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nos1609

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 8, 2015
40
26
Moscow
Finding the info in both FB group and multiple threads here and there is becoming more difficult, so I am pretty sure time has come for such a thread. The Xserve3,1 is very similar to the MacPro4,1 in upgrade limitations.

Xserve3,1 upgrade guide 2020

Part 1: Logic board

The logic board that was bundled with the default and the cheaper configuration was designed with only one CPU socket and 6 RAM slots available. By the way, Apple sold a replacement logic board for a fast swap and go procedure. The Apple part code to look for is 607-4282a. A logic board swap with the above mentioned one provides an extra CPU socket and extra 6 RAM slots.

1a) LOM
The LEDs on the fron panel are coupled to the IPMI chip via USB flex cable. To be able to use the full IPMI functionality later, do not forget to setup LOM on default logic board firmware and with a corresponding tool provided with the macOS/OS X Server build. It is not mandatory, but the utility does not check your SMC version but rather the hardcoded model in EFI firmware and though is not allowed to run on anything aside the Xserve.
To get the CPU load status lights on the front panel it is advised to use the AppleBMC.kext compiled from source for your macOS release.

1b) EFI Firmware
The stock firmware provided with Xserve3,1 is bundled with Nehalem CPU microcodes. This doesn't allow the usage of 6-core and 1333 Mhz RAM on the machine. By the way in 2018 Rominator claimed that he swapped the Xserve EFI chip with a Mac Pro one and after CPU swap everything booted just fine. After some misunderstandings and misbehaviour at the beginng on the original MR thread @tsialex now has lost any willingness to help with creating a custom EFI firmware. Nothingtoseehere. Hope things gonna change in the future. As for now we have to deal with the remains, considering the 2018 method as the only valid and possible.

Some caveats of the current method:

  • Logic board "personalization" info lost (Serial Number, etc) => No iCloud, iMessage and FaceTime available
  • 2 RAM slots out of 6 per CPU socket unavailable =>128G max RAM on a dual socket logic board
  • System Information confused if stock SN used after flash as SMC and SN belong to Xserve3,1 while ROM belongs to MacPro5,1
  • HDD hot-swap untested, probably unavailable
  • Stock CPU unsupported (gonna try to make a "transition" hybrid MP5,1 ROM with Nehalem microcodes added later)
  • ADD MORE IF DISCOVERED
The procedure consists of 2 steps currently. First, backup your current EFI firmware, as it is the only way to get iCloud functional in prospective. Then flash the Mac Pro 5,1 EFI v144 firmware on top of the current one. Once done, the Xserve is going to become bootable with a suitable Westmere CPU only, so mind get at least one first prior the upgrade.
To both backup and flash the EFI firmware I successfully used @dosdude1 ROMTool. Tested it already with 4 of my Xserve3,1 logic boards, everything went fine.


Part 2: CPU

By default the firmware on Xserve logic boards allow the use of Nehalem 4-core CPUs rated at 95W TDP. But hardware-wise the logic board is able to handle more recent and more powerful Westmere CPUs, as seen on MacPro4,1 with the MacPro5,1 firmware flashed. But with the power of the new CPUs come some issues. The major one is the overheat due to a higher TDP of 130W per CPU, which is nearly 1.5x higher than the stock ones. They are currently 3 solutions to this, so basically this becomes more like an unbalanced inconvenience rather than an issue. The CPUs are listed here in the MP5.1 section.

Part 3: RAM

By default the Xserve logic board supports 1066 Mhz RAM with ECC capability. Once flashed to a Mac Pro firmware, there is a possibility to use higher frequency modules rated at 1333 Mhz, but only in RAM slots 1,3,5,6 of each CPU socket. The max amount of RAM tested in current configuration is 128G, but if you want more CPU performance, to stick with the trple channel RAM mode RAM slots 1,3,5 of each CPU socket are mandatory to be filled with identical RAM modules.

