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

[Heckmeck]

For MacPro5,1 BootROM upgrades, please read the first post of the thread below to know how to do the firmware upgrade:

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

For MP4,1 to MP5,1 cross firmware flashing, see this thread below:

Netkas site is dead and the domain was taken by an Indonesian gambling site.

For historical purposes, this is the InternetArchive cache of the Netkas thread:

Mac Pro Firmware Upgrade Utility Released!

Mac Pro Firmware Upgrade Utility Released!

web.archive.org

Be warned, all cross-flashed early-2009 Mac Pros brick overtime with the NVRAM volume differences. Anyway, cross-flashing is not a clean solution and with a BootROM reconstructions service you solve the cross-flashing to MP5,1 EFI issues, have it completely cleaned-up and upgraded to mid-2012 0x0d Mac Pro firmware standard.

MacPro5,1 BootROM releases, from the oldest EFI update to the newest:​

​

BootROM Version	Released with:	Type:	Note:
MP51.007F.B03	Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5	General release	First public released Mac Pro 5,1 firmware update, BootPicker improvements, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0083.B00	10.13 DP5	Beta	Beta APFS support, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0084.B00	10.13 DP6 and 10.13.0	General release	Initial APFS support, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0085.B00	10.13.4 and Mojave DP1 to DP3	General release	APFS support, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0087.B00	10.13.5	General release	Missing microcodes and bricks the Mac Pro if you boot UEFI installed Windows 10
MP51.0089.B00	10.13.6	General release	Spectre/Meltdown mitigated microcodes on the April 2 Microcode Update Guidance.
138.0.0.0.0	10.14 DP7 and 10.14.0	General release	5GT/s support for every PCIe 2.0 card
139.0.0.0.0	10.14.1 DP1	Beta	Minor updates and corrections
140.0.0.0.0	10.14.1 DP3 and 10.14.1 to 10.14.4	General release	Native NVMe boot support, several minor updates and corrections (NVMe is not stable/several bugs found)
141.0.0.0.0	10.14.4 DP2	Beta	Minor updates and corrections
142.0.0.0.0	10.14.4 DP4 and 10.14.5 DP1	Beta	Updated APFSJumpStart EFI module - W3xxx Xeon bricker. This BootROM version was never released outside betas.
144.0.0.0.0	10.14.5 DP4 and 10.14.5	General release	Lot's of corrections, booting improvements, works with W3xxx Xeons. This is the current BootROM release

What to do if your Mac Pro bricked:

If your early-2009 to mid-2012 is now bricked, you have three options:

1. Buy a replacement backplane on eBay and replace the backplane yourself, cheapest option if you can't solder SMD. Remember that you need a 2009 backplane if you have an early-2009 Mac Pro. If you have a mid-2010 or mid-2012 you can use either 2010 or 2012 backplanes. Don't mix early-2009 backplanes with mid-2010/mid-2012 CPU trays, or vice-versa - either scenario is a SMC firmware version mismatch and all your fans will run at maximum RPM, full time and without any software control.
2. Buy a Mac Pro MATT card and use it as a replacement SPI flash, this is not recommended since all MATT cards are clones and won't work for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime. A replacement backplane is usually cheaper and you have to flash a clean version of your own Mac Pro BootROM image to the MATT card.
3. Desolder, reprogram and solder back the SPI flash, chip U8700 on the backplane. It's not possible to read or write to the SPI flash memory while it's soldered on the MP5,1 backplane. A cheap SPI flash programmer like ch341a will work for read/write the BootROM after the SPI flash memory is desoldered from the backplane. Start reading here, read all my posts on the subject from there. I strongly recommend that you replace your original SPI flash memory with a brand new one, don't solder it back to the backplane, it will fail soon since SPI flash memories have limited lifetime (manufacture rated for just 100.000 erase/write cycles) when used as NVRAM for a Mac Pro. Again, most hard bricks are caused by the failure of the SPI flash, it's a US$ 2 component easily available, MXIC MX25L3206E, just replace it! Btw, yes, you can use a MXIC MX25L3206E as a modern replacement for the two older models SST25VF032B and MXIC MX25L3205D used on early-2009 and mid-2010 respectively, Apple did it for mid-2012 Mac Pros.
   
   Mojave has the generic MP51.fd firmware image inside the 10.14.6 Mac App Store Mojave full installer, the MP51.fd is a standard binary file ready to flash.
   
