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

[rthpjm]

Yes, Startup Disk was showing 10.11.6, but GOOD NEWS! I did exactly as you suggested and repeated the same steps again and BOOM, it installed and finally booted right back into El Capitan on my own account with everything intact. I was scared that I may have needed to do a clean install and reinstall all my apps.

Thank you SO MUCH for your help. I noticed some people upgraded their MacPro1,1 to report MacPro1,2. Should I do this?

Hi samrod

I’m glad it worked out...

The MacPro 1,1 and 2,1 were based on the same motherboard and chipset. The upgrade to 2,1 typically is done if you want to upgrade the CPUs. My machine went from dual 2-core, to dual 4-core by upgrading the CPUs (other options/combinations are available). To have the MacOS read/report the correct CPUs most users choose to upgrade the firmware. It is the firmware that changes the machine signature from 1,1 to 2,1.

In my opinion, if you upgrade the CPUs then you should also upgrade the firmware.

If you don’t upgrade the CPU then there’s no need to upgrade the firmware.

If you do upgrade the CPUs and the firmware, I recommend upgrading the radio card (WiFi/Bluetooth). There’s a thread on the forum by Mr. Zarniwoop about the radio card upgrade (Mr. Zarniwoop started this thread too)
Search for BCM94360CD posted by Mr. Zarniwoop in the El Capitan forum

 

[grimblegrumble]

guys
I'm always writing you for my problems.
The very kind rthpjm had recommended reset pram and smc, but when I reset pram starts again from lion. I had to say that I noticed, after seeing this link https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201518#macpro that all upgrade efi boot rom 2.1 MP21.007F.B06 (EFI 1.2) does not match smc version 1.15f3 (SMC 1.1) but I have smc version 1.7f10 (SMC 1.1)
I think then I did something wrong and that 'causes me problems with USB ports (only recognize apple keyboard) and maybe wifi (unless it is too old for el capitain ..).
I ask you for help on how to proceed with a new installation or on the fact that I can not do more than that.
I thank you for your patience and attention

 

[alphascorp]

Hello,
I'm back, following my posts #4299 of July 20, 2018, #4419 of September 16, 2018, #4430 of October 3, 2018, and #4464 of December 4 2018, regarding the operation of the update "SecUpd2018-004ElCapitan" with Kernel 2017-005.
After 8 months EVERYTHING IS STILL STABLE !!!
Record beaten, 25 days without rebooting ... and no instability!

Fix SecUpdate ElCapitan Mac Pro 1.1-2.1 Start Loop.dmg

 

[flygbuss]

Hello,
I'm back, following my posts #4299 of July 20, 2018, #4419 of September 16, 2018, #4430 of October 3, 2018, and #4464 of December 4 2018, regarding the operation of the update "SecUpd2018-004ElCapitan" with Kernel 2017-005.
After 8 months EVERYTHING IS STILL STABLE !!!
Record beaten, 25 days without rebooting ... and no instability!


Fix SecUpdate ElCapitan Mac Pro 1.1-2.1 Start Loop.dmg


View attachment 825702

How did you get the El Capitan desktop theme to the system profiler that it looks like the newer macOS releases?

 

[alphascorp]

How did you get the El Capitan desktop theme to the system profiler that it looks like the newer macOS releases?

Hi Flygbuss, I just replaced the file "SystemLogo.tiff" contained in "/Applications/Utilities/System Information.app/Contents/Resources" by an image created by me with Photoshop...

I attach it to you as a zip file...

 

[flygbuss]

Hi Flygbuss, I just replaced the file "SystemLogo.tiff" contained in "/Applications/Utilities/System Information.app/Contents/Resources" by an image created by me with Photoshop...

I attach it to you as a zip file...

View attachment 825710

Thanks, man! Awesome..

 

[rthpjm]

guys
I'm always writing you for my problems.
The very kind rthpjm had recommended reset pram and smc, but when I reset pram starts again from lion. I had to say that I noticed, after seeing this link https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201518#macpro that all upgrade efi boot rom 2.1 MP21.007F.B06 (EFI 1.2) does not match smc version 1.15f3 (SMC 1.1) but I have smc version 1.7f10 (SMC 1.1)
I think then I did something wrong and that 'causes me problems with USB ports (only recognize apple keyboard) and maybe wifi (unless it is too old for el capitain ..).
I ask you for help on how to proceed with a new installation or on the fact that I can not do more than that.
I thank you for your patience and attention

Hello @grimblegrumble

Firstly, do not worry about running SMC version 1.7f10. I have that on my MacPro and it is running just great. That version of code came with the "Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.1", which I think you already knew...

