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Pale77

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2023
3
0
Hi everyone,
I'm knew here, but found many solutions to my issues in the past.
Now I can't find exactly what I need, so I decided to subscribe and post this issue.

Try to explain my strange situation.

Last year I bought a 5,1 2010 MacPro equipped with a metal capable GPU, Nvidia Quadro k600. The seller had installed Catalina with OpenCore, but I wanted to work with officially supported OS so I tried to install Mojave but, for some reason (which I read was a known unresolved issue), Mojave did not recognize the metal GPU and did not start installation. So I decided to install it on my MacBookPro 9,1 and then move the SSD#1 on MacPro, and it worked perfectly, I am still using it.

Now I have changed my GPU to a flashed Radeon RX 480 that works good with Mojave.

Then I bought a 4.2 BCM43xx Bluetooth+Wifi module to use AirDrop and Handoff. The first one works, the latter not. I don’t want to use Continuity Activation Tool because I already tried it with a bluetooth 4.0 Asus Dongle and it freezed my MacPro.

So I decided to have a clean install of Mojave on a different SSD#2 to see if it depends on the fact that OS was not directly installed on MacPro.

I followed the usual procedure from usb boot drive but when I launched install it told me firmware must be upgraded. So I verified the firmware version and I realized that it is MP51.0089.B00 and not 144.0.0.0.0, and this makes sense because I did not install Mojave directly on MacPro, and maybe previous owner/s never upgraded it to OS 10.14.

And I even supposed that the first time I tried to install it (last year) this message did not come out because maybe installer first checks for GPU compatibility and then for firmware version.

I have been assured by many people (on Apple Discussions forum and by the WiFi card seller himself) that upgrading firmware would not affect SSD#1 and that it would keep on working properly.

As I am cautious when I have to deal with boot and similar, I thought that I could try with a 10.13.6 clean install (no need for firmware upgrade for now) on SSD#2, since Handoff was already supported at the time of its release, to see if installing OS directly on MacPro would solve the problem: but nope, Airdrop works but Handoff does not.

Tried log out/in from iCloud, tried some terminal commands I have found in some threads on this forum, but nothing has worked.

And I don't want to risk freezing SSD#1 since it has taken a long time to install all software on it. Of course I have Time Machine backups, but in my experience sometimes they failed.

Maybe some of you can help me.

Thanks in advance

Pale77
 
Last edited:

tsialex

Contributor
Jun 13, 2016
13,451
13,601
Remove your main disk, install a spare, do a clean install of High Sierra via a createinstallmedia USB installer and then upgrade it to Mojave. You have to do the upgrade, since you can't clean install Mojave with a Kepler GPU.


If you can't do that, a payed BootROM reconstruction service can solve the upgrade issues.

For the hand-off issues, it was never not supported natively/officially with a MacPro5,1. There is a thread that cover all the issues, but you need to do the basic first, like fully upgrade the Mac Pro firmware.

Also, BCM943602CDP is not the best model for a Mac Pro, there are issues with the VSS store stored BT related entries. The correct model for a MacPro5,1 is the BCM94360CD.
 
Last edited:
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Pale77

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2023
3
0
Remove your main disk, install a spare, do a clean install of High Sierra via a createinstallmedia USB installer and then upgrade it to Mojave. You have to do the upgrade, since you can't clean install Mojave with a Kepler GPU.


If you can't do that, a payed BootROM reconstruction service can solve the upgrade issues.

For the hand-off issues, it was never not supported natively/officially with a MacPro5,1. There is a thread that cover all the issues, but you need to do the basic first, like fully upgrade the Mac Pro firmware.

Also, BCM943602CDP is not the best model for a Mac Pro, there are issues with the VSS store stored BT related entries. The correct model for a MacPro5,1 is the BCM94360CD.
Ok, I already have a spare SSD with a 10.13.6 clean install. I will upgrade it to Mojave and upgrade firmware too (hope it works without affecting other SSD).

What do you mean for “payed BootROM reconstruction”?

How can I know exactly which model of bluetooth module I have? System report only say BCM43xx, but both of the number you wrote have a 9 between M and 4.

Thanks for your reply

Pale77
 

Pale77

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2023
3
0
As far as I was able to find online my bluetooth module is BCM943602CDP and
- BCM943602CDP should be 4.2
- BCM943602CD should be 4.0
Furthermore I have found that with Monterey installed via Open Core, some guys had Handoff&Continuity working with BCM943602CDP.
It is strange that a most powerful module is not working on natively supported OS but it is working on non-natively supported one.
 
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