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

[splifingate]

Follow-up: to psot https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...os-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-43#post-22154494

This guidance is intended for the "legacy" (Jabbawok, Hennessie, et al.) installer.

Remember that there is no inherent need to do these things, nor should there be such with a sense of immediacy: things that work for you should remain as so, as this is all an exercise in "what-could-be", not "what-must-be"

YMMV, and all-that: these things are not Gospel (check the spelling, etc., &c., et al.), so there may be some discrepancy in the process, but "Persistence Pays", and all that . . . I've repeated and verified these steps multiple times over the past week (er, the past few years--truth-be-told, but 'currency' is as such, so that's where we are, of course), and I can verify (have verified, multiple times) that success can be achieved with such.

[as Administrator, or in an account with equivalent privileges]

Right-Click(R/C) on /OS X Install El Capitan.app/ > 'Show Package Contents'

R/C on '/Contents/Shared/Support/InstallESD.dmg' > Open With > 'DiskImageMounter.app'

Drag 'BaseSystem.dmg' into Disk Utility, and restore to "/Volumes/your\ desired\ install-partition"

You will then find that "/Volumes/your\ desired\ install-partition" has been automagically renamed to "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System"

To simplify futrue editing, rename "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System" to a contiguous filename (e.g., "/Volumes/one-continuous-name_so-you_can-easily-type_and-remember-it", or something simple/similar (<KISS>herein, and henceforth named 'legacy'</KISS>)).

delete "/Volumes/legacy/System/Installation/Packages" (symlink), then copy "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Packages" over to the same ("/Volumes/legacy/System/Installation") . . . it's 5.8GiB (this takes me < 60 seconds to copy from a spinning HD to another spinner HD on a MacPro 1,1 (much, much faster than via a USB bus transaction)):

sudo cp /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Packages /Volumes/legacy/System/Installation

copy 'BaseSystem.dmg' and 'BaseSystem.chunklist' from "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD" over to the root filesystem:

sudo cp /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/{BaseSystem.dmg,BaseSystem.chunklist} /Volumes/legacy/

A key part of a successful boot into the installer environment is getting the kernel into /System/Library/ . . . this requires soft-ware external to the native OSX environment:

One can use the excellent 'Pacifist' from http://www.charlessoft.com/ to extract "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ESD/ Packages/ (…Contents of Essentials.pkg/System/Library/Kernels/kernel)" to "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels"

Or a sublime bit of code from Pike, himself.

https://github.com/Piker-Alpha/LZVN

Extract the 'kernel' with 'lzvn' from "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/PrelinkedKernels/prelinkedkernel" (if you already have an El Capitan installer you created with 'createinstallmedia', you can find 'prelinkedkernel' in "/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/.IABootFiles/prelinkedkernel" (or "/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/prelinkedkernel", which is the same)) to "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels/kernel".

Whether you use Pacifist, or LZVN, to get 'kernel' into "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels" makes not one difference: they accomplish the same goal, and will enable a successful boot into the installer environment.

Just make sure that "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels/kernel" exists, and is 10,718,400 bytes (10.7 MB on disk) in size

Now comes the fun part: copying Pike's 'boot.efi' over to the legacy installer . . . as always, the latest 'boot.efi' can be found @ http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/

Thanks, Pike . . . reminder to Self: I must remember to make another donation when spare funds permit . . . <heinlein>TANSTAAFL</heinlein>

Download Pike's 'boot.efi' (by-default, it should plop itself into "~/Documents")

You will need to unlock the stock 'boot.efi' for editing/replacement:

sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/legacy/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

Copy Pike's over the stock:

sudo cp ~/Documents/boot.efi /Volumes/legacy/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

Copy Pike's over the stock 'bootbase.efi' ('bootbase.efi' is new to the process with El Capitan, but not much of a PITA if you can remember to replace it, which you must do):

sudo cp ~/Documents/boot.efi /Volumes/legacy/System/Library/CoreServices/bootbase.efi

replace the stock 'boot.efi' in "/Volumes/legacy/usr/standalone/i386" with Pike's:

sudo cp ~/Documents/boot.efi /Volumes/legacy/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi

I have noticed no difference between any install with permissions/restrictions re-aligned with 'stock' (i.e., I need-not re-lock a file that was previously locked to allow the process to complete, but I do need to have permissions that allow for read:/:/read/write) . . .

