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

[Danzagoonie]

Hi, I'm not sure if this question has been answered.
So i have a Mac Pro with macOS Sierra version 10.12.6 currently installed.
I have a GTX 960. The original GT120 died a few years ago.
Wanting to go to Mojave, and I know it needs to go to High Sierra first.
It asks for the firmware update, which won't work without an EFI GPU.
What If i took the SSD out of the mac pro, connected it to my macbook air, and booted of that drive and installed High Sierra, and then put it back into the Mac pro, would that work?
Or do I have to go buy a mac pro GPU?
Thanks

 

[mrhali]

Hi, I'm not sure if this question has been answered.
So i have a Mac Pro with macOS Sierra version 10.12.6 currently installed.
I have a GTX 960. The original GT120 died a few years ago.
Wanting to go to Mojave, and I know it needs to go to High Sierra first.
It asks for the firmware update, which won't work without an EFI GPU.
What If i took the SSD out of the mac pro, connected it to my macbook air, and booted of that drive and installed High Sierra, and then put it back into the Mac pro, would that work?
Or do I have to go buy a mac pro GPU?
Thanks

The whole point of upgrading to the latest High Sierra on the Mac Pro prior to the Mojave install is to get the BootROM firmware upgraded to MP51.0089.B00. This is the mandatory minimum before you can attempt to upgrade it to 140.0.0.0.0, which comes part of the Mojave installation. If you aren't at that minimum version, then taking the SSD out and installing High Sierra as an external won't help, because the BootROM of your Mac Pro wouldn't have gotten upgraded. So, I'm pretty sure you will need an EFI GPU. But does anyone know if you can do it headless?

 

[bsbeamer]

As far as I know, you need an EFI GPU to get to MP51.0089.B00. Non-EFI or no GPU were not compatible with at least some of the firmware updates through that point. Unsure what version you are on currently, so rather than experiment would suggest you get a cheap EFI GPU to avoid issues. Have seen 5770's under $35 recently if you're willing to wait and shop.

I have not tested MP51.0089.B00 > 138.0.0.0.0, or 138.0.0.0.0 > 140.0.0.0.0 without a GPU present. Considering the Metal requirement, I would not be shocked if GPU was required. Non-Metal GPUs do not work for these updates.

 

[Danzagoonie]

It's on version MP51.007F.B03 I was hoping to even just connect it to the macbook air and upgrade all the way to Mojave and put it back in the mac pro.
The cheapest 5770 i can find is $75-$100 (im in Australia)
And i've seen some GT120 for $80

 

[mrhali]

It's on version MP51.007F.B03 I was hoping to even just connect it to the macbook air and upgrade all the way to Mojave and put it back in the mac pro.
The cheapest 5770 i can find is $75-$100 (im in Australia)
And i've seen some GT120 for $80

Then the answer is no, you won't be able to do that. You are going to need a Metal compatible videocard anyway, so you might as well use this time to invest in one that will work in Mojave and one that gives you the Apple boot options so you can do all the required firmware upgrades.

 

[bsbeamer]

Easiest way to solve your issue is to purchase an EFI GPU with Metal. The GTX 680 Mac Edition and HD7950 are one of the few on the short list that meet both requirements, but you will have a hard time finding authentic versions of either. Personally would look for the cheapest official Mac GPU I could find to solve this one issue, then purchase an RX 580 for Mojave (Metal).

Everyone who uses a Mac Pro should have an EFI GPU on hand and a bootable working copy of High Sierra.

The only other option around this may be BootROM reconstruction, but that's not likely something you can tackle yourself.

 

[tsialex]

It's on version MP51.007F.B03 I was hoping to even just connect it to the macbook air and upgrade all the way to Mojave and put it back in the mac pro.
The cheapest 5770 i can find is $75-$100 (im in Australia)
And i've seen some GT120 for $80

I'll send you instructions by PM.

 

[Danzagoonie]

Easiest way to solve your issue is to purchase an EFI GPU with Metal. The GTX 680 Mac Edition and HD7950 are one of the few on the short list that meet both requirements, but you will have a hard time finding authentic versions of either. Personally would look for the cheapest official Mac GPU I could find to solve this one issue, then purchase an RX 580 for Mojave (Metal).

Everyone who uses a Mac Pro should have an EFI GPU on hand and a bootable working copy of High Sierra.

The only other option around this may be BootROM reconstruction, but that's not likely something you can tackle yourself.

