MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0

[VaZ]

So what makes some pcie cards 8.0 GT/s vs. 5.0 GT/s? All my cards are 5.0 GT/s ..

 

[tsialex]

So what makes some pcie cards 8.0 GT/s vs. 5.0 GT/s? All my cards are 5.0 GT/s ..

It's a presentation error of the VII driver for the data transfer rate, the PCIe 2.0 x16 is being incorrectly identified as PCIe 3.0.

Btw, this is different from PCIe M.2 SSDs with switched cards, where the switch really converts the slow and wide PCIe 2.0 x16 into fast and narrow PCIe 3.0 x4.

 

[bsbeamer]

In case it's at all helpful MBP16,1 with 10.15.3 (19D76):

MacBookPro16,1

Boot ROM Version: 1037.80.53.0.0 (iBridge: 17.16.13050.0.0,0)

Model Name: Apple T2 Security Chip
Firmware Version: 17P3050

Apple T2 Controller:
Product ID: 0x8233
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 2.01
Serial Number:
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0x80100000

 

[razorfsh]

Just a quick check

Is there any way a 141.0.0.0 boot rom could destroy ram boards in a mac pro 2010....
Just I have 5*16gb
But as soon as i put anymore in... one gets destroyed.
by that I mean if I take it out to test in another system it is DEAD.
The one that gets killed seems totally random.. to make matters worse.. no schematic to fault find..

The boards are not running particularly hot.. 30-34 deg.. according to onbrard temp ses.
northBrige Tdiode is hottest at about 51deg c.

 

[tsialex]

Just a quick check

Is there any way a 141.0.0.0 boot rom could destroy ram boards in a mac pro 2010....
Just I have 5*16gb
But as soon as i put anymore in... one gets destroyed.
by that I mean if I take it out to test in another system it is DEAD.
The one that gets killed seems totally random.. to make matters worse.. no schematic to fault find..

The boards are not running particularly hot.. 30-34 deg.. according to onbrard temp ses.
northBrige Tdiode is hottest at about 51deg c.

Nope. Check your Xeons sockets and the DIMM slots.

 

[razorfsh]

Thought not...

Everything is clean & socketed correctly..... runs fine at 80GB. even runs with more.. but then a random board will pop..
The fact that a board in any slot pops.. which is split over 2 CPU .. makes me think this some sort of PSU issue....
but all voltages are correct.. even got "istats" tracking the voltages & temps and nothing shows up.
so it must have a really fast rise & fall time...

Worse it's very "expensive" to debug since the boards are DED

 

[petelugo]

The only thing I've heard is the Processors cannot be the 3XXX variant, has to be 5XXX Xeon - not sure why that would fry a memory board, but the recommendation is not to use 3XXX Xeon. The bootrom is now at 144. The new 144. Bootrom is in the current Mojave installer. Maybe that makes a difference?

This is from OWC -NOTE: Registered memory cannot be mixed with non-registered memory. 16GB Module Sets require that all installed modules be of the same p/n OWC 16GB modules. 16GB modules do not mix with other density (2GB, 4GB or 8GB) module types. - Again not sure why that would fry a board.

I know natively the the dual processor machine can do 64gigs of RAM and the install of more is tricky, that's why OWC has that disclaimer.

I would check the processors first enter in terminal:

sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string

Should come up like this:

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5690 @ 3.47GHz

Probably preaching to the choir and you probably know all this, but they're supposed to be installed in pairs in this order - attached photo. Again no reason to fry a board..

May need a new processor tray which is truly unfortunate.

 

[razorfsh]

you can actually take mac ram to a full complement 128GB, been there done that & it's stable with
X5690 @ 3.47GHz which are in this machine...

I know about the interleave.. it still blows 1 ram board.

I have a couple of HP DL380 servers, that I can pop the ram into to retest... & it says they are dead..
It's not the RAM SPD eprom Bcause that's still readable with a debug cable/programmer.

The other thing is that the ram boards max out at 1333 MHZ in the mac 5,1
but in the HP server they go to 1600Mhz and register as such..


I really need to find a schematic but I've been looking for years...

I have an old 2009 mac pro , ill throw that PSU into this 2010 and see...