Now you can boot that fsck'r <grin>

hth

 

[splifingate]

How important is it to lock Pike R Alpha's boot.efi and bootbase.efi files? The reason I ask is that my last install went for about 3 hours with no issues. The only thing that changed from my previous install is that I did not lock these files. I did just got boot.efi 3.1 and have copied it to my Mac Pro 1,1 replacing the previous files. Also this time I renamed a copy of boot.efi 3.1 to bootbase.efi and placed it in System/Library/CoreServices.

You need not re-lock these files, Bruce . . . I've had 30-minute installs from unlocked installs....

 

[Bruce L]

You and Don and I seem to be following all instructions and getting kernel panics no matter what we try. As noted above, I've meticulously performed numerous "install from supported machine, swap boot.efis, boot unsupported mac" installs and while they all boot sooner or later, I crash hard to a black screen.

I am currently writing this from Lion on my MacPro 1,1 while I am using Apple's createinstallmedia tool
to create a bootable El Capitan installer on a partition on a firewire drive. As soon as it's finished, I will swap out the boot.efi files in these three places:

/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/.IABootFiles
/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/System/Library/CoreServices
/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/usr/standalone/i386

as Spliffingate instructs in post #1065 (middle of page 43 of this thread)

I will then run that "pre-patched" installer on the MacPro and report the results back here.

iMattux, I learned one new thing from you I did not copy boot.efi to /.IABootFiles. Anyway back to the drawing board for the three of us. Although I am not going to do any new re-installs until someone posts something I have not done that looks like it will work for us. Again I feel like we are so close. I think the issue that is causing our kernel panics is software based and hardware.

As an aside I have been fighting kernel panic issues on my late 2012 Mac Mini. The last thing Apple support wanted me to do was remove all non-Apple software from my computer. Can you believe that? What is the purpose of the crash report. These kernel panics were coming about every 3 weeks. Anyway I started with about 7 must have programs like 1Password, Crash Plan, Carbon Copy Cloner, Dropbox, OmniFocus, Quicken 2015 and QuickBooks. I will then add about 6 or 7 programs after going 3 weeks without a kernel panic on it.

 

[LaurentR2D2]

Yes, Laurent. You need to disable SIP. See my instructions above

Thank you. I can't boot on the Recovery HD. I've tried Cmd+R or Alt and select the Recovery HD, but it doesn't work. The computer always boot on the main system.

 

[chackett]

Let me know if you find a way to successfully run the El Capitan installer on an unsupported Mac.

Thanks,

Don James

I think the solution is going to be when Pike and his associates finish the development for the boot.efi; at that point, someone will write up a simple install guide.

 

[nsotiriou]

Hello to everyone, First of all thanks for Tiamo, Pike, and anyone elso who made this small miracle for the rest of us. (Mac Pro 1.1, 1.2.
I have an update about the crashes I have with ELCap. What I did was to replace my boot.efi files on the Yosemite partition with the latest ones 3.1 in order to download directly the Installer from the app store in order to make a clean installation. The Yosemite boot very fast and I open the App Store to download the EL Cap installation file. No. after a while I had a panic restart like the one on the El Capitan partition. My conclusion is that there is a bug in the new boot.efi 3.1 and my Mac Pro. Maybe is the short memory (5 Gig) I have to replace the 1 gig (2 X 512 MB modules ) with two new ones of 2 GIG. I don't know if that is the problem but I will appreciate any help from anyone in this forum.
Thank you in advance
Nicholas

 

[chackett]

Don and Chacket,

I think I know what happened to you and everyone else who is having this happen, as I believe the same thing happened to me. The reboot took you to the recovery partition on you hard disk that was created by Yosemite. All I did was reboot again or choose a startup disk from the menu at the top of the page and there was El Capitan. Which is to say your respective Yosemite installs created the recovery partition you booted to. Try this and let us know. I also saw instructions somewhere in this forum I believe about how to fix this Recovery Drive/Partition. I will try to look for them later if someone else doesn't find them first.

