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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
J

JeffDy

macrumors newbie
Feb 22, 2022
3
1
@tsialex
I have an Early 2009 Mac Pro 5,1 with 2 X5675 Xeon, 24gb RAM and ATI Radeon HD5870, running El Capitan.
I bought this machine believing it was a genuine 5.1. The vendor did not say a word about the cross flashing and I didn't knew then about checking the SMC version. The machine was running Snow Leopard when i got it.
I later discovered it was in fact a 4,1 flashed to 5,1 and fitted with 2 lidded X5650. Too bad.
I have another genuine mid-2010 MP 5,1 (with 2X5690) for my every day use so I wasn't in a hurry for upgrading that machine.

I found 2 missing CPU spacers on the Web and I kept upgrading the machine with 2 lidless X5675 CPU. CPU sockets were unharmed and this worked without any problems. Reading through all your posts here on MacRumours helped me to keep this machine working:
The back plane of this Mac Pro is a rev.A (J591504TFXXXX-April 2009), so it kept me from installing 130W Xeon in it which would have probably destroyed the CPU tray.

In May 2022, I dumped and checked the BootRom after a deep NVRAM reset and it was OK (with Firmware MP51.007F.B03). Two VSS store and 40575 bytes of free space.

Keeping upgrading, I clean installed High Sierra to upgrade the firmware to MP51.0089.B00. Upgrade was flawless. Learning to deal with APFS format and HFS+ mixing on SSDs.
After reading through your posts here, i learned about the expected end of life of the SPI flash memory and the flaws in Rev.A BootRom with MP5,1 Firmware.
Today, I dumped and checked the BootRom and found that NVRAM is corrupted.
Only one VSS store left, padding non empty and 6034 bytes of free space left.

This Mac Pro is not a brick yet but not far from it. It definitely needs a clean up and a BootRom reconstruction service before that happens. Dumps are saved.

Thank you @tsialex for sharing your knowledge with everyone here.
 

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tsialex

tsialex

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Jun 13, 2016
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JeffDy said:
@tsialex
I have an Early 2009 Mac Pro 5,1 with 2 X5675 Xeon, 24gb RAM and ATI Radeon HD5870, running El Capitan.
I bought this machine believing it was a genuine 5.1. The vendor did not say a word about the cross flashing and I didn't knew then about checking the SMC version. The machine was running Snow Leopard when i got it.
I later discovered it was in fact a 4,1 flashed to 5,1 and fitted with 2 lidded X5650. Too bad.
I have another genuine mid-2010 MP 5,1 (with 2X5690) for my every day use so I wasn't in a hurry for upgrading that machine.

I found 2 missing CPU spacers on the Web and I kept upgrading the machine with 2 lidless X5675 CPU. CPU sockets were unharmed and this worked without any problems. Reading through all your posts here on MacRumours helped me to keep this machine working:
The back plane of this Mac Pro is a rev.A (J591504TFXXXX-April 2009), so it kept me from installing 130W Xeon in it which would have probably destroyed the CPU tray.
Click to expand...

About the Rev.A early-2009 dual CPU trays, only the 95W Westmere Xeons are really safe, most trays doesn't even work with 130W Westmere Xeons and people that insist usually blow the PWM MOSFETS, the Qxxx line of SMD components that the heatsinks make physical contact via the thermal pad.

JeffDy said:
In May 2022, I dumped and checked the BootRom after a deep NVRAM reset and it was OK (with Firmware MP51.007F.B03). Two VSS store and 40575 bytes of free space.

Keeping upgrading, I clean installed High Sierra to upgrade the firmware to MP51.0089.B00. Upgrade was flawless. Learning to deal with APFS format and HFS+ mixing on SSDs.
After reading through your posts here, i learned about the expected end of life of the SPI flash memory and the flaws in Rev.A BootRom with MP5,1 Firmware.
Today, I dumped and checked the BootRom and found that NVRAM is corrupted.
Only one VSS store left, padding non empty and 6034 bytes of free space left.

