I have a MacPro 5,1 (checked with Apple customer service), my boot rom shows as a MP31.xxxx.xxxx rather than the expected MP51.xxxx.xxxx and the serial is a phony W1234567890.
Do you know what could be the cause of the mismatch between boot rom and Mac Pro version? It seems to prevent me from installing Mojave from 10.13.6 (just bought two Radeon RX 560 to be able to upgrade)
Any ideas?
Thank you
Ed
Mac Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), null
You can probably fix the firmware yourself if your Mac actually started its life as a MacPro 5,1:
About the Firmware Restoration CD (Intel-based Macs) - Apple Support
Only an Apple Service Provider can give your board a valid serial number.
Supposedly the Mac Pro Firmware Restoration CD only works if the Mac Pro firmware is 'broken'. In your case as the Mac Pro boots and runs this is not true. It will only cost a blank CD to try though.
For what it's worth I have been able to installed Mojave 10.14.0 on my Mac Pro and that has resulted in my boot rom version being completely messed up at least as displayed. It shows only 138.0.0.0 or 138.0.0.0.0 depending on where you look. It also works even with APFS on an SSD drive so it is apparently a cosmetic issue.
A more complex approach you could try is that someone previously hacked up an installer to upgrade MacPro4,1 models to MacPro5,1 firmware. This same installer can also downgrade MacPro5,1 firmware back to MacPro4,1 firmware and you could then try upgrading again. This only works on 4-core models of Mac Pro which means it should work on yours, it will not work on my 6-core model.
Personally I would not risk doing this as it is working.
With regards to upgrading to Mojave can you answer the following.
What other video cards do you have?
What type of drive are you trying to install Mojave on to? How is it connected?
Hi John,
Apologies for the late reply
I have bought two MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128 bit 4GB as per Apple's recommendation to upgrade to Mojave
I am trying to install on a samsung SSD 840 Ecvo 500GB (I think), it is connected on the original controller
Let me know if this makes sense
Ed
Those are listed as recommended choice by Apple for the Mac Pro and Mojave. The 840 Evo is a SATA drive so will be fine.
I would first make sure you have successfully installed High Sierra 10.13.6 on your Mac Pro with the original video card. This may update your firmware. Apple say you should do this before upgrading to Mojave.
Then fit one of the RX 560 cards - along side the original card and try going to Mojave. Once you have hopefully got Mojave working you can remove the original old card and fit the second RX 560 card.
Thank you, I did not think of having one of each card installed, I will try that.
Thank you very much for your help
Ed
how to upgrade mac pro 5,1 boot rom from MP31 to MP51