   

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

   
   Please note that the MP51.fd is an incomplete BootROM image and while is enough to boot your Mac Pro again, it's completely unserialized and won't work iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime logins, ASD will fail or any software that the license requires serialization.
   
   A BootROM reconstruction service is needed to get your Mac Pro fully working again.

The whole SPI flash replacement procedure is:

• desolder the U8700 flash memory from the backplane PCB,
• use an external SPI flash programmer and it's own app (or flashrom, if it's on the supported list of programmers) to dump the contents of the SPI flash memory removed from the MacPro backplane,
• program MP51.fd, or your reconstructed never booted BootROM image or even a previously saved backup dump, to the replacement SPI flash memory (Macronix MX25L3205A/MX25L3205D/MX25L3206E, SST 25VF032B),
• verify if the flashing process was done correctly,
• solder back the SPI flash memory,
• while the backplane is outside the case, take a picture of the MLB label near the AirPort Extreme connector, also take a picture of the ESN label, the one on the case near the GPU outputs,
• reinstall the backplane in the Mac Pro case,
• test if the Mac Pro is now capable of POST and it's booting macOS with the replacement flash memory,
• if the Mac Pro is now booting macOS, ask a firmware engineer to do a BootROM reconstruction service based on the corrupt dump, the case ESN and the backplane MLB labels to get your Mac Pro fully working again.

How to do a BootROM dump with ROMTool:

• If you are running anything newer than Mavericks, you will need to disable SIP. You can boot your Recovery partition or you can boot a createinstallmedia USB installer (≥10.11) to disable SIP.
  
  Boot your Recovery partition or boot a createinstallmedia USB installer, open Terminal and then disable SIP with the command:
  

  csrutil disable

  Note: Yosemite SIP is not compatible with ROMTool/flashrom. Don’t use Yosemite at all.
• Do a BootROM dump using ROMTool, zip password is "rom". You need SIP disabled and no AV or any anti-malware running. ROMTool is usually a false-positive to any AV/anti-malware because it uses flashrom and DirectHWAccess.kext. If you have any AV/Malware detection tool installed, do a clean install on another disk, it will be easier and less time consuming than disabling/removing kexts/etc.
  
  
  If ROMTool asks you to confirm what is the model of your SPI flash, it's the 8-pin SOIC flash memory next to the PCIe AUX-B power connector, label U8700 - see the photos below. The model of the SPI flash memory is usually related to the model year:​
  • with early-2009 almost all backplanes have SST 25VF032B,
  • with mid-2010 usually is Macronix MX25L3205A or MX25L3205D, sometimes can be MX25L3206E with mid-2010s made in the 1st half of 2012, very rarely is SST25VF032B,
  • with mid-2012 usually is Macronix MX25L3206E, it's not common to see mid-2012 with MX25L3205A or MX25L3205D.
  • If ROMTool doesn’t ask you about the SPI flash memory model at all, Apple installed a SST 25VF032B to the backplane.

How to check the health of the NVRAM/if the garbage collection is still working:​

There is a extremely simple way (simple here as in not need to know how the NVRAM works/check free space indicators/validate checksums and etc) to check if the garbage collection failed and the need to reflash with the clean dump:

• Dump the BootROM with ROMTool
• Open the dump with UEFITool NE A63. UEFITool NE A63 is the most recent release of UEFITool NE that works correctly with MacPro5,1 BootROM images, newer releases have issues, use A63.
• Go to EFISystemNvDataFvGUID, open it
  
  
  
• Go to the first VSS store, open it:
  
• Click Free space, it's after the last variable/VSS entry:
  
• Check on the right panel the Full size:
  

A clean reconstructed never booted image have the Free Space Full Size as 65448 - this is for a fully empty store:

A normal working single CPU Mac Pro with 3 DIMMs have the Free Space Full Size usually around 45000 to 40000 - this is for a healthy working dump:

A normal working dual CPU Mac Pro with 8 DIMMs (DIMM configuration data and SPD caches stored by MemoryConfig NVRAM entries are what takes the most space inside the VSS store) have the Free space Full size around 35000 to 30000 - this is for a healthy working dump:

A Mac Pro that the garbage collection is not working anymore will have less than 1/3 of Free Space Full Size available, less than 22000 bytes available. Any less than this and you usually start having problems and could even brick your Mac Pro. This is critical with Big Sur and Monterey Software Updates, but also happened in the past with previous macOS versions (examples #1, #2) because the number of variables needed to be set-up for the software updates.

This one has just 8921 and already corrupted the NVRAM volume:

Examples of corruption:​

Where is the secondary VSS store?

