MP 1,1-5,1 Manually Configured OpenCore on the Mac Pro

[Dayo]

The addition of the screenshot feature to OpenCore is another gem

True but note that trying to run the debug version of OC v0.5.9 with CrScreenshotdxe will result in the boot stalling with no response and you will need to recover through an alternative boot process. Bug Notice Raised.

The next update of OC is scheduled for 03 August but seeing that v0.5.9, while coming with a lot of improvements, also comes with a few bugs, perhaps the devs will roll something out in July.

It is important to remember that OC is Betaware and that you must be able to recover from boot issues if you want to use it. This actually probably needs to be clearly written on the first page wiki post.

EDIT
A gem from the bug report is that AppleEvent should be set to <true/> in ProtocolOverrides for our old Macs. Still need to be able to recover for setups that have been working, perhaps sub optimally, suddenly having an issue flare up.

 

[cdf]

A gem from the bug report is that AppleEvent should be set to <true/> in ProtocolOverrides for our old Macs. Still need to be able to recover for setups that have been working, perhaps sub optimally, suddenly having an issue flare up.

Interesting. Regarding protocols and the 3,1: have you tried BootKicker?

 

[DigitaLife]

Interesting. Regarding protocols and the 3,1: have you tried BootKicker?

I waited with desire for the 0.5.9 version of OC, but after hesitating the first days of its release, I am now very confused because, in my opinion, it seems that several things do not work and above all I can no longer understand, in case in which I wanted to do the update, if I should follow the post # 1 guide of this thread taking with all the subsequent comments and suggestions, or follow the official OpenCore Desktop guide.
At the moment I have 0.5.7, with Catalina, Mojave and Windows 10, I use NDK BootPicker and I must say that everything still works well.
What do you suggest me to do?
Do I still have to wait until the arrival of 0.6.0 or to try anyway to appreciate the benefits of the current version (0.5.9)?
Thanks so much in advance!

 

[cdf]

What do you suggest me to do?

Let me try to clarify things a bit: First, there is no official OpenCore desktop guide. The guide I believe you are referring to is absolutely great but is intended for hacks. Second, our wiki is updated regularly. By following it, you will be able to install version 0.5.9. This version has been working great, and I see no reason to skip it. (In fact, you can always back up your current EFI folder first.) Finally, there is no need to incorporate all the recent posts to successfully use OC; this seems to be a major source of confusion. I suggest that users stick to the wiki until they have issues or want to experiment. Hope this helps!

 

[DigitaLife]

Let me try to clarify things a bit: First, there is no official OpenCore desktop guide. The guide I believe you are referring to is absolutely great but is intended for hacks. Second, our wiki is updated regularly. By following it, you will be able to install version 0.5.9. This version has been working great, and I see no reason to skip it. (In fact, you can always back up your current EFI folder first.) Finally, there is no need to incorporate all the recent posts to successfully use OC; this seems to be a major source of confusion. I suggest that users stick to the wiki until they have issues or want to experiment. Hope this helps!

I apologize for certain questions due to my lack of experience, even if I have been using Mac since 1986, at the time of the SE-30, passing through the Classic, Quadra, PowerPC 8600, G4 MDD, Dual G5, cMP 3.1 and finally cMP 5.1.
Thank you so much for the constant availability and promptness in the answers!
This community is my biggest reference for real Mac experts!
But now a final question related to guide of post #1.
Whenever I perform step 3, "First Boot", last part "bless --mount / Volumes / EFI --setBoot", this never works (even after performing the step "Now shut down your Mac and reset the SMC (unplug the power cord, wait 15 seconds, plug the power cord back in, wait 5 seconds, and then press the power button) ".
I always have to give the following command, as described in a previous version of the guide: "bless --mount / Volumes / EFI --setBoot --file /Volumes/EFI/EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.efi --verbose".
Is there something wrong?
Thanks again for everything!

 

[Dayo]

Interesting. Regarding protocols and the 3,1: have you tried BootKicker?

No. I haven't. I thought that was to kick you into the default Apple bootscreen. If so, this is not an option for me.
Is there something I should know about bootkicker?

 

[cdf]

Is there something wrong?

Bless is strange sometimes. (Do you use RAID?) You should be fine as long as the alternative command works. (By the way, the alternative command is also included in the current version of the wiki. You just have to click a spoiler.)

