2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X El Capitan

[andrew nz]

Hello Andrew,


My advice, power down until you get your new HDD. There's no point risking further damage.

Personally, I've opted for hybrid drives, spinning disks for capacity and a small SSD-like memory component to provide a speed boost. It's a compromise I'm happy with.

the HDD has failed mechanically. I heard is buzzing and cannot be mounted.
Disk utility cannot do anything. SMART has failed.
So i will have to wait until I can replace it.
That disk does not have a custom pikify install so the idea is to reinstall from time machine.

Yes I now also use SSD for the same ideas.

Recently I bought a 2T seagate hybrid drive on which i installed capitan from 10.11.0 and upgraded to the latest version, threads are above, and the disk itself cost half the price of a 500G evo SSD.

I have removed the dead disk from the Mac Pro entirely and it is still in its mount bracket sitting on top the machine.

 

[Sivorius]

Try removing the 512mb RAM sticks.....

Does make any sense that i'm using boot.efi for Yosemite.
I have done System installation by using supported iMac, then simply replaced boot.efi by Pike's one from this https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-yosemite.1740775/ topic.

I just lost in pikifi3.1. There are 4 kind of .efi i tried grey, and this is not worked for me.

 

[rthpjm]

Does make any sense that i'm using boot.efi for Yosemite.
I have done System installation by using supported iMac, then simply replaced boot.efi by Pike's one from this https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-yosemite.1740775/ topic.

I just lost in pikifi3.1. There are 4 kind of .efi i tried grey, and this is not worked for me.

Hello Sivorius,

I understand that your Xserve is up and running El Capitan. Great. But it is unstable, and keeps crashing....

Please try removing your 512mb RAM cards. Run your system without them for a while. Decide if this fixes the crashes.

If so, throw those 512mb RAM cards into the trash (or sell them on eBay). Then buy some more 2GB RAM cards (or 4GB ones) if you need more RAM.

Many users have found 1,1 or 2,1 cMP machines are unstable with Yosemite/El Capitan if used with 512mb RAM (or 1Gb RAM).

Fitting with 2GB or 4GB RAM cards seems to fix the issue (at least on cMP, I don't know if the Xserve will have the same issue, that's why I'm suggesting you firstly try removing the cards). From memory, the Xserve has a very old video card, this could also be causing the crash, but try the memory first...

 

[MJK2017]

NEW for 2017:

Version 14 marks a shift in technique. With V14 the installation process is much simpler, becomes a single pass, does not require an intermediate installer volume (USB memory stick), and does not require the use of the EFI boot selector (which should be a great help to those people with graphics cards that do not show boot screens).

NO USB!

I made a video

To use v14, pass the path to your target disk. Let's say you want to install El Capitan onto the Macintosh HD disk....

sudo ./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD
[your password]

12Gb or more of RAM is required

Use Version 12 if you want a USB installer....

============== Previous Versions ===========================

Installing Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.x with this pikify3.1 method is a two-step process

Step 1: Use the attached script and files, to build an installer volume, typically a USB memory stick, or a small disk partition.

Step 2: You will then boot off the installer, to run the installation process.

DO NOT be tempted to simply double-click the Install Mac OS X El Capitan on the install volume, you will be wasting your time. It will not work. You must reboot your MacPro and select the Install Mac OS X El Capitan volume from the boot chooser screen...

Once the installer finishes, you will have a working copy of El Capitan with no need to manually change the boot.efi files.

I keep forgetting to mention that this method also builds the Recovery Partition (Recovery HD) too!

Optional step: You can then choose to install the updated version of pikeyosfix now called CapitanPikeFix, or my Boot64 (both do pretty much the same thing), to allow you to run the Apple updates from either the App Store or from the DMG downloads. See the next post #1391...

CAVEATS - memory, backup, fresh install, migration assistant, etc...

==============================================================

INSTRUCTIONS

Download the zip file attached to this post.

Unzip it.

You should have a folder named pikify3.1


In that folder should be a number of files, the script is createpikeinstallmedia. Keep all the files in one location. Some people have tried to use just the script on its own without the accompanying files and then come back for help because it didn't work. You can move the pikify3.1 folder wherever you please, just keep the contents of the folder together.

