Updating a Mac (Pro)s CPU Microcode

[Larsvonhier]

Oh, I missed this and just now saw it. So this is the chip on my 1,1 board, and from what I can tell, all of the numbers and everything match up, so could I do this to mine so that I can be an idiot but be able to undo my idiocracy? Would this work instead of having to get the fancy emulator/debugger to reflash the smc if you brick your board?

I'm going to see about doing this to my board

Yes and no.

Yes, you could do this as I did. Piggy-back two flash memory ICs ontop of each other and switch i.e. the chip select line between them. So you can use one as a safe backup to always come back to a bootable scenario after flashing your modified trial firmware.

No, it does not cover altered SMC firmware this way. As said, the SMC has internal flash (and RAM) that would have to be re-written by debugger or EFI command line flasher tool. Two problems here: a) you cannot dump the 3,1 SMC contents to begin alterations with and b) once you brick your 2,1 with modded firmware (based on the original, available 2,1 SMC due to reason a) there is no way back without either a debugger/emulator from Renesas or desoldering and swapping the SMC chip.

In some earlier post I reported after testing that even holding the SMC in reset, the 2,1 with suitable XEONs will at least init the S5000 bridge controller (and RAM) correctly if not also even boot. So it seems that the SMC is not the (main) reason for failing board init with newer XEONs. Focus imho lies on the EFI (firmware) that we´d have to mod in a way that the south bridge (S5000) and peripherals are properly set up. Thats where the Yes paragraph above helps a lot and reduces turnaround times between tests drastically.

We had ideas to even further reduce those times and also get a better clue at which point we´re stuck by designing a dual ported RAM flash emulator that also contains some supervisory (trace) functions, so that we could also see which instructions at what addresses are executed in which order until stalling... has been postponed due to other interesting activities on other machines. I feel the itch to take it up again ;-) now.

 

[ypc0cnz]

Yes and no.

Yes, you could do this as I did. Piggy-back two flash memory ICs ontop of each other and switch i.e. the chip select line between them. So you can use one as a safe backup to always come back to a bootable scenario after flashing your modified trial firmware.

No, it does not cover altered SMC firmware this way. As said, the SMC has internal flash (and RAM) that would have to be re-written by debugger or EFI command line flasher tool. Two problems here: a) you cannot dump the 3,1 SMC contents to begin alterations with and b) once you brick your 2,1 with modded firmware (based on the original, available 2,1 SMC due to reason a) there is no way back without either a debugger/emulator from Renesas or desoldering and swapping the SMC chip.

In some earlier post I reported after testing that even holding the SMC in reset, the 2,1 with suitable XEONs will at least init the S5000 bridge controller (and RAM) correctly if not also even boot. So it seems that the SMC is not the (main) reason for failing board init with newer XEONs. Focus imho lies on the EFI (firmware) that we´d have to mod in a way that the south bridge (S5000) and peripherals are properly set up. Thats where the Yes paragraph above helps a lot and reduces turnaround times between tests drastically.

We had ideas to even further reduce those times and also get a better clue at which point we´re stuck by designing a dual ported RAM flash emulator that also contains some supervisory (trace) functions, so that we could also see which instructions at what addresses are executed in which order until stalling... has been postponed due to other interesting activities on other machines. I feel the itch to take it up again ;-) now.

Ah okay, I think I was misunderstanding a little. Thank you. When I try and look up about the dual boot thing you did all that I can find is your posts in this thread haha.

Also there isn't a difference between the 1,1 and 2,1 boards, right? I have noticed that you have been using a 2,1 board, which I believe is the same as a 1,1 board, but I have not flashed the one I am using to test with 2,1 firmware.

Maybe if we tried just a ton of different stuff at once, like flashing new firmware, BSEL'ing the cpus, and finding a way to bypass the smc, at least a part of it, then we could get it to work.

My mac 1,1 board (non-flashed one I was talking about above) will post if it has a harpertown in it- no warning lights or anything. The ram, cpu, graphics card, and hard drives all initiate without failure. I will have to find my dvi to hdmi adapter (I don't have any dvi displays anymore) and then I can see if it boots into the os. I can hear the drive arm moving and the platter spinning, so maybe, just maybe, it boots.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Ah okay, I think I was misunderstanding a little. Thank you. When I try and look up about the dual boot thing you did all that I can find is your posts in this thread haha.