This dump below had two different failures, a corrupt circular log and failed garbage collection on primary VSS store where after the corrupt point the circular log was identified as padding, and the secondary VSS store completely trashed and not even being identified by UEFITool anymore. The owner of this early-2009 got it repaired in the nick of time before bricking it.

If you found that your NVRAM volume has any of the above issues and you need a professional BootROM reconstruction service, please send me a PM.

Advice after several bricks over the years:​

First a fact, MacPro5,1 NVRAM was designed back in 2008ish, when the NVRAM was used sparingly. Now we are in 2023 and the NVRAM is used constantly for all sort of things, like all sort of iCloud related variables (for example, Wi-Fi credentials for the wireless networks that you connect with your iPhone and MacBooks are saved into the Mac Pro NVRAM) to the several variables needed to bootstrap software updates when you have sealed containers (BigSur and Monterey) that have a payload of ~25KB.

The NVRAM is now the Achilles heel of our MacPro5,1 and I personally don't wait for the garbage collection to fail. Now I have a recurring appointment on my Calendar to flash the never booted BootROM image every 3 months. Since starting doing it, I never had a brick or any NVRAM problems - even with all my crazy tests that bricked so much times my backplanes in the past. Do the same.

Hi!
i was just about to install opencore legacy but after reading some stuff about corrupted nvram i followed your instructions above @tsialex .
Unfortunately i found out that my free space in first nvram vss store folder seems to be very low (Full size: 22B7h (8887).
I did a deep nvram reset but the value didn't change.

When i use UEFItool on a 2,5 year old ROMdump, my free space was bigger. (Full size: 4E94h (20116)) That was when i bought this computer second hand.

Will i now have to get my BootROM reconstructed or can i flash it with my older backup or is there anything else i could do?

Maybe it was filled up, because i was running Monterey and other unsupported systems using boot-arg no_compat_check?
By the way: I am wondering why this trick doesnt work on OS 12.6.7 but works on 12.2.1. Any idea?
I was using it so far since it seemed to be more simple and less risky than installing oc legacy.

I guess installing Oc Legacy now with such a low amount of free space in nvram is not a good idea!?
Is there anything else i should definitely avoid doing right now to avoid a brick? Can i still boot Monterey using no_compat_check?

Panic 🤯

I would really appreciate any help on this!

My System:
Mac Pro Mid 2012
2 x 2,4 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
32 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Radeon RX 560 4096 MB

Cheers!

 

[tsialex]

Hi!
i was just about to install opencore legacy but after reading some stuff about corrupted nvram i followed your instructions above @tsialex .
Unfortunately i found out that my free space in first nvram vss store folder seems to be very low (Full size: 22B7h (8887).
I did a deep nvram reset but the value didn't change.

When i use UEFItool on a 2,5 year old ROMdump, my free space was bigger. (Full size: 4E94h (20116)) That was when i bought this computer second hand.

Will i now have to get my BootROM reconstructed or can i flash it with my older backup or is there anything else i could do?

You can flash your backup, but will only get you some weeks/months if you do not run any Big Sur and newer Software Updates and will not solve any of the other underlying issues. BootROM reconstruction is seriously advised when you can't get back the VSS store space with a multiple NVRAM reset.

Maybe it was filled up, because i was running Monterey and other unsupported systems using boot-arg no_compat_check?

The only unsupported macOS release that works with just -no_compat_check is Catalina, for anything newer (BigSur/Monterey) OpenCore is required and booting with just -no_compat_check without OpenCore will get you a crash screen.

By the way: I am wondering why this trick doesnt work on OS 12.6.7 but works on 12.2.1. Any idea?

While you are mistaking about booting with just -no_compat_check, 12.3 and newer Monterey releases have different requirements (read about syncretic patches) and require different OC config.plist.

I was using it so far since it seemed to be more simple and less risky than installing oc legacy.

I guess installing Oc Legacy now with such a low amount of free space in nvram is not a good idea!?

BigSur and newer require a 25KB payload to provide software updates with sealed containers, so, you are at risk of bricking when doing software updates and a forced garbage collection is required. Even more risk with macOS installs/upgrades.

Is there anything else i should definitely avoid doing right now to avoid a brick?

BootROM reconstruction service, I'll send you a PM.

Can i still boot Monterey using no_compat_check?

Definitively not possible, this ended with Catalina.

 

[Heckmeck]

Thanks for your quick response @tsialex !!