This leads me to believe that whatever issue you have is relatively unique to your machine. The symptoms you describe are not commonly reported. Indeed I don't remember anyone else reporting these issues.

Let's see if we can get some pointers to set us off in the right direction...

Please reboot your Mac Pro, login (I assume your keyboard is working, if not try to use Screen Sharing from another Mac, or VNC Viewer, or a secure shell session (ssh) from another machine).
Start a Terminal session (or use ssh).
Elevate your privileges in the Terminal using

sudo -s

It will ask for you regular password (there is no echo, please type carefully)

We will now output the kernel in-memory cyclic log

dmesg

Copy the output and paste it into a text file. Save the text file and post it here so that I can take a look.

Also run the following command

system_profiler SPUSBDataType

Copy that output to another text file. Post that file here so that I can take a look

Next, run this command

ioreg -t -p IOUSB

Copy that output to another text file. Post that file here so that I can take a look

Finally, please re-state what your issue is!

• Are you saying that you cannot boot from USB connected external disk drives?
• Are you saying all USB connected devices are not working (keyboard, mouse, etc)?
• Are you saying all USB connected devices are not working, and the WiFi is not working?

 

[alphascorp]

Thanks, man! Awesome..

Hello flygbuss,
If you are interested by this, I also customized about this mac / monitor
like this:



By replacing the "public.generic-lcd.icns" icon in: /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources (SIP must be disabled)

I also replaced in the same place the icon of the old screen under windows for network devices:



By this one a little more topical:


I attach the two ICNS files in a zip file (I kept the old files by adding .old to their name instead of replacing them)
I think I remember for it to take effect, delete the folder "com.apple.iconservices.store" in /Library/Caches and restart the Mac.

 

[cor55]

Hi all. Thanks for all the great info. Im trying to follow and install El Capitan on an external SSD to put into a 2.1 Mac Pro that has no drives in it at present. Im using a 3.1 Mac Pro with 22Gb Ram running El Capitan to create the Pike version of El Cap on the SSD. I followed the video of the install posted above.

All goes well until the machine reboots, but it starts up again from the 3.1's Hard drive and stops. There is a folder called OS X Install Data on the SSD and if I run the InstallESD.dmg file from that it creates another install dmg and when that runs it says it has to check with Apple if it will install on the machine. I haven't gone any further because something is not right - it's supposed to start up and install on the SSD - so Im wondering if I can actually create this Pike version of El Cap on an SSD using the 3.1 Mac Pro. I've tried on an iMac too, and same thing happens except it says it can't run El Cap on the version of OSX running on the iMac - 10.12

Can someone help?

Thanks. C

 

[flygbuss]

Hi all. Thanks for all the great info. Im trying to follow and install El Capitan on an external SSD to put into a 2.1 Mac Pro that has no drives in it at present. Im using a 3.1 Mac Pro with 22Gb Ram running El Capitan to create the Pike version of El Cap on the SSD. I followed the video of the install posted above.

All goes well until the machine reboots, but it starts up again from the 3.1's Hard drive and stops. There is a folder called OS X Install Data on the SSD and if I run the InstallESD.dmg file from that it creates another install dmg and when that runs it says it has to check with Apple if it will install on the machine. I haven't gone any further because something is not right - it's supposed to start up and install on the SSD - so Im wondering if I can actually create this Pike version of El Cap on an SSD using the 3.1 Mac Pro. I've tried on an iMac too, and same thing happens except it says it can't run El Cap on the version of OSX running on the iMac - 10.12

Can someone help?

Thanks. C

A supported machine will not boot with the modified boot.efi. So as soon as you’ve replaced the boot.efi you have to swap the drive to your unsupported mac.

 

[cor55]

A supported machine will not boot with the modified boot.efi. So as soon as you’ve replaced the boot.efi you have to swap the drive to your unsupported mac.

A supported machine will not boot with the modified boot.efi

What do you mean by supported - supported by Apple? So the 3.1 will not boot from the SSD install of Pike's El Cap?


Just to clarify - Im using the pike app Pikify3.1 - not replacing the boot.efi files on an El Cap install.
In the video the app seems to restart from the destination drive and then completes the installation. This is what is not happening with mine.

