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

[rthpjm]

Hi all,

I just managed to upgrade my mac pro 1.1, dual 3.0ghx eons, 32gb ram to elcappitan - I also upgraded the gfx card to a radeon 4870 1GB from the standard radeon x1900XT that I bought for 10 bucks.

So all is well except the following issue - machine boots up, everything works except dual monitor support.

Both monitors connected via DVI
Both monitors detected correctly as Samsung 2350

Only problem is monitor 2 - seems to be up and running and 1 doesn't fire up at all so I am running single monitor which is a bit lame as I am a writer so like to use one in A4 and the other as normal.

Just not sure if I am missing a vital step...duals worked fine on my old ATI :-(

Hello fragmoider71,

Is your 4870 an Apple branded card (I don't know if Apple even sold a 4870 card!), or is a generic brand intended for the PC market?

If it is the latter, then it is not unusual to run into these issues. Apple's software is very much tuned to the cards that they ship or sell.

We don't normally cover graphics cards issues on this thread. There are other threads you could post your query to. A very active alternative resource you could use too, the Netkas Forums http://forum.netkas.org/...

E.g. http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,1048.0.html

 

[fragmoider71]

Hi,

It's not an apple branded card - same card here people are trying to still sell for around $150-$200AUD. It's just a card I thought I would try as proof of concept.

As it is, I'm probably not going to worry about it now as I have my PC running on the second monitor and may start playing around with the hackintosh stuff.

 

[kevstauss]

Sorry if this has been solved here already, but I'm stuck installing El Cap on my 2,1. I made a bootable USB drive, but I get a grey screen when I boot from it. I've tried installing it using Target Disk Mode from my iMac, but since its running Sierra, it won't let me run the El Cap installer. Any idea what I can do from here short of downgrading my iMac to El Cap first? Thanks!

 

[PhotoGraphic]

Hi,

I have previously successfully updated my Mac Pro 1,1 from 10.11.3 to 10.11.4
Method: running the Apple combo updater, then manually installing the boot.efi after booting from an older system, all done according to post #2019 on page 81 of this thread.

My question: can I update to 10.11.6 in the same way or has Apple thrown a spanner in the works in the meantime?
Also, can I use the same boot.efi or has that been updated in the meantime? Creation time stamp is 25 Nov 2015.

Many thanks!

 

[artooks]

Hi Guys, I have been using El Capitan in my Mac Pro for 1.5 years yesterday out of the blue the system started to restart constantly, I tried everything cleaned the tower, swam the disc but what ever I do I can't seem to bring back to normal, now I am doing an Apple Hardware Test but turned out " OK" and it also did not crash during the testing phase This computer really drives me crazy, I did also a Pram so is there a new release of Pikers Boot Efi for El Capitan or still everyone using the old one, can someone please help me.

 

[PhotoGraphic]

Hi,

I have previously successfully updated my Mac Pro 1,1 from 10.11.3 to 10.11.4
Method: running the Apple combo updater, then manually installing the boot.efi after booting from an older system, all done according to post #2019 on page 81 of this thread.

My question: can I update to 10.11.6 in the same way or has Apple thrown a spanner in the works in the meantime?
Also, can I use the same boot.efi or has that been updated in the meantime? Creation time stamp is 25 Nov 2015.

Many thanks!

Okay. I just went for it - and it all worked fine. The usual procedure, the same boot.efi...
Someone might find it helpful to know.

 

[kevstauss]

Finally got El Cap working, but now I'm plagued with notifications about a USB device drawing too much power and disabling my USB ports even when nothing is plugged in. Is there a fix for this?

 

[rthpjm]

Finally got El Cap working, but now I'm plagued with notifications about a USB device drawing too much power and disabling my USB ports even when nothing is plugged in. Is there a fix for this?

Hello kevstauss,

You mention a 2,1 but it's not clear if you mean a MacPro or a MacBook
MacBooks (and MacMinis) have known issues with USB and Graphics cards. There's a separate thread that deals with non-MacPro hardware. They have some community modified kernel extensions (kexts).

If you are using a MacPro, sorry, I'm not aware that it is a particular issue.
There are 2 likely causes

1. The source file you used to build your El Capitan partition was not a copy of Install OS X El Capitan.app from the Mac App Store. If you downloaded a copy from the net, it's possible that it had been modified (maybe with the modified kexts mentioned above). I'm not aware of anyone who has had issues if they started with an "official" copy.
2. There may be something physically wrong. El Capitan may just be more sensitive to it, and reporting it. Open the side panel whilst the MacPro is running. Look at the memory riser cards, are there any LEDs on?

Have you got any 3rd party cards in the machine?

