MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (10.13/10.14 BootROM upgrades instructions thread)

[pojavi]

Anther try using just a samsung ssd which had a sierra os on it, and my original nvidia gt 120 which is the only graphic card I have.

With only these 3 devices plugged, Ihave erased the ssd with hardisk utility, then clean install of sierra. Installed all the updates. Then run install app for high sierra, holded down button once after the light and also after the beep.......and nothing, my machine won´t run the firmware update. It always loads the operating system. Is there a cheap graphic card that I can use to install high sierra or even mojave?

 

[tsialex]

Anther try using just a samsung ssd which had a sierra os on it, and my original nvidia gt 120 which is the only graphic card I have.

With only these 3 devices plugged, Ihave erased the ssd with hardisk utility, then clean install of sierra. Installed all the updates. Then run install app for high sierra, holded down button once after the light and also after the beep.......and nothing, my machine won´t run the firmware update. It always loads the operating system. Is there a cheap graphic card that I can use to install high sierra or even mojave?

You have to use the original one to upgrade your Mac Pro to MP51.0089.B00. All info about GPUs are on the first post, read there.

You have to find what is blocking you to enter Firmware Programming Mode, if you can’t enter, you can’t upgrade.

 

[pojavi]

yes, the graphic card nvidia gt120 that I´m using to do the upgrade, is the orignal one that came with the macpro. I don´t know what is blocking the firmware update. Is there some way to find out what´s blockin it?. I could buy a new graphic card but it is pointless if before installing mojave I have to use original efi card, that in my case, does not allow to update the firmware. That´s why I asked for a card compatible both with high sierra and mojave.

 

[pojavi]

Hi. I finally made it. I have used the method described in page 25 of this thread. I created an usb installer for high sierra using the terminal app and the firmware update went flawlessly, so I have it now with version MP51.0089.B00.

The next step I suppose it´s go for mojave and buyin a new graphic card. Is it worth the change to this version?. In that case, which is the best option value for money?. For example I have seen this card Asus Radeon RX560 4GB GDDR5 for 160 euros.

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[tsialex]

Hi. I finally made it. I have used the method described in page 25 of this thread. I created an usb installer for high sierra using the terminal app and the firmware update went flawlessly, so I have it now with version MP51.0089.B00.

The next step I suppose it´s go for mojave and buyin a new graphic card. Is it worth the change to this version?. In that case, which is the best option value for money?. For example I have seen this card Asus Radeon RX560 4GB GDDR5 for 160 euros.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Stick with the cards that Apple supports, check the list on the 1st post of this thread, most of compatible ones will work but some don’t work all outputs or have other problems.

Don’t buy any RX-550 model, or RX-560 2GB/RX-580 4GB, stick with the recommended ones.

 

[swm]

Don’t buy any RX-550 model, or RX-560 2GB/RX-580 4GB, stick with the recommended ones.

apparently mine works fine with RX-560 2GB (was an earlier buy) - a vanilla Sapphire Radeon RX 560 PULSE 2GB GDDR5 128bit - (MFN: 11267-19-20G)
this is a 2009 cMP btw. the original apple supplied geforce (A1310) needed to be removed prior to the EFI upgrade as it is not supported by metal. the radeon is doing OK, if you check in activity monitor, it gets utilised all the time. checked with FCPx, and while all scrubbing, playback and other actions use the GPU, final rendering is only done on the CPU cores.
but in general, FCPx (+compressor) has a weird GPU support list, and the Radeon RX family is completely missing from it, only the Radeon Pro (which is kind of exclusive to iMacs) is there. this is probably the explanation why it doesn't use the GPU cores for rendering.

 

[tsialex]

apparently mine works fine with RX-560 2GB (was an earlier buy) - a vanilla Sapphire Radeon RX 560 PULSE 2GB GDDR5 128bit - (MFN: 11267-19-20G)
this is a 2009 cMP btw. the original apple supplied geforce (A1310) needed to be removed prior to the EFI upgrade as it is not supported by metal. the radeon is doing OK, if you check in activity monitor, it gets utilised all the time. checked with FCPx, and while all scrubbing, playback and other actions use the GPU, final rendering is only done on the CPU cores.
but in general, FCPx (+compressor) has a weird GPU support list, and the Radeon RX family is completely missing from it, only the Radeon Pro (which is kind of exclusive to iMacs) is there. this is probably the explanation why it doesn't use the GPU cores for rendering.

Like Apple says in the support document, most compatible cards listed could work. We found that a lot of cheap 2GB RX-560 and 4GB RX-580, make for office PCs, don't work. So, if you can't buy, test and exchange a card if it don't work, don't buy one that is not on the confirmed list.

 

[trustter]

Does anyone know if the Sapphire Radeon Nitro+ RX 580 8GB GDDR5 would work with Mojave? Thank you

 

[natjonesart]

Hi guys. 4,1 flashed to 5,1, Flashed GTX680. I have been on Sierra and wanted to make the move to Mojave. I cant get the firmwate update to work when I try to update to High Sierra. Sticks at the vey beginning when it asks about helper. I tried to hard start and hold down the power for update but it doesn't work. What am I missing?

 

[tsialex]

Hi guys. 4,1 flashed to 5,1, Flashed GTX680. I have been on Sierra and wanted to make the move to Mojave. I cant get the firmwate update to work when I try to update to High Sierra. Sticks at the vey beginning when it asks about helper. I tried to hard start and hold down the power for update but it doesn't work. What am I missing?