If you are not familiar with the Terminal and the command line, take a look at post #1569 it will probably help you.

Pre-requisites:

• Your running OS must be Lion (10.7) or better. I have tested Snow Leopard and the Apple createinstallmedia tool fails (Snow Leopard is just too old).
• As per Peter's guide, you will need a volume that can be overwritten by the installer
  • This could be a USB memory stick
  • A small disk partition from one of your hard drives (not the disk that you intend to use for El Capitan)
    • You need to be able to boot from this volume
• The installer volume needs to be at least 8GB
• Your copy of 'Install OS X El Capitan.app' should be located in your /Applications folder
• The pikify3.1 folder contains both the black and grey variants of the boot.efi file. When unzipped the boot.efi file is the grey one, if you want to change to the black background variant, simply copy the black one over the boot.efi before you start. e.g.

  cp -f boot_black_3_1.efi boot.efi

• It appears that MacPro1,1 and 2,1 need a lot of memory to achieve a successful install by this method. A minimum of 12GB seems to be required...

Usage:

• Open a terminal window
• Change directory to the pikify3.1 folder from the zip file. Let us assume that you downloaded the zip file to your Downloads folder and unzipped it there. (If you have put the pikify3.1 folder somewhere else, please alter the path to suit your location)
• Change [InstallerVolumeName] to the name of the USB memory stick or your small disk partition. For example if you are using a USB memory stick and it shows on the desktop with the name Untitled, then replace [InstallerVolumeName] with Untitled so that the path reads /Volumes/Untitled

cd ~/Downloads/pikify3.1

• You need to run the script as the root user

sudo -s
[your password]
./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/[InstallerVolumeName]

• OR

sudo ./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/[InstallerVolumeName]
[your password]

• OR (optionally switch to the black background variant before you start)

sudo -s
[your password]
cp -f boot_black_3_1.efi boot.efi
./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/[InstallerVolumeName]

Be patient, the script will take some time to run through to completion, especially if your installer volume is a USB memory stick!

Once the script completes it will print ### DONE PIKIFYING ### and you should have an installer volume named 'Install OS X El Capitan'

After you build your pikify3.1 USB memory stick, but before you attempt to boot from it, try ejecting it, physically unplug it, wait a few seconds, then re-plug it in allowing it to mount.

• Reboot your MacPro with the newly created install media (partition or USB stick) attached
• Hold the ALT key down immediately after the startup chime to enter the boot chooser
• Choose the Install OS X El Capitan volume
  • For those people with graphics cards that don't show the boot screens
    • If you are using a USB stick (and it's the only one attached), immediately after the startup chime, hold down the C key. If your USB memory stick has an access indicator (blinking LED) you can visually confirm it is booting. Be patient, it takes about a minute before the screen shows anything. OR....
    • Get to the boot chooser as above then press the left-arrow key once, followed by the return/enter key. (Removable media generally shows up last in the horizontal list, pressing the left arrow key takes you from the automatic first entry and wraps the highlight round to the other end of the list, which is usually where the USB stick is presented). OR....
    • If you're using a small disk partition, get to the boot chooser as above then press the right-arrow key once, followed by the return/enter key). If you have just your main disk and the installer volume this should work. If you have more than just those two, experiment pressing the arrow key more than once until you find the installer volume! OR....
    • OR, consider getting hold of a DVI-vga adaptor. You should be able to find one of your DVI ports that will send out a VGA signal (to a VGA connected monitor) and show you the boot screen.
• Your machine should boot into the Installer, run the installer
  • You may need to click the Reboot button at the end of the install (for some reason, the 10 second countdown doesn't seem to automatically start)
• Your machine should reboot into the new El Capitan Installation and begin the OS X setup procedure.

I made a video! I hope you like it...

I used my iPhone for the second half, apologies for the moire patterns.

I decided to start from my MacPro running 10.7.x Lion, since this is the last officially supported version.
The only difficulty for people is to get hold of a copy of Apple's "Install Mac OS X El Capitan" app. I recommend using a newer "supported" Mac and then copying it to the MacPro....

