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tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
Is there another thread with instructions on how to do this reconstruction service? To be honest I’ve read over some of them and a lot is going over my head
It's a very specialized service, if you want I can send you a PM with all the info, what you need to send me and the cost of the service.
 

GlynH

macrumors regular
Jun 14, 2016
137
34
Well I've read the first thread many times and many more besides but I still have a question if I may please.

I understand to install Mojave I *should* remove any and all PCIe NVMe drives but here's the problem.

I have High Sierra running nicely on one of my 970 blades with the Install macOS Mojave installer downloaded directly from Apple ready & waiting in the Applications folder which is where I want to run the installer from.

I want to install to a Samsung 860 EVO SSD in Bay 2

Now earlier today I successfully installed High Sierra on a second NVMe M.2 drive by just running the Install macOS High Sierra sitting right next to the Mojave installer and all worked as expected.

Can I just run the Mojave installer in the same way to end up with a clean Mojave install on the 860 EVO SSD without removing the NVMe M.2 drives (it would be impossible to remove one of them if I wanted to install this way) or resorting to any other jiggery pokery such as creating USB installers or otherwise making additional work which potentially increases the risk of my making an error?

As per my sig I am already on Boot ROM 144.0.0.0.0 and happily running 10.13.6 High Sierra so just a standard software install would make the difference between installing Mojave or not in my case.

Currently using a Quadro NVS 510 which is showing as Metal Supported in System Report but should have a Quadro K5000 Mac Edition arriving in the next couple of days if it might be worth waiting for that before attempting the install?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
Well I've read the first thread many times and many more besides but I still have a question if I may please.

I understand to install Mojave I *should* remove any and all PCIe NVMe drives but here's the problem.
Only applies with firmware upgrades, not for someone already at 144.0.0.0.0.
I have High Sierra running nicely on one of my 970 blades with the Install macOS Mojave installer downloaded directly from Apple ready & waiting in the Applications folder which is where I want to run the installer from.

I want to install to a Samsung 860 EVO SSD in Bay 2

Now earlier today I successfully installed High Sierra on a second NVMe M.2 drive by just running the Install macOS High Sierra sitting right next to the Mojave installer and all worked as expected.

Can I just run the Mojave installer in the same way to end up with a clean Mojave install on the 860 EVO SSD without removing the NVMe M.2 drives (it would be impossible to remove one of them if I wanted to install this way) or resorting to any other jiggery pokery such as creating USB installers or otherwise making additional work which potentially increases the risk of my making an error?

As per my sig I am already on Boot ROM 144.0.0.0.0 and happily running 10.13.6 High Sierra so just a standard software install would make the difference between installing Mojave or not in my case.

Currently using a Quadro NVS 510 which is showing as Metal Supported in System Report but should have a Quadro K5000 Mac Edition arriving in the next couple of days if it might be worth waiting for that before attempting the install?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-
USB installers don't work for NVIDIA GPUs, you have to install from macOS to another disk.
 

jagaloon

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2014
31
1
NH
I'm tinkering with trying to get my 5,1 MP that currently has Mojave 10.14.6 installed with a Radeon 580 video card and a Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSD, upgraded to Big Sur.

I am first trying to first upgrade my boot rom which is currently at
141.0.0.0.0

I can't seem to figure out if I need to install my old 5770 card that came with the MP in order to do the update or not. Does anyone have a link to download the firmware or is it handled by the OS install itself?
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
I'm tinkering with trying to get my 5,1 MP that currently has Mojave 10.14.6 installed with a Radeon 580 video card and a Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSD, upgraded to Big Sur.

I am first trying to first upgrade my boot rom which is currently at
141.0.0.0.0

I can't seem to figure out if I need to install my old 5770 card that came with the MP in order to do the update or not. Does anyone have a link to download the firmware or is it handled by the OS install itself?
Please read the first post of the thread, both your questions are answered there.
 

jagaloon

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2014
31
1
NH
Please read the first post of the thread, both your questions are answered there.
Found from another thread that the firmware comes down from the OS and can't be added manually. Then combed through this below, so it looks like the answer is to unplug my PCIe SSD and install a spinner or ssd hdd and somehow install Mojave to that drive ( even though I'll never use it again ) and the firmware is supposed to get updated? Then I can re-install my PCIe ssd which already has Mojave installed and continue as normal?

