MP 1,1-5,1 OpenCore and the 2008 Mac Pro 3,1

[TitaniumFrog]

Thanks! I've just read up on the Latebloom-topic. I do have to say it doesn't necessarily inspire confidence - though there's no rush with getting this MP to Big Sur. It's good to know audio and USB do work OOTB! I'll go have a look at 7950s, and see what there market is for those cards. I do seem to recall that flashing certain 7950s may result in losing certain outputs on the card...
Anyway, thanks again for the info!

 

[Inspector42]

No need to rush to BigSur, I am still running Catalina on my MP with no limitation.
If you can live without Apple Bootscreen and don’t need much graphic power the GTX 650 is another low cost option. My MacBook Pro runs Catalina just fine with the mobile version and my hackintosh runs the GTX 650 TI on Mojave with Metal Support. However Nvidia support is basically deprecated, so not the best option for life extension beyond BigSur.
OpenCore can still provide a boot drive selection via open canopy.
Also with WhateverGreen I did not have any „dead“ outputs on the flashed HD7950 nor the RX480 I am using now.

 

[trifero]

No need to rush to BigSur, I am still running Catalina on my MP with no limitation.
If you can live without Apple Bootscreen and don’t need much graphic power the GTX 650 is another low cost option. My MacBook Pro runs Catalina just fine with the mobile version and my hackintosh runs the GTX 650 TI on Mojave with Metal Support. However Nvidia support is basically deprecated, so not the best option for life extension beyond BigSur.
OpenCore can still provide a boot drive selection via open canopy.
Also with WhateverGreen I did not have any „dead“ outputs on the flashed HD7950 nor the RX480 I am using now.

I´m running Catalina even in my Macbook Big Sur supported. Still more than a year of official support.

 

[Stex]

Thanks! I've just read up on the Latebloom-topic. I do have to say it doesn't necessarily inspire confidence

Catalina works perfectly well with OC and, yes, it's supported for one more year. Those of us who tested and made the jump into the latest Big Sur (11.5.1 as of writing) with Latebloom have been very happily surprised by how reliable it is at booting both cold and warm our beloved cMPs. Like the developer @Syncretic explains clearly in the first post of the thread, it is not the solution to the underlying problem, but it definitely is way to mitigate (and almost eliminate) the problem. Keep an eye on the Latebloom thread, more people will be testing Latebloom and write new reports as well as those of us testing form early on will be writing updates... at some point you might realize it is worth trying the latest supported macOS on a 13 years old machine!

 

[axeb]

That driver works like a charm for me on my CMP3,1, too. I stumbled over it, since I saw this post mentioned as an improvement request in the issues list of OCLP: https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/issues/406

@joevt, maybe something can be done here if you contact the OCLP maintainers to clarify if you allow them to permanently integrate this (I find it immensely useful, but from my understanding I will have to integrate it on my own every time I build a new OCLP and install it). I asked an open question about the status of that issue on the OCLP discord, and got a reply from who is (I guess) one of the maintainers, Kepler Slayer Slav, that read:

"The issue is:
- there is no license
- there is no source
So can't realistically be implemented without the author's approval"

 

[joevt]

@axeb your post needs some fixing.

I am working on posting source to GitHub.

 

[KernkraftX360]

I managed to use OCLP for MacPro3,1 with the latest version of 0.0.30. But I come to a blank screen during boot on the Mac Pro 3,1. When I tried to use Macbook Pro 2010, the Mac Pro ssd boots. Do I need to remove the BT card on the Mac Pro tower for it to work? Or what did I do wrong somehow? I did run the patch also. Cheers.

 

[tigerintank]

this link in the OP is broken for me -

OpenCore Resources for the MP3,1:

• Dortania's OpenCore for Legacy Macs guide: New to OpenCore? Read this first.

 

[Macschrauber]

I managed to use OCLP for MacPro3,1 with the latest version of 0.0.30. But I come to a blank screen during boot on the Mac Pro 3,1. When I tried to use Macbook Pro 2010, the Mac Pro ssd boots. Do I need to remove the BT card on the Mac Pro tower for it to work? Or what did I do wrong somehow? I did run the patch also. Cheers.

With so much details it is impossible to help.

What OS?, What GPU, what kind of output?

 

[KernkraftX360]

With so much details it is impossible to help.

What OS?, What GPU, what kind of output?

I tried with Mac OS Big Sur 11.6 using OLCP 0.0.30. The GPU I'm using is non-Apple GTX640, but it used to work in Catalina prior to the Big Sur upgrade. The system boots up with chime, and it seems the monitor knows the Mac Pro is on because it senses output from the HDMI, but it's just a blank screen. Ran the patch for hardware acceleration too for the graphics patch, to no avail Let me know if you need more info, I'll be more than happy to provide.

 

[shycoconut]

Hi everyone.. I know this sound little bit ignorant but I really don't know what to do with my gpu. It's

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT. I know it is not support metal graphics but can Legacy video patcher help me out? Also It's not supported EFI and so I can't see bootloader menu, Install screen of Mojave, Catalina, Big sur etc.. I tried to boot in my usb disk from system prefs and nothing was happened.. just black screen. I am in currently El capitan and I need mojave and higher mac os on it. I used Opencore before with my 2011 macbook pro but.. I can't boot anything in my mac pro.. What should I do?

