Correct, then follow the steps on the screen to upgrade to 144.0.0.0.0 firmware.
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MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (10.13/10.14 BootROM upgrades instructions thread)
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I have been using my 5.1 Mac Pro with a RX580 upgraded to Mojave for a couple of years now without problems. Last night during a OS update and restart, my computer screen failed to come back on. My comp booted, GPU fan came on, but no picture. I installed my old GPU, Radeon 5770, and the the comp booted with graphics, but not full resolution. I was then able to do a new clean install of High Sierra from a thumb drive, install the RX580 again, upgrade to Mojave again, and then use Migration Assistant to restore a Time Machine backup which got me back to where I was yesterday. Complete pain in the butt? Why yes, it was indeed. Well today the same thing happened where my monitor wouldn’t come on during a restart and a couple of strange things happened after that… 1) Cmd-R is not working at all during restart, it just bypasses it completely now no matter which GPU is connected. And weird thing 2) The Radeon 5770 booted up with my 34” widescreen monitor at full resolution which it wouldn’t do yesterday. So I guess my long winded question is twofold. How can I reboot this computer into recovery mode since it bypasses CMD-R (using a wired keyboard) and also how the heck is my 5770 working in Mojave currently?!?
Maybe your Recovery is damaged or something, you should do a clean install on another disk, fully nuked.
All AppleOEM GPUs, even 2008 Mac Pro ATI HD2600XT, will work with Mojave for un-accelerated display, as a fail-safe via EFI drivers - not all display resolutions work and is slow as molasses, nor all apps work, but useful for diagnostic purposes.
Thanks for your quick response. So you would install fresh onto a different drive, erase the current SSD, then reboot and reinstall onto the SSD? Should I go straight to Mojave? Or Install High Sierra > Install RX580 > Upgrade to Mojave like I did last time?
I'd do differently. Since you don't know yet what is the source of your issues, install HighSierra to a nuked disk with the AppleOEM GPU, check that your Mac Pro is working fine (you can also run AHT/ASD) then only after that you install Mojave to another disk with the RX 580.
Btw, run AHT and ASD with the AppleOEM GPU:
For AHT, you need 022-4831-A.dmg:
GitHub - upekkha/AppleHardwareTest: Apple Hardware Test Download Links
Apple Hardware Test Download Links. Contribute to upekkha/AppleHardwareTest development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
For ASD, you need 3S149:
Information Architect Blog
As an information architect, these are a few tools, articles, and miscellanea that I find useful.
www.loremipsum.info
If you have any issues with your RX 580, you will be sure after that.
I'd do differently. Since you don't know yet what is the source of your issues, install HighSierra to a nuked disk with the AppleOEM GPU, check that your Mac Pro is working fine (you can also run AHT/ASD) then only after that you install Mojave to another disk with the RX 580.
Btw, run AHT and ASD with the AppleOEM GPU:
For AHT, you need 022-4831-A.dmg:
GitHub - upekkha/AppleHardwareTest: Apple Hardware Test Download Links
Apple Hardware Test Download Links. Contribute to upekkha/AppleHardwareTest development by creating an account on GitHub.
For ASD, you need 3S149:
Information Architect Blog
As an information architect, these are a few tools, articles, and miscellanea that I find useful.
If you have any issues with your RX 580, you will be sure after that.
Awesome thanks!
Everything went well and everything works like a charm
Huge thanks tsialex for your support!
Just wanted to share my experience on updating my cMP5,1 recently. I received a Mac Pro Tower and am wanting to install Big Sur or Monterey on it. Firmware was the original MP51.007F.B03. Didn't pay close enough attention to which High Sierra installer I was using and ended up with an older version that only put MP51.0085.B00 on it. Retried with a newer installer and got the wanted MP51.0089.B00 version. This Mac had a GT120 video card and would not do the Mojave upgrade due to the missing Metal requirement. Ordered a Quadro K600 for $20, once it arrived I installed it and booted to High Sierra, where it showed the K600 as Metal Supported as expected. Opening the Mojave 10.14.6 installer prompted me that a Firmware update was required and to shut down to proceed. Never saw the bar go across but heard the chime and the DVD tray ejected and after a minute or two it powered itself off. Once I powered back on, the new 144.0.0.0.0 was indeed installed and ready to go. I am now awaiting a high profile bracket for my K600 (I ordered the correct one but was sent a low profile version instead) and then I will test installing Big Sur / Monterey.
