Unbricking Apple Mac Pro

[hese]

I have been looking into purchasing one but it seems there are quite a few different models. Do you happen to know what would be the most economical model that would still get the job done for me?

I don't know the exact chip you're going to program but the cheapest Wellon that can do some MX25L3205s is VP-190. You can find them on eBay.
More economical is to get someone do the programming for you.

 

[VWJetta]

Can I send you my board?

 

[hese]

That can be done, I'll PM you.

 

[Relu]

Hi. I am very curious about what you said that you flash the efi you download from Apple site on the eeprom chip. I am also a technician and do all kind of repairs including EFI passwords and firmware restore on mac's. As far as I know he firmware that you can download from Apple is slightly bigger then the files you can read from eeprom chip and a bit different. I try to write them on the eeprom chip but the mac won't boot after. So can you please tell me the way you manage to do this. Also the eeprom stores the serial number and many other credential of the laptop, and these ones can't be found on the files you download from Apple .

---------- Post added at 21:35 ---------- Previous post was at 21:24 ----------

Hi. I am very curious about what you said that you flash the efi you download from Apple site on the eeprom chip. I am also a technician and do all kind of repairs including EFI passwords and firmware restore on mac's. As far as I know he firmware that you can download from Apple is slightly bigger then the files you can read from eeprom chip and a bit different. I try to write them on the eeprom chip but the mac won't boot after. So can you please tell me the way you manage to do this. Also the eeprom stores the serial number and many other credential of the laptop, and these ones can't be found on the files you download from Apple

---------- Post added at 21:38 ---------- Previous post was at 21:35 ----------

Do you also know how to reprogram a brand new blank SMC chip F2117LP ?
Thanks

 

[TommyIII]

You learned me something. Great post.

 

[hese]

Guess what, this Apple's pos (proof of skills) Mac Pro got bricked again without any warning. It gave the same symptoms as before, constant reboot on POST.

The eprom had to be reflashed again... Disassembly the machine, desolder the chip, reprogram it, solder it back, reassembly the machine... Apple, this is getting boring. Too bad the eprom is soic, had it been soj it would have been socketed ages ago.

Sorry Apple Genius Bar but you're still not be getting my money.

I guess we'll see here again in two years...

 

[user97]

"Then I plugged the chip to my good old eprommer and downloaded the Mac Pro firmware from the Apple's website.
I dumped the corrupted EFI firmware and compared it against the downloaded firmware. Yep, they weren't exactly equal."

How did you find a corresponding firmware on Apple website for the EFI chip?

 

[user97]

Looking for firmware for Mac Pro 4.1 early 2009 EFI chip

Looking for firmware for Mac Pro 4.1 early 2009 EFI chip

I have a Mac Pro 4.1 Early 2009
I located the chip based on your posted pictures, the numbers on the chip are as follows:
SST25VF032B
50-4C-S2AF
1006231-A


If you could kindly help me find a firmware for this chip to reflash the chip.
UPDATE: I found this link with Roms https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201518
Is it possible to extract the rom from img file and then flash it?

regards,

user97

 

[hese]

I guess we'll see here again in two years...

Well, guess what... The Mac bricked again the same way this year, on January 2018. As before, the firmware had to be reprogrammed to get the Mac booting again. Next time again in 2020? (what's with this two year cycle, Apple?...)

How did you find a corresponding firmware on Apple website for the EFI chip?

I downloaded the EFI firmware from here:
https://support.apple.com/downloads/mac-pro-firmware-update

As you have Mac Pro Early 2009, I guess you need the Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.4.

In order to flash the EEPROM, do the following:

• Desolder the EEPROM chip
• Download the MacProEFIUpdate.dmg firmware
• Extract the MacProEFIUpdate.pkg file from the .dmg
• Extract the MP_xxx_LOCKED.fd file from the .pkg, the .fd is inside the "/Payload/Payload~/./System/Library/Core/Services/Firmware Updates/MacProEFIUpdate_xxx/" folder
• Program the extracted MP_xxx_LOCKED.fd to the EEPROM chip
• Solder the EEPROM chip back to the motherboard

After that you will need to write the Mac Pro serial number back to the EEPROM chip using a third party software in Mac, if you wish to receive software updates from Apple.

 

[user97]

Thank you for the prompt response.
My Mac Pro actually got bricked during the 4.1 to 5.1 upgrade.
I also found that Roms are also contained in the Apple firmware restoration CD dmg packages
Will report the outcome.

 

[user97]

Want to mention that my Mac Pro 4.1 does not start at all. There is no click, no white led on, nothing.
Initially I thouht that the firmware update caused this problem. However, after reflashing the eeprom chip the computer doesnt start at all. I bought another power supply and still nothing. If anyone knows what else could be done, please share your tips.