Read the last pages, maybe this will help #607.

 

[natjonesart]

Read the last pages, maybe this will help #607.

thanks, I tried this approach and am still having the same issue. Does not shut down for fimware update.

 

[tsialex]

thanks, I tried this approach and am still having the same issue. Does not shut down for fimware update.

Sent you a PM.

 

[Bob-K]

I have a flashed 2009 Mac Pro (originally 2 x 2.26 GHz quad-core, now 2 x 3.33 GHz 6-core).

I recently installed High Sierra and everything seems fine.

I'm about to replace the original GPU, GeForce GT120, with an MSI Aero ITX Radeon 560 128 bit 4GB DDR5.

If that works, I plan to upgrade to Mojave.

Before I pull the trigger, I'd like to know:

Once the 560 and Mojave are installed, if for some reason I need to boot into an older version of Mac OS X, will that be possible? (I keep archives of old OS versions on external drives.)

Or is there something in the firmware update that would prevent this?

Thanks!

 

[kohlson]

Or is there something in the firmware update that would prevent this?

You should be able to move between 10.13 and 10.14 easily. I have an RX580 and do this. You will be able to go back to a late version of 10.12, but nothing before that.

All that said, some apps are not quite so "bouncy." Last year FCPX had an upgrade that required a minimum OS 10.13 support level. So there may some specific app/use case that will cause problems.

 

[Bob-K]

To put it another way, if I put the original video card back in, would I be able to boot from OS versions back to the one that the computer came with? Or would the firmware update for Mojave prevent that?

 

[pojavi]

Sent you a PM.

When I flashed mine 2 days ago, I always turned it off manually, that is, clicking the apple icon.......never used the button to shut it down. I was in the same situation and solved it using an usb installer created with terminal like tsialex have told you.

 

[tsialex]

To put it another way, if I put the original video card back in, would I be able to boot from OS versions back to the one that the computer came with? Or would the firmware update for Mojave prevent that?

Firmware 140.0.0.0.0 can boot even 10.6.8, it's the GPU drivers that limits you.

 

[Coyote2006]

Thanks tsialex. Installation of my "new" old MacPro 4,1 worked without any problems. Now I have a MacPro with Geforce GTX 680 and a PCI NVMe drive at high speed to work with

 

[Bob-K]

it's the GPU drivers that limits you.

I don't understand. Can you explain, please? What are the limits?

Is it that Mojave updates the GPU drivers, and the updated drivers no longer support the older (original) video cards?

Thanks!

 

[DPUser]

OS versions prior to Sierra don't support the AMD RX cards

 

[bsbeamer]

I don't understand. Can you explain, please? What are the limits?

Is it that Mojave updates the GPU drivers, and the updated drivers no longer support the older (original) video cards?

Thanks!

ALL GPU's require a driver.
SOME GPU's have a driver built into the OS.

The drivers available for Mojave are limited to specific Metal supported GPUs, including the recommended Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB. SOME additional cards are supported, see the Apple issued documentation.

There are no NVIDIA web drivers for Mojave at this point, so expanding that list to GTX 10XX series is not possible at this time. Only GTX 680 for Mac (and similar) with an EFI are supported natively.

 

[Bob-K]

Thanks, but these last two posts don't address my question.

To repeat: I'm wondering if the firmware update that comes with Mojave removes support for the original video card when booting into older versions of the OS.

So for example, after updgrading to Mojave, could I shut down the computer, replace the MSI video card with the original NVidia one, attach a hard drive containing Yosemite, and boot into Yosemite?

 

[crjackson2134]

To repeat: I'm wondering if the firmware update that comes with Mojave removes support for the original video card when booting into older versions of the OS.

It has NOTHING to do with the firmware. It (the firmware) DOES NOT remove support for original video card when booting into older version of the OS.

It has EVERYTHING to do with the OS/Driver's for THAT OS.

 

[bsbeamer]

Thanks, but these last two posts don't address my question.

To repeat: I'm wondering if the firmware update that comes with Mojave removes support for the original video card when booting into older versions of the OS.

So for example, after updgrading to Mojave, could I shut down the computer, replace the MSI video card with the original NVidia one, attach a hard drive containing Yosemite, and boot into Yosemite?

macOS Mojave does not include DRIVERS for many GPUs that functioned in High Sierra and previous OS versions. Really has nothing to do with firmware.

I'm running High Sierra 10.13.6 on 5,1 with 140.0.0.0.0 with no issues. Allows me to use NVMe PCIe as boot drive. That is the main reason why I installed the latest firmware update. Update before that was to enable 5GT/s (believe 138.0.0.0.0). Have not PERSONALLY booted into OS versions previous to High Sierra, but many reports there is no issue.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks, but these last two posts don't address my question.

To repeat: I'm wondering if the firmware update that comes with Mojave removes support for the original video card when booting into older versions of the OS.

It's not the firmware that supports GPUs. It's the OS.

You can boot 10.6.8 with GT120 + 140.0.0.0.0. You can't boot anything older than Sierra 10.12.6 with RX-580.

Another thing, you can't install macOS earlier than High Sierra into NVMe drives with 512 bytes/sector or Sierra with drives that have 4096 bytes/sector.

So for example, after updgrading to Mojave, could I shut down the computer, replace the MSI video card with the original NVidia one, attach a hard drive containing Yosemite, and boot into Yosemite?

Yes.