MP 1,1-5,1 Activate AMD hardware acceleration

[LFO8]

Ideally, the update option won't show up at all.

But if that show up (e.g. in newer OC version), then the OS will continue to update.

Some systems can update smoothly.

But some others were hanged during update. In that case, most systems can continue to update correctly after force shutdown (may need to do it a few times).

However, the problem isn't the update process itself. But once go beyond 11.2.3, macOS cannot run stably on a 5,1. And even worse, the hard drive can be corrupted. This process is quite random and unavoidable. Therefore, 5,1 users should stay at 11.2.3 or below.

Martin, thanks for all that you do for us. Gettig more milage out of our cMP. Will your package allow us to run Monterey later down the line?

 

[startergo]

This is funny. Just tested videoproc in HS:

 

[h9826790]

This is funny. Just tested videoproc in HS:
View attachment 1798311

This is from an unmodified HS, right?

 

[h9826790]

Martin, thanks for all that you do for us. Gettig more milage out of our cMP. Will your package allow us to run Monterey later down the line?

It's easy to make cMP can install and run Monterey. However, we still can't fix the racing condition. Which causing unpredictable stability issue. In some cases, this even cause permanent data corruption on ANY connected hard drive. IMO, it's not safe to run Monterey on cMP at this moment (even we can).

 

[LFO8]

It's easy to make cMP can install and run Monterey. However, we still can't fix the racing condition. Which causing unpredictable stability issue. In some cases, this even cause permanent data corruption on ANY connected hard drive. IMO, it's not safe to run Monterey on cMP at this moment (even we can).

Thanks for your clarification Martin. I guess I’ll stick to Big Sur 11.2.3 for some time.

 

[startergo]

This is from an unmodified HS, right?

Booting through OC 0.7.1 with MP7.1 board id spoofing.

 

[h9826790]

Booting through OC 0.7.1 with MP7.1 board id spoofing.

7,1 is not supported in HS, that's the reason.

 

[Aidzer0]

Hello, firstly, thank you all for the amazing work on this project, it was made so simple to install and yields great results! Secondly I am very new to this.

I do have a couple of questions regarding my install instance;
I have a cMP 4,1 -> 5,1 with a SATA SSD (Main OS drive), AMD HD 7950, 64gb RAM and 2 x 3.33ghz (X5680) Xeon's running Mojave. Before the opencore install, I upgraded the firmware to show 5,1 and the firmware is 144.0.0.0.
The HD 7950 is stock firmware I believe (I need to validate this)
At the moment I would like to stay on Mojave, until I am ready to jump to Catalina (in a month or so).

I recently installed OpenCore 0.7.0 from post #1,314 with relative ease with only a handful of inconsistencies.
1) The HD 7950 shows up as a HD 8950 (is this due to the SMBIOS being spoofed to Mac Pro 7.1?)

2) VideoProc shows that hwaccel is not enabled, but my Plex server is definitely using the 7950 for transcoding

3) I do not get the boot screen at all. (I did disable boot picker as I only use MacOS via config `ShowPicker`).

4) I have 4 x 8TB HDD's installed, when performing a warm reboot they don't seem to register in the OS, I have to shut down the Mac and cold start it. (this was an issue prior to OpenCore, I was hoping OC would have resolved this?)

Is there any way I could fix the above inconsistencies?

 

[tsialex]

Hello, firstly, thank you all for the amazing work on this project, it was made so simple to install and yields great results! Secondly I am very new to this.

I do have a couple of questions regarding my install instance;
I have a cMP 4,1 -> 5,1 with a SATA SSD (Main OS drive), AMD HD 7950, 64gb RAM and 2 x 3.33ghz (X5680) Xeon's running Mojave. Before the opencore install, I upgraded the firmware to show 5,1 and the firmware is 144.0.0.0.
The HD 7950 is stock firmware I believe (I need to validate this)
At the moment I would like to stay on Mojave, until I am ready to jump to Catalina (in a month or so).

I recently installed OpenCore 0.7.0 from post #1,314 with relative ease with only a handful of inconsistencies.
1) The HD 7950 shows up as a HD 8950 (is this due to the SMBIOS being spoofed to Mac Pro 7.1?)

