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

[splifingate]

Is El Capitan a click and download, safe upgrade if you have the PikeYoseFix installed?

No.

Just got released on MAS but, given the multiple crashes I've had upgrading on the previous releases of OS X, I'm not going to be among the first to attempt an install.

Best to wait, then.

 

[splifingate]

Excellent idea

ROLF!

 

[charlan7]

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-1-and-os-x-el-capitan.1922266/#post-22000769

Thank you very much!!

 

[splifingate]

PS could someone please explain how to bless the boot volume? Specifically how to find the volume name for your disk that you need to insert in the terminal command?

I presume the command is

bless --folder /Volumes/YOURHARDDRIVENAME/System/Library/CoreServices --bootinfo –bootefi

and say if my HD is "SSD 480Gb" then you replace " YOURHARDDRIVENAME" with "SSD\480Gb"?

Many thanks as always

One further thought. To say mucking with SIP, when it comes to update time, could you simply run the update, then boot from a bootable CD (Say an old Lion install disk, by holding C), and then from there replace the boot efi's on your main boot disk before rebooting again? (assuming you keep a copy of the modded efi's somewhere on your HD)

Robin

https://pikeralpha.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/how-to-replace-boot-efi-with-mine/

Given sufficient privileges (or sufficiently-persistent devilment), one can do just about anything one wants with a computer if one has physical access to it (certain exclusions apply, considering the thesis of the thread in which we are now in).

I have executable (and installable) backups, virtual machines, current installs, old installations on disks not connected to my running system, current installs/partitions . . . I have live installation partitions, and backups of previously-live partitions (in handfuls of various stages) that I use(d) as installation medium(s).

I can make every, single one of these backups live by imaging it, sticking the disk in my system, or realise it in a virtual machine . . . all without fear that hope is lost <g>

Copy what works, safely store it where you can't modify it, and do what thou whilst without fear.

As a matter of fact, copy everything, with prejudice; many, many multiple times, if you have sufficient space, and are so inclined <smile>

 

[MacVidCards]

while we're at it (with excellent ideas): could you fix the ROM of your GT 120 so the fan is running when the Mac Pro is booted into Linux and/or during boot of OS X?

Tricky question. The Mac GT120 had a 4 wire fan with PWM speed control. The vast majority of G96 cards that flash into GT120 via soft straps only have simple 2 wire fans that run at either 1 or 2 speeds. Most have literally 1 speed, 100%. They were never meant to last long. The ones with 4 wire fans were few and far between. To complicate things, the AGPM kext has a profile for GT120, but only in EFI64 Mac Pros.

Yes, we created the EFI32 GT120 rom. There are several copy & paste clowns selling them. One congratulated me on how many different cards the same rom works on. I always wrote each one a custom rom based on original PC rom. But the vast majority with 2 wire fans had no "fan profile" in the rom, just "on".

I am not sure that fan running at boot is important. I never tried Linux with them. Sadly, one of the very best cards to flash into GT120 is a 256 Meg version that Nvidia made. They have the 4 wire fan that is quiet and yet knows when to speed up if needed. I have a crate of brand new ones, they work best with Mac EFI and drivers since they have cooling system expected. As you are a developer of this wonderful boot package PM me if you want one to work on future versions. FREE as a service to community, just need a mailing address. I sent another EFI card to someone else on development team, you guys do great work.

BTW, I have the Final 10.11 release running on my 1,1/2,1. Great job. Will put it on 2007 Mini tomorrow. Let me know if you guys want to tackle USB issue.

Not sure how this thread ended up in OS section. So far, the only EFI32 Macs running El Cap are Mac Pro 1,1/2,1. (And my 2007 Mini)

 

[kuglepen]

You guys know if it is possible to download El Capitan outside of the App Store? I don’t have a developer either.

