLukaT said:
Hey,

I've bricked my MP 5,1 with forced shutdown during Firmware Upgrade and spent days trying to resurrect it. I've ordered new backplate yesterday of Ebay and today, I've tried this...

My programator managed to see the chip, and managed to erase it, but couldn't verify it after reading. I tryied booting up, but it didn't boot up, and opened machine off...

I've cleaned dust around chip, removed the battery, disconnected PSU and held power button for few seconds - and then flashed it with MP51_007F_03B_LOCKED.fd

And it lives!

I've dumped broken firmware if it is any use to you...

I flashed it with:
flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c MX25L3205D/MX25L3208D -w /Users/aelte/Desktop/MAC\ PRO\ /FLASH/MP51_007F_03B_LOCKED.fd

Lots of critical info will be missing with that serialess BootROM image.

Practically, you can insert something like serial number via OpenCore. So that your cMP can function normally again. I have a net friend who took his MPB to a 3rd party repair shop, end up came back with a serialess logic board. And his MBP can function correctly after we inject serial number via OpenCore.

Of course, this isn't the correct way to fix the issue. It's just a work around. But if you want to make your cMP back to work ASAP, this most likely the fastest / easiest way to do it.

Borowski · Jul 4, 2020

aLukaT said:
Hey,

I've bricked my MP 5,1 with forced shutdown during Firmware Upgrade and spent days trying to resurrect it. I've ordered new backplate yesterday of Ebay and today, I've tried this...

I've dumped broken firmware if it is any use to you...

Hi,
i'm sure it is possible to reconstruct the dump to a functional, new rom. All necessary IDs are still present in your dump. I can do it, if tsialex can't.
You should remove your upload and share it via PM, it can contain some unencrypted personal data like network password.

aLukaT · Jul 4, 2020

Borowski said:
Hi,
i'm sure it is possible to reconstruct the dump to a functional, new rom. All necessary IDs are still present in your dump.

Hi,

I might not have been clear. I wrote my post to let tsialex I successfully wrote new firmware to my bootrom chip after cMP being bricked (without soldering it off, but writing to it while it is still on backplate)... I was silly to think he would have some use from my fckup rom, but I've learned I should have not shared it so I removed the attachment...

thanks!

tsialex · Jul 4, 2020

aLukaT said:
Hey,

I've bricked my MP 5,1 with forced shutdown during Firmware Upgrade and spent days trying to resurrect it. I've ordered new backplate yesterday of Ebay and today, I've tried this...

My programator managed to see the chip, and managed to erase it, but couldn't verify it after reading. I tryied booting up, but it didn't boot up, and opened machine off...

I've cleaned dust around chip, removed the battery, disconnected PSU and held power button for few seconds - and then flashed it with MP51_007F_03B_LOCKED.fd

And it lives!

I've dumped broken firmware if it is any use to you... and can send it if you need it for some research :d

I flashed it with:
flashrom -p ch341a_spi -c MX25L3205D/MX25L3208D -w /Users/aelte/Desktop/MAC\ PRO\ /FLASH/MP51_007F_03B_LOCKED.fd

Interesting, several people tried the same and no one ever got it working, back in the day @Cecco and I even powered SST25VF032B VDD with a lab power supply.
[automerge]1593870045[/automerge]
Btw, no one should keep the original SPI flash on the backplane. It's past or around the manufacture rated cycles of erase/write, just 100K. NVRAM today is used absurdly more than when 2009 Mac Pro platform was designed.

macsforme · Jul 4, 2020

tsialex said:
Btw, no one should keep the original SPI flash on the backplane. It's past or around the manufacture rated cycles of erase/write, just 100K. NVRAM today is used absurdly more than when 2009 Mac Pro platform was designed.

When it becomes necessary to replace the EEPROM chip on a Mac Pro backplane board, what are the specifications required of the replacement EEPROM chip being used to ensure compatibility?

tsialex · Jul 4, 2020

macsforme said:
When it becomes necessary to replace the EEPROM chip on a Mac Pro backplane board, what are the specifications required of the replacement EEPROM chip being used to ensure compatibility?

If you have any BootROM problems replace the SPI flash memory since it’s way over the expected useful life for a normally used Mac Pro after 11 years.

The easy to find substitute and the SPI flash used by Apple with most mid-2012 Mac Pros, is MXIC MX25L3206E - works from early-2009 to mid-2012 backplanes.

It’s a $2 component, if you can do yourself do it before it will fail.

aLukaT · Jul 5, 2020

tsialex said:
If you have any BootROM problems replace the SPI flash memory since it’s way over the expected useful life for a normally used Mac Pro after 11 years.

The easy to find substitute and the SPI flash used by Apple with most mid-2012 Mac Pros, is MXIC MX25L3206E - works from early-2009 to mid-2012 backplanes.

It’s a $2 component, if you can do yourself do it before it will fail.

Yes, I have one in the mail so I will probably change it sometime in the future.

This is 2012 cMP so hopefully still good for a while.

If it helps, I flashed it with CH341A mini programmer I bought to (successfully) flash Titan Ridge... I've tried at least 10 times as it was losing connection. It would recognise chip, but then not finish reading/writing/erasing... until it did.

