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HAL2010

macrumors member
Nov 3, 2014
85
21
The Netherlands
Well that's my problem. Where can I find a bulletproof manual like the one for Yosemite. I've got a feeling that I have to read through all kinds of threads on Macrumors to cover everything.
 

mmonse_de

macrumors newbie
Mar 20, 2016
23
7
Wuppertal, Germany
Well that's my problem. Where can I find a bulletproof manual like the one for Yosemite. I've got a feeling that I have to read through all kinds of threads on Macrumors to cover everything.
I saw that you're from the Netherlands. Maybe you are capable of reading a little German. I wrote a short tutorial (in German) in an German Mac forum.
have a look here
Maybe it helps a little...
 

warrenza

macrumors newbie
Apr 6, 2015
4
1
Richmond, VA
The race is on.

Who's the first to get OS X version 10.11 El Capitan booting perfectly on a 2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1)?

UPDATE: Only one day later, 666sheep did it first!

This first post has now been updated with recent summarized information.


Simply looking to download the Piker-Alpha macosxbootloader for El Capitan? Links:
________________________________________________________________

If you have OS X El Capitan up and running on your 2006/2007 Mac Pro with Pike's boot loader, you should consider disabling "Install OS X updates" and "Install system data files and security updates" in System Preferences > App Store so that OS X doesn't automatically install any future updates that may overwrite Pike's boot.efi.
________________________________________________________________

If you find Pike's boot loader valuable in keeping your 2006/2007 Mac up-to-date, please consider simply thanking him via a comment on his blog, as he's done a lot of work without asking for anything in return or benefiting from this project. Thanks Pike!


How can these Macs run El Capitan?

Apple does not support OS X El Capitan on the original 2006/2007 Mac Pro and 2006 Xserve. These 64-bit Mac Pros and Xserves have EFI32 firmware and can't natively boot OS X El Capitan "out-of-the-box", but are easily capable of running it with a different boot loader. Once a new boot loader is used to launch the native 64-bit El Capitan kernel, OS X 10.11 boots and works normally exactly as it does on a 2008 Mac Pro or newer with EFI64 firmware.


Background:

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was the first OS X version with optional support for a 64-bit kernel, allowing booting either with a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel. However, Apple did not support booting the 64-bit kernel in Macs that shipped with EFI32 firmware, even if they had 64-bit processors capable of running the 64-bit kernel. When Apple dropped the 32-bit kernel entirely from OS X, starting with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, EFI32 Macs no longer had an Apple-supported mechanism to boot newer OS X versions.

The last version of OS X officially supported by Apple on the original 2006 Mac Pro MA356LL/A (MacPro1,1), 2007 Mac Pro (8-core) MA1186/A (MacPro2,1) and Xserve (Late 2006) MA409LL/A (Xserve1,1) models was OS X 10.7 Lion, and then only when booted with a 32-bit kernel due to their EFI32 firmware. However, these Macs were the most powerful and upgradable EFI32 models and have a 64-bit architecture, so the user community has been keeping them running with 64-bit kernels and newer OS X releases using a variety of methods.


The Piker-Alpha bootloader can be used to boot OS X 10.11 El Capitan on unsupported Mac Pro models:

This approach, using a fork of boot.efi boot loader that thunks EFI64 calls from the 64-bit OS X kernel to the EFI32 firmware.

Additional information about Pike's boot.efi is available at Pike's blog, Universum. There are two variations available, one with a legacy light grey background/dark grey Apple logo boot screen boot.efi that blends with the native EFI32 pre-boot screen (2008-2012 Mac Pro-style), and a new black background/white Apple logo boot screen boot.efi (2013 Mac Pro-style).

The simplest method to boot El Capitan on these Macs is the "pikify" createpikeinstallmedia script to create a pre-patched El Capitan installer with the El Capitan branch of the Piker-Alpha bootloader. This directly allows an El Capitan installer to run to be run to completion on a 2006/2007 Mac Pro.

Another alternative install on a 2006/2007 Mac Pro is to use a second El Capitan-supported Mac and install El Capitan to the 2006/2007 Mac Pro's drive. This may be done either by attaching the 2006/2007 Mac Pro's drive as an external drive by placing the 2006/2007 Mac Pro in target disk mode or otherwise mounting the 2006/2007 Mac Pro's drive to an El Capitan-supported Mac.

This alternative approach still requires installation of the Piker-Alpha bootloader before it can be successfully booted on a 2006/2007 Mac Pro. After installation, copy Pike's EFI32 boot.efi to that drive's /usr/standalone/i386 and /System/Library/CoreServices/ directories overwriting the stock Apple EFI64 boot.efi. That drive should now be bootable on a 2006/2007 Mac Pro, although sometimes it still may need to be blessed in the 2006/2007 Mac Pro.

Disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP) may be required to replace the boot.efi in-place.

Alternatively, there's also an approach in the boot.efi development thread to exclude these files from SIP, but it has shown mixed results.

