2010 Mac Pro 5,1 High Sierra installing help!!!

[pidcin1]

Hello!

I'm in quite a pickle. I purchased a mac pro 2010 that was fully functional until i brought it home and attempted to update it.

the computer is a

Mid 2010 2.93ghz 12 core Mac Pro 5,1
GTX 970 graphic card
OWC ram 32gb
8 TB
200gb SSD through SATA connector where CD rom drive was

Anyways,

This is what I did that messed it all up, I signed into my Icloud/App store and i clicked update on high sierra, I don't recall if it prompted me for a firmware update to the logic board or anything, but i did click update and install. It went to a grey screen and installed it and then it restarted and the screen went black.
So maybe the GPU has reverted back to BIOS. I don't know how to flash it to EFI. SO, the busy bugger i am, decided to Disk Installer Creator program , and take a USB drive, and put a copy of the HS on the USB drive. I put the usb drive in the Mac Pro and turned it on holding the Option button, still black screen.
So im thinking the GPU doesn't care, it's going to just not output any video because it's in BIOS mode? SO then, i went to the store right before they closed and bought a SSD bay that has a socket for SSD and a USB 3.0 connector and i have connceted it to a newer mac mini and am Carbon Copying my mac mini hoping it will work..

Does anyone know what I have to do? I'm afraid I have to go out and buy a GPU that is compatible. Is there anything else I can do to get HS operating on this computer without having to purhcase any more gear?

any help would be super awseome !
Thanks

 

[expede]

Hi!
Reset the NVRAM and SMC.

NVRAM: restart by holding down "option+command+P+R"
SMC: Make your computer powerless by removing the power-cable for 15 secconds.

Q: You say black screen. Any sound from the computer; Fans?, Beep?, Diskstart up?

/Per

 

[mikas]

I believe you do need an apple original card to do all that. After flashing the firmware and updating the OS you can go back with your preferred graphics configurations again. There might be some limitations though, such as RX460 if I recall it right. information can be a little bit burried in the forum threads.

Personally I have not yet upped my machines from 10.12 to 10.13. That's because of some software glitches. But will do soon - I've got some original graphics cards, a GT 120 and Radeon 5770 and a flashed GTX 680 available too. I think that properly flashed PC-cards are okay too when updating to 10.13.

 

[pidcin1]

Hi!
Reset the NVRAM and SMC.

NVRAM: restart by holding down "option+command+P+R"
SMC: Make your computer powerless by removing the power-cable for 15 secconds.

Q: You say black screen. Any sound from the computer; Fans?, Beep?, Diskstart up?

/Per

There is sound, there’s the Mac chime , and if I hold the power long enough it does a long beep sound .

Should I still do the NVRAM and SMC without the card being flashed ? Does that matter ? What is the purpose of these restarts ?

Thanks!
[doublepost=1526358208][/doublepost]

I believe you do need an apple original card to do all that. After flashing the firmware and updating the OS you can go back with your preferred graphics configurations again. There might be some limitations though, such as RX460 if I recall it right. information can be a little bit burried in the forum threads.

Personally I have not yet upped my machines from 10.12 to 10.13. That's because of some software glitches. But will do soon - I've got some original graphics cards, a GT 120 and Radeon 5770 and a flashed GTX 680 available too. I think that properly flashed PC-cards are okay too when updating to 10.13.

Okay, so let’s say I got a graphic card that works , how do I go about installing high sierra properly ? It didn’t work through the App Store and sent my computer into the dark ages with that black screen.
I got 8TB in raid 0 not sure if that has anything to with it , but I’m running out of options here lol.

What do you suggest I do ?
Thanks

 

[minifridge1138]

It most likely failed to update because of the non-apple graphics card. Put in a supported card and try the install again.

Do you have another Mac (or a friend with one)?

 

[mikas]

You can't install High Sierra to a RAID array.
But there are tricks available:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthon...ra-youre-not-going-to-like-it/2/#57ede51b3131

I would use another single media (big enough) and a clone of 10.12, or clean install 10.12. Put in a Mac Graphics card (new enough) and flash/upgrade. After that you could try to clone the working system to your raid 0.