I like that idea. Buy a gt120 or something like that and sell the gtx960 and buy an rx580

 

[Fkd67]

Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU.

If you are trying to install Mojave on a Mac Pro 5,1 (2009 updated to 5,1 firmware, 2010 and 2012), you have first to upgrade your BootROM to version MP51.0089.B00 and to High Sierra 10.13.6, then you can install a Metal capable GPU and install Mojave.

You can read the Apple Support article here: Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012).

Remember: Apple Mojave recommend RX-560/580 cards do not have Mac EFI, so you need to install your original EFI GPU to upgrade your BootROM to MP51.0089.B00 using the Mac App Store 10.13.6 full installer. After that, Mojave installer can upgrade your firmware without the need of a Mac EFI GPU and requires that you only have Metal supported cards installed in your Mac Pro.

The Apple third-party graphics cards list identifies specific cards that are compatible:

• MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDDR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
• NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

The three cards listed in bold above have Mac EFI.
The list also identifies cards that might be compatible, none of which have Mac EFI:

• AMD Radeon RX 560
• AMD Radeon RX 570
• AMD Radeon RX 580
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
• AMD Radeon Frontier Edition

If you have a earlier than MP51.0089.B00 BootROM version, these are the steps to upgrade your BootROM to have Mojave support:

1. Disconnect any 4K or DP1.2 display. You can't update to MP51.0089.B00 with a 4K/DP1.2 screen connected to your Mac EFI card. It's a old bug that Apple corrected with MP6,1 and "forgot" to correct with the MP5,1. MP5,1 efiflasher don't support 4K screens or DP1.2, you can reconnect after you update your BootROM.
2. Disable FileVault2 if enabled, since FV2 is not supported anymore with a Mac Pro 5,1 running Mojave.
   
3. Install a Mac EFI64 card. Any original Apple card from 2008 to 2012 (HD 2600XT, 8800GT, Quadro FX 5600, GT120, HD 4870/5770/5870) or 3rd party Mac EFI cards like Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition, eVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition, NVIDIA Quadro 4000/K5000 or self-flashed/MVC flashed cards.
4. If you use a SATA III PCIe card, remove your drive from the card and install into the Mac Pro SATA II ports, a lot of people report trouble doing the firmware upgrade with SATA III PCIe cards.
5. If you ever downloaded any previous version of High Sierra, have it saved in any of Mac Pro external drives, you have to delete it/move to a offline disk and then restart your Mac. You need the current High Sierra 10.13.6 full installer from the Mac App Store, no previous version have the needed MP51.0089.B00 BootROM.
6. This is the Apple Support page where you can get the link for the 10.13.6 Mac App Store Installer (you need this even if you already are on 10.13.6), see the image below: View attachment 793503
7. Open the 10.13.6 Mac App Store full installer, do the firmware upgrade as asked.
8. After the firmware upgrade, 10.13.6 installer will open again, you can close it.
9. Now check if your Mac Pro BootROM is MP51.0089.B00, if yes you can shutdown and install your Metal capable GPU (any AMD equal or newer than HD 7xxx, NVIDIA GTX 680 Mac Edition, Quadro K5000 and other NVIDIA Kepler cards). [If you have a NVIDIA card that need the web driver, Maxwell and Pascal ones, wait for NVIDIA release it for Mojave]
10. Download the full Mac App Store installer for Mojave.
11. Open the installer, do the firmware upgrade as asked.
12. After the reboot, open System Information and check if you have BootROM 140.0.0.0.0, if yes, you can do a createinstallmedia USB clean install (read NVIDIA GTX 680/780/Quadro K5000 note) or upgrade your previous High Sierra install.

Note, some people are getting black screens with Mojave when using RX-4xx/5xx GPUs, if you are having it, do a clean install or debug your kexts, seems a problem with incompatible Air Display kexts. Read here.

- Hacked installs note:

If you did a hacked install, like dosdude ones, you will probably need to do a clean install to upgrade your firmware.