"You can't upgrade your firmware if you are booting from a RAID array or from a SATA III card. The point is that need to be a single SATA device (HDD or SSD) connected to the Mac Pro southbridge SATA ports, not a RAID, not a SAS, not a PCIe device, not a PCIe SATA controller, not a PCIe AHCI blade. Open your Mac Pro, remove all RAID controllers, PCIe SATA cards, PCIe AHCI or NVMe M.2/U.2 drives, disconnect all RAID drives, including AppleRAID, and use a single SATA drive connected into a backplane native SATA port. Keep it simple and use Apple defaults when upgrading Mac Pro firmware."
 

jagaloon

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2014
31
1
NH
With my PCIe SSD installed still, I opted to download Mojave again and was prompted to update my firmware. My mac shut down and powered off, I pressed and held the power button till it flashed and continued to press till I heard a tone, then the gong sound and then released. The machine booted back up with my existing copy of Mojave but my boot loader now shows 144.0.0.0

I did not need to re-install to another hdd for whatever reason. Now on to figuring out how to upgrade to Big Sur.
 

macaddress

macrumors newbie
May 27, 2019
29
3
Help!

I’ve been rocking an nvme for a few months now. Today I did some disk repairs for some other drives but it said I needed to be in recovery mode. Since no keyboard commands worked at boot up, I used the install/recovery disk and pointed target disk to open the dvd. I wasn’t thinking about the drivers for vii not working. So I’m stuck at a black screen. I removed the dvd drive and every other drive except name. It’s not booting! Any way to retarget disk mode? Or do I have I have to put the old 5870 in and reinstall from Leopard again to get to target disk mode?
 
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tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
Help!

I’ve been rocking an name for a few months now. Today I did some disk repairs for some other drives but it said I needed to be in recovery mode. Since no keyboard commands worked at booted up using the install/recovery disk and pointed target disk to open the dvd. I wasn’t thinking about the drivers for vii not working. So I’m stuck at a black screen. I removed the dvd drive and every other drive except name. It’s not booting! Any way to retarget disk mode? Or do I have I have to put the old 5870 in and reinstall from Leopard again to get to target disk mode?
It's the Mac Pro firmware that provides Target Disk Mode, no need of any macOS install at all.

I never tried TDM with a GPU without pre-boot configuration support, don't know if works or not.
 

macaddress

macrumors newbie
May 27, 2019
29
3
It's the Mac Pro firmware that provides Target Disk Mode, no need of any macOS install at all.

I never tried TDM with a GPU without pre-boot configuration support, don't know if works or not.
I targeted it because command-r doesn’t work at boot, nor holding c or shift to select boot drive from dvd disc . Well I get a black screen when it tried to boot from dvd assuming vii doesn’t load etc. im just trying to target back to booting to my nvme drive.


Edit: after a few boots it came back whew. However, I lost my second screen and the mouse jumps with8 second latency. Also sorry for poor grammar, type in stead fast via iPhone while picking this apart in fear of losing data. Nvme doesn’t play nice.

Edit2: yeah it’s funkY screen came back and mouse operation back to normal. I rebooted and I’m back to shaky mouse no second display. guess it has to relearn for 10 minutes? This is gross, also what do we with with no key commands on boot? Is this normal? No cmd opt P R will work? No selecting startup disk etc. I just noticed I didn’t do target tdm, I just selected the start up and hit restart. I was thinking they were the same, either way it’s booting like when I first installed the nvme. Hesitant, slow no second screen. Mouse disappears than reappears. Back to goofy.

Edit3: specs
5,1 Mojave 10.14.6
boot rom 144.0.0.0.0
Smc1.39f11
X2 3.46
128gb 1333
Radeon vii
Boot nvme 980pro.

