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

[kkinto]

Hi guys. Got myself in a bit of a mess (frozen boot progress about 70% on b/w apple screen) after "updating" to to 087 per post #1. Not sure what was wrong, config all checked out with the verify tools.

One question: by this remark: "✓ With the help of the updated sample config at the bottom of this post and the notes below, make any necessary changes to your setup."

Does that mean I need to start again with a new downloaded config from that post and not just make the changes to my existing one indicated in that section?

Was this probably what I did wrong?

Otherwise I did everything in "Maintenance," new Lilu download etc., replaced all the kexts and other stuff from the new OC package download, kept the /goldengate resources and other resources from the 086 - until I reached the 'create a cd' part where I checked the config, copied all files (backed up the EFI) and restarted.

Had to reset NVRAM and get back to my Mojave to get my existing 086 backup EFI back into service.

 

[h9826790]

Hi guys. Got myself in a bit of a mess (frozen boot progress about 70% on b/w apple screen) after "updating" to to 087 per post #1. Not sure what was wrong, config all checked out with the verify tools.

One question: by this remark: "✓ With the help of the updated sample config at the bottom of this post and the notes below, make any necessary changes to your setup."

Does that mean I need to start again with a new downloaded config from that post and not just make the changes to my existing one indicated in that section?

Was this probably what I did wrong?

Otherwise I did everything in "Maintenance," new Lilu download etc., replaced all the kexts and other stuff from the new OC package download, kept the /goldengate resources and other resources from the 086 - until I reached the 'create a cd' part where I checked the config, copied all files (backed up the EFI) and restarted.

Had to reset NVRAM and get back to my Mojave to get my existing 086 backup EFI back into service.

As a rule of thumb, never mix use config between different version's of OpenCore.

 

[sfalatko]

PeterHolbrook,

Thank you. I'll compare with mine to see what differences there are. I'll post back what I find.

Regards,
sfalatko

PeterHolbrook,

Thanks for posting your config.plist.

I noticed two differences that might have caused my issue -

1. At some point my config.plist lost data entries for firmware features - both FirmwareFeatures and FirmwareFeaturesMask were blank. The strange thing is I have copies of my EFI back to 0.8.2 and they've been missing at least that long but I've been doing point updates to Monterey and having no issue until 12.6.2.
2. Your config.plist still has "-no_compat_check" as a boot-arg in the NVRAM section. Again - I have not been using "-no_compat_check" for quite some time.

I will update my config.plist to fix the firmware features and try again. [UPDATE] I corrected my config.plist to include the firmware features and the update worked correctly. [UPDATE 2] So I continue to look at my config.plist and realized that I did have FirmwareFeatures in PlatformNVRAM but not SMBIOS (which isn't supposed to matter...)

In the free advice section (worth what you paid but I wanted to mention) - I noticed a couple of items in your config.plist that are different than Post #1.

1. In your DeviceProperties section you have additional entries (beyond what is in Post #1) - @0_name, agdpmod, and shikigva.
2. You have both the NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib.kext and AVXPel applied. I believe you only need one (I use AVXPel)
3. You have SurPlus still enabled - this is not needed unless you still are using Big Sur
4. You have RadeonBoost.kext still enabled - I've never used this but I seem to recall it is no longer effective (I did not go and check the thread on that).

Regards,
sfalatko

 

[cdf]

One question: by this remark: "✓ With the help of the updated sample config at the bottom of this post and the notes below, make any necessary changes to your setup."

Does that mean I need to start again with a new downloaded config from that post and not just make the changes to my existing one indicated in that section?

As long as your config was initially made by following post #1 and is currently at the previous version (in this case, 0.8.6), then you can keep updating it by just making the changes described in the Maintenance section. Starting from scratch all the time would be far too tedious! It’s hard to say what could have gone wrong here, especially that the changes for updating to 0.8.7 are relatively minor.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

@sfalatko: My config.plist is a "legacy" product. I created it from scratch the first time I installed OpenCore and have been modifying it slightly ever since with each new OC release. Whenever possible, I don't delete old settings, but simply disable them. For instance, the NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib.kext you mention is NOT enabled, so I take it for granted its presence in my config.plist is irrelevant. The same applies elsewhere, like SurPlus and RadeonBoost, which are definitely NOT enabled. You haven't paid much attention to my config.plist, have you?

