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

[fredriksjolander]

Ymmv, but I have found that following the gdisk instructions which I mentioned back here can work wonders in restoring 'lost' Windows installs: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/opencore-on-the-mac-pro.2207814/post-30635104

Didnt work but thanks for taking your time to answer!

 

[lewnworxx]

I put both my 5,1s up to 12.6 Monterey, the single CPU one is on the beta 12.6.2. The dual CPU one had CPU A fail but I replaced that. I was using Martin Lo's package (0.8) and found this issue, but I disabled the Surplus section then did restart and CMD-OPT-P-R and eventually these prohibited things disappeared.

The dual CPU one is used as my Zwift computer in the pain cave to check it is working right, the other one (which was my Zwift computer) seems okay but I only just upgraded it now.

Thanks for that as your dual proc is nearly identical to mine, Procs / Ram / GPU.

The only possible (although unlikely) thing is the slot I have the Radeon in. It's in slot 2 simply because it's always been there since Mojave. Wondering if moving it would make any difference? It's in the config correctly for slot 2 (or handbrake wouldn't be allowing me to use Video Toolbox for compression).

I'd initially had Sur Plus in there, but after figuring out Monterey didn't need it and my existing Big Sur install has been parked at 11.2.3 from my previous install before the race condition surfaced and I won't be taking it past that, I went ahead and removed it.

To be honest (it was a super late night) I can't remember if I attempted the install with or without Sur Plus in place.

I'll do the other one with my current working build and see how that goes.

 

[startergo]

Question on ACPI names for PCI/GPU SSDT spoofing on a 5,1 -
I have the machine going with a nv510, but have a r7-450 which needs spoofing in a best case scenario (comes up as a mobile card and no output). There are many howtos for spoofing on hackintoshes, but the ACPI addresses appear to be different on cMP. Linux doesn't have the firmware_node directory at all, and ioRegistryExplorer shows one (complex) path and gfxutil shows a different (not so complex) path

IORegistryExplorer: IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/IOU0@3/IOPP/GFX0@0

gfxinfo: 05:00.0 1002:682b /PCI0@0/IOU0@3/GFX0@0 = PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)

Is one or the other right? Both? Neither? I'm trying to plug it in to the SSDT-GPU-SPOOF skeleton from Dortana at https://dortania.github.io/Getting-Started-With-ACPI/Universal/spoof.html . The Dortana page discusses putting in "PC02" and "BR2A" but I'm assuming since this is a Mac and neither gfxinfo nor IORegistryExplorer list those anywhere it doesn't go in. Also, where is the abridge point for the first External declaration (_SB_.PCI0) - does it stay at the bus or (assuming IOU0 is required) would it be "_SB_.PCI0.IOU0, DeviceObj" ? Or am I just way off on a nonexistent rabbit trail here?

Assuming it might work because I had this card working in a hackintosh back in Mojave/Catalina era and I have it to the point where I see the following in System Profiler: - also attached are shots of the relevant Hackintool/IORegistryExplorer/gfxinfo screens.

EDIT: it gets more confusing. I started just chucking random possibilities into the SSDT and on looking elsewhere in IORegistryExplorer it is sometimes refered to as _SB/PCI0@0/IOU0@3000/PXS1@ffff, other times as GFX0.

Try this SSDT and just set the properties you need. The path is already set according to:
IORegistryExplorer: IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/IOU0@3/IOPP/GFX0@0

 

[PPatla]

I have a new CMP 5,1 with an PowerColor Red Dragon RX560 4GB DDR5 video card, 500TB SSD, 1TB SSD and 24GB of RAM. I followed the guide to have boot picker capability on the 1TB drive that has a fresh Monterey install with OLCP .5.2. Everything works great, WiFi works, BT4.0 with a USB dongle video acceleration etc. I blessed the drive and it boots into Monterey no problem. I did have to flash the videocard with a different BIOS to get boot picker to work. Video ROM 204602.rom from Techpowerup did the trick for me, yes I bought the card used and it was registering as a x4 card before I flashed it and x8 aftewards.

I had previously completed a fresh native install of Mojave on to the 500TB SSD (without boot picker I just waited for the install screen to start) to complete the firmware upgrade to 144. That all went well following the 3 NVRAM resets that I've read about here. I did this install before the Monterey OCLP install.

I can now get the boot picker but when I now select the Mojave drive, I get the white "no bueno" circle. I'm guessing it's because the blessed EFI on the 1TB drive is spoofing the machine type and that doesn't want to boot up Mojave.

I've been reading many of the posts in this thread but I'm still not sure what is the best way to have dual boot between Monterey and Mojave. Should I be using a Boot Manager? or could I add OpenCore to the 500GB drive with "allow native mode" and OCLP? I read many of the posts in this thread but couldn't come up with the "best answer".