Today i did another deep nvram reset and surprisingly the nvram now shows this: Full size: A0E1h (41185).
So everything seems ok to me. There are other values on Base, Adress and Offset, that made me doublecheck if im looking for the right entry. But i guess its normal?

So no need to reconstruct BootROM but i should check if im running out of free space regularly and do a nvram reset if memory is low. Is that correct?

Or is there a way to protect nvram? I think RefindPlus pretends being able to do. But maybe only regarding windows?
Quote: https://github.com/dakanji/RefindPlus

• Protects against damage to Mac NVRAM when booting UEFI Windows.

Can i now proceed to install Opencore Legacy and install Monterey 12.6.7 or even Ventura?


You said 12.2.1 does not run with no_compat_check. But that's the system im using at the moment. For me it worked all the way up to 12.2.1 but not further. Couldn't yet figure out why not further though.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks for your quick response @tsialex !!

Today i did another deep nvram reset and surprisingly the nvram now shows this: Full size: A0E1h (41185).
So everything seems ok to me. There are other values on Base, Adress and Offset, that made me doublecheck if im looking for the right entry. But i guess its normal?

Checking the VSS store available space is the most basic check of the NVRAM, for just that you are good.

So no need to reconstruct BootROM but i should check if im running out of free space regularly and do a nvram reset if memory is low. Is that correct?

There are several BootROM related problems that are not so obvious and easy to check as the primary VSS store space, all early-2009 and mid-2010s made back in 2010/11 require BootROM reconstruction - hardware descriptor earlier than base_21, MP51.007F.B03 BootBlock and etc. For mid-2010s made back in 2012 and all mid-2012s is a case by case.

Or is there a way to protect nvram? I think RefindPlus pretends being able to do. But maybe only regarding windows?
Quote: https://github.com/dakanji/RefindPlus

• Protects against damage to Mac NVRAM when booting UEFI Windows.

This is only to avoid Windows UEFI SecureBoot signing of the BootROM, enabling OpenCore ProtectSecureBoot, nothing more.

Can i now proceed to install Opencore Legacy and install Monterey 12.6.7 or even Ventura?

You can sure try, there are several other BootBlock related problems, but this depends on your hardware config.

I'd avoid installing to a cross-flashed early-2009 or a mid-2010 made in 2010/2011, especially if it's a dual CPU Mac Pro.

You said 12.2.1 does not run with no_compat_check. But that's the system im using at the moment. For me it worked all the way up to 12.2.1 but not further. Couldn't yet figure out why not further though.

You are mistaken, it's not possible to run anything newer than Catalina with just -no_compat_check and without OpenCore. You need to spoof a supported Mac, there are several patches required to run BigSur/Monterey, there are firmware features mask that the MacPro5,1 firmware does not have and for dual CPU Mac Pros you need AppleMCEReporterDisabler.

Without OpenCore the kernel crashes almost immediately after loading when you just have --no_compat_check enabled.

You definitively have some form of OpenCore installed in your Mac Pro or you installed some form of highly patched image.

 

[Heckmeck]

Checking the VSS store available space is the most basic check of the NVRAM, for just that you are good.



There are several BootROM related problems that are not so obvious and easy to check as the primary VSS store space, all early-2009 and mid-2010s made back in 2010/11 require BootROM reconstruction - hardware descriptor earlier than base_21, MP51.007F.B03 BootBlock and etc. For mid-2010s made back in 2012 and all mid-2012s is a case by case.



This is only to avoid Windows UEFI SecureBoot signing of the BootROM, enabling OpenCore ProtectSecureBoot, nothing more.



You can sure try, there are several other BootBlock related problems, but this depends on your hardware config.

I'd avoid installing to a cross-flashed early-2009 or a mid-2010 made in 2010/2011, especially if it's a dual CPU Mac Pro.



You are mistaken, it's not possible to run anything newer than Catalina with just -no_compat_check and without OpenCore. You need to spoof a supported Mac, there are several patches required to run BigSur/Monterey, there are firmware features mask that the MacPro5,1 firmware does not have and for dual CPU Mac Pros you need AppleMCEReporterDisabler.

Without OpenCore the kernel crashes almost immediately after loading when you just have --no_compat_check enabled.

You definitively have some form of OpenCore installed in your Mac Pro or you installed some form of highly patched image.

I should‘ve mentioned that i installed 12.2.1 on a drive with a compatible macbook that natively supports this system and then inserted that drive into my mac pro. And this works without opencore using no_compat_check. Found the trick in this forum i think.