 

[sfalatko]

@sfalatko: My config.plist is a "legacy" product. I created it from scratch the first time I installed OpenCore and have been modifying it slightly ever since with each new OC release. Whenever possible, I don't delete old settings, but simply disable them. For instance, the NoAVXFSCompressionTypeZlib.kext you mention is NOT enabled, so I take it for granted its presence in my config.plist is irrelevant. The same applies elsewhere, like SurPlus and RadeonBoost, which are definitely NOT enabled. You haven't paid much attention to my config.plist, have you?

PeterHolbrook,

Guilty! Well I did say my "advice" was worth what you paid for it!

You got me to carefully review mine though - it was also a legacy project though I did at one point start again with the sample config.plist. I am not sure how the firmware features got deleted though I notice they are not part of the sample config.plist so perhaps I missed putting them back in - and it has been working fine until the 12.6.2 update.

Thanks again
sfalatko

 

[roobarb!]

I like @cdf's plan with a minimally tweaked firmware, I'll hang on for that before I mess around any further.

Okay, so I found some time and decided to mess around anyway. Reinstalled my Titan Ridge 2 card and followed the instructions from post #1. Partial success! The card stops showing up as a GIGABYTE device, displays as Apple Inc. as the vendor and hot-plugging no longer crashes the system. As expected, USB 3 devices appear perfectly, USB 2 devices do not (not connected to any internal USB 2 controllers).

In case it makes a difference, this card was flashed by me with a firmware I can't remember from the other thread, has "that link" installed (I think it was to get USB working, apologies, memory not what it was) and the resistor removed which stops sleep from being a problem.

However, that PCIe chassis shown hooked up has a USB card and a Blackmagic capture card installed. The drivers never get loaded. The USB card is one of those four-controller jobs from Sonnett and should fire up Apple's FL1100 driver.

Everything with no driver installed is in the chassis. This is from cold boot and hot plug. I'm just about to test a warm reboot, which with my previous configuration for this card did bring in the drivers. Let's try now.

UPDATE

Huh, that's odd.

On a warm reboot the USB card appears just fine and works perfectly. The capture card no longer does. :/

@cdf and @h9826790 - is this warm reboot thing just a requirement of getting drivers to load? @trifero, is this how yours behaves too?

Fun observation, hot plugging the chassis after a warm reboot works fine - the USB card reappears and works. Still no luck with the capture card.

 

[cdf]

has "that link" installed (I think it was to get USB working, apologies, memory not what it was)

I think you’re referring to the jumper. Its purpose is to hold the FORCE_PWR pin high, which is necessary for the card to work in a classic Mac Pro.

I'm just about to test a warm reboot, which with my previous configuration for this card did bring in the drivers. Let's try now.

On a warm reboot the USB card appears just fine and works perfectly. The capture card no longer does. :/

Did the capture card used to work with your previous configuration after rebootng? Have you tried an additional reboot?

is this warm reboot thing just a requirement of getting drivers to load?

My understanding is that warm booting is necessary to fully enable Thunderbolt so that devices can be detected and enumerated properly and have their drivers loaded. Machines that support Thunderbolt don’t require a warm boot because they have a firmware component that enables Thunderbolt before macOS starts.

Fun observation, hot plugging the chassis after a warm reboot works fine - the USB card reappears and works.

This is an interesting observation and it could have important implications*. Just to clarify: was the chassis initially unplugged when cold booting?

*Edit: Unfortunately, I could not confirm this myself. Plugging in a device (which requires a warm boot for full functionality) after a warm boot requires another warm boot once plugged in before it can be fully functional…

 

[mode11]

Has anyone else gotten this message about a Volume Hash Mismatch? I'm on 12.6.1 running OC 0.8.6 (prepared using TECK's python script, tweaked to match post #1 as of November). Should I ignore it? If I shouldn't ignore it, can I just re-install MacOS over the top of the current install to preserve my current data? That's would I would do if I were running a supported version of the OS, but maybe there are other considerations while running Open Core. Thanks for your advice.

Funny how a bunch of people seem to have got the old 'volume mismatch' message all of a sudden. I just got it this evening, after not seeing it for some time. I've seen it a number of times on Monterey, and have generally found that updating to a new point release solves it, at least for a month or so. Perhaps it would have disappeared anyway, but who knows.

