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

[tsialex]

Alex,

Thank you - I had forgotten about creating a boot USB with Opencore. I'll do that. Would putting -no_compat_check in the boot args via recovery mode be sufficient then for normal day to day booting?

Regards,
SMF

Yes.

When Apple releases an update, your boot from your OC USB key with VMM flag spoofing enabled.

 

[sfalatko]

Yes.

When Apple releases an update, your boot from your OC USB key with VMM flag spoofing enabled.

Super. Thank you. I'll also say I'm remiss in thanking you for all the advice you give in the forums. I've really been able to extend the life of my Macpro5,1 greatly with your advice and I greatly appreciate what you contribute.

Regards,
SMF

 

[tsialex]

Super. Thank you. I'll also say I'm remiss in thanking you for all the advice you give in the forums. I've really been able to extend the life of my Macpro5,1 greatly with your advice and I greatly appreciate what you contribute.

Regards,
SMF

Even before CoVID-SARS-2, most people without the means to buy a MP7,1 was already trying to extend the useful life of our beloved early-2009/mid-2010/mid-2012 Mac Pros, now it's even more important. Open Core and some elbow grease for sure makes it possible, while Apple don't require AVX for macOS or worse, change to ARM without making a commitment of future Intel support for current Macs.

I'm for sure have to extend it, since every alternative is exorbitantly expensive down here. I tried to adapt my workflow to a 2018 mini, but without a decent and expensive TB3 chassis to overcome integrated GPU weakness and the storage restrictions it's too much limiting for me to have it as a my main Mac. Please note that I'm a really Mac mini fan since 2006 and I have each Intel model except 2010 and 2011. If I had a decent NAS connected via 10G, I'd probably would be a lot more happy with a 2018 mini, but I don't have one.

So, let's save some money in these complicated times extending MP5,1 useful life with OpenCore.

 

[sfalatko]

Alex,

Agree completely. My MacPro is still a great machine and your advice (as well as others here in the forum) has been priceless.

Now back to learning - I'm doing something wrong. I was able to boot into recovery mode and issued the nvram command - I used nvram boot-arg="-no_compat_check" and received no error (I first tried nvram boot-args= which gave an error as I had seen that in some places). On reboot I used option and at the boot menu tried to start Catalina but boot failed with the cirle with line through it.

Everything boots fine with my USB stick with Opencore in (I do use the option key to get to the boot screen and pick the USB stick not trusting the startup disk choice just yet).

So I booted into Catalina, went into terminal, mounted the Catalina Preboot volume, and added the -no_compat_check to the com.apple.boot.plist. I booted using the option key, picked Catalina from the boot menu, and it booted fine.

Any thoughts as to what I did wrong in recovery mode? I understand your thought about not messing with Preboot volumes so trying to learn some more.

Regards,
SMF

 

[h9826790]

I used nvram boot-arg="-no_compat_check" and received no error (I first tried nvram boot-args= which gave an error as I had seen that in some places).

This is the problem. There is an error for reason, you should NOT change boot-args to boot-arg.

 

[marpix]

Ok sort of a dumb question here...but also relevant to using my cMP Pro 5,1 as a DAW...recently discovered that ProTools is NOT supported on Catalina 10.15.5,but IS on 10.15.4...when I did the Open Core update process to get the cMP running with TB, it set my OS at 10.15.5...and I'm pretty sure there is not a 10.15.4 version on this machine at all since I went from Mojave to Catalina...is there an easy way to downgrade to 10.15.4? Or did my cMP autoupgrade while I wasn't watching?

Just for reference I have had a hell of a time this week because my GTX 680 Mac suddenly stopped working altogether...went to make dinner, came back a few hours later and screen was dead...no video at all...reverted back to the old trusty Geoforce GT 120 and ordered a new GPU...in the meantime tried putting the GTX in a PC to see if it would recognize it and maybe I could flash it or something but the card seems completely dead no ports work on anything and the PC did not recognize it...

Its been a hell of a week so far...and April is already lasting longer than March did...

I've started having issues in ProTools sessions and hope there's an easy way to go to 10.15.4...its not mission critical stuff but I'd rather spend my time creatively than technologically...

 

[sfalatko]

This is the problem. There is an error for reason, you should NOT change boot-args to boot-arg.

The issue I have is when I use boot-args I get an error...I'll have to go back and see if I had some other typo but it accepted boot-arg (singular)

... and I assumed it was something simple I was doing ... though putting it in com.apple.Boot.plist inside the Preboot volume is working fine.

Regards,
SMF

 

[tsialex]

The issue I have is when I use boot-args I get an error...I'll have to go back and see if I had some other typo but it accepted boot-arg (singular)

... and I assumed it was something simple I was doing ... though putting it in com.apple.Boot.plist inside the Preboot volume is working fine.

Regards,
SMF

boot-arg is not valid at all for what you intend. macOS kernel will ignore it, interpreting it as an user variable.
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Ok sort of a dumb question here...but also relevant to using my cMP Pro 5,1 as a DAW...recently discovered that ProTools is NOT supported on Catalina 10.15.5,but IS on 10.15.4...when I did the Open Core update process to get the cMP running with TB, it set my OS at 10.15.5...and I'm pretty sure there is not a 10.15.4 version on this machine at all since I went from Mojave to Catalina...is there an easy way to downgrade to 10.15.4? Or did my cMP autoupgrade while I wasn't watching?

Just for reference I have had a hell of a time this week because my GTX 680 Mac suddenly stopped working altogether...went to make dinner, came back a few hours later and screen was dead...no video at all...reverted back to the old trusty Geoforce GT 120 and ordered a new GPU...in the meantime tried putting the GTX in a PC to see if it would recognize it and maybe I could flash it or something but the card seems completely dead no ports work on anything and the PC did not recognize it...

Its been a hell of a week so far...and April is already lasting longer than March did...

I've started having issues in ProTools sessions and hope there's an easy way to go to 10.15.4...its not mission critical stuff but I'd rather spend my time creatively than technologically...

Only way to get 10.15.5 now is using Developer or User Beta profiles. General availability is 10.15.4.

If you have a 10.15.4 backup, restore it and disable the Developer or User Beta profile, if not, you need to re-install.

 

[marpix]

boot-arg is not valid at all for what you intend. macOS kernel will ignore it, interpreting it as an user variable.
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Only wait to get 10.15.5 now is using Developer or User Beta profiles. General availability is 10.15.4.

If you have a 10.15.4 backup, restore it and disable the Developer or User Beta profile, if not, you need to re-install.

Yea I did the OpenCore thing last weekend and used Dosdude1s downloader to get a copy of Catalina, pretty sure it was the latest which would have been 10.5.5 (it seems to have dropped on the 16th)...although the machine was set up to auto-update Mojave and when I migrated my settings it set Catalina to auto-upgrade so it might have updated as soon as it did a check...I'll check my backups and see whats in there...fortunately there are always two versions going to save...

 

[marpix]

Actually I think my machine automatically updated, there's versions of 10.5.5 on the internal backup harddrive and on my Airport Extreme there are versions of 10.5.4...apparently I synced my backup to the wrong disk...yikes!

 

[theMotoMan]

OpenCore Catalina install issue.

I have a cMP that I used OpenCore to install Catalina to an NVMe drive. At one point during the installation, it booted from my Linux SSD (I realized afterwards I should have removed all other drives). After removing all other drives and finishing the Catalina install, all seemed to be well. Booting OC and selecting the Catalina drive was working well. I then reinstalled the Linux drive and upon rebooting, it automatically booted Linux. I have ran into this problem before when running Mojave and my solution was to remove the Linux drive, edit the OC config file and set the RequestBootVarRouting to false, then reboot, select the Mojave drive as the default startup disk, then reboot again. Note that Mojave booted directly without OC. After that the default drive was back to the Mojave drive and I could re-enable OC and set the RequestBootVarRouting back to true.

The problem now is that I need OC to be able to boot the Catalina drive, so I can't do the same procedure to set the default boot drive to Catalina.

How can I set the default boot drive back to the OC Catalina drive? Each time I put the linux drive in, it boots first.

Thanks in advance!

 

[startergo]

OpenCore Catalina install issue.

I have a cMP that I used OpenCore to install Catalina to an NVMe drive. At one point during the installation, it booted from my Linux SSD (I realized afterwards I should have removed all other drives). After removing all other drives and finishing the Catalina install, all seemed to be well. Booting OC and selecting the Catalina drive was working well. I then reinstalled the Linux drive and upon rebooting, it automatically booted Linux. I have ran into this problem before when running Mojave and my solution was to remove the Linux drive, edit the OC config file and set the RequestBootVarRouting to false, then reboot, select the Mojave drive as the default startup disk, then reboot again. Note that Mojave booted directly without OC. After that the default drive was back to the Mojave drive and I could re-enable OC and set the RequestBootVarRouting back to true.

The problem now is that I need OC to be able to boot the Catalina drive, so I can't do the same procedure to set the default boot drive to Catalina.

How can I set the default boot drive back to the OC Catalina drive? Each time I put the linux drive in, it boots first.

Thanks in advance!

The easiest way if you have a video card which supports boot screen is to plug all drives and upon boot hold the option key. Then select OC as default boot drive and hit cntrl+enter. When at OC boot picker do the same cntrl+enter for Catalina as selected boot drive. If you don't have such a card boot from Mojave vanilla way and bless the OC drive. Upon reboot it should come to the OC boot picker where you will select Catalina and hit cntrl+enter.

 

[theMotoMan]

The easiest way if you have a video card which supports boot screen is to plug all drives and upon boot hold the option key. Then select OC as default boot drive and hit cntrl+enter. When at OC boot picker do the same cntrl+enter for Catalina as selected boot drive. If you don't have such a card boot from Mojave vanilla way and bless the OC drive. Upon reboot it should come to the OC boot picker where you will select Catalina and hit cntrl+enter.

Thanks! I do have an older video card with a boot screen, so I can do that. Just to be clear, did you mean "plug in all drives"?