But i dont know why this doesnt work with 12.6.7.

 

[tsialex]

I should‘ve mentioned that i installed 12.2.1 on a drive with a compatible macbook that natively supports this system and then inserted that drive into my mac pro. And this works without opencore using no_compat_check. Found the trick in this forum i think.

Still not possible, but this discussion is completely off topic to this thread.

But i dont know why this doesnt work with 12.6.7.

I've explained it already.

 

[ozieboy]

Hello All,
Really great information here, been reading on/off for years. Really awesome work by all the community. Thank You.
@tsialex, I believe that you can help me figure out and possibly help my two apparently dead/brickked Mac Pro 4,1s.

A few years back 2015 I got in to Mac Pros and bought a few one after the other here in Australia. After some time one of them started randomly not powering on or clicking on/off and then the second one the same. I believe that I upgraded both to 5,1 fw. Reading the about information just a few posts, i saw you mention about 5.1 upgrade bricking the early Mac Pros, is there a way, I can determine if thats the issue to the two that I got? I just hooked one of those to power after a good 2-3 years and one of them powerd on just after the chime shut down and not powering on again, it took a few tries to begin with after connecting power cable on and off a few times.

Can this be a fw bricking issue and if yes, and if I send you all the information can I request your services to bring the back please. The CPUs were never upgraded on those, they just slowly died. I have a 5,1 single cpu running strong and I am about to possibly buy another old run down 4,1 with standard 4core dual 2.26 cpus.

Sorry for the messed up post, but I just couldn't resist.

 

[tsialex]

Hello All,
Really great information here, been reading on/off for years. Really awesome work by all the community. Thank You.
@tsialex, I believe that you can help me figure out and possibly help my two apparently dead/brickked Mac Pro 4,1s. A few years back 2015 I got in to Mac Pros and bought a few one after the other here in Australia.After some time one of them started randomly not powering on or clicking on/off and then the second one the same. I believe that I upgraded both to 5,1 fw. Reading the about information just a few posts, i saw you mention about 5.1 upgrade bricking the early Mac Pros, is there a way, I can determine if thats the issue to the two that I got? I just hooked one of those to power after a good 2-3 years and one of them powerd on just after the chime shut down and not powering on again, it took a few tries to begin with after connecting power cable on and off a few times. Can this be a fw bricking issue and if yes, and if I send you all the information can I request your services to bring the back please. The CPUs were never upgraded on those, they just slowly died. I have a 5,1 single cpu running strong and I am about to possibly buy another old run down 4,1 with standard 4core dual 2.26 cpus.
Sorry for the messed up post, but I just couldn't resist.

Seems your Return/Enter key is defective too, no? Maybe you should start your repair right there…

Anyway, did you already tested your early-2009 PSU and CPU tray with your working Mac Pro? Test one component at a time with your working Mac Pro before anything. Even if your BootROM is probably toast, right now you don't know it, you have to test every other component to be sure that the Mac Pro is healthy - no sense to repair the BootROM if anything else of the Mac Pro is defective.

 

[ozieboy]

Anyway, did you already tested your early-2009 PSU and CPU tray with your working Mac Pro? Test one component at a time with your working Mac Pro before anything. Even if your BootROM is probably toast, right now you don't know it, you have to test every other component to be sure that the Mac Pro is healthy - no sense to repair the BootROM if anything else of the Mac Pro is defective.

I agree, these problems got nothing much to do with this topic. But I saw your comments about BootROM and I thought about this. I was not able to find a topic that matched those precise issues, Apologies. Lets see, if I can at lease fix the Enter Key.

Thanks for replying, really appreciate that.

The tests that I have done far as follows:
1. Installed the MP 4,1 --> 5,1 dual CPU tray into my MacPro 5,1 single cpu system and the MP booted fine showing 8X cpus, with fans at full speed as expected, so dual CPUUs with tray tested OK.
2. Installed the good working PSU from MP 5,1 into MP 4,1 -->5,1 with same results, MP 4,1 --> 5,1 wont POST.

So, to me that indicates a BackPlane issue. But after seeing you post I started thinking about BootROM?

As I said, I did manage to get a Chime from this MP 4,1 -- 5,1 once. The other MP 4,1 with dual CPU also actually powered on a couple of times without the Chime, Originally, I remember both the MPs keep on starting and shutting down with Click sounds, possible coming from the PSU. Both the MPs showed the same symptoms at pretty much about within the same time difference of the actual purchase time difference.

Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

So, to me that indicates a BackPlane issue. But after seeing you post I started thinking about BootROM?

You can try replacing the SPI flash memory with a new MXIC 25L3206E flashed with MP51.fd. Read the first post of the BootROM thread for more info.

MacPro5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0

For MacPro5,1 BootROM upgrades, please read the first post of the thread below to know how to do the firmware upgrade: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mp5-1-what-you-have-to-do-to-upgrade-to-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions-thread.2142418/ For MP4,1 to MP5,1 cross firmware flashing...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[ozieboy]

You can try replacing the SPI flash memory with a new MXIC 25L3206E flashed with MP51.fd. Read the first post of the BootROM thread for more info.

MacPro5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0

For MacPro5,1 BootROM upgrades, please read the first post of the thread below to know how to do the firmware upgrade: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mp5-1-what-you-have-to-do-to-upgrade-to-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions-thread.2142418/ For MP4,1 to MP5,1 cross firmware flashing...

forums.macrumors.com

Thank you for your suggestion,
Can I please check and confirm with you that these are the symptoms of issue due to BootROM corruption? I mean this could be also faulty backplane on both the MPs 4,1, right?
I did some further testing, removed the cpu tray, removed the airport card, dissconnected power switch panel and tried power on solder joints. The two cpu leds blink red when power cable is connected, the diags button show amber 5v led. The MP do not power on at all, not even a quick any fan spin, tried again with the cpu tray with dual cpus installed. No power on indication at all.
Is this the symptoms of a BootRom problem? I was under the impression that even with bootrom issue, the MP should at least show some indication of a power on, isnt it?

Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Thank you for your suggestion,
Can I please check and confirm with you that these are the symptoms of issue due to BootROM corruption? I mean this could be also faulty backplane on both the MPs 4,1, right?
I did some further testing, removed the cpu tray, removed the airport card, dissconnected power switch panel and tried power on solder joints. The two cpu leds blink red when power cable is connected, the diags button show amber 5v led.

No EFI_DONE LED is a sure signal of a non working BootROM.

The MP do not power on at all, not even a quick any fan spin, tried again with the cpu tray with dual cpus installed. No power on indication at all.
Is this the symptoms of a BootRom problem? I was under the impression that even with bootrom issue, the MP should at least show some indication of a power on, isnt it?

Thanks.

If the SPI flash is dead, the Mac Pro will not power on at all, since the Mac Pro needs the BootROM to be at least partially working to power on.

Since the backplane could also have a non-BootROM related problem - like burned fuses or even a dead southbride - you eliminate the possibility of a BootROM problem with a replacement SPI flash memory flashed with MP51.fd or a MATT card, it's the simplest hardware defect to repair and one that doesn't need lot's of knowledge and equipment to diagnose.

If the Mac Pro then power on and boot, you'll just need a BootROM reconstruction service.

Also note that failures elsewhere on the backplane, PSU failures or CPU tray failures can have very similar symptoms, so, you should be 100% sure that all other Mac Pro components are tested and only after that you replace the SPI (or install a MATT card for testing the backplane).

If you can't replace the SPI flash yourself, get a used replacement backplane.

 

[ozieboy]

No EFI_DONE LED is a sure signal of a non working BootROM.



If the SPI flash is dead, the Mac Pro will not power on at all, since the Mac Pro needs the BootROM to be at least partially working to power on.

Since the backplane could also have a non-BootROM related problem - like burned fuses or even a dead southbride - you eliminate the possibility of a BootROM problem with a replacement SPI flash memory flashed with MP51.fd or a MATT card, it's the simplest hardware defect to repair and one that doesn't need lot's of knowledge and equipment to diagnose.

If the Mac Pro then power on and boot, you'll just need a BootROM reconstruction service.

Also note that failures elsewhere on the backplane, PSU failures or CPU tray failures can have very similar symptoms, so, you should be 100% sure that all other Mac Pro components are tested and only after that you replace the SPI (or install a MATT card for testing the backplane).

If you can't replace the SPI flash yourself, get a used replacement backplane.

Thanks Alex,

I trust your experience and judgement, but its strange that two MPs 4,1 showing exactly the same symptoms and eventually not powering on at all, but then again if there was a hardware (the exact same fault) failure with the backplane then both of them wouldn't just power on occasionally in the past 3-4 years.

You are right, its the simplest thing to try, I've been good with soldering in the past, I can do it. I will hold on purchasing the two backplanes that I negotiated a good price from a seller for the time being. Besides where is the fun in that.