So I'm off to install 12.6.2. Wish me luck. I'll install Martin's new OC 0.8.7 first.

Edit: installed fine. It rebooted 3x and it took a bit of time, though that might be partly due to my Samsung NVMe drive trimming at boot.

 

[roobarb!]

I think you’re referring to the jumper. Its purpose is to hold the FORCE_PWR pin high, which is necessary for the card to work in a classic Mac Pro.

Ah, yes - that'll be the one. I remember soldering a bodge wire on there.

Did the capture card used to work with your previous configuration after rebootng? Have you tried an additional reboot?

It did, though I'm beginning to suspect Blackmagic have some part to play here. It works perfectly warm booting into Windows with their latest driver, but not macOS. Multiple reboots and it never gets its driver.

My understanding is that warm booting is necessary to fully enable Thunderbolt so that devices can be detected and enumerated properly and have their drivers loaded. Machines that support Thunderbolt don’t require a warm boot because they have a firmware component that enables Thunderbolt before macOS starts.

Ah, so a warm reboot is always going to be required for Thunderbolt? Hmm, I know it's only a minor thing, but it does take the shine off somewhat.

The reason for tinkering is that I have a dock (which doesn't appear happy with the Titan Ridge in Thunderbolt mode, oddly) but when connected to a bog-standard USB port it will work to provide all of its USB features (extra ports, card readers, ethernet) and coupled with the bootability of FL1100 USB 3.0 ports using it that way may tip the balance. I can use it to swap (even hot swap) between my Mac Pro and MacBook Pro just using a single cable, though sadly I lose access to the TB3 chassis on the Mac Pro.

Honestly though, an ATEM Mini Pro ISO does what I need without the capture card these days, so I can probably live with that.

This is an interesting observation and it could have important implications*. Just to clarify: was the chassis initially unplugged when cold booting?

*Edit: Unfortunately, I could not confirm this myself. Plugging in a device (which requires a warm boot for full functionality) after a warm boot requires another warm boot once plugged in before it can be fully functional…

Oh, erm - I've just tried it again and it works here. The chassis is connected at cold boot and springs to life (with its happy TB connection internal LED blinking) before even OpenCore appears. The OS boots and the chassis is there with everything detected under "PCI" in System Information, but no drivers loaded. Sad times.

Reboot with everything still connected and on this warm boot the chassis is there and the PCIe USB card has its driver loaded (let's ignore the capture card for now). Works great, top stuff.

Then I just pull the TB cable, chassis powers off and it's obviously gone from "Thunderbolt/USB4". Plug cable back in, chassis springs to life, reappears in System Information, USB card still works great.

I reconnected it to the same port, "Receptacle 2" as it happens... give me two ticks, I'll try it in the other port.

UPDATE: Yes, that works too. After a warm reboot I can move the chassis between the two Thunderbolt ports on the Titan Ridge and everything works just fine.

 

[cdf]

Ah, so a warm reboot is always going to be required for Thunderbolt?

Yes. Although there is a chance an EFI component can be developed to address this…

Oh, erm - I've just tried it again and it works here. The chassis is connected at cold boot and springs to life (with its happy TB connection internal LED blinking) before even OpenCore appears. The OS boots and the chassis is there with everything detected under "PCI" in System Information, but no drivers loaded. Sad times.

Reboot with everything still connected and on this warm boot the chassis is there and the PCIe USB card has its driver loaded (let's ignore the capture card for now). Works great, top stuff.

Then I just pull the TB cable, chassis powers off and it's obviously gone from "Thunderbolt/USB4". Plug cable back in, chassis springs to life, reappears in System Information, USB card still works great.

I reconnected it to the same port, "Receptacle 2" as it happens... give me two ticks, I'll try it in the other port.

UPDATE: Yes, that works too. After a warm reboot I can move the chassis between the two Thunderbolt ports on the Titan Ridge and everything works just fine.

Right. This is expected. Provided that the device is connected for the warm boot, it’ll be hotpluggable with full functionality afterwards. I misunderstood that the warm booting was done with the device disconnected.

 

[roobarb!]

Yes. Although there is a chance an EFI component can be developed to address this…

That could be a game changer...