 

[startergo]

Thanks! I do have an older video card with a boot screen, so I can do that. Just to be clear, did you mean "plug in all drives"?

Yes all drives.

 

[iModFrenzy]

One long, frustrating, day later I’ve gotten OC installed with Catalina and Windows 10. Not sure if this from me not having a Mojave Drive in Bay 1, using the 5700XT, or one of the flags I disabled at the end of the tutorial(like GOPRenderer).

However, figured I should state that I lost the rendered boot picker text on my Sapphire Pulse 5700XT after disabling GOPRenderer(displayed fine on my Sapphire Pulse RX580). It just gave me a blank white screen, but would still function.

 

[cdf]

However, figured I should state that I lost the rendered boot picker text on my Sapphire Pulse 5700XT after disabling GOPRenderer(displayed fine on my Sapphire Pulse RX580). It just gave me a blank white screen, but would still function.

Thanks for the information. It seems then that some 5700 XTs require the special GOP renderer.

 

[theMotoMan]

Yes all drives.

Thanks startergo! That totally worked! My issue is I don't quite understand the mechanics of the NVRAM, EFI & boot process. Sometimes it seems like a hit or miss thing, although I know there is some logic to it.

 

[dataid]

I just did a quick test with NdkBootPicker. I simply copy the icons form here to make the icon in my previous post.
View attachment 904445

Rename the png file to the icns required, then I can get this in NdkBootPicker
View attachment 904443
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I haven't really explorer OpenCanopy yet. Not sure if its icns is the same format as the latest NdkBootPicker use. For NdkBootPicker, it's extremely easy, you can make any icon you want in 256x256 size, output that to png, then rename the file to the associated icns.

Thank you for sharing the NdkBootPicker.

I just did a quick test with NdkBootPicker. I simply copy the icons form here to make the icon in my previous post.
View attachment 904445

Rename the png file to the icns required, then I can get this in NdkBootPicker
View attachment 904443
[automerge]1586345000[/automerge]
I haven't really explorer OpenCanopy yet. Not sure if its icns is the same format as the latest NdkBootPicker use. For NdkBootPicker, it's extremely easy, you can make any icon you want in 256x256 size, output that to png, then rename the file to the associated icns.

Thanks for sharing the NdkBootPicker. Looks great and works well. For those who would like iconic images of their Mac OS as their icons I have attached a zip file of icons for High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina and a dark version of the pointer to drop into the Ndk Icons folder. The dark version of the pointer shows up well on a light background. Just rename your old pointer.png to pointer_light.png and place pointer.png in the Ndk Icons folder too.

.

 

[fhturner]

You can definitely boot Linux with OC, but be careful with the installation. GRUB is installed quite aggressively and might overwrite the EFI partition.

How does one "be careful with the installation" (of Linux)? More generally, are there recommended procedures and/or Dos and Don'ts for the process? I need to get Manjaro Linux installed onto a Mac Pro 12-core X5690 machine just upgraded to Mojave on a Samsung 970 EVO Plus. I have OpenCore set up w/ @h9826790's HWaccel config. We'd like to get Manjaro installed onto the now-vacated 850 EVO SATA drive and be able to switch between that and Mojave. Recommended steps (or a link to them)? If the EFI Partition gets overwritten, just go back and recopy the OC folders back in there?

Thx,
Fred

 

[joevt]

Just save a copy of the EFI partition somewhere. It takes 5 seconds to copy it to your user folder. Then you can see how linux affects it without worry.

 

[hwojtek]

For those who would like iconic images of their Mac OS as their icons I have attached a zip file of icons for High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina and a dark version of the pointer to drop into the Ndk Icons folder.

Great job!
Now if someone converted the typeface that is used on the genuine Apple boot screen under the icons into the .png form as OC uses it, that would be just perfect.

 

[dvbcheck]

I have installed OpenCore 0.5.7 on USB Drive to use BootPicker (Windows, Linux, Catalina from internal NVME, SATA).
Is ist possible to boot via USB3 from an external USB Drive, does anybody know usb-kext to inject via OpenCore?

 

[h9826790]

I have installed OpenCore 0.5.7 on USB Drive to use BootPicker (Windows, Linux, Catalina from internal NVME, SATA).
Is ist possible to boot via USB3 from an external USB Drive, does anybody know usb-kext to inject via OpenCore?

From memory, tested at the very beginning stage when we explore what OC can do, and we can't make cMP boot via PCIe USB card yet.

 

[cdf]

Recommended steps (or a link to them)?

The basic idea is to first install Linux without GRUB, then use the installer to manually boot into the new installation, and then install GRUB with the removable option to an EFI partition that does not contain OC.

and we can't make cMP boot via PCIe USB card yet.

I wonder if the custom CG-TITAN RIDGE firmware would allow for booting...

 

[leoaf79]

Great job!
Now if someone converted the typeface that is used on the genuine Apple boot screen under the icons into the .png form as OC uses it, that would be just perfect.

Do you now which one is it?
San Francisco? Roboto?
What about file specs?