Part 4: Storage

SATA/SAS) By default the Xserve suports 3 types of local storage which offers us a choice between 3 SATA/SAS 3.5 inch drive bays, SSD connector on the LOM board and a Superdrive. There are 2 different HDD daughter board types available depending on the configuration, the RAID one with some heatsinks, RAM chips on it and coupled with a backup battery power, and the non-RAID one with an LSI controller in JBOD mode. To spread more confusion there are also two types of HDD caddies available, the SATA one and the hybrid SAS/SATA one. The logic is simple there - the less possible hassle configuration is a non-RAID daughter board connected to hybrid SAS/SATA caddies with SAS srives inside. It is the only way to use HDDs larger than 1TB. The hard way - a G5 daughter board with SATA connectors attached to a PCI-e SATA3 controller (in process, already got 2 Helium 10TB SATA HDDs with no possibility to return them). There is also an unsoldered SATA 7-pin connector, which is possibly available and wired.

AHCI) All Intel Xserves can natively boot from AHCI SSDs. The best performance should be either an Apple SSUBX in an Apple 12+16 to PCIe adapter, or a Samsung PM951 AHCI version in an M.2 to PCIe adapter. Bonus if you solder on a SATA port to the logic board header, using
a dual M.2 adapter can connect the AHCI SSD and M.2 SATA.

NVMe) Flashing the v144 EFI firmware from Mac Pro allows the booting from NVMe with APFS on it natively, so this is the preferable choice for maximum performance.

Check the AHCI-NVMe SSD thread for compatibility.


Part 5: GPU

By default the Xserve 2009 was sipped with a preinstalled MXM-B GT120M card. But basically any iMac MXM GPU will run just fine in place. But every single Apple MXM GPU is unsupported starting with macOS 10.14 Mojave. So to overcome this there are also two solutions.

5a) MXM GPU with metal support
Just stick to the iMac GPU upgrade thread. As for now two customized versions of modern GPUs are available WX4150M and WX7100M. These two GPUs allow the stock boot screen to be rendered and are fully supported starting with macOS 10.12.6 Sierra.

5b) 1-slot PCI-e GPU with metal support
Just stick to the GPU List for Mac Pro thread. Currently using wx4100 on my machine and it survived 90 degrees celsius of hot air out of my first CPU test attempts being mounted without built-in fan (passive cooling only), so we can consider it as Xserve-proof GPU. :p

5c) MACVid GPU for Mojave
No comments here...


Part 6: Thunderbolt

Every modern mac nowadays features Thunderbolt connection since 2011. To make Xserve on a par with the post 2011 Mac line-up stick to the Gigabyte Titan Ridge thread.

Part 7: PCI-express Gen3

By default the Xserve 2009 was designed with PCI-e Gen2 in mind. It was more then enough for 2009. Nowadays Thunderbolt 3 and NVMe require the PCI-e Gen3 to be able to run at full potential. There is the solution which transforms each Gen2 x16 slot into a Gen3 x8 one based on the same chip used in a Mac Pro 2013. Just stick to the HighPoint 7101A thread.

Part 8: Cooling and noise

If the Xserve main location is a server rack in the server room with a good cooling this point is not a prerequisite. But if there are plans of some desktop-replacement daily usage the default 17k rpm fans are going to drive people around you nuts. The solution is in process, but long story short 20 Noctua fans coupled to 2009 Mac Pro heat-sinks B provided a silent operation suitable for music production in studio environment. Mind that a decent cooling under sustained load requires 3U height in your rack.


Part 9: Connectivity

Same as previous point. But for desktop use with a 32:9 screen IMHO there is nothing better than a TB3 dock with a bunch of ports to overcome the default 3 USB 2.0 availability.


Part 10: Software

The easy one. Since the Xserve is using EFI which is the early implementation of UEFI there is the possibility to use UEFI OSes and bootloaders. Just stick to the OpenCore thread to fix lot of stuff on macOS Mojave and Catalina.

To install macOS Mojave or macOS Catalina once the necessary GPU and EFI firmware are installed just make sure -no_compat_check is added to boot args prior booting from the macOS bootable media.


Hope that this guide is going to move the Xserve community further and make things better for lower prices. Feel free to add info to this wiki, to add mentions of the contributors and to share your success stories.
 
Last edited:

Rvrd90

macrumors newbie
Mar 3, 2020
3
4
nos1609, where can one download Mac Pro 5,1 EFI v144 firmware?

Edit: It was in the Mojave image after all.
 
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Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
If we want different BootROM solutions we are on our own here guys.

Can I ask that we Please leave alex out of this. He tried to help once and some not so great things went down.