One of the steps in the video shows me formatting my hard disk drive, do not do this step if you have data on your hard disk (unless you have a backup and are prepared to wipe the drive)

If you are upgrading I would suggest a clean install of El Capitan onto a spare disk, then use the Apple Migration Assistant to migrate your previous system and user files.
If you are brave and want to try an in-place upgrade, make sure you backup your current system first...



==================== Version 12 ==================================
Version 12 saves the unmodified software in a format that makes it easier to restore. Also adds more checks. The biggest change is that the disk images are now mounted on specific mount points so that my script doesn't conflict with the default mount points.

==================== Version 13 ==================================
Not released

==================== Version 14 ==================================
Version 14 is a major change in strategy. With this version you no longer need an intermediate installation media (USB memory stick). Version 14 emulates the way Apple is currently performing the installation. With version 14 you target the disk you want to install El Capitan onto (not the USB memory stick). I will leave v12 in place for a while. New users should use v14. If you encounter any issues, please post an entry on this thread.

One really big advantage to V14 is that it will reboot directly into the installer. This should be a great boon for those people with graphics cards that do NOT show boot screens. There's no more need to guess how to boot into the installer.


++++++++++++++++ MD5 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MD5 (pikify3.1.v12.zip) = 170873c7029f611da798d07647766522
MD5 (pikify3.1.v14.zip) = e7b1699c8db8335c2331e1e8b247efa8

[doublepost=1490332895][/doublepost]I've recently resurrected my Mac Pro 1,1 and discovered this forum, it is updated to 10.6.8 and I see you require to start at lion how would I get from snow leopard ( last update for Mac Pro 1, 1)to lion so that I can follow v14, use pickify to install elcapitan ? I can add ram to get to 12, do I need and upgraded video card?

 

[rthpjm]

[doublepost=1490332895][/doublepost]I've recently resurrected my Mac Pro 1,1 and discovered this forum, it is updated to 10.6.8 and I see you require to start at lion how would I get from snow leopard ( last update for Mac Pro 1, 1)to lion so that I can follow v14, use pickify to install elcapitan ? I can add ram to get to 12, do I need and upgraded video card?

Hello MJK2017,

Older versions of pikify would not run on any version of MacOS X older than Lion. Some of the tools it uses wouldn't run due to version incompatibility. However, v14 uses a different technique, I haven't tested v14 on Snow Leopard. If you want to be a pioneer, you can simply try to run pikify v14 on your snow leopard machine.

If it doesn't complete there will be no harm done. Just delete the OS Install Data folder that gets created on the target drive/volume.

If it does work, great. Please report back, so that others might benefit.

If you need a copy of Lion, a trip to eBay seems in order

You will need 12 GB or more of RAM, and please do not use the original 512Mb RAM cards. Something, possibly an assumption by Apple, doesn't like the use of 512mb or 1Gb RAM cards. You might get the system installed, but if you have any of the 512m/1G RAM sticks, users report frequent crashes. Removing those lower capacity RAM cards, possibly replacing them with either 2GB or 4Gb RAM card, users report no crashes.

If you still have the gtx7300, then yes get a better gfx card. I'd recommend at least an ATI 5770 or better. The original card will load and work, but you will not have any acceleration. Without acceleration the experience will feel horrible.

 

[andrew nz]

[doublepost=1490332895][/doublepost]I've recently resurrected my Mac Pro 1,1 and discovered this forum, it is updated to 10.6.8 and I see you require to start at lion how would I get from snow leopard ( last update for Mac Pro 1, 1)to lion so that I can follow v14, use pickify to install elcapitan ? I can add ram to get to 12, do I need and upgraded video card?

if you look on page 130, I included a link and vid to download the capitan 10.11.0 install file and use the instructions there to install it and then upgrade to the last version.

Or i also linked installing yosemite which i think is easier and seems more stable than capitan.

If you go either route , i recommend 16G RAM for ease of making the usb booter for yosemite or capitan. your choice.
you will need a better vid card. any radeon 5770 would be the minimum.

 

[dood_son]

Hello everyone,

My Mac Pro will not go past the boot progress bar at the Apple logo while booting. This started to happen right after the latest Software Update via App Store.

