PCIe SSD boot problem

[marknolan]

Hi,

I’ve recently upgraded the processors and graphics card in my Mac Pro and everything was working fine using OS Mojave. To speed things up I added a PCIe SSD Card and cloned it (Carbon Copy Cloner) from my existing bootable drive. I then set it to be my startup drive. Seems that this was a very bad mistake.

The Mac Pro refused to boot, the machine started but there was no display or customary chime. Then, I took all the drives out, replaced the graphics card with the original RX 5770 (non-metal) and popped a bootable High Sierra USB thumbdrive in the front. I reckoned that the Mac would search for a bootable drive and use the thumbdrive which I can then designate as the startup disk, reinsert the PCIe SDD, restart, reformat the SDD and do a fresh install of High Sierra, upgrade to Mojave and migrate the original information. But still nothing, same result. I have also tried all the various startup key combinations but they don’tvwork Either.

I’m completely lost as to what to do next and would really appreciate any ideas.

 

[krakman]

Hi,

I’ve recently upgraded the processors and graphics card in my Mac Pro and everything was working fine using OS Mojave. To speed things up I added a PCIe SSD Card and cloned it (Carbon Copy Cloner) from my existing bootable drive. I then set it to be my startup drive. Seems that this was a very bad mistake.

The Mac Pro refused to boot, the machine started but there was no display or customary chime. Then, I took all the drives out, replaced the graphics card with the original RX 5770 (non-metal) and popped a bootable High Sierra USB thumbdrive in the front. I reckoned that the Mac would search for a bootable drive and use the thumbdrive which I can then designate as the startup disk, reinsert the PCIe SDD, restart, reformat the SDD and do a fresh install of High Sierra, upgrade to Mojave and migrate the original information. But still nothing, same result. I have also tried all the various startup key combinations but they don’tvwork Either.

I’m completely lost as to what to do next and would really appreciate any ideas.

did you apply the 140.00.00 firmware update?

if you have a NVME PCIe SSD you need this firmware update to be able to boot from such a SDD.

 

[marknolan]

did you apply the 140.00.00 firmware update?

if you have a NVME PCIe SSD you need this firmware update to be able to boot from such a SDD.

I’ll need to check, but at the moment I can’t get the Mac Pro to do anything. All drives have been removed and it seems to be ignoring the High Sierra bootable thumbdrive too...

 

[bsbeamer]

SATA or NVMe PCIe SSD? Makes a big difference. What brand/model SSD and adapter?

 

[marknolan]

SATA or NVMe PCIe SSD? Makes a big difference. What brand/model SSD and adapter?

It’s a 2TB Samsung 970 NVMe SSD...

 

[bsbeamer]

What PCIe adapter?

As stated above, you need to be on 140.0.0.0.0 for NVMe to be bootable.

 

[marknolan]

What PCIe adapter?

As stated above, you need to be on 140.0.0.0.0 for NVMe to be bootable.

I have a recent system report printed out somewhere so I’ll check about the firmware.

However, I suppose at the moment it’s less about whether the SSD is bootable or not - the NVMe drive (and all other drives) have been removed and I still can’t get the Mac Pro (5,1) to boot, even from a USB thumbdrive. I’m at a loss as to why. If I can get the machine to boot then I’m reasonably confident that I can sort the NVMe drive out.

 

[bsbeamer]

Put your original drive back in - the one you used to clone from (SATA based). Then reset NVRAM and SMC. Worth a shot as first attempt to fix. Some people report several NVRAM reset attempts eventually fix.

 

[marknolan]

Put your original drive back in - the one you used to clone from (SATA based). Then reset NVRAM and SMC. Worth a shot as first attempt to fix. Some people report several NVRAM reset attempts eventually fix.

Thanks, will try that although the Radeon 5770 isn’t supported by Mojave. And of course the RX 580 means no boot screen! Should have bought an iMac Pro.

 

[crjackson2134]

You SHOULD be able to boot Mojo with the 5770 (I can boot with. 5870). You can’t install with it, and you won’t have any GPU acceleration, but you SOULD be able to check your firmware and fix your booting problems.

Once that’s done, remove/replace with the RX580.

I wouldn’t trade mine for a new iMac Pro at all...

 

[marknolan]

You SHOULD be able to boot Mojo with the 5770 (I can boot with. 5870). You can’t install with it, and you won’t have any GPU acceleration, but you SOULD be able to check your firmware and fix your booting problems.

Once that’s done, remove/replace with the RX580.

I wouldn’t trade mine for a new iMac Pro at all...

You’re right, I think it’ll be worth it once I get everything working. However, just tried a few more startups with the original drive in place, but still nothing. Think I’ll give it a break now and try again in the morning but thank you everyone for your help so far.