If he was interested in persuing BootROM modifications on the xserve, I’m sure he would have volunteered to do so. If we continue to bug him about it that will guarantee that he will never want to help.

At this point I have zero expectations of him spending any time on the xserve and I don’t blame him one bit for not wanting to do so, in his position I wouldn’t want to either.

So let’s just stick to either the 4,1/5,1 cMP flashing as is or stick with adding things to the xserve rom like I’ve done (apfs/nvme/mxm).

We might be able to get the cMP rom and all slots of ram working with some magic from OpenCore.

Otherwise if we could find the IPMI / LOM function it may be easier to add that to a cMP rom vs getting better cpu support added to the xserve rom. I think those are the only things that get impacted by a cMP rom.
 

TylerL

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2002
207
291
If I'm reading correctly, LOM usage is retained post-firmware-upgrade as long as it was properly configured ahead of time? Is that right?
 

Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
If I'm reading correctly, LOM usage is retained post-firmware-upgrade as long as it was properly configured ahead of time? Is that right?
I’m not sure on that one. I know that’s how it works for running macOS 10.12 or later but when it comes to the firmware I’ve not heard a reliable report yet (meaning I’ve not seen anyone prove it broken or working).
 

jessecampbell

macrumors newbie
Feb 26, 2020
7
3
For the G5 drive backplane board:

G5 drive backplane pinout:
1 - GND, 2 - GND, 3 - GND, 4 - GND, 5 - GND, 6 - UNKNOWN
7 - +12, 8 - +12, 9 - +5, 10 - +3.3, 11 +3.3, 12 - UNKNOWN

Intel power board pinout (caution: on intel, the pins are reversed between the power board and the drive board):
1 - GND, 2 - +5 unswitched, 3 - GND, 4 - +12, 5 - +12, 6 - +12, 7 - GND
8 - GND, 9 - +5, 10 - +5, 11 - GND, 12 - +3.3, 13 - +3.3, 14 - GND

I left pins 6 and 12 on the G5 board disconnected, and pins 2, 3, 4, and 9 disconnected on the intel end. cable needs to be about 20 inches long, give or take.

I still haven't figured out how best to route the cable or how to modify the hold-down bolts.

Verified that it works with a SAS tray. Oddly, my SATA trays now won't even power up, but I was able to boot from a SATA-3 SSD in a SAS tray. Have a few more SAS trays on order.
 
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someuserxsvr

macrumors newbie
May 29, 2020
7
0
Has anyone compiled a list of known working drives and configurations?

You know what piss me off that this topic is on google on TOP and for few hours try to find solution something like even 2 years ego and nothing. 2 days ego sold my X5675 cpus and now i really angry.

What i need just a new firmware don't really care about icloud
Got xserver 3,1 wit SAS i think
apple-xserve-sas-hdd-caddy-620-4575_1_0acc85892f3cd0e81bcbb5f996269336.jpg




Found this one:

 

natjonesart

macrumors member
Jan 22, 2017
94
26
Canada
2009 Xserve 3,1

I flashed it to cMP 5,1 (144), installed 2x X5675s and 8x8gb 1333 ram.

I have been experimenting with a modified smbios in OpenCore. I used OC to inject my original serial number back in and to turn it back into/ identify as an Xserve. I have iCloud, etc.

I somehow lost the memory tab in "About this Mac" but all memory is showing in System Report. I need more memory to check if all 12 slots are working.
 

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someuserxsvr

macrumors newbie
May 29, 2020
7
0
I got one XServer in rack it use ESXi-6.5
X5550 CPUS are unsupported by Esxi6.7 but supported by Xeon 56xx Series
I got SAS drives so i think it will be fine
My X5675 Cpus need Delidding

But my issue is that i got like 4 hours in Datacenter to switch to new CPUs
and still need setup new mac pro

Just love my Xserver 3,1 and wish to still use after 7 years

1. What i ask is ISO that i can write by rufus everywhere is a tutorial nobody can make ISO and post on mega dropbox or whatever that will be really nice
2. Then need boot server write new firmware
3. shut down replace CPU
4. after CPU upgrade it should have better speed as Mac pro 2013
( 2x X5550 ) = 6042 passmark points Xserver 3,1 default​
( 2x X5675 ) = 12802 passmark points NEW CPus​
( 1x E5-2680 V2 ) = 12669 passmark points - Mac pro 2013
( 1x W-3235 ) = 27232 passmark points - NEW MAC PRO 2019
4. IS DVD HDD working ?

