MP 1,1-5,1 MP5,1: EFI Release vs BIOS Version vs BootBlock Version Reference Table:

tsialex · Oct 13, 2018

EFI Release vs BIOS Version vs BootBlock Version Reference Table:

EFI Release:	BIOS Version:	BootBlock Version:
MP41.0081.B03	MP41.88Z.0081.B03.0902231259	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0004.I00.0901121311
MP41.0081.B04	MP41.88Z.0081.B04.0903051113	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0004.I00.0901121311
MP41.0081.B??	MP41.88Z.0081.B??	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0004.I00.0908061259
MP41.0081.B07	MP41.88Z.0081.B07.0910130729	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0004.I00.0910130728
MP41.0081.B08	MP41.88Z.0081.B08.1001221313	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0004.I00.1001221311
MP51.007F.B00	MP51.88Z.007F.B00.1008031144	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1006041028
MP51.007F.B??	MP51.88Z.007F.B??	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1007141219
MP51.007F.B01	MP51.88Z.007F.B01.1008231310	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.?
MP51.007F.B02	MP51.88Z.007F.B02.1009221128	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.?
MP51.007F.B03	MP51.88Z.007F.B03.1010071432	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1010071430
MP51.0083.B00	MP51.88Z.0083.B00.1707271620	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1707271617
MP51.0084.B00	MP51.88Z.0084.B00.1708080528	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1708080525
MP51.0085.B00	MP51.88Z.0085.B00.1802021746	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1802021742
MP51.0087.B00	MP51.88Z.0087.B00.1804181525	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1804181521
MP51.0089.B00	MP51.88Z.0089.B00.1806081708	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1806081704
138.0.0.0.0	MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1807300628	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1807300627
139.0.0.0.0	MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1808171030	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1808171029
140.0.0.0.0	MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1809191555	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1809191554
141.0.0.0.0	MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1812191621	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1812191620
142.0.0.0.0	MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1902142049	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1902142048
144.0.0.0.0	MP51.88Z.F000.B00.1904121248	AAPLEFI1.88Z.0005.I00.1904121247

tsialex · Oct 13, 2018

MacPro4,1 and MacPro5,1 known BootROM releases, from the oldest EFI update to the newest:

BootROM Version	Released with:	Type:	Note:
MP51.007F.B03	Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5	General release	First public released Mac Pro 5,1 firmware update, BootPicker improvements, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0083.B00	10.13 DP5	Beta	Beta APFS support, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0084.B00	10.13 DP6 and 10.13.0	General release	Initial APFS support, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0085.B00	10.13.4 and Mojave DP1 to DP3	General release	APFS support, microcodes vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown
MP51.0087.B00	10.13.5	General release	Missing microcodes and bricks the Mac Pro if you boot UEFI installed Windows 10
MP51.0089.B00	10.13.6	General release	Spectre/Meltdown mitigated microcodes on the April 2 Microcode Update Guidance.
138.0.0.0.0	10.14 DP7 and 10.14.0	General release	5GT/s support for every PCIe 2.0 card
139.0.0.0.0	10.14.1 DP1	Beta	Minor updates and corrections
140.0.0.0.0	10.14.1 DP3 and 10.14.1 to 10.14.4	General release	Native NVMe boot support, several minor updates and corrections (NVMe is not stable/several bugs found)
141.0.0.0.0	10.14.4 DP2	Beta	Minor updates and corrections
142.0.0.0.0	10.14.4 DP4 and 10.14.5 DP1	Beta	Updated APFSJumpStart EFI module - W3xxx Xeon bricker. This BootROM version was never released outside betas.
144.0.0.0.0	10.14.5 DP4 and 10.14.5	General release	Lot's of corrections, booting improvements, works with W3xxx Xeons. This is the current BootROM release

tsialex · Oct 13, 2018

How to do a BootROM dump with ROMTool:

If you are running anything newer than Mavericks, you will need to disable SIP. You can boot your Recovery partition or you can boot a createinstallmedia USB installer (≥10.11) to disable SIP.

