MP 1,1-5,1 Manually Configured OpenCore on the Mac Pro

[Dewdman42]

Others may correct me, but OpenCore I think was really developed initially not for real Macs, but for PC's in fact looking to be hackintosh. As such, if there was a "default" configuration it would most likely not be applicable to real Macs. CDF's starter config.plist in post #1 is probably the one you want to look at.

 

[zzzachi]

hi... has anyone had (or even solved) such artefacts ?

they show after the boot picker, when the progress bar shows and disappear when the login screens shows.
when i use the mac for a day and switch between mojave and OC catalina a lot, the issues seem to increase:
two days ago i had an interlaced display in mojave even logged in on the desktop,
and finally the screen always went black before the login shows both for mojave and OC catalina.

did a complete OC reset as advised by cdf #6,232 and dayo #6,240 but those artefacts are still there.

clean opencore 0.65 w plist from #1, only cpuid1mask VMM off, GOPrenderer off (NO hardware acceleration)
mac pro 2012 5,1 dual 6 core X5690, saphire RX580 radeon pulse 8g (no mods, switch on gaming mode)
i used this rx580 with sierra (10.13) for 6 months without issues.

can macos residues on the EFI partition be a problem? (.Spotlight-V100/ .TemporaryItems/ .Trashes/ etc)
or do dual core machines need AppleMCEReporterDisabler?

 

[Belifant]

I just signed up to say thank you to @cdf and all others who contributed to this. I followed the really good and clear instructions and I have now a perfectly working Big Sur installation.

The only problem I ran into was that I only had one output on my dual screen setup. After spending a few hours reading this thread, I figured I have to change the BoardProduct to the MacPro7,1, which worked well. But it broke my Mojave install, which I still use as well. After spending 3 days reading all 251 pages, I figured out the problem, so for now, until we have a proper solution, I just change the BoardProduct between MacPro7,1 and iMacPro, depending if I'm using Big Sur or Mojave. Seems to work for now, I'm very happy to have Big Sur on my old MacPro!

@tsialex : reading this thread, I also came across your comments about the Bootroms on cMp5,1. Like others, I would be interested in some help there, could you PM me? I don't think I can PM you?

 

[startergo]

hi... has anyone had (or even solved) such artefacts ?

they show after the boot picker, when the progress bar shows and disappear when the login screens shows.
when i use the mac for a day and switch between mojave and OC catalina a lot, the issues seem to increase:
two days ago i had an interlaced display in mojave even logged in on the desktop,
and finally the screen always went black before the login shows both for mojave and OC catalina.

did a complete OC reset as advised by cdf #6,232 and dayo #6,240 but those artefacts are still there.

clean opencore 0.65 w plist from #1, only cpuid1mask VMM off, GOPrenderer off (NO hardware acceleration)
mac pro 2012 5,1 dual 6 core X5690, saphire RX580 radeon pulse 8g (no mods, switch on gaming mode)
i used this rx580 with sierra (10.13) for 6 months without issues.

can macos residues on the EFI partition be a problem? (.Spotlight-V100/ .TemporaryItems/ .Trashes/ etc)
or do dual core machines need AppleMCEReporterDisabler?

This is normal. If you load the Orinoco framebuffer those will disappear, but you will loose one of the display ports.

Turn a "new" Sapphire RX580 PULSE into the "Mac Edition" card

PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0) @0,name QVRZLE9yaW5vY28= ATY,EFIVersion MDEuMDEuMTgz CFG,CFG_FB_LIMIT...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[startergo]

Now and then I get

Spoiler: Sleep Wake failure

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff8013682fca): Sleep transition timed out after 180 seconds while calling power state change callbacks. Suspected bundle: com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily. Thread 0x7f54.
Failure code:: 0x00000040 00000014

