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

[Handydave]

I wanted to thank everyone , especially the OP, for giving me the info and confidence to upgrade my 5,1 GPU.
I followed the info upgrading firmware incrementally to 138.0.0.0.0 then finishing the full Mojave install thinking it would go on to 140.0.0.0.0 which it did not.
Everything worked with my rx580 pulse and since I didn’t need nvme support I didn’t worry about it.
To get a little more performance I decided to get a Samsung 860pro ssd on a OWC pcie adapter.
I tried doing a new install on the new drive but the installer said the drive was too small even though it was twice the size of the original startup drive.
Just for fun while the installer was running I opted to try to install on the original startup drive and much to my surprise it did the firmware update to 140.0.0.0 and even more surprising I had a BOOT screen showing the progress of the update with only the pulse rx580 installed.
Once the update was done, I used carbon copy cloner to clone the startup disk to the new Pcie ssd, selected it in the startup menu, and booted up.
The black screen returned using the cloned drive , but everything worked as it should.
I just thought it was an interesting quirk that I wanted to share.
Thank you all again for taking the time to post.

 

[Kangopop]

Hi,

What item model number should it be on SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5 (for MacPro Mid 2010)?

And on graphics description should it be AMD Radeon RX 580?

 

[tsialex]

Hi,

What item model number should it be on SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5 (for MacPro Mid 2010)?

And on graphics description should it be AMD Radeon RX 580?

I don't understand what you really want to know with your question, but there are several part numbers of Sapphire Pulse RX 580, this GPU had several revisions already.

All revisions/part numbers of Sapphire Pulse RX 580 work with Mojave.

 

[Kangopop]

I don't understand what you really want to know with your question, but there are several part numbers of Sapphire Pulse RX 580, this GPU had several revisions already.

All revisions/part numbers of Sapphire Pulse RX 580 work with Mojave.

Don't know so much about graphics cards and sorry for my stupid questions.

How should I know which card I should buy? I want to buy the card that is compatible. You have one that is compatible SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5) and one that might be compatible (AMD Radeon RX 580).

 

[tsialex]

Don't know so much about graphics cards and sorry for my stupid questions.

How should I know which card I should buy? You have one that is compatible SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5) and one that might be compatible (AMD Radeon RX 580).

Sapphire is the manufacturer, Pulse is the model that you want to buy, AMD RX 580 is the GPU type. Apple do all the tests with this specific video card.

If you live in a country that have the real Sapphire Pulse RX 580, go for it. You will need a dual mini 6-pin to 8-pin cable to power the GPU. Like this one: 18AWG Dual mini 6Pin male to 8Pin male PCI-E Y Splitter Power cables for Mac Pro.

Maybe you live in a country that don't have it on the local market, you can buy one AMD RX 580 from another manufacturer, but it's better to ask if the one that you found locally is compatible.

Some cards, like Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580, a Sapphire model for PC overclockers, have problems when using into a Mac Pro - it's a 2.2 slots wide GPU and uses more power than the Mac Pro specification. Don't buy this one.

 

[Kangopop]

Sapphire is the manufacturer, Pulse is the model that you want to buy, AMD RX 580 is the GPU type. Apple do all the tests with this specific video card.

If you live in a country that have the real Sapphire Pulse RX 580, go for it. You will need a dual mini 6-pin to 8-pin cable to power the GPU. Like this one: 18AWG Dual mini 6Pin male to 8Pin male PCI-E Y Splitter Power cables for Mac Pro.

Maybe you live in a country that don't have it on the local market, you can buy one AMD RX 580 from another manufacturer, but it's better to ask if the one that you found locally is compatible.

Some cards, like Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580, a Sapphire model for PC overclockers, have problems when using into a Mac Pro - it's a 2.2 slots wide GPU and uses more power than the Mac Pro specification. Don't buy this one.

Thank you for the help.

 

[kalex]

Want to say thank you to tsialex. Followed the guide and currently running 10.14.2 without issues. Took few tries to get firmware loaded, had to wait for flashing lights and beep while holding the power button.

 

[Alaska_guy]

I wanted to say thanks. I was able to get my 4,1 to 5,1 then I slapped in my R9 280x video card I had laying around and was able to get it updated to Mojave. The odd thing is that now my 5,1 wifi card and my ethernet no longer work with Mojave. If I go under networks it detects ethernet 1 and 2 along with my wifi card. If I view system it also shows the cards... Top right on Mojave says that no hardware wifi card detected where the little wireless icon is. I tried another pcix ethernet card but it didn't like that either. I have a dual port intel card arriving sometime this week. Hopefully that one works. Odd that everything worked fine in High Sierra but Mojave decided to disable my network/wifi cards somehow.

