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

[Macschrauber]

Hi folks,

I have to move a 1.1 El Capitan disk to a 5.1

I replaced both boot.efi, platformsupport.plist, kernel with 64 bit, the original ones, with proper privs
touched extensions

but that thing does not boot on a 5.1, just sits with a grey screen and gives no action in verbose.

also, somehow I need to delete the pikify script.

1st attempt was to do a fresh install of El Capitan over it, what doesnt worked, also.

I am a little lost cause the last time I fiddled with El Cap on 1.1 was a long time ago.

So what to do to undo a El Capitan on MP1,1 System?

___________

Edit:

I run First Aid from the Recovery Partition (don't know if Recovery is needed) from High Sierra and my modded El Capitan 32 -> 64 bit System started.

Edit 2:

spotted the com.capitan.pike.plist in /Library/LaunchDaemons

(what replaces /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi and /System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi with /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi.capitan.pike)

and deleted it.

so I think I got the 1.1 32bit magic reversed.

____________

Something I forgot?

 

[rthpjm]

Hi folks,

I have to move a 1.1 El Capitan disk to a 5.1

I replaced both boot.efi, platformsupport.plist, kernel with 64 bit, the original ones, with proper privs
touched extensions

but that thing does not boot on a 5.1, just sits with a grey screen and gives no action in verbose.

also, somehow I need to delete the pikify script.

1st attempt was to do a fresh install of El Capitan over it, what doesnt worked, also.

I am a little lost cause the last time I fiddled with El Cap on 1.1 was a long time ago.

So what to do to undo a El Capitan on MP1,1 System?

___________

Edit:

I run First Aid from the Recovery Partition (don't know if Recovery is needed) from High Sierra and my modded El Capitan 32 -> 64 bit System started.

Edit 2:

spotted the com.capitan.pike.plist in /Library/LaunchDaemons

(what replaces /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi and /System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi with /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi.capitan.pike)

and deleted it.

so I think I got the 1.1 32bit magic reversed.

____________

Something I forgot?

That should be all that is needed. You might need to perform a PRAM reset on the 5,1, then hold ALT next boot to select the boot disk. There could be a prelinked kernel on the old 1,1 disk. Delete it, OR touch /System/Library/Extensions as the last operation before trying to boot from the former 1,1 disk…

I have infrequently encountered an issue where the GFX card does not initialise correctly on first boot. If you can hear disk activity but the screen remains “blank” be patient, the second phase should fire up with the login screen (remember, disk-checks, aka fsck, may kick in extending the boot time) … subsequent boots will be “normal”.

OR

if you have a spare disk, install MacOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or newer onto that disk. With the old 1,1 disk also fitted to the 5,1 you can use the Migration Assistant step to move the Apps and User data to the “new” disk.

 

[benhurr]

I am struggling to update to Capitan from Yosemite. i had good experience for about 5 years with mac pro 1.1 >2.1 with gtx 960 and Yosemite. Recenlty tried to upgrade to Yosemite, it went hald way, spoiling my yosemite boot. So now i can not use mac pro to start , at least not to make installer. I have macbook pro mid 2014 8gb ram. I tried numerous times making installable drive with pikify script. It never showed me any errors after i fixed sip, despite me having less than 12 gb ram.
1.Is it supposed to keep running even if there is less ram?
2. Can i stiill use USB as interediate drive with pikify v14?
3. What are my best options to get capitan having mac pro 21gb ram but only in recovery mode and MacBook 2014 8gb ram with big sur? I tried get into recovery and install on drive via enclosure but capitan installer would not start from mbp 2014 bigsur for some reason

 

[Larsvonhier]

I am struggling to update to Capitan from Yosemite. i had good experience for about 5 years with mac pro 1.1 >2.1 with gtx 960 and Yosemite. Recenlty tried to upgrade to Yosemite, it went hald way, spoiling my yosemite boot. So now i can not use mac pro to start , at least not to make installer. I have macbook pro mid 2014 8gb ram. I tried numerous times making installable drive with pikify script. It never showed me any errors after i fixed sip, despite me having less than 12 gb ram.
1.Is it supposed to keep running even if there is less ram?
2. Can i stiill use USB as interediate drive with pikify v14?
3. What are my best options to get capitan having mac pro 21gb ram but only in recovery mode and MacBook 2014 8gb ram with big sur? I tried get into recovery and install on drive via enclosure but capitan installer would not start from mbp 2014 bigsur for some reason

Depending on how the El Cap installer was patched to run on MP1,1/2,1 you might not be able to start it up on a 64bit EFI machine (such as your MacBook Pro). You could manually replace the boot.efi file on the installer volume with the original from El Cap. You'd have to replace this file on the volume you install El Cap to again after finishing the installation from MacBook Pro to your external shuttle drive - before transplanting it back to the MP2,1.