2) VideoProc shows that hwaccel is not enabled, but my Plex server is definitely using the 7950 for transcoding

First AMD GPU that have compression/decompression/conversion hardware acceleration with a Mac Pro is RX460/580, your GPU don't have the ASICs required.

3) I do not get the boot screen at all. (I did disable boot picker as I only use MacOS via config `ShowPicker`).

It's not a GOP GPU, released before the standard was even ratified, if your GPU can be flashed with a Mac EFI you can get pre-boot configuration support independent of OpenCore.

4) I have 4 x 8TB HDD's installed, when performing a warm reboot they don't seem to register in the OS, I have to shut down the Mac and cold start it. (this was an issue prior to OpenCore, I was hoping OC would have resolved this?)

Hardware issue, you have to isolate 3V3, plus firmware issue. OpenCore has nothing to do with it.

How to mount BIG drives in Classic MacPro or iMac - MacNN Forums

How to mount BIG drives in Classic MacPro or iMac Mac Desktops

forums.macnn.com

Is there any way I could fix the above inconsistencies?

 

[Aidzer0]

First AMD GPU that have compression/decompression/conversion hardware acceleration with a Mac Pro is RX460/580, your GPU don't have the ASICs required.

It's not a GOP GPU, released before the standard was even ratified, if your GPU can be flashed with a Mac EFI you can get pre-boot configuration support independent of OpenCore.

Hardware issue, you have to isolate 3V3, plus firmware issue. OpenCore has nothing to do with it.

How to mount BIG drives in Classic MacPro or iMac - MacNN Forums

How to mount BIG drives in Classic MacPro or iMac Mac Desktops

forums.macnn.com

Thank you kindly!

I shall get a RX 580 then (I saw your posts regarding power consumption etc and will get the appropriate one).

I figured the hdd issue wasn’t caused by OC, I was hoping it would fix it. Thanks for the link! Will look into it now.

 

[tsialex]

I figured the hdd issue wasn’t caused by OC, I was hoping it would fix it. Thanks for the link! Will look into it now.

Maybe a workaround to insert a delay could be developed with OpenCore developers help, but this issue is essentially a hardware one since the SATA standard of early-2009 to mid-2012 Mac Pros is partially incompatible with the current big size drives.

 

[Aidzer0]

Maybe a workaround to insert a delay could be developed with OpenCore developers help, but this issue is essentially a hardware one since the SATA standard of early-2009 to mid-2012 Mac Pros is partially incompatible with the current big size drives.

I wouldn’t really know too much about that, but if sellotape fixes the issue (I’m currently doing it now and testing) I really don’t mind the fix. It’s a really easy thing to do.

It’s really annoying when manufacturers change standards on us.

Theoretically, I’m sure some sort of software change can be made to prevent pin 3 giving the drives 3.3v but I think that’s way more of a headache than it’s worth.

Simple fix would be not to get WD or hsgt drives, just get sea gate (had I known this was an issue with hsgt 8tb + drives I wouldn’t have gotten one).

Thanks again for the pointers! I noticed due to the chip shortage, rx 580’s are ridiculously priced, so I’ll just wait on that upgrade.

 

[tsialex]

I’m sure some sort of software change can be made to prevent pin 3 giving the drives 3.3v but I think that’s way more of a headache than it’s worth.

No software fix possible for PWDIS, it's physically connected directly to the 3V3 rail with a MacPro4,1/MacPro5,1. It's a power feed pin with the SATAII standard.

 

[claudiop]

I created a new "easy to install package" as per many requested (based on the official OpenCore). [The attached package already updated to 0.7.0]

1. Ability to boot Catalina / Big Sur Recovery Partition

Hi Martin

newbie here

I've got a MacPro5,1 (Mid 2012) with Radeon RX580 and flashed BootROM 144.0.0.0. NB: this model doesn't have the boot-Option key to disk startup manger.

I've downloaded all the macOS for this model and created bootable USB installs using "createinstallmedia" command.