Is this correct
 
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iGobbleoff

macrumors 6502
May 2, 2011
354
469
The 3 HDD trays function properly with SAS Carriers (SATA Carrier is not seen)
I also have a PCIe nvme ssd that works in the Xserve.

Details please? I have a 3,1 that's just sitting there with three spinning drives in it, but I'd love to throw an SSD in there for the OS drive.
 

natjonesart

macrumors member
Jan 22, 2017
94
26
Canada
Details please? I have a 3,1 that's just sitting there with three spinning drives in it, but I'd love to throw an SSD in there for the OS drive.
Depends on what you are looking for. Easiest- A standard 2.5 SSD can be installed in a PCIe adapter and should work out of the box on any xserve. Fastest- To run an M.2 NVME SSD you need to modify your current Xserve Firmware or flash the Xserve to cMP 5,1 firmware 144, then add M.2 on PCIe adapter card.
 

natjonesart

macrumors member
Jan 22, 2017
94
26
Canada
I got one XServer in rack it use ESXi-6.5
X5550 CPUS are unsupported by Esxi6.7 but supported by Xeon 56xx Series
I got SAS drives so i think it will be fine
My X5675 Cpus need Delidding

But my issue is that i got like 4 hours in Datacenter to switch to new CPUs
and still need setup new mac pro

Just love my Xserver 3,1 and wish to still use after 7 years

1. What i ask is ISO that i can write by rufus everywhere is a tutorial nobody can make ISO and post on mega dropbox or whatever that will be really nice
2. Then need boot server write new firmware
3. shut down replace CPU
4. after CPU upgrade it should have better speed as Mac pro 2013
( 2x X5550 ) = 6042 passmark points Xserver 3,1 default​
( 2x X5675 ) = 12802 passmark points NEW CPus​
( 1x E5-2680 V2 ) = 12669 passmark points - Mac pro 2013
( 1x W-3235 ) = 27232 passmark points - NEW MAC PRO 2019
4. IS DVD HDD working ?

Is this correct

If you are looking to flash your Xserve 3,1 to Mac Pro 5,1 these are the basic steps-

Warning- make sure you read everything you can find on the process- you CAN brick your Xserve if done incorrectly.

First, get screenshots and record all of the information on your Xserve, especially serial number.

1- I'm not sure what ISO you are looking for. If it is the blank Mac Pro 5,1 firmware- it is inside the Mojave installer and is named MP51.fd
you must rename to MP51.bin

2-Disable SIP and use dosdude's ROMTool to back up your current Xserve 3,1 firmware and then write the MP51.bin to the Xserve using ROMTool.

3-Shut down and install six-core CPU

4-Optical Drive is working, have not tried replacing with ssd or hdd.

you will lose serial number and Xserve will identify as a MacPro 5,1, you will lose 2 or 4 RAM slots depending on the number of processors.

I am using OpenCore to reinject my serial number and a modified SMBios to identify as an Xserve
 
Last edited:

Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
I modified the 2009-2010 Mac Pro update tool to do a 'native' upgrade of the firmware (instead of brute force with ROMTool).

This has put me on the MP51.007F.B03 firmware on the Xserve 3,1.
This retained my serial number from the Xserve but it does not say "xserve" but says Mac Pro in about this mac.

LOM is still working (at least for now, not sure if it could be broken by something like a PRAM reset).
I can power on / off via IPMI, the sensor data is also actively reported to my iPhone app IPMITouch.

I was able to sign in to iMessage and iCloud without issues, and was able to send / receive iMessages.

This is a single processor version. I have 48GB of RAM installed, only 4 slots are now active according to about this mac in 10.13, which limits me to 32GB of RAM, oddly the memory section of system information reports not all as ECC even though they are identical ECC DIMMs.