Back to goofy town now, happy I see my stuff not so happy I’m in quicksand trying to sprint.
 
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tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
also what do we with with no key commands on boot? Is this normal? No cmd opt P R will work? No selecting startup disk etc. I just noticed I didn’t do target tdm, I just selected the start up and hit restart.
A PC non-flashed GPU don't have any pre-boot configuration support.

Btw, why you are posting this here? I'm trying to understand what this have to do with the thread topic?
 

macaddress

macrumors newbie
May 27, 2019
29
3
A PC non-flashed GPU don't have any pre-boot configuration support.

Btw, why you are posting this here? I'm trying to understand what this have to do with the thread topic?
First topic I ran into while panicking that was related to booting. I recently had to relearn the logic board to 144… and was afraid I had to install leopard again because I targeted my dvd drive to try to repair some permissions. For a hot minute I was locked at a black screen.

Edit: After the mess. I switched out my keyboard out of curiosity sake. command-r worked and I was able to disable sip and install open core. Why a new keyboard worked over the old one with nothing wrong with the keys and more importantly supposedly 'no pre-boot config' on a vii still worked?

Also add, that i didn't have cmd-r or any other keystroke working with the original hd5870 as well.(strange enough the 5870 did boot into mojave without metal support, shiddy performance but it did boot
 
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MoerBoer

macrumors regular
Jan 27, 2018
215
149
Have to give a shout-out to @tsialex for reconstructing my BootRom.

He was extremely detailed and gave very precise and easy to follow steps which I had to do.

Flashing was done without an issue and my BootRom is nice and clean again.

For anyone thinking of using his service, you won’t be disappointed.
 

Gheorghe

macrumors newbie
May 10, 2022
3
0
I have a problem - I installed mac os high sierra on mac pro 5.1 2x4 cor. After that I dowlanded macos-Mojave and ran the installation with a firmware upgrade. I turned off the computer, installed the rx 570 video card, turned on the computer with the button pressed, until it made a sound, but the screen remained off, after the computer turned off. I turned on the computer again but the video signal didn't appear .I repeated the procedure with original video card but nothing has changed.
it crashed in the firmware upgrade process.
Now I don't know what to do.
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
I have a problem - I installed mac os high sierra on mac pro 5.1 2x4 cor. After that I dowlanded macos-Mojave and ran the installation with a firmware upgrade. I turned off the computer, installed the rx 570 video card, turned on the computer with the button pressed, until it made a sound, but the screen remained off, after the computer turned off. I turned on the computer again but the video signal didn't appear .I repeated the procedure with original video card but nothing has changed.
it crashed in the firmware upgrade process.
Now I don't know what to do.
First post already have the 3 possibilities, replacement backplane / MATT card + reconstruction / replacement SPI flash if you can desolder/solder SMD.
 

Gheorghe

macrumors newbie
May 10, 2022
3
0
ok this operation is 50 to 50, if i buy a new backplane, i repeat the firmware upgrade can it crash again?
Is there a way to find out what the problem was, so I don't repeat it?
I did everything according to the first post, I used a compatible video card, I connected the monitor via hdmi, I connected a single disk to sata 3, I upgraded from high sierra, but it didn't work anyway.
Does it make sense to buy another backplane and do the same?
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
ok this operation is 50 to 50, if i buy a new backplane, i repeat the firmware upgrade can it crash again?
Is there a way to find out what the problem was, so I don't repeat it?
I did everything according to the first post, I used a compatible video card, I connected the monitor via hdmi, I connected a single disk to sata 3, I upgraded from high sierra, but it didn't work anyway.
Does it make sense to buy another backplane and do the same?
A BootROM reconstruction service will get from the whatever version installed directly to 144.0.0.0.0 with all other modules that are not upgraded by Apple EFI firmware upgrades.

Btw, a MATT card + BootROM reconstruction service also solve your problem the same way.

I’ll send you a PM with instructions/cost then you can calculate what will work best for you.
 