No, I was definitely booting into my external clone of my Yosemite boot drive (when it was connected) or my unmodified Yosemite boot drive (when it was not).

After the reboot initiated by the installer app, however, I could see a two new volumes in the boot manager when holding down the option key during boot - Install OS X (sounds promising, doesn't it?) and EFI However, booting off of either of them just ended up in hanging at the white Apple logo (no progress bar or anything).

I did notice when I installed from a supported Mac that the installer screen is now basically the boot screen with a line of white text above the progress bar giving time updates for the installation, which is new....so perhaps what I though was a hung boot when I booted off of the Install OS X partition created by the installer app, was actually the start of the installation. But I waited for a few minutes and never saw a progress bar, so I gave up. Perhaps I was just too impatient.

 

[iMattux]

Someone might be able to make some sense out this console output. This is the System log, just after booting with the filter "error":

Oct 31 15:00:23 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: Failed to remove file or directory: name = com.apple.pkg.IncompatibleKextConfigData.14U2087.dLgikm, error = 1: Operation not permitted. Further logging suppressed.
####  That first line can't be good... ####
Oct 31 15:00:44 localhost diagnosticd[99]: ostraceutil returned error 18176 while linking caches
Oct 31 15:00:45 localhost diskmanagementstartup[55]: finished Windows Installer Partition removal; error = 0
Oct 31 15:00:55 localhost sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: client check-in failed: (268451843) (ipc/rcv) timed out
Oct 31 15:00:55 localhost sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: _MDAccessCopyClientPort failed retrying
Oct 31 15:01:05 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: client check-in failed: (268451843) (ipc/rcv) timed out
Oct 31 15:01:05 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: _MDAccessCopyClientPort failed retrying
Oct 31 15:01:15 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: client check-in failed: (268451843) (ipc/rcv) timed out
Oct 31 15:01:15 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: _MDAccessCopyClientPort failed retrying
Oct 31 15:01:25 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: client check-in failed: (268451843) (ipc/rcv) timed out
Oct 31 15:01:25 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: _MDAccessCopyClientPort failed retrying
Oct 31 15:01:35 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: client check-in failed: (268451843) (ipc/rcv) timed out
Oct 31 15:01:35 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: _MDAccessCopyClientPort failed retrying
Oct 31 15:01:45 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: client check-in failed: (268451843) (ipc/rcv) timed out
Oct 31 15:01:45 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: _MDAccessCopyClientPort failed retrying
Oct 31 15:01:55 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: client check-in failed: (268435460) (ipc/send) timed out
Oct 31 15:01:55 62HFS sandboxd[124]: Metadata.framework [Error]: couldn't get the client port
Oct 31 15:01:58 62HFS UserEventAgent[41]: Received XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID for connection com.apple.backupd.xpc
Oct 31 15:02:01 62HFS WindowServer[198]: Set a breakpoint at CGSLogError to catch errors as they are logged.
Oct 31 15:02:02 62HFS loginwindow[89]: ERROR | -[LoginProgress startingProgressRectForMainScreen] | Could not locate the boot display
Oct 31 15:02:02 62HFS authorizationhost[232]: Failed to authenticate user <imatt> (error: 9).
Oct 31 15:02:31 62HFS com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.user.domain.501.100008.Aqua): Could not import service from caller: path = /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.CommCenter-osx.plist, caller = loginwindow.89, error = 138: Service cannot be loaded on this hardware
Oct 31 15:02:32 62HFS com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.xpc.launchd.user.domain.501.100008.Aqua): Could not import service from caller: caller = otherbsd.281, service = com.bombich.cccuseragent, error = 119: Service is disabled
Oct 31 15:02:38 62HFS cloudphotosd[294]: Unable to resolve library URL for key because of error: Error Domain=com.apple.reddwarf Code=21 "RDErrorNoValueForLibraryKey" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=RDErrorNoValueForLibraryKey}