I didn't flash anything since unlocking Nokia 3310. So I was thrilled to hear Boink! and see my comp working.

tsialex · Jul 5, 2020

aLukaT said:
Yes, I have one in the mail so I will probably change it sometime in the future.

This is 2012 cMP so hopefully still good for a while.

If it helps, I flashed it with CH341A mini programmer I bought to (successfully) flash Titan Ridge... I've tried at least 10 times as it was losing connection. It would recognise chip, but then not finish reading/writing/erasing... until it did.

I didn't flash anything since unlocking Nokia 3310. So I was thrilled to hear Boink! and see my comp working.

Ok, but if you have a SST25VF032B, why on earth you used MX25L3205D/MX25L3208D as the chip with flashrom? It's not even a compatible algorithm and flashrom reject writes if the SPI flash is not correctly identified!

aLukaT · Jul 5, 2020

tsialex said:
Ok, but if you have a SST25VF032B, why on earth you used MX25L3205D/MX25L3208D as the chip with flashrom? It's not even a compatible algorithm and flashrom reject writes if the CI is not correctly identified!

Hehe, sry, that was a photo of cMP 2009 board I have on a wall as a decoration - I was testing first on it... the one cMP 5,1 2012 was MX25L3205D....

Bluefield · Jul 6, 2020

tsialex how do I clean up my boot rom chip as it seems to be playing up ? it's on my Mac Pro 2009 5,1 with upgraded cpu, running High Sierra

tsialex · Jul 6, 2020

Bluefield said:
tsialex how do I clean up my boot rom chip as it seems to be playing up ? it's on my Mac Pro 2009 5,1 with upgraded cpu, running High Sierra

As an user, the only thing that you can do is reset the NVRAM 3-times sequentially, only letting it go after the fourth chime. Try that before anything.

tsialex · Jul 7, 2020

Apple released macOS 11 DP2 build 20A4300b, downloading it to check if there are new EFI firmwares for non-BridgeOS Macs. Btw, it's still called 10.16, someone didn't get the memo.

tsialex · Jul 7, 2020

I've checked the new firmware folder inside the installer and DP2 still have the same firmwares as DP1 and 10.15.5. Still 136.0.0.0.0 for MP6,1 and Macs that were removed from Big Sur are still there.

I'll post the complete list tomorrow, arrived at home to find that the ADSL is not working.

Macschrauber · Jul 8, 2020

I fiddled a bit with creating a Windows Installer Thumb drive.
Knowing the risks, starting with a backed up and cleaned Firmware.

used uunetbootin and Win10_2004 iso

just booted the USB thumb drive, started installation until I have seen my drives and stopped it.

and I got a Certificate:

Code:

DECIMAL       HEXADECIMAL     DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24468         0x5F94          Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
49011         0xBF73          XML document, version: "1.0"
163863        0x28017         bzip2 compressed data, block size = 100k

xml was for booting into recovery to set csrutil disable for dumping the rom.

re-flashing the backup got the Certificate away, of course.

so, people, everyone should have a rom backup, you can't clean the Certificate of the nvram stream the easy way with nvram resets, just with re-flashing the backup.

tsialex · Jul 9, 2020

10.15.6 DP4 build 19G71a just released. No EFICheck AllowListAll, so probably no new EFI Firmwares. (Still with the PPPoE outage, 3rd day without fiber at the office and ADSL at home, so I'll just check the non-BridgeOS Macs now).
[automerge]1594319261[/automerge]
Complete list of EFI versions as of 10.15.6 DP4 build 19G71a. Same June 19 build dates as DP3.

Mac:	EFI version:
IM13,1	292.0.0.0.0
IM14,1	146.0.0.0.0
IM14,2	146.0.0.0.0
IM14,3	146.0.0.0.0
IM14,4	204.0.0.0.0
IM15,1	235.0.0.0.0
IM16,1	236.0.0.0.0
IM16,2	236.0.0.0.0
IM17,1	428.0.0.0.0
IM18,1	428.0.0.0.0
IM18,3	428.0.0.0.0
IM19,1	1037.140.50.0.0
MB10,1	428.0.0.0.0
MB8,1	190.0.0.0.0
MB9,1	428.0.0.0.0
MBA5,1	264.0.0.0.0
MBA6,1	122.0.0.0.0
MBA7,1	195.0.0.0.0
MBP10,1	262.0.0.0.0
MBP10,2	286.0.0.0.0
MBP11,1	162.0.0.0.0
MBP11,2	162.0.0.0.0
MBP11,4	199.0.0.0.0
MBP12,1	192.0.0.0.0
MBP13,1	428.0.0.0.0
MBP13,2	428.0.0.0.0
MBP13,3	428.0.0.0.0
MBP14,1	428.0.0.0.0
MBP14,2	428.0.0.0.0
MBP14,3	428.0.0.0.0
MBP9,1	233.0.0.0.0
MM6,1	286.0.0.0.0
MM7,1	249.0.0.0.0
MP6,1	137.0.0.0.0

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

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