 

[benhurr]

Depending on how the El Cap installer was patched to run on MP1,1/2,1 you might not be able to start it up on a 64bit EFI machine (such as your MacBook Pro). You could manually replace the boot.efi file on the installer volume with the original from El Cap. You'd have to replace this file on the volume you install El Cap to again after finishing the installation from MacBook Pro to your external shuttle drive - before transplanting it back to the MP2,1.

Installer was patch by latest pikify script 3.1 v14. i will try to run unmodified installer from MacBook , thanks

 

[benhurr]

You could manually replace the boot.efi file on the installer volume

why replacing on installer? wouldn't it prevent booting installer from MacBook? Is replacing efi after installation on the system drive not enough?

 

[Larsvonhier]

why replacing on installer? wouldn't it prevent booting installer from MacBook? Is replacing efi after installation on the system drive not enough?

The installer has to have a 32bit EFI so it can be booted on a MP1,1 and 2,1 machine.
This boot.efi will not allow booting on a 64bit (EFI) machine like your MacBook Pro.
The original El Cap installer from Apple will boot and install on your MacBook Pro -> shuttle drive.
Then, of course, on the installation itself (on your shuttle) you'll have to replace the boot.efi again with the 32bit version so that you can boot it on the Mac Pro 2,1. There were other issues to solve back at the time (supportedmachine.plist, board ID number etc.). There was a tedious 20-something step instruction on the net for a how-to-do manually...

Shortcut here:
Explanation here.

 

[benhurr]

do you think down

The installer has to have a 32bit EFI so it can be booted on a MP1,1 and 2,1 machine.
This boot.efi will not allow booting on a 64bit (EFI) machine like your MacBook Pro.
The original El Cap installer from Apple will boot and install on your MacBook Pro -> shuttle drive.
Then, of course, on the installation itself (on your shuttle) you'll have to replace the boot.efi again with the 32bit version so that you can boot it on the Mac Pro 2,1. There were other issues to solve back at the time (supportedmachine.plist, board ID number etc.). There was a tedious 20-something step instruction on the net for a how-to-do manually...

Shortcut here:
Explanation here.

Thanks again, I managed to run installer from MacBook and then running script. I freaked out before because probably recovery partition is damaged on my mbp on my pikify disk images failed to complete before due to 8gb ram.

Now it's okay. The only step left is to update it from 10.11.3 to the last safe version not running into kernel panic
What is the quick and safe way to update to latest "compatible" version of capitan?

 

[Larsvonhier]

do you think down

Thanks again, I managed to run installer from MacBook and then running script. I freaked out before because probably recovery partition is damaged on my mbp on my pikify disk images failed to complete before due to 8gb ram.

Now it's okay. The only step left is to update it from 10.11.3 to the last safe version not running into kernel panic
What is the quick and safe way to update to latest "compatible" version of capitan?

I´d advise to grab the latest 2017 sec. update for El Cap from Apple directly.
You can also install the final 2018-001 on the MP, but be careful: You have to retain (backup) the 2017-Update´s Kernel and copy it back afterwards. Otherwise the often cited crash/no-boot will happen.
Good thing is then, no further updates and no complications are "ante portas" then ;-)

 

[benhurr]

I´d advise to grab the latest 2017 sec. update for El Cap from Apple directly.
You can also install the final 2018-001 on the MP, but be careful: You have to retain (backup) the 2017-Update´s Kernel and copy it back afterwards. Otherwise the often cited crash/no-boot will happen.
Good thing is then, no further updates and no complications are "ante portas" then ;-)

I look like another exciting quest -+ swapping kernels, but I will pass on that for now). by the way, I tried one of combo updates from Apple site and got error that none of my drives are eligible to install to.

 

[Larsvonhier]

I look like another existing quest -+ swapping kernels, but I will pass on that for now). by the way, I tried one of combo updates from Apple site and got error that none of my drives are eligible to install to.

Might happen as you experienced with the Combo updates, but what you should go for ist the latest sec. update package. Either the unproblematic 2017 or the more "challenging" 2018. You can always do the 2017 first and make a CCC bootable copy and then have a fallback if you can´t make the 2018 work.