 

[tsialex]

10.15.4 DP1 (19E224g) released today, already checked the new BridgeOS firmwares, release is 17.16.14226.5.3.

MP7,1 - J160:

Apple ROM Version
  BIOS ID:      MP71.88Z.F000.B00.2001270127
  Model:        MP71
  EFI Version:  1037.100.321.0.0
  Built by:     _reportmem@pdb648
  Date:         Mon Jan 27 01:27:57 2020
  Revision:     1037.100.321 (B&I)
  ROM Version:  F000_B00
  Build Type:   Official Build, RELEASE
  Compiler:     clang-1103.2.29.7
  UUID:         0BEAFF7F-2BDA-33FD-A7CE-6DCC461DF8DD
  UUID:         CE99EFF3-3110-34BF-9421-59050CCCE60C

Apple ROM Version
  BIOS ID:      MP71.88Z.F000.B00.2001270127
  Model:        MP71
  EFI Version:  1037.100.321.0.0
  Built by:     _reportmem@pdb648
  Date:         Mon Jan 27 01:27:57 2020
  Revision:     1037.100.321 (B&I)
  ROM Version:  F000_B00
  Build Type:   Official Build, RELEASE
  Compiler:     clang-1103.2.29.7
$IBIOSI$    MP71.88Z.F000.B00.2001270127
Copyright (c) 2005-2020 Apple Inc.  All rights reserved

[automerge]1580935336[/automerge]
For non-BridgeOS Macs the firmwares have the same versions as 10.15.3 DP2, 10.15. DP3 and 10.15.3:

Mac:	EFI version:
IM13,1	289.0.0.0.0
IM14,1	141.0.0.0.0
IM14,2	141.0.0.0.0
IM14,3	141.0.0.0.0
IM14,4	201.0.0.0.0
IM15,1	232.0.0.0.0
IM16,1	232.0.0.0.0
IM16,2	232.0.0.0.0
IM17,1	175.0.0.0.0
IM18,1	180.0.0.0.0
IM18,3	180.0.0.0.0
IM19,1	1037.80.34.0.0
MB10,1	184.0.0.0.0
MB8,1	187.0.0.0.0
MB9,1	189.0.0.0.0
MBA5,1	261.0.0.0.0
MBA6,1	119.0.0.0.0
MBA7,1	192.0.0.0.0
MBP10,1	259.0.0.0.0
MBP10,2	282.0.0.0.0
MBP11,1	158.0.0.0.0
MBP11,2	158.0.0.0.0
MBP11,4	196.0.0.0.0
MBP12,1	189.0.0.0.0
MBP13,1	242.0.0.0.0
MBP13,2	264.0.0.0.0
MBP13,3	264.0.0.0.0
MBP14,1	204.0.0.0.0
MBP14,2	204.0.0.0.0
MBP14,3	204.0.0.0.0
MBP9,1	230.0.0.0.0
MM6,1	282.0.0.0.0
MM7,1	246.0.0.0.0
MP6,1	134.0.0.0.0

 

[blasetheodore]

(Documenting this for google with better keywords, as I never found it. Apologies if its already been covered...)

Please note: this forum, (and pretty much everything on the internet) implies that you need a Metal gpu to do the 144.0.0.0 update. In my experience, this is not true. I flashed my Mac Pro 5,1 running a nvidia TitanX on 10.13.6 to the 144.0.0.0, and it works fine.

The firmware update process is as you describe it, except that you do it blind. In my case the whole firmware update lasted less than a minute, and required no intervention on my part. Other than the initial button hold to start it. 2 minutes later, the machine was up, and registering the new version.

To be clear, I am staying on 10.13.6, for the nvidia support. That support is lost in 10.14+, which itself requires the metal gpu.

 

[tsialex]

(Documenting this for google with better keywords, as I never found it. Apologies if its already been covered...)

Please note: this forum, (and pretty much everything on the internet) implies that you need a Metal gpu to do the 144.0.0.0 update. In my experience, this is not true. I flashed my Mac Pro 5,1 running a nvidia TitanX on 10.13.6 to the 144.0.0.0, and it works fine.

The firmware update process is as you describe it, except that you do it blind. In my case the whole firmware update lasted less than a minute, and required no intervention on my part. Other than the initial button hold to start it. 2 minutes later, the machine was up, and registering the new version.

To be clear, I am staying on 10.13.6, for the nvidia support. That support is lost in 10.14+, which itself requires the metal gpu.

Titan X is a METAL GPU for 10.13.6. This is clearly explained here MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread).

For High Sierra, any NVIDIA Maxwell or Pascal GPU is a METAL supported GPU once the NVIDIA web drivers are installed and working. Maxwell and Pascal GPUs are not supported with Mojave or Catalina, but the 10.13.6 support is enough for BootROM upgrades.

NVIDIA Kepler GPUs are supported with Apple native macOS drivers with 10.14 and 10.15, several Macs have Kepler GPUs like 2014 MacBook Pro or 2013 iMacs.

Btw, all 1xx.0.0.0 firmware upgrades are blind, the upgrades that require METAL, no progress bar at all.

 

[EvilMonk]

If I had a little more time available, I'd try to provide a service for people in countries that Mac Pro backplanes are exorbitant, basically the person would send photos from the ESN and MLB labels and I'd send a SPI flash replacement card with the correctly reconstructed BootROM. Even with shipping and taxes this probably would resurrect some Mac Pros a lot cheaper than buying a backplane at European or Australian prices.