Backtracing specified thread
Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address
0xffffffe281453848 : 0xffffff8012fe176b mach_kernel : _machine_switch_context + 0xcb
0xffffffa2146abc00 : 0xffffff8012ed79e2 mach_kernel : _thread_unstop + 0x14d2
0xffffffa2146abc70 : 0xffffff8012ed647f mach_kernel : _thread_block_reason + 0xaf
0xffffffa2146abcc0 : 0xffffff8012fde726 mach_kernel : _lck_mtx_lock_wait_x86 + 0x146
0xffffffa2146abd00 : 0xffffff8012fddf8b mach_kernel : _lck_mtx_lock_slow + 0x1db
0xffffffa2146abd30 : 0xffffff801360f7d8 mach_kernel : __ZN10IOWorkLoop9closeGateEv + 0x28
0xffffffa2146abd60 : 0xffffff8013612899 mach_kernel : __ZN13IOCommandGate9runActionEPFiP8OSObjectPvS2_S2_S2_ES2_S2_S2_S2_ + 0x49
0xffffffa2146abdc0 : 0xffffff80135f6510 mach_kernel : __ZN9IOService23driverInformPowerChangeEv + 0x2c0
0xffffffa2146abe60 : 0xffffff80135f5df4 mach_kernel : __ZN9IOService15pmDriverCalloutEPS_ + 0x34
0xffffffa2146abe80 : 0xffffff8012ef8795 mach_kernel : _thread_call_delayed_timer + 0x4a5
0xffffffa2146abef0 : 0xffffff8012ef96a4 mach_kernel : _thread_call_delayed_timer + 0x13b4
0xffffffa2146abfa0 : 0xffffff8012e5813e mach_kernel : _call_continuation + 0x2e

Process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
Boot args: -v debug=0x144 keepsyms=1 -no_compat_check

Mac OS version:
20D5029f

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 20.3.0: Mon Dec  7 22:04:02 PST 2020; root:xnu-7195.80.16.111.1~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: 94121F23-610E-35B9-8961-C0811E01A897
KernelCache slide: 0x0000000012c00000
KernelCache base:  0xffffff8012e00000
Kernel slide:      0x0000000012c10000
Kernel text base:  0xffffff8012e10000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8012d00000
System model name: MacPro5,1 (Mac-7BA5B2D9E42DDD94)
System shutdown begun: NO
Panic diags file available: YES (0x0)
Hibernation exit count: 0

System uptime in nanoseconds: 3249907342428
Last Sleep:           absolute           base_tsc          base_nano
  Uptime  : 0x000002f4ad92a83e
  Sleep   : 0x000002c6b056b9da 0x00000000bd785b20 0x000002a02ebb306f
  Wake    : 0x000002c6b4ad2318 0x00000000bd6f9748 0x000002c6b1aabf8e

on Big Sur.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

This is normal. If you load the Orinoco framebuffer those will disappear, but you will loose one of the display ports.

Turn a "new" Sapphire RX580 PULSE into the "Mac Edition" card

PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x3,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0) @0,name QVRZLE9yaW5vY28= ATY,EFIVersion MDEuMDEuMTgz CFG,CFG_FB_LIMIT...

forums.macrumors.com

Excuse my ignorance. I think I’ve read the entire page, but it’s unclear to me how to load the Orinoco frame buffer. Can you elaborate?

 

[h9826790]

Excuse my ignorance. I think I’ve read the entire page, but it’s unclear to me how to load the Orinoco frame buffer. Can you elaborate?

Please re-read post#1 to learn how to find out the PCIe path, and inject properties for your graphic card.

Then use the code in that linked post to inject the Orinoco framebuffer (you can only inject the framebuffer, but not everything)

<key>@0,name</key>
<data>QVRZLE9yaW5vY28=</data>

 

[zzzachi]

@PeterHolbrook video artefacts --> This is normal ---> hm, ok..

at least i solved the mystery with my doubled mojave in the boot picker. .-)

it was actually coming from my catalina disk, not from the mojave disk.
i had ccc'ed my catalina backup onto a former mojave disk (without formatting it first)
and on the Preboot partition of this disk i had two folders with an uuid name scheme,
both containing a System/Library/CoreServices with .disk_labels
one of these folders seems to be a residue from the former mojave.
i moved it into a backup folder and now the doubled name in the boot picker is gone 🙃

 

[cdf]

I figured I have to change the BoardProduct to the MacPro7,1, which worked well. But it broke my Mojave install, which I still use as well.

The Mac Pro 7,1 board ID will make all ports on the graphics card work, but is not compatible with Mojave. On the other hand, the iMac Pro board ID is compatible with Mojave, and all ports should work after adding the agdpmod=pikera device property.

