So maybe with an NVMe drive installed I could have problems upgrading from high Sierra to Mojave? And only with the original drive installed I can get bootrom upgrade?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
NVMe with ST-NGFF2013-C; Vega Internal GPU; Mac Pro 2013 (6,1)
- Thread starter CodeJingle
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
So maybe with an NVMe drive installed I could have problems upgrading from high Sierra to Mojave? And only with the original drive installed I can get bootrom upgrade?
Yes, a lot of people here confirmed this behavior.The Mac Pro 6,1 refuses to do ROM upgrades without an Apple SSD installed.
I was able to update from high Sierra to Mojave (directly to 14.1) with my 970 Pro. I was however already upgraded to 10.14.1 on my Apple SSD.
So I’m wondering if I need to put my old SSD back in, update to 14.2 then put the 970 back in and update as well? Or does that not have anything to do with it?
Only when upgrading the BootROM you need to install the original Apple SSD. If your BootROM is the 127.0.0.0.0 version, you don't need to do it again.
Did you have 127.0.0.0.0 firmware update installed before updating to 10.14.1? If I remember correctly, for some 6,1 machines, it was possible to update without also updating the Bootrom. This may be part of the problem. Alex said 10.14.2 did not contain a firmware update. I can't check if there were additional ROM payloads as you said.
But I just updated my 6,1 to 10.14.2 without a problem, and it contains a 1 TB 960 Pro. I updated the firmware to 127.0.0.0.0 in a previous update, and I did have to put in the Apple SSD for the firmware update. The update to 10.14.2 took about 30 minutes, the machine restarted a few times or at least the screen went black then the install progress bar returned a couple of times, each time showing a new time to completion for the update. The machine is running fine. So either the update did not contain any ROM payloads, I was able to update and ROM payloads were installed without having to install the Apple SSD, or I was able to update and ROM payloads were in the update but were not installed on my machine. The firmware still reads 127.0.0.0.0, and all the other information in System Profiler seems the same. It would be nice to know for sure which option is correct.
Btw, I didn't check if 10.14.2 has SMC firmware, Thunderbolt firmware updates or other firmware updates, I'll check this later. 10.14.2 don't have new BootROM updates.
Question about TRIM - I CCCed my original Apple SSD's OS installation onto a 970 Pro - is there anything regarding TRIM I still have to do?
It's shown as supported but I seem to recall posts stating that a cloned drive will simply inherit these settings, regardless if they are applicable or not.
It's shown as supported but I seem to recall posts stating that a cloned drive will simply inherit these settings, regardless if they are applicable or not.
I wonder if it would make sense to run fsck in single user mode to make sure that not only is TRIM enabled, but all free space has been TRIM'd -- just in case TRIM wasn't active during the CCC.
Here's my update. I installed an Adata XPG SX8000 256 GB for testing purposes as I have a 1TB Apple SSUBX installed. The Sintech adaptor does take a lot of space and I had to use Kapton tape to hold it in place as the screw would not "bite" enough. Restarted from a bootable USB stick and proceeded to format the SSD. No issues at all. Installed High Sierra and did a couple of quick sleep and wake tests. Performed well. Although this is an M2 2280 Gen3x4 drive, performance was not as good as my Apple SSD. Speeds were lower (900-1100 mb/s), not bad...just wondering if the adaptor has anything to do with it? I have uploaded some pics and hope that this information is useful too anyone wanting to try the upgrade, although, to confirm, these drives will not allow ROM upgrades, so keep the original SSD to do these. Cheers
Attachments
Last edited:
Oh yeah, I always do that with cloned drives before using them. Thanks for mentioning.
It might not be necessary, but like I said, makes me feel better..
Installed my 960EVO 1Tb on nMP 12-core yesterday evening.
All went ok with the sintech adapter. I have trim working, sleep etc.
With the adapter below from amazon the disk disappeared after ten minutes with the mac in a continuous loop...
https://tinyurl.com/y7ynfvfv
All went ok with the sintech adapter. I have trim working, sleep etc.
With the adapter below from amazon the disk disappeared after ten minutes with the mac in a continuous loop...
https://tinyurl.com/y7ynfvfv
That sounds like a good idea, will do this... for the clone that I'm currently re-doing.
I realized yesterday that when I did it the first time I accidentially had selected 'APFS, case-sensitive' for the new system volume. Now that was 'fun' to debug since pretty much everything worked fine at first glance. That's apart from two apps that broke in the strangest of ways which first had me spend all evening looking for all sorts of other causes. So, 'APFS' it is (again).
Adobe, Pixologic - looking at YOU!
BTW, if you're doing a complete rewrite of the target drive - use the "secure erase" function of the drive. This will almost instantly "TRIM" the entire drive, including the hidden over-provisioning area.That sounds like a good idea, will do this... for the clone that I'm currently re-doing.
On Windows, Samsung Magician will let you create a bootable USB thumb drive with the "secure erase" utility.
10.14.3 DP1 has the same 127.0.0.0.0 BootROM version.
Code:
$IBIOSI$ MP61.88Z.0125.B00.1809171517
Copyright (c) 2005-2018 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.
Apple ROM Version
Model: MP61
EFI Version: 127.0.0.0.0
Built by: root@saumon
Date: Mon Sep 17 15:11:58 PDT 2018
Revision: 127 (B&I)
ROM Version: F000_D00
Build Type: Official Build, Release
Compiler: Apple clang version 3.0 (tags/Apple/clang-211.10.1) (based on LLVM 3.0svn)It definitely takes longer for me too. I think other people have also reported this, so don't worry about it.
[doublepost=1544774254][/doublepost]
How can I find out if I have 127.0.0.0.0? System Report only shows "MP61.0124.B00", which seems to be different from what you have posted but I don't find the 127* number anywhere.
And just a general question, how do I upgrade my BoomROM in the future? Should I put the original SSD back in, is that enough to trigger an upgrade or do I need to reinstall OS X again?
Thanks a lot.
It's in the first screen of system information in the Hardware list:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203001
You have to put back original SSD and do the upgrade. You don't have to install the entire system. You have to upgrade to the version that contain the bootrom upgrade.
Not the 127* number though, only "MP61.0124.B00" which I guess is an older version. Anyway, will try the upgrade trick later today and see if this changes anything.
Feels the same to me, then again I hardly ever reboot so I'm not too familiar with the boot times anyway. It's not sctually slow as I've seen it reported by some who stated it was taking minutes for them.