Only the full Mac App Store installers work for upgrading the firmware, macOS installers downloaded with dosdude tool can't upgrade the firmware. Apple firmware upgrade tool needs a clean and standard EFI partition to do so, so you probably need to do a clean install before trying to upgrade the firmware if you used a hacked install.​

- RAID & SATA III PCIe cards note:

You can't upgrade your firmware if you are booting from a RAID array or using a SATA III card. Remove all RAID drives and boot from a SATA drive connected into a native SATA port. Btw, Mojave don't boot from SoftwareRAID arrays or any hardware array that present to the OS as multiple disks.​

- Upgrade firmware from USB note:

You can’t upgrade Mac Pro firmware from createinstallmedia USB-key. Do it from macOS. It only works if you have the exact original config and if your Mac Pro is 2010/2012. Don’t waste your time trying.​

- NVIDIA GTX 680/780/Quadro K5000 note:

If you have a NVIDIA GTX 680 Mac Edition card, GTX 680 flashed with the Mac Edition firmware, GTX 780 or a Quadro K5000 you can't do a USB clean install with it at the moment. The USB installer don't detect that the GPU is a Metal supported card and don't continue the install, it's a bug with Nvidia Kepler GPUs.

To do a clean install, do from macOS with two drives - just select your empty one when doing the install.​

- Bluetooth keyboards/mice note:

A lot of people have problems installing macOS with Apple and third party bluetooth keyboards/mice. It's best to use wired ones.​

- 140.0.0.0.0 and previous macOS releases note:

Firmware 140.0.0.0.0 can boot even 10.6.8, but only if your previous macOS version has drivers for your GPU. For example, with RX-4xx/RX-5xx, you are limited to 10.12.6/10.13/10.14.​

If nothing above works for you, try this:

1. Download El Capitan (10.11.6) or Sierra (10.12.6) - don't use 10.13/10.14 to this, both require firmware updates to install. Download from the Mac App Store, don't use hacked installs, torrents, etc.
2. Use createinstallmedia to create a USB key installer.
3. Shutdown your Mac Pro and remove all PCIe cards except your Mac EFI GPU.
4. Clear your Mac Pro SMC and NVRAM.
5. Remove all disks except the one that you will do a clean install of 10.11.6/10.12.6.
6. Power on your Mac Pro and do a clean install of 10.11.6/10.12.6.
7. After 10.11.6/10.12.6 is installed, download 10.13.6 full Mac App Store installer and open it, the High Sierra installer will ask you to perform a firmware update, shutdown your Mac Pro and do it. Download from the Mac App Store, don't use hacked installs, torrents, etc.
8. After your Mac Pro restarts, close the installer and go to SystemInformation and check if your BootROM is MP51.0089.B00 now. If not, you did something wrong.
9. Use createinstallmedia to create a USB key installer of High Sierra, power off your Mac Pro.
10. Power on your Mac Pro, boot from the createinstallmedia USB-key and do a clean install of 10.13.6 - always do clean installs.
11. After 10.13.6 is installed, shutdown your Mac Pro and replace your original GPU with a Metal supported one.
12. Power on your Mac Pro and download 10.14.3 full Mac App Store installer. Download from the Mac App Store, don't use hacked installs, torrents, etc. Open it, the Mojave installer will ask you to perform a firmware update, shutdown your Mac Pro and do it.
13. After your Mac Pro restarts, check if your BootROM is 140.0.0.0.0, if it is, you can create a USB-key and do a clean install of Mojave now. If you have a NVIDIA GTX 680, then you have to do a clean install from your 10.13.6 disk into another disk, since USB installer has a bug that don't identify GTX 680/780/Quadro K5000 as a METAL supported GPU.

Hi There, first of all thx a lot for your post, super good.
Now the issue that I had, maybe you have a solution (I really hope that)
I have a MacPro 2009 4.1 Flashed to 5.1, 12 core 3.46, Crucial SSD 1Tb, Hi Sierra with firmware
138.0.0.0.0 and a Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX580. Everything worked fine until I decided to move to Mojave because of some audio plugins that I need, they won't work without it.
I followed the procedures and as asked from installer, I've done the Firmware upgrade before installing Mojave. Well, we a problem now. As soon as the firmware upgrade as finished, nothing is changed in BootRom (still 138) and started to show red lines, drops and freeze on boot. just to check, I've tried to put back on my GT120 and it works. What do you think? Maybe try a new install of an earlier version on another HD to try to start form scratch? Any suggestion? Thx

 

[tsialex]

Hi There, first of all thx a lot for your post, super good.
Now the issue that I had, maybe you have a solution (I really hope that)
I have a MacPro 2009 4.1 Flashed to 5.1, 12 core 3.46, Crucial SSD 1Tb, Hi Sierra with firmware
138.0.0.0.0 and a Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX580. Everything worked fine until I decided to move to Mojave because of some audio plugins that I need, they won't work without it.
I followed the procedures and as asked from installer, I've done the Firmware upgrade before installing Mojave. Well, we a problem now. As soon as the firmware upgrade as finished, nothing is changed in BootRom (still 138) and started to show red lines, drops and freeze on boot. just to check, I've tried to put back on my GT120 and it works. What do you think? Maybe try a new install of an earlier version on another HD to try to start form scratch? Any suggestion? Thx

First thing to troubleshoot is to erase the old installer and download the newest Mojave Mac App Store installer, 10.14.3 now, and do a clean install with an empty drive.

