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MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0
- Thread starter tsialex
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Just my opinion but I would get a bootrom reconstruction from @tsialex - clean, modern, up to date bootrom that you can reflash every three months or so to protect against a brick. Not much more than the cheap GPU cost and a lot less hassle with future protection built in.
And yes I am a very happy @tsialex customer.
It's not a EFI GPU from factory or a GPU that have any native pre-boot configuration support from factory, maybe it's OpenCore boot picker and not the Apple native boot picker that you are seeing.
Hello there !@tsialex Could you PM for the reconstruction service ? I recently bought a 4.1 flashed to 5.1 (dual cpu, 96gb of ram, sapphire 580), and I ran the test with UEFI Tool... before using opencore i dumped the rom files (showing 34000 free space, without any signs of corruption), and after installing Monterey via Martin Lo package, I have 3000 free space, and many lines filled with "Invalid"... I could dump the back up rom I have but since it's a flashed 4.1 to 5.1, I would appreciate a fresh ROM.
Thanks in advance,
Jordan
Invalid should be read as Superseded, so, you will always have some entries marked as Invalid.
The real issue is, if you still have a lot of Invalid entries right after a NVRAM reset, it's a sign that garbage collection stopped working, extremely common with cross-flashed early-2009 Mac Pros.
Sure.
Hi @tsialex
Joining the club... I would like to ask about your ROM service too, 4,1>5,1 and trying to get OCLP and Monterey up and running, to get a few more years out of the old beast, but it sounds like having a decent ROM to fall back on is a good idea. Would you be able to PM details please?
Thanks
J
Joining the club... I would like to ask about your ROM service too, 4,1>5,1 and trying to get OCLP and Monterey up and running, to get a few more years out of the old beast, but it sounds like having a decent ROM to fall back on is a good idea. Would you be able to PM details please?
Thanks
J
New to the forum here. I had an interesting problem and found this thread. I have a Mac pro 4,1 flashed to 5,1 with Mojave and Martin Lo's opencore and a windows 11 install. I tried to install Monterey on an nvme/pcie a couple times and was failing, ending up with weird boot issues. I then had other issues as well, such as diag lights for cpu overheat that I discovered. The boot chime had disappeared and the computer had gone into a reboot cycle that I couldn't see without a flashed gpu. I ended up pulling everything (hard drives, peripherals) from the computer except the opencore Mojave drive and putting the original gpu back in. It was still not booting properly. Something I saw somewhere made me change the motherboard button battery at this point. It was definitely original as before I started working with the Mac pro it had not been used since 2016. It then started, chimed, and no OC boot picker but I had the standard option screen. I got into the OC Mojave install and blessed and oc boot picker returned. I decided to check the rom after finding this thread and it showed no free space entry, just padding, but it had the second vss store. I thought it was effed. I did a 3x nvram reset now that I could bring something up and went back and did a rom dump again and it showed 36k free with 3 16gb dimms installed. Am I in the clear? I've checked it several times since and it's stayed in the mid 30k range. I think a dead button battery really messed me up for a bit.
This is your real problem.
While a spent RTC battery for sure can make the Mac Pro go crazy, the cross-flashing is the main issue. The MacPro4,1 NVRAM volume is different than a real MacPro5,1 (just one working VSS store) and overtime it will corrupt and then you’ll have a brick. Besides that there are the hardware descriptor, hacked BootBlock and etc.
There is no other solution besides a BootROM reconstruction service. I’ll send you a PM.
Hi, i got a mpro 4.1 to 5.1 .
64 gb ram in 4 slot
single cpu
radeon rx570
I have issues like long time boot or unable to get full nvram reset: only 1 chime
I want update to mojave and after use open core but i think it better a nvram reconstrution.
It's safe to update now to 144 before rom dump?
Can you help me @tsialex ?
Thank you!
64 gb ram in 4 slot
single cpu
radeon rx570
I have issues like long time boot or unable to get full nvram reset: only 1 chime
I want update to mojave and after use open core but i think it better a nvram reconstrution.
It's safe to update now to 144 before rom dump?
Can you help me @tsialex ?
Thank you!
Last edited:
Quick question here, does injecting GPU drivers in the bootrom with enableGop /XEinject has side effects on the stability/longevity of a 4,1 cmp bootrom running Monterey (OCLP) ? I imagined the new drivers would take some space on the bootrom but maybe I am wrong.
It´s a little more complex than you are thinking.
The MacPro5,1 BootROM have lots of avaliable space. The issue is that the BootROM is composed of different components and when you inject a driver, it´s injected inside the EFI part of the BootROM. The problems with space are inside the NVRAM volume, a tiny 192KB volume inside the 4096KB BootROM.