This Mac Pro is not a brick yet but not far from it. It definitely needs a clean up and a BootRom reconstruction service before that happens. Dumps are saved.

Thank you @tsialex for sharing your knowledge with everyone here.
Click to expand...

Yep, to most people the issues with the MacPro5,1 BootROM seems a little implausible at first, then more a distant possibility and finally it happens. ;)

From your second screenshot you probably already have some slowdown with your POST time, at least after PEI. Since you have a cross-flashed Mac Pro, you should get a BootROM reconstruction service right away, after that even if your SPI flash memory fails, you don't have a too costly and complicated repair.
 
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J

JeffDy

macrumors newbie
Feb 22, 2022
3
1
Hello tsialex pleasure to read from you.
I already learned a lot reading your posts on this subject.
I do not want to do a deep NVRAM reset to launch a garbage collection and risk bricking the machine.
At this stage i think it's easier to flash the rom with a reconstructed ROM file than unsolder/replace the SPI chip.
I will do that later, when MX25L3206E flash memories will be available where i want to buy them.
I already have a CH341A programmer and learning how to use it, and my soldering skills and tools are OK.

Did that corruption occured following the High Sierra firmware upgrade or is it a flaw due to the early 2009 rev.A incompatibility with 5,1 firmware. I did not reset NVRAM since the HS firmware upgrade and did no modifications to the hardware.
If i understand well, the reconstructed ROM file will have the firmware 144.0.0.0, starting from the Mojave MP51.fd and will suppress the incompatibilities with this rev.A early 2009 backplane.

I believe you are the right person to execute that BootROM reconstruction service. Let me know.
Jeff
 
tsialex

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,454
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JeffDy said:
Hello tsialex pleasure to read from you.
I already learned a lot reading your posts on this subject.
I do not want to do a deep NVRAM reset to launch a garbage collection and risk bricking the machine.
At this stage i think it's easier to flash the rom with a reconstructed ROM file than unsolder/replace the SPI chip.
I will do that later, when MX25L3206E flash memories will be available where i want to buy them.
I already have a CH341A programmer and learning how to use it, and my soldering skills and tools are OK.

Did that corruption occured following the High Sierra firmware upgrade or is it a flaw due to the early 2009 rev.A incompatibility with 5,1 firmware. I did not reset NVRAM since the HS firmware upgrade and did no modifications to the hardware.
If i understand well, the reconstructed ROM file will have the firmware 144.0.0.0, starting from the Mojave MP51.fd and will suppress the incompatibilities with this rev.A early 2009 backplane.

I believe you are the right person to execute that BootROM reconstruction service. Let me know.
Jeff
Click to expand...
Long story short, the early-2009 Mac Pro MP4,1 NVRAM volume was designed to have just one VSS store and a working FWB store that logs NVRAM resets and forced garbage collection - there are also the Fsys and Gaid stores, but it's not the issue that we are discussing right now. With the mid-2010 Mac Pro MP5,1 firmwares, Apple changed it to two VSS stores and no working FWB store, just a placeholder, and the Fsys/Gaid stores.

When you cross-flash, the NVRAM volume is not touched at all, the same MP4,1 era NVRAM volume continues as is until the first garbage collection, then a second VSS store is created. There are some little differences with the NVRAM volume even after that and in the long run you have all the corruption issues that plague cross-flashed early-2009 Mac Pros - the reconstruction service solves all that and get you to a BootROM equivalent of a late manufactured mid-2012.

So, answering your question, the differences with the MP4,1 NVRAM volume in the long run will cause/facilitate the corruption, even if you don't upgrade at all - music studios that never ever installed HighSierra and still run MP51.007F.B03 with SnowLeopard/Mavericks for software/hardware compatibility also had the same problem.

I've sent you a PM.
 
