Boot ROM firmware

[Aravintht]

Hi guys, thought i'd pick your brains on this fine sunday afternoon!


I have a MacPro 4,1, 10.6.1
running all the latest firmware - well when i run software update it tells me my software is up to date.

I want to install XP or windows 7 so i can run Excel VBA. using it through vmware fusion is too slow.

as soon as i open boot camp assistant, i get the following message:
"Boot Camp Assistant cannot be used. You must update your computer's Boot ROM firmware before using this setup assistant."

any idea of what i can do apart from doing a clean install of snow leopard. I think the problem might have been introduced when i upgraded from leopard to snow leopard.

i've never used boot camp before.

thanks for your help! i really don't want to do a fresh install, even though i use time machine.

[gugucom]

You may have a wrong partition scheme. Bootcamp requirers the GUID partition table. It is selected in the disk utility under option when you partition the whole drive. In disk utility you can also check in the footer which partition scheme is installed on your drive.

If you have APT or MBR you need to back up your 10.6.1 and do the right partitioning. The GUID table will install an invisible EFI partition on top of your drive which will trigger your firmware update. Without this EFI partition your Mac cannot run the update.

After the update Bootcamp should run ok.

[Aravintht]

for my primary hard drive (with Macintosh HD and another partition) it say Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partition Table in the footer.

for my other drive it says the same, the third drive says Apple Partition Map.

i'm assuming it only needs to be GUID Partition Table for the primary drive..?

thanks for your help

[gugucom]

Apple scheme is definitely wrong for an Intel machine. I would change it or remove it and try updating the firmware.

[Aravintht]

i removed all my drives, my second GT120 card and a usb hub i got from maplin

i then put in a brand new 500 gb hard drive so my mac was essentially back to how it was when i got it.

installed snow leopard
ran software update

tried to open boot camp assistant and the same message again.

have no idea what is wrong with me mac!
apple care phonelines aren't open today... i guess i will ring them tomorrow

thanks for your help!

[gugucom]

Boot-ROM-Version: MP41.0081.B04
SMC-Version (System): 1.39f5
SMC-Version (Prozessormodul): 1.39f5

These are my 2009 Firmware versions. On the Apple support page there is a firmware 1.3. Perhaps your MP isn't up to date?

[Aravintht]

Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5


my boot rom is indeed old. you have bo4 i have bo3.

now i just need to figure out how to update it!?

[gugucom]

now i just need to figure out how to update it!?

Why don't you try to download the last firmware from the support page.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_Pro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_3

[Aravintht]

Why don't you try to download the last firmware from the support page.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_Pro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_3

that's what i tried originally, but got the following message: This computer does not need this update

[Aravintht]

I spoke to apple care, he told me to reset the PRAM. everything worked after that.

As for updating the boot rom firmware, apparently there will be an update to allow the installation of Windows 7 later this year.


Thanks for you help!

case closed!

[gugucom]

Is your firmware still B03 or did it update after the PRAM reset?

Did the Apple care guy say anything specific about firmware updates related to the Bootcamp 3.1 update?