MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro5,1: BootROM thread | 144.0.0.0.0

[PianoPro]

The question to which I can't find an answer though is why on earth Apple decided to release Mojave OS (and officially support cMP), which only supports a metal framework without a proper video card? Yet their recommended video cards are partially crippled? That is beyond my perception of the Apple mindset.

I don't understand this criticism. Would you rather they just prohibited Mojave from running on the cMP?

I don't think it's likely they ever modify the cMP to support boot screens on currently available Metal cards. Is there even room in the cMP boot rom to do it if they wanted?

It would make me happy if they simply modified Mojave to allow it to boot with one of the original, non-metal, boot-screen cMP video cards (GT120, HD5770, etc) installed ALONG WITH a metal card so we could swap cables and get a boot screen if it was really needed. That would seem to be a pretty trivial change since Mojave can already boot with one of those old non-metal cards installed by itself. But that almost seems like a bug rather than intentional behavior.

 

[startergo]

I don't understand this criticism. Would you rather they just prohibited Mojave from running on the cMP?

I don't think it's likely they ever modify the cMP to support boot screens on currently available Metal cards. Is there even room in the cMP boot rom to do it if they wanted?

It would make me happy if they simply modified Mojave to allow it to boot with one of the original, non-metal, boot-screen cMP video cards (GT120, HD5770, etc) installed ALONG WITH a metal card so we could swap cables and get a boot screen if it was really needed. That would seem to be a pretty trivial change since Mojave can already boot with one of those old non-metal cards installed by itself. But that almost seems like a bug rather than intentional behavior.

It is not only this. eGPU's (which have nothing to do with cMP) are also supported. So which eGPU has a boot screen?

 

[PianoPro]

It is not only this. eGPU's (which have nothing to do with cMP) are also supported. So which eGPU has a boot screen?

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. I just don't understand why you are upset with Apple? You said: "why on earth Apple decided to release Mojave OS (and officially support cMP), which only supports a metal framework without a proper video card?"

What did you want Apple to do? Create a new "proper" video card for the cMP? Or did you really expect them to somehow support boot screens in current cards? I'm thrilled Apple allowed the cMP to run Mojave just by changing a video card even if there weren't any current metal cards with Mac Pro boot screens.

 

[crjackson2134]

Meanwhile back at the Ranch... 140.0.0.0.0 is proving to be a wonderful update.

For those who are left wanting, there are solutions (for most things) that could be discussed elsewhere (since most of the complaints aren’t related to this firmware version).

 

[tsialex]

This thread already is a catch all things BootROM thread and I know that this discussion is indirectly related to the BootROM topic, but please get out of this rabbit role. Everyone has his opinion and most are right, but this is useless to the main point here. If you going to discuss this, please open another thread.

One thing useful is a first post list of problems with MP5,1 that can be reasonably resolved by Apple, like:

• PCIe fan SMC bug
• DP1.2 boot screens
• GTX 680 Mac Edition createinstallmedia USB install bug (maybe already resolved with 10.14.2)
• FL1100 USB3 boot

What more?

 

[nbritton]

Does this mean the Intel Optane 900p and/or 905p will work? Are there any PCIe x8 or x16 NVMe cards on the market?

I had a spare Intel Optane 900p 480GB laying around so I tried it out, it works great! The first thing I did was install the 140.0.0.0 BootRom using the Mojave installer. Then, because I have a NVIDIA GTX 980, I reinstalled macOS High Sierra using a USB installer, it worked the first time without a single issue.

 

[tsialex]

I had a spare Intel Optane 900p 480GB laying around so I tried it out, it works great! The first thing I did was install the 140.0.0.0 BootRom using the Mojave installer. Then, because I have a NVIDIA GTX 980, I reinstalled macOS High Sierra using a USB installer, it worked the first time without a single issue.

View attachment 800456
View attachment 800457
View attachment 800458

Thx for the report, please add to the correct thread: Blade SSDs - NVMe & AHCI. Edit the first post and add your Optane 900p there, thanks!

BTW, it's severely limited installed into a Mac Pro 5,1, working at PCIe 2.0 speeds (1500MB/s).

 

[nbritton]

BTW, it's severely limited installed into a Mac Pro 5,1, working at PCIe 2.0 speeds (1500MB/s).

As long as it's faster then 10 Gigabit Ethernet I really don't care, and the Optane drives are more about latency, random IOPs, and queue depth then they are raw bandwidth.

 

[PianoPro]

Seems like the original NVMe boot support topic ceased to be an issue with the release of the 140 FW.

So if this thread is now morphing into what else can Apple do to the BootROM to help the cMP then I think the issue of whether adding universal boot-screen support is a reasonable request fits perfectly as one of those topics. Is it something Apple could do with a BootROM firmware upgrade to empower all reasonably current video cards? Would such a BootROM solution fit in the available firmware space? Or would it be better to leave it to the video card manufacturers to add to future cards only as Nvidia has apparently done with the RTX 2080?

If this is too big a topic for this thread we could certainly start a new thread to discuss potential BootROM boot-screen support.

 

[crjackson2134]

If this is too big a topic for this thread we could certainly start a new thread to discuss potential BootROM boot-screen support.

Actually that’s a good idea. Please do make a new thread...

 

[PianoPro]

Actually that’s a good idea.

Yep, may be best. But if this thread already has Apple engineers attention it seems like a shame not get some discussion of the topic here.

