Mac Pro 4,1 - Full hardware and software upgrade to Big Sur

[@jensdbe]

In case you'd like to install latest macOS Sonoma on unsupported hardware instead, check out the video I did for that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5TTgqh5ft5mfaM

[@davewk58]

FINALLY! someone provided a competent instruction to upgrading the FIRMWARE which is essential to moving forward with hardware and software updates essential to advancing to newest versions of MAC software!

[@MrBurris_]

Yes, this is the way we used to upgrade the firmware BUT are these links broken as well ? I have tried this and the links are broken and the firmware does not upgrade anymore. Has anyone tried this 4.1 to 5.1 upgrade recently, in 2024 ? Please let me know, I need to upgrade my 4.1 to a 5.1. I have even downloaded the software again and still it doesn't work.

[@TWDay-sy6nq]

Hands-down, the best upgrade information I've ever found for my 4,1. Thanks for your hard work.

[@jensdbe]

Thanks for the nice feedback. Nice to see more people with a 4,1 :)

[@ConcertKing]

I actually like this method. It is very easy to upgrade to Big Sur. The USB disk does take almost 1HR to create, once you restart the computer hold the "option key" and click first on the "EFI BOOT". Once the computer shuts down, restart your computer again holding down the "option key" and select the "Big Sur Installer Disk" (The black disk). If the installer stalls during the installation, restart the computer again and repeat the method. For me everything worked when I did it the second time. Big Sur will quickly install at startup and it will take an additional 30 minutes to install the upgrade. You do not need to erase your HD if you already have Catalina, just upgrade to Big Sur. Thanks JENSD !!!!

[@jonchong3683]

Thank you so much for your video. I have a Mac Pro G 5 running leopard. It was used everyday for my business for over 13 yrs. never break down. But a bit slow and can’t use google or safari. Have to use yahoo old version mail to communicate. I thought of selling it and get a new Mac Pro. But after seeing your video, I decided to upgrade it myself. I followed your steps and was able to update to high Sierra. I am very excited already because now I am able to use gmail again. Even at this point, I can use this machine for another 5 yrs at least. your video is detail and easy to follow. Thank you so much.

[@davidian3412]

Are you sure it's a G5? That would make it a Power PC Mac, not a Mac Pro.

[@Jim_Wilde]

I picked up this in the dumpster, washed it with regular shower :) a lot of dust and lint than dried 5 days and now it works :)

[@davidseva6533]

I am voting you for best video on youtube. There are more detailed videos but they are too long and boring but your video is straight forward, easy to follow and short.

[@skinkle777]

Excellent Video, everything simply explained, no overuse of JARGON or abbreviations trying to give the impression that the host is highly intelligent. Just good stuff, Thank you...

[@sacramentohomes]

This is absolutely best video ever on upgrading Mac Pro. Thank you

[@UFOLOUCO]

your video is very top. I still use it as a reference today.

[@juancordova7890]

Woww I been super frustrated upgrading to Big Sur with open core. I had an issue logging in to Big Sur and my computer will crash after 5 minutes or so. If this works I will so happy and grateful to you. Thank you and let’s give this a try now.

[@grafxdesigner93]

I've been researching on how to upgrade my Mac Pro as well. This is the best "how to" that I've came across. Just subscribed to your channel.

[@jensdbe]

Thanks for the sub!

[@grafxdesigner93]

@@jensdbe Got a quick question. Will my Mac Pro will be able to update “automatically” or will I have to do this manually to update every time this is a new update?

[@jensdbe]

@@grafxdesigner93 After the install, I noticed it is better to go through booting from the USB drive (with the Big Sur install) again and to run the post install steps (See Finish the patching process after installation on: jensd.be/1376/apple/create-macos-usb-installer-for-installation-on-unsupported-models). There you can go through the post install automator process. Once that is completed updates should come in as expected.

[@grafxdesigner93]

@@jensdbe OKAY. I’ve been trying to do this and it has been a major headache. 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@grafxdesigner93]

Hey Jensd_be! What’s up man? That 2012 Mac Pro of mine finally went on me. Tried everything. What seems to be an unfortunately situation turned out to be a blessing. Got a 2017 iMac 27 4.2Ghz Quad 5K Retina for $800. Bought it from a private owner. He is a traveling photographer and have to get a MacBook Pro for traveling purposes and allows him mobility. Only used the iMac for about 6 months and been sitting in the closet for nearly 3 years. Meeting with him to check it out was the FIRST time he had took it out the original packaging since he got the MacBook Pro 16 in. So it is basically spanking BRAND NEW. I told him that he is a godsend. I was preparing for online classes for web development and I was trying to prep my 2012 Mac Pro. That plan didn’t panned out too well. So just giving you an update on the situation. Been playing around with the iMac. Mindblowing if you ask me. Totally light years from the 2012 Mac Pro. The whole macOS behaves totally DIFFERENT all the way down to the apps. Just crazy. Thanks for all your help in the videos and your channel. Keep up the good works. I will be coming to your channel for tips and updates. Be safe!