 

[mikeboss]

Tricky question. The Mac GT120 had a 4 wire fan with PWM speed control. The vast majority of G96 cards that flash into GT120 via soft straps only have simple 2 wire fans that run at either 1 or 2 speeds. Most have literally 1 speed, 100%. They were never meant to last long. The ones with 4 wire fans were few and far between. To complicate things, the AGPM kext has a profile for GT120, but only in EFI64 Mac Pros.

Yes, we created the EFI32 GT120 rom. There are several copy & paste clowns selling them. One congratulated me on how many different cards the same rom works on. I always wrote each one a custom rom based on original PC rom. But the vast majority with 2 wire fans had no "fan profile" in the rom, just "on".

I am not sure that fan running at boot is important. I never tried Linux with them. Sadly, one of the very best cards to flash into GT120 is a 256 Meg version that Nvidia made. They have the 4 wire fan that is quiet and yet knows when to speed up if needed. I have a crate of brand new ones, they work best with Mac EFI and drivers since they have cooling system expected. As you are a developer of this wonderful boot package PM me if you want one to work on future versions. FREE as a service to community, just need a mailing address. I sent another EFI card to someone else on development team, you guys do great work.

BTW, I have the Final 10.11 release running on my 1,1/2,1. Great job. Will put it on 2007 Mini tomorrow. Let me know if you guys want to tackle USB issue.

Not sure how this thread ended up in OS section. So far, the only EFI32 Macs running El Cap are Mac Pro 1,1/2,1. (And my 2007 Mini)

thank you for your offer, very kind and generous! I bought the GT 120 from you. the problem is that in Linux or during installation of Windows or while testing OS X (before the KEXT is loaded, or in single user mode) the fan is not spinning. after a few minutes the GFX card shuts off (or at least the screen goes dark) and the card also gets very hot. the fan is connected using 4 wires, the card has 2 DVI connectors.

 

[kinetos]

Hello I'm french user.
I've a mac pro 1,1 upgrade to 2,1 with Yosemite 10.10.4
GPU : 1x ATI 5770 Mac edition + 1x AMD 7850 flashed

Can you tell how to do a clean install of El capitan step by step?

Thanks !

Guillaume

 

[atvusr]

commit 804c022d9da136482580f5e96dd797e740c3b071

Recovery HD hangs here:

Same here on a MBP2,2 - but at the normal boot of a patched Installer (Release-version 30-Sept-2015). Plus a lot of "kxld[...]:_kernel_couldn't find symbol" messages before ....

 

[VAGDesign]

Here is the link directly from Apple to the final release. I'm downloading it as we speak.
I had GM installed, then updated to 10.11.1 Beta and today another built update with newer built number but still 10.11.1 Beta.
So I decided to format and install the one from the above link

 

[kuglepen]

Here is the link directly from Apple to the final release. I'm downloading it as we speak.
I had GM installed, then updated to 10.11.1 Beta and today another built update with newer built number but still 10.11.1 Beta.
So I decided to format and install the one from the above link

Perfect thanks! A few questions:
Do I then restore the .pkg on a USB-stick and simply replace the EFI-BIOS in the two usual locations with the existing Pike BIOS, and then install from the created USB-stick? Or do I wait for the updated BIOS to be completed?

 

[PeterHolbrook]

Back to normal boot.efi (not bootbase.efi)..

To everyone interested in this project:

[P]eople must be aware that [this and other] interim future versions are NOT intended as a replacement for the official repository versions. Until further notice, those of you who want to use Pike's boot.efi ought to go to http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/ and download either the "black" version or the "grey" one, according to your particular preference (the change is purely cosmetic; otherwise, they are exactly the same; the choice is irrelevant as far as the operating system is concerned). Pike alone will decide when such repository versions will be updated with a newer version.

Please, notice that the [enclosed and other] upcoming experimental versions might contain bugs that could cripple your ability to boot your old Mac. So, unless you are absolutely certain of what you are doing and know how to reverse such undesirable situations, KEEP AWAY FROM THEM. In general terms, [these] versions ARE NOT FOR YOU!