I haven't personally tried that. And probably I would use a SSD slone as boot disk anyway, and if raid was needed it would be for data/cache only.

There is another thing to consider too; APFS. SSD's will get converted to APFS with the installation of 10.13. If that's not wanted, you will need to avoid that too by some cloning etc. gimmicks.

 

[h9826790]

You should not update the OS (no matter require firmware update or not) with a non flashed 970 and no backup plan.

On every single OS update, the Nvidia web driver will be de-activated and you will lost the display ability completely until you find a way to install / update / activate the web driver again.

In general, using screen sharing is the easiest way.

 

[pidcin1]

You should not update the OS (no matter require firmware update or not) with a non flashed 970 and no backup plan.

On every single OS update, the Nvidia web driver will be de-activated and you will lost the display ability completely until you find a way to install / update / activate the web driver again.

In general, using screen sharing is the easiest way.

Okay thanks , is it possible to take a carbon copy clone of a Mac mini HS OS with all my files including an NVIDIA web driver installed on that SSD and to plug it in ? Would that work ?
[doublepost=1526387915][/doublepost]

You can't install High Sierra to a RAID array.
But there are tricks available:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthon...ra-youre-not-going-to-like-it/2/#57ede51b3131

I would use another single media (big enough) and a clone of 10.12, or clean install 10.12. Put in a Mac Graphics card (new enough) and flash/upgrade. After that you could try to clone the working system to your raid 0.

I haven't personally tried that. And probably I would use a SSD slone as boot disk anyway, and if raid was needed it would be for data/cache only.

There is another thing to consider too; APFS. SSD's will get converted to APFS with the installation of 10.13. If that's not wanted, you will need to avoid that too by some cloning etc. gimmicks.

At the moment the 8 tb HD are set up in raid for storage . And the SSD in SATA is meant for OS.

Do you think it’s possible to clone my Mac mini onto the SSD with carbon copy cloner software and install the NVIDIA graphic card software ? And then put that into the Mac Pro? Would it work ?
[doublepost=1526388004][/doublepost]

It most likely failed to update because of the non-apple graphics card. Put in a supported card and try the install again.

Do you have another Mac (or a friend with one)?

I have a Mac mini at the moment as well. I was wondering if I cloned the Mac mini with carbon copy cloner and installed the NVIDIA driver onto that SSD that maybe it would work?
What do you think ?

 

[h9826790]

Okay thanks , is it possible to take a carbon copy clone of a Mac mini HS OS with all my files including an NVIDIA web driver installed on that SSD and to plug it in ? Would that work ?

If you already perform a PRAM reset, it's too late now.

The "web driver activated" info is stored in the PRAM.

Technically, for OS update, if you pull out the SSD, plug that into the Mac mini for upgrade. Install the corresponding web driver. And then install the SSD back onto the cMP. It should work. Because the PRAM will still tell the OS to load web driver, and the web driver is there with the updated OS.

However, once you reset the PRAM, the info about web driver will gone. And now the OS will only boot with native apple Nvidia driver that provide zero Maxwell support. So, even without OS update, your GTX970 won't be activated anymore.

And you CANNOT set the cMP's PRAM by the Mac mini. Those info is NOT stored on the SSD.

However, I think it's possible to blindly activate the web driver by using Single User Recovery Mode. But I never try it myself.

I am nowhere near terminal / single user mode expert. But if I understand correctly. You can (even with no display at all)...

1) Boot the Mac with holding down Command+R+S (this will get you into Single User Recovery Mode)

2) Keep hold down Command+R+S for at least 30s (SSD), prefer up to 3min (for HDD)

3) Wait for another 30s (SSD), 3min (HDD) to make sure booting is completed

4) Hit ENTER 10 times to make sure you get the command prompt

5) type

sudo nvram nvda_drv=1

(If anyone know this command is correct, please verify. I have absolute no idea if this command can be used in single user mode. I never try it myself.)

6) Wait 10 seconds

7) type

reboot

 

[pidcin1]

If you already perform a PRAM reset, it's too late now.

The "web driver activated" info is stored in the PRAM.

