MP 1,1-5,1 cMP 5,1 OS X 10.6 and GPU Issues

[neo64]

I have a 2010 cMP with the latest firmware available, currently running Monterey.
Specs:
Dual 6 core Xeons
128 Gb Ram
Sapphire Pulse RX580 8Gb - not Mac flashed

Simply to run specific software (some older games), I would like to optionally boot into Snow Leopard (10.6.3 or later version). I am unable to use the RX580 with Snow Leopard because that OS doesn’t support Metal. I do have an ATI Radeon HD5870 OEM Mac card.

My problem: I cannot get Snow Leopard to install - at all. If I use the ATi card, the installation starts and then freezes with a tiny bit of status bar completed. I have waited hours (more than 10) to see if it moved on. Nothing. I am booting from a USB installation drive and have a blank SSD as the only installed drive.

The machine POSTs and I can get a boot picker - and the install disk is there and allows selection. But it never finishes. I have booted into recovery mode and checked the ssd from there using disk utility. Everything looks to be in order - it is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID partition scheme. I have re-downloaded and rebuilt the install drive several times. I have also tried installing from the factory dvd and even tried online recovery. None of those ever got past an apple logo - forever frozen.

Any ideas?

Incidentally, I have scoured and searched all over MacForums and other sites and cannot find anything fitting this.

My OTHER question is regarding running both cards:

I can boot right up in Monterey using the rx580 - just no boot screen. If I add my hd5870 as a secondary card, it will POST and get a gray screen with apple logo, but it never finishes booting. The rx580 in that scenario goes silent with no fans or anything. (BTW, I completed a Pixlas Mod to power both cards appropriately). Obviously, I can’t boot to Monterey with just the hd5780 because the GPU doesn’t support Metal.
I then injected EnableGOP into my boot rom using the guides in this forum and Lances excellent guide at Mac Sound Solutions. My rom dump shows it in there, but it functionally does absolutely nothing regarding a boot screen. Still nothing until login.

Am I missing some key step? Details on booting with dual cards is pretty scarce in basically every forum i can read. I’m not sure what data to present, but if you all need something to help, let me know. I will provide it.

 

[tsialex]

I have a 2010 cMP with the latest firmware available, currently running Monterey.
Specs:
Dual 6 core Xeons
128 Gb Ram
Sapphire Pulse RX580 8Gb - not Mac flashed

Simply to run specific software (some older games), I would like to optionally boot into Snow Leopard (10.6.3 or later version).

10.6.3 Snow Leopard disk is not compatible with Mac Pro mid-2010/mid-2012, you need download the Mac Pro mid-2010 Factory Restore DVDs from Internet Archieve and burn it.

I am unable to use the RX580 with Snow Leopard because that OS doesn’t support Metal. I do have an ATI Radeon HD5870 OEM Mac card.

My problem: I cannot get Snow Leopard to install - at all. If I use the ATi card, the installation starts and then freezes with a tiny bit of status bar completed. I have waited hours (more than 10) to see if it moved on. Nothing. I am booting from a USB installation drive and have a blank SSD as the only installed drive.

The machine POSTs and I can get a boot picker - and the install disk is there and allows selection. But it never finishes. I have booted into recovery mode and checked the ssd from there using disk utility. Everything looks to be in order - it is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID partition scheme. I have re-downloaded and rebuilt the install drive several times. I have also tried installing from the factory dvd and even tried online recovery. None of those ever got past an apple logo - forever frozen.

Any ideas?

If you are trying to use the correct factory restore DVDs and is failling, you could have a defective GPU, a SSD or a PCIe card that is incompatible with Snow Leopard or even a BootROM related problem.

Did you tried to run AHT?

Did you tried to install something like El Capitan or High Sierra with the AppleOEM GPU?

Incidentally, I have scoured and searched all over MacForums and other sites and cannot find anything fitting this.