Long time reader, first time poster.
-PMP

 

[carvalho150]

Hi all,
I have a cMP 5.1 genuine with OC installed with big sur 11.7.1
Today I update OC 0.8.0 to OC 0.8.6 with the instructions provided by Martinlo on his video.
After restart, the Mac reboots constantly after the progress bar hits half the way. I have the boot picker but then, reboot.
How can I resolve this and revert to OC 0.8.0?

 

[cdf]

I can now get the boot picker but when I now select the Mojave drive, I get the white "no bueno" circle. I'm guessing it's because the blessed EFI on the 1TB drive is spoofing the machine type and that doesn't want to boot up Mojave.

Correct.

I've been reading many of the posts in this thread but I'm still not sure what is the best way to have dual boot between Monterey and Mojave. Should I be using a Boot Manager? or could I add OpenCore to the 500GB drive with "allow native mode" and OCLP? I read many of the posts in this thread but couldn't come up with the "best answer".

The best option depends on how you want to use Mojave. If you need the extra features that OpenCore provides (in particular, AMD hardware acceleration), then you'll want to set up a config around the iMac Pro board ID. This is detailed in post #1 (see Complete your setup > Settings for older versions of macOS). However, if you're fine with booting Mojave natively, then the best approach is to wait for OC version 0.8.7 (which should be available tomorrow) and to use the new capabilities of the BootKicker tool (see Maintenance > Booting natively).

 

[TECK]

Next OC release postponed for tomorrow.

 

[PPatla]

Correct.


The best option depends on how you want to use Mojave. If you need the extra features that OpenCore provides (in particular, AMD hardware acceleration), then you'll want to set up a config around the iMac Pro board ID. This is detailed in post #1 (see Complete your setup > Settings for older versions of macOS). However, if you're fine with booting Mojave natively, then the best approach is to wait for OC version 0.8.7 (which should be available tomorrow) and to use the new capabilities of the BootKicker tool (see Maintenance > Booting natively).

I would want to take advantage of AMD Acceleration, I read the Complete your setup instructions where I'm stuck is do I edit the EFI on the Monterey 1TB Blessed drive or do I install another EFI on the 5GB Mojave drive and make the changes there. I'm used being Option Boot and then selecting the EFI on my 2012 MacMini and then selecting Ventura or Mojave.

So would I make those Settings for older versions on the Monterey drive EFI and after making those changes it won't hurt my Monterey boot up?

 

[cdf]

where I'm stuck is do I edit the EFI on the Monterey 1TB Blessed drive or do I install another EFI on the 5GB Mojave drive and make the changes there.

One OC installation is enough.

So would I make those Settings for older versions on the Monterey drive EFI and after making those changes it won't hurt my Monterey boot up?

Those changes have been tested with the configuration detailed in post #1. However, since you're using OCLP, ymmv... You could also try consulting the OCLP channels for help regarding this, though (to my knowledge) OCLP doesn't support macOS versions earlier than Big Sur.

 

[cdf]

The guide has been updated to OpenCore version 0.8.7.

Thanks to the brilliant work of @Bmju, this version of OpenCore brings support for the native Apple picker in OC with standard graphics cards. It is now possible to start the native Apple picker from OC using PickerMode=Apple and BootKicker. This greatly simplifies native blessing and booting (see Maintenance in the guide)!

 

[startergo]

Oops. Great work @Bmju No need for MVC cards anymore?
Wonder if boot kicker can be integrated now in the firmware as an ffs module? @joevt can you try blessing it directly to see if it will boot directly to the Apple boot picker without any boot managers?

 

[cdf]

Oops. Great work @Bmju No need for MVC cards anymore?

No need for MVC cards to enter the native picker from OpenCore. As far as I know, this will not work without OC.

 

[startergo]

No need for MVC cards to enter the native picker from OpenCore. As far as I know, this will not work without OC.

@Dayo will you try integration in RP?

 

[Bmju]

Oops. Great work @Bmju No need for MVC cards anymore?
Wonder if boot kicker can be integrated now in the firmware as an ffs module? @joevt can you try blessing it directly to see if it will boot directly to the Apple boot picker without any boot managers?

It doesn't work without OC, I'm currently looking at this, I think it should be possible in principle.

 

[Dayo]

will you try integration in RP?

I don't think so as I can't see a role for it there.

