New MacPro and Firmware update problem

[whwang]

Just got my new Mac Pro. I am extremely happy with it so far, except for a small glitch in installation and a problem with the firmware update.

First of all, it is the 2*2.93 GHz 6-core version, with 24 GB of RAM, 4 WD RE4 2TB partitioned into two RAID0 arrays, and a Corsair F 120 GB SSD in the optical bay as the boot drive.

After I complete the installation, lots of software update popped up. All but the recently released v1.5 firmware update installed smoothly. Every time I checked software update, this v1.5 firmware update showed up. I clicked OK to install it, allowed it to shut down the computer, and then restarted the computer again. Then this v1.5 firmware update showed up again in software update, so the process repeated, for many times. Anyone experienced this?

For now, I will just ignore this firmware update until I know what to do with it. I haven't started to do any real work on it, but I tried some benchmark to see how different it is from my old Mac Pro.

This is the Geekbench result of the new Mac Pro:

I would not complain a bit about such scores. For comparison, this is result from a 2*3GHz Mac Pro 1,1 with 16 GB of RAM:

I installed four WD RE4 2TB drives. Each is partitioned into a 500GB and a 1.5TB partitions. The four 500 GB partitions are striped into a 2TB array, and the four 1.5TB partitions are striped into a 6TB array. The 2TB array should be faster than the 6TB one, as it is at the outer part of the platters.

AJA shows the following results on the 3 drives, all with 2GB files.

Corsair F120 SSD: read=221MB/s, write=230MB/s
2TB array: read=469MB/s, write=512MB/s
6TB array: read=439MB/s, write=497MB/s
(sorry, no screen shots.)

Again, I am quite happy to see these numbers. However, the 2TB array is not as much faster as I would expect. According to the transfer diagram here, the average speed of the first 500GB should be roughly 25% faster than the average speed of the remaining 1.5TB. The difference in the above AJA results is less than 100%. Is this because AJA just tried to use the fastest part of the 1.5TB? (The drives are all new. No data have been written to them.) Or it is because I am saturating the bus?

Anyway, I am happy that I can finally replace my old workhorse with a much faster machine.

 

[cutterman]

The firmware upgrade can be tricky to finalize. After you install it and the machine shuts down, you have to HOLD the power button for about 10-15s until the light starts flashing. Then you will see the gray Apple logo and a progress bar underneath, which will complete the install.

 

[chrono1081]

There is a little note under the EFI firmware upgrade you have to read. I believe it says that once the machine powers down, you have to hold in the power button for 5 or 10 seconds until you hear a chime then release. (Make sure to read it though incase I messed that up).

 

[whwang]

hold the button

Thank both of you for reminding me this. I certainly missed the "hold the button" part. I will try it again.

 

[J the Ninja]

Note that you have to run the installer again and let it shut down your MP, THEN start it by holding the power button.

 

[johnnymg]

Is this the extent of the update?

"Apple has released an update for the firmware on Mid 2010 Mac Pro models. The update addresses issues that prevented the firmware password prompt from being displayed when a firmware password was enabled and corrects a problem where the Boot Picker would not be presented when connected to a network that did not use DHCP."

If so, I think I'll pass. ???

JohnG

 

[davelanger]

The firmware upgrade can be tricky to finalize. After you install it and the machine shuts down, you have to HOLD the power button for about 10-15s until the light starts flashing. Then you will see the gray Apple logo and a progress bar underneath, which will complete the install.

Thanks, i was wondering why this update kept popping up