I've managed to get into the system in Safe Mode (I am currently writing this post using the problematic Mac Pro) and started looking for some hints. Here's what I did so far:

1. Went into Disk Utility and run "Verify Disk" both for the start-up media and the El Capitan volume. The media verification produces an error: Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent bootingError: Couldn’t mount disk. The volume verification is all green - no errors.

2. I tried to determine what unsigned kexts my system is using. I've run the "system_profiler SPExtensionsDataType > ~/Desktop/kextList.txt" command and the acquired txt contains only one entry with "Obtained from: Not Signed" description. It goes like this:

CmUSBMassStorage:

Version: 1.0.7
Last Modified: 15/10/16 14:49
Bundle ID: com.wibu.codemeter.CmUSBMassStorage
Loaded: No
Obtained from: Not Signed
Location: /Library/Extensions/CmUSBMassStorage.kext
Kext Version: 1.0.7
Loadable: No
Signature Validation Errors: Not Signed
Dependencies: Satisfied
Signed by: Not Signed

3. I ordered the kexts by "Date Modified" column to see which of them were affected through the system update procedure. The update took place at about 2.00 am today. Please take a look at the attached screenshot for the list of those kexts.

Any ideas what may I actually be experiencing here? Please don't tell me that I need to reinstall the system...

Cheers!

Ok - there is a bunch of unrelated stuff in that post. So far I've realized that the problem is most probably caused by the ATI Radeon 5750s Kexts that must have been reverted by the system update. I am working on re-patching them, so that the 5750 that I use becomes recognized as a 5770. I will post here again if this is the actual problem and I manage to fix it.

CONFIRMED! To all of you who also run a video card with modified kexts: always be prepared to re-plant them after a software update! Everything works again like a charm.

 

[camacho]

First post here and I want to start by saying thank you for all the hard work that goes into to keeping these Mac Pro's alive

I got El Capitan up and running on my Mac Pro using V14 but I had to use my old 8800 GT to see anything. I was using my HD6770 pc cards on Mavericks and it was flawless after loading the appropriate kexts. Using the 8800 and HD6770 installed, I get no display on the radeon card although it's recognized. I've tried loading kext through kextwizard but it still says No Kext Loaded.

Any idea how to fix this?
[doublepost=1490548092][/doublepost]Disregard. Got em working.

Looks like A.) I had to manually sudo and B.) they were going to S/L/E instead of L/E.

So far so good

 

[lisavani]

Hello rthpjm,

Hopefully you can help me out. I created an usb installer from El Capitan 10.11.6 with version 12 of your pikify installer. Booting from it went well and installation seemed to go well too untill after 17 minutes I got the following message:

OS X could not be installed on your computer because an error occurred while extracting files from the pacckage "Essentials.pkg".

Then the computer restarted and booted back from the usb again. Retrying did end with the same error again. And so did building and using another usb installer.

Do you have any idea what is wrong?

kind regards,

Lisa

 

[rthpjm]

Hello rthpjm,

Hopefully you can help me out. I created an usb installer from El Capitan 10.11.6 with version 12 of your pikify installer. Booting from it went well and installation seemed to go well too untill after 17 minutes I got the following message:

OS X could not be installed on your computer because an error occurred while extracting files from the pacckage "Essentials.pkg".

Then the computer restarted and booted back from the usb again. Retrying did end with the same error again. And so did building and using another usb installer.

Do you have any idea what is wrong?

kind regards,

Lisa

View attachment 693779

hello Lisa,

Yes, that happens if you have less than 12Gb of RAM installed in the machine. Please install 12Gb of RAM or more in the machine...

Also, please try to use 2GB RAM cards (or 4Gb).

The original 512KB RAM cards will cause the MacPro to be unstable and to crash. (Some also say this happens with 1GB RAM cards).

By the way, there is an updated version (v14) of pikify. It does not require the use of a USB drive, making it simpler and quicker to use...

 

[flyinmac]

So, it appears we have two new updates in the Mac App Store today for El Capitan:

Security Update 2017-001 10.11.6
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207615

And

Safari 10.1

See the screenshot below. Anybody have any experience to offer with these updates on our old Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 machines?