If you remember though, that back in mid 2020 when we were looking at MP51 Boot Screen stuff, BootKicker was an obvious angle to explore but it simply just didn't work:

Allow Running BootKicker from Boot Picker and Fix Vague Documentation · Issue #1084 · acidanthera/bugtracker

Allow Running BootKicker from Boot Picker It seems at the moment that the only way to run BootKicker is to bless it directly and that it is Noop when attempted as anyother tool from the boot picker...

github.com

I still went ahead to integrate it but we found another way to load a boot screen instead based on OpenCore's ProvideConsoleGop.

I only got round to stripping the redundant integration code out in Feb of this year:

Remove 'BootKicker' feature · dakanji/RefindPlus@b947aed

A Boot Manager for Mac and PC. Contribute to dakanji/RefindPlus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Noting that it is said to be not likely to work, you can test it by just dropping it in as a tool in RP. Only that RP versions as from v0.13.2.AP will not include an icon for it (it will show as an unknown tool).

Can't see a role in RP as said though since the reason for looking at it was achieved by other means. I suppose it might allow blessing directly from RP if it ever works fully outside OC but leaving such to be done in the traditional way or by using BootKicker from OC. No need to reinvent the wheel so to speak.

 

[prefuse07]

Just read the Maintenance section, and I apologize if this is too premature, but what are the implications of BootKicker?

How would this impact someone with a flashed card? *waves hand

What if we have multiple OS' ? -- from what I read, it sounded like it only works to launch macOS, is that accurate?

Lastly, could someone who has BootKicker running make a youtube vid of that, pretty please? (curious to see what it looks like in play)

Wondering if I am just completely misunderstanding things

 

[sfalatko]

Well Bootkicker works really well with my setup using a rescue CD as my only OC method. Boot from the rescue CD - hit the space bar at the OC boot picker which then shows the Bootpicker icon - select that and fairly quickly (a second or so) get the Apple bootpicker which shows (among all my macOS installs (Mojave, Catalina, and Monterey) my legacy Windows 10 install.

Selecting the legacy Windows install boots fine into my legacy Windows 10.

I need some more work and testing. I updated my Windows 10 install and on reboot booted via the same process - my rescue CD then Bootkicker and then selected Windows and after a short while got a reboot. On restart did it again twice and got a reboot (no BSOD but no desktop). So on the forth reboot I went ahead and selected Monterey at the OC menu.

I'll do some more work later tonight or tomorrow to flesh it out but Bootpicker seems to be a nice way to boot with OC but occasionally without into a natively supported OS.


UPDATE: So I tried again but instead of trying to boot Windows I tried Mojave and got the same response - after a short while my MacPro restarted. Next I tried a deep NVRAM reset (using sudo NVRAMreset=1) and tried again to boot Windows - same result, a reboot.

I'll try more tomorrow but after my first success booting into my legacy Windows 10 install I haven't got bootkicker to boot either legacy Windows 10 or Mojave.

Regards,
sfalatko

 

[Bmju]

Well Bootkicker works really well with my setup using a rescue CD as my only OC method. Boot from the rescue CD - hit the space bar at the OC boot picker which then shows the Bootpicker icon - select that and fairly quickly (a second or so) get the Apple bootpicker which shows (among all my macOS installs (Mojave, Catalina, and Monterey) my legacy Windows 10 install.

Selecting the legacy Windows install boots fine into my legacy Windows 10.

I need some more work and testing. I updated my Windows 10 install and on reboot booted via the same process - my rescue CD then Bootkicker and then selected Windows and after a short while got a reboot. On restart did it again twice and got a reboot (no BSOD but no desktop). So on the forth reboot I went ahead and selected Monterey at the OC menu.

I'll do some more work later tonight or tomorrow to flesh it out but Bootpicker seems to be a nice way to boot with OC but occasionally without into a natively supported OS.


UPDATE: So I tried again but instead of trying to boot Windows I tried Mojave and got the same response - after a short while my MacPro restarted. Next I tried a deep NVRAM reset (using sudo NVRAMreset=1) and tried again to boot Windows - same result, a reboot.

I'll try more tomorrow but after my first success booting into my legacy Windows 10 install I haven't got bootkicker to boot either legacy Windows 10 or Mojave.

Regards,
sfalatko

BootKicker is meant to restart, followed by booting into the selected entry. If you were to use PickerMode=Apple then it can start the selected entry directly, without a reboot, but most people won't want that as you then don't have the OC picker.

Both Enter (start) and CTRL+Enter (bless and start) work in BootKicker - via a restart, in either case. But neither of these will work as expected unless your BootKicker Tools entry has the (fairly new in OC) FullNvramAccess option set to true.

 

[sfalatko]

BootKicker is meant to restart, followed by booting into the selected entry. If you were to use PickerMode=Apple then it can start the selected entry directly, without a reboot, but most people won't want that as you then don't have the OC picker.

