Anyone got a Dual Xeon working on High Sierra?

[huymcmc]

Hi I had a x8 to x16 riser card. Can't remember exactly which slots worked (under Windows) but I think the slot connected to the C602 worked under windows. Also tried the PIKE slot if I remember correct. it's an x8 slot operating at x4 speed.

If you look at the Z9PE-D8 manual you see that slot 5 is connected to CPU2 without being muxed and for most people that slot appears to be working with MacOS.

Would really like to understand why it wasn't working. Z9PA-D8 has a really nice form factor. For the SuperMicro board I had to get a new case, drill some holes for the stand-offs so that was a bit of work and taking up extra space. But.... it was great to have the first boot with graphics acceleration!

Do you think about unlock bios and configure PCIE connect to CPU2?

 

[DevJam]

Hi @DevJam,

I tried riser x8 to x16 at all PCIE but nothing change. I don't know why PCIE at slot 3 and 5 support VGA cards (according to manual) but they don't recognize my card (with 1 long beep and 8 short beep)

Tried the same thing and it's a mystery to me too.
You might want to consider looking for another motherboard as well....

What's also interesting is that I believe the Z10PA-D8 does seem to work with graphics acceleration.

 

[teevee1]

Thank you to the original poster and Pavo. I had a ASUS Z9PE-D10 WS, I was able to install High Sierra 10.13.6 and get to the desktop with no GPU acceleration (i.e. nv_disable=1). The Nvidia Web drivers always seem to crash (GTX 970). Then I tried my Sapphire Nitro RX 580 and it always black screen. Troubleshoot for a week and have given up.

So, I traded it for a Z9PE-D8 WS. Used Pavo's EFI files with some edits and got it up and running on High Sierra 10.13.6. This is still a work in progress. Sleep does not work. I believe the 2 DP and 2 HDMI ports work; have not tried DVI.

Below are my changes to Pavo's EFI files.

-- Using latest Clover v5070. Copied over Pavo's EFI files (latest clover is not in the attached file)

-- Removed patched SSDT-GFX.aml from EFI > CLOVER > ACPI > patched

-- Modified config.plist

• Checked Graphics > Inject ATI
• Set Graphics > FB Name to Orinoco
• Set Graphics > Video Ports to 5
• Added KextsToPatch
  • Name: AMD9500Controller
  • Find: 00040000 04030000 00010101 00000000 12040601 00000000 00040000 04030000 00010201 00000000 22050403 00000000 00080000 04020000 00010300 00000000 11020102 00000000 00080000 04020000 00010400 00000000 21030504 00000000 04000000 04000000 00010500 00000000 00000306 00000000
  • Replace: 00040000 04030000 00010001 00000000 12040601 00000000 00040000 04030000 00010001 00000000 22050403 00000000 00040000 04030000 00010001 00000000 11020102 00000000 00080000 04020000 00010000 00000000 21030504 00000000 04000000 04020000 00010000 00000000 00000306 00000000
  • Comment: Mojave Orinoco uni
• Replaced SSDT.aml with my patched version using SSDTPRGen script with below command because I have two E5 2680v2 and not the 2070v2.

 ./ssdtprgen.sh -cpus 2 -l 40 -mode custom -p 'E5-2680 v2' -target 1 -m MacPro6,1 -b Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6 -turbo 3600 -c 3

No other changes so far, just got this running late yesterday. This is still relevant for users with same board.

I do have a second build running High Sierra 10.13.16. It's a ASUS P6X58D Xeon X5690 with MSI GTX 1080. If I have more time, I might try to see if the GTX 1080 will run on this board.

Mojave Tidbits
High Sierra 10.13.6 seems to be running okay right now. I decided to try and install Mojave using the same EFI files and an old 2.5 HDD. I was able to install Mojave 10.14.6.

I do have a Samsung 970 EVO Plus m.2 with PCI-E adapter, I will try to see if I could get Mojave to install on it. So far, it's a no go; I'm sure it'll work, but just need more time.

Tons of credit to Pavo for all his contributions to this build. Please give him credit. I only modified a couple files to suite my needs.

Attached is Pavo's files with my edits I mentioned above.


Thanks,
Teevee

 

[teevee1]

Quick update. I was wondering why my 970 EVO Plus kept failing to format, failed Carbon Cloner, and random ejection. I also had random restarts.

Then I remembered that the 970 EVO Plus need a firmware update to work. Booted into Windows 10, ran Magician to update the firmware. Booted back to Mojave on old 2.5 HDD and used CC again to clone and success!

Booted into Mojave on 970 EVO Plus m.2 on PCIE adapter. Ran Blackmagic test and getting about 2,800MB/s Write and Read!

Prior, I thought the random reset could be my Startech USB 3.1 expansion card (PEXUSB31EIC), so I took that out. I'm going to put it back and monitor for random restarts.

So far, this build is looking good to replace my aging decade old X5970 build.

Thanks!

 

[teevee1]

Links:

MacPro6,1 - Geekbench Browser

Benchmark results for a MacPro6,1 with an Intel Xeon E5-2680 v2 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

MacPro6,1 - Geekbench Browser

Benchmark results for a MacPro6,1 with an Intel Xeon E5-2680 v2 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

 

[monyvorn]

Excuse me @teevee1 !
Did your Pavo EFI actually working good ? Because I have the same spec same as you, but I have different graphics card, mind is 1050TI
Thank you !

 

[teevee1]

Excuse me @teevee1 !
Did your Pavo EFI actually working good ? Because I have the same spec same as you, but I have different graphics card, mind is 1050TI
Thank you !

I'm using it right now. Everything seems to be working ok. Time will tell. I had to compile my own SSDT and bought the Inatek PCIE USB 3.0 card in the buyer's guide because the onboard USB 3.0 is problematic with the generic multibeast kext and patches. It doesn't seem like it's full speed, but it'll do.

Sleep doesn't work. I'm not using it, so I don't mind.

I do have a GTX 960, but gave up on it because I couldn't get past the black screen after booting.

 

[monyvorn]

So grateful to hear that from you, but the only big problem with me is I got graphics gtx 1050 TI, When I install web driver I got black screen same as you, and I trying to finding the solution, and it doesn't have much information.
Do you have any idea to fix the black screen and make Nvidia work on high Sierra ?

 

[alg395]

I'm using it right now. Everything seems to be working ok. Time will tell. I had to compile my own SSDT and bought the Inatek PCIE USB 3.0 card in the buyer's guide because the onboard USB 3.0 is problematic with the generic multibeast kext and patches. It doesn't seem like it's full speed, but it'll do.

Hi teevee, I started another thread in the Mojave forum, but it looks like you've got your system running Mojave. I'm booting fine, but having issues with stability (random freezes). I'm trying to figure out if it's the Radeon VII giving me trouble or something else with the update to Mojave. I might try a clean install and see if that gets me anywhere, but if you have any insight it would be much appreciated!

 

[macs_forever]

Yes. It's a 2009 MacPro.