[@Toebex]

I have a 2009 mac pro exactly like this that ive been using for my everything from motion design work to personal things every single day since I got it back in 2009. Upgraded my HD a few times and went from snow leopard to Yosemite back in 2015 but now its come to a point where I cant upgrade anything and its really starting to slow down on me. I have been considering doing what you did in this video, but I just worry that its not going to last forever. I think im gonna end up upgrading everything and just starting fresh on a newer mac pro 2013 (cant afford the newest mac pro), but after seeing this, im getting second thoughts. I dont think i want to risk all my data and boot drive and hardware going through all this, I want to make sure all is safe and just working. However, if/when I do upgrade to a newer machine, I think I might try this. I WISH Apple just kept the same design as these Mac Pro's forever. They are so easy to use and upgrades are (or I guess were) so simple. I never planned to have my mac pro past maybe 2014/15 but here we are. Great video man, even if it did stress me out to watch :p

[@nickk6518]

Your video and instructions tempt me to get a second-hand Mac Pro 4,1, even though I have a late 2013 'Trashcan' Mac Pro.

[@jensdbe]

Haha, I feel you. I would love to do this over but then in the end, what do I do with all those Macs?...

[@nickk6518]

@@jensdbe Build a cathedral to the great Lord Jobs?!

[@HOISHERE]

i never got it to update the frimware a beep then a normal boot no status bar

[@MrBurris_]

Exactly, this is my problem as well ..... the software links are broken, there MUST be another way to do this. .....

[@Jerad-wu3xt]

I’ve always liked these MacPros. They are fun to mess with, considering how cheap you can get them now. Nice video.

[@jensdbe]

Totally agree :)

[@VincentBlack]

Thank you so much! I was looking for an affordable way to edit and create graphics, heavy content for music and film. You saved me! I’m definitely gonna build a rig now. I’m starting with a 2012 Mac Pro.

[@jensdbe]

Still very capable machines. To tell you a secret, I just bought another one which I plan to do some video's on :) Stay tuned...

[@VincentBlack]

@@jensdbe I’m so excited!!! Seriously. I was trying to find a motherboard for a 2019 Mac Pro but maybe in another couple years then.

[@threalismaradona9899]

I have 3.1 and 5.1 they still rock

[@spattf3]

I've been putting off the upgrade but finally bit the bullet. I've has High Sierra running for a while but need to get faster CPUs and would love to have Big Sur installed. Did the CPU upgrade and trying to use the patched Big Sur install but the Mac reports it can't install it. Tried booting to High Sierra and running from USB, also no joy. I have confirmed the firmware update. You can see this below. Don't know what/where to do/go next. Appreciate feedback. Hardware Overview Model | Name: Model Identifier: Processor Name: Processor Speed: Mac Fro o- Core inte Xeon 3.46 GEZ Total Number of Cores L2 Cache (ver Corel: 12 256 KB L3 Cache per Processor Memorv: 20 GB Boot ROM Version: 165.0.0.0.0 Mo version system 1.3965 SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5

[@massimomalaguti8865]

Grazie per le preziose informazioni, ho un Mac Pro 4,1 del 2009 da aggiornare , e' denaro permettendo l'ho' faro' al piu' presto....Grazie Amico della tecnologia...

[@jeffsims7386]

The only additional recommendation I would absolutely make is to install a USB 3.0 or 3.1 PCI-E expansion card. It is sooooo much nicer to have over the built in USB 2.0 speeds!

[@johnwells2908]

Jeff do you have recommendations as im considering selling my MacBook Pro for one of these?

[@trigunbullet]

at 24:18 you have 2 icons.... i have only one. i create the stick like your video 3-4 times and it is always only one icon. my mac is patch to 5.1, last os is high sierra. what can i do?