 

[2008earlymacpro]

bluetooth Chipset: BCM_4350C2 mac pro 3,1 early 2008
hey everyone so grateful to this forum and opencore legacy i was wondering why dosdude1 didn't keep going after catalina ..... if anyone has experienced this will you let me know ..... i upgraded 2 mac pro 3,1 early 2008 to monterey 12.5 and lost bluetooth on both my wifi is ok though

i'm pretty sure i upgraded the airport/bluetooth on one of them myself 6-7 years ago ....the system report shows this as chipset BCM_4350C2 .....i really don't want to rip it apart and upgrade to bluetooth 4 for now i'm using wired usb keyboard/mouse ... does anyone know how to get this chipset working ?

 

[Dayo]

does anyone know how to get this chipset working ?

Share your OpenCore config file

 

[2008earlymacpro]

thanks for reply .... i'm totally new to opencore how do i find the config file ?

 

[Dayo]

I assume that your mention of "OpenCore Legacy" means you are using the OCLP.

So, mount the EFI folder you put OpenCore as you did when installing, look for config.plist under an OC folder, zip the file up and attach it.

 

[StormLord]

I've copied the release file of PCIeLinkRate.efi to EFI partition/OC/drivers and rebooted but the speed of my NVME is still capped.
I'm using OCLP with Monterey on my sig MacPro3,1
maybe I should do it differently?

 

[Dayo]

maybe I should do it differently?

See Post 119 for how to enable a driver in OpenCore

 

[840quadra]

Was gifted a 3,1 from a friend and am now down this path.

In 3 days it now has 32GB of RAM (Have 64 to install but it doesn't see it so I removed) up from 2GB, is now on 10.13, up from 10.5 when I received it, and now has an SSD.

Running into some random issues but so far so good. I seem to be missing a step on OC setup using the tutorial, but hope to figure it out. My 5,1 is running solid on OC, so I just must have missed some steps!

 

[Dayo]

It now has 32GB of RAM (Have 64 to install but it doesn't see it so I removed)

You might find this thread useful:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1940030

Post 22 there moves things on a bit.

 

[840quadra]

You might find this thread useful:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1940030

Post 22 there moves things on a bit.

My issue seems to be different and could be due to my actual memory.

I am running 667 MHZ 8GB Modules which is not the desirable speed of 800 MHz. I know I am taking a speed performance hit with that, and there may be other compatibility issues from running RAM of that size at the wrong speed.

As the memory was free to me, I am fine with only 32gb if that is the limit in this configuration. It is far better than the 2GB that came with the system.

Status as of now
- Mem slots 1 & 2 occupied on both cards with 8GB Modules - Boots, sees correct 32GB of RAM
- Mem slots 1 - 3 occupied on both cards, Boots, only sees 32GB of RAM
- Mem slots 1 -4 occupied on both cards, boots to grey screen and stops.

I haven't had time to boot Verbose or do other deep dives yet, I am simply happy where it is at as I work on getting OpenCore setup, and my new ATI graphics card situated for Metal support. I hope to dive back into this memory mystery at a later time.

 

[Dayo]

The point was that 64gb should show up albeit best at 56 or limiting to 62. I forget the 62gb limit command now though.

Perhaps an issue with the riser? You could try Slots 1 and 2 on one and 1 to 4 on the other

 

[840quadra]

The point was that 64gb should show up albeit best at 56 or limiting to 62. I forget the 62gb limit command now though.

Perhaps an issue with the riser? You could try Slots 1 and 2 on one and 1 to 4 on the other

Yeah I will look into this further and appreciate the tip. I saw the command in one of the threads so should be able to try it out next time I have available.

 

[joevt]

- Mem slots 1 -4 occupied on both cards, boots to grey screen and stops.

It might be just booting really slow. How long did you wait? 64GB causes slowdown which you can fix by telling the OS to use only 62GB.
You should install 32 GB, boot, add maxmem=63488 to boot-args, shutdown, install 64GB, boot.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-3-1-nvme-support-upgrade-guide-questions.2194878/
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ns.2194878/page-2?post=28026180#post-28026180

 

[RubenNielpha]

I have not even been able to get OpenCore to boot on my Mac Pro 3,1.

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 with a flashed GTX 770. I have a HFS+ formatted HDD for data with no OS installed on it. I copied Martin LO's OC 0.6.6 package to the EFI partition. I tried both blessing OpenCore and starting it from the Mac's boot picker.

In the Apple boot picker I can see the OpenCore partition. I even managed to give it a VolumeIcon. If I select it, the Mac loads the /EFI/boot/BootX64.efi file, but hangs without showing the OpenCore boot screen.

Blessing OpenCore has no visible effect. The Mac boots directly to macOS. Using the efibootmgr command in Linux, I can see that the NVRAM variable Boot0080 is set to .../EFI/OC/OpenCore.efi with BootOrder set to 0080.

Hi, I don't know if you solve this by now. Anyway I did, it took me a loot of trying by the way. The USB way was fruitless so I ended up building OC Big Sur on a HHD, sticked it directly on one of the SATA ports along with an SSD as a target. I was greatly suprised when the installer started. Mac Pro 2008 + GTX 650 TI with Big Sur, no audio BT or Wifi but works like a dream

 

[thomasfactory]

It might be just booting really slow. How long did you wait? 64GB causes slowdown which you can fix by telling the OS to use only 62GB.
You should install 32 GB, boot, add maxmem=63488 to boot-args, shutdown, install 64GB, boot.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-3-1-nvme-support-upgrade-guide-questions.2194878/
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ns.2194878/page-2?post=28026180#post-28026180

I put 64GB of RAM in my 3,1 today which slowed down everything. I followed your instruction and put maxmem=63488. Now my 3,1 runs Ventura, 2 x 3.2 GHz Quad-Core, AMD Radeon RX 580 8 GB, 62 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM. -- Not bad for this old fellow.