I thought that was to kick you into the default Apple bootscreen. If so, this is not an option for me.
Is there something I should know about bootkicker?

Yes, that's what it does. Unfortunately the 5,1 has a missing or broken protocol that prevents BootKicker from working. I was just wondering if the 3,1 was also affected.

 

[Dayo]

Yes, that's what it does. Unfortunately the 5,1 has a missing or broken protocol that prevents BootKicker from working. I was just wondering if the 3,1 was also affected.

To be honest, I have never tried it and just assumed it wouldn't work since my GPU is not supported.

 

[cdf]

To be honest, I have never tried it and just assumed it wouldn't work since my GPU is not supported.

Because OpenCore has enabled GOP, the native boot picker should theoretically work (just like the Apple loading screen and FileVault login screen). Unfortunately, that's not the case for the 5,1...

 

[Dayo]

Because OpenCore has enabled GOP, the native boot picker should theoretically work (just like the Apple loading screen and FileVault login screen). Unfortunately, that's not the case for the 5,1...

I will give it a shot. Need to read up on this in the manual.
Been busy today with a disk label issue which I just managed to sort out.

 

[EddieK420]

I am following this tutorial and installing open core and catalina on my pci ssd drive.

However I also have Windows 10 (NON-EFI) installed on a sata ssd drive. I would really like to avoid reinstalling windows. Can I just keep using my current non-efi windows 10 install or is there something I need to do to use my current windows install with Open Core?

Thank you!!

ps: BTW my current non-efi Windows 10 install does not show up on OpenCore Boot Menu. But it does show up in startup disk in system preferences.

 

[DigitaLife]

Bless is strange sometimes. (Do you use RAID?) You should be fine as long as the alternative command works. (By the way, the alternative command is also included in the current version of the wiki. You just have to click a spoiler.)

Thanks for the reply and in any case I'm not using any RAID.
I finally updated to OC 0.5.9 and it's a real OpenCanopy satisfaction!
But as you can see from the attached image, during the boot, strange purple lines appear on the display for two / three seconds (this had never happened with OC 0.5.7).
Also I would like to ask you for help on how to carry out Part II, Advanced Configuration: I would like to venture but I would need to be able to see an example (screen shot) of how the various command lines must be added / integrated (an example in attached picture) in the config.plist file, because not 'I never did and I don't know whether to leave a space between one line and another (as reported in the guide) or how to line up the various command lines.
I would really appreciate it if you could give me some help for how to actually do this step.
Thanks again in advance.

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Bless is strange sometimes. (Do you use RAID?) You should be fine as long as the alternative command works. (By the way, the alternative command is also included in the current version of the wiki. You just have to click a spoiler.)



Yes, that's what it does. Unfortunately the 5,1 has a missing or broken protocol that prevents BootKicker from working. I was just wondering if the 3,1 was also affected.

Thanks for the reply and in any case I'm not using any RAID.
I finally updated to OC 0.5.9 and it's a real OpenCanopy satisfaction!
But as you can see from the attached image, during the boot, strange purple lines appear on the display for two / three seconds (this had never happened with OC 0.5.7).
Also I would like to ask you for help on how to carry out Part II, Advanced Configuration: I would like to venture but I would need to be able to see an example (screen shot) of how the various command lines must be added / integrated (an example in attached picture) in the config.plist file, because not 'I never did and I don't know whether to leave a space between one line and another (as reported in the guide) or how to line up the various command lines.
I would really appreciate it if you could give me some help for how to actually do this step.
Thanks again in advance.

 

[Dayo]

@cdf,

This suggests it needs a compatible GPU.

I think this is what I saw originally that led to the conclusion.

 

[Macschrauber]

I am following this tutorial and installing open core and catalina on my pci ssd drive.

However I also have Windows 10 (NON-EFI) installed on a sata ssd drive. I would really like to avoid reinstalling windows. Can I just keep using my current non-efi windows 10 install or is there something I need to do to use my current windows install with Open Core?

Thank you!!

ps: BTW my current non-efi Windows 10 install does not show up on OpenCore Boot Menu. But it does show up in startup disk in system preferences.

Use ReFind to load legacy Windows via OpenCore

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

So I used the attached refind and this setting: Misc BlessOverride /EFI/refind/refind_GOPx64.efi And I got EFI option in OC, which when selected, booted to GRUB. All visible on the display. Now testing this: Misc BlessOverride...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[tsialex]

@cdf,

This suggests it needs a compatible GPU.