I'm running Mojave and wanting to upgrade to Catalina and Big Sur but having issues:
• I installed OC 0.7.0 and an SSD EFI. When I reboot to Mojave and check confirmation of the OC installation I get errors:
nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102pencore-version
nvram: Error getting variable - '4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102pencore-version': (iokit/common) data was not found

• in Recovery I've turned off SIP and set NVRAM boot-args -no_compat_check and set config.plist VMM flag ON and Update SMBIOS to false

• From Mojave Finder window, bootable USB "Install macOS Catalina.app" to a SSD formatted GUID/APFS. Run Catalina Installer and get to selecting disks but are greyed out and message saying "This version of macOS 10.15.7 cannot be installed on this computer."

Booted to Mojave, I've tried booting to Recovery, resetting NVRAM, selecting the USB "Install macOS Catalina" disk in System Prefs>Startup but no good.

any ideas appreciated, cheers

 

[Ronbo02467]

Another newbie here with (hopefully) a simple question. I've searched the Forum for an answer. If it's already in here and I missed it, please pardon the Rookie Mistake.

MacPro5,1 (Mid 2010) with Radeon RX580, Martin's package installed successfully and upgraded to Catalina - and - it works great with one oddity;

Shutdown and boot - PERFECT
Restart ... - Picker loads and boot begins, two-third of the way through via the progress bar, the Universal NOT symbol appears. Power OFF and then Power ON then works perfectly.

This isn't a show stopper, but it is certainly annoying.

I've tried resetting the PRAM but same behavior. Any ideas?

 

[natjonesart]

***Disregard- figured it out


I have started adding more video into my workflow and am looking into streaming. Is there a way to get OBS to hardware accel? I'm only getting software options. I'm a bit of a video newbie.
4,1 to 5,1, dual 3.46, Radeon Vii
OC 0.6.6, Video Proc shows all enabled

 

[claudiop]

I created a new "easy to install package" as per many requested (based on the official OpenCore). [The attached package already updated to 0.7.0]

For those who only need HWAccel, post #594 has everything you need. This new package mainly offer HWAccel + boot screen. Also, this package should work in Catalina for dual processor cMP.

I don't mind you guys discuss anything about this package, but I have no plan to provide any explanation about OpenCore at here. If you want to know more, please join cdf's OpenCore thread. For new joiners, please make sure read through the FAQ in post #1 before you ask anything.

The attached packaged included Clover Configurator and a complete preconfigured OpenCore. All credits goes to the developer teams. If you want to show your support, please give them donation (declaration of interest： I am NOT in any of their developer teams)

For Clover Configurator and OpenCore developers teams, please let me know if you want me to remove the associated software inside my attachment in this post.

This is a "one package fit all" solution. So, it's designed to fit as much setup as possible, which may not be optimized for your setup (e.g. I haven't provide HiDPI boot screen, for those who are running 4K screen, the Apple logo may be quite small during boot). You have to do the optimization by yourself (details in the OpenCore manual, some info also available in cdf's OpenCore thread).

Anyway, for those who have RX 460 or newer AMD GPU, this package should gives you:

1. Boot screen (via GOP for unflashed card, including some Nvidia card)
2. Firmware protection (to run Windows in EFI mode without risking the cMP bootROM)
3. HWAccel (H264 / HEVC hardware decode + encode in Mojave and newer macOS up to Big Sur 11.2.3)
4. ability to watch DRM streaming content (Mojave and newer macOS up to Big Sur 11.2.3)
5. Boot picker (only support EFI systems, tested with Apple wired keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Keyboard, 10s timeout. If you can't see this. Just don't touch the keyboard, and your cMP should continue to boot to desktop)
6. NVMe and SATA drives on PCIe card show up as internal
7. Support for Apple USB SuperDrive
8. TRIM (regardless trimforce status)
9. Ability to run non-GUI 32bit software in Catalina
10. Ability to reset NVRAM in boot picker (disabled at this moment to align with the native Apple boot manager)
11. Ability to run any natively supported ancient OSX with modern graphic card e.g. Radeon VII in 10.6.8 (only can display, no acceleration) [Update 5th May 2020: Sierra and High Sierra may not fully supported yet. Thanks for pierrox's report]
12. Ability to boot Catalina / Big Sur Recovery Partition
13. Sleep should work (tested on my cMP, but I can't guarantee it also work with your hardware)
14. Possible to run 8x32GB RAM in macOS (user need to mod the config.plist manually. Replace the false below CustomMemory to true)

It's impossible for me to test every single function in all situations. So, as usual, use at your own risk. But you are welcome to report back if there is any problem / error.