Boot your Recovery partition or boot a createinstallmedia USB installer, open Terminal and then disable SIP with the command:
Code:
```
csrutil disable
```
Note: Yosemite SIP is not compatible with ROMTool/flashrom. Don’t use Yosemite at all.
Do a BootROM dump using ROMTool, zip password is "rom". You need SIP disabled and no AV or any anti-malware running. ROMTool is usually a false-positive to any AV/anti-malware because it uses flashrom and DirectHWAccess.kext. If you have any AV/Malware detection tool installed, do a clean install on another disk, it will be easier and less time consuming than disabling/removing kexts/etc.

If ROMTool asks you to confirm what is the model of your SPI flash, it's the 8-pin SOIC flash memory next to the PCIe AUX-B power connector, label U8700 - see the photos below. The model of the SPI flash memory is usually related to the model year:
- with early-2009 almost all backplanes have SST25VF032B,
- with mid-2010 usually is Macronix MX25L3205A or MX25L3205D, sometimes can be MX25L3206E with mid-2010s made in the 1st half of 2012, very rarely is SST25VF032B,
- with mid-2012 usually is Macronix MX25L3206E, it's not common to see mid-2012 with MX25L3205A or MX25L3205D.
- If ROMTool don’t ask you the SPI model at all, Apple used a SST25VF032B.

tsialex · Oct 13, 2018

MacPro4,1/MacPro5,1 BootROM SPI flash replacement procedure:

desolder the U8700 flash memory from the backplane PCB,
use an external SPI flash programmer and it's own app (or flashrom, if it's on the supported list of programmers) to dump the contents of the SPI flash memory removed from the MacPro backplane,
program MP51.fd, or your reconstructed never booted BootROM image or even a previously saved backup dump, to the replacement SPI flash memory (Macronix MX25L3205A/MX25L3205D/MX25L3206E, SST 25VF032B),
verify if the flashing process was done correctly,
solder back the SPI flash memory,
while the backplane is outside the case, take a picture of the MLB label near the AirPort Extreme connector, also take a picture of the ESN label, the one on the case near the GPU outputs,
reinstall the backplane in the Mac Pro case,
test if the Mac Pro is now capable of POST and it's booting macOS with the replacement flash memory,
if the Mac Pro is now booting macOS, ask a firmware engineer to do a BootROM reconstruction service based on the corrupt dump, the case ESN and the backplane MLB labels to get your Mac Pro fully working again.

tsialex · Oct 13, 2018

First step is to check EFI_DONE LED. Download the Apple Technician Guide (around page 29~33) to learn how to use the DIAG button.

If you bricked your Mac Pro, when EFI_DONE LED is not fully lit when you press the DIAG button, you have three options:

Buy a replacement backplane on eBay and replace the backplane yourself, cheapest option if you can't solder SMD. Remember that you need a 2009 backplane if you have an early-2009 Mac Pro. If you have a mid-2010 or mid-2012 you can use either 2010 or 2012 backplanes. Don't mix early-2009 backplanes with mid-2010/mid-2012 CPU trays, or vice-versa - either scenario is a SMC firmware version mismatch and all your fans will run at maximum RPM, full time and without any software control.
Buy a Mac Pro MATT card and use it as a replacement SPI flash, this is not recommended since all MATT cards are clones and won't work for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime. A replacement backplane is usually cheaper.
Desolder, reprogram and solder back the SPI flash, chip U8700 on the backplane. It's not possible to read or write to the SPI flash memory while it's soldered on the MP5,1 backplane. A cheap SPI flash programmer like ch341a will work for read/write the BootROM after the SPI flash memory is desoldered from the backplane. Start reading here, read all my posts on the subject from there. I strongly recommend that you replace your original SPI flash memory with a brand new one, don't solder it back to the backplane, it will fail soon since SPI flash memories have limited lifetime (manufacture rated for just 100.000 erase/write cycles) when used as NVRAM for a Mac Pro. Again, most hard bricks are caused by the failure of the SPI flash, it's a US$ 2 component easily available, MXIC MX25L3206E, just replace it! Btw, yes, you can use a MXIC MX25L3206E as a modern replacement for the two older models SST25VF032B and MXIC MX25L3205D used on early-2009 and mid-2010 respectively, Apple did it for mid-2012 Mac Pros.