Oct 31 15:02:38 62HFS cloudphotosd[294]: No canonical library is set, disabling service. error: Error Domain=com.apple.reddwarf Code=21 "RDErrorNoValueForLibraryKey" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=RDErrorNoValueForLibraryKey}
Oct 31 15:02:39 62HFS logind[90]: -[SessionManager getClient:withRole:inAuditSession:]:241: ERROR: No session dictionary for audit session 100011
Oct 31 15:02:39 62HFS logind[90]: _SMGetSessionAgent:73: ERROR: __SMGetClientForAuditSessionAgent failed 2
Oct 31 15:02:39 62HFS IMDPersistenceAgent[344]: SACShieldWindowShowing:925: ERROR: NULL response
Oct 31 15:02:40 62HFS Finder[302]: CoreDockSetTrashFull returned error -4956
Oct 31 15:02:45 62HFS SpotlightNetHelper[355]: Connection error while checking Apple Internalness. Error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service named com.apple.CrashReporterSupportHelper was invalidated." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service named com.apple.CrashReporterSupportHelper was invalidated.}
Oct 31 15:02:45 62HFS secd[322]:  securityd_xpc_dictionary_handler IDSKeychainSynci[345] SetDeviceID Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=1032 "No peer for me" UserInfo={NSDescription=No peer for me}
Oct 31 15:02:45 62HFS secd[322]:  securityd_xpc_dictionary_handler IDSKeychainSynci[345] SetDeviceID Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=1032 "No peer for me" UserInfo={NSDescription=No peer for me}
Oct 31 15:02:46 62HFS imagent[343]: [Warning] SMSServiceSession: Error no IDS Service available for SMS Relay
Oct 31 15:02:49 62HFS TextWrangler[286]: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4 "The file doesn’t exist."
Oct 31 15:02:50 62HFS tccd[240]: Communications error: <OS_xpc_error: <error: 0x7fff73364c90> { count = 1, contents =
        "XPCErrorDescription" => <string: 0x7fff73364f78> { length = 18, contents = "Connection invalid" }
Oct 31 15:02:50 62HFS secd[322]:  securityd_xpc_dictionary_handler WiFiAgent[413] View Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=1032 "No Peer for Account" UserInfo={NSDescription=No Peer for Account}
Oct 31 15:02:51 62HFS Keychain Circle Notification[397]: rawStatus -1, #applicants 0, #peers 0, err=Error Domain=com.apple.security.sos.error Code=2 "Public Key not available - failed to register before call" UserInfo={NSDescription=Public Key not available - failed to register before call}
Oct 31 15:03:15 62HFS com.apple.preference.datetime.remoteservice[335]: It does not make sense to draw an image when [NSGraphicsContext currentContext] is nil.  This is a programming error. Break on void _NSWarnForDrawingImageWithNoCurrentContext() to debug.  This will be logged only once.  This may break in the future.
Oct 31 15:03:39 62HFS com.apple.preference.datetime.remoteservice[335]: Error in CoreDragRemoveTrackingHandler: -1856
Oct 31 15:03:39 62HFS com.apple.preference.datetime.remoteservice[335]: Error in CoreDragRemoveReceiveHandler: -1856
Oct 31 15:03:40 62HFS nsurlstoraged[460]: ERROR: unable to determine file-system usage for FS-backed cache at /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068/C/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate/fsCachedData. Errno=13
Oct 31 15:03:43 62HFS AssetCacheLocatorService[461]: LaunchServices: received XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID trying to map database
Oct 31 15:03:43 62HFS AssetCacheLocatorService[461]: LaunchServices: received XPC_ERROR_CONNECTION_INVALID trying to map database
Oct 31 15:03:46 62HFS SpotlightNetHelper[355]: tcp_connection_tls_session_error_callback_imp 3 __tcp_connection_tls_session_callback_write_block_invoke.434 error 22
Oct 31 15:03:46 62HFS SpotlightNetHelper[355]: tcp_connection_tls_session_error_callback_imp 7 __tcp_connection_tls_session_callback_write_block_invoke.434 error 22
Oct 31 15:03:46 62HFS SpotlightNetHelper[355]: tcp_connection_tls_session_error_callback_imp 6 __tcp_connection_tls_session_callback_write_block_invoke.434 error 22
Oct 31 15:03:46 62HFS SpotlightNetHelper[355]: tcp_connection_tls_session_error_callback_imp 5 __tcp_connection_tls_session_callback_write_block_invoke.434 error 22
Oct 31 15:03:46 62HFS SpotlightNetHelper[355]: tcp_connection_tls_session_error_callback_imp 4 __tcp_connection_tls_session_callback_write_block_invoke.434 error 22

