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

[tsialex]

Also curios if you guys think the firmware upgrade to 140.0.0.0.0 will break my Windows 10 UEFI install?

Won't. You shouldn't use Windows installed with UEFI mode, Mac Pro is not an UEFI machine, it's EFI and Windows installed into UEFI mode is not supported into EFI machines or Mac Pro 5,1.

 

[star-affinity]

Won't. You shouldn't use Windows installed with UEFI mode, Mac Pro is not an UEFI machine, it's EFI and Windows installed into UEFI mode is not supported into EFI machines or Mac Pro 5,1.

Thanks, I'm aware of that.
It's just that it works pretty well and runs (and boots) noticeably faser than how it did when I had Windows 10 installed as ”legacy BIOS mode”.

Edit:
Okay, it doesn't work too well – sometimes just get a black screen when trying to restart into Windows 10 in UEFI mode after entering sudo bless command in the Terminal (SIP is disabled for NVRAM). Not sure whu it's so intermittent, feels like Windows 10 is doing something in between restart that sometimes breaks it. What always seems to work is to put back my Mac EFI graphics card (I have a non EFI normally) and manuallt select the ”EFI Boot” partition for Windows 10, but when using sudo bless with the non-EFI GPU I sometimes just get that black screen. Maybe better to just stick with legacy boot for Windows 10 like suggested... :-/

 

[JohnCD]

So after installing Mojave on a Nvidia GTX 680 Mac Edition graphics card, Mojave now boots on the ATI Radeon HD 5870 (non metal) graphics card. The HD 5870 is the only card in the mac pro 5,1.

Originally, Mojave would not install with HD 5870 until I installed the GTX 680.

Any harm in continuing to run Mojave with the HD 5870?

Thx

 

[tsialex]

So after installing Mojave on a Nvidia GTX 680 Mac Edition graphics card, Mojave now boots on the ATI Radeon HD 5870 (non metal) graphics card. The HD 5870 is the only card in the mac pro 5,1.

Originally, Mojave would not install with HD 5870 until I installed the GTX 680.

Any harm in continuing to run Mojave with the HD 5870?

Thx

You don't have any acceleration, you sure can use if you tolerate it.

 

[bsbeamer]

So after installing Mojave on a Nvidia GTX 680 Mac Edition graphics card, Mojave now boots on the ATI Radeon HD 5870 (non metal) graphics card. The HD 5870 is the only card in the mac pro 5,1.

Originally, Mojave would not install with HD 5870 until I installed the GTX 680.

Any harm in continuing to run Mojave with the HD 5870?

Thx

GTX 680 is a Metal GPU with drivers built into the OS and recommended by Apple...

When you try to install updates you will run into issues with 5870 installed. Running GPUs from different manufacturers also creates an issue with many machines. It's not accelerated in Mojave and will show lag. It is not recommended by Apple for Mojave.

Any particular reason the GTX 680 alone can't handle your GPU needs?

 

[JohnCD]

GTX 680 is a Metal GPU with drivers built into the OS and recommended by Apple...

When you try to install updates you will run into issues with 5870 installed. Running GPUs from different manufacturers also creates an issue with many machines. It's not accelerated in Mojave and will show lag. It is not recommended by Apple for Mojave.

Any particular reason the GTX 680 alone can't handle your GPU needs?

I have two Mac Pro computers and am waiting on another GTX 680. Running the 5870 until I get the 680.

 

[Limezy]

Hi all, and thanks @tsialex for this topic I guess it'll be a great help.

I have an GTX 680 EVGA FTW 4GB with Mac edition EFI and a Dell P2415Q UHD monitor.
I'm currently on a MacPro 1.1 but would like to update to a Mac Pro 5.1.

Before blowing the kitty, I would like to be sure of what I'm doing...
Indeed, I've read about a lot about issues with UHD/4K+ displays on the cMP.
Yet another example from this topic :

4K displays seems to be a serious problem with the old efiflasher.

Apple corrected this with MP6,1, boot screens work with 4K/DP1.2 with the trashcan, and "forgot" to the same with the MP5,1.

So my question is, what would I be able to get if I update to a cMP 5.1 ?
(knowing that it would have to be a fresh install, because of a bug of the installer... thanks Apple...)

From what I've read, it seems that :

• If my Dell is set to DP1.2 (SST)
  
  • I will be able to run natively UHD@60Hz without any problem
  • ... but no boot screen, even if my card is a fully compatible Mac card with Mac EFI
• If my Dell is set to DP1.1 (MST)
  • I will get UHD@30Hz only
  • I will get a working boot screen

Which means that I would have to change my monitor settings only a few times a year, when I really need the boot screen for some reason, and that I would get a buttersmooth UHD@60Hz all the other days
(I just can't stand 30Hz... But I could embrace the black screen feeling if that was the price for 60Hz)

Could someone, if possible running with similar specs, confirm both previous points ?
Many thanks in advance !