Gheorghe

macrumors newbie
May 10, 2022
3
0
A BootROM reconstruction service will get from the whatever version installed directly to 144.0.0.0.0 with all other modules that are not upgraded by Apple EFI firmware upgrades.

Btw, a MATT card + BootROM reconstruction service also solve your problem the same way.

I’ll send you a PM with instructions/cost then you can calculate what will work best for you.
Thank you for answering very quickly and clearly.
I have studied the possibility of solving the problem by replacing the spi flash and I think I am able to do it, I have already ordered the programmer and spi flash. It would be more complicated to program it, because I never did it, but I'm ready to try.
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
Thank you for answering very quickly and clearly.
I have studied the possibility of solving the problem by replacing the spi flash and I think I am able to do it, I have already ordered the programmer and spi flash. It would be more complicated to program it, because I never did it, but I'm ready to try.
If you can desolder and solder the 8-pin SMD SOIC/SOJ chip, programming the MP51.fd to the SPI flash memory is trivial.

Remember that flashing the MP51.fd to the SPI and soldering it back to your Mac Pro will get it booting again, but you still need a reconstruction service to get your Mac Pro fully working again. A Mac Pro flashed just with the MP51.fd is completely unserialized, don't have the hardware descriptor and won't login with Apple Services/you won't get Message, FaceTime or iCloud working again until a BootROM reconstruction.

Don't damage/cut the leads of the original SPI, you will need to try to dump the failed one. I'll need whatever you can get from it to extract the hardwareIDs, some (like the build date/BD and Sales Order Number/SON ) are not present elsewhere. Also get a picture of the MLB label while the backplane is still out of the case.
 
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TC!!

macrumors member
Sep 14, 2018
32
4
nvm - just searched and realised I can't install a clean Mojave as it's trying to update my firmware from 140 to 144, not having any luck getting it to work, need to try the internal SATA method.
 
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overshoot

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2018
118
22
If you can desolder and solder the 8-pin SMD SOIC/SOJ chip, programming the MP51.fd to the SPI flash memory is trivial.

Remember that flashing the MP51.fd to the SPI and soldering it back to your Mac Pro will get it booting again, but you still need a reconstruction service to get your Mac Pro fully working again. A Mac Pro flashed just with the MP51.fd is completely unserialized, don't have the hardware descriptor and won't login with Apple Services/you won't get Message, FaceTime or iCloud working again until a BootROM reconstruction.

Don't damage/cut the leads of the original SPI, you will need to try to dump the failed one. I'll need whatever you can get from it to extract the hardwareIDs, some (like the build date/BD and Sales Order Number/SON ) are not present elsewhere. Also get a picture of the MLB label while the backplane is still out of the case.
Regarding the reconstruction, I took the easy way and flashed my MP4,1 with the MP51.fd using Dosdude Romtool.
I couldn't figure out why the High Sierra installer wouldn't do the firmware upgrade after several try, so I gave up!

I have the original bios though saved and I would like to transfer the missing informations to the unserialized one.
Is there a page or thread that describe the steps involved?
 

tsialex

Contributor
Original poster
Jun 13, 2016
13,108
13,307
Regarding the reconstruction, I took the easy way and flashed my MP4,1 with the MP51.fd using Dosdude Romtool.
I couldn't figure out why the High Sierra installer wouldn't do the firmware upgrade after several try, so I gave up!

I have the original bios though saved and I would like to transfer the missing informations to the unserialized one.
Is there a page or thread that describe the steps involved?
Nope, too involved and complex procedure, with nested checksums, lot's of modules to upgrade and different X86 Reset Vector. I provide a paid reconstruction service for that, I'll send you a PM.
 

GabrielHoang

macrumors newbie
Jun 23, 2022
3
0
My Mac 5.1 running with high sierra 10.13.6 but with a Boot Room MP51.0084.B00
Could i go ahead and up grade to the Boot Room 144.0.0.0.0 from the Mojave ?

Screen Shot 2022-06-24 at 2.40.16 PM.png


Screen Shot 2022-06-24 at 2.40.58 PM.png

 
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