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

[William4673]

I am not aware of such an issue.


Your Bluetooth module may be too old. The recommendation here is to update it. I've had no issues with the BCM94360CD. The BCM943602CDP is another possibility but it might be trickier to use, especially when multi-booting (see post #11,388 above).



A good way to keep your NVRAM healthy is to periodically reflash a clean BootROM image. If you are having issues, you may benefit from @tsialex's reconstruction service. An additional protection is using a Matt card.

In the mean time, you can also use the emulated NVRAM feature available in OC 0.8.3 (when I get the chance, I'll add some instructions in the guide).


Using OC 0.8.0 is perfectly fine. You just won't have the latest features (like emulated NVRAM).


The reason for creating your own config is to have a clean deliberate setup that is easy for you to maintain. The first post of this thread provides an up-to-date guide on how to achieve this.

Thank you so much.

Yes I have reconstructed my bootROM and I flash it monthly, as I’ve learned from TSIALEX, garbage collection wears out the cells faster than just clean flashing periodically.

Interesting, even with the updated Bluetooth card it’s still too old? I’ll get back to this thread with the model number. Thanks.

Edit 1: I ended up having the card in question model: BCM943602CDP, will try the fix listed in said post and will get back with my findings.

Edit 2: it works. Thanks.


-W

 

[tsialex]

Thank you so much.

Yes I have reconstructed my bootROM and I flash it monthly, as I’ve learned from TSIALEX, garbage collection wears out the cells faster than just clean flashing periodically.

Yes, it is a lot wear expensive. I never got a garbage collection process that took something like 11 reboots like @Macschrauber had once, but I've got 7 or 8 reboots sometimes, so it's better to just re-flash the never booted BootROM image since the process will erase/rewrite the sectors of the VSS store one time only and read/verify everything else in the SPI flash memory.

Interesting, even with the updated Bluetooth card it’s still too old? I’ll get back to this thread with the model number. Thanks.

-W

Not all AirPort Extremes are equal, the best model for upgrading a MacPro5,1 hardware and compatibility wise is the AirPort Extreme BCM94360CD from 2013/2015 iMacs.

There are other models, like BCM943602CDP - this one is BT4.2 and is fully hardware compatible but have NVRAM and past macOS and Windows issues - and models that are not so much compatible, with different arrangement of antenna connectors and number of antennas, like the BCM94360CS models, that should be avoided.

AirPort Extreme BCM94360CD is the model that everyone should buy to upgrade a MacPro5,1.

 

[William4673]

Yes, it is a lot wear expensive.I never got a garbage collection process that took something like 11 reboots like @Macschrauber had once, but I've got 7 or 8 reboots sometimes, so it's better to just re-flash the never booted BootROM image since the process will erase/rewrite the sectors of the VSS store one time only and read/verify everything else in the SPI flash memory.



Not all AirPort Extremes are equal, the best model for upgrading a MacPro5,1 hardware and compatibility wise is the AirPort Extreme BCM94360CD from 2013/2015 iMacs.

There are other models, like BCM943602CDP - this one is BT4.2 and is fully hardware compatible but have NVRAM and past macOS and Windows issues - and models that are not so much compatible, with different arrangement of antenna connectors and number of antennas, like the BCM94360CS models, that should be avoided.

AirPort Extreme BCM9430CD is the model that everyone should buy to upgrade a MacPro5,1.

Thanks @tsialex, appreciate the info on the Bluetooth cards. For now I have a system that works for me, with the card I own.I fiddled with the drivers in windows and could never get Bluetooth to work, so I settled on a dongle that stays plugged into the back of the computer, and it gets the job done.

When you say,

“I never got a garbage collection process that took something like 11 reboots like @Macschrauber had once, but I've got 7 or 8 reboots sometimes”

you mean garbage collection starts to occur after 7-8 restarts of the computer correct? Then I guess no harm done in reflashing monthly.

This community is the best. thanks all for your invaluable help.

-W

 

[tsialex]

you mean garbage collection starts to occur after 7-8 restarts of the computer correct? Then I guess no harm done in reflashing monthly.