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trifero

trifero

macrumors 68030
May 21, 2009
2,952
2,796
JeffDy said:
Hello tsialex pleasure to read from you.
I already learned a lot reading your posts on this subject.
I do not want to do a deep NVRAM reset to launch a garbage collection and risk bricking the machine.
At this stage i think it's easier to flash the rom with a reconstructed ROM file than unsolder/replace the SPI chip.
I will do that later, when MX25L3206E flash memories will be available where i want to buy them.
I already have a CH341A programmer and learning how to use it, and my soldering skills and tools are OK.

Did that corruption occured following the High Sierra firmware upgrade or is it a flaw due to the early 2009 rev.A incompatibility with 5,1 firmware. I did not reset NVRAM since the HS firmware upgrade and did no modifications to the hardware.
If i understand well, the reconstructed ROM file will have the firmware 144.0.0.0, starting from the Mojave MP51.fd and will suppress the incompatibilities with this rev.A early 2009 backplane.

I believe you are the right person to execute that BootROM reconstruction service. Let me know.
Jeff
Click to expand...
Nice decision. 👍🏻
 
Minocan

Minocan

macrumors member
May 16, 2008
33
7
I did 2 OS and firmware updates consecutively without any NVRAM reset, changed GPU back to back to get Mojave in my 5.1. I did the rom dump and it's in 21xxx region. Can I also get instructions in PM. Thanks in advance.
 
tsialex

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
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Minocan said:
I did 2 OS and firmware updates consecutively without any NVRAM reset, changed GPU back to back to get Mojave in my 5.1. I did the rom dump and it's in 21xxx region. Can I also get instructions in PM. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Have you tried to do at least four consecutive NVRAM Resets? Usually is enough to clean most of the cruft accumulated over the years, but sometimes it's not really useful. I've sent you a PM.
 
Minocan

Minocan

macrumors member
May 16, 2008
33
7
I'll do that tomorrow and try another rom dump (unless you said to wait for a week with 10-12 reboots on the previous pages) , I think at least 6 months passed since I did a NVRAM reset (and that was one shot not 4+ times). Was on 10.12.6 for two years.
 
tsialex

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
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Minocan said:
I'll do that tomorrow and try another rom dump (unless you said to wait for a week with 10-12 reboots on the previous pages) , I think at least 6 months passed since I did a NVRAM reset (and that was one shot not 4+ times). Was on 10.12.6 for two years.
Click to expand...
Doing multiple NVRAM resets triggers a forced garbage collection reclamation, but this won't remove long unused variables that are stored and never marked for reclamation in the circular log.

Btw, it's a cross-flashed early-2009? If so, won't work because of the differences between the original MP4,1 NVRAM and what the MP5,1 EFI expects.
 
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tsialex

tsialex

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Jun 13, 2016
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Minocan said:
I'll do that tomorrow and try another rom dump (unless you said to wait for a week with 10-12 reboots on the previous pages) , I think at least 6 months passed since I did a NVRAM reset (and that was one shot not 4+ times). Was on 10.12.6 for two years.
Click to expand...
Forgot to address one thing, waiting a week to check is for when you flash a never booted BootROM image and then have to wait a week for the Mac Pro EFI and macOS to set every entry. This is important because some required variables are set to the default parameters and then later are superseded by the correct ones down in the circular log, MemoryConfig and BT related variables are some that work this way. Also, some iCloud related variables are not set immediately - that's why to dump it again right way is not really meaningful to track the available space.

It's not really your situation.
 
Minocan

Minocan

macrumors member
May 16, 2008
33
7
It's a Mid 2010 5.1. CPUs didn't need De-lid. Was a 2.4 x 8 core machine originally. When I bought it had 2.4 x 12 cores with 5870 with 4x4 gb sticks + 8 gb stick (possibly 16 gb factory with 5770 as standard) I upgraded with 2 5690s, 4 SSDs, 128 gb RAM and 8 GB RX 580 Pulse (regular) with necessary dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin cable. Memory is OWC 16 gb sticks R DIMM 1333.

I was planning to install OpenCore for boot screen + hw accel but when I dove into this thread, I didn't touch it. So it's official Mojave atm. I don't see 2nd VSS store and there is corruption data explained on the beginning. (Offset 10048 skipped, invalid size FFFFFFFFh)

Only difference is I got around 21xxx bytes.