Should I just stick the unfinished installation on the SSD into the 2.1 and see what happens (I don't the 2.1 with me until next week - just preparing and getting my head around how it's supposed to work)

Thanks for the help.

 

[flygbuss]

A supported machine will not boot with the modified boot.efi

What do you mean by supported - supported by Apple? So the 3.1 will not boot from the SSD install of Pike's El Cap?


Just to clarify - Im using the pike app Pikify3.1 - not replacing the boot.efi files on an El Cap install.
In the video the app seems to restart from the destination drive and then completes the installation. This is what is not happening with mine.

Should I just stick the unfinished installation on the SSD into the 2.1 and see what happens (I don't the 2.1 with me until next week - just preparing and getting my head around how it's supposed to work)

Thanks for the help.

I don’t know the app, sorry. I just experienced that the 10.11 installation won’t boot on a natively supported machine as soon as you replace the boot.efi with the modified one from pike.

 

[cor55]

I don’t know the app, sorry. I just experienced that the 10.11 installation won’t boot on a natively supported machine as soon as you replace the boot.efi with the modified one from pike.

Thanks, that info helps.

 

[rthpjm]

A supported machine will not boot with the modified boot.efi

What do you mean by supported - supported by Apple? So the 3.1 will not boot from the SSD install of Pike's El Cap?


Just to clarify - Im using the pike app Pikify3.1 - not replacing the boot.efi files on an El Cap install.
In the video the app seems to restart from the destination drive and then completes the installation. This is what is not happening with mine.

The Pikify tools (script or app) build a “modified” installer. The installer is then expected to run on a MacPro 1,1 or 2,1.

Should I just stick the unfinished installation on the SSD into the 2.1 and see what happens (I don't the 2.1 with me until next week - just preparing and getting my head around how it's supposed to work)

Thanks for the help.

Yes. Put the SSD into your 2,1. Power on. When you hear the startup chime hold down the Alt key. It should detect the installer.

It’s a bit of a left-field way of installing.


====== alternative =========

Most users who start with a 3,1 (or other El Capitan supported Mac, like a newer MacBook/pro) will simply connect the external drive to the host then run the unmodified Apple-original “Install OS X El Capitan” app directly. Choose the donor SSD as the install target.

You then have to “make it compatible” with the 1,1 or 2,1.
At a minimum this means replacing a few files on the SSD. If I assume your SSD has the volume name “SSD” (change it to suit your name)

• Replace /Volumes/SSD/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
• Replace /Volumes/SSD/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi

There are two versions of Pike’s boot.efi file. One has a black background for the Apple logo on the boot screens, the other has a grey background. There’s no other difference. Pick your preference and use that file as the replacement. You can find the grey/black versions in the Pikify toolset. If you’re using the app, right click and choose “Show contents”, go into Contents, then Resources. The files are boot_color_3_1.efi, pick one.

You should also replace the PlatformSupport.plist file located at

• Replace /Volumes/SSD/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist

You can find the PlatformSupport.plist in the Pikify toolset.




As extra steps, you can fix up the Recovery HD too. There are a few more steps for this.

Locate the Recovery partition associated with the SSD

diskutil list

This will list all the connected disks. Look for the disk that contains the volume “SSD”. It’s likely to be disk1s2, (disk0s2 is usually your host machine’s boot volume).

If we assume disk1 (change it to match the disk number on your machine), then the associated Recovery HD is going to be disk1s3. Let’s use diskutil to mount it

diskutil mount disk1s3

This should mount the Recovery HD as “/Volumes/Recovery HD”

You need to replace the boot.efi file located at “/Volumes/Recovery HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/boot.efi”

You also need to replace the PlatformSupport.plist file located at “/Volumes/Recovery HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/PlatformSupport.plist”

Finally, you should replace the BaseSystem.dmg file located at “/Volumes/Recovery HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg”

The BaseSystem.dmg is a little trickier, it’s the modified disk image. You can get this from the built installer at “/Volumes/SSD/OS X Install Data”, but again it’s not that simple because it’s embedded in the InstallESD.dmg! (I won't go through the steps of actually modifying the BaseSystem image!)