Canadians as well... I paid over 1000$ just for a CPU backplane board / tray with shipping and customs... that was about 7-8 years ago a little after the tool was released. my Mac Pro crashed during the flash... I’m sure it could have been saved...

 

[zhpenn]

Titan X is a METAL GPU for 10.13.6. This is clearly explained here MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread).

For High Sierra, any NVIDIA Maxwell or Pascal GPU is a METAL supported GPU once the NVIDIA web drivers are installed and working. Maxwell and Pascal GPUs are not supported with Mojave or Catalina, but the 10.13.6 support is enough for BootROM upgrades.

NVIDIA Kepler GPUs are supported with Apple native macOS drivers with 10.14 and 10.15, several Macs have Kepler GPUs like 2014 MacBook Pro or 2013 iMacs.

Btw, all 1xx.0.0.0 firmware upgrades are blind, the upgrades that require METAL, no progress bar at all.

I have put the apple SSD again back to MP 6,1, then fresh install Mac OS, now bootrom is 134.0.0.0.0, then I swap back to a Nvme 3rd Party SSD

Later when New bootrom comes out, I just plug in the Apple SSD again, and just restart the mac it will automatically upgrade bootrom to the newest or I need to upgrade the system as well? like 10.15.x? then reboot for the upgrade?
Thanks a lot

 

[tsialex]

I have put the apple SSD again back to MP 6,1, then fresh install Mac OS, now bootrom is 134.0.0.0.0, then I swap back to a Nvme 3rd Party SSD

Later when New bootrom comes out, I just plug in the Apple SSD again, and just restart the mac it will automatically upgrade bootrom to the newest or I need to upgrade the system as well? like 10.15.x? then reboot for the upgrade?
Thanks a lot

You need to put back the original SSD, check for any software updates and do all of them. After some reboots, the new BootROM will be automatically installed.

 

[zhpenn]

You need to put back the original SSD, check for any software updates and do all of them. After some reboots, the new BootROM will be automatically installed.

Thanks a lot, normally is Apple update bootRom every year in big version, or small 10.15.x upgrade will also upgrade BootROOM? just wonder how often should I put the Apple SSD for upgrade bootRoM

 

[tsialex]

Thanks a lot, normally is Apple update bootRom every year in big version, or small 10.15.x upgrade will also upgrade BootROOM? just wonder how often should I put the Apple SSD for upgrade bootRoM

Just follow this thread and look at the BootROM tables I post for every new release, Apple don't follow any perceived logic releasing new BootROMs for non-BridgeOS Macs. Sometimes they put more than 4 updates in a year, sometimes takes a year for an update.

One thing tho, when Intel releases new micro-codes, Apple releases new BootROMs some weeks later.

 

[zhpenn]

Just follow this thread and look at the BootROM tables I post for every new release, Apple don't follow any perceived logic releasing new BootROMs for non-BridgeOS Macs. Sometimes they put more than 4 updates in a year, sometimes takes a year for an update.

One thing tho, when Intel releases new micro-codes, Apple releases new BootROMs some weeks later.

Thanks a lot

 

[AlexngX]

I’ve documented all the steps back in September 2018, see my screenshots.

flashrom is a line of command program, you run it from the Terminal:

Hi there,

I 've been trying to follow the same steps after bricking my MP4.1/5.1.
Entering the above command I get this:

Any ideas?

 

[tsialex]

Hi there,

I 've been trying to follow the same steps after bricking my MP4.1/5.1.
Entering the above command I get this:

View attachment 894648
Any ideas?

Defective SPI flash, not uncommon after 10 years of heavy use.

 

[AlexngX]

Thanks for the quick reply! This is unknown territory for me...

Prior to my failed attempt to update the firmware 140.0.0.0.0 to 144.0.0.0.0 (forgot to clear the nvram, stupid!) my MP has been very unstable. Could a failing SPI flash be the cause?

Thanks for your insight.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks for the quick reply! This is unknown territory for me...

Prior to my failed attempt to update the firmware 140.0.0.0.0 to 144.0.0.0.0 (forgot to clear the nvram, stupid!) my MP has been very unstable. Could a failing SPI flash be the cause?

Thanks for your insight.

This one is not failing, already failed. Replace it.

 

[tsialex]

10.15.4 DP2 (19E234g) released today. New BridgeOS firmwares, release is 17.16.14236.5.2.

MP7,1 - J160

Apple ROM Version
  BIOS ID:      MP71.88Z.F000.B00.2002100211
  Model:        MP71
  EFI Version:  1037.100.340.0.0
  Built by:     _reportmem@pdb648
  Date:         Mon Feb 10 02:11:19 2020
  Revision:     1037.100.340 (B&I)
  ROM Version:  F000_B00
  Build Type:   Official Build, RELEASE
  Compiler:     clang-1103.2.29.7
  UUID:         0BEAFF7F-2BDA-33FD-A7CE-6DCC461DF8DD
  UUID:         CE99EFF3-3110-34BF-9421-59050CCCE60C

[automerge]1582141070[/automerge]
Non-BridgeOS Macs still have the same December 20 firmware release date of 10.15.3 final.

