iMac8,1 won't go into firmware update mode.

[wim1732]

I'm trying to boot into firmware update mode by holding the power button in until a long tone is heard in order to use dosdude's APFS Rom Patcher and machine just boots as normal.
There have never been any firmware updates for this model so never tried it before.
Any suggestions from anyone with an iMac8,1 that has used APFS Rom Patcher?
I've seen the thread about macpro5,1 with a similar issue that was resolved by trying repeatedly.

 

[telepati]

I'm trying to boot into firmware update mode by holding the power button in until a long tone is heard in order to use dosdude's APFS Rom Patcher and machine just boots as normal.
There have never been any firmware updates for this model so never tried it before.
Any suggestions from anyone with an iMac8,1 that has used APFS Rom Patcher?
I've seen the thread about macpro5,1 with a similar issue that was resolved by trying repeatedly.

Did you find any solution for that? I am trying to for my iMac 9,1 but no any beep sound or led.

 

[wim1732]

Did you find any solution for that? I am trying to for my iMac 9,1 but no any beep sound or led.

I'm afraid not.
There must be a way programmatically as that's how Apple do the firmware updates?

 

[telepati]

I'm afraid not.
There must be a way programmatically as that's how Apple do the firmware updates?

I found this read the Step 4;

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Upgrade+the+Firmware+of+a+2009+Mac+Pro+41/98985

 

[wim1732]

I found this read the Step 4;

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Upgrade+the+Firmware+of+a+2009+Mac+Pro+41/98985

That's exactly what I've been trying, It seems that it works for a MacPro but not an iMac.

There is an "Apple iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.4" for your iMac 9,1 so it must be possible? It won't run on my iMac 8,1 so can't see the instructions referred to.

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL823?locale=en_GB

 

[telepati]

That's exactly what I've been trying, It seems that it works for a MacPro but not an iMac.

There is an "Apple iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.4" for your iMac 9,1 so it must be possible? It won't run on my iMac 8,1 so can't see the instructions referred to.

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL823?locale=en_GB

But as you can see my shared, first they are install the firmware then shutdown and press the power button. But @dosdude1 patcher demands first shutdown and boot in firmware mode. As like you I can never boot in firmware mode. I am pressing 10 sec to power button then my iMac starts in normal boot. I am checking in the system report under the software and it is saying normal boot. I tried maybe 100 times but never reach the firmware mode.

 

[wim1732]

[doublepost=1546284004][/doublepost]

But as you can see my shared, first they are install the firmware then shutdown and press the power button. But @dosdude1 patcher demands first shutdown and boot in firmware mode. As like you I can never boot in firmware mode. I am pressing 10 sec to power button then my iMac starts in normal boot. I am checking in the system report under the software and it is saying normal boot. I tried maybe 100 times but never reach the firmware mode.

I understand, it sounds like what we need is an app like "Apple iMac EFI Firmware Update" with the APFS patch as its payload which can be run before rebooting to update the firmware. It looks like our iMacs are checking for a firmware update file before allowing the boot in firmware update mode which then immediately applies the patch?

 

[wim1732]

[doublepost=1546284004][/doublepost]

I understand, it sounds like what we need is an app like "Apple iMac EFI Firmware Update" with the APFS patch as its payload which can be run before rebooting to update the firmware. It looks like our iMacs are checking for a firmware update file before allowing the boot in firmware update mode which then immediately applies the patch?

Have found the following on how to flash firmware manually:
https://pubmem.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/flash-efi-firmware-update-manually-on-a-macbook-51/

This procedure is slightly different to APFS ROM Patcher in that step 6 in the following is to turn on but NOT hold the power button down:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201860

 

[caaalebbb]

I'm trying to boot into firmware update mode by holding the power button in until a long tone is heard in order to use dosdude's APFS Rom Patcher and machine just boots as normal.
There have never been any firmware updates for this model so never tried it before.
Any suggestions from anyone with an iMac8,1 that has used APFS Rom Patcher?
I've seen the thread about macpro5,1 with a similar issue that was resolved by trying repeatedly.