Pre-installation:

• Recommend to backup your BootROM between step 1 and 2 (e.g. by using ROMTool)
• If you want to test OpenCore, you can install this package onto a bootable USB thumb drive.
• Quite a few users reported that can't boot OpenCore from NVMe, please avoid to install this package on NVMe. You can install this package on ANY SATA drive, not necessary your boot drive.
• If you want to remove OpenCore, please mount the EFI partition by using Clover Configurator, then remove BOOT and OC folders inside the EFI folder on EFI partition.
• If your cMP stuck at boot. After shutdown, please pull out the hard drive that contain OpenCore, then perform NVRAM reset. If still doesn't work, then please install your emergency graphic card that has boot screen. Hold Option to boot, then select your backup boot drive. This should disable OpenCore.
• For those who want to report issue / error. Please provide details (e.g. which graphic card, OpenCore installed on NVMe / SATA drive, the issue's details, etc) otherwise it will be extremely hard (or even impossible) for me to work out what's wrong.
• If you installed Lilu for whatever reason (e.g. because of innie), or applied my previous non-OpenCore HWAccel mod, please remove them or revert them. For Lilu + WEG, that means delete Lilu.kext in /Library/Extensions/ and reboot (caution: these kexts may be installed in System/Library/Extensions/ as well). For hex edit method, that means delete AppleGVA.framework in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/ and rename AppleGVA.framework.bak to AppleGVA.framework. Warning: My package already have Lilu and WEG included, "double installation" of these kexts will cause macOS boot failure.
• For PULSE RX580, users reported that only can see boot screen when boot from gaming mode. There may be no UEFI GOP in the compute mode's ROM.

Anyway, I tried to make the installation as simple as possible. Here is what you need to do

1. [Optional] 3x NVRAM reset to avoid some unknown issues.
2. Disable SIP (must do, especially if you performed step 1)
3. Download the attachment in this post (Some users reported 0.6.1 package has compatibility issue. You may download the 0.5.9 package if you prefer that, same installation procedures. Besides, the 0.6.8 package may provide smoother boot picker than the 0.6.9 package.)
4. Follow the steps in this video (please turn on and read the subtitle)
   
5. Spoiler: Multi monitors fix for Big Sur

   For Big Sur only, if some ports on your graphic card are disabled, please follow the steps in this video to re-enable them.
   
6. Reboot

For existing OpenCore users, you may follow the step in this video to update OpenCore

Additional option 1: If you have 4K screen, and you want to have "Retina" boot screen. You may do this.

Additional option 2: If you have a flashed Thunderbolt 3 card, you can install that in slot 4, then enable Thunderbolt 3 support by doing this.

Additional option 3: If you want to enable the ability to install / update Catalina [Update: Thanks for cdf's finding. If you are with the 0.6.3 (and newer) package, and want to install Big Sur up to 11.2.3, your 5,1 should able to do that "natively". No need to touch the VMM flag etc]

Additional option 4: If you have legacy wifi card, you may try the follow steps to re-activate the old wifi card in Big Sur (only avail in my 0.6.4 package or above)

Additional option 5: Since 0.6.3, I allow OC to take over SIP control. There are various reasons, but anyway, that's defaulted to be disabled. If you want to re-enable SIP, please follow the steps in this video.

For FCP(X) users, if you want to export HEVC video by using HWAccel, you will need Compressor.
[N.B. The setting MUST identical to the one that I show in the video. Otherwise, HEVC hardware encoding may not work]

If you want to completely uninstall my OpenCore package, please follow the steps in this video.