View attachment 922088

I think this is what I saw originally that led to the conclusion.

Yes, the GPU needs a working GOP. Several older, 2012/2013 era like GTX 680, or firmware modded GPUs don't have a firmware that supports it.

 

[cdf]

I would really like to avoid reinstalling windows. Can I just keep using my current non-efi windows 10 install or is there something I need to do to use my current windows install with Open Core?

Legacy Windows installations are not compatible with OpenCore. You can try converting your installation to UEFI (the process is mentioned in this thread).

Also I would like to ask you for help on how to carry out Part II, Advanced Configuration: I would like to venture but I would need to be able to see an example (screen shot) of how the various command lines must be added / integrated (an example in attached picture) in the config.plist file, because not 'I never did and I don't know whether to leave a space between one line and another (as reported in the guide) or how to line up the various command lines.

It's pretty much all in the guide. In your example, you simply replace

<key>Add</key>
<array/>

by that whole block. The spacing or indentation doesn't matter. In fact, when you execute plutil -convert xml1 config.plist && plutil config.plist, the formatting should all be fixed. Reopen the config to see for yourself!

You can also take a look at the Acidanthera sample configuration to get a good idea of how things should look.

I think this is what I saw originally that led to the conclusion.

That part of the documentation was added after we realized that the native boot picker wasn't showing unless a flashed card was used. The working hypothesis is that some protocol is missing or broken to make this work with a standard GOP card. It's like AppleUserInterfaceTheme. Without it, it's impossible to change the background color of the boot screen, and yet a few firmware versions ago, this was definitely possible with a flashed card.

 

[hwojtek]

But as you can see from the attached image, during the boot, strange purple lines appear on the display for two / three seconds (this had never happened with OC 0.5.7).

Now that's funny, because this ONLY happens to my R9 280X on the first warm boot after I remove the OC flash drive from the computer (meaning I boot natively, without OC).
The card is flashed with the 7950 EFI part.

 

[joevt]

I apologize for certain questions due to my lack of experience, even if I have been using Mac since 1986, at the time of the SE-30, passing through the Classic, Quadra, PowerPC 8600, G4 MDD, Dual G5, cMP 3.1 and finally cMP 5.1.
Thank you so much for the constant availability and promptness in the answers!
This community is my biggest reference for real Mac experts!
But now a final question related to guide of post #1.
Whenever I perform step 3, "First Boot", last part "bless --mount / Volumes / EFI --setBoot", this never works (even after performing the step "Now shut down your Mac and reset the SMC (unplug the power cord, wait 15 seconds, plug the power cord back in, wait 5 seconds, and then press the power button) ".
I always have to give the following command, as described in a previous version of the guide: "bless --mount / Volumes / EFI --setBoot --file /Volumes/EFI/EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.efi --verbose".
Is there something wrong?
Thanks again for everything!

Use my script and gfxutil to view EFI boot vars and see how bless and Startup Disk effects the boot bars.

Documentation on all parameters for nvram...?

I don't think anyone's going to document all the options. If you have a question about a specific set of options, then we can try to answer that. Note that "nvram -p" only shows macOS nvram variables. There are many more that you can see with the dmpstore command in an EFI Shell. The nvram...

forums.macrumors.com

bless --mount /Volumes/EFI --setBoot should point the EFI boot vars to the partition that is mounted at /Volumes/EFI. Use mount to verify that /Volumes/EFI points to the correct partition listed by diskutil list. If only the mount point is specified in the bless command, then I guess it means it will boot the default file at /Volumes/EFI/EFI/BOOT/Bootx64.efi. If this doesn't work as you say, then maybe you should include the file parameter in the bless command to point to a specific file:
--file /Volumes/EFI/EFI/BOOT/Bootx64.efi

Usually, I use the --folder option of bless with --file, so that I can also include a --label for the Mac's Startup Manager (hold option at startup). The folder should be the location of the file.

For example, my boot vars are:

dumpallbootvars
BootOrder: Boot0080 Boot0000 
Boot0000: 1, "ubuntu", "HD(1,GPT,19D44A4A-72CE-488C-869C-32776991515D,0x28,0x64000)/\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi"
Boot0080: 1, "Mac OS X", "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x2)/Sata(0x2,0x0,0x0)/HD(12,GPT,01A40057-B54C-4974-AF84-A70CD2E937FF,0x6FC68A00,0x19088)", "maxmem=63488"

The first for ubuntu points to a specific efi file.
The second for Mac OS X points to an HFS+ partition. The HFS+ volume header of that partition points to an efi file (bless can show and change HFS+ volume header info).