Did a Alt+Windows+P+R and was able to get the nics working!

 

[crjackson2134]

Some WiFi cards are no longer supported by Mojo so it should be no big surprise. Just make sure you install a supported card.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Some WiFi cards are no longer supported by Mojo so it should be no big surprise. Just make sure you install a supported card.

This is why its not worth for me to do this.. I will just run Mojave on my 2012 MacBook Pro. Too many politics with this whole hacking thing.

 

[tsialex]

This is why its not worth for me to do this.. I will just run Mojave on my 2012 MacBook Pro. Too many politics with this whole hacking thing.

Mojave supports the same Mac Pro AirPort Extreme cards as High Sierra.

High Sierra removed support for some old AirPort Extreme cards used by Apple in 2008 Mac Pros and some very early or refurbished 2009 Mac Pros. The two models of AirPorts Extreme Apple used into most of later 2009 Mac Pros and all 2010/2012 ones are totally supported by Mojave.

The last supported macOS version for 2009 Mac Pros is El Capitan and you can run Mojave, three major versions later than the last one officially supported, with just a METAL supported GPU and, if you have one of the early/refurb 2009 that have an unsupported AirPort, an updated BCM94322MC AirPort Extreme that on eBay costs $9 for one pulled from a MacBook or $15 pulled from a Mac Pro.

 

[Alaska_guy]

I purchased an AR5BXB112 AR9380, Thats the card that no longer works.

 

[tsialex]

I purchased an AR5BXB112 AR9380, Thats the card that no longer works.

This chipset was last used into 2008 and very early 2009 Mac Pros, Apple removed support for it and BCM94321MC.

 

[mrhali]

Thanks for this guide which pointed me in the right direction in helping me figure out why the installer was Colorwheeling/Beachballing and freezing on the very first step, when trying to shut down on the initial firmware upgrade process. I had moved the installer from the Applications folder to the Desktop and it didn't like that. I needed to delete the Mojave installer and redownload it again from the App Store and then it worked.

I just wanted to say that something that should be added to this guide is that if you are installing Mojave on an SSD or Hard Drive which is on a PCIe card like a Sonnet Tempo 6gb/s SSD Host Adapter, then you won't be able to select the drive. The Mojave installer will only allow you to install on a drive that is located in one of the four SATA-II drive bays. So you will have to open up your box and temporarily move the SSD internally while you install Mojave and then just move it back to the PCIe card after it's done installing and working. That's the workaround.

Also, just wanted to report that Mojave is working great with my flashed EVGA GeForce GTX 680 4GB. In High Sierra, it was reporting that it was Metal v3, but now in Mojave it's reporting as Metal v4. It has the Apple logo on boot and the EFI boot options and everything.

EDIT: Grammar

 

[dlp600]

I am stuck. I put the graphics card in and the monitor is blank. Here is some info on my system and the card I am trying to use. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[tsialex]

I am stuck. I put the graphics card in and the monitor is blank. Here is some info on my system and the card I am trying to use. Any advice would be appreciated.

Read the first post, pay attention to the AirDisplay part.

 

[blackswan167]

Read the first post, pay attention to the AirDisplay part.

Tsialex,

First off, thanks for starting this post. I have a mid-2010 Mac Pro currently on Sierra 10.12.6 , but the ATI 5770 recently died so I decided to get the RX580 thinking that I could upgrade to Mojave. So I installed the RX580, went to the app store for the High Sierra. The installer prompted the Firmware update. I followed the prompt but the installer keeps looping (every time it reboots it goes back to the Firmware screen asking me to shut down and hold the power button...). And that's how I found this thread. My boot ROM is currently MP51.007F.B03.

If I read your original post correctly, I need to first find an old working GPU card, then run the 10.13.6 to update the boot ROM. Is that correct?

On another note, my boot drive is an OWC Crucial SSD drive and I have 4 internal hard drives running RAID. I am wondering if they have anything to do with the looping issue with the firmware updater.

Thanks in advance for your help.

- JC

 

[tsialex]

Tsialex,

First off, thanks for starting this post. I have a mid-2010 Mac Pro currently on Sierra 10.12.6 , but the ATI 5770 recently died so I decided to get the RX580 thinking that I could upgrade to Mojave. So I installed the RX580, went to the app store for the High Sierra. The installer prompted the Firmware update. I followed the prompt but the installer keeps looping (every time it reboots it goes back to the Firmware screen asking me to shut down and hold the power button...). And that's how I found this thread. My boot ROM is currently MP51.007F.B03.