Let's open up the InstallESD

hdiutil attach -noverify "/Volumes/SSD/OS X Install Data/InstallESD.dmg"

That should open the volume named "OS X Install ESD", in here you will find the modified BaseSystem.dmg. Copy this to the Recovery HD...

sudo cp -rf "/Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.dmg" "/Volumes/Recovery HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg"

Force the MacPro 2,1 to rebuild the extensions cache when you boot it

sudo touch /Volumes/SSD/System/Library/Extensions

Bless the SSD so it will boot when you put it into the MacPro 2,1

bless --folder /Volumes/SSD/System/Library/CoreServices

You should now be good to go. Unhook your SSD from your host Mac, refit it to your MacPro 2,1
Cross your fingers
Power on your 2,1!

============== end Alternative ==============

And that's why I developed the pikify toolset!

 

[cor55]

The Pikify tools (script or app) build a “modified” installer. The installer is then expected to run on a MacPro 1,1 or 2,1.



Yes. Put the SSD into your 2,1. Power on. When you hear the startup chime hold down the Alt key. It should detect the installer.

It’s a bit of a left-field way of installing.


====== alternative =========


Thanks for the comprehensive reply rthpjm. I'll do it when the mac arrives next week.

 

[jhkilroy]

I have been playing around with my old mac 1,1 2006 using el capitan pikify... loving it so far...
I was wondering about mac video cards vs pc video cards. I hear from some people the pc cards work better because apple firmware cards may cause a kernel panic... I have used my apple ati 4870 and 5770 with what seems to be no problem I also tried out a pc ati 5870 and a pc nvidia evga gtx660 - both worked great but no boot screen.
Is there really an issue with using mac firmware video on a Pikified machine , especially the mac 1,1's ? Thanks

 

[rthpjm]

I have been playing around with my old mac 1,1 2006 using el capitan pikify... loving it so far...
I was wondering about mac video cards vs pc video cards. I hear from some people the pc cards work better because apple firmware cards may cause a kernel panic... I have used my apple ati 4870 and 5770 with what seems to be no problem I also tried out a pc ati 5870 and a pc nvidia evga gtx660 - both worked great but no boot screen.
Is there really an issue with using mac firmware video on a Pikified machine , especially the mac 1,1's ? Thanks

Not to my knowledge.

From a technical perspective the Pike modified boot.efi file only really affects Pre-OS boot stages. The firmware on the GFX card plays a part in the pre-boot sequence. Apple’s boot sequence is EFI-based (compared with legacy BIOS). Traditional off-the-shelf GFX cards ship with legacy BIOS-only firmware. Apple-branded cards tend to ship with two sections in the firmware, the first is BIOS compatible, the second is EFI compatible. This allows the EFI motherboard firmware onboard the MacPro to correctly understand the card’s port mapping (the kind of port such as DVI, display port, mini display port, etc, and the data channels mapped to those ports). When correctly initialised, the Apple cards can show the boot screens during the pre-boot sequence. The EFI eventually hands over to the MacOS kernel (the OS boot sequence), Launchd kicks in and kernel extensions are loaded. The kexts for video cards are “feature rich” and usually read the BIOS (and possibly the EFI) segment to re-iniailise the card, which explains why an off-the-shelf GFX card will not show boot screens (no EFI firmware part), but will properly initialise once the kext loads (using the BIOS firmware part).

Personally, I can see no reason why an Apple-branded card would cause any issue. Once MacOS is loaded and the kexts take over, the Apple-branded card should be 100% compatible.

The articles you may have read are probably referring to the community patching efforts to make some of the off-the-shelf GFX cards pre-boot compatible, aka “flashed PC Cards”. What the community usually does in this case is to extract the EFI firmware part from an Apple-shipped GFX card, and then attempt to “graft” the EFI part onto a BIOS only card. The trouble happens sometimes when the donor for the EFI part is not a very good match for the recipient card. For example, some EFI parts are extracted from iMac models where the GFX card in the iMac is the mobile variant, but then that EFI part is grafted into a full-sized PCI card that’s using the non-mobile variant of that GFX chipset. Most of the time it simply works, but some of the time it has been known to cause issues. During the “early days” of MacPro modding, there was a lot of trial-and-error with GFX cards, whereas nowadays the successful flashable cards are well known.

Technology moves on and sadly not every component can be upgraded to the latest. We were very lucky/skilful as a community to keep our original MacPros running up to El Capitan. Most GFX cards launched up to the end of El Capitan’s development cycle will work once MacOS takes over. Unfortunately, during the 10.7 - 10.11 period, the EFI standard was updated to EFI with 64-bit support (MacPro 3,1 and higher has native 64-bit EFI firmware on the motherboard). The original MacPros have 32-bit only EFI in the firmware (and the firmware eprom does not have the memory capacity to upgrade to a 64-bit implementation - at least that’s what I understand). Graphics card vendors in the post-3,1 era also began shipping with 64-bit EFI parts for the GFX card firmware. Therefore the the choice of “boot screen compatible” cards is limited to those cards from the 32-bit EFI era.