Mac:	EFI version:
IM13,1	289.0.0.0.0
IM14,1	141.0.0.0.0
IM14,2	141.0.0.0.0
IM14,3	141.0.0.0.0
IM14,4	201.0.0.0.0
IM15,1	232.0.0.0.0
IM16,1	232.0.0.0.0
IM16,2	232.0.0.0.0
IM17,1	175.0.0.0.0
IM18,1	180.0.0.0.0
IM18,3	180.0.0.0.0
IM19,1	1037.80.34.0.0
MB10,1	184.0.0.0.0
MB8,1	187.0.0.0.0
MB9,1	189.0.0.0.0
MBA5,1	261.0.0.0.0
MBA6,1	119.0.0.0.0
MBA7,1	192.0.0.0.0
MBP10,1	259.0.0.0.0
MBP10,2	282.0.0.0.0
MBP11,1	158.0.0.0.0
MBP11,2	158.0.0.0.0
MBP11,4	196.0.0.0.0
MBP12,1	189.0.0.0.0
MBP13,1	242.0.0.0.0
MBP13,2	264.0.0.0.0
MBP13,3	264.0.0.0.0
MBP14,1	204.0.0.0.0
MBP14,2	204.0.0.0.0
MBP14,3	204.0.0.0.0
MBP9,1	230.0.0.0.0
MM6,1	282.0.0.0.0
MM7,1	246.0.0.0.0
MP6,1	134.0.0.0.0

 

[Fred4]

I'm not clear on a few points. I have a cMP 4,1, flashed to 5,1, and boot ROM up to MP51.0089.B00 from the HS installer from MAS. now, I want to update to the 144 ROM, but when I run the Mojave installer, it doesn't update the ROM like the HS installer did, it just says that it required HS, which I have not installed. I have an El Capitan partition that I am trying to run it from, and I have a Mojave partition. So, I am not sure if I have to install HS on another drive to get the installer to flash, or if it's not going to work anyway, because I am still on my 2.26 quads, and GT 120 GPU. I have x5680's on the way, and np GPU yet. So, the question I have, is; can I get the 144 ROM on now, without the X5680's in, on the stock Apple GT 120 GPU, or is the flasher going to require one, or both of those things to be in place already?
[automerge]1582334164[/automerge]
Maybe there's a command I can run from inside the Mojave installer package, but I don't want to upgrade to the 144 ROM if it's going to cause my system to not boot with the old processors and GPU still in.

 

[tsialex]

I'm not clear on a few points. I have a cMP 4,1, flashed to 5,1, and boot ROM up to MP51.0089.B00 from the HS installer from MAS. now, I want to update to the 144 ROM, but when I run the Mojave installer, it doesn't update the ROM like the HS installer did, it just says that it required HS, which I have not installed. I have an El Capitan partition that I am trying to run it from, and I have a Mojave partition. So, I am not sure if I have to install HS on another drive to get the installer to flash, or if it's not going to work anyway, because I am still on my 2.26 quads, and GT 120 GPU. I have x5680's on the way, and np GPU yet. So, the question I have, is; can I get the 144 ROM on now, without the X5680's in, on the stock Apple GT 120 GPU, or is the flasher going to require one, or both of those things to be in place already?
[automerge]1582334164[/automerge]
Maybe there's a command I can run from inside the Mojave installer package, but I don't want to upgrade to the 144 ROM if it's going to cause my system to not boot with the old processors and GPU still in.

Read the first post, pay attention to the notes:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

 

[applCore]

I have a MacPro5,1 running Catalina (10.15.3) with SilentKnight telling me my firmware is at 140.0.0.0.0.

Also I'm running dual X5690 @ 3.46GHz (SMC Version (system): 1.39f11).

Having read your note about 140 -> 144 that says this:

The fail-proof way to upgrade a MP5,1 firmware is to fully erase a SATA drive, install High Sierra 10.13.6 to it, download the current Mac App Store full installer (10.14.6), clear the NVRAM 3 times in sequence, after that you try to upgrade the firmware running the Mojave full installer.

I'm currently in a situation where I can't really do the suggested path there for upgrade. Is there a method for updating to 144 directly while on Catalina?

Additionally, MRT is at 1.52 and I'm seeing I should be at 1.55, anything I should do about that while I'm at it?

I'm curious if "Install all updates" with SilentKnight could possibly resolve the issues as well....