 

[nobullone1964]

hi... has anyone had (or even solved) such artefacts ?

they show after the boot picker, when the progress bar shows and disappear when the login screens shows.
when i use the mac for a day and switch between mojave and OC catalina a lot, the issues seem to increase:
two days ago i had an interlaced display in mojave even logged in on the desktop,
and finally the screen always went black before the login shows both for mojave and OC catalina.

did a complete OC reset as advised by cdf #6,232 and dayo #6,240 but those artefacts are still there.

clean opencore 0.65 w plist from #1, only cpuid1mask VMM off, GOPrenderer off (NO hardware acceleration)
mac pro 2012 5,1 dual 6 core X5690, saphire RX580 radeon pulse 8g (no mods, switch on gaming mode)
i used this rx580 with sierra (10.13) for 6 months without issues.

can macos residues on the EFI partition be a problem? (.Spotlight-V100/ .TemporaryItems/ .Trashes/ etc)
or do dual core machines need AppleMCEReporterDisabler?

I had this problem with both a 7970 and my current RX 580. After injecting Radeonboost all is normal. Give it a try...

 

[zzzachi]

I had this problem with both a 7970 and my current RX 580. After injecting Radeonboost all is normal. Give it a try...

tx... the Radeonboost thread is some months old... is it still recommended for oc 0.65 w catalina ?
i read for the RX580 it needs lilu+whatevergreen, too. so basically #1 hardware acceleration + radeonboost

 

[tsialex]

@tsialex : reading this thread, I also came across your comments about the Bootroms on cMp5,1. Like others, I would be interested in some help there, could you PM me? I don't think I can PM you?

Newbies can't sent PMs, I sent you.

 

[nobullone1964]

tx... the Radeonboost thread is some months old... is it still recommended for oc 0.65 ?
from what i read it is lilu+whatevergreen+radeonboost for the RX580,
so basically hardware acceleration from #1 + radeonboost

I don't use hardware acceleration. Just inject the kext manually as we all used to do.. None of my kext are used with OpenCore. If OpenCore breaks for some reason I want my kexts to load with the normal system. Some may tell you this is not safe. I call "Bull". It always worked before OpenCore and still does. Trust me...

Edit: Get the most updated kext from GitHub.

 

[Belifant]

The Mac Pro 7,1 board ID will make all ports on the graphics card work, but is not compatible with Mojave. On the other hand, the iMac Pro board ID is compatible with Mojave, and all ports should work after adding the agdpmod=pikera device property.

I think I tried adding pikera and something didn't work, but anyway, it's ok for now. I understand the instructions are not really for Big Sur at the moment, so I'll wait for an update on that before trying anything else.

Thanks again, this is really fantastic, feels like a whole new computer.

 

[Dayo]

Some may tell you this is not safe. I call "Bull".

You should understand the matter at hand before making calls. Loading ALL your kexts via the normal system is perfectly safe and I don't believe anyone has ever said otherwise.

What is potentially problematic is mixing the kext loading between OpenCore and the normal system. Reason why is simple ... you don't want to be trying to load a kext in OpenCore, which is done early in the process, that depends on another loaded by the normal system which is done later in the process.

If OpenCore breaks for some reason I want my kexts to load with the normal system.

I would have thought kext loading on an unsupported Mac OS version is a bit of a moot point if OpenCore, or more accurately, the disk with OpenCore in the ESP, has failed.

Also, if you are hoping that a supported version will kick instead in such instances of OpenCore disk failure but have UEFI Windows installed, you will have bigger issues to contend with than whatever "nice-to-haves" the various kexts provide.

Anyway, perfectly fine to load all kexts with the normal system. Just don't mix and match unless knowing what you are doing. All said and done, better and less hassle to just use OpenCore to load them. The stated benefits of loading with the normal system are tenuous at best.

 

[nobullone1964]

You should understand the matter at hand before making calls. Loading ALL your kexts via the normal system is perfectly safe and I don't believe anyone has ever said otherwise.

What is potentially problematic is mixing the kext loading between OpenCore and the normal system. Reason why is simple ... you don't want to be trying to load a kext in OpenCore, which is done early in the process, that depends on another loaded by the normal system which is done later in the process.