[@oscarmarfori613]

I am very interested in getting an old Mac Pro 5,1 and watching your video gives me a lot of the information to continue with the project, I hope my Mac Pro Project will end up successful just like yours, thanks for sharing your video

[@jensdbe]

In that case, make sure to check out the newer video I did on a 4,1/5,1 with macOS Ventura: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooaUaqJuhK2pjK8

[@AlphaFox78]

SSD running at SATA2 not SATA3, need add in card (or get a PCIe NVMe card) Upgrade GPU after you upgrade the High Sierra, its supports both regular and metal cards and will work with both accelerated RAM running at 1066 instead of 1333, after you flash to 5,1 and upgrade the CPU you can use faster RAM You can get a Mac compatible PCIe WiFi card and get hand off and stuff working I upgraded a bunch of these machines a while back, haha

[@Steampunk_Star_Raisin]

This is a really great video. I have the same Mac Pro 4,1. I will be upgrading to Big Sur thanks to you. I will do a video on it soon. My machine has been upgraded to NVidia GTX 680 which is of the few metal supported Nvidia graphics cards. It has also been upgraded to 16 gb of ram and I will be upgrading to a Xeon X5690 which I got on ebay for $50. I would upgrade to dual cpu tray if the tray wasn’t so expensive...

[@jensdbe]

Thanks for the nice feedback and good luck with the upgrade!

[@Incusaudio]

How did you manage to get your GTX 680 to work. Mine can't seem to boot?

[@Steampunk_Star_Raisin]

@@Incusaudio Yes I got it to work in Catalina but not Big Sur yet.

[@Steampunk_Star_Raisin]

@@Incusaudio MY GTX 680 has been reflashed to Mac Firmware. Mojave wouldn't install because it saw it as a non metal card but I used the dos dude patcher and got Catalina running smooth. Catalina even see it as a metal supported card. Reflash your firmware using mac firmware. You will need free dos, flash app and a pc with a pcie x16 slot.

[@AlphaFox78]

Nvidia doesnt offer drivers past sierra, so unless you can hack the driver it wont work. better to get a radeon 560 like he did, natively supported and faster. unless the 680 has native driver support for macos as some of the older ones do.

[@bits2646]

Go for 3 sticks for tripple channel, offers a pretty notable boost in performance (at least with W3580 and X5675 and with 1333 and 1600 mhz modules in my case)..

[@jensdbe]

You are completely right, 3 sticks is always better if possible. I only had two unfortunately :)

[@AlphaFox78]

@@jensdbe 4 sticks actually slows down ram speeds

[@fedism]

@@AlphaFox78 how much would that cost in USD?

[@michaelkphoto8344]

@@AlphaFox78 I want to increase RAM from 3x16 to 4x16. How much would that slow down the operation of the Mac?

[@DJB2]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks man.

[@CaptJackAubreyOfTheRoyalNavy]

This looks like so much trouble. While I would never consider doing it myself, this was an informative and entertaining watch. That's one cool-ass computer, even today.

[@TruenorthmtGod]

No way it’s easier than you think

[@fedism]

@@TruenorthmtGod i have a 2009 12-core mac pro w 64gb ram I dual boot windows and mac os really hope this bigsur update works. I just pay my tech to code it

[@indyrl12]

Thanks for taking the time to make this excellent tutorial! I learned a lot about the upgradability of this cMP.

[@geneberenki7181]

Nice clear video, but you forgot to reset NVRAM, which you'll need to do to get it to see your new RAM (1600MHz it looked like you fitted) as 1333MHz, which is the fastest speed the X56?? series CPUs can operate at. At the moment, it's still seeing, and reporting, it as 1066MHz; which was how fast your original W3520 CPU was accessing the RAM. That will change after an NVRAM clear and reboot. Sadly it can't use the full 1600MHz speed of the RAM you upgraded to, but it is backwards compatible with the lower 1333MHz bus speeds of the X56??. For that final extra tweak, three 3 RAM modules run faster than 2, as the Mac Pro works best in Triple channel mode, so either 3 x 8GB for 24GB, or 3 x 16GB for 48GB. If you e.g. put in 32GB as 4 x8GB sticks, the 3rd and 4th are actually sharing the same channel, so run *slightly* slower than 3 x 8GB as 24GB. But only a issue as and when *all* the RAM is being used; so if it really needs the full 32GB, is better slightly slower accessing that last 8GB than not having it at all.

[@jensdbe]

Thanks for taking the time to write this. I'm fully aware of the triple channel being faster but didn't have more dimms available unfortunately. Didn't know about the NVRAM reset, will test this for sure if I find another Mac Pro for a nice price somewhere. 1066 vs 1333 is definitely noticeable.

[@Huskerfan69]

@@jensdbe I did this NVRAM reset myself, and yes, you should do it.. I mean, underclocking your memory won't hurt it, but doesn't give the best performance. I did this very upgrade, or at least parts of it.. I have not upgrade the GPU yet, so I have not upgraded to Big Sur.. but other items I have done.. works great.

[@Commentator541]

I think I’ll keep it around. Great tutorial.