I’m sorry to revive an old thread but I am running into the same issue with the same model iMac 8,1 (early 2008) and this is the only thing I’ve found that concerns this issue. It’s not clear from above whether this issue was resolved. (It’s unclear how some of the linked instructions are supposed to apply to installing dosdude’s patcher.) If the OP is still around, did you ever get into programming mode or get the patcher installed? Or does anyone have any advice here on how I can install the patcher?

 

[wim1732]

I’m sorry to revive an old thread but I am running into the same issue with the same model iMac 8,1 (early 2008) and this is the only thing I’ve found that concerns this issue. It’s not clear from above whether this issue was resolved. (It’s unclear how some of the linked instructions are supposed to apply to installing dosdude’s patcher.) If the OP is still around, did you ever get into programming mode or get the patcher installed? Or does anyone have any advice here on how

I found that after trying repeatedly, even though there was no long tone on holding the power button in or special beep or led flashing, APFS Rom Patcher worked and I was able to boot APFS drives. I never posted my finding as I couldn't explain how it was achieved! I'm still using this iMac 8,1 and am running Catalina 10.5.7.

 

[caaalebbb]

I found that after trying repeatedly, even though there was no long tone on holding the power button in or special beep or led flashing, APFS Rom Patcher worked and I was able to boot APFS drives. I never posted my finding as I couldn't explain how it was achieved! I'm still using this iMac 8,1 and am running Catalina 10.5.7.

Thanks. To confirm, you don't get scrolling white/yellow text for a few seconds at boot? I also didn't get a long tone or special beep or led flashing on holding the power button (but there was a longer delay before the startup chime sounded). I also just continued on installing the APFS Rom Patcher, and it said it was successfully patched. I also successfully installed Catalina on the iMac 8,1 and it has been running mostly fine (with the exception of Zoom). But the Boot Rom version never changed, and I get the scrolling white/yellow text at boot, so I don't think the patcher actually did anything.

 

[wim1732]

Thanks. To confirm, you don't get scrolling white/yellow text for a few seconds at boot? I also didn't get a long tone or special beep or led flashing on holding the power button (but there was a longer delay before the startup chime sounded). I also just continued on installing the APFS Rom Patcher, and it said it was successfully patched. I also successfully installed Catalina on the iMac 8,1 and it has been running mostly fine (with the exception of Zoom). But the Boot Rom version never changed, and I get the scrolling white/yellow text at boot, so I don't think the patcher actually did anything.

I don’t get the scrolling white/yellow from APFS Booter, my Boot Rom version is IM81.00C1.B00, I don’t think it changes. Also the UEFI volume doesn’t have the APFS Booter. APFS Booter takes precedence over the ROM as I have inadvertently installed it when running Catalina Patcher and not disabling it. If you disable it you might find you can boot from the ROM. Good luck

 

[caaalebbb]

I don’t get the scrolling white/yellow from APFS Booter, my Boot Rom version is IM81.00C1.B00, I don’t think it changes. Also the UEFI volume doesn’t have the APFS Booter. APFS Booter takes precedence over the ROM as I have inadvertently installed it when running Catalina Patcher and not disabling it. If you disable it you might find you can boot from the ROM. Good luck

That is also my Boot ROM version. Do you know how to disable the APFS Booter? And if my ROM was not in fact patched, will I mess anything up by disabling it? Or can I easily re-enable it? Everything seems to be working fine otherwise.

 

[wim1732]

That is also my Boot ROM version. Do you know how to disable the APFS Booter? And if my ROM was not in fact patched, will I mess anything up by disabling it? Or can I easily re-enable it? Everything seems to be working fine otherwise

In MacOS Catalina Patcher on the Options menu you can "Disable APFS Booter" and then when you "Create a Bootable Installer" it will be disabled the next time you install. However, I would suggest you stick with APFS Booter, the only reason I did it was that the APFS Booter wasn't available when I did my first install using MacOS Mojave Patcher onto an HFS file system, if it had been I would not have bothered risking patching the ROM.