 

[benhurr]

Might happen as you experienced with the Combo updates, but what you should go for ist the latest sec. update package. Either the unproblematic 2017 or the more "challenging" 2018. You can always do the 2017 first and make a CCC bootable copy and then have a fallback if you can´t make the 2018 work.

total success done all updates, run kernel swapping pkg from cloned drive. Very easy, no more nagging update reminders.

 

[VaZ]

total success done all updates, run kernel swapping pkg from cloned drive. Very easy, no more nagging update reminders. View attachment 1955214 View attachment 1955213

Now you can sleep with ease right ?!? ?

 

[benhurr]

I wonder if it's possible to make display port audio or hdmi audio to work with gtx. I can see it's been done in hackintosh forums

 

[JosephAW]

Dumb question

Was working on an older Mac Pro 1,1 and downloaded from Piker's page the boot.efi 3.1 version grey file.

Today I download boot.efi grey again and it says 3.1 version and the md5 is now different than the previous one I had.

Did someone recompile it? Was there an update?

I moved the 2018-001 kernel back in from the 2017 version and it still boots?

What am I missing?

 

[grimblegrumble]

Hi everyone! I installed, as I did in the past thanks to the great pikify no USB guide, but my mp friend doesn't read me the USB ports. Better it seems it doesn't give enough current for HD and donglewifi. I remember I had the same problem when I used the guide a few years ago. Can you help me remember how I got it all going ?? Thank you very much for the attention

 

[grimblegrumble]

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?

Hello! I answer you after 3 years but many things have happened and rereading I found your message. I'll post the screenshots of the problem ... Thanks

 

[rthpjm]

Hello! I answer you after 3 years but many things have happened and rereading I found your message. I'll post the screenshots of the problem ... Thanks

Wow. Three years, just wow!

Before I try to help further, here is some advice… In the future, please, please try to copy and paste the Terminal output into a Text file, then attach the text file. It is awkward to review your information from photographs of your screen.

Now… let us refresh our knowledge…

What model is your Mac? Is it a MacPro? Is it a MacPro 1,1 (2006), or a MacPro 2,1 (2008)? The reason I am asking is because the system profiler output for your USB hardware shows a USB3 bus. The early MacPros did not have any USB3 interfaces.

Have you installed a PCI card with additional USB ports?

Mac model: ______________?

If you are using a MacBOOK (Pro), then issues with USB is expected. You need to use the information form the other excellent thread on MacRumors that focuses on Mac models other than MacPros. See OS X El Capitan on unsupported Macs wiki-post

THIS thread (the thread we are posting in now) focuses on the MacPro desktops only.

If you are using a MacPro 3,1 or newer, then again you are in the wrong thread. The 3,1 should support Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan natively. For versions of Mac OS beyond the official Apple support for the 3,1 you could review the legacy work done by the Acidanthera team with their OpenCore boot manager. The OpenCore Legacy Patcher (OCLP) might be a good place to start.

As a general rule to follow: the method of extending OS support depends upon the bit-size version of the UEFI firmware on your device. The original Intel MacPros (1,1 and 2,1) have a 32-bit implementation of UEFI firmware. Later models (3,1 onwards) have a 64-bit implementation of UEFI.

For hardware that has UEFI32 the Pike R Alpha boot.efi file is the “best” method.
For hardware that has UEFI64 the OpenCore project is probably “best”.

 

[tnbriggs]

I’ve tried a couple of times with a couple of different approaches which I found on YouTube to get El Cap to run on my Mac Pro 1,1. The approaches I used each offered a .dmg download and then a restore of that .dmg to a partition on a drive. In one case the restored .dmg required replacing the boot.efi files with those from GitHub and in the other they were supposedly already in place in the .dmg file.

Neither instance resulted in a bootable El Cap install. In both it appeared as an option as a startup disk under System Preferences but when the system started there was no Apple logo, instead a folder icon with a ? mark in it, and then the system immediately switched to booting OSX Lion. When trying to boot with the option/alt key method, the El Cap drive did not appear as a bootable drive with either method.

Tried another method with the bootable installer USB stick but wound up with the prompt telling me that it was too old to work, which I think is a current bug with Apple.

System is pretty much vanilla as purchased in ’06 but with 15 GB ram, hard drives in each internal bay and a Apple certified ATI 5770 that’s been baked a couple of times. Boots Snow Leopard, Lion, Windows XP, 7 & 10.

Since so many seem to have success with this I am at a bit of a loss to figure out what the problem is and why it won’t work. I have a fair to middling understanding of this stuff but I am pretty much at a loss now.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Have you tried another way like this?

