MP 1,1-5,1 OCLP Monterey - bluetooth stopped working after I swapped drives, what did I do wrong and how do I fix it?

[twotone]

Hi folks, Looking for some guidance!

My OCLP install of Monterey has had a wobble this afternoon. I pulled the SSD to test a Snow Leopard HDD, and after refitting and rebooting the Monterey SSD the bluetooth stopped working (showed as connected to the magic keyboard but not working), additionally it automatically booted to a different HDD I have installed (High Sierra).

The mac is a 2009 Mac Pro, 5,1 Firmware, 96GB Ram, 2 X 5650 2.66 processors, Monterey OCLP SSD, High Sierra SSD, 1TB SSD for storage, 250GB Time Machine SSD, 5770 GPU (non metal but Snow Leopard compatible).

From what I've seen, the usual solution to bluetooth stopping working can be any of the below:

• Reset NVRAM 5 times - did this, and then the bluetooth icon just had a cross through it.
• Reapply Root Patches in OCLP (without reverting?) - done this twice (including with reverting)
• Restore whole thing from backup - started the process but cancelled out as I was concerned it wouldn't be the correct route

A poster on FB has suggested it needs reblessing, any ideas how I do this? Or any guidance on how to avoid this happening again? e.g. was it the pulling of SSD, running of Snow Leopard or something else entirely?

I booted it in recovery mode (command + R) and was starting the process of recovering from a time machine back up, but then worried it might not be the correct route (I didn't know if it would incorporate OCLP) so cancelled out and shutdown. I then decided it would be best to put my main boot drive e.g. Monterey in bay 1, so swapped the High Sierra HDD to Bay 3. I rebooted and it's all working again!

No idea why, but I'd really like to know why and how to resolve in the future as I'm going to be booting from Snow Leopard HDD again in a few days and can't afford for it to go wrong again!

Thanks!

 

[tsialex]

Just reboot two times, this is a known issue for years. Apple changed the syntax of BT related variables with Catalina, so, if you boot anything earlier, you will need to reboot twice with Monterey to correct the NVRAM entries.

 

[twotone]

Just reboot two times, this is a known issue for years. Apple changed the syntax of BT related variables with Catalina, so, if you boot anything earlier, you will need to reboot twice with Monterey to correct the NVRAM entries.

So the bluetooth intermittently working, then having a line through it, and it booting off a different drive are all caused by this? If so, just two normal start up and shut downs without any NVRAM resets (I'd have to hold option to specify Monterey)? I did NVRAM resets as described in my original post and it didn't resolve, but I assume this wouldn't count!

Thanks!

 

[tsialex]

No, two very different things at play.

Starting with Big Sur Apple began to remove support for ancient Intel OHCI USB controllers, since MacPro5,1 BT controller is an OHCI one, after Catalina the USB (and obviously BT) started to be flaky. With Monterey the USB OHCI devices are extremely flaky and only work if connected before power on. With Ventura and Sonoma there is no support whatsoever anymore.

To workaround the OHCI support removal, you can force the USB v1.0/1.1 devices to the still supported EHCI (USB v2.0) controllers connecting your OHCI devices to a USB2.0/3.0 hub, powered preferably. This makes any USB 1.0/1.1 devices to be EHCI. So, to have reliable BT devices you need to connect the BT D+ D- signals to a USB v2.0/3.0 hub.

The other thing at play is the different syntax of BT entries inside the NVRAM, when you boot before Catalina and then Catalina/later macOS releases. This can be solved rebooting the modern macOS release two times, like I've explained already.

There is also a third issue, if you boot between earlier and modern macOS releases constantly and your Mac Pro have BootROM issues, like a cross-flashed early-2009 or double Windows SecureBoot signing, after the NVRAM became full, you can't use the reboot trick anymore and you gonna need a BootROM reconstruction.

 

[twotone]

No, two very different things at play.

Starting with Big Sur Apple began to remove support for ancient Intel OHCI USB controllers, since MacPro5,1 BT controller is an OHCI one, after Catalina the USB (and obviously BT) started to be flaky. With Monterey the USB OHCI devices are extremely flaky and only work if connected before power on. With Ventura and Sonoma there is no support whatsoever anymore.

To workaround the OHCI support removal, you can force the USB v1.0/1.1 devices to the still supported EHCI (USB v2.0) controllers connecting your OHCI devices to a USB2.0/3.0 hub, powered preferably. This makes any USB 1.0/1.1 devices to be EHCI. So, to have reliable BT devices you need to connect the BT D+ D- signals to a USB v2.0/3.0 hub.

The other thing at play is the different syntax of BT entries inside the NVRAM, when you boot before Catalina and then Catalina/later macOS releases. This can be solved rebooting the modern macOS release two times, like I've explained already.

There is also a third issue, if you boot between earlier and modern macOS releases constantly and your Mac Pro have BootROM issues, like a cross-flashed early-2009 or double Windows SecureBoot signing, after the NVRAM became full, you can't use the reboot trick anymore and you gonna need a BootROM reconstruction.

Thanks Alex, I think I understand now!

Would having an upgraded Wifi/Bluetooth card change any of this? I'm planning on doing the later apple wifi/bluetooth card

Is there anything to prevent the last point happening? Would routine NVRAM resets help keep the wolf from the door? Or am I best off abandoning snow leopard usage with this machine?

Thanks

 

[tsialex]

Thanks Alex, I think I understand now!

Would having an upgraded Wifi/Bluetooth card change any of this? I'm planning on doing the later apple wifi/bluetooth card

No. All MacPro5,1 compatible BT controllers suffer the same dual mode USB and NVRAM issues.

Is there anything to prevent the last point happening? Would routine NVRAM resets help keep the wolf from the door? Or am I best off abandoning snow leopard usage with this machine?

Thanks

BootROM reconstruction service, flashing the never booted BootROM image from time to time and etc.