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MP 1,1-5,1 Strange Audio Issue on MP 4,1>5,1 Mojave 10.14.4
- Thread starter rocksarntpeople
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I have this issue as well on my 2009 MacPro4,1>5,1, dual 2.93 quad-core CPUs, firmware 144.0.0.0.0, 40GB 1066MHz RAM, Radeon RX 580 8 GB, OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD Boot Drive, running Mojave 10.14.6. I have delidded dual 3.46 X5690 CPUs and 64GB 1333MHz OWC RAM on the way to solve the problem. I just wanted to report my specific anomalies. Horrible crackly streaming audio in Safari or Chrome. Same for audio from iTunes. Almost tolerable in Firefox. I FOUND ONE WAY THE AUDIO SOUNDS JUST FINE: CALLING UP THE COMPUTER IN APPLETV OVER WIRED GIGABIT ETHERNET AND PLAYING SAME AUDIO THAT WAY SOUNDS JUST FINE--no crackling. Anyone have an explanation for that?
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The only thing that will make the audio work correctly with an early-2009 dual CPU board and Mojave/Catalina is upgrading to Westmere Xeons.
Hi. Yes, I know. That's why I ordered Westmere X5690 CPU replacements. I was just wondering if it there were any problems with upgrading RAM first versus CPUs first
Did you see my comment RE the problem not occuring when iTunes is played through AppleTV? Have you seen that before in this forum?
Won't matter. The only thing installing the RAM first is that the original Xeons will downspeed 1333MHz RAM to 1066MHz.
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Using AirPlay is not relevant for the primary problem, it's not your Mac Pro that is playing the audio.
I wasn't using AirPlay. With Home Sharing on, my computer is accessible via wired Gigabit Ethernet from AppleTV, to which I have a good home theater system connected. iTunes sounds great. But that really isn't a solution because the only audio sharing is via iTunes--no system audio. I just found it odd that accessing my iTunes library this way resulted in no stuttering while when played directly on the Mac there was. Thanks very much to you and all who posted here so that I found an answer when I came looking.
I really don't understand your point with AppleTV, since it's not your Mac Pro that is playing the audio.
It's the AppleTV that is playing it, AppleTV either can get the audio binary streams directly (when you stream audio via AirPlay) or the audio files (when you share the library via iTunes Home Sharing), your Mac Pro audio subsystem is not involved at all playing it.
Hallo. i own a mac pro 4,1(5,1). dual 2.3ghz quad-core cpu, rx580 , running mojave 10.14.3. 140.0.0.0.0.
i installed opencore and now the updater shows me to upgrade to big sur.
-does the audio cracking accur when upgrading to 144.0.0.0.0?
-does the audio cracking accur when upgrading to big sur?
-still no fix for audio cracking except cpu upgarding?
i installed opencore and now the updater shows me to upgrade to big sur.
-does the audio cracking accur when upgrading to 144.0.0.0.0?
-does the audio cracking accur when upgrading to big sur?
-still no fix for audio cracking except cpu upgarding?
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AFAIK there is no other solution to the audio issue other than upgrading the CPU(s).
This will make you happy in other ways too.
1 x https://www.ebay.de/itm/361752853385
Even faster RAM is possible.
2 x https://www.ebay.de/itm/372334010765
(48 GB. Always use only 3 slots, with 96 GB too)
144.0.0.0.0 is latest BootROM version. Will happily run High Sierra with no audio issue.
Mojave requires a metal-capable graphics card, and something between the two causes audio stutter.
CPU upgrade solves it, no other workarounds I know of other than to live with it.
Just converted another 4,1 to 5,1 (from B08 BootROM), with CPU upgrade = no problems.
so when i still on 10.14.3 but upgrading the rom to 144. the audio cracking accur?
It's not BootROM related at all.
Apple removed support for Nehalem dual CPU Xeons (E55xx, L55xx, X55xx) with 10.14.4 - these processors were last officially supported back with 10.11.6. That's why the audio problem happens, it's NMI related.
Nothing else besides the CPU upgrade will solve the stuttering problem. Apple removed dual Nehalem Xeon support with 10.14.4, all subsequent macOS releases have the same problem and don't/won't support the old Xeons. Changing the way you ask the same question won't magically make it work.
Big Sur is extremely problematic with MP5,1 USB/BT right now, don't waste your time.
Just confirming FWIW. I will not upgrade CPU's. Not worth spending money on 10 year old HW. Will put it toward new M1 when the time comes.
Apple refurbished Early 2009 Dual Quad core
pteeson$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5550 @ 2.67GHz
Daily use: Mojave 14.6 -iTunes stutters also some web sites.
High Sierra 13.6 just fine if needs must.
Apple refurbished Early 2009 Dual Quad core
pteeson$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5550 @ 2.67GHz
Daily use: Mojave 14.6 -iTunes stutters also some web sites.
High Sierra 13.6 just fine if needs must.
@tsialex I have read your entire post. I need your opinion on my Mac Pro 2009. It has 5,1 firmware installed and running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6
I'm waiting for new Ram and an SSD to replace the HDD. I also have a Nvidia GT 1030 card installed that works fine.
My goal is to install a AMD Sapphire RX 580 8GB VRAM (no boot EFI)
I'm not sure how to start.
1) Should I copy my HDD into my new SSD that I put in slot 2?
2) Install the RX 580 graphics card.
3) Should I install Mojave on the HDD to test it first? (not sure how the install is going to go with no Boot screen)
4) Would the 140 rom support High Sierra as well if I need to go back?
5) Do you know if the Audio and Graphic glitches affect Single core Nehalem 2,66 CPU? W3520
Please let me know if you think I should stick with High Sierra!
Thanks for your help!
I'm waiting for new Ram and an SSD to replace the HDD. I also have a Nvidia GT 1030 card installed that works fine.
My goal is to install a AMD Sapphire RX 580 8GB VRAM (no boot EFI)
I'm not sure how to start.
1) Should I copy my HDD into my new SSD that I put in slot 2?
2) Install the RX 580 graphics card.
3) Should I install Mojave on the HDD to test it first? (not sure how the install is going to go with no Boot screen)
4) Would the 140 rom support High Sierra as well if I need to go back?
5) Do you know if the Audio and Graphic glitches affect Single core Nehalem 2,66 CPU? W3520
Please let me know if you think I should stick with High Sierra!
Thanks for your help!
The cross flashing to MP5,1 firmware process makes a MP4,1>5,1 EXTREMELY PRONE TO BRICKING, if you don't want to solve a brick in the near future, the first step is a BootROM reconstruction.
No, do a clean install. You will spend days tracking problems with kexts/prefs from previous macOS releases.
If you have only the createinstallmedia Mojave USB installer and no other bootable disks installed, Mac Pro firmware will boot from the createinstallmedia USB installer after not detecting any other bootable disks.
That's the way we install macOS without a GPU with pre-boot configuration support, just the createinstallmedia USB installer and the new/nuked disk.
Yes.
It's only audio and only dual CPU trays.