 

[Fkd67]

First thing to troubleshoot is to erase the old installer and download the newest Mojave Mac App Store installer, 10.14.3 now, and do a clean install with an empty drive.

Thx a lot for the quick answer, i'l try immediately

 

[w1z]

- NVIDIA GTX 680/780/Quadro K5000 note:

If you have a NVIDIA GTX 680 Mac Edition card, GTX 680 flashed with the Mac Edition firmware, GTX 780 or a Quadro K5000 you can't do a USB clean install with it at the moment. The USB installer don't detect that the GPU is a Metal supported card and don't continue the install, it's a bug with Nvidia Kepler GPUs.

To do a clean install, do from macOS with two drives - just select your empty one when doing the install.​

I just carried out a clean install using Apple's usb installer method and Mojave 10.14.3 installed fine on APFS and APFS Encrypted partitions (filevault) with a flashed GTX 780.

Can someone with a 680 or quadro K5000 carry out a similar test to confirm if the bug was addressed on all nvidia compatible GPUs?

Cheers

 

[tsialex]

I just carried out a clean install using Apple's usb installer method and Mojave 10.14.3 installed fine on APFS and APFS Encrypted partitions (filevault) with a flashed GTX 780.

Can someone with a 680 or quadro K5000 carry out a similar test to confirm if the bug was addressed on all nvidia compatible GPUs?

Cheers

I can check it later tonight, if anyone don’t do it before.

 

[Fkd67]

Thx a lot for the quick answer, i'l try immediately

Hi There again. Still having the same problem. I've done the firmware upgrade and now I'm on 140. Anyway, I can't finalize to install Mojave because the card is acting very bad; lines and drops, crash and freeze. I've used a single 6pin to 8pin for power, maybe is underpowered? I've ordered a double 6pin to 8pin to max the supply, do you think it could be a solution or maybe my RX580 is gone? Thx a lot for you're help

 

[crjackson2134]

I've used a single 6pin to 8pin for power

This has been posted so many times it's not funny. Not sure how you missed it in your search.

You MUST use the dual-Mini-Six to Eight Pin connector to power this card.

 

[bsbeamer]

I've used a single 6pin to 8pin for power, maybe is underpowered? I've ordered a double 6pin to 8pin to max the supply, do you think it could be a solution or maybe my RX580 is gone?

8 pin power requirements requires using dual mini 6-pin to single 8-pin cable. Many GPUs present issues when underpowered in this way.

 

[Fkd67]

This has been posted so many times it's not funny. Not sure how you missed it in your search.

You MUST use the dual-Mini-Six to Eight Pin connector to power this card.

Thx and really sorry... my fault!

 

[ANJC]

Thanks Tsialex for your first post.
I have a Mac Pro 2009 4.1to5.1 3.33ghz 32gb ram. Ii bought a Sapphire Pulse RX580.
Firmware version
MP51.0089.B00
Every try with the radeon to update firmware fails. I ejected all disks (4 data, 1 Pcie, 2 Ssd in optic bay). Only one of them with 10.3.6 system in a sata bay. Also I've connected the mac pro to my TV with HDMI. Always fails with My monitor 4k. "The firmare bug". Eureka. I can update to 140.0.0.0.0 (Mojave 10.14.3). Always with the radeon. Next i installed mojave without problems. Flawless like a charm.

 

[joot]

I'll send you instructions by PM.

Send me the instructions too please. I've got a 4,1 > 5.1 with Sierra. I want to go to High Sierra only as I got a 980Ti.

 

[tsialex]

Send me the instructions too please. I've got a 4,1 > 5.1 with Sierra. I want to go to High Sierra only as I got a 980Ti.

Sent a PM with what you need to get to do a reconstruction.

 

[retta283]

Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU.