Also there isn't a difference between the 1,1 and 2,1 boards, right? I have noticed that you have been using a 2,1 board, which I believe is the same as a 1,1 board, but I have not flashed the one I am using to test with 2,1 firmware.

Maybe if we tried just a ton of different stuff at once, like flashing new firmware, BSEL'ing the cpus, and finding a way to bypass the smc, at least a part of it, then we could get it to work.

My mac 1,1 board (non-flashed one I was talking about above) will post if it has a harpertown in it- no warning lights or anything. The ram, cpu, graphics card, and hard drives all initiate without failure. I will have to find my dvi to hdmi adapter (I don't have any dvi displays anymore) and then I can see if it boots into the os. I can hear the drive arm moving and the platter spinning, so maybe, just maybe, it boots.

There is no difference that matters (besides board marking etc.) between 1,1 and 2,1 mainboards.
Beware: If you only flash the EFI firmware to 2,1 and leave the SMC, you will have some kind of in-between Mac Pro.
For the 1,1 and 2,1 we´re in lucky position to have the SMC contents available through Apple firmware update.
There is info on the net (formerly found on some netkas forum thread, but my old link does not work any more) how to do that. You´ll get a perfect 2,1 then with proper fan control for more RAM using the 8 cores.

 

[ypc0cnz]

There is no difference that matters (besides board marking etc.) between 1,1 and 2,1 mainboards.
Beware: If you only flash the EFI firmware to 2,1 and leave the SMC, you will have some kind of in-between Mac Pro.
For the 1,1 and 2,1 we´re in lucky position to have the SMC contents available through Apple firmware update.
There is info on the net (formerly found on some netkas forum thread, but my old link does not work any more) how to do that. You´ll get a perfect 2,1 then with proper fan control for more RAM using the 8 cores.

Yeah, that is what I did with my main mac that I put x5365's in, 64 gigs of ram (installed yesterday ), and a gtx 980 ti. You are a lot more knowledgeable about this than I though, I have worked on/built/rebuilt basically windows pcs exclusively for the past 10 years, and have just gotten my own macs, the two 1,1s, in the last few months. Sorry if I am confused on some pretty basic things like the dual boot switch. But so would you say that for testing harpertown, should I flash my test board to 2,1 or leave it as 1,1?

Thank you for all of your help!

 

[ypc0cnz]

Hey @LightBulbFun , I know it has been a minute, but would you happen to still have those bootroms and/or the microcode you modified?

 

[LightBulbFun]

I do!

BTW with regards to the CPU stuff your playing with ill refer you back to my post from 2018

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/updating-a-mac-pro-s-cpu-microcode.2114187/?post=25986712#post-25986712

in that a Harpertown CPU will *power up* in a MacPro1,1 but it will never finish POST, and thats whats happening with yours by the sound of it


that does remind me I did fairly recently get a MacPro3,1 in the collection, need to see about making E0 CPU's work with that...

 

[ypc0cnz]

Thanks for the offer but im good my L5410s should hopefully arrive tomorrow (they sadly did not arrive on Saturday) and I dont want to risk bricking anyone else mac...

so the L5410 Harpertown CPU arrived today

sadly the ebay seller Messed up and sent me 1 E0 stepping L5410 rather then the 2 C0 stepping CPUs that where actually ordered...

I still pressed on with trying to get it to work in my Mac Pro 1,1/2,1 (only thing is E0 throws another variable into the system considering E0 supposedly does not even work in 3,1s let alone 1,1/2,1s)

now im going to mention a couple of things before getting to actually fitting the L5410 and that is:

I noticed that with both the Xserve1,1 and my MacPro2,1, they both lack G0 Woodcrest/Clovertown Microcode yet both of them will happily boot with G0 stepping CPUs they just run with no microcode. (Stepping 11 is G0)

View attachment 758496

now the interesting thing is if I add G0 microcode to the EFI on both the Xserve1,1 and the Mac Pro1,1 they will both fail to POST and light up the CPU_HLT/CPU FAIL LEDs on their respective motherboards... if I remove the microcode it boots right up.

now onto the L5410 and Harpertown CPUs.

first test was Just installing the CPU into a unmodified Mac Pro 1,1-2,1.

interestingly I had read reports that this would result in the CPU over temp LED lighting up and thats it.

but what happened is the Machine turned on it did not POST or chime but no LEDs that should not be normally lit up where lit (the Over temp and CPU FAIL LEDs stayed off).

having confirmed that the Mac Pro as more or less expected does not work with the Harpertown CPU stock, I went about adding the E0 Harpertown Microcode (CPUID 1067A) into the Mac Pros EFI.