 

[VAGDesign]

Perfect thanks! A few questions:
Do I then restore the .pkg on a USB-stick and simply replace the EFI-BIOS in the two usual locations with the existing Pike BIOS, and then install from the created USB-stick? Or do I wait for the updated BIOS to be completed?

Well, I downloaded the file and can't do anything with it. I'm on a Mac Pro 2,1 and the installer.app comes up with an error. I think it's the Board ID check that sees I'm on a not compatible Mac. I will delete this file and get another from torrent cause I can't download it from App Store.

But, about your question, just follow the guide @Hennesie2000 created for Yosemite. The same procedure works for El Capitan.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

Bootbase.efi of commit 81fa8702089b74dd292349865c6f1c4721eefd44

To everyone interested in this project:

[P]eople must be aware that [this and other] interim future versions are NOT intended as a replacement for the official repository versions. Until further notice, those of you who want to use Pike's boot.efi ought to go to http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/ and download either the "black" version or the "grey" one, according to your particular preference (the change is purely cosmetic; otherwise, they are exactly the same; the choice is irrelevant as far as the operating system is concerned). Pike alone will decide when such repository versions will be updated with a newer version.

Please, notice that the [enclosed and other] upcoming experimental versions might contain bugs that could cripple your ability to boot your old Mac. So, unless you are absolutely certain of what you are doing and know how to reverse such undesirable situations, KEEP AWAY FROM THEM. In general terms, [these] versions ARE NOT FOR YOU!

 

[Razieln64]

But, about your question, just follow the guide @Hennesie2000 created for Yosemite. The same procedure works for El Capitan.

Unfortunately it did not work for me. I used the boot.efi file from http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/ . Install went well but with many error messages in the log.

My intention was to upgrade my Yosemite install so I cloned my drive before attempting anything.

Once installed, it would not boot into el Capitan but instead boot into the clone I had made. I guessed it was the boot.efi.
I then just used one of the verbose ones PeterHolbrook posted earlier and people said it worked. It did. I didn't even need to use rootless=0 . My mac pro booted into El Capitan with a lot of errors on the screen. Unfortunately it was not functional, my ethernet card was not working at all. It's like things were missing.

I didn't want to abandon, so I tried installing it again by making a clean install on another HDD with the boot.efi file from page 19. It did not work either. Install works great, never hanged but I always got booted back into my Yosemite clone.

I thinks it's better to wait for a proper guide then I will try again.

 

[atvusr]

Back to normal boot.efi (not bootbase.efi)..

boot-81fa8702089b74dd292349865c6f1c4721eefd44

This version boots the patched Installer (Release-version 30-Sept-2015) on a MBP2,2 - but when the Installer copies the files to the destination the MBP2,2 restarts suddenly after 2 minutes.

When the black progress bar (grey Boot.efi) has reached 100 percent (identical to the end of verbose mode) then a grey progress bar appears with firm 10 percent until later on the OSX Welcome screen appears.

 

[mikeboss]

unfortunately the workplace where I'm usually testing with the old Mac Pro is occupied with an HP Z workstation I'm configuring for a customer. hopefully later this evening I can run the tests...

 

[brianr66]

Having been running my MP 1.1 successfully with first Mavericks and Yosemite thanks to the guys who make that possible, I'm trying to decipher all the posts about El Cap on a 1.1 and can't seem to see a definitive way to do this. If I already have the patched and working Yosemite running then what's the process? Is there a new boot file or do the old ones work? Do you just run the same process again? Itching to get the final version on my machine now it's out to the masses

 

[cbelldina]

Silly question, I have my MP 1,1 up and running (for a good while now) using Yosemite via macosxbootloader (and even managed to fix the nVidia driver issue after the last Yosemite update..) so my question is this...

• If I install Pikes newest macosxbootloader, Can I just upgrade to El Capitan via the appstore?
• Am I making that too simple???

Thanks!