I would have thought kext loading on an unsupported Mac OS version is a bit of a moot point if OpenCore, or more accurately, the disk with OpenCore in the ESP, has failed.

Also, if you are hoping that a supported version will kick instead in such instances of OpenCore disk failure but have UEFI Windows installed, you will have bigger issues to contend with than whatever "nice-to-haves" the various kexts provide.

Anyway, perfectly fine to load all kexts with the normal system. Just don't mix and match unless knowing what you are doing. All said and done, better and less hassle to just use OpenCore to load them. The stated benefits of loading with the normal system are tenuous at best.

First. Yes, someone on this thread did tell me loading kexts locally was unsafe. "Bull". And, I would never or ever suggest using OpenCore kexts and locally injected kexts at the same time (especially if they're the same). I use OpenCore for the bootpicker screen only and I run Mojave. If an operating system can't boot on its own what's the point? IMOO, I stop where the OS stops being supported. Catalina was enough trouble and now others are going for Big Sur. "Big problems". Thanks for your input, @Dayo. This is an individual's right to choose.

 

[expede]

Hello!

Just want to say "Thank you "cdf!" for the fine tutorial. I got my "Big Sur" installed on my cMP 5.1. Very nice.

Best regards

Doc

 

[HuRR]

Has anyone had issues with their Bluetooth becoming disabled after their Mac Pro has been sleeping for a while? I'm on Big Sur using @h9826790's package with a MVC BT and Wifi card. Never had this issue before but recently when my computer had been sleeping for a few days and I wake it, BT is missing ("off" and toggling the button does nothing). A restart will re-enable it no problem. This started happening on OC 0.6.5 and 11.1. I just reset the Bluetooth module. Will see if it happens again.

 

[h9826790]

Has anyone had issues with their Bluetooth becoming disabled after their Mac Pro has been sleeping for a while? I'm on Big Sur using @h9826790's package with a MVC BT and Wifi card. Never had this issue before but recently when my computer had been sleeping for a few days and I wake it, BT is missing ("off" and toggling the button does nothing). A restart will re-enable it no problem. This started happening on OC 0.6.5 and 11.1. I just reset the Bluetooth module. Will see if it happens again.

May be just shutdown the cMP is easier.

IMO, sleep isn't that reliable on cMP, especially we are running a non support OS with 3rd party hardware.

If you can't find the solution. Avoid it usually is the best work around. The cMP boot quite fast with SSD anyway. The time you waste on reset / reboot / diagnosis / testing.... most likely much more than just shutdown the Mac, and perform a cold boot next time.

 

[HuRR]

May be just shutdown the cMP is easier.

IMO, sleep isn't that reliable on cMP, especially we are running a non support OS with 3rd party hardware.

If you can't find the solution. Avoid it usually is the best work around. The cMP boot quite fast with SSD anyway. The time you waste on reset / reboot / diagnosis / testing.... most likely much more than just shutdown the Mac, and perform a cold boot next time.

That makes sense. I don't have a problem with restarting in the grand scheme of things. Just want to make sure it's not anything else serious. I'm curious if macOS keeps a log of why this happened. Could provide some insight?

 

[expede]

THIS WENT BAD! IT CRASHED THE Big Sur DISK. DO NOT DO!

Hi!

I was editing the "Clean up the NVRAM-step" in install Part II.

I did the;

<key>boot-args</key>
<string>-no_compat_check</string>

and change it to;

<string>boot-args</string>

I did the terminal;
plutil -convert xml1 config.plist && plutil config.plist

But it came back as :

Property List error: Found non-key inside <dict> at line 322 / JSON error: JSON text did not start with array or object and option to allow fragments not set.

So I undid the change and it came back as :


config.plist: OK


Yes, I´m on Big Sur and not Catalina. Is that the "thing"? I am not a scripter at all. I a user.

Sorry if this has come up before.

Best regards

/Doc

 

[cdf]

THIS WENT BAD! IT CRASHED THE Big Sur DISK. DO NOT DO!

Hi!

I was editing the "Clean up the NVRAM-step" in install Part II.