I then flashed it and rebooted with the X5355s to make sure I had not bricked anything Once I confirmed that I had not bricked anything I stuck the L5410 in...

moment of truth time. apply power stuff spins up ... ... CPU_FAIL LED lights up. f*ck... but interestingly this is diffrent from what the L5410s in the Mac Pro 1,1/2,1 did when there was no microcode for them in the EFI.


what im suspecting is happening is, since we deduced that the Mac Pro 2,1 will run/post with a CPU That has No microcode in the EFI. (another example of this is the iMac7,1 does not have any penryn Microcode but will work with Penryn CPUs)

I think that the Harpertown is actually trying to boot when in a stock Mac Pro 1,1/2,1 there just seems to be some sort of Hardware incompatibility stopping it from finishing POST but it does get far enough to Load Microcode if I have inserted it and fall over said microcode like the G0 CPUs do.

now the interesting thing is I vaguely remember reading a Mac Pro article where it mentioned that some people with the Intel V8 Motherboard (The Pre curser to SkullTrail) managed to hack in Harpertown Support via some Hardware mods.

sadly I cant find this article for love nor money, I would love to find out some more details on the mods they did to see if they can be Applied to the Mac Pro 1,1/2,1

it also brings back us back to what anadtech said here https://www.anandtech.com/show/2800/upgrading-and-analyzing-apple-s-nehalem-mac-pro

View attachment 758504

im really curious as to what those Hardware mods are (like the intel V8 board?) sadly anand works for Apple now IIRC, so I dont know if we could even contact him for details...


im also quite curious as to what a Genuine Mac Pro 2,1 Would do with harpertown CPUs since I know the Mac Pro 2,1s logic-board is slightly diffrent from the Mac Pro 1,1 Logic-board (thanks to @Surrat s detailed analysis of a real 2,1 Lobo) Remember that I (and a lot of other people) use 1,1 boards that are flashed to 2,1 Firmware, I also still need to Test out C0 CPUs in the 1,1/2,1 but at least I have an E0 Harpertown now for testing E0 Harpertowns in a Mac Pro 3,1 if i can get ahold of a MP3,1...

I hope this all makes sense! I may or may not have been awake for over 24 hours at the time of writing this up

basically TLDR is:

Harpertowns in 1,1/2,1 are still a no go but I think its just a hardware limitation we might be able to hack round.

These posts about the G0 lacking microcode but still booting just popped in the back of my head, and I had to go back and check it out.

The two X5365s that I put in my 1,1(2,1) mac pro are G0 stepping, and they work flawlessly. Boot screen, chime, normal boot time, and everything. Since the 2,1 mac pros came from the factory with the X5365 cpus, and they boot without microcode, it almost makes me wonder if there is a second chip or something that is involved in boot. Like for example, what if the memory controller firmware is designed to only initiate or allow the continuation of the boot if there is a certain processor or if it meets certain criteria? I am not saying the memory controller in specific, but there is a possibility that there are multiple hardware/cpu checks that are conflicting and disallowing boot, right?

 

[ypc0cnz]

I do!

BTW with regards to the CPU stuff your playing with ill refer you back to my post from 2018

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/updating-a-mac-pro-s-cpu-microcode.2114187/?post=25986712#post-25986712

in that a Harpertown CPU will *power up* in a MacPro1,1 but it will never finish POST, and thats whats happening with yours by the sound of it


that does remind me I did fairly recently get a MacPro3,1 in the collection, need to see about making E0 CPU's work with that...

That is amazing! I don't think that I can remember a single file I had back in 2018 haha.

Yeah, it will power up and finish post (I believe, I will have to check again when I get home), but the GPU_PRESENT diagnostic light will flash. Here is a video I took of when I have a E5430 in. The fans will go to max speed after a little bit and then go back to normal. I have a dvi cord plugged in, but I don't have it hooked up to the tv. I still need to find the hdmi adapter...