Hardware:
01 HDD running Lion.
01 HDD blank

Procedure
- Boot to Lion
- Copy the El Capitan .dmg file to Lion.
- Fully erase and re-format the blank HDD
- Restore the El Capitan .dmg file to the formatted HDD.
- When completed, shutdown the MP and pull-out the Lion HDD.
- Power-up the MP with the new El Capitan HDD.

 

[tnbriggs]

NGuyen,

Thanks for the input. What you suggest is essentially what I've already done, with the exception that the El Cap HDD is in an external SATA to USB box. I also tried it with an external SATA to Firewire box and got the same result. I'll pull it from the external box and replace the Lion in bay 1 with it and hope for the best. If that works I'll likely pull the Snow Leopard that's in an internal bay and replace it with the El Cap.

Thanks again.

 

[tnbriggs]

Putting the EL Cap HDD in the internal drive bay seems to have worked! I left the Lion disk in its drive bay and put El Cap in one of the others (pulled the Win7 SSD) and it was visible on option/alt key boot. Now transferring the files from Lion to El Cap with Apple Migration in El Cap.

Just to educate me, why wouldn't the system recognize it as a bootable drive when it was in the external SATA-USB/Firewire boxes?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Putting the EL Cap HDD in the internal drive bay seems to have worked! I left the Lion disk in its drive bay and put El Cap in one of the others (pulled the Win7 SSD) and it was visible on option/alt key boot. Now transferring the files from Lion to El Cap with Apple Migration in El Cap.

Just to educate me, why wouldn't the system recognize it as a bootable drive when it was in the external SATA-USB/Firewire boxes?

I guess the logicboard and EFI in that era was not ready for booting Mac OS from USB device yet.
Even the USB installer of Windows would not boot. Linux maybe.
You can create an USB installer of Lion to see if it works.

However as it has 6 SATA slots, I would just create HDD/SSD installer and go with it.

 

[tnbriggs]

I guess the logicboard and EFI in that era was not ready for booting Mac OS from USB device yet.
Even the USB installer of Windows would not boot. Linux maybe.
You can create an USB installer of Lion to see if it works.

However as it has 6 SATA slots, I would just create HDD/SSD installer and go with it.

Thanks for the input. You are correct in that the 1,1 cannot boot from an external USB/Firewire. I tried it with the Win7 disk I could boot from when it was internal and it didn’t see it. I guess I was confusing that with its ability to boot from a properly prepared flash memory stick, which I have done in the past.

It appears that the Safari version in the associated Macintosh-HD.dmg file was an older one Safari v9+ and it would not work with Youtube and some other sites. I was able to download Safari v11.1.2 from the thread below and all is working well now. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/el-capitan-force-app-store-to-update-safari.2203649/.

Great to have as somewhat current OS running on the old machine. Thanks again for your help.

 

[roto1231]

I’ve tried a couple of times with a couple of different approaches which I found on YouTube to get El Cap to run on my Mac Pro 1,1. The approaches I used each offered a .dmg download and then a restore of that .dmg to a partition on a drive. In one case the restored .dmg required replacing the boot.efi files with those from GitHub and in the other they were supposedly already in place in the .dmg file.

Neither instance resulted in a bootable El Cap install. In both it appeared as an option as a startup disk under System Preferences but when the system started there was no Apple logo, instead a folder icon with a ? mark in it, and then the system immediately switched to booting OSX Lion. When trying to boot with the option/alt key method, the El Cap drive did not appear as a bootable drive with either method.

Tried another method with the bootable installer USB stick but wound up with the prompt telling me that it was too old to work, which I think is a current bug with Apple.

System is pretty much vanilla as purchased in ’06 but with 15 GB ram, hard drives in each internal bay and a Apple certified ATI 5770 that’s been baked a couple of times. Boots Snow Leopard, Lion, Windows XP, 7 & 10.

Since so many seem to have success with this I am at a bit of a loss to figure out what the problem is and why it won’t work. I have a fair to middling understanding of this stuff but I am pretty much at a loss now.

The easiest way to do this is to install El Capitan to a drive from a machine that can run it natively. Then drop the appropriately modified 32 bit kernels to the appropriate places. This was the method I used with mine. Once you have it built, make an image of it for restoration purposes.
Mine is a fully loaded 1,1 with 32GB of RAM, ATI 5770, 512 SSD off of a PCI-e card, and 4 4TB HDDs. Works great but it doesn’t get much use any longer as I upgraded to a 6,1.