N.B. Unflashed graphic card means "the ROM is never modified". For those who bought used card, and can't see the boot screen, most likely the last user flashed the card with modified ROM (e.g. downvolt for mining). In this case, you can go to TechPowerUp to find a ROM that fit your own card, and flash it.

P.S. If you want to support my work, please donate via the following link. Million thanks in advance! https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/martinlo420

[Last update: 11 Jun 2021, OC 0.7.0, Lilu 1.5.3, WhateverGreen 1.5.0]

Hi Martin
success and installed your package onto a MP5,1(Mid 2012) w/ Radeon RX580 GPU. Firstly, installed on a Catalina boot volume w/ your Catalina setup config.plist mod; and secondly, swapped to the default config.plist on my final Big Sur 11.2.3 boot vol. It worked 'straight out of the box' and was delighted to see the Bootpicker menu and great HW accel.

have donated, many thanks

 

[julienbecker]

Remember that you need de-lided Xeons, since it's a early-2009 dual CPU tray. See the CPU Upgrade Resources of the first post of the thread below:

cMP {classicMacPro}{4,1 & 5,1} - Upgrade Guide Sticky Discussion

Hey Folks, Lets start a discussion and collect everything relevant for cMP upgraders out there. Topics to consider: CPU Upgrades Compatibility chart CPU Delid / standoffs 4,1 to 5,1 firmware upgrade Memory Compatibility and Upgrades UDIMM Model Numbers RDIMM Model Numbers RAM...

forums.macrumors.com

I received my two lidless X5690, installed them and now I’m stuck on the apple logo… Hmmm any ideas ?

 

[julienbecker]

I received my two lidless X5690, installed them and now I’m stuck on the apple logo… Hmmm any ideas ?

Is my PC3-8500 RAM still compatible or do I need to upgrade them too ?

 

[tsialex]

I received my two lidless X5690, installed them and now I’m stuck on the apple logo… Hmmm any ideas ?

Deep NVRAM reset? Reset it 4-times consecutively.

Is my PC3-8500 RAM still compatible or do I need to upgrade them too ?

Should work.

If your still have problems, move to a more appropriate thread - it's completely off-topic here.

 

[dontpokebearz]

So I've searched to no avail, but has there been a fix found for the dreaded DumpGPURestart issue? When using FinalCutPro or launching a game (Fortnite, for example) my system locks up and crashes. DumpGPURestart can be seen in the log afterwards.

 

[julienbecker]

I received my two lidless X5690, installed them and now I’m stuck on the apple logo… Hmmm any ideas ?

Is my PC3-8500 RAM still compatible or do I need to upgrade them too

Deep NVRAM reset? Reset it 4-times consecutively.


Should work.

If your still have problems, move to a more appropriate thread - it's completely off-topic here.

Thanks ! I’ve done a new thread.

 

[mode11]

@h9826790 You mention in post #1,314 that your preconfigured 0.7.0 package may not work on NVMe drives. Is this still the case? I've been using OC 0.5.9 on an NVMe for some time. I could do with updating, and your preconfigured package would save me a lot of time setting things up.

 

[offdwall]

@h9826790 You mention in post #1,314 that your preconfigured 0.7.0 package may not work on NVMe drives. Is this still the case? I've been using OC 0.5.9 on an NVMe for some time. I could do with updating, and your preconfigured package would save me a lot of time setting things up.

I was unable to even mount the EFI volume of my PCIeM.2. I instead installed 0.7 on one of the SATA drives and it works great.

 

[mode11]

I was unable to even mount the EFI volume of my PCIeM.2. I instead installed 0.7 on one of the SATA drives and it works great.

I've been running OC 0.5.9 off my NVMe drive for the past year without any issues, but it seems this is something of a fluke and not recommended practice.

I ultimately intend to update to 0.7.0. Could you (or anyone else) recommend an approach to doing this? I could update my existing OC, then move it from NVMe to SATA, or just create a new OC on SATA and remove the old one on the NVMe.

Either way, this seems like a delicate process that could leave the machine unbootable if I'm not careful. I would also need to update / remove the related components (e.g. Lilu) in my macOS install.