 

[tsialex]

Hi all, and thanks @tsialex for this topic I guess it'll be a great help.

I have an GTX 680 EVGA FTW 4GB with Mac edition EFI and a Dell P2415Q UHD monitor.
I'm currently on a MacPro 1.1 but would like to update to a Mac Pro 5.1.

Before blowing the kitty, I would like to be sure of what I'm doing...
Indeed, I've read about a lot about issues with UHD/4K+ displays on the cMP.
Yet another example from this topic :


So my question is, what would I be able to get if I update to a cMP 5.1 ?
(knowing that it would have to be a fresh install, because of a bug of the installer... thanks Apple...)

From what I've read, it seems that :

• If my Dell is set to DP1.2 (SST)
  • I will be able to run natively UHD@60Hz without any problem
  • ... but no boot screen, even if my card is a fully compatible Mac card with Mac EFI
• If my Dell is set to DP1.1 (MST)
  • I will get UHD@30Hz only
  • I will get a working boot screen

Which means that I would have to change my monitor settings only a few times a year, when I really need the boot screen for some reason, and that I would get a buttersmooth UHD@60Hz all the other days
(I just can't stand 30Hz... But I could embrace the black screen feeling if that was the price for 60Hz)

Could someone, if possible running with similar specs, confirm both previous points ?
Many thanks in advance !

Most people just use an old monitor to do the needed firmware upgrades, it's a problem with firmware upgrades only, or set it to DP1.1. Since Mac Pro 5,1 is now Vintage, I doubt that will be more upgrades in the future and this is not a hassle.

Please note that we will have one firmware upgrade with 10.14.4 release, 141.0.0.0.0.

 

[TheIguana]

I'm not sure if this would mitigate the litany of posts related to "How do I upgrade to Mojave?!?!?" but perhaps this thread should be set to sticky on the Mac Pro forum.

At the very least it might help with the visibility for users who are newer to the forum. I remain unconvinced anything will get people to actually follow the instructions though ;P Your patience is remarkable tsialex!

 

[tsialex]

I'm not sure if this would mitigate the litany of posts related to "How do I upgrade to Mojave?!?!?" but perhaps this thread should be getting sticked on the Mac Pro forum.

At the very least it might help with the visibility for users who are newer to the forum. I remain unconvinced anything will get people to actually follow the instructions though ;P Your patience is remarkable tsialex!

I asked this already, but seems mods didn't saw the need. Btw, please ask too.

 

[TheIguana]

I asked this already, but seems mods didn't saw the need. Btw, please ask too.

Just did!

 

[fr4nk18]

Hey tsialex ...

1st huge thanks for you thread

this is my current situation

Mac Pro 2010
Graphic card Nvidia GTX 760 2gb (macvidcards)
Fusion disk composed by a 128gb ssd and a 2tb traditional disk
Additional Sata card (for the fusion disk)

Osx high sierra 10.13.6 installed trying to upgrade to mojave
while starting mojave install the system asked to run a firmware update pressing power button until it flashes etc did it and after ... i have a Mac Pro with
mac pro 5.1 boot rom 140.0.0.0.0. (i then suppose the firmware upgrade was somewhat ok ?)
trying to install mojave i receive a denial with the computer saying i need to have a firmware partition in my disk
and the install logs saying the installer can't upgrade to apfs
if i try to rerun 10.13.6 combo update i receive the same denial (maybe the message is different but i suppose is for the same reason)

someone is suggesting to install mojave on another (clean) disk .. is all about the fusion disk or what ?
the additional sata III card did not show any compatibility problem until now

any clue ?

thanks

Francesco

 

[tsialex]

Hey tsialex ...

1st huge thanks for you thread

this is my current situation

Mac Pro 2010
Graphic card Nvidia GTX 760 2gb (macvidcards)
Fusion disk composed by a 128gb ssd and a 2tb traditional disk
Additional Sata card (for the fusion disk)

Osx high sierra 10.13.6 installed trying to upgrade to mojave
while starting mojave install the system asked to run a firmware update pressing power button until it flashes etc did it and after ... i have a Mac Pro with
mac pro 5.1 boot rom 140.0.0.0.0. (i then suppose the firmware upgrade was somewhat ok ?)
trying to install mojave i receive a denial with the computer saying i need to have a firmware partition in my disk
and the install logs saying the installer can't upgrade to apfs
if i try to rerun 10.13.6 combo update i receive the same denial (maybe the message is different but i suppose is for the same reason)

someone is suggesting to install mojave on another (clean) disk .. is all about the fusion disk or what ?
the additional sata III card did not show any compatibility problem until now

any clue ?

thanks

Francesco

Do a clean install of Mojave into an empty drive, check if your Fusion is correctly recognised. Maybe your Fusion drive needs to be remade or your SATA card can't be used with Mojave/Mojave Fusion drive.