Technically, for OS update, if you pull out the SSD, plug that into the Mac mini for upgrade. Install the corresponding web driver. And then install the SSD back onto the cMP. It should work. Because the PRAM will still tell the OS to load web driver, and the web driver is there with the updated OS.

However, once you reset the PRAM, the info about web driver will gone. And now the OS will only boot with native apple Nvidia driver that provide zero Maxwell support. So, even without OS update, your GTX970 won't be activated anymore.

And you CANNOT set the cMP's PRAM by the Mac mini. Those info is NOT stored on the SSD.

However, I think it's possible to blindly activate the web driver by using Single User Recovery Mode. But I never try it myself.

I am nowhere near terminal / single user mode expert. But if I understand correctly. You can (even with no display at all)...

1) Boot the Mac with holding down Command+R+S (this will get you into Single User Recovery Mode)

2) Keep hold down Command+R+S for at least 30s (SSD), prefer up to 3min (for HDD)

3) Wait for another 30s (SSD), 3min (HDD) to make sure booting is completed

4) Hit ENTER 10 times to make sure you get the command prompt

5) type

sudo nvram nvda_drv=1

(If anyone know this command is correct, please verify. I have absolute no idea if this command can be used in single user mode. I never try it myself.)

6) Wait 10 seconds

7) type

reboot

I have not clicked the pram reset, so I’m thinking the driver is still there, so I’m currently downloading OS X El Capitan , hoping if I install this OS on the SSD , and the Nvidia driver that it would work ?

Do you think this is worth a shot ?

 

[h9826790]

I have not clicked the pram reset, so I’m thinking the driver is still there, so I’m currently downloading OS X El Capitan , hoping if I install this OS on the SSD , and the Nvidia driver that it would work ?

Do you think this is worth a shot ?

You may try, but there is a very high chance that when you try to upgrade, the web driver is already disabled by the OS update process.

Also, even you install El Capitan back to the same SSD which contain the web driver, you must install the exact same build number El Capitan. Otherwise, the web driver will still be disabled.

If you have a Mac mini on hand. My recommend method is.

1) Install the OS onto that SSD via the Mac mini.

2) install the correct web driver onto that SSD via the Mac mini.

3) Setup remote control via that Mac mini (in my experience, Chrome Remote Desktop is very reliable for this purpose)

4) Install the SSD back into the cMP.

5) Boot from the SSD, but expect black screen only.

6) Use your Mac mini to remote login to your cMP.

7) Activate the web driver (from the menu bar's Nvidia icon)

8) Reboot

If success, your cMP should reboot and the 970 will work again.

 

[aarond12]

I was able to update my 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 (flashed to 5,1) with a GTX 750 Ti video card without having to swap in the stock Apple video card. The computer did freeze up during boot a few times, which required a power off/power on, but eventually it made it through and booted properly. I did not reset PRAM or any other tricks to make things work.

 

[h9826790]

I was able to update my 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 (flashed to 5,1) with a GTX 750 Ti video card without having to swap in the stock Apple video card. The computer did freeze up during boot a few times, which required a power off/power on, but eventually it made it through and booted properly. I did not reset PRAM or any other tricks to make things work.

So, you mean you simply apply the OS update from appstore with a non flashed 750Ti. Let it restart. The cMP freeze up a few times, and you just keep power cycle the cMP. Then eventually you successfully boot to desktop without any extra procedure (including install the new Nvidia web driver)?

 

[minifridge1138]

I have a Mac mini at the moment as well. I was wondering if I cloned the Mac mini with carbon copy cloner and installed the NVIDIA driver onto that SSD that maybe it would work?
What do you think ?

That's what I was going to suggest, but if the PRAM has already been reset, then it probably won't work because it won't try to use the NVidia web driver. No idea if it would boot headless and you could screen share / remote desktop to it.

Another option is to buy (or borrow from someone local) a GT120 video card. They would work with the OS drivers and is a perfectly fine video card.

 

[h9826790]

That's what I was going to suggest, but if the PRAM has already been reset, then it probably won't work because it won't try to use the NVidia web driver. No idea if it would boot headless and you could screen share / remote desktop to it.

Another option is to buy (or borrow from someone local) a GT120 video card. They would work with the OS drivers and is a perfectly fine video card.

It can boot headless