If you are trying to install Mojave on a Mac Pro 5,1 (2009 updated to 5,1 firmware, 2010 and 2012), you have first to upgrade your BootROM to version MP51.0089.B00 and to High Sierra 10.13.6, then you can install a Metal capable GPU and install Mojave.

You can read the Apple Support article here: Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012).

Remember: Apple Mojave recommend RX-560/580 cards do not have Mac EFI, so you need to install your original EFI GPU to upgrade your BootROM to MP51.0089.B00 using the Mac App Store 10.13.6 full installer. After that, Mojave installer can upgrade your firmware without the need of a Mac EFI GPU and requires that you only have Metal supported cards installed in your Mac Pro.

The Apple third-party graphics cards list identifies specific cards that are compatible:

• MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDDR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
• NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

The three cards listed in bold above have Mac EFI.
The list also identifies cards that might be compatible, none of which have Mac EFI:

• AMD Radeon RX 560
• AMD Radeon RX 570
• AMD Radeon RX 580
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
• AMD Radeon Frontier Edition

If you have a earlier than MP51.0089.B00 BootROM version, these are the steps to upgrade your BootROM to have Mojave support:

1. Disconnect any 4K or DP1.2 display. You can't update to MP51.0089.B00 with a 4K/DP1.2 screen connected to your Mac EFI card. It's a old bug that Apple corrected with MP6,1 and "forgot" to correct with the MP5,1. MP5,1 efiflasher don't support 4K screens or DP1.2, you can reconnect after you update your BootROM.
2. Disable FileVault2 if enabled, since FV2 is not supported anymore with a Mac Pro 5,1 running Mojave.
   
3. Install a Mac EFI64 card. Any original Apple card from 2008 to 2012 (HD 2600XT, 8800GT, Quadro FX 5600, GT120, HD 4870/5770/5870) or 3rd party Mac EFI cards like Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition, eVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition, NVIDIA Quadro 4000/K5000 or self-flashed/MVC flashed cards.
4. If you use a SATA III PCIe card, remove your drive from the card and install into the Mac Pro SATA II ports, a lot of people report trouble doing the firmware upgrade with SATA III PCIe cards.
5. If you ever downloaded any previous version of High Sierra, have it saved in any of Mac Pro external drives, you have to delete it/move to a offline disk and then restart your Mac. You need the current High Sierra 10.13.6 full installer from the Mac App Store, no previous version have the needed MP51.0089.B00 BootROM.
6. This is the Apple Support page where you can get the link for the 10.13.6 Mac App Store Installer (you need this even if you already are on 10.13.6), see the image below: View attachment 793503
7. Open the 10.13.6 Mac App Store full installer, do the firmware upgrade as asked.
8. After the firmware upgrade, 10.13.6 installer will open again, you can close it.
9. Now check if your Mac Pro BootROM is MP51.0089.B00, if yes you can shutdown and install your Metal capable GPU (any AMD equal or newer than HD 7xxx, NVIDIA GTX 680 Mac Edition, Quadro K5000 and other NVIDIA Kepler cards). [If you have a NVIDIA card that need the web driver, Maxwell and Pascal ones, wait for NVIDIA release it for Mojave]
10. Download the full Mac App Store installer for Mojave.
11. Open the installer, do the firmware upgrade as asked.
12. After the reboot, open System Information and check if you have BootROM 140.0.0.0.0, if yes, you can do a createinstallmedia USB clean install (read NVIDIA GTX 680/780/Quadro K5000 note) or upgrade your previous High Sierra install.

Note, some people are getting black screens with Mojave when using RX-4xx/5xx GPUs, if you are having it, do a clean install or debug your kexts, seems a problem with incompatible Air Display kexts. Read here.

- Hacked installs note:

If you did a hacked install, like dosdude ones, you will probably need to do a clean install to upgrade your firmware.

Only the full Mac App Store installers work for upgrading the firmware, macOS installers downloaded with dosdude tool can't upgrade the firmware. Apple firmware upgrade tool needs a clean and standard EFI partition to do so, so you probably need to do a clean install before trying to upgrade the firmware if you used a hacked install.​

- RAID & SATA III PCIe cards note:

You can't upgrade your firmware if you are booting from a RAID array or using a SATA III card. Remove all RAID drives and boot from a SATA drive connected into a native SATA port. Btw, Mojave don't boot from SoftwareRAID arrays or any hardware array that present to the OS as multiple disks.​

- Upgrade firmware from USB note:

You can’t upgrade Mac Pro firmware from createinstallmedia USB-key. Do it from macOS. It only works if you have the exact original config and if your Mac Pro is 2010/2012. Don’t waste your time trying.​

- NVIDIA GTX 680/780/Quadro K5000 note:

If you have a NVIDIA GTX 680 Mac Edition card, GTX 680 flashed with the Mac Edition firmware, GTX 780 or a Quadro K5000 you can't do a USB clean install with it at the moment. The USB installer don't detect that the GPU is a Metal supported card and don't continue the install, it's a bug with Nvidia Kepler GPUs.