Just curious whether it's been smooth, or affected our hacked installs of El Capitan on these machines.

 

[lisavani]

hello Lisa,

Yes, that happens if you have less than 12Gb of RAM installed in the machine. Please install 12Gb of RAM or more in the machine...

Also, please try to use 2GB RAM cards (or 4Gb).

The original 512KB RAM cards will cause the MacPro to be unstable and to crash. (Some also say this happens with 1GB RAM cards).

By the way, there is an updated version (v14) of pikify. It does not require the use of a USB drive, making it simpler and quicker to use...

Thank you Sir for the advice. I combined the memory from all my old Mac Pro's and put it in one of them. The USB installer worked fine now and so did Boot64. It made the system survive the two updates for El Capitan that were released today.

Now I have a new question, if I may. Is the minimum of 12 GB RAM only required for the installation proces or should it stay for proper operation of the system as well? I would like to take some out to put back in one of the other Mac's.
[doublepost=1490746703][/doublepost]

So, it appears we have two new updates in the Mac App Store today for El Capitan:

Security Update 2017-001 10.11.6
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207615

And

Safari 10.1

See the screenshot below. Anybody have any experience to offer with these updates on our old Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 machines?

Just curious whether it's been smooth, or affected our hacked installs of El Capitan on these machines.

View attachment 693914

Hi there, you can install them safely if you have boot64 installed. My system is running fine after doing the updates.

 

[F1Mac]

So, it appears we have two new updates in the Mac App Store today for El Capitan:

Security Update 2017-001 10.11.6
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207615

And

Safari 10.1

See the screenshot below. Anybody have any experience to offer with these updates on our old Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 machines?

Just curious whether it's been smooth, or affected our hacked installs of El Capitan on these machines.

View attachment 693914

No problem whatsoever. You can go safely

 

[owbp]

Now I have a new question, if I may. Is the minimum of 12 GB RAM only required for the installation proces or should it stay for proper operation of the system as well? I would like to take some out to put back in one of the other Mac's.

Only for the installation, you can safely bring it down afterwards. I've used mine for majority of the time with 8gb, since filling all slots was causing fans to ramp up after sleep and it really annoyed me.
Just avoid 512mb sticks (or 1gb too?) because they will cause system crash.

 

[andrew nz]

Hello rthpjm,

Hopefully you can help me out. I created an usb installer from El Capitan 10.11.6 with version 12 of your pikify installer. Booting from it went well and installation seemed to go well too untill after 17 minutes I got the following message:

OS X could not be installed on your computer because an error occurred while extracting files from the pacckage "Essentials.pkg".

Then the computer restarted and booted back from the usb again. Retrying did end with the same error again. And so did building and using another usb installer.

Do you have any idea what is wrong?

kind regards,

Lisa

View attachment 693779

hello
you could try an earlier install then upgrade to the last version.
if you find my thread with the vid and link to the 10.11.0 file and make a usb installer and install cap fix or boot64 and then upgrade from app store, that should work.
I recommend 16G RAM and has so far worked flawlessly.

 

[flyinmac]

Thank you Sir for the advice. I combined the memory from all my old Mac Pro's and put it in one of them. The USB installer worked fine now and so did Boot64. It made the system survive the two updates for El Capitan that were released today.

Now I have a new question, if I may. Is the minimum of 12 GB RAM only required for the installation proces or should it stay for proper operation of the system as well? I would like to take some out to put back in one of the other Mac's.
[doublepost=1490746703][/doublepost]

Hi there, you can install them safely if you have boot64 installed. My system is running fine after doing the updates.

No problem whatsoever. You can go safely

Thank you. I'll give them a try then. Figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if anyone had problems with them.

 

[andrew nz]

So, it appears we have two new updates in the Mac App Store today for El Capitan:

I updated safari first and then the security update for capitan. it went smoothly and updated without issue so far.

i have not tried it with yosemite yet.

 

[flyinmac]

I updated safari first and then the security update for capitan. it went smoothly and updated without issue so far.

i have not tried it with yosemite yet.

That's good news.

 

[rthpjm]

Thank you Sir for the advice. I combined the memory from all my old Mac Pro's and put it in one of them. The USB installer worked fine now and so did Boot64. It made the system survive the two updates for El Capitan that were released today.