Right. This is expected. Provided that the device is connected for the warm boot, it’ll be hotpluggable with full functionality afterwards. I misunderstood that the warm booting was done with the device disconnected.

Ah, I understand. I may as well try that too, seeing as I've got a minute. UPDATE: Nope, the chassis appears just fine, but the devices connected to it again have no drivers loaded. Warm rebooting while connected brings everything to life.

Also, the capture card problem does appear to be a Blackmagic driver issue. I think it has something to do with switching to DriverKit system extensions instead of good old kernel extensions, as the v11.7 release works perfectly. They switched in v12.2, so I'll try nudging up the versions to see where it breaks. UPDATE: It breaks on v12.2, the first release where they adopt DriverKit and drop Catalina support. The latest one, v12.4.2, works perfectly under Windows 11 on this system, but not macOS. The latest version does work using the chassis with my M1 MacBook Pro. 😕

 

[jacekkr]

PCI DeckLink 4K Extreme and OpenCore Legacy Patcher

cMP 2009 5,1 running Monterey 12.6.2 and PCI DeckLink 4K Extreme

My card is recognized, works in Blackmagic Media Express i.e plays out to SDI monitor normally.
Audio and video hardware is recognized and configurable in preferences of Premiere and Resolve but won't play out SDI to the monitor, audio is fine - however when I switch back to finder, the current image, where the playhead is parked, is displayed on the monitor. Switch back to editor - no output to monitor.
I'm on a OpenCore Legacy Patched cMP 2009 5.1 running Monterey 12.6.2

Any ideas please?

 

[PeterHolbrook]

PCI DeckLink 4K Extreme and OpenCore Legacy Patcher

This isn't an OCLP support thread. You'd be better off visiting the OCLP Discord forum.

 

[cdf]

UPDATE: It breaks on v12.2, the first release where they adopt DriverKit and drop Catalina support. The latest one, v12.4.2, works perfectly under Windows 11 on this system, but not macOS. The latest version does work using the chassis with my M1 MacBook Pro. 😕

So your suspicion was correct. Have you tried with the capture card installed directly in your Mac Pro (not with the chassis)?

 

[6DecadesLater]

Hopefully I am just doing something dumb and someone can easily point me in the right direction. I have been using OC for long time and have followed this thread through Catalina, BigSur and Monterey. No issues in general.

I have an older 4,1 so decided to work on that, Did the 4,1 -> 5,1 update; installed a metal gpu; updated to Mojave. I then cloned the Mojave drive to a SSD in one of the sata sleds. I then updated the clone through each OS to Monterey 12.6.1 (have had some issues on my original 5,1 so stopped at 12.6.1). It seems to work well but do have the pmLock issue on sleep - just stopped it from sleeping. Planning on updating the cpu which as I understand will resolve that.

My issue now is that when I start up the 4,1->5,1 it boots through OC to the SSD Monterey but I don't get a bootpicker screen. It just boots through to the login page for Monterey.

Thanks

 

[roobarb!]

So your suspicion was correct. Have you tried with the capture card installed directly in your Mac Pro (not with the chassis)?

I should try it, but I don't know if I have the patience to pull it all apart and find out. 😆

 

[jacekkr]

This isn't an OCLP support thread. You'd be better off visiting the OCLP Discord forum.

Thank you. I did post there but no one responded so trying other avenues: hoping someone can offer advice as to why this software is not setting the video output mode on the video i/o devices. Whereas the Blackmagic software is working fine.

I get warnings in Resolve:
“Failed to enable Video output mode [0x32347073] at device 0"
“Failed to set the video mode on the video I/O device"
“Failed to enable Video output mode [0x48703239] at device 0"

 

[PeterHolbrook]

I've read that an OpcodeEmulator.kext (version 1.2) exists (built on December 3) that is supposedly capable of emulating AVX/AVX2 instructions on our obsolete Xeon processors. Has anyone tried this kext? Is it reliable? Is it fast enough? If this were confirmed to work, would it solve the majority of pending Ventura compatibility issues?

EDIT: I've tried it myself. Although the kext seems to be sort of "compatible" with OC itself (meaning it shows the BootPicker), Monterey won't load. It simply shows the Apple logo; no progress bar, no nothing. I suppose the kext is intended for a different family of processors.