[@michaelbluecastlestudio665]

Impressive video tutorial. Thanks for sharing your experience. Have to upgrade a 4.1 Mac Pro for a friend and your video fits perfect. Just all I need to know 👍

[@mikeerstad3705]

Ok, next step, then hit a wall....I formatted a 32GB usb stick...ran Auto Patcher (wow, that took some time) Restarted, holding down the option key and I get the "Macintosh HD" which has High Sierra loaded and I also get the "Auto Patcher" called Install macOS Big Sur(EFI boot), which is on the 32 GB usb drive...but all I get is the O with a line through it when selecting it and it shuts down. If I select the Macintosh HD, it just boots right up!.... I'm missing something here....can you help...do I need an empty drive? Like the one you installed just before this step....if so I do have a second HDD in the mac...a blank, formatted 4TB drive with absolutely nothing on it, but it doesn't show up as a bootable disk when holding down the option key...... In your video you show selecting one thing which I can't read and then selecting the other one on the second boot, but don't now what that is.....Thanks for the help....Mike

[@TomsBrinkis]

The same happens to me as well. :(( ---> "all I get is the O with a line through it when selecting it"

[@mikeerstad3705]

@@TomsBrinkis Tom, this fella doesn't reply much.....check out Mr. Macintosh's KZbin site.....

[@RetroGamesCollector]

Great video. As others have said, a USB 3.0 card would be the icing on the cake.

[@jensdbe]

Agree with that. I never really missed it I guess. I'm doing most of the stuff over the network instead and my camera, unfortunately, only has USB 2.0

[@vics_media]

Many thanks for sharing your immense knowledge !!

[@CallJimRice]

i just bought a 2009 with dual processor & 48GB ram for $180

[@tsftm4192]

from where ?

[@AlphaFox78]

The dual tray alone is worth that

[@1Rabih]

That’s a real steel 🐸 congrats

[@TruenorthmtGod]

You got robbed. Jk good deal

[@emanuelrushaj]

the amount of ram is insane

[@garyclement5527]

I love this. My machine is running OS9, so it’s outdated, but it’s in perfect condition. I will eventually do this. I love this computer. I was going to just use it as storage, but now you show me how to upgrade it. Wonderful.

[@TuNnL]

All Mac Pros shipped brand new with at least Mac OSX Leopard, so it is very strange if you have OS9 installed. You somehow went backwards. Perhaps you have a PowerMac G5, which has a similar style of case, but it is a very different CPU. I am looking for an old computer but the G5 will NOT run Final Cut Pro 7, simply because the G5 uses a PowerPC chip, rather than an Intel CPU, like the Mac Pro in this video. 🤷

[@davidian3412]

@@TuNnL My G5 was great until it died. The guy who set up my Mac Pro 1,1 said that in his experience the G5 had proved to be the absolute worst of the power PCs and that G4s were loads better and built to last. I spent a fortune at the time in 2003 on my G5 but have bought pre=-owned Mac Pros since and I love them.

[@TuNnL]

@@davidian3412 🎯💯 You nailed it. People don't understand that IBM mostly cut Motorola out of the picture by the time they built the G5. Up until the G4, you had both companies involved in three-way partnership with Apple. With the G5, IBM suddenly found themselves doing 99% of the work, and the results were a rush job that Steve Jobs wasn't satisfied with anyway. As a result, Steve finally said "goodbye IBM," I need "fast, powerful quality" and went with Intel for the Mac Pros. Intel was already making the chips for their MacBook Pros, so Apple went "all in." 🤷

[@adilsonsoares76]

Best video ever. Helped me a LOT. Thanks.

[@Rdhv91]

So 14:38 I’m stuck. Currently running 2x2.26ghz quad core intel zeon. The firmware tool gives me an error code 5570

[@jensdbe]

Did you disable SIP? Did you mount MacProEFIUpdate.dmg by double clicking on it before running the FW updater?

[@Rdhv91]

@@jensdbe yep my mistake hah love the video it’s been a great help!

[@jensdbe]

@@Rdhv91 good to hear you managed. Thanks for the nice feedback :)

[@djdavic]

Do I have to use ssd for big sur or hdd can still work. I install everything on my Mac pro 2009 after last restart is just keep on shutting down, when I remove usb it say error loading operating system.

[@johnwells2908]

great video and something im looking to do myself so this will help loads

[@lavinchi6709]

Thank you so much!Very good tutorial!!!You are the very good TEACHER!!!!

[@geoman1420]

With Opencore Legacy Patcher you can install even Ventura....

[@jensdbe]

Did a video on that as well recently :) You can find it here if interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooaUaqJuhK2pjK8

[@EElgar1857]

A wonderful explanation! I have a 4,1 that I haven't used for a few years, but might try upgrading it. I think it would need a new battery inside, for starters. Thanks! 😁

[@jensdbe]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sparksolutions1]

I tried it but didn't get the EFI option on booting, only the installer. and that didn't work. Any thoughts about what went wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

[@luisl3528]

Did you figure it out?

[@norcalvirg]

I did not get the usb icon from the big Sur install disk. Only the install big Sur icon. Click on that and I get the circle with a line through it...

[@sayeghjoe]

Great video. Have you tried it with Big Sur 11.3 yet?

[@jensdbe]

Will try to upgrade next week and let you know here. I don't expect any issues but you never know...

[@sayeghjoe]

@@jensdbe I tried it. It works! Mac Pro fully upgraded to Big Sur 11.3

[@jensdbe]

@@sayeghjoe Good to hear! and thanks to let us know your result.

[@hussinaltmeme1574]

@@sayeghjoe how can you updated ?

[@sayeghjoe]

@@hussinaltmeme1574 just follow the instructions in the video step by step. It’s very well made. Just remember that you’ll need a metal capable GPU that o update the firmware with the Mojave installer. Once you’ve updated the firmware, put the original Nvidia 120 graphics card back in the system. Then proceed with the Big Sur upgrade. Once done, put your metal capable GPU back in. You’ll no longer see the boot screen but be partient and MacOS Big Sur will load.

[@adem335i8]

Top video makker! Moest ik nu nog maar eentje tegenkomen op 2dehands voor een prikje 😅

[@Time_Sound]

A very important detail should be noted. When you fasten the cooler blocks to the processor, DO NOT tighten the bolts too much!!! A little, before the first resistance. Otherwise, the computer will not start. The red light of death will light up)))

[@davidian3412]

Good shout!

[@doglol926]

i wonder how he now this 🤔🤔🤔

[@mrmotivational3994]

Awesome video, really helped me a lot thank you!

[@activandoelpoder7355]

Muchas gracias, lo hice y salió muy bien.

[@lortega70]

Brilliant! Thank you, sir 🙏🏽

[@jroar123]

You can upgrade to Monteray but no further at this time. A USB keyboard and mouse will not work. keep checking for new OpenCore Legacy versions for a workaround for this problem.

[@jensdbe]

Ventura and Sonoma work as well but you would need a USB 1.0 hub. Have a look here where I did this, if interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooaUaqJuhK2pjK8

[@davidcharlton7765]

I just tried this on my 5,1 and it was all working. The USB creating got to 100% then I got lots of mount errors and it failed to complete. Any ideas

[@sergeysaases8439]

Very informative, great job!

[@いがぴょん-w3p]

Great Video. Thank You.

[@jensdbe]

Thanks for the nice feedback, good to hear you like it :)

[@TomsBrinkis]

Hi All, I have this problem: After booting in selection mode "Press Alt till boots" 1) If I press "EFI Boot icon" Mac boots in that mode. (whaaaa) / 2) if I press "Install BigSur icon" it shows me O with line trough it. (nooooooo) / Am I missing something? Hmm... If someone can, please help.

[@Vadha2]

For some reason upon booting and holding control, my USB doesn’t show up? I see three options, my MAC SSD, a recovery 10.13.6 option and the micropatcher option.

[@iPodgeek44]

Again GREAT VIDEO

[@julianglezz9285]

thank you so much! blessings!

[@meistudiony]

Been trying to get this to work. I followed the directions to a tee. My usb boot doesnt come up as a black disk just the regular usb icon. When i boot to efi them try to boot to the usb after it shuts itself down, it starts the installer and just fails. Any thoughts?

[@wakabakaful]

hold on... no openCore installation? And everything works without extra steps? No hardware issues?

[@jensdbe]

Correct, all works just fine using this method :) Also very handy to do an installation from scratch on an empty disk (like I did in the video)

[@wakabakaful]

@@jensdbe updates are working? Or do you need to patch every version that comes out?

[@AlphaFox78]

@@wakabakaful Its a native mac, no patches are needed. Only major OS updates (11 -> 12) require a patcher

[@luisl3528]

When I boot it does not prompt Efi Boot, only hedgehog bigs but no efi. I tried remaking usb a few times

[@drelmiragadol]

I greatly admire your efforts, thank you for doing this, helping and teaching millions of Mac users such as yours truly, to keep using their computers and save. - My Apple wired aluminum keyboard works at startup after install of High Sierra, followed by Mojave. However, there are couple of keyboard combinations that currently not working. The keyboard itself is fine, option key works when I reset PRAM. But when holding down option key during startup to select different OS, or USB drive to boot from, it appears that holding down the option key has no effect, my Mac Pro just hangs and nothing happens. I have a Mac Pro 5,1 Early 2009 - Runing Mojave 10.14.6 - With two 6-Core Intel Xeon Processor 3.33 GHz - Metal:Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1 - 32 GB RAM - is there a way to reset the keyboard back to default.?