Any reliable/tried/tested place/ebay/amazon to purchase the programmer and the flash chip, please?

 

[web44]

Still not possible, but this discussion is completely off topic to this thread.

I've started to notice in the last few weeks that some dumps people send me have the first store of the NVRAM header invalid. At first, I thought that was just a fluke, then slowly some more cases started to creep in.

I don't have enough cases to track what is causing it, but it's happening and it's not related to the NVRAM being full like when the first store overrun the second one, this one below (corrupt is on the left, cleaned/reconstructed one on the right) still have 34976 bytes free inside of the first store:

View attachment 1725491

Correct:

8D2BF1FF 96768B4C A9852747 075B4F50 00000300 00000000 5F465648 FF8EFFFF 4800387A 01000001 03000000 00000100

Invalid:

8D2BF1FF 96768B4C A9852747 075B4F50 00000300 00000000 5F465648 FF8EFFFF 4800397A 00000001 03000000 00000100

If you still don't have a backup of your BootROM safely stored, do it.

tsialex​

hello alex i tried to rebuild my nvram and i succeeded, but cmq it fills up too fast i loaded my rom of my mac pro 5.1 on a matt board with ch341a as instructed in another discussion i think the garbage collection is corrupted i need a rebuilt rom, thanks

Here's what I was able to achieve with the nvraram rebuild, but sadly it didn't work, it fills up quickly

 

[tsialex]

Any reliable/tried/tested place/ebay/amazon to purchase the programmer and the flash chip, please?

You can buy the MXIC 25L3206E from Digikey/Farnell/Mouser/Richelt/etc, it's a still readily available SPI and you will find it easily from a reputable distributor/reseller.

There are loads of sellers for ch341a, the last one I've bought was from AliExpress vendor some years ago.

 

[web44]

You can buy the MXIC 25L3206E from Digikey/Farnell/Mouser/Richelt/etc, it's a still readily available SPI and you will find it easily from a reputable distributor/reseller.

There are loads of sellers for ch341a, the last one I've bought was from AliExpress vendor some years ago.

I'm already using a matt card with a copy of my rom on it with an mx25l3206 chip and the problem is that I copied the rom from mac os 12.6.7 with opencore then I cleaned up the nvram with hxd the program that shows me the hexadecimal rom then with the laptop and a ch341 programmer I programmed the matt card first of course I backed up the matt card

 

[tsialex]

I'm already using a matt card with a copy of my rom on it with an mx25l3206 chip and the problem is that I copied the rom from mac os 12.6.7 with opencore then I cleaned up the nvram with hxd the program that shows me the hexadecimal rom then with the laptop and a ch341 programmer I programmed the matt card first of course I backed up the matt card

Please send me the original unmodified BootROM image, not the modified one. Sending a modified BootROM image adds unnecessary complexity to the investigation. You don't need to do anything besides what I've instructed by PM.

If you flashed your modified image to the Mac Pro, it's useless to dump it again, as I wrote, send me the original/backup BootROM image before the modifications.

 

[Chris_J84]

Hey tsialex, I wanted to PM you about this, but can't seem to reach you...so here goes...and please forgive the newbie status...

I have what I think is a corrupted bootROM chip. I did a bootROM dump and viewed the dump with UefiTOOL. Here's the screenshot:

As you can see, the secondary VSS store is missing, which I believe you said is evidence of corruption (in an older thread).

Also there's the free space size:

At Full Size, the free space is 34409. That's for 4 DIMMs (8GB sticks), single CPU (2.93ghz 6 core), and a MacVidCards flashed GPU - Sapphire PULSE RX580. Seems like that size could be OK, but wanted to verify with you first.

Before proceeding to install Big Sur on a clean SATA SSD via OCLP, should I be concerned about the missing secondary VSS entry? If so, how do I fix it and/or where can I get a never before booted firmware for a MX25L3205D chip, so I can flash that to my system on a consistent basis, (say every 3 months)?

EDIT: I'm getting a different graphics card (the NITRO+ RX580) and want to insert EnableGop, but thought it might not be a good idea to do that with a corrupted firmware.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

[tsialex]

Hey tsialex, I wanted to PM you about this, but can't seem to reach you...so here goes...
I have what I think is a corrupted bootROM chip. I did a bootROM dump and viewed the dump with UefiTOOL. Here's the screenshot:

View attachment 2245155

As you can see, the secondary VSS store is missing, which I believe you said is evidence of corruption (in an older thread).