The problem with a cross-flashed early-2009 is that the MP4,1 NVRAM have a very different design than the the MP5,1 one - only one VSS store and with a FTW functional store while the MP5,1 one have two VSS stores and just a non-functional placeholder for the FTW - and over time the NVRAM volume of the cross-flashed early-2009 corrupts itself. The only way to avoid it is with a BootROM reconstruction.
So, while injecting EnableGop won´t take space, the issues with the NVRAM volume are real and will brick your early-2009 Mac Pro.
You reconstructed my rom a year ago and I regularly flash my cmp with it
this time I have injected enableGop on the dump you provided me and try that instead !
Works like a charm. Tested with a lot of models.You reconstructed my rom a year ago and I regularly flash my cmp with it
Never upload your BootROM image dump publicly. It's unique to your Mac Pro (shouldn't be used with another one) and have lot's of personal info.
Edit your post and remove it. I'll take a look.
You installed Windows UEFI without the OpenCore SecureBoot protection, so, your BootROM image was signed two times:
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
243907 0x3B8C3 BIOS version: MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1904121248
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
768195 0xBB8C3 BIOS version: MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1904121248
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
1179688 0x120028 NVRAM start of the 1st VSS store
1179766 0x120076 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (j)
1185763 0x1217E3 NVRAM BluetoothUHEDevices
1191818 0x122F8A NVRAM bluetoothActiveControllerInfo
1193079 0x123477 Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1195144 0x123C88 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (i)
1197712 0x124690 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1199760 0x124E90 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1201808 0x125690 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (i)
1204379 0x12609B NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1206427 0x12689B NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (h)
1208475 0x12709B NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (i)
1245255 0x130047 NVRAM start of the 2nd VSS store
1245302 0x130076 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (j)
1251299 0x1317E3 NVRAM BluetoothUHEDevices
1257354 0x132F8A NVRAM bluetoothActiveControllerInfo
1258615 0x133477 Certificate in DER format (x509 v3), header length: 4, sequence length: 986
1260680 0x133C88 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (i)
1263248 0x134690 NVRAM MemoryConfig type: (g)
1343511 0x148017 bzip2 compressed data, block size = 100k
1345181 0x14869D HardwareID Base_xx: 21
1345190 0x1486A6 HardwareID 11-digits SSN: H01xxxxGWR
1345207 0x1486B7 HardwareID 3-digit HWC model: GWR
1376256 0x150000 UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 2686976, header size: 1, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System, GUID: 7A9354D9-0468-444A-CE81-0BF617D890DF
1416827 0x159E7B BIOS version: MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1904121248
1614976 0x18A480 Apple NVMe EFI Module
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
4128867 0x3F0063 BootBlock version: AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1010071430
4194000 0x3FFED0 HardwareID MLB/LBSN: J51xxxxxxBH9A, BuildDate: 1111xx1111xxxHardwareIDs edited to not leak serial numbers.
Unfortunately, you gonna need a BootROM reconstruction service to repair the mess caused by Windows UEFI Secureboot. I'll send you a PM.
Hello,
I have recently gotten to updating a 4,1-->5,1 (dual CPU w/ 8 populated DIMMs) with OC and unfortunately did not stumble on the issues that can come with flashing and running newer OSs when it comes to the BootROM. I did a dump before a 5x NVRAM reset and after. Both were missing the second VSS Store. The first dump had a first VSS Store with 9698 of free space and the second dump had a first VSS Store with 10402 of free space. I assume this means that the BootROM has some level of corruption and a not fully functioning trash collection?
I have recently gotten to updating a 4,1-->5,1 (dual CPU w/ 8 populated DIMMs) with OC and unfortunately did not stumble on the issues that can come with flashing and running newer OSs when it comes to the BootROM. I did a dump before a 5x NVRAM reset and after. Both were missing the second VSS Store. The first dump had a first VSS Store with 9698 of free space and the second dump had a first VSS Store with 10402 of free space. I assume this means that the BootROM has some level of corruption and a not fully functioning trash collection?
Correct, once the secondary VSS store header is corrupt and not being identified by UEFITool anymore, deep NVRAM resets are not capable of repairing the NVRAM volume and a BootROM reconstruction service is required. I’ll send you a PM.
Some two or three weeks ago, after doing a Mojave clean install to one of my Mac Pros, I've noticed by accident that the About This Mac screen wasn't showing the Mac Pro year model anymore, like when you don't have internet access (it's a remote query based on the SSN after all).
Initially I thought that was a just fluke, but several re-installs later with different Mac Pros - this one is from today - and no more year models:
Apple is on a warpath against classic Mac Pros… 😉
Initially I thought that was a just fluke, but several re-installs later with different Mac Pros - this one is from today - and no more year models:
Apple is on a warpath against classic Mac Pros… 😉