 

[LaurentR2D2]

Thank you. I can't boot on the Recovery HD. I've tried Cmd+R or Alt and select the Recovery HD, but it doesn't work. The computer always boot on the main system.

I've found a workaround. I boot on my clone partition which is still with Yosemite and I copy the boot.efi at the right places without being stopped by SIP

 

[Bruce L]

Follow-up: to psot https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...os-x-el-capitan.1890435/page-43#post-22154494

This guidance is intended for the "legacy" (Jabbawok, Hennessie, et al.) installer.

Remember that there is no inherent need to do these things, not should there be with a sense of immediacy: things that work for you should remain as such, as this is all an exercise in "what-could-be", not "what-must-be"

YMMV, and all-that: these things are not Gospel (check the spelling, etc., &c., et al.), so there may be some discrepancy in the process, but "Persistence Pays", and all that . . . I've repeated and verified these steps multiple times over the past week, and I can verify (have verified, multiple times) that success can be achieved with such.

[as Administrator, or in an account with equivalent privileges]

Right-Click(R/C) on /OS X Install El Capitan.app/ > 'Show Package Contents'

R/C on '/Contents/Shared/Support/InstallESD.dmg' > Open With > 'DiskImageMounter.app'

Drag 'BaseSystem.dmg' into Disk Utility, and restore to "/Volumes/your\ desired\ install-partition"

You will then find that "/Volumes/your\ desired\ install-partition" has been automagically renamed to "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System"

To simplify futrue editing, rename "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System" to a contiguous filename (e.g., "/Volumes/one-continuous-name_so-you_can-easily-type_and-remember-it", or something simple/similar (<KISS>herein, and henceforth named 'legacy'</KISS>)).

delete "/Volumes/legacy/System/Installation/Packages" (symlink), then copy "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Packages" over to the same ("/Volumes/legacy/System/Installation") . . . it's 5.8GiB (this takes me < 60 seconds to copy from a spinning HD to another spinner HD on a MacPro 1,1 (much, much faster than via a USB bus transaction)):

sudo cp /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Packages /Volumes/legacy/System/Installation

copy 'BaseSystem.dmg' and 'BaseSystem.chunklist' from "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD" over to the root filesystem:

sudo cp /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/{BaseSystem.dmg,BaseSystem.chunklist} /Volumes/legacy/

A key part of a successful boot into the installer environment is getting the kernel into /System/Library/ . . . this requires soft-ware external to the native OSX environment:

One can use the excellent 'Pacifist' from http://www.charlessoft.com/ to extract "/Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ESD/ Packages/ (…Contents of Essentials.pkg/System/Library/Kernels/kernel)" to "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels"

Or a sublime bit of code from Pike, himself.

https://github.com/Piker-Alpha/LZVN

Extract the 'kernel' with 'lzvn' from "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/PrelinkedKernels/prelinkedkernel" (if you already have an El Capitan installer you created with 'createinstallmedia', you can find 'prelinkedkernel' in "/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/.IABootFiles/prelinkedkernel" (or "/Volumes/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/prelinkedkernel", which is the same)) to "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels/kernel".

Whether you use Pacifist, or LZVN, to get 'kernel' into "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels" makes not one difference: they accomplish the same goal, and will enable a successful boot into the installer environment.