Just a few notes on this process. My 5,1 had 4x2tb drives installed, so I simply created an empty APFS container on the second drive and pointed the installers to this drive. i DID NOT have to install ANY macOS on ANY drive at ANY point in this process. Just opening the installed on an already working High Sierra installation prompted the Firmware update, and that worked everytime without actually having to proceed with installing the OS. The entire process took about 15-20 minutes (mostly because I already had the installers locally). My installers came from 2 Canoes MDS : https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/mac-deploy-stick/ and were used with no modifications.
Just a few notes on this process. My 5,1 had 4x2tb drives installed, so I simply created an empty APFS container on the second drive and pointed the installers to this drive. i DID NOT have to install ANY macOS on ANY drive at ANY point in this process. Just opening the installed on an already working High Sierra installation prompted the Firmware update, and that worked everytime without actually having to proceed with installing the OS. The entire process took about 15-20 minutes (mostly because I already had the installers locally). My installers came from 2 Canoes MDS : https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/mac-deploy-stick/ and were used with no modifications.
Hello!
I have a Mac Pro 5.1 with Catalina and I have an installable usb with Big Sur, but when I want to boot from the usb with the ALT key pressed nothing happens, it doesn't boot, the screen stays black. Please can you give me a solution to this problem? Thank you very much!
I have a Mac Pro 5.1 with Catalina and I have an installable usb with Big Sur, but when I want to boot from the usb with the ALT key pressed nothing happens, it doesn't boot, the screen stays black. Please can you give me a solution to this problem? Thank you very much!
This is a limitation of a PC GPU, nothing to do with Mojave or Mac Pro BootROM.
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You nailed something that I did without realizing it. By eliminating and testing the equipment used on the original configuration, I narrowed it back to the bootRom area. Everything worked on the other Mac Pro that I have setup with another Nvidia GeForce 680 to where it worked on every piece of equipment thus validating everything as far as the equipment goes. These findings lead me back to the bootROM and not getting the gray screen showing connection/booting. Your valuable information points to this area and probably long with other problems. Will study and follow thoroughly. Have to figure how to get the screen back first; then. . . . .
Thanks for info and direction.
Thanks for info and direction.
tsialex, just wanted to say thank you for this thread. I picked up a used and flashed AMD 7950 and using this thread (well, about 30 pages before I gave up reading), I was easily able to update my 5,1 MacPro to Mojave. Now I can finally update my Adobe apps. Much thanks.
— And after reading 30 pages, I've come to the realization you have the patience of a Saint!
— And after reading 30 pages, I've come to the realization you have the patience of a Saint!
Well this is a long thread...over 2000 posts and although I've read the first few pages, read the last few and jumped in at various other pages hoping I might see the answer to my question I haven't noticed it so far so forgive me for posting what has probably been answered somewhere in this thread already.
I see references to the latest Boot ROM being 144.0.0.0.0 but mine actually reads;
Boot ROM Version: 9144.0.7.3.1
Obviously there is the magical 144 in there but what exactly do the other numbers infer?
And looking below this in Hardware Overview I see;
SMC Version (system): 1.39f11
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11
Just looking for a sanity check to ensure these are indeed the latest versions and all is good?
Thanks in advance & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-
I see references to the latest Boot ROM being 144.0.0.0.0 but mine actually reads;
Boot ROM Version: 9144.0.7.3.1
Obviously there is the magical 144 in there but what exactly do the other numbers infer?
And looking below this in Hardware Overview I see;
SMC Version (system): 1.39f11
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11
Just looking for a sanity check to ensure these are indeed the latest versions and all is good?
Thanks in advance & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-
You are running OpenCore and spoofing will mask the real firmware of your backplane, seems the OC flavor that you are running masks it using the OC release (9144.0.7.3.1 probably refers to OC 0.73). Boot a supported MacOS release without OpenCore and check the real firmware release.Well this is a long thread...over 2000 posts and although I've read the first few pages, read the last few and jumped in at various other pages hoping I might see the answer to my question I haven't noticed it so far so forgive me for posting what has probably been answered somewhere in this thread already.
I see references to the latest Boot ROM being 144.0.0.0.0 but mine actually reads;
Boot ROM Version: 9144.0.7.3.1
Obviously there is the magical 144 in there but what exactly do the other numbers infer?
