Mac Pro 2009 firmware upgrade failed

[lilbiscuit]

Everything seems to be in order for my firmware upgrade from 4,1 to 5,1, but upon reboot I am still faced with 4,1 firmware. Here's what I did:

1. Downloaded the Mac Pro 2009 2010 Firmware Upgrade app from netkas.org

2. Downloaded the 2010 1.5 firmware from apple

3. Mounted the Apple firmware

4. Ran the updater. Got Success popup.

5. Shut down machine completely.

6. Started machine, held down power button until power light flashed (also repeated the above process several times, including holding down until sound, and holding down until sign on screen)

7. Got gray screen and progress bar... looked like firmware might be updating...excitement building....

8. go to sign in... signed on, checked About This Mac .... BOOOO same old firmware.

9. I have the stock GT120 graphics card...so should be no EFI issues.


So I've read so many forum posts my eyes and head hurt!! But ...what did I miss?

Machine is A1289 EMC 2314 Dual processor 2.26GHz. I did replace the memory with 1333 memory and reset PRAM one time before trying to upgrade the firmware.

Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[h9826790]

What is your current firmware version?

 

[lilbiscuit]

What is your current firmware version?

Current firmware version is 4,1

Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B08
Running OS X 10.11.1
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5

 

[Synchro3]

Exact version, it should be: MP41.0081.B07

 

[lilbiscuit]

Exact version, it should be: MP41.0081.B07

Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B08

 

[Synchro3]

The firmware-update should work with your B08 firmware, but you cannot revert back to the old firmware.

Second condition is an EFI-graphics card. And with older OS X versions it's less complicated.

 

[lilbiscuit]

The firmware-update should work with your B08 firmware, but you cannot revert back to the old firmware.

Second condition is an EFI-graphics card. And with older OS X versions it's less complicated.

The graphics card is the stock GT120.... so everything seems to be in order - that's what I can't figure out.

 

[carpsafari]

Well, I assume you run 10.11.4? Looks like EC refuses the firmware upgrade!
I found out last week myself,...after succesfully upgrading at least a dozen MP's I couldn't believe it, but when I tried from my Yosemite boot drive....it immediately worked!

 

[h9826790]

It seems 10.11.1 is the problem.

You must disable SIP to make it work, however, install 10.10 or earlier may be the easier (and more guarantee) way.

The B08 is a custom firmware which was loaded on some refurbished machine. In the old days, we believe that only B07 firmware 4,1 can be flashed to 5,1, but it seems someone can successfully flash the B08 as well, however, as Synchro3 points out, you won't be able to flash it back to 4,1, because the software can only downgrade it back to B07 which may not work on your machine.

 

[lilbiscuit]

It seems 10.11.1 is the problem.

You must disable SIP to make it work, however, install 10.10 or earlier may be the easier (and more guarantee) way.

The B08 is a custom firmware which was loaded on some refurbished machine. In the old days, we believe that only B07 firmware 4,1 can be flashed to 5,1, but it seems someone can successfully flash the B08 as well, however, as Synchro3 points out, you won't be able to flash it back to 4,1, because the software can only downgrade it back to B07 which may not work on your machine.

Thanks @h9826790 I disabled SIP (booted into recovery mode and executed 'csrutil disable' in terminal) then restarted and performed the firmware upgrade procedure again.... WORKED! I did not need to downgrade my OS X version.

 

[Messy]

Surprisingly few people seem to be aware you need to disable SIP to upgrade.

 

[lilbiscuit]

Surprisingly few people seem to be aware you need to disable SIP to upgrade.

Yeah ... but SIP is brand new for El Capitan... that's why it's not common knowledge yet.

 

[HenryMacPro]

Sorry for dusting off an old topic, but I had to replace my 2009 logic board, and it turns out to have the MP41.0081.B08 bootrom.
Did disable SIP (several times) but I just cant seem to update the firmware... just keeps booting back in Elcapitan 10.11 :-(