Both Enter (start) and CTRL+Enter (bless and start) work in BootKicker - via a restart, in either case. But neither of these will work as expected unless your BootKicker Tools entry has the (fairly new in OC) FullNvramAccess option set to true.

Bmju (and @cdf) ,

I set up my config.plist per Post #1 (Maintenance section) which didn't detail changes to Pckermode. Mine is set to "External" to use OpenCanopy. What is recommended for using bootpicker?

The behavior I get is as you describe - I see the OC picker, press the space bar and see the recovery entires as well as Bootpicker. When I select Bootpicker the Apple boot picker comes up quickly. AFter I select an entry the computer reboots. The first time I did it (I selected Windows 10) it worked - my legacy Windows 10 install booted fine. After an update to windows it needed to restart and since that time using bootpicker hasn't worked - I can't boot Windows or Mojave from the Apple boot picker. The computer restarts after any selection at the Apple boot picker.

OC still works fine. If want to bypass OC (say to flash my reconstructed Bootrom (thanks @tsialex!) I select my stock Mojave install in the Startup disk system pref pane and restart Mojave starts fine.

I just can't get it to work using Bootpicker after my first success with legacy Windows 10.

My perhaps very unique situation is I use OC from a rescue CD. It is not installed on any of my drives.

Regards,
sfalatko

 

[Bmju]

I can't boot Windows or Mojave from the Apple boot picker. The computer restarts after any selection at the Apple boot picker.

This is not the relevant information. It is supposed to restart. What else does it do? For instance, what exactly does it start, after the restart, if it does not start what you selected in the Apple picker? And can you confirm that you have 'FullNvramAccess' present and set to 'true' in the settings for your Tools entry for BootKicker.efi?

 

[cdf]

I set up my config.plist per Post #1 (Maintenance section) which didn't detail changes to Pckermode. Mine is set to "External" to use OpenCanopy. What is recommended for using bootpicker?

By the rest of your post, I suppose you mean the BootKicker tool. For using this tool, you can keep the recommended setting PickerMode=External (OpenCanopy). Note that PickerMode=Apple will replace OpenCanopy by the native picker, but you’ll still be booting through OC. BootKicker with FullNvramAccess=true is what you want for native blessing and booting.

 

[sfalatko]

By the rest of your post, I suppose you mean the BootKicker tool. For using this tool, you can keep the recommended setting PickerMode=External (OpenCanopy). Note that PickerMode=Apple will replace OpenCanopy by the native picker, but you’ll still be booting through OC. BootKicker with FullNvramAccess=true is what you want for native blessing and booting.

@cdf,

Yes - Bootkicker tool. FullNvramAccess is set to true.

I'll do some more testing later today and see if I can find a pattern to help understand why I get into a boot loop using Bootkicker after my first success.

Regards,
sfalatko

 

[PeterHolbrook]

I've only tried BootKicker once and concluded, probably prematurely, that it didn't work. Perhaps I didn't let it work, so I'll try again the next time I boot up my computer. Be that as it may, I wonder whether this interesting development might be expanded into allowing a Mac Pro 5,1 to boot from an external drive (via Thunderbolt or an USB 3.x PCI card). Is this doable?

 

[Bmju]

This is not the relevant information. It is supposed to restart. What else does it do? For instance, what exactly does it start, after the restart, if it does not start what you selected in the Apple picker? And can you confirm that you have 'FullNvramAccess' present and set to 'true' in the settings for your Tools entry for BootKicker.efi?

@sfalatko - Perhaps I should just let @cdf do his very good job of supporting his carefully constructed config - I hope I'm not being too terse!

Based on your mention of 'boot loops', I guess you mean that when you select an item in the Apple Boot Picker, started via BootKicker.efi, that it reboots (expected), but then simply restarts into the OpenCore picker again, rather than into the boot entry you chose (not expected!).

If that is what is happening, it does still sound very much like you are using BootKicker.efi without full NVRAM access. Perhaps you could send your config.plist?

 

[Bmju]

I've only tried BootKicker once and concluded, probably prematurely, that it didn't work. Perhaps I didn't let it work, so I'll try again the next time I boot up my computer. Be that as it may, I wonder whether this interesting development might be expanded into allowing a Mac Pro 5,1 to boot from an external drive (via Thunderbolt or an USB 3.x PCI card). Is this doable?

It does work! I'm now using it to re-bless OpenCore without having to boot into any operating system, and @cdf has thoroughly tested it and would certainly have let me know if it didn't work as claimed!

It's just possible, if you're using different OpenCore graphics or text rendering options from the ones specified on p.1 that you've found a set with which it won't currently work?