Just make sure that "/Volumes/legacy/System/Library/Kernels/kernel" exists, and is 10,718,400 bytes (10.7 MB on disk) in size

Now comes the fun part: copying Pike's 'boot.efi' over to the legacy installer . . . as always, the latest 'boot.efi' can be found @ http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/

Thanks, Pike . . . reminder to Self: I must remember to make another donation when spare funds permit . . . <heinlein>TANSTAAFL</heinlein>

Download Pike's 'boot.efi' (by-default, it should plop itself into "~/Documents")

You will need to unlock the stock 'boot.efi' for editing/replacement:

sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/legacy/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

Copy Pike's over the stock:

sudo cp ~/Documents/boot.efi /Volumes/legacy/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

Copy Pike's over the stock 'bootbase.efi' ('bootbase.efi' is new to the process with El Capitan, but not much of a PITA if you can remember to replace it, which you must do):

sudo cp ~/Documents/boot.efi /Volumes/legacy/System/Library/CoreServices/bootbase.efi

replace the stock 'boot.efi' in "/Volumes/legacy/usr/standalone/i386" with Pike's:

sudo cp ~/Documents/boot.efi /Volumes/legacy/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi

I have noticed no difference between any install with permissions/restrictions re-aligned with 'stock' (i.e., I need-not re-lock a file that was previously locked to allow the process to complete, but I do need to have permissions that allow for read:/:/read/write) . . .

Now you can boot that fsck'r <grin>

hth

Thank you for the detailed instruction Splifingate. I was finally able to make a donation to Pike R Alpha today. Some of us probably can't donate as much as we want to but if we all donate some reasonable amount it would be a great way to thank Pike.

 

[Rustynova]

Has anyone gotten Handoff and Continuity to work under El Capitan? I had it working under Yosemite but it doesn't seem to be working under the new install of El Cap.

 

[macprobuffalo]

Can anyone recommend a specific ATI 7850 that is plug and play in the 1,1?

I've seen a lot of stuff on the higher end 7-series cards but nothing on the budget cards. My 5770 has been adequate for my uses but would like support for Metal.

 

[donjames]

Thank you for the detailed instruction Splifingate. I was finally able to make a donation to Pike R Alpha today. Some of us probably can't donate as much as we want to but if we all donate some reasonable amount it would be a great way to thank Pike.

Hi Bruce,

Did the detailed instructions work for you?

Don James

 

[donjames]

Thank you for the detailed instruction Splifingate. I was finally able to make a donation to Pike R Alpha today. Some of us probably can't donate as much as we want to but if we all donate some reasonable amount it would be a great way to thank Pike.

Hi Bruce,

I'm done messing with this thing until the research is finished. I just tried again to install El Capitan and got errors from the installer. It told me to download another one from the app store.

Don

 

[Jacko Lantern]

if you follow and read the posts in this forum many times it works I have a mac pro 1.1 flashed to 2.1 & no other macs so the only way was a direct instal from the app store read once twice or even three times it works thanks to the hard work from pike & co

Same as the above, well almost.

Hennesie's Guide for Yosemite has the command lines needed(only 3) if you do not know them.

What I did.
Started with Leopard 10.....yeah dat leopard, meow " I am clean installed" meow
2 IDE hard drives
I upgraded the hardware First!!!
I flashed from 1.1 to 2.1
Added 16GB RAM + 8 cores
I purchased Snow Leopard cd (my face turns red) $20 from the fruit store.
I purchased PC version radeon (HIS) 7950 = same $ as the MPro (darn son, ahh savaged bitcoin cards of yester)
Enjoyed all the fun things over at Netkas forum, learning.
Flashed radeon 7950 with some elbow grease.

**2 Very important advice from this wonderful thread led me (maybe others too, hopefully) to 2 Successful upgrades to El Capitan using only my Mpro's 2 HD's
1. Use more than one partition (I would recommend as many as you can manage)
2. YosePikerFix: it works like a charm every-time-never-to-broken unless you have forgotten.

