MP 1,1-5,1 (MP4,1/5,1) Looking for BootROM Beta Testers

[startergo]

Use the one released with latest OpenCore. It's been out for a while now and reported working fine. @PeterHolbrook

It looks like you are confused:

Background​

This driver has a completely separate origin and development history from @Syncretic's current impressive work.

 

[freqrider]

It look like you are confused:

I am not confused! I was referring to Bmju's GOP driver which has been out for some time. No disrespect to Synchretic's excellent work!

 

[startergo]

I am not confused! I was referring to Bmju's GOP driver which has been out for some time. No disrespect to Synchretic's excellent work!

I am pretty sure he was asking about Synretic’s method and he is aware that another one exists.

 

[ejunzhao]

I dont know why I can't send you a pm,can you give me an e-mail?
thank you
I have mc561 x5675*2 6600xt 96gb ram,1t nvme.

 

[drkop]

If, after reading all of that, you're still interested in being a beta tester, send me a PM with a description of your test hardware. I'll respond during the first week of January (be patient!).

Look a like newcomes can't PM.
But newcomes on macrumors does not mean newbie in mac world.)

@Syncretic, hope u find out to add more beta testers!

MacPro5,1
Apple Inc. 144.0.0.0.0, 12.04.2019
USB 3.0 VEN_1912 DEV_0014
Apple RAID
Some video cards, Quattro, gtx1060, rx580 etc

P.S.
Is my PM open)?
TY!

 

[laireeboi]

@Syncretic. Definitely not new. Been using mac rumors information for many years but never actually made an account until today.

I am interested in beta testing your boot rom.

MacPro 4,1 flashed to 5,1
2 x 3.46Ghz Xeons, 64G RAM
RX 6950 XT, RX 5700 XT, RX 580 / PIXLA's Mod
3 x Dell 24" Displays (3 x DisplayPort @ 1920 x 1200)
Titan Ridge USB 3.0
4 x 2TB SSD's, 1 x 4TB SSD (3 boot drives currently but i can make more -- Mojave, Monterey, UEFI Windows 11)
OpenCore Legacy Project boot loader
GOP boot screen firmware flashed to motherboard
wifi ac & bluetooth 4 upgrades

This is stuff I can remember off the top of my head (currently booted in win 11 [flight simulator 2020!] and can't pull up system information on my mac pro atm.)

About me: I am a power user. I like things that run well and fast. IT consultant for many years. I love my mac pro.

Thanks for all your hard work man!

 

[microbitsuk]

can I beta test your rom I would like to try it on a new rx7600

 

[mode11]

can I beta test your rom I would like to try it on a new rx7600

It won’t work - a BootROM can’t magically provide OS drivers for unsupported GPUs. There will never be 7xxx series AMD drivers in macOS, since no Mac ships with one of these cards.

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

Hi to all .
What about embedding filesystem drivers? Link here: https://efi.akeo.ie/downloads/efifs-1.9/x64/

 

[PeterHolbrook]

AVX/AVX2?

There used to be a project by Syncretic to inject AVX/AVX2 code directly into the Mac Pro 5,1 boot ROM. The last I heard from Syncretic was in February 2023. Has the project been abandoned? Is Syncretic even alive?

 

[RumoredTone]

May I ask a question to anyone involved in testing? Are there any plans for a stable "Phase 1" BootROM to be made available, ahead of the larger effort to emulate AVX? Even just the Phase 1 features that were outlined originally are a great accomplishment, and would be a wonderful help to classic Mac Pro users. When this project was originally announced, I was especially looking forward to the built-in fix for UEFI2 GPUs. I have a Radeon RX6x00 series for my 5,1 but no other machines I can use to apply Syncretic's older patch to the GPU itself. So even if the outcome of the AVX emulation work is a long road ahead, I was hoping it might be possible to benefit from the existing features.

Thanks all, and thanks to Syncretic for all the hard work, supporting the Mac Pro community!

 

[eVasilis]

AVX/AVX2?

There used to be a project by Syncretic to inject AVX/AVX2 code directly into the Mac Pro 5,1 boot ROM. The last I heard from Syncretic was in February 2023. Has the project been abandoned? Is Syncretic even alive?

Would that be a good idea? It is my understanding that in that case the boot rom chip would be in constant read/write mode and thus towards a very quick death. Of course I could be mistaken.

 

[Bmju]

Would that be a good idea? It is my understanding that in that case the boot rom chip would be in constant read/write mode and thus towards a very quick death. Of course I could be mistaken.

No, if there was such a driver it would be loaded from the boot ROM into RAM at boot time, and would run from RAM. (That's how (runtime) (U)EFI drivers work.)

 

[eVasilis]

No, if there was such a driver it would be loaded from the boot ROM into RAM at boot time, and would run from RAM. (That's how (runtime) (U)EFI drivers work.)

I stand corrected! Good to know!

 

[michaelfanoe]

hello, what is the status of this nice project ? anyone knows ? Have a nice day.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

^I wish I were wrong, but I'm afraid the project has derailed. I might be mistaken, but I think Syncretic can't contribute anything further in this world. If he's alive, perhaps he is at the battlefront somewhere in Ukraine. Wishing him well, if that's the case.

 

[avro707]

but I think Syncretic can't contribute anything further in this world. If he's alive, perhaps he is at the battlefront somewhere in Ukraine.

That's not a nice thought.

Also wishing him well - he's done so much for the community here.