 

[719c6]

Following my suggestion, months ago, of having a GUID-partitioned USB pen drive (no OS whatsoever necessary) as a test OpenCore launcher, this can now finally be put into practice by using BootKicker for users with non-flashed GPUs. Simply plug in your test USB pen drive, start your computer regularly and go to the OC BootPicker, then select BootKicker. This will cause the Apple Boot Manager to be displayed. Then select your GUID USB pen drive with the most recent version of OC and your up-to-date config.plist on it. If it fails to boot, you know you've done something wrong, so correct it and try again. Once it boots successfully, you know you have a new valid OC setup, which can be safely copied to your regular blessed OC volume.

That's exactly what I'm looking for. How is this done, I mean without creating an OS installer, just the GUID-part'd USB OC loader?

 

[PeterHolbrook]

That's exactly what I'm looking for. How is this done, I mean without creating an OS installer, just the GUID-part'd USB OC loader?

It's simplicity itself. Just take a USB flash drive. It can be quite small. Plug it in. Go to Disk Utility, partition it as GUID and format it as APFS. Mount the EFI volume where your OC resides. Mount the newly created EFI volume on your USB flash drive. Copy all the contents of your EFI OC volume to the new EFI on your flash drive. If you are updating OpenCore, copy all the new components where they are supposed to go, and edit your config.plist as appropriate. Don't bless anything. Eject both EFI volumes. Done.

Now, if your GPU has a boot screen, simply press Alt when you hear the chime and choose the external EFI Boot. That should take you to the OC BootPicker. Then select Monterey or another OS.

On the other hand, if your GPU hasn't been flashed for Mac, select BootKicker in your BootPicker menu. That will invoke the Apple Boot Manager, where you will select the external EFI Boot. Then, proceed as above.

If you manage to reach the Monterey desktop, you can be reasonably certain that the OC update was successful. Then you can copy your external EFI volume to your default internal EFI volume.

 

[JeDiGM]

It's simplicity itself. Just take a USB flash drive. It can be quite small. Plug it in. Go to Disk Utility, partition it as GUID and format it as APFS. Mount the EFI volume where your OC resides. Mount the newly created EFI volume on your USB flash drive. Copy all the contents of your EFI OC volume to the new EFI on your flash drive. If you are updating OpenCore, copy all the new components where they are supposed to go, and edit your config.plist as appropriate. Don't bless anything. Eject both EFI volumes. Done.

Now, if your GPU has a boot screen, simply press Alt when you hear the chime and choose the external EFI Boot. That should take you to the OC BootPicker. Then select Monterey or another OS.

On the other hand, if your GPU hasn't been flashed for Mac, select BootKicker in your BootPicker menu. That will invoke the Apple Boot Manager, where you will select the external EFI Boot. Then, proceed as above.

If you manage to reach the Monterey desktop, you can be reasonably certain that the OC update was successful. Then you can copy your external EFI volume to your default internal EFI volume.

Try to find a USB with an activity LED on it for easier testing.

 

[AlexMaximus]

Hi guys,

Once in while I need some advice from the real Professionals like you to help me out when it comes to a system OSX complete swap. I would be incredible thankful if one of you could give me your opinion and advice on this.
Here is a short description of my baseline right now:
As you can see in my signature, I have tried to do my homework to prepare OpenCore installation. What's kind of unique in my case is the fact that I have a flashed RX580 from MVC that provides boot screen. I need that because of a Windows 10 installation. I have installed the Windows 10 about three years ago, which worked absolutely flawless as well. I have an unused Pixlas Mod installed and I do run a flawless Catalina that was installed via DosDude1 patcher.
The Windows10 install was installed with some kind of iMacPro spoof in the past. Since I need to keep the system as save and durable as possible, I have kept an old Mojave install (from 4 years ago) as well.

My planed installation procedure:
As described in Post#1 there are multiple ways to install OC. Since I am not a software expert, the OCLP seems most attractive to me. At this time I have prepared a ready to use OCLP USB stick to start an installation with Monterey 12.6.2 I believe. To be save, I have backed up my current Catalina OSX install with a brand new TimeCapsule spars bundle (2,7TB)

Questions:
1. For those that have deep knowledge, would you consider the OCLP route as a good and save way to install, or would you recommend to use a different method for a software noob like me?
2. If fire up the installation procedure with that prepared USB stick, I do assume that Monterey 12.6.2 will be installed and my Catalina will be overwritten. That would be my desired outcome. However, I could also put it on the old Mojave and overwrite that to keep Catalina for the time being. Possible, but I would prefer to replace Catalina.