My OTHER question is regarding running both cards:

I can boot right up in Monterey using the rx580 - just no boot screen. If I add my hd5870 as a secondary card, it will POST and get a gray screen with apple logo, but it never finishes booting. The rx580 in that scenario goes silent with no fans or anything. (BTW, I completed a Pixlas Mod to power both cards appropriately). Obviously, I can’t boot to Monterey with just the hd5780 because the GPU doesn’t support Metal.

What you are trying to accomplish? Run 10.6.8 and modern macOS with the same Mac Pro with GPU hardware acceleration? Not gonna work.

Apple removed the possibility of running dissimilar GPUs with Mojave forward, you need to run GPUs that work with the same driver and preferably identical. If you try anything after High Sierra, you gonna have weird crashes, inexplicably slowdowns and frequently can't even install macOS from scratch.

People that need to run Snow Leopard and modern macOS with hardware acceleration with the same Mac Pro use a PCIe slot expander with one the GPUs and turn it on/off accordingly. A lot of tests/debugging is needed to find where/which GPU is installed and since each one have different workflows, there is no recipe written already for this. Sometimes is also necessary OpenCore config.plist finetunning to disable the PCIe slot.

Most people in the end just buy another Mac Pro dedicated to Snow Leopard to avoid all the hassle.

I then injected EnableGOP into my boot rom using the guides in this forum and Lances excellent guide at Mac Sound Solutions. My rom dump shows it in there, but it functionally does absolutely nothing regarding a boot screen. Still nothing until login.

Could be that your GPU is flashed for mining and you need to flash back the factory GPU firmware. Could also be that if you have a Sapphire Pulse with ROM switch, you need to change the firmware switch position.

Also do not forget that some hardware disable the Apple native BootPicker, like some models of Sonnet Tempo SATAIII card, some USB cards and more recently the MacFiver.

Am I missing some key step? Details on booting with dual cards is pretty scarce in basically every forum i can read.

Yes, since it does not work…

 

[reader50]

If a Metal (RX580) and non-Metal card (HD5870) are both plugged in at the same time, this blocks boot in Mojave and later. You can adjust the OCLP config file to hide the non-Metal card. Then always boot Mojave and later through OCLP. Earlier macOS versions you would direct-boot, allowing them to see the HD 5870. I've done this before, but got tired of two big graphics cards hogging my PCIe slots. At best, you have a single slot free, with limited air space between cards. Also, you have to manually redo the OCLP config hack after every OCLP update.

After Snow Leopard is installed, you can boot it through OCLP and let it use the RX-580. It does work, and you'll get boot screens from the OCLP boot picker onwards. However, SL has no drivers for the 580, so you get software rendering only. The 580 is so fast compared to SL cards, that rendering speed isn't an issue. But not all games are willing to run in software rendering mode. Simple games, yes. 3D games - most don't seem to offer that mode by the time SL came out.

You didn't mention what your boot drive is. You'll need to use SATA for Snow Leopard. nVME only boots High Sierra and up. Certain special nVME SSDs (4K formatted and/or Apple brand) can get a little earlier. But Snow Leopard will not boot or install on nVME.

 

[neo64]

10.6.3 Snow Leopard disk is not compatible with Mac Pro mid-2010/mid-2012, you need download the Mac Pro mid-2010 Factory Restore DVDs from Internet Archieve and burn it.



If you are trying to use the correct factory restore DVDs and is failling, you could have a defective GPU, a SSD or a PCIe card that is incompatible with Snow Leopard or even a BootROM related problem.

Did you tried to run AHT?

Did you tried to install something like El Capitan or High Sierra with the AppleOEM GPU?



What you are trying to accomplish? Run 10.6.8 and modern macOS with the same Mac Pro with GPU hardware acceleration? Not gonna work.

Apple removed the possibility of running dissimilar GPUs with Mojave forward, you need to run GPUs that work with the same driver and preferably identical. If you try anything after High Sierra, you gonna have weird crashes, inexplicably slowdowns and frequently can't even install macOS from scratch.