Now I have a new question, if I may. Is the minimum of 12 GB RAM only required for the installation proces or should it stay for proper operation of the system as well? I would like to take some out to put back in one of the other Mac's.
[doublepost=1490746703][/doublepost]

Hi there, you can install them safely if you have boot64 installed. My system is running fine after doing the updates.

Hello Lisa,

Others have already answered this, but for completeness, the 12GB is only a requirement for the install phase. You can safely down-size the RAM after the install.

When running El Capitan on an original MacPro the lower capacity RAM cards are known to cause crashes. Certainly the original 512mb RAM cards are widely reported, and a smaller number of users have reported crashes with 1GB cards. All users that install 2GB or 4GB RAM cards report stable systems.

Our advice is always to remove the 512MB cards (and now the 1GB cards due to recent reports). Only use 2GB or 4GB cards.

By all means put your borrowed RAM back into your other MacPros. That being said, El Capitan runs better with a higher RAM footprint. It is worth investing in the purchase of more 2GB or 4GB RAM card pairs.

I'm glad that I could help

Happy MacPros

 

[owbp]

+1
It really likes to use cache, so for snappier OS experience more RAM will help.

 

[joshd2007]

NEW for 2017:

Version 14 marks a shift in technique. With V14 the installation process is much simpler, becomes a single pass, does not require an intermediate installer volume (USB memory stick), and does not require the use of the EFI boot selector (which should be a great help to those people with graphics cards that do not show boot screens).

NO USB!

I made a video

To use v14, pass the path to your target disk. Let's say you want to install El Capitan onto the Macintosh HD disk....

sudo ./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD
[your password]

12Gb or more of RAM is required

Use Version 12 if you want a USB installer....

============== Previous Versions ===========================

Installing Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.x with this pikify3.1 method is a two-step process

Step 1: Use the attached script and files, to build an installer volume, typically a USB memory stick, or a small disk partition.

Step 2: You will then boot off the installer, to run the installation process.

DO NOT be tempted to simply double-click the Install Mac OS X El Capitan on the install volume, you will be wasting your time. It will not work. You must reboot your MacPro and select the Install Mac OS X El Capitan volume from the boot chooser screen...

Once the installer finishes, you will have a working copy of El Capitan with no need to manually change the boot.efi files.

I keep forgetting to mention that this method also builds the Recovery Partition (Recovery HD) too!

Optional step: You can then choose to install the updated version of pikeyosfix now called CapitanPikeFix, or my Boot64 (both do pretty much the same thing), to allow you to run the Apple updates from either the App Store or from the DMG downloads. See the next post #1391...

CAVEATS - memory, backup, fresh install, migration assistant, etc...

==============================================================

INSTRUCTIONS

Download the zip file attached to this post.

Unzip it.

You should have a folder named pikify3.1


In that folder should be a number of files, the script is createpikeinstallmedia. Keep all the files in one location. Some people have tried to use just the script on its own without the accompanying files and then come back for help because it didn't work. You can move the pikify3.1 folder wherever you please, just keep the contents of the folder together.

If you are not familiar with the Terminal and the command line, take a look at post #1569 it will probably help you.

Pre-requisites:

• Your running OS must be Lion (10.7) or better. I have tested Snow Leopard and the Apple createinstallmedia tool fails (Snow Leopard is just too old).
• As per Peter's guide, you will need a volume that can be overwritten by the installer
  • This could be a USB memory stick
  • A small disk partition from one of your hard drives (not the disk that you intend to use for El Capitan)
    • You need to be able to boot from this volume
• The installer volume needs to be at least 8GB
• Your copy of 'Install OS X El Capitan.app' should be located in your /Applications folder
• The pikify3.1 folder contains both the black and grey variants of the boot.efi file. When unzipped the boot.efi file is the grey one, if you want to change to the black background variant, simply copy the black one over the boot.efi before you start. e.g.

  cp -f boot_black_3_1.efi boot.efi

• It appears that MacPro1,1 and 2,1 need a lot of memory to achieve a successful install by this method. A minimum of 12GB seems to be required...