You can hear the drive doing the drive thing, the fans spinning, and I held the diagnostic button and no cpu failure was ever indicated, both during and after this video.

edit: the video does not want to upload, so I will try and re-record it later when I am home and make it shorter.

 

[LightBulbFun]

These posts about the G0 lacking microcode but still booting just popped in the back of my head, and I had to go back and check it out.

The two X5365s that I put in my 1,1(2,1) mac pro are G0 stepping, and they work flawlessly. Boot screen, chime, normal boot time, and everything. Since the 2,1 mac pros came from the factory with the X5365 cpus, and they boot without microcode, it almost makes me wonder if there is a second chip or something that is involved in boot. Like for example, what if the memory controller firmware is designed to only initiate or allow the continuation of the boot if there is a certain processor or if it meets certain criteria? I am not saying the memory controller in specific, but there is a possibility that there are multiple hardware/cpu checks that are conflicting and disallowing boot, right?

Most MacPro2,1's shipped with special early B3 stepping X5365's which of course there was Microcode for, very late MacPro2,1's (and possibly later repair/replacement units) shipped with G0 CPU's and a special BootROM that was never given out as an update for existing machines

much like the B08 MacPro4,1 BootROM B09 Xserve3,1 BootROM and B06 MacBook5,2 BootROMs


if your more curious about the 2,1 stuff read forward from here https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t.1954766/page-37?post=28818594#post-28818594


(also still wondering myself has anyone tried Harpertown CPU's in a real 2,1 motherboard? countrary to popular belief they are not hardware identical to a MacPro1,1 board...)

That is amazing! I don't think that I can remember a single file I had back in 2018 haha.

Yeah, it will power up and finish post (I believe, I will have to check again when I get home), but the GPU_PRESENT diagnostic light will flash. Here is a video I took of when I have a E5430 in. The fans will go to max speed after a little bit and then go back to normal. I have a dvi cord plugged in, but I don't have it hooked up to the tv. I still need to find the hdmi adapter...

You can hear the drive doing the drive thing, the fans spinning, and I held the diagnostic button and no cpu failure was ever indicated, both during and after this video.

and yes as I described in my post back then a Harpertown CPU in a MacPro1,1 will do just that, it will present No errors, but it will never POST

a hard drive will still make noises on power up even if it does get any activity

 

[ypc0cnz]

Most MacPro2,1's shipped with special early B3 stepping X5365's which of course there was Microcode for, very late MacPro2,1's (and possibly later repair/replacement units) shipped with G0 CPU's and a special BootROM that was never given out as an update for existing machines

much like the B08 MacPro4,1 BootROM B09 Xserve3,1 BootROM and B06 MacBook5,2 BootROMs


if your more curious about the 2,1 stuff read forward from here https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t.1954766/page-37?post=28818594#post-28818594


(also still wondering myself has anyone tried Harpertown CPU's in a real 2,1 motherboard? countrary to popular belief they are not hardware identical to a MacPro1,1 board...)




and yes as I described in my post back then a Harpertown CPU in a MacPro1,1 will do just that, it will present No errors, but it will never POST

a hard drive will still make noises on power up even if it does get any activity

I did not even think that the mac pro 2,1 X5365s could have had a different stepping even though there are more than one steppings. Time for more caffeine! Hmm, I wonder if a 2,1 with that updated/special bootrom might be able to boot a harpertown. Well, if we can get ahold of it somehow then that might get us a step closer.

Oh, so there are differences between the two? Depending on how much I can find a genuine one for, I might try it. I think that Larsvonhier uses an actual 2,1 board, his signature states that he has a 2,1 mac pro, though I do not know.

Ah okay, sorry, I misread your post. So yeah, I am having the same issue.



Wait, have I really been missing this the whole time? Is this a firmware update for the 3,1 that contains the firmware/microcode?

Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.3 - Apple Support

This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of Mac Pro (Early 2008) computers.

support.apple.com

 

[ypc0cnz]

Thought I would make a quick update tonight- will edit this and give more detail tomorrow.

Anyways, so I got it to POST. A full post, no errors or anything. It took me a ton of tries with different gpus, ram configurations and sizes, and more, but I did it. Here is a picture of the power and efi led being lit up. I have a singular e5430 installed in the bottom socket, I am getting my shipment of 12 tomorrow.