I've not swapped processor yet, so I believe this would explain still seeing 1066Mhz with 1333 DIMMs.

machdep.cpu.brand_string: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5520 @ 2.27GHz
hw.memsize: 34359738368 == 32Gb


I have a SAS tray with a SATA drive, it is detected.
I have a non-RAID backplane, the built in SAS controller is properly detected.
The SATA device tree shows up for ICH10 AHCI so i'd suspect the ODD port would work.
My optical drive has been swapped with a SSD carrier but I've not populated it yet.
I'm booting from a 4 bay mSATA carrier card

Next will be updating to 144.0.0.0 firmware so that i can boot back into my Mojave install.
I did swap my GT120 back into the xserve during testing / troubleshooting of the firmware tool, I will swap my WX4150 back into the machine.

I've attached the modified firmware flasher, it doesn't mention Xserve anywhere but the name of the application, i didn't bother to modify more than the minimum.
Please download the MP5,1 firmware update and have it mounted in order for this to not error with the 5570 error.

Major credit for the app / tool goes to the original author, all I did was modify it to allow one to flash the Xserve 3,1 with the Mac Pro 5,1 update.

EDIT: I should mention this is a one-way flash. I didn’t test / modify this to undo the changes. I suspect it’s possible to revert just like the mac Pro can but at this time I see little need to flash back and forth.

I also noted that somehow menumeters sees all 48gb of ram which is odd considering the sysctl doesn’t.

----
Removed flasher
----

See post #22 for an updated direct from Xserve to MP5,1 v144 firmware.
 
Last edited:

Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
Some notes from my testing ...

Working:
• IMPI / LOM - can power up/down/reset view stats via IPMITouch (suggesting LOM has independent firmware outside of bootROM)
• System ID light / button still works fine
• NIC status light on front panel works fine
• Drive sled lights work fine
• iCloud / iMessage
• Hot-swap drive sleds


Not working but workaround available:
• CPU load lights don't work out of the box, sounds like they stopped working at the end of Lion, so not a firmware issue. -- I did find https://github.com/castvoid/xserve-frontpanel which provides code to make them work again in 10.13.6 at least, will do more work here to get this added to run at boot and test in mojave as well but i'd assume thats a trivial thing.


Not working:
• The ability to choose a startup method from the front panel doesn't seem to work anymore (power-on while holding ID button until CPU lights flash sequentially) -- probably a seldom used function anyways, I only did it one time to see if it worked.
• Still would need to test serial port, safe to assume that at least out of the box this is NOT working as the interface doesn't show up in the network preferences window.
• 2 DIMM slots -- 3 slots properly detect DDR3 ECC and report serial number, part number, 1 slot reports incorrectly with several "F"s in the part/serial/mfg number and doesn't indicate ECC being available.


General Observations:
• When booted in 10.11 it says Xserve in about this Mac, but in 10.13 it says "Mac Pro" with no year indicated.
• Have not updated to latest 144 firmware yet.
• Thunderbolt card still shows up
• Boot Camp Assistant runs, so in theory one should have no issues loading windows via legacy BIOS mode if so inclined.


@Nick [D]vB's ROM for the MXM WX4150 does still allow for boot screen if you add CoreEG2 and EDIDParser (from the iMac 2011 GPU upgrade thread (used ROMTool for this)
took a couple reboots after to get a display ... tried a CMD+P+R at boot for a while ... then did an alt/option boot which eventually showed the EFI screen and booted to macOS.

Other things I'd like to test that I'm going to do after updating the bootROM to 144:
• SMBIOS adjustments from OpenCore to fix DIMM issue
 
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Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
So I’m having Issues getting the 5,1 firmware to update. I’m stuck on the firmware from
the 1.5 update. I’ve tried using the full installer for 10.13.6 and after a struggle with getting a copy of it to download (app store says not able to be installed on this computer) it keeps saying it can not be installed. Mojave does the same thing. Makes me wonder ...
anyways I will probably have to try to rework the update tool to flash the newer bootrom as well. Two maybe three steps may be needed So we can step through each update to preserve any internal upgrade requirements to potentially prevent corruption of the rom And to retain all the pertinent stuff.
 

Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
Can you post screenshot also with all firmware version and MAC version ( exacly )

maybe reset reset NVRAM help
This is the menu that is no longer accessible.
you can hold that ID button forever, it just ignores it.

I reverted firmware using the ROMTool backup back to the XS3,1 firmware after it became apparent i was not going to get it to update using the Apple methods, I'm redoing this to see if I can just have it go direct to 144.
I thought i had a copy of 144, but it was apparently 141?? which did work so i should be able to do it with 144 too.