 

[kevstauss]

Hello kevstauss,

You mention a 2,1 but it's not clear if you mean a MacPro or a MacBook
MacBooks (and MacMinis) have known issues with USB and Graphics cards. There's a separate thread that deals with non-MacPro hardware. They have some community modified kernel extensions (kexts).

If you are using a MacPro, sorry, I'm not aware that it is a particular issue.
There are 2 likely causes

1. The source file you used to build your El Capitan partition was not a copy of Install OS X El Capitan.app from the Mac App Store. If you downloaded a copy from the net, it's possible that it had been modified (maybe with the modified kexts mentioned above). I'm not aware of anyone who has had issues if they started with an "official" copy.
2. There may be something physically wrong. El Capitan may just be more sensitive to it, and reporting it. Open the side panel whilst the MacPro is running. Look at the memory riser cards, are there any LEDs on?

Have you got any 3rd party cards in the machine?

It's a Mac Pro 2,1 with El Capitan downloaded from the App Store (10.11.6) and then Pikified. The graphics card is stock (7500 maybe? I'm not by my computer right now). I tried unplugging all USB devices and PCIe cards (except the graphics card of course), but the problem persists. As for the memory riser cards, no lights are on. Oddly, the front USB ports don't work, so maybe that's the device it's referring to? If that's the case, I can just turn notifications off and it's not a big deal, but it'd be nice to fix it.

 

[rthpjm]

It's a Mac Pro 2,1 with El Capitan downloaded from the App Store (10.11.6) and then Pikified. The graphics card is stock (7500 maybe? I'm not by my computer right now). I tried unplugging all USB devices and PCIe cards (except the graphics card of course), but the problem persists. As for the memory riser cards, no lights are on. Oddly, the front USB ports don't work, so maybe that's the device it's referring to? If that's the case, I can just turn notifications off and it's not a big deal, but it'd be nice to fix it.

Have you tried a SMC (PMU) reset?

Read back in this thread. I made a post or two about it. Some have found it helps....
Page 130
2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X El Capitan

 

[Ant3000]

If anyone is curious, latest security updates just installed OK without any issues - as usual. Mac Pro 1.1/2.1 OSX 10.11.6

 

[earthwriter]

I just read here that Netka support 7xxx cards the Mac Pro 1.1 we just got has has modded El Capitan and Yosemite, it has a HD 7850 IceQx with no boot screen, is there a hack can the card be flashed like we have seen a 7950 can so that can make it work with the boot menu and Bootcamp? BTW what does Metal Compatible mean? Also it came with the original 7300 GT card which obviously is not supported seeing how it shown only 5mb, but is it possible if there is no other option other than to buy a compatible 1-2GB graphics card that is supported, is it possible to use the Nvidia to get to the boot menu to use System Rescue, since Bootcamp with 5mb VRAM probably makes no sense, Is there any way to have both cards installed and switch between them? my guess is probably not.
Thanks for any helpful tips or suggestions.

 

[Ant3000]

The PC card could be perhaps be flashed to show boot screens (there is a thread on this - but you need a PC I think to be able to do this) or you could buy a genuine Mac card such as the AMD HD7950 Mac Edition but they are still quite expensive. The HD5770 Mac version is reasonable price though and will show boot screens. Even if you could install 2 cards there may not be enough power available as some cards use 2 power inputs and an external power supply would be needed. I have no idea as to whether switching would be possible but there are better options I think.

 

[rthpjm]

BTW what does Metal Compatible mean?

Metal is Apple's direct graphics application programming interface (API). It gives software developers a lower level of direct access to the graphics hardware.

It is similar in nature to Microsoft's DirectX.

 

[earthwriter]

The PC card could be perhaps be flashed to show boot screens (there is a thread on this - but you need a PC I think to be able to do this) or you could buy a genuine Mac card such as the AMD HD7950 Mac Edition but they are still quite expensive. The HD5770 Mac version is reasonable price though and will show boot screens. Even if you could install 2 cards there may not be enough power available as some cards use 2 power inputs and an external power supply would be needed. I have no idea as to whether switching would be possible but there are better options I think.