 

[tsialex]

Seems like the original NVMe boot support topic ceased to be an issue with the release of the 140 FW.

So if this thread is now morphing into what else can Apple do to the BootROM to help the cMP then I think the issue of whether adding universal boot-screen support is a reasonable request fits perfectly as one of those topics. Is it something Apple could do with a BootROM firmware upgrade to empower all reasonably current video cards?

That is a tricky question since we don't know what Apple thinks about this or the way they going with MP51 support from now on. I don't think they will implement GOP with MP5,1, but they can address SMC issues with current GPUs.

Would such a BootROM solution fit in the available firmware space?

MP5,1 SPI-flash is only 32Mbit, didn't had enough space to implement Internet Recovery, but I think that a GOP/UGA translation/initialisation shim could be made within the available space existent if Apple really wanted to support 3rd party generic GPUs.

Or would it be better to leave it to the video card manufacturers to add to future cards only as Nvidia has apparently done with the RTX 2080?

That's the best course of action in my opinion. NVIDIA showed that is possible and works nicely.

If this is too big a topic for this thread we could certainly start a new thread to discuss potential BootROM boot-screen support.

A thread exclusively to talk about MP5,1 UGA/GOP will be more appropriate. I opened this one: MP5,1: Boot screens/UGA/GOP discussion
[doublepost=1541138888][/doublepost]

Yep, may be best. But if this thread already has Apple engineers attention it seems like a shame not get some discussion of the topic here.

This is a supposition, I doubt that Apple have any active firmware engineer here. Ex-ones, yes.

We can discuss there and bring back what is relevant here.

 

[crjackson2134]

Yep, may be best. But if this thread already has Apple engineers attention it seems like a shame not get some discussion of the topic here.

They’re not lost... It’s the topic and discussion that’s of interest.

 

[MisterAndrew]

It appears Apple fixed the installer bug that won't allow the install to proceed on graphics cards like the GTX 680. I opened the Mojave installer under 10.14.2 beta with my RX Vega and it will proceed.

 

[tsialex]

It appears Apple fixed the installer bug that won't allow the install to proceed on graphics cards like the GTX 680. I opened the Mojave installer under 10.14.2 beta with my RX Vega and it will proceed.

If no one do it first, I can check the installer with eVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition tomorrow.

 

[klingklanging]

@tsialex

Great thread, great people in this forum and extraordinary help I just have gotten from this guy getting my cMP4,1-5,1 machines corrupted firmware fixed!
He helped in every step where things were unclear and was very patient, and finally he got all the stuff removed and double checked from my side that everything will work just fine!

BIG THANKS!

+100

@tsialex = Apple Tech LEGEND

 

[kohlson]

If you have a wishlist for Apple's engineers

For me, utilizing full video capabilities in the RX580: HEVC encode/decode. After all, this is what the latest iPhones are capable of - it would seem logical that this card would complement these phone capabilities, especially with FCPX 10.4.5...

 

[VaZ]

Does anybody know a way how to bypass the AppleRAID restriction for the 10.14.1 update !? My update didn't show up in Software Update and i'm on version 18A391 which i find weird.
I think its because my boot drive is an AppleRAID with 10.14 which probably confuses it..

 

[Slash-2CPU]

Ordered a X5687. Will be here next week. Will test.

FW 140.0
4,1 flashed to 5,1
970 PRO boot
Sapphire RX580 Pulse
Currently running W3690

Also have a macvidcards flashed GTX 980 in the parts drawer for boot screens.

It’s not for the 3-5% clock increase. $40 for something to tinker with.

 

[tsialex]

Ordered a X5687. Will be here next week. Will test.

FW 140.0
4,1 flashed to 5,1
970 PRO boot
Sapphire RX580 Pulse
Currently running W3690

Also have a macvidcards flashed GTX 980 in the parts drawer for boot screens.

It’s not for the 3-5% clock increase. $40 for something to tinker with.

Thx, I don't think anyone tested it past MP51.0087.B00 or MP51.0089.B00.

 

[Maxpecas]

This thread already is a catch all things BootROM thread and I know that this discussion is indirectly related to the BootROM topic, but please get out of this rabbit role. Everyone has his opinion and most are right, but this is useless to the main point here. If you going to discuss this, please open another thread.

One thing useful is a first post list of problems with MP5,1 that can be reasonably resolved by Apple, like:

• PCIe fan SMC bug
• GTX 680 Mac Edition createinstallmedia USB install bug
• FL1100 USB3 boot

What more?

We should have 4K bootscreen ?!

 

[tsialex]

We should have 4K bootscreen ?!

Bootscreens with DP1.2 connections is a worthwhile one. I'll add to my previous post.

 

[tsialex]

Pleople, please use this thread to continue this discussion: MP5,1: Boot screens/UGA/GOP GPU support and GPU SMC problems discussion

Let's keep on topic, please.

 

[bsbeamer]

10.13.6 update installs build 17G3025. This build WILL work with NVIDIA Web Driver 387.10.10.15.15.108, which was pulled by NVIDIA. See the NVIDIA sticky for more info. Start at thread #4774.

 

[w1z]

A new vulnerability with Intel processors, specifically with hyper-threading, has been disclosed - CVE-2018-5407 aka PortSmash

Temp solution is to disable hyper-threading until a patch is released so I'm guessing there should be another bootrom/microcode update for the 5,1

Edit: For those who wish to disable HT without installing XCode, download and install CPUSetter - set and forget.