No, the whole garbage collection process, from the moment at POST that the Mac Pro firmware detects that the VSS store available space being too low to the full completion, with the VSS store being correctly filled in again.

 

[TECK]

Just for interest, does it work in Monterey again without requiring workarounds if you power down completely between Windows and Monterey?

It does not, after installing the Apple drivers in Windows, regardless I shut down the Mac or reboot in between operating systems, Magic Mouse and keyboard are not working. I have to plug a wired Apple mouse and keyboard, remove the Bluetooth devices, switch off/on the buttons and add them.

I'm going to use a wired setup for Windows, I cannot live without scrolling.

 

[cdf]

@cdf I re-installed Windows with your procedure posted into OP. Everything works as expected, except the Bluetooth Apple Magic keyboard/mouse behave erratically, like they were in Windows 10. More exactly, keyboard and mouse work fine with default Microsoft drivers, but if you want to use the Magic Mouse scroll feature, you need to install the missing HID drivers with brigadier. The devices are detected fine in Windows 11, however, when I switch back to Monterey, the keyboard/mouse are unusable. I have to plug a wired keyboard/mouse, delete the devices from Bluetooth Preferences and add them back, then everything is back to normal. However, this will break the keyboard/mouse in Windows.

I had a similar problem when I first installed Windows 11. It's very frustrating. I just ended up using the default Windows drivers for my Apple keyboard and trackpad and manually installed the Boot Camp control panel (with most drivers stripped out) to provide basic scrolling and tap-to-click functionality.

 

[TECK]

I manually installed the Boot Camp control panel

Can you share the instructions, what you stripped? I need the same functionality you mentioned, I presume you used Brigadier. I need to reinstall Windows, I have no idea how to undo the installed Apple drivers.

Also, is this worth reporting the issue as bug in OC? I eventually plan to use the 5,1 as Windows machine only and purchase in 2023 a new Mac Pro 8,1.

 

[hwojtek]

I had a similar problem when I first installed Windows 11. It's very frustrating.

I never had this with Windows (happens with Ubuntu, though), but perhaps it's because I run Windows via OC, so the machine is spoofed to present itself as a 7,1. I used Brigadier to download the 7,1 bootcamp drivers package, installed (some of them, keyboard, network, mouse+trackpad+BT enabler; didn't install the bootcamp control panel) manually, added the Realtek package from their website to get the sound working, AMD Adrenaline drivers for the video and it works brilliantly. I'm on Windows 11 now, upgraded from Windows 10.

 

[cdf]

Can you share the instructions, what you stripped? I need the same functionality you mentioned, I presume you used Brigadier.

I used Bombardier and pkgutil in macOS to extract the BootCamp folder from the MacPro7,1 package. Then, I deleted everything in BootCamp/Drivers except for the Apple folder. Finally, I used msiexec in Windows to install the control panel. This provides basic functionality for Apple devices.

Also, is this worth reporting the issue as bug in OC? I eventually plan to use the 5,1 as Windows machine only and purchase in 2023 a new Mac Pro 8,1.

We'd have to demonstrate that it is an OC issue in the first place...

added the Realtek package from their website to get the sound working

I'll have to check this out. I've been using the old Vista installer from the MacPro5,1 Boot Camp package to get the internal speaker working.

 

[trifero]

It does not, after installing the Apple drivers in Windows, regardless I shut down the Mac or reboot in between operating systems, Magic Mouse and keyboard are not working. I have to plug a wired Apple mouse and keyboard, remove the Bluetooth devices, switch off/on the buttons and add them.

I'm going to use a wired setup for Windows, I cannot live without scrolling.

Is it an UEFI installation? Magic Trackpad works like a charm for me in Windows 10, as in macOS. Even work brightness and sound volume keys.

 

[cdf]

Is it an UEFI installation? Magic Trackpad works like a charm for me in Windows 10, as in macOS. Even work brightness and sound volume keys.

@TECK uses an NVMe drive for Windows, so a legacy install wouldn't work.