64-bit-EFI cards (with BIOS in the firmware) work fine in MacOS so long as El Capitan has a kext (driver) for the chipset, but there is no chance of boot screens for the original MacPros.

Graphics cards launched after the end of the El Capitan development cycle are increasing unlikely to be compatible with El Capitan. New silicon usually requires new drivers/kexts. Those new kexts are not typically back-ported to El Capitan. If you’re brave, you can try to copy new kexts from newer versions of MacOS, but then you’re almost certain to introduce instability due to code version mis-match.

 

[1042686]

@pike & @rthpjm - Thank you to both of you for your tools, tutorials and refinements. Because of your contributions, I was able to get my 1,1 back up & running El cap - initially victim to the security update bootloop.

Like a ding dong I did not have TM backed up. Anyhow, using the piki and boot64 apps, I was able to reinstall right over the previous install which even kept all of my prefs, account info etc. so again, a BIG thank you to you guys for your generosity and knowledge.

 

[danielaaron94]

So after two long weeks of trial and error i FINALLY got El Capitan 10.11.4 up and running on the old mac pro 1,1 WITH a boot screen.

Now i am extremely hesitant to install any further updates. Luckily the DMG i acquired was already 10.11.4, however, with automatic updates turned off, i have update 10.11.6 sitting in the app store.

My questions is, is it safe to install this update? I have been doing some research and i cant seem to find any info on this particular update being safe for an unsupported mac. Will it require CapitanPikeFix?

Also, I have Lion installed on a separate HDD, will i be able to replace the bootefi through lion worst case scenario?

 

[erroruser]

has anyone had issues with this update Security Update 2018-004 El Capitan?

 

[danielaaron94]

has anyone had issues with this update Security Update 2018-004 El Capitan?

yes I just fix the problem that 2018-004 update gave me. I had to install the previous kernel again since that update changed it to one that was not compatible with 1,1. Right after the update I was getting boot loop.

You can find the last known working kernel here for download: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-171

After you install the kernel. You need to “touch” it using terminal. Open temrminal, the command is “sudo touch /System/Library/Kernels/Kernal”

Should be it! Goodluck

 

[1042686]

yes I just fix the problem that 2018-004 update gave me. I had to install the previous kernel again since that update changed it to one that was not compatible with 1,1. Right after the update I was getting boot loop.

You can find the last known working kernel here for download: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-171

After you install the kernel. You need to “touch” it using terminal. Open temrminal, the command is “sudo touch /System/Library/Kernels/Kernal”

Should be it! Goodluck

Im sure this is a dumb question, but where do you install the kernel? What's the file path?

 

[danielaaron94]

has anyone had issues with this update Security Update 2018-004 El Capitan?

yes I just fix the problem that 2018-004 update gave me. I had to install the previous kernel again since that update changed it to one that was not compatible with 1,1. Right after the update I was getting boot loop.

You can find the last known working kernel here for download: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-171

After you install the kernel. You need to “touch” it using terminal. For me, it didn’t work until I did this.

Im sure this is a dumb question, but where do you install the kernel? What's the file path?

not a dumb question. The kernel path is System/Library/Kernels/kernel

 

[erroruser]

cool i'll have a look at that as i just made a fix for mine but different all together from
rthpjm
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-156#post-25753970
but what i did as known that there was a fault i did make a carbon copy clone but tried this linked method an it failed on me so then i booted off of the clone an then went to the /System/Library/Kernels/ removed the 2018 version an replaced it with from the cloned copy an used kext wizard to repair permissions reboot an now back on

 

[1042686]

yes I just fix the problem that 2018-004 update gave me. I had to install the previous kernel again since that update changed it to one that was not compatible with 1,1. Right after the update I was getting boot loop.

You can find the last known working kernel here for download: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2006-2007-mac-pro-1-1-2-1-and-os-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-171

After you install the kernel. You need to “touch” it using terminal. For me, it didn’t work until I did this.

not a dumb question. The kernel path is System/Library/Kernels/kernel

Ok I assume from another install/partition of OSX you delete the old kernel & drop in the DL you linked to earlier?

Appreciate the help!