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

[Macschrauber]

To my experience (I just installed a freshly downloaded and installed El Cap 10.11.6 on a supported Mac) the Kernel is fine until avoiding the Security Updates.

Just replaced 2 boot.efi and platformsupport.plist and set it into a mp 1.1

Anyway I have an ancient 10.11.6 installation with security updates and replaced Kernel what runs without problems.

 

[Rocketman83]

To my experience (I just installed a freshly downloaded and installed El Cap 10.11.6 on a supported Mac) the Kernel is fine until avoiding the Security Updates.

Just replaced 2 boot.efi and platformsupport.plist and set it into a mp 1.1

Anyway I have an ancient 10.11.6 installation with security updates and replaced Kernel what runs without problems.

Is there a way to install 10.11.6 over my existing 10.11.3 but avoid the security update boot-loop? I don't have another Mac computer (supported or not) to work with.

 

[Macschrauber]

make a backup with ccc and try it with the backup

 

[Rocketman83]

make a backup with ccc and try it with the backup

I know that's the smart way, but being impatient, I went ahead and tried to update without backing anything up, other than the kernel file.

I'm happy to report the update was successful, although the installer did pause indefinitely after awhile. I hit the power button to restart, and fortunately the machine booted OK into the desktop. "About This Mac" confirms I am indeed now running El Capitan 10.11.6. No kernel swapping required.

I then updated to iTunes 12.8.2, iTunes Device Support, and Remote Desktop Client 3.9.3. The 2018-004 Security Update was listed as an update there too, but I hid that from future update notifications.

Knock on wood, guys, looks like I'm back in business! Thanks to all who offered their very professional advice. Much appreciated.

Now I better get busy backing this system up...

 

[Rocketman83]

Would also like to add that updating to El Capitan 10.11.6 resolved an audio issue with my Mac. In version 10.11.3, I was hearing no sound from my external speakers. I am now.

I'm still running the Paragon HFS+ for Windows program. Before the 10.11.6 update, Windows Bootcamp was applying some generic name to my El Capitan drive. After the update, Windows identifies the drive with the correct name, Mac HD El Capitan.

 

[hwojtek]

I know that's the smart way, but being impatient, I went ahead and tried to update without backing anything up, other than the kernel file.

Sure as hell you can
0. Temporarily rename your boot drive to a single word (just to foolproof the procedure), like from "Macintosh HD" to "Boot". I will use "Boot" in subsequent guide.
1. Get your (patched) USB El Capitan installer ready. I will call it "ElCapInstall"
2. Locate your current kernel on your hard drive → /System/Library/Kernels/kernel. Do the same with your current boot.efi.
3. Copy both files to the root of your (patched) USB installer
4. Assuming you have correct modifications in platformsupport.plist etc your 10.11.6 update should run smoothly
5. ...until reboot, when it will go into the reboot loop
6. Boot from the (patched) USB installer
7. Once you are in the main installer screen, select terminal from Utilities menu and copy the kernel from the USB installer back to it's location (cp /Volumes/ElCapInstall/kernel /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/Kernels/)
7a. Copy your boot.efi to the usual locations (cp /Volumes/ElCapInstall/boot.efi /Volumes/Boot/usr/standalone/i386; cp /Volumes/ElCapInstall/boot.efi /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/CoreServices/
8. touch the files just to make sure:
touch /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/Kernels/kernel
touch /Volumes/Boot/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
touch /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
9. Use "Select startup disk" from the Apple menu to point the computer to boot from your "Boot" drive and reboot.
10. Should be OK by now, your computer should display 10.11.6 in "About this Mac".

 

[Rocketman83]

Sure as hell you can
0. Temporarily rename your boot drive to a single word (just to foolproof the procedure), like from "Macintosh HD" to "Boot". I will use "Boot" in subsequent guide.
1. Get your (patched) USB El Capitan installer ready. I will call it "ElCapInstall"
2. Locate your current kernel on your hard drive → /System/Library/Kernels/kernel. Do the same with your current boot.efi.
3. Copy both files to the root of your (patched) USB installer
4. Assuming you have correct modifications in platformsupport.plist etc your 10.11.6 update should run smoothly
5. ...until reboot, when it will go into the reboot loop
6. Boot from the (patched) USB installer
7. Once you are in the main installer screen, select terminal from Utilities menu and copy the kernel from the USB installer back to it's location (cp /Volumes/ElCapInstall/kernel /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/Kernels/)
7a. Copy your boot.efi to the usual locations (cp /Volumes/ElCapInstall/boot.efi /Volumes/Boot/usr/standalone/i386; cp /Volumes/ElCapInstall/boot.efi /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/CoreServices/
8. touch the files just to make sure:
touch /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/Kernels/kernel
touch /Volumes/Boot/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
touch /Volumes/Boot/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
9. Use "Select startup disk" from the Apple menu to point the computer to boot from your "Boot" drive and reboot.
10. Should be OK by now, your computer should display 10.11.6 in "About this Mac".

Thanks for the tip, hwojtek. Hopefully, I'll never have to swap out the kernel or reinstall the OS again, but I'll record your post for future reference.

 

[selfware]

Did you read the first post?

Yes but there are conflicting reports. I have a 2006 mac pro firmware upgraded to 2,1 AND HAVE IT RUNNING 10.10 ... now im not sure weather to go to 10.11 or not?

 

[Rocketman83]

Yes but there are conflicting reports. I have a 2006 mac pro firmware upgraded to 2,1 AND HAVE IT RUNNING 10.10 ... now im not sure weather to go to 10.11 or not?