Hardware considerations:
The number 1 reason to switch from Catalina to Monterey is a new hardware swap that I want to do, once OCLP is installed. I have snatched up an old Alienware AMD 6800XT two slot card. Since I have not PC to do Syncretics bags to tricks myself, I have sent this baby to Poland to MVC for the correct flash. Its already back, and I would like to install it once the Monterey OCLP install was successful. Since I bother with hardware, I have also gotten a flashed Titan Ridge card that would be fitted together with the GPU.

Resulting questions:
I assume the OCLP install will have a kind of hardware scan an will build the configuration file during install. This could mean, it would be better to put the Titan Ridge in the system already before firing up the OCLP process.

The time capsule back-up did not backup my Windows10 (it can't) I do assume that I will be able to boot into Windows after the OCLP has been performed. However this is an assumption. Can you confirm that, or will I find some landmines in the sand and it might not be bootable somehow? Is there anything I would need to do to make sure my Windows10 Install will be save?

No Backwards compatibility question:
Since the AMD 6800XT dual slot card will not be compatible with Catalina and Mojave, (missing drivers) this will be a one way road. Because of that, I would like to install Monterey onto the Catalina Slot#2 SSD. Once I have proof that the new install works, I can also delete the old Mojave and free up more disk space and also sell the RX580 later on.
However, sometimes in the distant past I had problems to install on PCIe cards. Apple usually makes it easier to install onto SATA SSDs and troubles around with fast PCIE SSD cards. Will this be a problem?





Reading this as professional, what kind of risk will I be exposed to? Reading manny posts, I should be in good shape to do that update. However I just wanted to have your blessing if this can work or if I should change my approach or forget important aspects to the OCLP install. As a software noob, I'd like to rather not write my own script or plists or stuff like that, but you may have important advice to change my mind.

Thanks a lot in advance for your opinion and experience in this!
Marry Christmas
Alex

 

[hwojtek]

1. For those that have deep knowledge, would you consider the OCLP route as a good and save way to install, or would you recommend to use a different method for a software noob like me?

It's either OCLP or pure OC. You don't feel right with OC - stick to OCLP.

I assume the OCLP install will have a kind of hardware scan an will build the configuration file during install. This could mean, it would be better to put the Titan Ridge in the system already before firing up the OCLP process.

Both OC and OCLP will do exactly nothing about your Titan Ridge. This is a custom config.plist editing job, which - as you know from reading many posts - has anyway been covered extensively in these forums.

The time capsule back-up did not backup my Windows10 (it can't) I do assume that I will be able to boot into Windows after the OCLP has been performed.

OpenCore does not support legacy Windows. This has been covered extensively in these forums and has even it's own topic. If you don't feel comfortable with advanced Windows reconfiguration (legacy to GPT conversion), you'll have to erase and reinstall.
This said, if you select Windows from Apple bootpicker (and not OC bootpicker) you should have your Windows working, albeit in a bizarre fashion of running Windows in legacy BootCamp mode and running MacOS via OpenCore. Apart from the freaky ergonomics of choosing which system to run in two separate bootpickers, this obviously creates more problems the further the way.

No, you "didn't need" a flashed RX580 to boot into Windows, if you used OC from the day 1 and installed Windows via OC, you'd have a modern GPT installation with the boot OS selectable in OC bootpicker. I guess flashing the RX580 wasn't free, so someone took advantage of your research or lack thereof.

Apple usually makes it easier to install onto SATA SSDs and troubles around with fast PCIE SSD cards. Will this be a problem?

Apple does exactly nothing in these regards and the OS installs just as smoothly (only faster) to NVME drives as it does to SATA.

I'd like to rather not write my own script or plists

You will edit your config.plist if you want your Titan Ridge to work, even if it's gonna be just copying and pasting someone else's code. It is all very well documented on these forums and there are people with extensive knowledge of the topic.

 

[Dewdman42]

I see 12.6.2 update this morning. Anyone try it yet?