What happened:
I kept show leopard installed on a drive because ... well it roars: "I am the official/chosen one".
I installed Yose via usb drive just because the installer was downloadable (I know I cheated).
I replaced boot.efi Pike's as indicated in so many posts while running Yose.
I downloaded 10.11 from the app store's "update button".
I ran the el cap installer running Yose and choose to use another partition on another HD for el cap.
It rebooted into Snow Leopard (well I'll be darn) Why? because its the chosen one.
Replaced Pike's (el cap) boot.efi again on Yosemite partition.
Why? because PikeYoseFix, el cap installer still wants to see El Capitan Pike's boot.efi on Yose partition before doing anything.
I selected to boot the el cap partition HD (holding the ALT/option button down to get the the multi-boot screen)
El Capitan 10.11 installed perfectly, tried it twice, first with the 3.0 then with 3.1 boot.efi vers.
Upgraded to 10.11.1 repeat of the above also twice, no problems.

Why did I do all of that 2 times on the same machine = because its fun. Happy Halloween!!!

PS Pike needs more Hard Drive PLEASE pitch in/donate any amount.

 

[3096]

Hey Guys, I made a disk image from an fresh-installed-but-not-yet-signed-up OS X El Capitan that is ready to restore to any drive in Disk Utility. You can find it here.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uFsu7HWmRgVDg1aDFoQ2lYWHM/view?usp=sharing
Checksum:
MD5: e48e73c1086f946d77b9c9bb20183c8e
SHA1: 431200375866d71808ccfe86219eeafb56648ca7

All you need to do after restoring is to replace both boot.efi with Piker's in the two directories:
System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi and usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi

I hope this can help those who are like me doesn't happen to have another Mac.

I tried this after reading tu154's #post1090, I thought it makes sense to do so, when you don't have another compatible Mac Pro lying around (I trust most of us don't.)

After failing to create my own modified installer (honestly I really don't know where I can find the steps to do it...), I began to scanning through this thread. I see some people just updated from App Store? Now sure how they were able to do it because mine before even let me start installing, it says "can't be installed on this Mac" something. I don't know if those who did it are on a different Mac Pro or they changed system information or something, and I didn't have the patience to really read through people's posts to find a solution...

So I decided to try tu154's method to install El Capitan in a virtual machine and clone the drive out. After messing around with it a bit I actually was able to pull out a fresh and yet to set up system disk image and when I tried it on my SSD, everything worked like charm.

(Just ignore that hilarious 7GB RAM... One of my memory stick is not working...)

I have only tested this on my Mac Pro 1,1, but theoretically is should work with all Macs, right? I'm not sure though.

My question is: is there now a way yet to prevent boot.efi from being overwritten by a system update?

Also, please donate to Piker cuz he is awesome.

 

[artooks]

Hi,

Everyone I am right now on Yosemite with pikeyosefix and it is working like a charm, My Mac Pro is 2,1 with 16gb Ram and
ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024 MB GPU now I want to make a clean install to El Capitan, I read all of the thread but I am confused so can someone who is successfully installed El Capitan and also installed the updates tell me where to start I also have another mac which supports El Capitan, if this is going make any help at all, so please guide me step bu step on how to create a flash disc and make a clean install of El Capitan, also I want to donate can someone give me the paypal address of Piker pls.

 

[F1Mac]

Hi,

Everyone I am right now on Yosemite with pikeyosefix and it is working like a charm, My Mac Pro is 2,1 with 16gb Ram and
ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024 MB GPU now I want to make a clean install to El Capitan, I read all of the thread but I am confused so can someone who is successfully installed El Capitan and also installed the updates tell me where to start I also have another mac which supports El Capitan, if this is going make any help at all, so please guide me step bu step on how to create a flash disc and make a clean install of El Capitan, also I want to donate can someone give me the paypal address of Piker pls.

If you have another supported Mac, then the easiest way is to take your HD to this Mac (external I assume), install El Capitan on it and replace the boot.efi in System/Library/CoreServices and /usr/standalone/i386. As for the recovery HD, you can do it with diskutil from the terminal (instructions are in this thread a few pages back). Put the disk back in your MacPro and you're done.