I have a 2007 Mac Pro 1,1 upgraded to 2,1. Stock CPU but upgraded video card (AMD Radeon HD 5770) and 32GB of RAM. No issues for me on my recent reinstall of El Capitan, although this was a clean installation on a blank SSD. Previously, I had El Cap installed over an existing Yosemite installation. That ran well too, although I did notice some intermittent problems with USB drives not being recognized when first connected. Knock on wood, that has not been an issue with my latest El Cap installation.

 

[hwojtek]

Yes but there are conflicting reports.

Each and every member who followed the instructions has his/her 1,1/2,1 running El Capitan happily, so why shouldn't you? If your GPU supports it and you have enough memory, it's an obvious move to make. Give it a try.

 

[-MB-]

Hi!

After a week or so running El Capitan my Mac Pro 1,1 started to random kernel panicking continuosly. Anyone suffering this? Or should I think about a hardware issue on the Mac Pro? It’s a 1,1 patched to work with El Capitan, obviously :-D upgraded to 8-core Xeon X5355 CPU .. Thanks for anything that can help my Mac Pro.

 

[Rocketman83]

Hi!

After a week or so running El Capitan my Mac Pro 1,1 started to random kernel panicking continuosly. Anyone suffering this? Or should I think about a hardware issue on the Mac Pro? It’s a 1,1 patched to work with El Capitan, obviously :-D upgraded to 8-core Xeon X5355 CPU .. Thanks for anything that can help my Mac Pro.

Did you hide the 2018-004 Security Update on the App Store? Sounds like it was installed on your computer automatically, or you may have installed it by accident. This happened to me once. Fortunately, I was able to do a complete restore from Time Machine.

 

[-MB-]

Hi Rocketman83!

The update is shown as available on App Store, so I guess it was not installed?

 

[Rocketman83]

Hi Rocketman83!

The update is shown as available on App Store, so I guess it was not installed?

Yes, I would assume the security update was not installed. Do not install it! Hide it on the App Store. I don't know what else could be causing your panic issue. How much RAM do you have? Did you upgrade from the Mac Pro's stock video card?

 

[-MB-]

Just getting more random kernels right now.. 8GB RAM, memory pressure low. ATI Radeon HD 5770 from Apple

 

[Rocketman83]

Just getting more random kernels right now.. 8GB RAM, memory pressure low. ATI Radeon HD 5770 from Apple

I thought 12GB of RAM was required just to get El Capitan installed on an unsupported Mac. I think therein lies your problem. Increase your RAM and see if that helps. Also, don't use a memory stick below 1GB in size.

 

[-MB-]

Yes, I also read that it won’t work and/or have issues with less than 12GB RAM. But 8GB RAM was all I got and tried anyway. Installed fine, worked fine for about one month until now. Mac OS 10.6.8 works fine, Solus works fine, Win10 works. I’ll try again as soon as I get more RAM. Thanks.

 

[Macschrauber]

Yes, I also read that it won’t work and/or have issues with less than 12GB RAM. But 8GB RAM was all I got and tried anyway. Installed fine, worked fine for about one month until now. Mac OS 10.6.8 works fine, Solus works fine, Win10 works. I’ll try again as soon as I get more RAM. Thanks.

Do you have upgraded the Firmware to 2.1 for the quadcore Xeons?

 

[cakey]

Hi, the only installer I can find is the !nstallOSX one from a mac page.
I put it in the applications folder.
When I ran the createpikeinstallmedia process the message was it could not find the El Capitan application.

If I go to the app store and try and download the El Capitan app, both from a El Capitan MBP and a mac pro 2,1 with Yosimite, I get the message it cannot be run on this computer.
Where can I find the installer?
Cheers.

 

[hwojtek]

I have it on my "purchases" list and just finished downloading.
Perhaps try to download using a computer that could have run El Capitan natively and had it installed once, but has got a newer system now?

 

[cakey]

I have it on my "purchases" list and just finished downloading.
Perhaps try to download using a computer that could have run El Capitan natively and had it installed once, but has got a newer system now?

I have no access to a computer with a newer system, never mind one that at one time purchased El Capitan.. I will have to look around the web for one.

 

[hwojtek]

[removed]

 

[AnxiousAdvocate]

if you want to use El Capitan on a MacPro 1,1 or 2,1 you MUST remove any 512Mb RAM sticks (and possibly 1GB RAM sticks). If you don’t El Capitan will randomly crash. This is why the pioneers in the community have always recommended using 2GB or 4GB RAM stick only. El Capitan performs better with more RAM, combined with the 12GB requirement for successful use of the Pikify tools means “BUY AS MUCH 2GB or 4GB RAM sticks as you can (in matched pairs), preferably more than 12GB in total”

Heya, I'm running 10.10.5 on my Mac Pro 1,1. Hoping to upgrade a little bit for the final time. I've still got a set of 4 512 MB RAM sticks and only 10GBs in total with those installed. How do I find new RAM to order? Searching for MacPro RAM on google is finding me things that are generally quite pricey, and a lot of entries for "667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM" leave me unsure if they're actually compatible with a Mac Pro of this age. Do you have any advice for finding appropriate memory sticks to upgrade with?

Huge thanks to everyone in this thread who has the patience and generosity to help luddites like myself.

 

[hwojtek]

"667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM" is good, make sure you buy some with large heatsinks.

 

[flygbuss]

"667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM" is good, make sure you buy some with large heatsinks.

The smaller heat sinks do work as well.

I have 48 GB without issues (Samsung M395T1K66AZ4-CE66).