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Proof Of Concept.
- Thread starter beto2k7
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Some awesome hackery going on there! You should have made a video or something.
Although this part didn't make much sense to me - "I examined both rom dumps and tried to stitch them together (at the end of this project I realized it was of no need)." - stitch them?
"After flashing the custom rom onto the chip using a Universal rom programmer it was soldering time." - So the 2010 MP ROM needs to be flashed on to the 2009 MP chip or you actually just modified the 2009 ROM?
Although this part didn't make much sense to me - "I examined both rom dumps and tried to stitch them together (at the end of this project I realized it was of no need)." - stitch them?
"After flashing the custom rom onto the chip using a Universal rom programmer it was soldering time." - So the 2010 MP ROM needs to be flashed on to the 2009 MP chip or you actually just modified the 2009 ROM?
I though the 2009 rom needed to be modified but it is not the case You can flash the 2010 rom directly onto the 2009 rom and it will work. Or just swap Rom chips for that matter. That is why I said I realized it was of no need.
So the only difference between the 2009 and 2010 models is EFI rom chip has microcode to support new B1 stepping processors on the 2010?
Go to netkas.org, someone made an app to do this without even opening your mac pro
http://sadtrombone.com
Go to netkas.org, someone made an app to do this without even opening your mac pro
That's what I was thinking. Wouldn't it be easier to flash the EFI to newer version. Pitty Apple makes this so difficult, unlike PC mobbo manufacturers who constantly release new BIOS with new microcode support and there are utilities to easily flash, apple on the other hand tries to make more $$
It's sickening to think Apple Mac Pro 2009 owners who would want to use B1 stepping chips have no other option than to buy a new same machine with different EFI.
Go to netkas.org, someone made an app to do this without even opening your mac pro
Here: http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,852.0.html
Wow, what are the odds of two guys posting two different ways of upgrading EFI, on the same day?
Although the first guy to do this actually was user hyram using a 2006 MP and 2007 EFI.
I did look into making a EFI flashing utility several times, and I always knew the Apple updater probably wasn't doing anything complicated.
Finally someone figured it out.
Wow, I really hope this works.
I'm wondering if a single W3680 would work on a DP board...
someone with W3570/3580 may apply this upgrade an test wether or not the RAM clock speeds up to 1333 MHz (if provided by the modules).
I'm ready to try this upgrade, i'm just unsure which westmere processores to use in my 09 mac with 2x2.26ghz. Is it the EP versions? Do I have to be carefull with the TDP's?
You have to use the 5600 series. Just check Wikipedia.
Don't worry about TDP. The Mac Pro's cooling structure can handle 130W per CPU just fine, just beware that the fans will run a little faster to handle the heat.
The whole Hackintosh universe is pretty much built on copyrighted material.
Nothing has happened yet, afaik.
oh man this is tempting..
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Xeon-X568...GHz-/190530991541?pt=CPUs&hash=item2c5c8835b5
http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Xeon-X568...GHz-/190530991541?pt=CPUs&hash=item2c5c8835b5
His application downloads the firmware from apple's site.
P.S. have you noticed any problems with your "update"? assuming you only did the flash.
There is a user stating:
Amazing stuff! But here's a strange thing, running Mac Pro EFI Update 1.5 (for the 2010 Mac Pro) brings up a 'This software is not supported on your system.' alert box, whilst EFI Update 1.4 (for the 2009 Mac Pro) brings up 'This computer does not need this update.'. So even after applying the EFI Upgrade the Mac Pro is still somehow identifying itself as a 2009 model, despite System Profiler showing 'MacPro5,1'.
Yeah I believe that the current computer model is fetched from a .plist inside the OS, not the firmware.
He still modified the EFI Update utility which is copyrighted by apple. I've had no problems with my method. 2010 install disc works, identified as MacPro5,1, EFI Firmware update 1.5 can be run (1.4 not anymore).
The only problem I have is 2009 Mac pro serial with 2010 Mac pro firmware = voided AppleCare, also 2010 AHT and ASD not running as they validate against SMC firmware which I'm still working on.
Stitching is the combining of different parts. This would involve knowing what binary is what, which is essentially impossible, so he'd have had to reverse engineer the ROM dumps (decompile the binaries into pseudo code to know what's going on, then write a new ROM based on both of these, and recompile). Not easy to do.
So he just did a complete dump of the 2010 ROM and flashed it to the chip in the 2009 via the Universal Programmer (EEPROM programmer).
I had suspected the EFI Update Util didn't write the entire ROM. Only Foxconn did this during manufacturing, thus keeping the MP Identifier data in tact for any subsequent flashes via the Update Utility. But perhaps this isn't the case, and it starts from the beginning address on the ROM, not an offset address (would make it a lot easier to write an EFI Update Utility IMO).
Unfortunately this isn't the case, as that's dictated by the chipset. DP systems don't use the X58, and although the 5520 is an X58 with a second QPI, it cannot shut down a QPI link. DP CPU's can, and is why they'll work on an X58 board.
Depends on how he did it from what I understand of IP laws. If there was no reverse engineering/modification of Apple's IP (i.e. came up with the Update Utility totally on his own), it's legal (maybe an IP attorney could opine on this, as it's like walking a mine field).
You'd need to do a flash of the SMC ROM on the backplane board.
Damn it. Thanks for the info.
Time to figure out what would be cheaper, a single 5600 series CPU (which will work on the DP system), or a 3600 CPU with a new daughter board.
Can't wait for someone to confirm the update utility.
it's now confirmed for the ram clock in a DP machine in this thread: http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,852.msg5059.html#msg5059
I can confirm that it works. I do not have a 6 core CPU but my W5580 is detected correctly and the ram is running at 1333mhz.