I will elaborate further on this tomorrow when I am not about to pass out 👍

P.S. : Gpu light is not lit because it flashes sometimes. I believe that the led is going out for some reason, idk.

 

[Larsvonhier]

I did not even think that the mac pro 2,1 X5365s could have had a different stepping even though there are more than one steppings. Time for more caffeine! Hmm, I wonder if a 2,1 with that updated/special bootrom might be able to boot a harpertown. Well, if we can get ahold of it somehow then that might get us a step closer.

Oh, so there are differences between the two? Depending on how much I can find a genuine one for, I might try it. I think that Larsvonhier uses an actual 2,1 board, his signature states that he has a 2,1 mac pro, though I do not know.

Ah okay, sorry, I misread your post. So yeah, I am having the same issue.



Wait, have I really been missing this the whole time? Is this a firmware update for the 3,1 that contains the firmware/microcode?

Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.3 - Apple Support

This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of Mac Pro (Early 2008) computers.

support.apple.com

No surprises here, all well known since... years.
Does and contains what Apple "advertised". No SMC binary in there, only the well hung firmware.

 

[ypc0cnz]

No surprises here, all well known since... years.
Does and contains what Apple "advertised". No SMC binary in there, only the well hung firmware.
View attachment 2167009

View attachment 2167011

Oh, okay. I thought I heard somewhere that you can't get the 3,1 smc and was just pretty confused when I found that.

I just cannot believe that any of the mac pro motherboard schematics have been leaked. Thanks for all the help, apple...

 

[ypc0cnz]

Alright

Thought I would make a quick update tonight- will edit this and give more detail tomorrow.

Anyways, so I got it to POST. A full post, no errors or anything. It took me a ton of tries with different gpus, ram configurations and sizes, and more, but I did it. Here is a picture of the power and efi led being lit up. I have a singular e5430 installed in the bottom socket, I am getting my shipment of 12 tomorrow.

I will elaborate further on this tomorrow when I am not about to pass out 👍

P.S. : Gpu light is not lit because it flashes sometimes. I believe that the led is going out for some reason, idk.

I know that I said I would expand on this more today, but I am planning to do it tomorrow instead. I got my 12 E5430's in today and have been testing with them. All of them had a matching cpu/matching pair. 6 of them were made in costa rica, which I expected them all to be, but the other 6 were made in china. From my testing, it seems as though they actually cause different outcomes.

Today I got it to boot with an E5430 in socket b and a 5160 in socket a. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't just as soon as I turned it on, I spent probably 30-45 minutes messing with the smc, but it did boot. There was not a boot screen even with my genuine mac card in it, and it took a while to get into el capitan, but it did it.

I immediately went to dump the rom, not even thinking about checking hardware info, but unfortunately I got a kernel panic and have not gotten it to boot again. Well, I did, but the screen was just white, then went blue, then it shut off, all in a matter of seconds after it first output the white image.

I also have discovered (it might already be known, but not as far as I am aware) how to control which cpu will fail (either only a, only b, or both) and how to get the system to think the cpus are overheating on power up even though they aren't, and when this happens the fans go to 100% but then it will post. All of this was through messing with the smc, nothing more. Same exact components in the exact same locations (except for cpus).

edit: This was on my 1,1 "test" board without the 2,1 firmware, so completely stock firmware and smc.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Alright

I know that I said I would expand on this more today, but I am planning to do it tomorrow instead. I got my 12 E5430's in today and have been testing with them. All of them had a matching cpu/matching pair. 6 of them were made in costa rica, which I expected them all to be, but the other 6 were made in china. From my testing, it seems as though they actually cause different outcomes.

Today I got it to boot with an E5430 in socket b and a 5160 in socket a. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't just as soon as I turned it on, I spent probably 30-45 minutes messing with the smc, but it did boot. There was not a boot screen even with my genuine mac card in it, and it took a while to get into el capitan, but it did it.

I immediately went to dump the rom, not even thinking about checking hardware info, but unfortunately I got a kernel panic and have not gotten it to boot again. Well, I did, but the screen was just white, then went blue, then it shut off, all in a matter of seconds after it first output the white image.