1593583402086.png


1593583443397.png

Interestingly between 10.13.3 (above) and 10.13.6 (below - I had adjusted SystemVersion.plist during some testing) the Processor interconnect speed no longer shows up, not too surprising though as this is a single proc variant.
With the 141 firmware I can start to boot 10.14.6 but it panics every time, apparently with a "PHYSMAP_PTOV bounds exceeded" panic based on the stack seen in high sierra. not sure what thats all about just yet, will have to find out more when i get 144 firmware installed.

Screen Shot 2020-07-01 at 1.09.40 AM.png


Code:
*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff80042ce53e): "PHYSMAP_PTOV bounds exceeded, 0xfffffebc18894000, 0xfffffeb300000000, 0xfffffebc00000000"@/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-4903.271.2/osfmk/i386/pmap.h:515
Backtrace (CPU 4), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff83c45b3a90 : 0xffffff80041ae6ed
0xffffff83c45b3ae0 : 0xffffff80042ea185
0xffffff83c45b3b20 : 0xffffff80042db8ba
0xffffff83c45b3b90 : 0xffffff800415bb40
0xffffff83c45b3bb0 : 0xffffff80041ae107
0xffffff83c45b3cd0 : 0xffffff80041adf53
0xffffff83c45b3d40 : 0xffffff80042ce53e
0xffffff83c45b3d70 : 0xffffff800423c5c1
0xffffff83c45b3f10 : 0xffffff80042dbeba
0xffffff83c45b3fa0 : 0xffffff800415ba4f

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kextcache
Boot args: -v -no_compat_check

Mac OS version:
18G103

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 18.7.0: Tue Aug 20 16:57:14 PDT 2019; root:xnu-4903.271.2~2/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: C41337A1-0EC3-3896-A954-A1F85E849D53
Kernel slide:     0x0000000003e00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8004000000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8003f00000
System model name: MacPro5,1 (Mac-F223BEC8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 5446220690
last loaded kext at 3443983547: com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice    1.2 (addr 0xffffff7f85148000, size 49152)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.AppleWWANSupport    4.0.0
com.apple.filesystems.apfs    945.275.7
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver    3.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleVirtIO    2.1.3
com.apple.filesystems.hfs.kext    407.200.4
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless    1.0.0d1
com.apple.BootCache    40
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib    1.0.0
com.apple.AppleSystemPolicy    1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI    5.6.0
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort    329.260.5
com.apple.driver.AppleLSIFusionMPT    3.8.0
com.apple.private.KextAudit    1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET    1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC    2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons    6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS    2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC    6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC    1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient    220.0.0
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall    201
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet    8
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement    220.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.IOUSBHostHIDDevice    1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.cdc    5.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.networking    5.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostCompositeDevice    1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHub    1.2
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter    5.6.9
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter    2.1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter    5.6.9
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily    5.6.9
com.apple.driver.AppleHPM    3.4.1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssI2CController    3.0.60
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssDmac    3.0.60
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssI2C    3.0.60
com.apple.driver.AppleXsanScheme    3
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily    11
com.apple.filesystems.hfs.encodings.kext    1
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily    4.7.3
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage    301.270.1
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI    4.7.9
com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily    6.8.6
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCIPCI    1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI    1.2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub    900.4.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBEHCIPCI    1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBUHCIPCI    1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBUHCI    1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBEHCI    1.2
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily    288
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIParallelFamily    3.0.0
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBHostPacketFilter    1.0
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily    900.4.2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties    1.2
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM    2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime    2.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily    1.1
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily    2.0.0
com.apple.security.quarantine    3
com.apple.security.sandbox    300.0
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch    1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages    493.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore    28.30
com.apple.driver.AppleEffaceableStorage    1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore    2
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTDM    456.260.3
com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity    1.0.5
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageDriver    145.200.2
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice    408.250.3
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily    408.250.3
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily    2.1
com.apple.kext.CoreTrust    1
com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager    1.0
com.apple.driver.KernelRelayHost    1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily    1.2
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBCommon    1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBusPowerController    1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSEPManager    1.0.1
com.apple.driver.IOSlaveProcessor    1
com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily    47
com.apple.iokit.IOTimeSyncFamily    740.2
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily    3.4
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform    6.1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC    3.1.9
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily    2.9
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily    1.4
com.apple.kec.pthread    1
com.apple.kec.Libm    1
com.apple.kec.corecrypto    1.0