 

[richgoga]

@TECK this worked for me

https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/mtvj5m

 

[ZNDK]

I have updated to OpenCore 0.8.3. I read something about setting OpenVariableRuntimeDxe loadEarly to True for Macs like Mac Pro 5.1, so I tried that. I also set OpenRuntime loadEarly to True. When my Mac goes to sleep, it will not wake up from sleep. When I try to get the Mac to wake up from sleep, I hear the initial mechanical wake up sound, but there is nothing on the display, no signal coming through, no HDD or other operating sounds, and the Mac does not wake up from sleep.

Should I set "OpenVariableRuntimeDxe"? If so, is there any way to normalize the sleep function?

 

[Bmju]

I have updated to OpenCore 0.8.3. I read something about setting OpenVariableRuntimeDxe loadEarly to True for Macs like Mac Pro 5.1, so I tried that. I also set OpenRuntime loadEarly to True. When my Mac goes to sleep, it will not wake up from sleep. When I try to get the Mac to wake up from sleep, I hear the initial mechanical wake up sound, but there is nothing on the display, no signal coming through, no HDD or other operating sounds, and the Mac does not wake up from sleep.

Should I set "OpenVariableRuntimeDxe"? If so, is there any way to normalize the sleep function?

Hmmm. I am afraid not, you have to disable sleep, at the moment. (Or just not use this driver; or only use it during updates. If you were going for the last option, you can leave the associated Launchd.command script installed, whether you have the driver enabled or not. It does no harm and has very little overhead.)

 

[Bmju]

I have updated to OpenCore 0.8.3. I read something about setting OpenVariableRuntimeDxe loadEarly to True for Macs like Mac Pro 5.1, so I tried that. I also set OpenRuntime loadEarly to True. When my Mac goes to sleep, it will not wake up from sleep. When I try to get the Mac to wake up from sleep, I hear the initial mechanical wake up sound, but there is nothing on the display, no signal coming through, no HDD or other operating sounds, and the Mac does not wake up from sleep.

Should I set "OpenVariableRuntimeDxe"? If so, is there any way to normalize the sleep function?

Additional clarification on the above, for anybody wanting more info:

- The main purpose of using the OpenVariableRuntimeDxe emulated NVRAM driver with cMP would be to reduce wear on NVRAM during macOS updates (though in general if just leaving it installed, it would eliminate or greatly reduce NVRAM wear all the time)
- NB macOS updates with this driver installed will only work if the associated Launchd.command script is installed too. (Needs to be done in macOS.)
- IMHO the driver _is_ stable enough to just leave it installed all the time... but only if you are prepared to disable sleep, which I agree is unfortunately a high price. (FWIW, it works fine with sleep on some systems... but unfortunately not on cMP, so this needs investigating, and at least documenting, for now.)

 

[William4673]

Additional clarification on the above, for anybody wanting more info:

- The main purpose of using the OpenVariableRuntimeDxe emulated NVRAM driver with cMP would be to reduce wear on NVRAM during macOS updates (though in general if just leaving it installed, it would eliminate or greatly reduce NVRAM wear all the time)
- NB macOS updates with this driver installed will only work if the associated Launchd.command script is installed too. (Needs to be done in macOS.)
- IMHO the driver _is_ stable enough to just leave it installed all the time... but only if you are prepared to disable sleep, which I agree is unfortunately a high price. (FWIW, it works fine with sleep on some systems... but unfortunately not on cMP, so this needs investigating, and at least documenting, for now.)

So, if I’m understanding correctly , updating macOS at any point, such as security updates and installing new OSes wears on NVRAM?

So then, my understanding would be if you just never update your OS and keep every macOS on their already installed update, you would be massively reducing wear?

Thanks
-W

 

[Bmju]

So, if I’m understanding correctly , updating macOS at any point, such as security updates and installing new OSes wears on NVRAM?

So then, my understanding would be if you just never update your OS and keep every macOS on their already installed update, you would be massively reducing wear?

Thanks
-W

That certainly matches my understanding. See e.g. this post and the posts linked from it: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....2207814/page-425?post=30945127#post-30945127

To try to be clear again: by 'wear' here, I just mean lots of NVRAM writes. As linked above, the cMP NVRAM is a bit fragile - and basically the more vars written, the greater the risk of problems.

Also, this is not specific to updates, i.e. fresh installs would have the same problem.