And looking below this in Hardware Overview I see;
SMC Version (system): 1.39f11
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11
Just looking for a sanity check to ensure these are indeed the latest versions and all is good?
Thanks in advance & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-
If you want to understand why the spoofing is used, read a page or two starting with my post below:
SurPlus - The Big Sur/Monterey fix you've been waiting for.
It's completely normal, it's a trick to prevent unwanted/incorrect firmware updates when you spoof a newer still supported Mac. Since the rule for updates is to update whenever a firmware of greater version is available, when you spoof a different board-id you need to spoof...
forums.macrumors.com
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Hi, have spent most of the day trying to do a clean install.
I have a 12 core MacPro 5.1, which was running Mojave without a problem.
An automatic upgrade to 64-bit plugins messed up my system's stability, so I wanted to do a clean install.
I followed the steps on the first page of this threa.
Installing Mojave directly was no option, trying to install High Sierra didn't work because for some reason the firmware update didn't finalize. I have now tried installing Sierra (clean, from USB), but I get an error message right at the end of the install procedure.
So my next option is to install El Capitan, and then upgrade the OS from there.
I ran the upgrade to Mojave a while ago, I don't remember having to go through all this trouble.
Anything I'm missing? I'm using the most recent installers from Apple, installed properly on a USB stick, as explained in this tutorial : https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/bootable-mac-installer-3575875/#createinstall.
Any help is welcome.
I have a 12 core MacPro 5.1, which was running Mojave without a problem.
An automatic upgrade to 64-bit plugins messed up my system's stability, so I wanted to do a clean install.
I followed the steps on the first page of this threa.
Installing Mojave directly was no option, trying to install High Sierra didn't work because for some reason the firmware update didn't finalize. I have now tried installing Sierra (clean, from USB), but I get an error message right at the end of the install procedure.
So my next option is to install El Capitan, and then upgrade the OS from there.
I ran the upgrade to Mojave a while ago, I don't remember having to go through all this trouble.
Anything I'm missing? I'm using the most recent installers from Apple, installed properly on a USB stick, as explained in this tutorial : https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/bootable-mac-installer-3575875/#createinstall.
Any help is welcome.
What's your current BootROM?
You need to do all the firmware upgrades, trying to workaround it is just wasted time.
Install ElCapitan or Sierra to a disk with another Mac, install the disk on your Mac Pro, boot from it and check the current BootROM.
To check the bootROM version you can use anything that is natively bootable with your Mac Pro, from 10.6.4 up to 10.14.6, see what works with your GPU since PC GPUs only work after the release Apple added the GPU drivers with macOS.
I'll try that, my Macbook Air only has one USB port so no option, but have an old MacBook Pro that should let me do this. Thanks for the tip!
Am I using the right logic, that installing an older OSX such as El Capitan, and then working my way back up via Sierra to High Sierra and eventually Mojave should always work to get things running again?
Or could it be that a newer BootROM than El Capitan or Sierra is stopping me from going that route?
In the meantime, I can confirm that I'm unable to install El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave to my Mac Pro, using the USB boot method with the most recent installers from Apple.
Or could it be that a newer BootROM than El Capitan or Sierra is stopping me from going that route?
In the meantime, I can confirm that I'm unable to install El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave to my Mac Pro, using the USB boot method with the most recent installers from Apple.
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Seems you didn't read the first post with the necessary attention, because this is clearly explained there more than one time.
High Sierra (require MP51.0089.B00 or newer se the BootROM releases table on the first post of the thread) and Mojave (require 144.0.0.0.0, the most recent one) both require BootROM updates to be installed. Doing in-place macOS updates from Sierra or ElCapitan to HighSierra/Mojave don't change this fact, the first thing the macOS installer for High Sierra checks is the current BootROM firmware and for Mojave, if the GPU supports METAL and the current BootROM.
Apple started to require BootROM updates only with High Sierra, before that Apple only used stand alone updates, Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5 with MP51.007F.B03. macOS releases from SnowLeopard to Sierra don't have BootROM updates.
I am aware of that, but since this MacPro had Mojave installed before I decided to do a clean install, is it safe to assume that those BootROMS where already in place and should still be present? I upgraded from Sierra via High Sierra to Mojave using the official Apple installers, so the BootROMs would've been updated then as well, no?