If I read your original post correctly, I need to first find an old working GPU card, then run the 10.13.6 to update the boot ROM. Is that correct?

On another note, my boot drive is an OWC Crucial SSD drive and I have 4 internal hard drives running RAID. I am wondering if they have anything to do with the looping issue with the firmware updater.

Thanks in advance for your help.

- JC

Read the first post, everything is there, pay attention to the notes.

If your BootROM is really MP51.007F.B03, you never did a firmware upgrade all these years and you will need a Mac EFI GPU to do the first part of the firmware upgrade, to MP51.0089.B00. The second part you have to use a METAL supported GPU like your RX 580.

You can't upgrade firmware with RAID drives/PCIe SATAIII cards, etc. Remove all your RAID drives, install 10.11.6 or 10.12.6 - both work without firmware upgrades - into a SATA drive, then download 10.13.6 from the Mac App Store.

Simplify you Mac Pro, just keep the GPU and one SATA drive installed into a SATA II native port.

 

[dlp600]

Read the first post, pay attention to the AirDisplay part.

I just did a clean install of High Sierra and do not have the two extensions. Should it work now? I have to run out but will try once I'm back.

 

[tsialex]

I just did a clean install of High Sierra and do not have the two extensions. Should it work now? I have to run out but will try once I'm back.

XFX cards are know to have incompatibilities with macOS, but I don't remember if yours have problems. Did you powered it correctly?

 

[blackswan167]

Read the first post, everything is there, pay attention to the notes.

If your BootROM is really MP51.007F.B03, you never did a firmware upgrade all these years and you will need a Mac EFI GPU to do the first part of the firmware upgrade, to MP51.0089.B00. The second part you have to use a METAL supported GPU like your RX 580.

You can't upgrade firmware with RAID drives/PCIe SATAIII cards, etc. Remove all your RAID drives, install 10.11.6 or 10.12.6 - both work without firmware upgrades - into a SATA drive, then download 10.13.6 from the Mac App Store.

Simplify you Mac Pro, just keep the GPU and one SATA drive installed into a SATA II native port.

Thanks. Just ordered a used 5770 to do the first part of the firmware upgrade.

Regarding your comment re RAID, just to be clear, I am only using the internal SATA drive bays and running them as software RAIDs using the disk utility. Would that be okay?

BTW, I did read your first post multiple times ;-)

 

[tsialex]

Thanks. Just ordered a used 5770 to do the first part of the firmware upgrade.

Regarding your comment re RAID, just to be clear, I am only using the internal SATA drive bays and running them as software RAIDs using the disk utility. Would that be okay?

BTW, I did read your first post multiple times ;-)

If it's only a data RAID, Mojave works with it, but various people reported problems.

Mojave can't boot from RAID and you can't do a firmware upgrade booting from a RAID array (unless is a hardware array that presents itself to the OS as a one big drive). Install 10.11.6 or 10.12.6 into a SATA drive installed on a native SATAII port to do the firmware upgrades and install Mojave.

 

[dlp600]

XFX cards are know to have incompatibilities with macOS, but I don't remember if yours have problems. Did you powered it correctly?

Do you mean did use the internal power cable? Yes

I just tried it and still a black screen. It sounds like my card is not compatible?

 

[Alaska_guy]

I had the same problem. I had to get mac pro specific mini 6 to 8 pin sold on amazon. Fixed my issue with black screen.

 

[wjdavis]

Hey, I have a 5,1 with an unflashed GTX 780. I updated the firmware to 140 in 10.13.6 using one of the approaches outlined in the first post, and I confirmed that the firmware updated in the system profiler. I started the Mojave installer, and it gave the chance to accept terms, select the disk, etc. When it restarted to continue the installation, it restarted into a black screen; I don't see a progress bar or anything with the install status. Is this normal for an unflashed card as it updates the OS (no clean install)?
[doublepost=1549210279][/doublepost]

Hey, I have a 5,1 with an unflashed GTX 780. I updated the firmware to 140 in 10.13.6 using one of the approaches outlined in the first post, and I confirmed that the firmware updated in the system profiler. I started the Mojave installer, and it gave the chance to accept terms, select the disk, etc. When it restarted to continue the installation, it restarted into a black screen; I don't see a progress bar or anything with the install status. Is this normal for an unflashed card as it updates the OS (no clean install)?

Nevermind! Just restarted, and we're good to go. Sorry, I'm a little anxious, as the first attempt didn't go so well after I didn't pay attention to important details.