 

[Kwashiorkor]

Hello there. My Mac Pro 4.1/5.1 that is currently sporting 12.4 does not show the update to 12.5. What do I miss? I installed using Martin's package. Do I need to update that?

 

[Kwashiorkor]

Hello there. My Mac Pro 4.1/5.1 that is currently sporting 12.4 does not show the update to 12.5. What do I miss? I installed using Martin's package. Do I need to update that?

Nevermind, I have got the hint to redo the steps to spoof the system by changing the config file and the machine is now downloading 12.5. If anyone knows of serious problems with 12.5 then please shout out to stop me!

 

[Kwashiorkor]

Nevermind, I have got the hint to redo the steps to spoof the system by changing the config file and the machine is now downloading 12.5. If anyone knows of serious problems with 12.5 then please shout out to stop me!

Got another hint to update the config.plist because of some known problems. I hope that the plist is the one which is uploaded at the end of this post.

 

[ammoune78]

Hi guys, i've forgoten how to make ExFat/MBR Windows 11 USB appear in in OpenCore Picker. I already have the ExFatDxeLegacy.efi in the Driver folder & config.plist & it's enabled. HideAuxiliary=No, ScanPolicy=0, PickerAttributes=145. I'm still strugling on how to make it to be shown again!

            <dict>
                <key>Arguments</key>
                <string></string>
                <key>Comment</key>
                <string></string>
                <key>Enabled</key>
                <true/>
                <key>LoadEarly</key>
                <false/>
                <key>Path</key>
                <string>ExFatDxeLegacy.efi</string>
            </dict>

I'm i missing something?

 

[ZNDK]

I have updated to OpenCore 0.8.3. I read something about setting OpenVariableRuntimeDxe loadEarly to True for Macs like Mac Pro 5.1, so I tried that. I also set OpenRuntime loadEarly to True. When my Mac goes to sleep, it will not wake up from sleep. When I try to get the Mac to wake up from sleep, I hear the initial mechanical wake up sound, but there is nothing on the display, no signal coming through, no HDD or other operating sounds, and the Mac does not wake up from sleep.

Should I set "OpenVariableRuntimeDxe"? If so, is there any way to normalize the sleep function?

I then changed my settings to not use "OpenVariableRuntimeDxe". Then when I cold boot or reboot my Mac, the last time the Mac was in a state of abnormal termination, I get a dialog every time I start up. Is there any way to resolve this?

 

[LucMac]

I've updated my Mac Pro from Big Sur to Monterey yesterday.
So far, everything seems fine and all is working.

But there is one app I greatly want to use in an older version, which runs perfect under Big Sur 11.6.8.

It's djay Pro 2.1.4. The last version of this app with full and still working Spotify integration. (Whose integration they canceled after this specific version)

The app crashes directly after opening it. I've searched online for simliar problems regarding this version, but found nothing. Even the official website says, that its compatible with Monterey.
So I guess it's somehow OpenCore/Mac Pro 5,1 related.

Can somebody help?

Thanks
-Lucas

 

[Bmju]

I then changed my settings to not use "OpenVariableRuntimeDxe". Then when I cold boot or reboot my Mac, the last time the Mac was in a state of abnormal termination, I get a dialog every time I start up. Is there any way to resolve this?

macOS can get into a state where it continually reports a previous abnormal termination, even though there is no new one happening. So - I believe - OpenVariableRuntimeDxe + sleep caused the original problem, but is not causing the repeats (which are bogus). I am not at Mac right now, but to fix this you need to delete the logs in /logs/diagnostic logs or some similar path if that is not quite right.

EDIT: Here's a post with the correct path:- https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....2299557/page-229?post=31022786#post-31022786

 

[irix6530]

Hello, I have been doing fine with OC for a few months. Last week, I put a SAS card in my tower, which works OK with LSI MegaRAID kext after Mojave loads. I tried injecting it into OC EFI, which the xml compiled with no problems, but the SAS or 6GB SATA drives doesn't get listed as a boot drives. I have added the Kext to the folder where other Kexts are, and added below the last Kext to be loaded. Any ideas? Or is it something not possible