People that need to run Snow Leopard and modern macOS with hardware acceleration with the same Mac Pro use a PCIe slot expander with one the GPUs and turn it on/off accordingly. A lot of tests/debugging is needed to find where/which GPU is installed and since each one have different workflows, there is no recipe written already for this. Sometimes is also necessary OpenCore config.plist finetunning to disable the PCIe slot.

Most people in the end just buy another Mac Pro dedicated to Snow Leopard to avoid all the hassle.



Could be that your GPU is flashed for mining and you need to flash back the factory GPU firmware. Could also be that if you have a Sapphire Pulse with ROM switch, you need to change the firmware switch position.

Also do not forget that some hardware disable the Apple native BootPicker, like some models of Sonnet Tempo SATAIII card, some USB cards and more recently the MacFiver.



Yes, since it does not work…

Thanks for the information.

Yes, I had a feeling a problem was that the 2 cards have completely different drivers. This card has no dip switches or other mechanical settings. Using OCLP to run the 580 with just software rendering would likely be awful...
I am starting to agree that perhaps the best option is a different Mac for the older OS...

The install disk is SATA - in slot one on the main board. I also have a USB card, so I will remove it and see if that makes a difference regarding boot screen in Monterey.

I will also look into the GPU firmware - had not considered that. If I need to flash that anyway, would it be reasonable to flash it to enable the boot screen? I haven't looked into that, so it may be that the juice is not worth the squeeze. OCLP should get me a boot screen anyway, right?

 

[neo64]

Did you tried to install something like El Capitan or High Sierra with the AppleOEM GPU?

Yes - actually had High Sierra running without issues with the hd5870. Then upgraded to Monterey - which required the rx580....

 

[keksikuningas]

What 6 core Xeons do you have? I've read on this forum previously that someone struggled with installing 10.6 on a cMP5,1 until they removed X-series LGA1366 CPUs and swapped back to Exxxx CPus

 

[tsialex]

What 6 core Xeons do you have? I've read on this forum previously that someone struggled with installing 10.6 on a cMP5,1 until they removed X-series LGA1366 CPUs and swapped back to Exxxx CPus

You are mistaking two different things here.

1. Leopard versus Snow Leopard - Leopard does not support Westmere Xeons and only work with Nehalem ones, even when fully updated. So, you need to go back to Nehalem Xeons to run Leopard.
   
   Snow Leopard 10.6.4 (10.6.4 is very important here, is the first Snow Leopard version that works with a MacPro5,1) onwards fully support mid-2010 Mac Pros, which had Westmere hexacore Xeons in several factory and BTO configurations.
   
   So, to install any mid-2010/mid-2012 (with any Westmere Xeon model that is supported by a MacPro5,1, some Westmere Xeons are not supported by the MacPro5,1 firmware, like X5687 or X5698) you just need a version of Snow Leopard that is at least 10.6.4.
   
   One thing to add, Every MobileMe subscriber back in 2012 received a 10.6.3 install DVD from Apple when MobileMe became iCloud to make it easier to move to Lion, see the screenshot below.
   
   
   
   
   
   This Snow Leopard DVD sent by Apple is useless and a source of trouble for anyone with a mid-2010/mid-2012 Mac Pro and doesn't remember the 10.6.4 requirement. Most of the time, is this 10.6.3 Snow Leopard DVD that does not work with MacPro5,1.
   
2. The E prefix indicates medium range TDP/power consumption/performance and not Nehalem Xeons. The E56xx series of Xeons are Westmere.
   
   X prefix indicates top range TDP/power consumption/performance, L indicates low range TDP/power consumption/performance.

 

[neo64]

Snow Leopard 10.6.4 (10.6.4 is very important here, is the first Snow Leopard version that works with a MacPro5,1) onwards fully support mid-2010 Mac Pros, which had Westmere hexacore Xeons in several factory and BTO configurations.

My Xeons are E5690s.
Good to know that 10.6.3 won't work. That was what I tried to install and got frozen as soon as the status bar appeared. I plan to get the 10.6.8 Original from GitHub and try that - with whatever machine I end up using....