 

[EvilMonk]

Thanks to tsialex for his help, after reading this topic for hours I was finally able to get my 2009 Mac Pro 6 cores 3.33 GHz and my 2010 Mac Pro 12 cores 3.46 both with crucial P1 1Tb nvme SSDs and R9 280x 3Gb EFI to firmware 140 and install OSX 10.4.3... I was ready to give up...

 

[theStruggle]

I'm a really bad reader, in the sense that when I start reading a
long text...I'll stop after two or three sentences and repeat it.
Reading this wasn't any different. But after struggling long
enough I got some sense of things - I got my boot rom
upgraded to where it was supposed to be(0089) and finally
upgraded to Mojave on my old 5,1.

Now the next step is just to get that M.2 PCIe adapter and
I'll be set for some work.

Thank you so much for your hard work to help everyone!

 

[seek3r]

I just did a clean install all the way up to Mojave on a updated 2010, wrote it up here if anyone's interested: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ens-mojave-firmware-and-2010-mac-pro.2173386/

 

[Kangopop]

How do I make a clean Mojave createinstallmedia USB install in High Sierra?

BootROM 140.0.0.0.0
High Sierra 10.13.6
RX 580

 

[tsialex]

How do I make a clean Mojave createinstallmedia USB install in High Sierra?

BootROM 140.0.0.0.0
High Sierra 10.13.6
RX 580

How to create a bootable installer for macOS

 

[Kangopop]

How to create a bootable installer for macOS

Sorry I meant, how do I boot so I can do a clean Mojave install?

 

[tsialex]

Sorry I meant, how do I boot so I can do a clean Mojave install?

If you have an empty drive and the createinstallmedia USB installer, Mac Pro will boot from the createinstallmedia USB installer. Remove all other bootable drives from the Mac Pro.

 

[Kangopop]

If you have an empty drive and the createinstallmedia USB installer, Mac Pro will boot from the createinstallmedia USB installer. Remove all other bootable drives from the Mac Pro.

I didn't see that on the first page. I used the empty drive to make the firmware updates and later use it for Mojave. I do not have any more empty drive. What should I do now? I'm not good at this stuff

 

[tsialex]

I didn't see that on the first page. I used the empty drive to make the firmware updates and later use it for Mojave. I do not have any more empty drive. What should I do now? I'm not good at this stuff

Fully erase a drive, remove all other drives from the Mac Pro, shutdown, insert the createinstallmedia USB key, power-on. It will boot from the createinstallmedia USB key.

You don't have a Mac EFI GPU, so or you install via createinstallmedia USB installer and an empty drive, or you install from macOS with two drives.

 

[Kangopop]

Fully erase a drive, remove all other drives from the Mac Pro, shutdown, insert the createinstallmedia USB key, power-on. It will boot from the createinstallmedia USB key.

You don't have a Mac EFI GPU, so or you install via createinstallmedia USB installer and an empty drive, or you install from macOS with two drives.

I have to fully erase (in Disk Utility) the drive I used for the firmware updates and High Sierra. So if I erase it and do a new createinstallmedia USB and power-on, it will boot the Mojave createinstallmedia USB automatic so I can do a clean install?

Sorry, my English is so bad.

 

[tsialex]

I have to fully erase (in Disk Utility) the drive I used for the firmware updates and High Sierra. So if I erase it and do a new createinstallmedia USB and power-on, it will boot the Mojave createinstallmedia USB automatic so I can do a clean install?

Sorry, my English is so bad.

I can't explain better than this…

1. make a createinstallmedia USB key for Mojave
2. fully erase a drive with diskutility
3. shutdown your Mac Pro
4. remove all drives except the one you erased
5. insert the Mojave createinstallmedia USB key on a Mac Pro USB2.0 port, won't work with USB3.0 cards
6. power-on the Mac Pro, it will boot from the Mojave createinstallmedia USB key

 

[GilBavel]

I have to fully erase (in Disk Utility) the drive I used for the firmware updates and High Sierra. So if I erase it and do a new createinstallmedia USB and power-on, it will boot the Mojave createinstallmedia USB automatic so I can do a clean install?

Sorry, my English is so bad.

Your English is good, better than most native speakers.