Usage:

• Open a terminal window
• Change directory to the pikify3.1 folder from the zip file. Let us assume that you downloaded the zip file to your Downloads folder and unzipped it there. (If you have put the pikify3.1 folder somewhere else, please alter the path to suit your location)
• Change [InstallerVolumeName] to the name of the USB memory stick or your small disk partition. For example if you are using a USB memory stick and it shows on the desktop with the name Untitled, then replace [InstallerVolumeName] with Untitled so that the path reads /Volumes/Untitled

cd ~/Downloads/pikify3.1

• You need to run the script as the root user

sudo -s
[your password]
./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/[InstallerVolumeName]

• OR

sudo ./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/[InstallerVolumeName]
[your password]

• OR (optionally switch to the black background variant before you start)

sudo -s
[your password]
cp -f boot_black_3_1.efi boot.efi
./createpikeinstallmedia /Volumes/[InstallerVolumeName]

Be patient, the script will take some time to run through to completion, especially if your installer volume is a USB memory stick!

Once the script completes it will print ### DONE PIKIFYING ### and you should have an installer volume named 'Install OS X El Capitan'

After you build your pikify3.1 USB memory stick, but before you attempt to boot from it, try ejecting it, physically unplug it, wait a few seconds, then re-plug it in allowing it to mount.

• Reboot your MacPro with the newly created install media (partition or USB stick) attached
• Hold the ALT key down immediately after the startup chime to enter the boot chooser
• Choose the Install OS X El Capitan volume
  • For those people with graphics cards that don't show the boot screens
    • If you are using a USB stick (and it's the only one attached), immediately after the startup chime, hold down the C key. If your USB memory stick has an access indicator (blinking LED) you can visually confirm it is booting. Be patient, it takes about a minute before the screen shows anything. OR....
    • Get to the boot chooser as above then press the left-arrow key once, followed by the return/enter key. (Removable media generally shows up last in the horizontal list, pressing the left arrow key takes you from the automatic first entry and wraps the highlight round to the other end of the list, which is usually where the USB stick is presented). OR....
    • If you're using a small disk partition, get to the boot chooser as above then press the right-arrow key once, followed by the return/enter key). If you have just your main disk and the installer volume this should work. If you have more than just those two, experiment pressing the arrow key more than once until you find the installer volume! OR....
    • OR, consider getting hold of a DVI-vga adaptor. You should be able to find one of your DVI ports that will send out a VGA signal (to a VGA connected monitor) and show you the boot screen.
• Your machine should boot into the Installer, run the installer
  • You may need to click the Reboot button at the end of the install (for some reason, the 10 second countdown doesn't seem to automatically start)
• Your machine should reboot into the new El Capitan Installation and begin the OS X setup procedure.

I made a video! I hope you like it...

I used my iPhone for the second half, apologies for the moire patterns.

I decided to start from my MacPro running 10.7.x Lion, since this is the last officially supported version.
The only difficulty for people is to get hold of a copy of Apple's "Install Mac OS X El Capitan" app. I recommend using a newer "supported" Mac and then copying it to the MacPro....

One of the steps in the video shows me formatting my hard disk drive, do not do this step if you have data on your hard disk (unless you have a backup and are prepared to wipe the drive)

If you are upgrading I would suggest a clean install of El Capitan onto a spare disk, then use the Apple Migration Assistant to migrate your previous system and user files.
If you are brave and want to try an in-place upgrade, make sure you backup your current system first...



==================== Version 12 ==================================
Version 12 saves the unmodified software in a format that makes it easier to restore. Also adds more checks. The biggest change is that the disk images are now mounted on specific mount points so that my script doesn't conflict with the default mount points.

==================== Version 13 ==================================
Not released

==================== Version 14 ==================================
Version 14 is a major change in strategy. With this version you no longer need an intermediate installation media (USB memory stick). Version 14 emulates the way Apple is currently performing the installation. With version 14 you target the disk you want to install El Capitan onto (not the USB memory stick). I will leave v12 in place for a while. New users should use v14. If you encounter any issues, please post an entry on this thread.