Mojave has the generic MP51.fd firmware image inside the full installer, this is not the complete BootROM and it's enough for boot your Mac Pro again but not for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime login.
Code:
```
Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd
```

The whole SPI flash replacement procedure is:

desolder the U8700 flash memory from the backplane PCB,
use an external SPI flash programmer and it's own app (or flashrom, if it's on the supported list of programmers) to dump the contents of the SPI flash memory removed from the MacPro backplane,
program MP51.fd to the replacement SPI flash memory (Macronix MX25L3205A/MX25L3205D/MX25L3206E, SST 25VF032B),
verify if the flashing process was done correctly,
solder back the SPI flash memory,
while the backplane is outside the case, take a picture of the MLB label near the AirPort Extreme connector, also take a picture of the ESN label, the one on the case near the GPU outputs,
reinstall the backplane in the Mac Pro case,
test if the Mac Pro is now capable of POST and it's booting macOS with the replacement flash memory,
if the Mac Pro is now booting macOS, ask a firmware engineer to do a BootROM reconstruction service based on the corrupt dump, the case ESN and the backplane MLB labels to get your Mac Pro fully working again.

tsialex · Oct 13, 2018

AHT/ASD:

You need to run AHT and ASD (if it's a cross-flashed to MP5,1 early-2009 Mac Pro, you'll need to run mid-2010 versions) to find what is causing the shutdowns.

You need an Apple OEM GPU (HD 2600XT, 8800GT, Quadro FX 5600, GT120, HD 4870/5770/5870) to run AHT/ASD. AHT/ASD can be used with PC flashed GPUs, but will fail mid test when the GPU sensors are checked. Non flashed PC GPUs won't work at all. You need to boot completely vanilla, no OC, to use AHT/ASD.

You can get AHT links and instructions on how to install it on this GitHub article.

AHT, you need 022-4831-A.dmg:

GitHub - upekkha/AppleHardwareTest: Apple Hardware Test Download Links

Apple Hardware Test Download Links. Contribute to upekkha/AppleHardwareTest development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

The ASD version that you need is 3S149. The AHT instructions are valid for creating an ASD USB key and Apple provides a PDF with it.

ASD, you need 3S149:

Information Architect Blog

As an information architect, these are a few tools, articles, and miscellanea that I find useful.

www.loremipsum.info

For people that have an early-2009 cross-flashed with MP5,1 firmware, you will need to run the MacPro5,1 versions of AHT (022-4831-A) and ASD (3S149).

expede · Oct 13, 2018

Is this the egg?

/Per

Well it seams I am to stupid to see it. I have been staring at the pictures for some time now. Sorry! To dumb. Wow, I am so dumb.

tsialex said:
(No need to inject if using 140.0.0.0.0 BootROM)

tsialex · Oct 13, 2018

expede said:
Is this the egg?

/Per

No

(it's in one of the images, btw)

abdyfranco · Oct 14, 2018

expede said:
Is this the egg?

/Per

Well it seams I am to stupid to see it. I have been staring at the pictures for some time now. Sorry! To dumb.

I saw the images for almost half an hour and I couldn't find anything.

h9826790 · Oct 15, 2018

I followed this exact procedure to reconstruct my BootROM, it’s easy to follow, and have great success. The resultant file is identical to the one that tsialex sent me.

And when I follow the procedure, the image looks interesting to me is this one.

tsialex · Oct 15, 2018

h9826790 said:
I followed this exact procedure to reconstruct my BootROM, it’s easy to follow, and have great success. The result file is identical to the one that tsialex sent me.

And when I follow the procedure, the image looks interesting to me is this one.
View attachment 795144

But why?

People are near, but no one found it yet

h9826790 · Oct 15, 2018

tsialex said:
But why?