To do a clean install, do from macOS with two drives - just select your empty one when doing the install.​

- Bluetooth keyboards/mice note:

A lot of people have problems installing macOS with Apple and third party bluetooth keyboards/mice. It's best to use wired ones.​

- 140.0.0.0.0 and previous macOS releases note:

Firmware 140.0.0.0.0 can boot even 10.6.8, but only if your previous macOS version has drivers for your GPU. For example, with RX-4xx/RX-5xx, you are limited to 10.12.6/10.13/10.14.​

If nothing above works for you, try this:

1. Download El Capitan (10.11.6) or Sierra (10.12.6) - don't use 10.13/10.14 to this, both require firmware updates to install. Download from the Mac App Store, don't use hacked installs, torrents, etc.
2. Use createinstallmedia to create a USB key installer.
3. Shutdown your Mac Pro and remove all PCIe cards except your Mac EFI GPU.
4. Clear your Mac Pro SMC and NVRAM.
5. Remove all disks except the one that you will do a clean install of 10.11.6/10.12.6.
6. Power on your Mac Pro and do a clean install of 10.11.6/10.12.6.
7. After 10.11.6/10.12.6 is installed, download 10.13.6 full Mac App Store installer and open it, the High Sierra installer will ask you to perform a firmware update, shutdown your Mac Pro and do it. Download from the Mac App Store, don't use hacked installs, torrents, etc.
8. After your Mac Pro restarts, close the installer and go to SystemInformation and check if your BootROM is MP51.0089.B00 now. If not, you did something wrong.
9. Use createinstallmedia to create a USB key installer of High Sierra, power off your Mac Pro.
10. Power on your Mac Pro, boot from the createinstallmedia USB-key and do a clean install of 10.13.6 - always do clean installs.
11. After 10.13.6 is installed, shutdown your Mac Pro and replace your original GPU with a Metal supported one.
12. Power on your Mac Pro and download 10.14.3 full Mac App Store installer. Download from the Mac App Store, don't use hacked installs, torrents, etc. Open it, the Mojave installer will ask you to perform a firmware update, shutdown your Mac Pro and do it.
13. After your Mac Pro restarts, check if your BootROM is 140.0.0.0.0, if it is, you can create a USB-key and do a clean install of Mojave now. If you have a NVIDIA GTX 680, then you have to do a clean install from your 10.13.6 disk into another disk, since USB installer has a bug that don't identify GTX 680/780/Quadro K5000 as a METAL supported GPU.

Will the dosdude install work without a Metal GPU?

 

[tsialex]

Will the dosdude install work without a Metal GPU?

This is thread is about supported installs, not hacked ones.

 

[bsbeamer]

There is nothing stopping people from starting a new thread on this forum. I just don't get it...

 

[JeffPerrin]

Another successful 5,1 Sapphire RX580 upgrade here. Currently on HS but all set for Mojave when I pull that trigger!

Notes:
- I did not remove any screws off the GPU as I read a few people did to alleviate a grounding issue causing hum with the analog audio output. I did, however, play it safe and apply a small piece of electrical tape over each of the four protruding screws that were making potential contact with the CPU/fan chassis below. (Audio seems fine)

- The 580 model from Newegg has a different part number than from Sapphire's Amazon page. Seems to work fine though. (I read the only difference is the DVI connection on the Newegg model is not dual-link? Fine with me...)

- Only about a 1 or 2 mm between the 580 and the short eSATA card I have in slot 2, but definitely no contact (the eSata card even has a downward warp to it...)

- Boot time from chime to log-in screen is just under 30 seconds - exactly the same as with my old 5770.

Anyway, just stopping by to say thanks to all thread contributors (especially tsialex)!

 

[jbarley]

Will the dosdude install work without a Metal GPU?

Check out this link and you'll find the answer to your question.
http://dosdude1.com/mojave/