I also have discovered (it might already be known, but not as far as I am aware) how to control which cpu will fail (either only a, only b, or both) and how to get the system to think the cpus are overheating on power up even though they aren't, and when this happens the fans go to 100% but then it will post. All of this was through messing with the smc, nothing more. Same exact components in the exact same locations (except for cpus).

edit: This was on my 1,1 "test" board without the 2,1 firmware, so completely stock firmware and smc.

Not really sure what to make out it.
Running different types of XEONs in socket a and b will to my knowledge not boot at all or boot just using the supported XEON while ignoring the other one. So not much to be expected there.
Dumping the ROM from a running system will always yield the same result: The image of the current ROM.
What do you mean when saying "messing with the SMC" for 30min.? Putting it in reset state (sys power off, on button pressed for prolonged time, the AC power up again) or with the internal buttons on mainboard?

 

[ypc0cnz]

Not really sure what to make out it.
Running different types of XEONs in socket a and b will to my knowledge not boot at all or boot just using the supported XEON while ignoring the other one. So not much to be expected there.
Dumping the ROM from a running system will always yield the same result: The image of the current ROM.
What do you mean when saying "messing with the SMC" for 30min.? Putting it in reset state (sys power off, on button pressed for prolonged time, the AC power up again) or with the internal buttons on mainboard?

Yeah, it was weird, I thought that socket b was the 'main' one in a sense that it can boot with only that one present, and I put the 5430 there.

So what I was doing with the smc was using the internal buttons and using the external power button. My board doesn't have a rtc reset or power button on it, even though the contacts and letterings are there, so I have to use the normal power button.

But I would do things such as hold the smc reset while holding the power button, and if I pressed and held the power button before I did the same with the smc reset, after holding them both for a while both of the cpu overheating lights will come on at once, From there you can let go of the smc button (not the power button) and they will stay on. And then after holding the reset button at the top right of the board for about 10 seconds you can let go and unplug the power connector. After the overheating lights go off you want to immediately plug it back in again. After that, you can let go of the power button and they will stay on. And then if you press the reset button at the top left for a few times and then turn on the computer like normal... Well, there you have it, everything goes to 100% while the overheating leds are still on and, for me at least, it almost finishes post, as if it bypassed the smc, but I didn't have a gpu in. I then had to turn it off because after those fans went to 100%, the power supply blew out a huge dust cloud that you could tell had been building up since 2006. I am very allergic to dust .

So that is one example of what I was doing with the smc, using the smc reset and a combination of other things to produce a different outcome with the cpu (although that example was not really the best one)

 

[ypc0cnz]

Not really sure what to make out it.
Running different types of XEONs in socket a and b will to my knowledge not boot at all or boot just using the supported XEON while ignoring the other one. So not much to be expected there.
Dumping the ROM from a running system will always yield the same result: The image of the current ROM.
What do you mean when saying "messing with the SMC" for 30min.? Putting it in reset state (sys power off, on button pressed for prolonged time, the AC power up again) or with the internal buttons on mainboard?

Also, I honestly have only dumped a handful of roms before, and only one time on a mac while it was running. So how do I dump it while it isn't running? I know you can desolder the chip and stuff but is there a way other than that? Sorry, I am pretty inexperienced with dumping roms- well, very inexperienced.

 

[ypc0cnz]

Well, I figured out the abnormal behavior of the gpu_present light, kernel panics, and weird graphical artifacts...

My 7300 gt I have been using because it has the boot screen had a capacitor leak all over the board. Well, at least I have another one.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Also, I honestly have only dumped a handful of roms before, and only one time on a mac while it was running. So how do I dump it while it isn't running? I know you can desolder the chip and stuff but is there a way other than that? Sorry, I am pretty inexperienced with dumping roms- well, very inexperienced.

What I wanted to point out: Once you have a running system, you will have the same content of dumped ROM every time - independently of what processor(s) you got running and the state of the SMC.
Perhaps I misunderstood your intention, but getting a dubious mixture of processors booting into macOS to dump the ROM and see what you got does not make sense.

 

[ypc0cnz]

What I wanted to point out: Once you have a running system, you will have the same content of dumped ROM every time - independently of what processor(s) you got running and the state of the SMC.
Perhaps I misunderstood your intention, but getting a dubious mixture of processors booting into macOS to dump the ROM and see what you got does not make sense.

Sorry for the delayed response, I had some tornadoes come through that killed my power (and cellular towers, so no phone reception) for a few days.