Yes, this is a sure sign of corruption @Chris_J84, the secondary VSS store header is now bogus. This is very common with cross-flashed early-2009 and also frequently happen to the first year of mid-2010s (before base_21).

Also there's the free space size:

View attachment 2245156

At Full Size, the free space is 34409. That's for 4 DIMMs (8GB sticks), single CPU (2.93ghz 6 core), and a MacVidCards flashed GPU - Sapphire PULSE RX580. Seems like that size could be OK, but wanted to verify with you first.

It's a reasonable available space for a single CPU.

Before proceeding to install Big Sur on a clean SATA SSD via OCLP, should I be concerned about the missing secondary VSS entry?

Yes, you need a BootROM reconstruction service to solve the NVRAM corruption.

If so, how do I fix it and/or where can I get a never before booted firmware for a MX25L3205D chip, so I can flash that to my system on a consistent basis, (say every 3 months)?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

I'll send you a PM.

 

[Chris_J84]

Yes, this is a sure sign of corruption @Chris_J84, the secondary VSS store header is now bogus. This is very common with cross-flashed early-2009 and also frequently happen to the first year of mid-2010s (before base_21).



It's a reasonable available space for a single CPU.



Yes, you need a BootROM reconstruction service to solve the NVRAM corruption.



I'll send you a PM.

Thank you so much!!!

 

[TriBeard]

I hope this is the right thread, but I have a 4,1 flashed to 5,1 MP. I have a 5,1 backplane on order so that I can use my 5,1 CPU tray, but my question is more around how to get the bootrom to the 144.0.0.0 version. I have a current high sierra install, and I had what I thought was an RX580, but is actually an RX5700. I can boot into high sierra without acceleration but the GPU isn't detected so it won't report as a metal capable GPU and so mojave won't install/update firmware. Other than purchasing a GPU to use just to update the bootrom, any way to get past this so that I can get opencore installed and upgrade the OS? Goal is to go to Monteray at least for now until ventura is more stable/I get a usb add in card so long term this lack of mojave support isn't an issue.

 

[tsialex]

I hope this is the right thread, but I have a 4,1 flashed to 5,1 MP. I have a 5,1 backplane on order so that I can use my 5,1 CPU tray, but my question is more around how to get the bootrom to the 144.0.0.0 version. I have a current high sierra install, and I had what I thought was an RX580, but is actually an RX5700. I can boot into high sierra without acceleration but the GPU isn't detected so it won't report as a metal capable GPU and so mojave won't install/update firmware.

Yep, you are correct, without a METAL supported GPU that have High Sierra support, you can't upgrade the EFI firmware. For firmware upgrades a RX 5700 is completely useless.

Btw, if your Mac Pro have a EFI firmware before MP51.0089.B00, you also need an AppleOEM GPU to first upgrade to MP51.0089.B00 with a 10.13.6 clean install.

Other than purchasing a GPU to use just to update the bootrom, any way to get past this so that I can get opencore installed and upgrade the OS? Goal is to go to Monteray at least for now until ventura is more stable/I get a usb add in card so long term this lack of mojave support isn't an issue.

Without a METAL supported GPU that works with High Sierra, only a BootROM reconstruction service can bypass the requirement, since the Apple EFI flasher checks the GPU. I'll send you a PM about the BootROM reconstruction service.

 

[skeptech]

The nVidia GT-120 which Apple shipped for the cMP is going for between USD$15 to $30 on eBay - cheap way to get through the firmware upgrades. Also a low-power choice if you're going to turn your cMP into a server.

 

[tsialex]

The nVidia GT-120 which Apple shipped for the cMP is going for between USD$15 to $30 on eBay - cheap way to get through the firmware upgrades. Also a low-power choice if you're going to turn your cMP into a server.

You are forgetting that for someone that still have the original EFI firmware or anything before MP51.0089.B00, the process is a two steps procedure.

The first upgrade requires an AppleOEM GPU (anything earlier to the MP51.0089.B00 BootROM version), while the second (MP51.0089.B00 to 144.0.0.0.0) requires a HighSierra METAL supported GPU.

With just a GT120, the firmware upgrade stops halfway.

 

[TriBeard]

I have the stock 5870 that came with the computer so I was able to get to high sierra and the MP51 firmware no issues. Just the going beyond that that was the issue, but hopefully my new backplane that I needed for my CPU tray (5,1 tray) will fix my firmware issues.

Interestingly, it seems like the 5700xt has the EFI support? I can see the apple logo/boot picker at startup.