 

[DigitaLife]

OpenCore on Legacy Apple Hardware

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore bootloader on a classic Mac Pro to install, run and update macOS Catalina, resulting in a clean, unpatched operating system no different than on a supported Mac.

Why OpenCore?

There are several advantages to using OpenCore on a classic Mac Pro:

Boot picker screen (even with a standard graphics card)
View attachment 916024
Software Update (just like on a supported Mac)
View attachment 882160
Hardware acceleration (and DRM for Netflix on Safari) View attachment 919405
Requirements

Mac Pro model	Early 2009 with MacPro5,1 firmware,* Mid 2010 or Mid 2012
Processor architecture	Westmere / Gulftown
Boot ROM version	144.0.0.0.0*
Graphics	EFI (flashed) or standard UEFI card

* Need to upgrade? See the upgrade instructions.

PART I
Basic Installation




PART II
Advanced Configuration




PART III
Maintenance




APPENDIX​

Acknowledgements

A big thank you to @vit9696 and the other talented developers of Acidanthera for making all of this possible. Special gratitude goes to @h9826790 for spearheading the hardware acceleration study and @startergo for the relentless testing that led to boot screen support. And thanks to all those that have contributed to this thread!

Could you help me on how to change the default disk to boot from OC 0.5.9?
Thanks in advance!

 

[h9826790]

Could you help me on how to change the default disk to boot from OC 0.5.9?
Thanks in advance!
View attachment 922211

Do that in system preferences-> startup disk. Or Control + Enter in boot picker.

 

[DigitaLife]

Do that in system preferences-> startup disk. Or Control + Enter in boot picker.

Thank you!
Control + Enter, however, did not work. I solved it only with System Preferences / Startup Disk.

 

[startergo]

Now that's funny, because this ONLY happens to my R9 280X on the first warm boot after I remove the OC flash drive from the computer (meaning I boot natively, without OC).
The card is flashed with the 7950 EFI part.

I had these at the last boot stage and I fixed it by adding Orinoco properties to my Polaris cards.

 

[Dayo]

I had these at the last boot stage and I fixed it by adding Orinoco properties to my Polaris cards.

How do you add these?

 

[startergo]

How do you add these?

<dict>
    <key>DeviceProperties</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Add</key>
        <dict>
            <key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
            <dict>
                <key>@0,name</key>
                <data>
                QVRZLE9yaW5vY28=
                </data>
                <key>ATY,EFIVersion</key>
                <data>
                MDEuMDEuMTgz
                </data>
                <key>CFG,CFG_FB_LIMIT</key>
                <data>
                BA==
                </data>
                <key>CFG,CFG_PTPL2_TBL</key>
                <data>
                ggAAAHwAAAB2AAAAcAAAAGoAAABkAAAAXgAAAFgAAABS
                AAAATAAAAEYAAABAAAAAOgAAADQAAAAuAAAAKAAAAA==
                </data>
                <key>PP,PP_PowerPlayEnabled</key>
                <data>
                AQAAAA==
                </data>
                <key>PP,PP_WorkLoadPolicyMask</key>
                <data>
                IA==
                </data>
                <key>agdpmod</key>
                <data>
                cGlrZXJhAA==
                </data>
                <key>model</key>
                <data>
                QU1EIFJhZGVvbiBSWCA1ODA=
                </data>
                <key>rebuild-device-tree</key>
                <data>
                AA==
                </data>
                <key>shikigva</key>
                <data>
                kA==
                </data>
            </dict>
        </dict>
        <key>Delete</key>
        <dict>
            <key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
            <array>
                <string>ATY,EFIVersion</string>
            </array>
        </dict>
    </dict>
</dict>

These are my properties.
This parameter is for 4 video output ports. If you have 5 change it accordingly. Make sure all outputs work:

<key>CFG,CFG_FB_LIMIT</key>
                <data>
                BA==
                </data>

[automerge]1591540754[/automerge]
If you use radeonboost.kext you have to disable it.

 

[Dayo]

Thanks. Was specifically interested in finding out more on what the Orinoco thing is.

I currently prefer to use boot args and kexts for convenience and would not like to change this for now. So something to consider at some point later in time.