I did the;

<key>boot-args</key>
<string>-no_compat_check</string>

and change it to;

<string>boot-args</string>

I did the terminal;
plutil -convert xml1 config.plist && plutil config.plist

But it came back as :

Property List error: Found non-key inside <dict> at line 322 / JSON error: JSON text did not start with array or object and option to allow fragments not set.

So I undid the change and it came back as :


config.plist: OK


Yes, I´m on Big Sur and not Catalina. Is that the "thing"? I am not a scripter at all. I a user.

Sorry if this has come up before.

Best regards

/Doc

Please reread the guide carefully. It states to delete those snippets, not replace one by the other. A misconfiguration will do no harm your Big Sur disk, but it can certainly affect bootability. To fix a misconfiguration: 1) Shutdown your Mac, 2) remove all disks where OpenCore and any unsupported OS is installed, 3) boot into Mojave (natively), 4) select Mojave in Startup Disk, 5) shutdown, 6) put the disks back in, 7) boot into Mojave, 8) reconfigure OC. Similar steps were detailed a few posts back. Also note that the guide is compatible, albeit "unofficially," with Big Sur.

 

[Bmju]

Hi - I hope this question makes sense...

One thing I'm still very unclear about is whether there's such a thing as a 'null' OpenCore config, which would mean something like "boot this Mac with OC but don't change anything else".

I think this would (maybe?) make sense on a real Mac, if you are using the Mac bootloader to start OpenCore, rather than using OpenCore to start everything. I understand it wouldn't make sense on non-Apple hardware, and almost all of the OC documentation seems to be aimed at configuring it correctly for non-Apple hardware. (In which case I understand that nothing is going to start up at all until you get the config.plist right for the hardware.)

The reason I am asking is that I basically want to take a 'null' config and just change the board id, i.e. PlatformInfo/SystemProductName and PlatformInfo/SMBIOS/BoardProduct - but I'm not even sure if what I think I want to do really makes sense with how OpenCore works.

Having looked into it some more (and caught up on the Big Sur on Unsupported Macs thread!), I think the right answer is: use https://github.com/dortania/Opencore-Legacy-Patcher

I'm not sure there IS such a config in OpenCore as "don't change anything" - i.e. "boot without modifying any settings from the Apple BIOS, except for anything I have explicitly set" - unless anyone can explain how/whether you can do that?

But using the Legacy Patcher is basically saying "give me the right base OpenCore config for my legacy Mac", which is ... almost the same, and close enough to what I need!

(So many thanks to all the Legacy Patcher devs for providing that and to all the OpenCore devs too, for tireless work on some amazing software!)

 

[cdf]

Having looked into it some more (and caught up on the Big Sur on Unsupported Macs thread), I think the right answer is: use https://github.com/dortania/Opencore-Legacy-Patcher

I'm not sure there IS such a config in OpenCore as "don't change anything" - i.e. "boot without modifying any settings from the Apple BIOS, except for anything I have explicitly set" - unless anyone can explain how you can do that?

But using the above is saying "give me the right base config for my legacy Mac", which is close enough to do what I needed.

(Many thanks to @khronokernel and the other devs!)

You are mistaken. That config will do full spoofing, so it is further from your objective than the config provided in the guide in post #1. The config in the guide is not only specifically for the Mac Pro 5,1 but almost as minimal as possible after disabling VMM. From the beginning, the config here was designed for minimality. Your query was promptly answered in post #6,257.

Regarding full spoofing configs vs minimal VMM-aided configs: Although I have toyed with the idea of full spoofing, I am now convinced that the state of the art for running Catalina and Big Sur on the Mac Pro 5,1 is presented here. The minimal approach in the guide has proven not only effective (and continue to be effective with the recent developments in enabling DRM and Night Shift on Big Sur, which will be incorporated in the guide on the next Acidanthera releases) but also safe: installations and updates occur with the VMM flag and the MacPro5,1 identifier, outright blocking unwanted firmware updates.

 

[Dayo]

Legacy Patcher is basically saying "give me the right base OpenCore config for my legacy Mac", which is ... almost the same

As mentioned, you couldn't be further away from your stated aim if you had this as your target.
The OCLP changes everything that is possible to change in order to present your machine as MacPro7,1.