One really big advantage to V14 is that it will reboot directly into the installer. This should be a great boon for those people with graphics cards that do NOT show boot screens. There's no more need to guess how to boot into the installer.


++++++++++++++++ MD5 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MD5 (pikify3.1.v12.zip) = 170873c7029f611da798d07647766522
MD5 (pikify3.1.v14.zip) = e7b1699c8db8335c2331e1e8b247efa8

I followed this method since MacOsFactor wouldn't work and this worked great. I was able to get to the installer, but the mouse and keyboard will not respond. This is on a MacBook pro 2,1 that is running Lion on it.

I've been searching around but havnt had much luck. Any ideas on how to fix my problem

 

[Wiltonian]

Hello MJK2017,

Older versions of pikify would not run on any version of MacOS X older than Lion. Some of the tools it uses wouldn't run due to version incompatibility. However, v14 uses a different technique, I haven't tested v14 on Snow Leopard. If you want to be a pioneer, you can simply try to run pikify v14 on your snow leopard machine.

. . . .
If you need a copy of Lion, a trip to eBay seems in order

You will need 12 GB or more of RAM, and please do not use the original 512Mb RAM cards. Something, possibly an assumption by Apple, doesn't like the use of 512mb or 1Gb RAM cards. You might get the system installed, but if you have any of the 512m/1G RAM sticks, users report frequent crashes. Removing those lower capacity RAM cards, possibly replacing them with either 2GB or 4Gb RAM card, users report no crashes. . . . .

Just to add to the totally justifiable expressions of thanks to all the pioneers who've contributed to this immense accumulation of knowledge and experience about getting El Capitan running on the earliest Mac Pros.

I bought a cheap 1.1 a couple of months ago, replaced the four 512Kb sticks with 2Gb parts which, with four retained 1Gb sticks, give the required 12Gb for the pifky installation process. Two X5355s replaced the original CPUs and a kind Forum member sold me a 5770 video card to replace the stock item.

Just to report:
1. Needing Lion rather than Snow Leopard, I bought a USB stick with the installer on it on eBay; this has the advantage of leaving you with a 8Gb USB stick rather than a redundant DVD afterwards.
2. No problems so far with the 1Gb memory sticks.
3. The actual upgrade to El Capitan using v.14 of Pifky, following a video on YouTube went faultlessly, and 10.11.6 is now installed.

Thanks again to all the geniuses round here.

Stuart

 

[rthpjm]

I followed this method since MacOsFactor wouldn't work and this worked great. I was able to get to the installer, but the mouse and keyboard will not respond. This is on a MacBook pro 2,1 that is running Lion on it.

I've been searching around but havnt had much luck. Any ideas on how to fix my problem

Hello joshd2007

The tools here are intended for MacPros, not MacBooks. There is a separate thread for MacBooks/MacMinis due to their internal similarities. The issues with these other Macs are largely brought about due to the embedded hardware (USB controllers, video chip sets etc....). There are more modifications you will need to make in order to get one of these machines to run El Capitan.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-el-capitan-on-unsupported-macs.1889851/

 

[gokhantonyukuk]

Ty @owbp
I've managed to upgrade from 10.10.5 to 10.11.6 without losing data. I've backed up efi files from /usr/standalone/i386 & System/Library/Coreservices as you said. Thencoonect my ssd to my macbook via usb adapter. Changed replaced efi file from macbook. Then replaced ssd with macbooks hdd. Upgraded to 10.11.6. Replaced Hard drives. Put back the original efi files & voila. My Mac Pro is using latest stable OS.

 

[bootimous]

THANK YOU rthpjm (and I know there are MANY more thanks out there to others as well)!!!!! I recently rebuilt a Mac Pro 2,1 3ghz Quad core w/5365 Clovertown's & v14 was soo easy to use & install 10.11.6, of course I also installed boot64 as well & both of my machines(Mac Pro 2,1 & my 1,1 2.66ghz dual core, I'm also getting ready to put 5365's in this machine as well) & have been able to install critical OS updates with no problems!! One question though...... I have installed flashed ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB in both machines and they work very well but my geekbench scores are adequate in this area.... What is the ceiling/best performance in graphics cards I should look for for these early macs especially rendering in Final Cut Pro?