Thanks for the the reply, Are we sure those cards will work with El Capitan with no flashing or hack? If we do get a 7950 Mac Edition (lowest price on Ebay $179.99 used or there is a 7850 Mac Seller Refurb for $159.99, we would sell the 7850 and 7300 to cover the cost, also the HD5770 while more affordable, looks like it will work with HD with 10.6.4 but other than that, only work with DVI according to http://blog.macsales.com/6856-owc-reveals-which-radeon-video-cards-work-with-2006-2009-mac-pros) We are looking at buying a PC for gaming, so we could use the PC to flash the 7850, do you know where the flash thread is? Sorry forgot to mention this, we used the 7300 GT to get to the boot menu, booted up Yosemite and now for some reason we can't boot to El Capitan with the Radeon even after it's been chosen in the boot menu with or without the 7300 GT, (When we try to boot off the Radeon with the 7300 GT in at the same time it shows a blurry desktop and freezes without the 7300 GT installed, it just boots to Yosemite.) installed any idea what could be causing it to boot to Yosemite and not El Capitan like it was before?so any idea why the 7850 will only boot to Yosemite? Could something have changed on the VROM chip? We did click on a restore image in the boot menu, and it took us to the choices to restore or reinstall, we just wanted to make sure we had some kind of backup installed, but we didn't make any changes that we know of. The 7300 will not allow the Mac to sleep which we assume mean power management, at least where the GPU and Display are concerned, won't work either?
Thanks
[doublepost=1495399141][/doublepost]

Metal is Apple's direct graphics application programming interface (API). It gives software developers a lower level of direct access to the graphics hardware.

It is similar in nature to Microsoft's DirectX.

I see, thanks for the simple explanation.

 

[Ant3000]

The 7950 works OK - pretty sure the 5770 does too but others will probably confirm this. I can't recall the version of OSX I last used with mine before I swapped to the 7950. Can't say a saw much differnce with the main apps I use though - Adobe CS6.

 

[earthwriter]

Metal is Apple's direct graphics application programming interface (API). It gives software developers a lower level of direct access to the graphics hardware.

It is similar in nature to Microsoft's DirectX.

The 7950 works OK - pretty sure the 5770 does too but others will probably confirm this. I can't recall the version of OSX I last used with mine before I swapped to the 7950. Can't say a saw much differnce with the main apps I use though - Adobe CS6.

But there is a difference of 2GB on the cards so there has to be some kind of benchmark showing the benefits, of course the price is a concern, it seems that at this time what would make the most sense is to just keep the 7850 and flash it the first chance we get, but first we need to figure out why all of a sudden it stopped working with El Capitan, sure hope someone can shed some light on that.
Thanks

 

[earthwriter]

After going to System Pref Startup Disk and verifying El Capitan was chosen which it was and shutting down and removing the 7300 card and restarting with just the 7850, it went back to El Capitan, not sure how but don't really care as long as the right card is working. Now we just have flash the card so that it works right with boot screen.
Thanks

 

[Ant3000]

I was just about to reply asking if you had selected El Cap as your start-up disk - good to know it is working. Boot screens are useful but if you have a card you can swap over should you ever need to, flashing isn't absolutely necessary. I found the biggest bump in performance was to fit an SSD - the graphics card must make some difference but it depends on the applications being used and whether they make use of the processing power available.
I also think some of the Mac Edition 7950 cards were a bit suspect even when new - I bought one on eBay and had to return it as there were no boot screens - the seller seemed genuine but he said it had always worked that way - on reading up I discovered some came from the factory without the Mac ROM installed - but with 2 versions of the PC ROM (there is a switch to allow use on a Mac or PC).

 

[mani girafe]

which are the last process or last tutorial to update or Clean install in EL CAPITAN os ? because i am lost with all post..
sorry and thanks for your help. TY

Quelles sont les dernières procédures ou tutoriel pour une installation propre en EL CAPITAN ?
Merci d'avance

Girafe

 

[andrew nz]

hello all

slight change of pace.

there is a new security update for Yosemite, el cap, and sierra.
anyone installed yet?
any issues?

 

[swampy50]

hello all

slight change of pace.

there is a new security update for Yosemite, el cap, and sierra.
anyone installed yet?
any issues?

No problem in El Cap.

 

[jbarley]

hello all

slight change of pace.
there is a new security update for Yosemite, el cap, and sierra.
anyone installed yet?
any issues?

Easily installed on Yosemite, no obvious issues yet.

 

[ytoze]

Hi. Stuck on grey screen. Trying to install El Capitan on my MacPro (originally 1.1, upgraded with 2x Xeons x5365 and flashed to 2.1), 12Gb RAM, GT 7300 graphic card, OS X 10.7.5. Downloaded latest El Cap from Apple store, pikified with pikify3.1v14, after reboot- grey screen. If reboot and manually select boot disc, computer freezes momentarily after pushing select button. SMC reset does not help. No warning lights on memory riser cards. Out of ideas...

 

[AlistairD]

Not sure if anyone can help... Been running El Capitan for a while on my old Mac Pro 2.1. Only problem has been that I replaced the graphics card ages ago with a non-flashed card so have never had the boot screen. Decided to update the graphics card and bought a genuine Mac Nvidia Quadro 4000 and installed it but I still do not get the boot screen on either video port.

Any idea why?

Attached is my system spec:

Thanks for any thoughts

A