MP 1,1-5,1 Help! My Mac Pro 4,1 to 5,1 Won't boot

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Gents,
Here's the situation:
Tried using Clover to go from Catalina 10.15.7 to Big Sur 10.16.x. My Mac Pro won't boot now. Front panel indicator is lit, no red/amber warnings on the Motherboard indicator panel. Video card is a Sapphire Dual-X AMD R9 280x. It's doesn't have an EFI ROM. Tried building a new ROM using the Netkas.org procedure. Noticed some complaints in the makerom.sh script related to the processor. Can't build the ROM on my Mac since it won't boot up. I successfully flashed the card using ATI flash, but still no joy on the boot screen.

The Mac is On, no warning indicators, black screen, the fans on the GPU are spinning at a low speed.

What can I do to get it to boot back up again?

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Gents,
Here's the situation:
Tried using Clover to go from Catalina 10.15.7 to Big Sur 10.16.x. My Mac Pro won't boot now. Front panel indicator is lit, no red/amber warnings on the Motherboard indicator panel. Video card is a Sapphire Dual-X AMD R9 280x. It's doesn't have an EFI ROM. Tried building a new ROM using the Netkas.org procedure. Noticed some complaints in the makerom.sh script related to the processor. Can't build the ROM on my Mac since it won't boot up. I successfully flashed the card using ATI flash, but still no joy on the boot screen.

The Mac is On, no warning indicators, black screen, the fans on the GPU are spinning at a low speed.

What can I do to get it to boot back up again?

One more thing to add. It's chiming like every 10 minutes or so.

 

[tsialex]

Clover is the fastest way to brick your Mac Pro, it's not compatible with Macs and it probably overwritten the NVRAM volume of the BootROM image, damaging the content stored in the backplane SPI flash memory.

Check EFI_DONE, download the Apple Technician Guide (around page 29~33) to learn how to use the DIAG button.

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Clover is the fastest way to brick your Mac Pro, it's not compatible with Macs and it probably overwritten the NVRAM volume of the BootROM image, damaging the content stored in the backplane SPI flash memory.

Check EFI_DONE, download the Apple Technician Guide (around page 29~33) to learn how to use the DIAG button.

Thanks for the reply. Isn't Clover, MLo's tool for upgrading Macs? OK, so next steps go through the DIAG steps and report back to you?

 

[tsialex]

Thanks for the reply. Isn't Clover, MLo's tool for upgrading Macs? OK, so next steps go through the DIAG steps and report back to you?

Clover is COMPLETELY incompatible with Macs - you can use it for mounting the ESP, but any other operation will result in a brick.

Apple Technician Guide will show what you have to do, EFI_DONE off or flashing when the DIAG button is pressed confirms that you have a brick. EFI_DONE LED should be fully lit while you press the DIAG button.

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Wow, I really screwed this up. Is Clover strictly for hackintosh? So, yes, I pressed DIAG, and I only see the top led illuminated (green). The EFI_DONE LED is NOT illuminated at all.

Is there anything I can do?

 

[tsialex]

Wow, I really screwed this up. Is Clover strictly for hackintosh?

Clover is incompatible with Macs. Never use it with a real Mac.

So, yes, I pressed DIAG, and I only see the top led illuminated (green). The EFI_DONE LED is NOT illuminated at all.

Is there anything I can do?

If you bricked your Mac Pro, EFI_DONE is not lit when you press the DIAG button, you have three options:

1. Buy a replacement backplane on eBay and replace the backplane yourself, cheapest option if you can't solder SMD. Remember that you need a 2009 backplane if you have an early-2009 Mac Pro. If you have a mid-2010 or mid-2012 you can use either 2010 or 2012 backplanes. Don't mix early-2009 backplanes with mid-2010/mid-2012 CPU trays, or vice-versa - either scenario is a SMC firmware version mismatch and all your fans will run at maximum RPM, full time and without any software control.
2. Buy a Mac Pro MATT card and use it as a replacement SPI flash, this is not recommended since all MATT cards are clones and won't work for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime. A replacement backplane is usually cheaper.
3. Desolder, reprogram and solder back the SPI flash, chip U8700 on the backplane. It's not possible to read or write to the SPI flash memory while it's soldered on the MP5,1 backplane. A cheap SPI flash programmer like ch341a will work for read/write the BootROM after the SPI flash memory is desoldered from the backplane. Start reading here, read all my posts on the subject from there. I strongly recommend that you replace your original SPI flash memory with a brand new one, don't solder it back to the backplane, it will fail soon since SPI flash memories have limited lifetime (manufacture rated for just 100.000 erase/write cycles) when used as NVRAM for a Mac Pro. Again, most hard bricks are caused by the failure of the SPI flash, it's a US$ 2 component easily available, MXIC MX25L3206E, just replace it! Btw, yes, you can use a MXIC MX25L3206E as a modern replacement for the two older models SST25VF032B and MXIC MX25L3205D used on early-2009 and mid-2010 respectively, Apple did it for mid-2012 Mac Pros.
   
   Mojave has the generic MP51.fd firmware image inside the full installer, it's enough for boot your Mac Pro again but not for iCloud/iMessage/FaceTime login.
   
   

   Install\ macOS\ Mojave/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/Firmware/MP51.fd

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Thank you for the detailed response. #3 sounds pretty complicated. Have you done it before? Is the chance for failure high? I'm not too experienced with soldering.

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Wait, the MATT card seems like the simplest approach. it's only $65 Euro. I don't really use Facetime/iMessage on my Mac. Which iCloud features don't work? I do use some iCloud features such as Family Sharing.

 

[tsialex]

Thank you for the detailed response. #3 sounds pretty complicated. Have you done it before?

See the link I posted on my previous answer.

Is the chance for failure high? I'm not too experienced with soldering.

Failure or success replacing the SPI flash depends exclusively if you are capable to desolder the original SPI flash, it's a 8-pin SOJ SMD chip. If you are not sure, buy a replacement backplane or a MATT card.

Wait, the MATT card seems like the simplest approach. it's only $65 Euro. I don't really use Facetime/iMessage on my Mac. Which iCloud features don't work? I do use some iCloud features such as Family Sharing.

All early-2009/mid-2010/mid-2012 MATT cards are from factory clones of GJ0340TXH2N mid-2010 Mac Pro. Use this SSN on the search box and read what I've wrote in the past about this issue in detail, like #4,771 and #1,024. Apple does periodical security scans that will detect the clone and block any iCloud/FaceTime/Messages logins, also blacklisting your iCloud account.

A MATT card is only really useful after you flash your own Mac Pro BootROM image to it, replacing the factory GJ0340TXH2N BootROM image. To solve this issue you need to pay for a firmware reconstruction and then flash your own Mac Pro firmware to the MATT card with ROMTool.

A replacement Mac Pro backplane on eBay is frequently cheaper than a MATT card + shipping + the BootROM reconstruction service.

 

[fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL]

Sorry, for being so dense. I have to pay for a BootROM reconstruction service? There's no way for me to flash my own firmware onto the MATT card?

 

[tsialex]

Sorry, for being so dense. I have to pay for a BootROM reconstruction service? There's no way for me to flash my own firmware onto the MATT card?

If you previously dumped and saved your Mac Pro BootROM, yes. If not, you need a reconstruction service.