...if you want to make a donation to Pike, simply go to his page and follow the proper link:
http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/

 

[artooks]

Thank you so you mean I have to install it by attaching the disc in mac pro to my other mac install el capitan and then I only have to install boot.efi 3.1 and put it back in mac pro can ı then install updates is that all there is to it ?
Do you run into any issues with it ? Where can I download boot.efi 3.1 thanks

 

[leoiv]

http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/

 

[tu154]

Hey Guys, I made a disk image from an fresh-installed-but-not-yet-signed-up OS X El Capitan that is ready to restore to any drive in Disk Utility. You can find it here.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-uFsu7HWmRgVDg1aDFoQ2lYWHM/view?usp=sharing
All you need to do after restoring is to replace both boot.efi with Piker's in the two directories:
System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi and usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi

I hope this can help those who are like me doesn't happen to have another Mac.

I tried this after reading tu154's #post1090, I thought it makes sense to do so, when you don't have another compatible Mac Pro lying around (I trust most of us don't.)

After failing to create my own modified installer (honestly I really don't know where I can find the steps to do it...), I began to scanning through this thread. I see some people just updated from App Store? Now sure how they were able to do it because mine before even let me start installing, it says "can't be installed on this Mac" something. I don't know if those who did it are on a different Mac Pro or they changed system information or something, and I didn't have the patience to really read through people's posts to find a solution...

So I decided to try tu154's method to install El Capitan in a virtual machine and clone the drive out. After messing around with it a bit I actually was able to pull out a fresh and yet to set up system disk image and when I tried it on my SSD, everything worked like charm.

(Just ignore that hilarious 7GB RAM... One of my memory stick is not working...)

I have only tested this on my Mac Pro 1,1, but theoretically is should work with all Macs, right? I'm not sure though.

My question is: is there now a way yet to prevent boot.efi from being overwritten by a system update?

Also, please donate to Piker cuz he is awesome.

I think that for people who have an ansuported mac and/or use a PC graphic card on mac machine without the possibility to see the boot screen that the "virtual machine method" is the easy way to get El capitan running with the great Pike boot.efi

Take care

 

[F1Mac]

Thank you so you mean I have to install it by attaching the disc in mac pro to my other mac install el capitan and then I only have to install boot.efi 3.1 and put it back in mac pro can ı then install updates is that all there is to it ?
Do you run into any issues with it ? Where can I download boot.efi 3.1 thanks

Yes, that's about it. Each time an Apple update overwrites the boot.efi, the only thing you have to do is to replace it with Pike's. But downloading/installing updates is now possible with this version of boot.efi.

I have absolutely zero issue with El Capitan, it runs beautifully. In fact I upgraded my OS drive to a SSD yesterday, and not only it runs, now it flies! SSD is one of the best upgrades we can make to give a serious speed boost to our MacPros

 

[landersbrock]

Thank you. I can't boot on the Recovery HD. I've tried Cmd+R or Alt and select the Recovery HD, but it doesn't work. The computer always boot on the main system.

Thank you. I can't boot on the Recovery HD. I've tried Cmd+R or Alt and select the Recovery HD, but it doesn't work. The computer always boot on the main system.

YOu will likely not be able to use the recovery disk option if you have a wireless keyboard. I had this problem initially and had to buy a USB keyboard to physically connect to the mac to access the recovery disk. Hope that helps

 

[artooks]

Sorry after adding boot.efi 3.1 do I also add pikeyosefix or boot.fi is enough ?

 

[Jacko Lantern]

Sorry after adding boot.efi 3.1 do I also add pikeyosefix or boot.fi is enough ?

artooks,
Sorry for not explaining what "pikeyosefix" does. You do not need it to upgrade/install El Capitan. One workaround is removing it entirely actually. Some forget what it does.

Many have "pikeyosefix" (reference: see another thread for yosemite) when they upgraded to Yosemite, it does not allow updates or in this case upgrade from overwriting the files that make Yosemite work on our MP's. That is one reason people who have pikeyosefix have problems when the el capitan installer gets to the point of reboot. It cannot reboot to your chosen el capitan partioin because "pikeyosefix" did its job at keeping your yosemite partition still yosemite. Please look back (as much as 10 pages even) and review the posts. Its all here. Some have written up full and partial instructions. You get a better idea of why and what each step is. Pike, peterhoolbrook, BruceL, OGNerd, Macvidcard's, Morpheo and too many to list all have posted useful information.

Keep at it and you will get there.