[@keatorski]

I was having the same problem just now. Really frustrating. Got to the point where my computer wouldn't boot at all, and was stuck on a grey screen. I read somewhere that said to unplug all peripherals. I unplugged everything except for the monitor. I also moved the usb cable for the keyboard to the front of the computer instead of the back. Suddenly it works. Could also be the keyboard you're using. Might try a different one.

[@davidian3412]

@@keatorski I discovered that my option key wasn't working on startup due to it being plugged into an added USB port hub. Once I plugged it into an original port in the computer it worked fine. Took a lot of searching and a lot of reading before I found it. Very relieved when it finally worked!

[@aejacobs101]

I have one of those Great piece, But riddle me this I’m trying to upgrade my 2009(early)Mac Pro 4,1 to a 5,1. I did the EFI update and the firmware update when I restart it goes into a short flash mode and crashes then restarts back into El Capitan’s

[@lolo2lolo491]

Great video man! could you please show us how smooth big sur or monterey works on this new upgrade like open close finder/ different softwares etc and safari with multiple webpages. if you could install intel power gadget and istats menus to see how the cpu speed stepping while doing different operations and how hot cpu and gpu get and how much memory gpu use while doing different tasks. would really appreciate it, thanks!

[@NotoriousScarFace]

Great Video Thank You. I will try on my Mac Pro.

[@paulbailey6251]

Hi, I have a metal compatible Graphics Card (AMD Radeon 7 Series) but not Mac boot screen capable - How would I get around that one following your steps ? (could I use my old NVIDIA GT120 and swap back to my AMD Radeon 7 Series later)

[@jensdbe]

This is exactly how I did it, so that definitely works :)

[@paulbailey6251]

@@jensdbe Thanks for that - did you upgrade your current OSX or do a fresh install?

[@jensdbe]

@@paulbailey6251 for a fresh install, I use the GT120, then swap once I don't need the boot acreen anymore (or have OpenCore installed). Upgrading doesn't need swapping cards unless you have issues launching the installer. But the cards, as long as they are supported, can just be changed at any time when needed.

[@paulbailey6251]

@@jensdbe Thanks - but I'm not sure how I can launch the installer to upgrade (would like to keep the apps I have installed) without the Apple boot screen because a restart would simply revert to the original OSX.

[@crisomelido]

SIn OpenCore ni driver adicionales'???? WWWoooooow!

[@juancordova7890]

Hi. I am trying to install Big Sur from the Automator. However is asking me to enter my administrator password to allow this?

[@jerroldneal]

Well done.

[@dileepsadhu-i6l]

please Share me the Lnk to the software as well that use fully to us

[@SimbaSeven.]

Just curious, but can you upgrade the firmware to 144.0.0.0 in a Mac Pro 4,1 (fw upgraded to a 5,1)? I'd like to boot from an NVMe PCIe card.

[@princeT-369]

can u share the link to the enclosure for the SSD 2.5 to 3.5

[@jensdbe]

The enclosure is the Icy Box IB2535

[@aldolisboa]

These RAM modules are Samsung 16GB DDR3 1600MHz PC3-12800R ECC M393B2G708H0-CK0, the same ones used in servers at the time? Correct?

[@MrNILACOS]

Are those PCIe slots or PCI or PCIX slots? Can you help me? Thanks

[@jensdbe]

These are all PCIe

[@michelevisconti7972]

Hi, the download does not start, do you have any suggestions?

[@prodbyshadik]

Do i need heat sink for my NvME when installing in a Sonnet M.2 4x4 Silent PCIe Card?

[@Alex4SiliconValley]

I am running OSX Sierra. When I try to perform the firmware upgrade. I complete the firmware upgrade step #1 and reboot. When the computer reboots I am holding down the power button until I hear the chime. Then I see the upgrade screen with FAT loading bar for only a second and then the computer reboots. The Firmware upgrade never completes. I have tried several times. I have csrutil disabled. Any ideas ?