EOF
Model: MacPro5,1, BootROM 141.0.0.0.0, 4 processors, Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 2.26 GHz, 32 GB, SMC 1.43f4
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, PCIe
Memory Module: DIMM 1, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D33393342314B37304348302D5948392020
Memory Module: DIMM 2, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D33393342314B37304348302D5948392020
Memory Module: DIMM 3, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D33393342314B37304348302D5948392020
Memory Module: DIMM 4, 8 GB, DDR3, 1066 MHz, 0xFFFF, 0x00FFFF0000FFFF0000FFFF0000FFFF0000FF
Network Service: Ethernet 1, Ethernet, en0
PCI Card: pci1b4b,9230, AHCI Controller, Slot-1
PCI Card: pci8086,15eb, Unknown, Slot-2@5,0,0
PCI Card: pci8086,15ec, USB eXtensible Host Controller, Slot-2@7,0,0
Serial ATA Device: MKNSSDAT240GB, 240.06 GB
Serial ATA Device: MARVELL VIRTUALL
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: Frontpanel Controller
USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus
USB Device: Hub
USB Device: Hub in Apple Pro Keyboard
USB Device: Apple Pro Keyboard
USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus
USB Device: USB 3.1 Bus
Thunderbolt Bus: Mac Pro, GIGABYTE, 23.0
 

Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
While we can run the MP5,1 firmware like this we do have a hybrid rom in the end that seems to confuse the macOS installers. At this point since the hardware is not officially able to run 10.15 / 11 and we have to use patched installers I don't think it is a big deal.

Sounds like you either go this route and keep some of the xserve's identity or you flash the blank 5,1 ROM and have other issues.

For me, this seems like the safer play (hybrid) if you really just want to get better CPU support and can work around the behaviors.

Note PRAM/NVRAM reset now uses the same thing the mac pro does (CMD+Opt+P+R) not the front panel option.

NOTE: macOS 10.14.6 will not boot even on the 144 firmware using this flashing method, it gives the "no entry" sign.
This means we aren't fully seen as a 5,1 somewhere (maybe board-id?) so it will refuse to boot without the nvram entry for "-no_compat_check" and it still panics during boot of an existing Mojave install that worked fine on the xserve firmware, but it was able to boot to a 10.14.x dosdude installer

EDIT to avoid panic booting 10.14 remove DIMMs from slots A4 and A5.

funny side note ... it does boot to 10.5.8 just fine (probably due to -no_compat_check in the nvram), Leopard boots so fast from the SSD!
 

Attachments

  • Xserve 2009 to Mac Pro 144 Firmware Tool.zip
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someuserxsvr

macrumors newbie
May 29, 2020
7
0
Did any body try to install like with mojave patcher ?


Because after we hack firmware we need maybe make it Xserver 3,1 Hackintosh edition

Can't test as my servers are in data-center
 

Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
The DIMM slots that are 'disabled' are slots A4 and A5, if you have DIMMs in there without correct smbios configuration you get odd behavior from macOS (unstable, iStat Menus reports using thousands of terrabytes of RAM, and the panics).
The presence of DIMMs in those slots is what caused the panics during boot.

It will now boot the existing 10.14.6 install properly, putting my WX4150 back in (after having modded the 144 ROM to add CoreEG2 and EDIDParser and flashing the modded rom in ROMtool)
 

Ludacrisvp

macrumors 6502a
May 14, 2008
797
363
Did any body try to install like with mojave patcher ?


Because after we hack firmware we need maybe make it Xserver 3,1 Hackintosh edition

Can't test as my servers are in data-center
Not entirely sure what you're getting at.
The main point of the firmware cross flash is to add support for the 6 core westmere processors.
Generally the other features of the MP5,1 firmware can be added by bootrom mods.

Re-Installed opencore 0.5.6 (as that was what i had on it originally) and CPU performance is terrible ...
So something is not jiving ... i've still not swapped CPU until i determine if this is all worthwhile.


Honestly, right now i'm not sure which pains are worse, the hybrid rom that has the xserve info or the blank true 5,1 rom.
 
Last edited:
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