Possible to turn a first gen EFI32 Mac Pro into EFI64?

[Bat Commander]

Is there a part or parts I can replace in my first gen Mac Pro to create a newer Mac Pro that can boot into 64 bit Kernel mode in Snow Leopard and accept 64bit video cards?

What is it that makes a 2008/2009 Mac Pro EFI64?

 

[trainguy77]

The EFI makes its 64 bit, this chip is stored on the motherboard. So replacing the motherboard would work. You may as well sell it and buy a 2008 model. I doubt its possible to just replace the EFI chip. You could also write your own EFI I guess.

 

[Sun Baked]

Apple doesn't offer motherboard firmware upgrades solely for the purposes to use new HW.

They only offer bug fixes.

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And we don't have the HW upgrade vendors behind the Macs anymore that would offer 3rd party firmware upgrades either.

 

[nanofrog]

You could also write your own EFI I guess.

No, as Apple's implementation is proprietary. It's based on the EFI 1.10 specification, but deviated from it in order to lock OS X to the system. If you tried to write it yourself, you'd lose this portion, and OS X wouldn't install. You'd actually have to hack it.

The only way to find out what Apple did, is to reverse engineer their firmware. You'd be able to do this for personal use, but not even distribute it freely, as it's Apple's Intellectual Property. I'd think they'd go after any individual, not just corporation/s, that did this and released it to the public.

Keep it private, and you'd be OK. But it's by no means an easy thing to do.

 

[trainguy77]

No, as Apple's implementation is proprietary. It's based on the EFI 1.10 specification, but deviated from it in order to lock OS X to the system. If you tried to write it yourself, you'd lose this portion, and OS X wouldn't install. You'd actually have to hack it.

The only way to find out what Apple did, is to reverse engineer their firmware. You'd be able to do this for personal use, but not even distribute it freely, as it's Apple's Intellectual Property. I'd think they'd go after any individual, not just corporation/s, that did this and released it to the public.

Keep it private, and you'd be OK. But it's by no means an easy thing to do.

Yeah its not really feasible. In theory it could be done...but...

 

[nanofrog]

Yeah its not really feasible. In theory it could be done...but...

It'd be an insane amount of work, and if done by an individual, could take a considerable amount of time. And depending on the whether the tools are created personally or licensed from a commercial developer, expensive.