[@jeffsims7386]

I would correct one thing: the highest supported OS from Apple isn't High Sierra, it's Mojave. Apple allows the Mojave installation just so long as you have a metal-capable GPU installed, I know because I've got a 2012 5,1 natively upgraded to Mojave. Basically I guess if you'd changed the steps around slightly and swapped the graphics card out earlier in the process you could upgrade to Mojave instead. Of course you probably already know though that performing the installations can be more difficult when using a card that lacks the Apple bios, as you can no longer view the boot option screen, but I don't recall exactly how I went about it with my non-Apple RX570. Good video though for sure. I'll be looking at possibly moving my 5,1 to Big Sur, I'm just concerned with a lack of support for certain hardware and not interested in spending $100+ just for a compatible BT module.

[@emotionalintelligence776]

The minimum CPU upgrade should be 5680@3.33ghz. You are using a decade-plus CPU to run the latest unsupported OS, why keep more bottlenecks than necessary. In addition, you wasted money upgrading to 32gb using slower ram, once you flashed to 5,1 you use 1333mhz ram, ask me how I know this mistake, Lol. My GB with just 12Gb of Ram is 643 SC and 3698 MC. Depending on the time of year sellers are usually throwing these Mac Pros and CPUs away on fleabay. All in all a very well-paced, no cringy music, well-spoken and edited vid, very nice indeed, Thank you.

[@cocoytv1]

Great video. I have a dual 2.46 ghz quad core processor and I wonder if it’s really necessary to replace it in order to get Big Sur or at least Mojave OS.

[@jensdbe]

Not necessary. It does work quite well with the original CPUs as well.

[@mytj228]

Fantastic video! Thanks for sharing! I am planning to do the same, the only question I have is how to find the proper RAM. What kind of specs do I need and where did you bought the RAM from? I am looking in MacSales but that seems quite expensive. I will also need to find the old graphics card since I have the Radeon 7950 installed and looking at the comments I believe I need to use the old one for a step, right? Thanks for sharing! Great video!

[@gravitytennis]

Great video, thanks! Is it possible to upgrade from High Sierra without erasing/replacing the current startup drive?

[@jensdbe]

I believe you can just use the patched installer to do so. I saw in a comment on my video to create the installation media for installation on an unsupported mac that this worked as expected.

[@RobertVernonAustralia]

excellent video -is the GPU adequate -reasonable quality for photo and video editing?? thanks

[@jensdbe]

Photo editing would still be ok. Video editing is on the border. It kind of works for full-HD but 4K will not be workable.

[@yh72119]

The ssd is not coming up as a boot option when I boot with option key only the usb is

[@jensdbe]

Did you already install an OS to the SSD?

[@yh72119]

I installed the new ssd in the Mac, created the bootable usb with Big Sur, the when I rebooted with the option key, I only get the floppy disk icon with the installation and not the second one with the usb icon as shown on your video at 20:05

[@jensdbe]

@@yh72119 make sure to prepare the USB drive first as in the video. If that still doesn't work, try another drive. I noticed that sometimes the Mac is picky for which type of USB drive it wants to boot.

[@yh72119]

Ok great I will try another drive since I went through the usb preparation twice. I will report the outcome. Thank you for your support.

[@yh72119]

it is now worst. I got new multiple usb drives. On multiple trials, I followed the steps of erasing the usb drive as instructed, then downloaded the MicropatcherAutomator, then run it, and during the process of installing the bootable os onto the usb, the patching process fails with the following message: "disk1 was already unmounted or it has a partitioning scheme so use "diskutil unmountDisk" instead Volume on disk1 failed to mount; if it has a partitioning scheme, use "diskutil mountDisk" If the volume is damaged, try the "readOnly" option createinstallmedia failed! Please try again..." what should I do next? this has happened on four usb drives now

[@neonobse]

great video. but where do you buy the prozessor for 10 EUR The cheapest i found is 50 EUR used on ebay.

[@jensdbe]

I bought it locally here on a second hand site

[@yh72119]

I still have my 4,1, and will definitely follow your steps to upgrade. So far, this is the best info I have found, thank you for sharing your experience. I was wondering, with my Final Cut Pro previous to this update still work?

[@Taras-Nabad]

Your CPU had a heat spreader (lid) I thought 4,1 2009 machines had CPU's with no head spreader.

[@jensdbe]

Single CPU models have a lidded CPU, dual CPU models in a 4,1 have delidded. I did a video on upgrading the CPUs in a dual CPU model more recently. You can find it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIXPYp-CZt-Zock

[@ayyubfaiyaz3368]

Is it unstable, does it stutter or freezes up sometimes and do all of the features work or does it give you a " your hardware seems to be outdated " or " you must update your software " notifications?