Yeah, sorry, I should have made it more clear. I was wanting to dump the ROM to see if perhaps there for some reason was a difference between it and a normal 1,1 ROM since I can finish POST and boot with a Harpertown. With the SMC I was wondering if it is maybe the problem preventing the mac pros from working with Harpertown since I can finish the power-on self-test and boot only when I get the SMC into a very specific state. I wonder if we can do something similar to the Xbox 360 RGH mod, using the same idea to reset the SMC at a very specific point a ton of times to bypass whatever is conflicting.

 

[Dayo]

I came across this tool:

GitHub - biosbits/bits: BIOS Implementation Test Suite

BIOS Implementation Test Suite. Contribute to biosbits/bits development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Seems to be able to write microcode as part of what it does if I understand what is written correctly.
Apparently been tested on Nehalem and Sandy Bridge:

A Tour of the Intel BITS

A blog about UEFI BIOS C programming software development engineering computer science history

www.basicinputoutput.com

Not sure if @Petri Krohn knows about this

 

[umashi1]

I'm new here, just joined today.

I read on the other page that someone is looking for a schematic of the Mac Pro motherboard.
I assume it's to map out the board.
Has anyone done an X-ray of the a1186 motherboard?
I've read somewhere a few years back that a board can be X-rayed to map out and reveal hidden traces and also layered traces.
I also came across [this], and [this] site that claim to have X-ray services for motherboards.

With some further searching there may be more that offer X-ray services.

There's also the option of PCB X-ray machine rental but i'm not sure how cost-effective that would be.

Hopefully some of that stuff I mentioned helps.

 

[ypc0cnz]

I came across this tool:

GitHub - biosbits/bits: BIOS Implementation Test Suite

BIOS Implementation Test Suite. Contribute to biosbits/bits development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Seems to be able to write microcode as part of what it does if I understand what is written correctly.
Apparently been tested on Nehalem and Sandy Bridge:

A Tour of the Intel BITS

A blog about UEFI BIOS C programming software development engineering computer science history

www.basicinputoutput.com

Not sure if @Petri Krohn knows about this

Good find, Dayo! I will look into this and see what all it can do. I haven't heard of it before, but it seems like it definitely has the potential to be promising.

 

[ypc0cnz]

I'm new here, just joined today.

I read on the other page that someone is looking for a schematic of the Mac Pro motherboard.
I assume it's to map out the board.
Has anyone done an X-ray of the a1186 motherboard?
I've read somewhere a few years back that a board can be X-rayed to map out and reveal hidden traces and also layered traces.
I also came across [this], and [this] site that claim to have X-ray services for motherboards.

With some further searching there may be more that offer X-ray services.

There's also the option of PCB X-ray machine rental but i'm not sure how cost-effective that would be.

Hopefully some of that stuff I mentioned helps.

Nice to have you here Umashi!

Yep, I was looking to get my hands on the schematics for them, but unfortunately I could find none. I kept meaning to look into ways to map the board myself, but honestly just forgot. If a motherboard x-ray isn't crazy expensive then I might send my board to get it done.

I also have to wonder if it would be possible- well, feasible, to map it using, well, I cant remember the name, but it will make an in-depth analysis of metal within a given object, doing so through the use of magnets I believe.

 

[umashi1]

Nice to have you here Umashi!

Yep, I was looking to get my hands on the schematics for them, but unfortunately I could find none. I kept meaning to look into ways to map the board myself, but honestly just forgot. If a motherboard x-ray isn't crazy expensive then I might send my board to get it done.

I also have to wonder if it would be possible- well, feasible, to map it using, well, I cant remember the name, but it will make an in-depth analysis of metal within a given object, doing so through the use of magnets I believe.

I don't know what magnetic device that is unfortunately.

It's too bad board mapping can't be done with a drawing tablet and stylus running custom software.

A drawing tablet already gives an X and Y position based on where the emr pen is within a grid, and the board traces would put off a different ohm reading to the tablet when the stylus passes over it.

Another approach could be scanning the board with an iphone since lidar can pick up slight variations in height for the solder mask.
There may be other solutions that I am overlooking.

I filled out the contact form with "Sage Analytical Lab" so hopefully they reply and hopefully the price is reasonable for scanning a motherboard.