By the way I just did the updates like 10 hours ago. High Sierra Firmware, High Sierra install, Security Updates, then Mojave Firmware to 144.0.0.0 install mojave, then getting the rom after recovery + SIP disable. No NVRAM resets at all while doing all these.
 
tsialex

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,454
13,601
Minocan said:
It's a Mid 2010 5.1. CPUs didn't need De-lid. Was a 2.4 x 8 core machine originally. When I bought it had 2.4 x 12 cores with 5870 with 4x4 gb sticks + 8 gb stick (possibly 16 gb factory with 5770 as standard) I upgraded with 2 5690s, 4 SSDs, 128 gb RAM and 8 GB RX 580 Pulse (regular) with necessary dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin cable. Memory is OWC 16 gb sticks R DIMM 1333.

I was planning to install OpenCore for boot screen + hw accel but when I dove into this thread, I didn't touch it. So it's official Mojave atm. I don't see 2nd VSS store and there is corruption data explained on the beginning. (Offset 10048 skipped, invalid size FFFFFFFFh)

Only difference is I got around 21xxx bytes.
Click to expand...
Ok, since you already have the second VSS store header corrupt, you should follow the PM instructions.
 
A

Audiomangiraldo

macrumors member
Sep 4, 2022
37
1
Hi tsialex ,
Today i have received the new flash SPI.
Since i never made this kinf of operations , where i can download the flashing file of the 144.0.0.0.0 ?
i read the first post of the thread as suggested, but i don't understand where to download the files for programming the new SPI flash
Let me know
Thank you

tsialex said:
First post have all the info needed, just follow the links. If your programmer supports the SPI flash memory, you can use it.

Btw, while flashing the 144.0.0.0.0 MP51.fd get you booting again, the MP51.fd is an incomplete BootROM image for upgrading the EFI, you'll need a BootROM reconstruction service to get your Mac Pro fully working again.
Click to expand...
 
tsialex

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,454
13,601
Audiomangiraldo said:
Hi tsialex ,
Today i have received the new flash SPI.
Since i never made this kinf of operations , where i can download the flashing file of the 144.0.0.0.0 ?
i read the first post of the thread as suggested, but i don't understand where to download the files for programming the new SPI flash
Let me know
Thank you
Click to expand...
It's inside 10.14.6 Mac App Store Mojave full installer:

Code: 
Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd

The Apple support article linked below have the official links for all macOS releases that Apple still offer for download, just follow the Mojave link to download the full installer for Mojave 10.14.6:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
Last edited:
tsialex

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,454
13,601
With today's developer release of 12.6.1 RC2 (build 21G211), we have a new EFI firmware for late-2013 Mac Pro, 470.0.0.0.0:

Code: 
Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:	Mac Pro
  Model Identifier:	MacPro6,1
  Processor Name:	6-Core Intel Xeon E5
  Processor Speed:	3,5 GHz
  Number of Processors:	1
  Total Number of Cores:	6
  L2 Cache (per Core):	256 KB
  L3 Cache:	12 MB
  Hyper-Threading Technology:	Enabled
  Memory:	16 GB
  System Firmware Version:	470.0.0.0.0
  OS Loader Version:	540.120.3~22
  SMC Version (system):	2.20f18
  Panel Illumination Version:	1.4a6
 
A

Audiomangiraldo

macrumors member
Sep 4, 2022
37
1
tsialex said:
It's inside 10.14.6 Mac App Store Mojave full installer:

Code: 
Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd

The Apple support article linked below have the official links for all macOS releases that Apple still offer for download, just follow the Mojave link to download the full installer for Mojave 10.14.6:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
Click to expand...
Hi tsialex,
the MP5.1.fd file can be loaded directly on the flash or does it need a format conversion?
 
B

Borowski

macrumors 6502
Oct 22, 2018
254
72
Don't forget to check the protection bits. I don't know if it is necessary or documented somewhere.
 
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