 

[uezi]

I want to thank you all for making this possible! Great work Tiamo, Hennesie2000, Pike, PeterHolbrook, et al. ! You've really helped me to continue with my machine ! Next year it'll be 10 years old and still rocking !

I've got a MacPro 1,1 with a DIY Fusion Drive (Core Storage, internal) running Yosemite with Pike's boot.fi + PikeYoseFix. I don't have another Mac with a FireWire connection (Only a still supported MacBook Air with USB). I make backups with SuperDuper onto an external USB drive.
Any (reasonable) chance that I can upgrade to El Capitan ?
The only way I see is upgrading my external Backup-USB and than SuperDuper back onto my MacPro... Any chance that I can succeed with it ? (missing recovery partition ?)
Happy for any input...

 

[PeterHolbrook]

I'm trying to decipher all the posts about El Cap on a 1.1 and can't seem to see a definitive way to do this.

What Pike has done and Mike, others and myself have cooperated in is to create a version of boot.efi that will be not only fully compatible with Yosemite, but also with El Capitan on an old Mac Pro. Merely booting El Capitan was already possible with the Yosemite version of boot.efi, but that version of boot.efi had no control over SIP and had other limitations. This entire work has consisted of removing those limitations. Two of the latest pieces of the puzzle have been making this new boot.efi handle cache flushing correctly (something the Yosemite version of Pike's boot.efi has never done) and the creation of the installer's especial flavour of boot.efi (called bootbase.efi). Chances are the process is nearly finished now, if Mike confirms it's working.

So, what's left now (provided the latest commit is considered final)? Splifingate will probably recompile the latest commit I have used so that the final, repository versions, both black and grey, of both boot.efi and bootbase.efi, will be compiled using the latest Microsoft Visual Studio environment in Windows 10. Once you have that, you should be able to reliably build install media (for instance, following Hennesie2000's guide) and install El Capitan.

Pending confirmation from Mike or Pike on the operation of bootbase.efi, it might (or might not) be necessary to edit /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist (in the installer) so that the <dict></dict> section will contain these two lines
<Kernel Cache>
<string>System/Library/Prelinkedkernels/prelinkedkernel</string>

When I installed El Capitan on my old Mac Pro this morning (before the latest iteration of boot.efi/bootbase.efi), installation could proceed only after I inserted those two lines. But things might be different with the latest compilation. Mike can either confirm or dismiss this.

In short: A final step-by-step tutorial can be in the making just hours from now.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

Silly question, I have my MP 1,1 up and running (for a good while now) using Yosemite via macosxbootloader (and even managed to fix the nVidia driver issue after the last Yosemite update..) so my question is this...

• If I install Pikes newest macosxbootloader, Can I just upgrade to El Capitan via the appstore?
• Am I making that too simple???

Thanks!

Yes, you are making that too simple. There's no way Apple will let you download El Capitan as an installer for your MP 1,1. You need to follow Hennesie2000's guide, possible modified as per my previous message.

Another possibly loose end right now that I forgot to mention is that the "PikeYoseFix" won't work in El Capitan (unless SIP is disabled). Pike had a different idea that is probably implemented in bootbase.efi. Mike will confirm or dismiss this.

 

[brianr66]

Thanks for such an informative clarification Peter, I shall wait until I see a final step-by-step!

 

[cbelldina]

Yes, you are making that too simple. There's no way Apple will let you download El Capitan as an installer for your MP 1,1. You need to follow Hennesie2000's guide, possible modified as per my previous message.

Another possibly loose end right now that I forgot to mention is that the "PikeYoseFix" won't work in El Capitan (unless SIP is disabled). Pike had a different idea that is probably implemented in bootbase.efi. Mike will confirm or dismiss this.

Thanks for the info! I'll keep an eye out for more updates.

 

[sarthak]

No.

Best to wait, then.

Hopefully it'll be so in a few weeks/months. Thanks again to community for their support and dedication to getting it to run.

El Capitan on my rMBP 15" has allowed for incredibly smooth UI performance. Can't wait to get the same results on my Mac Pro.