[@lnlimaging7453]

I'm using a 2009 Mac Pro that's flashed to 5,1 with HD 5770 Video card, 12 core, 32gb, on High Seirra. I'm trying to upgrade to Big Sur. I followed your tutorial step by step using micropatcher. I created a USB for install, Click Hold Opt until chime, Click EFI to Power down, Power up again, click install from USB, but when I start the process of installing it will complete the install and give me prohibitory symbol every single time. What is the work around? I know this can be done on my model because I watched your tutorial upgrading from High Seirra using 2009 Mac Pro, 6 core, with micro patcher

[@jensdbe]

If you skipped a few steps it could be that the firmware is not on a recent enough level (hence why the whole process took me so long). Another reason could be that you forgot to first launch the USB-drive icon in the bootloader, then repeat and select the hedgehog icon.

[@carlotantari4584]

Thanks for your Mac Pro videos !!....Can you please make a video about installing Windows on a Mac 1,1 (2,1)...or would you be able to direct me to a simplified method as most online are so complicated. Only to pleased to hear from other viewers also. Cheers

[@jensdbe]

I'd love to do that but I don't have a 1,1. Without having the machine to play with and figure out how to get things to work, I can't make a video.

[@alexoni9178]

@@jensdbe Good evening Came across your channel, real cool and informative I’ve got a Mac Pro 2008 I’m really new and don’t have a clue where to start Advise on [ How to connect to a new Monitor, I was told I need a HDMI to DVI cable is that correct ? [ how to get the best from the computer [ I’m a marketer and would use it for photoshop ,video editing , leaflet creation , PowerPoint ect [it has a 1T memory card [ I see a lot of videos upgrading like space, speed , ect Thanks

[@JB-do5qd]

jensd_be Has your installation of Big Sur been stable since you installed it a year ago?

[@jensdbe]

Never had any issues. Been on Monterey now since it was released, which is going fine as well.

[@garyclement5527]

How much all the upgrades cost you?

[@skip741x3]

why not do all the Other upgrades 1st and then direct fresh install Big Sur when all then hardware is ready? better than upgrading one os after another

[@AlphaFox78]

you need to the the OS upgrades in order to get the EUFI flash updates. you cant upgrade direct to Big Sur or High Sierra.

[@Rood67]

Because as great as the Mac is, it sux donkey turds. I have a 4,1 (given to me by a relative) single CPU with 32Gb and RAM to upgrade to 96Gb. Also two 5,1 (I purchased from a wedding videographer) with dual 6 core CPU, 64Gb, and expensive 8Gb video cards. I basically bought the cards and got the 5,1 for free considering the market right now. As a Mac does not operate like a normal computer; these have been a nightmare. Cannot upgrade macOS apps as I’m not on Big Sur. As I cannot see a boot screen with the current video card, I cannot even begin to do what was shown here. My PC, Ryzen 5950x that I’m in the process of building, (as well as my old Pentium from 2003) would run DOS 6.1, 95, 95, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and the upcoming 11 (the old machine would if not for the TPM module requirements). But not a Mac, as Apple wants the money by forcing their fan boys to buy the latest and greatest hardware. Or jump through hacker hoops. Don’t get me wrong, I *really* like the 5,1 with what I can do with it for video editing in DaVinci Resolve. I just don’t like Apple business practices.

[@skip741x3]

@@AlphaFox78 Thanks Alpha....I had forgotten about the incremental firmware updates

[@joevincentvergaravinay6465]

HELLO! DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE QUADRO K4000 GRAPHICS CARD IS COMPATIBLE WITH MAC PRO 3.1 2008?

[@yd3941]

Nice video, only you skipped the boot screen part and some people won’t be confortable without it.

[@jensdbe]

With an unsupported video card, you don't get to see any boot screen. It's a choice which you need to make as a card with flashed/supported BIOS costs a lot more than a generic one.

[@DanFoster-xt2wl]

Hi, the Netkas patcher doesn't exist anymore - any ideas where can find another one? Been trying all day to upgrade my 4,1 Firmware with no luck... Many thanks

[@jensdbe]

You can find a copy on the internet archive/Wayback machine: web.archive.org/web/20211126233139/forum.netkas.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=2fcsenuqqtfe5g0jhm1vimmsvbodnt4i&topic=852.0

[@Rdhv91]

Can Sidecar be enabled once updated?

[@jensdbe]

Not sure, I don't have an iPad to test this with unfortunately. I remember reading about it but forgot the outcome. Would be nice to know if you plan to test this.

[@chanyoungkang7154]

I tried to press the option key but it seems like does not work. is there any option to boot with usb?

[@davedeguire]

if you're using a wired keyboard, make sure you have the keyboard plugged directly into the USB ports on the tower, not a USB hub. I think the USB hub doesn't get power to the keyboard quick enough. I spent four days thinking I didn't have a recovery because of this