People are near, but no one found it yet

The numbers

tsialex · Oct 15, 2018

h9826790 said:
The numbers

Ok, you are near. What the numbers represent?

h9826790 · Oct 15, 2018

tsialex said:
Ok, you are near. What the numbers represent?

G8909, a photodiode array, for PC

tsialex · Oct 15, 2018

h9826790 said:
G8909, a photodiode array, for PC

Nope. Cold again.

h9826790 · Oct 15, 2018

The numbers looks wrong to me is the G89090004PC. Because that’s not a normal cMP serial number.

So, I assume it’s about how to decode this numbers.

if the last 3 digit means “for PC”, then it’s not too hard to understand. But if that means something else, it will be much harder to decoded.

Also, now we know if we remove the 000 between G8909 and 4PC, then the result is wrong (or wrongly decoded).

Then the next few questions will be if the G is attached to the 8909000? And if 8909 has it’s own special meaning?

1989 Sep? Or 8th Sep 2009? Both doesn’t looks like has special meaning on computer or Mac Pro.

So far, I can only find a company call itself 8909.

8909000 can be a phone number, but I don’t think tsialex will post that on a forum.

And what “G” means? G890? 9000?

If the direction is right, may be the others can help to decode.

tsialex · Oct 15, 2018

h9826790 said:
The numbers looks wrong to me is the G89090004PC. Because that’s not a cMP serial number.

It's a totally valid serial number for early-2009.

So, I assume it’s about how to decode this numbers.

if the last 3 digit means “for PC”, then it’s not too hard to understand. But if that means something else, it will be much harder to decoded.

Also, now we know if we remove the 000 between G8909 and 4PC, then the result is wrong (or wrongly decoded).

Then the next few questions will be if the G is attached to the 8909000? And if 8909 has it’s own special meaning?

1989 Sep? Or 8th Sep 2009? Both doesn’t looks like has special meaning on computer or Mac Pro.

So far, I can only find a company call itself 8909.

8909000 can be a phone number, but I don’t think tsialex will post that on a forum.

And what “G” means? G890? 9000?

If the direction is right, may be the others can help to decode.

4PC is one of the models of 2009 Mac Pros, the basic single processor one, MB871LL/A.

No phone numbers, no hidden info. It's about the serial. Why?

h9826790 · Oct 15, 2018

One of those prototypes?

tsialex · Oct 15, 2018

h9826790 said:
One of those prototypes?

No, but you are near. Decode the serial number and you know why.

h9826790 · Oct 15, 2018

The cMP usually made in China, but this once made in USA

tsialex · Oct 15, 2018

h9826790 said:
The cMP usually made in China, but this once made in USA

China, USA, Ireland… But it's not where.

BillyBobBongo · Oct 15, 2018

The one that Steve had on his desk?

h9826790 · Oct 15, 2018

G8 - USA
9 - 2009
09 - week 9
000 - production line 0
4PC - Mac Pro 4,1

Production line 0?

BillyBobBongo · Oct 15, 2018

Which would make it the very first one produced, or perhaps the one used during the keynote for the Mac Pro reveal on March 3rd 2009!?

tsialex · Oct 15, 2018

h9826790 said:
G8 - USA
9 - 2009
09 - week 9
000 - production line 0
4PC - Mac Pro 4,1

Production line 0?

Yep. It's the first production Mac Pro, since Apple starts all serials with zero.
[doublepost=1539601851][/doublepost]

BillyBobBongo said:
Which would make it the very first one produced, or perhaps the one used during the keynote for the Mac Pro reveal on March 3rd 2009!?

Yes, the first one production Mac Pro made.

MP 1,1-5,1 MP5,1: EFI Release vs BIOS Version vs BootBlock Version Reference Table:

Contributor

Contributor

Contributor

Attachments

Contributor

Contributor

Contributor

AHT/ASD:​

macrumors regular

Contributor

macrumors regular

macrumors P6

Contributor

macrumors P6

Contributor

macrumors P6

Contributor

macrumors P6

Contributor

macrumors P6

Contributor

macrumors P6

Contributor

macrumors 68030

macrumors P6

macrumors 68030

Contributor

Our Staff

AHT/ASD: