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

[mrkapqa]

I am having similar question as GabrielHoang
upgraded MP4,1/5,1 to Mojave, but no 144.0.0.0, instead
Boot-ROM-Version: MP51.0089.B00

so i figured the GT120 graphics was the culprit (i used Mojave Patcher from Dosdude1);

steps i took:
1.bought NVME adapter + 500gb Samsung nvme
2.bought used RX 570.

so i guess, with used RX 570 installed,
i can go back, install High Sierra again, and from there Mojave anew, and this should this time give the new BootROM 144.0.0 or similar, and then i can clone the SSD to NVME and should be good to go?

correct?


Thanks for this great guide here, very helpful.

 

[tsialex]

My Mac 5.1 running with high sierra 10.13.6 but with a Boot Room MP51.0084.B00
Could i go ahead and up grade to the Boot Room 144.0.0.0.0 from the Mojave ?

View attachment 2022868

View attachment 2022869​

How about starting by reading the first post? If you read it, you will now that you can't do MP51.0084.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0.

 

[tsialex]

I am having similar question as GabrielHoang
upgraded MP4,1/5,1 to Mojave, but no 144.0.0.0, instead
Boot-ROM-Version: MP51.0089.B00

so i figured the GT120 graphics was the culprit (i used Mojave Patcher from Dosdude1);

steps i took:
1.bought NVME adapter + 500gb Samsung nvme
2.bought used RX 570.

so i guess, with used RX 570 installed,
i can go back, install High Sierra again, and from there Mojave anew, and this should this time give the new BootROM 144.0.0 or similar, and then i can clone the SSD to NVME and should be good to go?

correct?


Thanks for this great guide here, very helpful.

Follow the first post steps, start by doing a clean install of HighSierra. Hacked installs won't upgrade your Mac Pro firmware.

 

[GabrielHoang]

How about starting by reading the first post? If you read it, you will now that you can't do MP51.0084.B00 -> 144.0.0.0.0.

Yeah i did read it! however there 's some trouble to upgrade the bootroom That's why want to ask to be suree!!
Anyway after 1 hours struggling, My mac pro is now MP51.0089.BB00

Would you pls look at the Gpu compatible thread! Got some question over there need help!

 

[mrkapqa]

today i test the NVME Samsung evo plus 500 GB, which shows up as external drive, and is not bootable yet (due to missing 144.0.0.x BootROM);
it is in slot4 on a MP4,1/5,1, and speeds are nearly on par with a AHCI PciE SSD (like SM951) , around 1650/1550 Read/Write.

Will the drive get faster once the BootROM is updated? I have seen Benchmark much faster around 3000/2300 for such NVME, or do i need a different adapter for it (just got a pretty cheap one). Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Will the drive get faster once the BootROM is updated?

No.

I have seen Benchmark much faster around 3000/2300 for such NVME, or do i need a different adapter for it (just got a pretty cheap one). Thanks.

Via PCIe v3.0 switched cards, read more on the PCIe blade stickie.

 

[bax2003]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to update Mac Pro 5,1 (Mid 2012) to BootROM 144.0.0.0.0 but something is not right. I have RX580 8GB GPU and booting fine USB installation of 10.14.6 Mojave, but, when installation prompts for firmware upgrade with Shut Down button.....button itself does nothing. Video explains it better. After pushing the button and manually shutting down via Apple menu, then powering up (holding button, until power led flashes and I hear update tone).....nothing happens, it just keeps booting, no progress bar - nothing.

Video

Any ideas ?

Edit:
Found one here...

 

[tsialex]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to update Mac Pro 5,1 (Mid 2012) to BootROM 144.0.0.0.0 but something is not right. I have RX580 8GB GPU and booting fine USB installation of 10.14.6 Mojave, but, when installation prompts for firmware upgrade with Shut Down button.....button itself does nothing. Video explains it better. After pushing the button and manually shutting down via Apple menu, then powering up (holding button, until power led flashes and I hear update tone).....nothing happens, it just keeps booting, no progress bar - nothing.

Video

Any ideas ?

Edit:
Found one here...

Please read the first post of the thread, pay real attention to the notes, you'll see what you are doing wrong.

 

[OldMacPro2]

Just reporting that I carefully followed the instructions on the first post of this thread.

I have a "new to me" Mac Pro 4,1 and wanted to get it successfully flashed to the latest 5,1 BootROM.

And guess what? Following the instructions step-by-step, It Worked!

Thank you for the very helpful information.

 

[Al'sMacPro]

A very big THANK YOU to tsialex and many other contributors here for putting out such clear and useful information. Even a non-power-user like me can do a lot of upgrading just by carefully reading the advice offered here.

Over the last couple of years I have been able to make my 2009 Mac Pro 4,1, bought new, read as a 5,1, replaced the HDs with SSDs, and most recently upgraded it to Mojave, with a new-to-me Radeon RX580 graphics card. (I still have some 32 bit apps so Mojave is the limit until I get rid of those.)

I know, silicon is the future, but I am fine being a few years behind the times. I still have MS Word from 2009 running!

The only issue I'm having since the Mojave update is that the ability to read or eject discs from the Superdrive (still working) disappears after a while, and it takes an SMC reset to get that back. But I only noticed that because I went to install Photoshop 2020 from a disc, and it might be years before I need the drive again.

Thanks again, tsialex, you rock!

 

[Sajin7]

I hope i am in the right thread/forum I apologize if this is wrong. A bit to unpack here but any help would be great. i have Big Sur and Mojave on two separate disks I have been attempting to get to a boot screen when I hold the option key. is the boot rom keeping me from getting what I want? I just boot directly into my OS Big Sur 11.6.8 without it giving me a boot picker.
When i put the Mojave 10.14.6 drive in to test it I still get no boot screen. My boot Rom is 9144.0.8.0.0. Is this correct? I was under the impression boot screens were supported on 144.0.0.0.0 boot Rom. i am curious what caused this to change? Do i have go all the way back to high Sierra and start over? I have a Radeon 580x Sapphire 8GB video card. It does say Metal supported GPU mac OS2 in the system information. What am I missing? The overall objective is to get this working with Refind and Open Core with Legacy boot Windows10 restored from a Winclone image. So far I only have been able to install Martin Lo's Open core 0.8.0 the "Dayo method" outlined in mac rumors with BootMgr does not work for me at all. i will address that in another thread. Thank you.

Louis


Mac 4,1 firmware upgraded to 5,1 64 GB RAM 2TB OWC 3G SSD boot drive Big Sur . Dual processor intel 12 core. AMD Radeon 580X Sapphire 8GB graphics card. See attached configuration.

 

[tsialex]

I hope i am in the right thread/forum I apologize if this is wrong. A bit to unpack here but any help would be great. i have Big Sur and Mojave on two separate disks I have been attempting to get to a boot screen when I hold the option key.
is the boot rom keeping me from getting what I want? I just boot directly into my OS Big Sur 11.6.8 without it giving me a boot picker.

If your GPU is not macEFI flashed, you won't have pre-boot configuration support with a PC GPU.

When i put the Mojave 10.14.6 drive in to test it I still get no boot screen. My boot Rom is 9144.0.8.0.0. Is this correct?

No, this is OpenCore spoofing, probably from @h9826790 package.

I was under the impression boot screens were supported on 144.0.0.0.0 boot Rom.

You are wrong, nothing changed with PC GPU support with 144.0.0.0.0 - no pre-boot configuration support (no boot screens with a PC GPU).

i am curious what caused this to change? Do i have go all the way back to high Sierra and start over? I have a Radeon 580x Sapphire 8GB video card.

No pre-boot configuration support.

It does say Metal supported GPU mac OS2 in the system information. What am I missing?

It's a PC GPU, no boot screens.

The overall objective is to get this working with Refind and Open Core with Legacy boot Windows10 restored from a Winclone image. So far I only have been able to install Martin Lo's Open core 0.8.0 the "Dayo method" outlined in mac rumors with BootMgr does not work for me at all. i will address that in another thread. Thank you.

Louis


Mac 4,1 firmware upgraded to 5,1 64 GB RAM 2TB OWC 3G SSD boot drive Big Sur . Dual processor intel 12 core. AMD Radeon 580X Sapphire 8GB graphics card. See attached configuration.

Start booting High Sierra or Mojave without OpenCore and double check your real BootROM version.

After you are sure that you already have 144.0.0.0.0, you can go to the OpenCore thread and ask help why you don't have OpenCore boot picker working.

 

[knyght]

I have a Mac Pro 5,1 running Mojave. Radeon RX580 metal GPU. Obviously I cannot use OPTION to get to the boot screen. I am trying to follow Mr. Macintosh instructions on installing Monterey. How can I get to the boot screen?

 

[tsialex]

I have a Mac Pro 5,1 running Mojave. Radeon RX580 metal GPU. Obviously I cannot use OPTION to get to the boot screen. I am trying to follow Mr. Macintosh instructions on installing Monterey. How can I get to the boot screen?

This issue have nothing to do with the scope of this thread, please don't hijack threads.

A PC GPU don't have any pre-boot configuration support when installed in a MacPro5,1 - no boot screens / no boot picker. So, you can't follow that instructions at all.

The way to install unsupported macOS releases with a PC GPU is following the instructions on the main Open Core thread, please read the first post of the thread linked below:

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore boot loader to install, run, and update the latest version of macOS on the MacPro5,1, resulting in a clean, unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[knyght]

This issue have nothing to do with the scope of this thread, please don't hijack threads.

A PC GPU don't have any pre-boot configuration support when installed in a MacPro5,1 - no boot screens / no boot picker. So, you can't follow that instructions at all.

The way to install unsupported macOS releases with a PC GPU is following the instructions on the main Open Core thread, please read the first post of the thread linked below:

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore boot loader to install, run, and update the latest version of macOS on the MacPro5,1, resulting in a clean, unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac.

forums.macrumors.com

My apologies. Wasn't trying to hijack the thread. Not sure what the issue is, so it was confusing where to post the question. Thank you very much for your quick response.

 

[knyght]

What if I reinstalled the non-metal GPU?

 

[tsialex]

What if I reinstalled the non-metal GPU?

This is not the correct thread for asking this type of questions, please go to the Monterey Unsupported thread and see what workarounds people are using there, if you don't want to follow the instructions of the main OpenCore thread.

macOS 12 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

This thread will be dedicated to the discussion of running macOS 12.0 on unsupported Macs At the time of writing, WWDC has wrapped up and Developer Seeds have been sent out. We're eagerly awaiting for all our community developers and enthusiasts to test out the new version of macOS We will...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[rjtiedeman]

What is the advantage of upgrading my cMacPro 5.1 - 6 core (3.46 upgraded processor), which has a GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition GPU? I am using High Sierra and am using the cMac to run older software that I only use occasionally and backup. Also this machine will be my only way to service our DROBO 5n.

 

[tsialex]

What is the advantage of upgrading my cMacPro 5.1 6 core (3.46 upgraded processor), which has a GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition GPU? I am using High Sierra and am using the cMac for older software that I only use occasionally and backup. Also this machine will be my only way to service our DROBO 5n.

Several, I'm going to write specifically about the firmware perspective, you can research yourself for Mojave (see Mojave wikipedia page, for example) and newer macOS releases advantages:

• 144.0.0.0.0 have the most recent Intel microcodes, where several security failures (Spectre/Meltdown) were addressed.
• 144.0.0.0.0 fully supports booting from NVMe 1.3 blades. High Sierra firmwares ignore NVMe blades and can't boot from it.
• Mojave series of firmwares corrected the stupid default setting for all non-Apple PCIe cards as a PCIe v1.0, now 3rd party cards are correctly initialized as 5GT/s.
• 144.0.0.0.0 have the most recent APFS support (APFSJumpStart) that you can have with a MacPro5,1 firmware, with dozens of corrections/improvements.
• For people that have the reconstructed the BootROM image, the 144.0.0.0.0 BootBlock is greatly improved and Apple finally eliminated the bug that can frozen POST if you have a PCIe switched card, like HighPoint SSD7101A-1. The BootBlock is not upgraded by the Apple efiflasher when the EFI is upgraded, so, unless you had the BootROM reconstructed, your Mac Pro still have the factory installed BootBlock.
• Several other minor corrections.

Edit: typos.

 

[rjtiedeman]

Thank you. The first run at updating ended up with a bootROM of 141.0.0.0.0. After 2 restarts and a PRAM RESET. The installer ran perfectly. All good except I had to remove Nvida tools and removed CUDA tools. My cMacPro is working but seams slower.

 

[tsialex]

141.0.0.0.0 I a beta BootROM for developers, from 10.14.4 DP2, how you even got it?

 

[Soba]

Thank you. The first run at updating ended up with a bootROM of 141.0.0.0.0. After 2 restarts and a PRAM RESET. The installer ran perfectly. All good except I had to remove Nvida tools and removed CUDA tools. My cMacPro is working but seams slower.

Are you sure that's the version you're running? The version you want is 144.0.0.0.0 and you should not be running 141.0.0.0.0 under any circumstances, as it was never even released publicly except for developer testing. If you are running this, I'm curious where on earth you got the installer from?

Follow the instructions in the first post of this thread to upgrade your BootROM to 144.0.0.0.0 as soon as possible.

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[rjtiedeman]

What I meant was. On the first try the updater ran the firmware updater and I was left with 141.0.0.0.0. Then I got a message the updater was damaged. I removed the updater. Then restarted and reset the pram. Re-Downloaded the installer and tried again. The updater ran the firmware again and the updater worked and left me with 144.0.0.0.0.

The updater came from links on the first post in this forum.

The good news is my old cMac Pro is working. I do not have CUDA cores or Nvida drivers anymore but they were never supported by my CAD software so no loss. You can buy a lot of cool tech but if the software developers don't support it your just wasting money.

I ran Geek Bench 4 and did a test render of a project I finished last week. My cMac completed the test render in 10 min while my iMac Pro did the same in 3 1/2 min. Not bad for a 6 core versus a 10 core.

 

[tsialex]

What I meant was. On the first try the updater ran the firmware updater and I was left with 141.0.0.0.0. Then I got a message the updater was damaged. I removed the updater. Then restarted and reset the pram. Re-Downloaded the installer and tried again. The updater ran the firmware again and the updater worked and left me with 144.0.0.0.0.

The updater came from links on the first post in this forum.

Sorry, but that is not possible. Beta firmwares were never available for the general public nor are still available to download now.

The only way was if you were/are a Mac developer that pays the ADC annually and downloaded 10.14.4 DP2 or DP3 back when it was briefly available, stored it and then used it to upgrade right now.

You can't get 141.0.0.0.0 since that window, better yet, you can't get any beta firmware or even anything earlier than 144.0.0.0.0 today, for the 1[3,4]x.0.0.0.0 series of firmwares.

For earlier MP51 firmware series you can still get from Apple MP51.0089.B00 included with HighSierra 10.13.6 full installer and MP51.007F.B03 from Mac Pro EFI Firmware Upgrade 1.5.

 

[rjtiedeman]

Well I should have taken a screen shot. I tried the apple download pages first and those failed. Then - I didn't hold the button down long enough when it was starting the firmware upgrade. (finger slipped) . Then I watched a youtube on firmware update and realized I should have to held the button in much longer until the light blinks. I may have gotten a partial firmware update. I am happy it’s working and I didn’t brick it. It will be used until it will no longer start. 12 years and still working. To bad the latest versions of Adobe CC software won’t run on it. Soon No new software will run.
The Mojave update was definitely worth doing.