While this method is preferred because it's a native EFI boot, there is real risk that installing future El Capitan updates could overwrite Pike's EFI32 boot.efi if Apple were to update the stock EFI64 boot.efi. This has already happened in the few previous OS X El Capitan updates. When this happens, the system would no longer be natively bootable on a 2006/2007 Mac Pro until it had Apple's stock boot.efi re-replaced with Pike's boot.efi again. A simple approach to help protect against this is CaptainPikeFix, a launch daemon that re-copies the EFI32 boot.efi to proper locations at shutdown, but this approach requires disabling SIP.


Support for Handoff in El Capitan to allow AirDrop, Continuity and Instant Hotspot with iOS devices:

The original Airport Extreme (802.11a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR options from Apple don't support Handoff. Several vendors, including MacVidCards, sell new add-on hardware kits to retrofit older Mac Pros with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 LE that work in 2006/2007 Mac Pros to allow Handoff. There have been reports of needing to sign out of iCloud and then sign in again after replacing WiFi and Bluetooth hardware to enable Handoff.

There has been a report of an OEM Bluetooth 2.0+EDR card causing a conflict with USB devices. If you experience issues with the built-in USB ports under El Capitan, you may also consider removing or upgrading your Bluetooth card.

In El Capitan, both Phone Calling and SMS from OS X with an iPhone work with a 2006/2007 Mac Pro and are not dependent on OS X Handoff support.


Unsupported original legacy graphics cards vs. 64-bit-kernel-supported graphics cards vs. Metal-supported graphics cards:

El Capitan does not include 64-bit kernel extension device drivers for the original NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, ATI Radeon X1900 XT, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 PCIe graphics cards that shipped with these Mac Pros, nor the ATI Radeon X1300 that shipped with the Xserve (Late 2006), so they do not work properly in El Capitan. These graphics cards display issues such as a very sluggish GUI with no QE/CI support, no framebuffer support (for DVD Player, Geekbench and other programs), graphics artifacts, mouse tearing, inability to change resolutions, bad refresh rates, and other system instabilities. If you need normal graphics support in El Capitan, you will need a newer PCIe graphics card, with popular options being the Apple ATI Radeon HD 5770 Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro, SAPPHIRE HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 MAC Edition, or many different options of stock and Mac-"flashed" PC cards.

Many, but not all, modern stock non-flashed PC graphics cards with AMD (for OpenCL/OpenGL support) or Nvidia chipsets (for CUDA/OpenCL/OpenGL support) work "plug and play" with El Capitan in 2006/2007 Mac Pros, although the display will remain off until after the OS X Desktop initializes. This means you won't see anything during the boot process.

Compatible properly-Mac-flashed PC cards offer two benefits over stock non-flashed PC cards: allowing a normal boot screen just like a Mac-specific graphics card, and better compatibility in OS X with the card's capabilities/performance/ports. Most, but not all, Mac-flashed ATI/AMD cards have EBC firmware that work in all PCIe-based 2006-2012 Mac Pro models with either EFI32 or EFI64. All newer Mac-flashed Nvidia cards have EFI64 firmware and will act like non-flashed PC cards with no boot screens in EFI32-based 2006/2007 Mac Pros, except for older Mac-flashed Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT/9800 GT/GT 120 cards with EFI32 firmware.

Lastly, El Capitan has added a new graphics API called Metal that allows for much faster access to graphics card hardware. Note that only the most recent AMD (HD 7xxx "Tahiti" or newer) or Nvidia chipset (GeForce 6xx "Kepler" or newer) graphics cards fully and properly support Metal in a 2006/2007 Mac Pro.
Note also that the 2006/2007 Mac Pro has PCIe 1.1 expansion slots, with the bottom double-wide slot capable of being configured to use a maximum 2.5 GT/s link speed when configured as a x16 lane graphics slot. El Capitan's Expansion Slot Utility, located in /System/Library/Core Services, supports the 2006-2007 Mac Pro to configure the number of lanes available in each slot. PCIe 2.0/3.0 cards that can run at 5.0 GT/s link speed in 2008-2012 Mac Pros can work in 2006/2007 Mac Pros, but only with a PCIe 1.1 maximum 2.5 GT/s link speed.

None of these options are officially supported in these Mac Pros by AMD, Apple, or Nvidia, but can work with the Piker-Alpha boot loader.


iMessage/FaceTime note:

Regardless of approach used, some users cannot initially login to iMessage or FaceTime using their Apple ID from their Mac Pro after installing El Capitan as a security precaution. When trying to login, they receive an iMessage Registration validation code. The solution is to contact Apple support, provide the Mac Pro's serial number, explain that El Capitan was installed and that iMessage isn't working and provide the validation code. Apple then unblocks the Mac Pro, allowing iMessage and FaceTime login immediately and in the future without other issues.

Hey guys,

Hope this isn't a dumb question. I have Yosemite Running on my Mac Pro 1,1. What is the easiest way to upgrade it to El Capitan. I tried the building a bootable install disk, but every time I go into target disk mode I get no display. I'm guessing this a symptom of the first Yosemite hack? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Cheers,

Zach
 

cdmawolf

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2016
63
10
Hey guys,

Hope this isn't a dumb question. I have Yosemite Running on my Mac Pro 1,1. What is the easiest way to upgrade it to El Capitan. I tried the building a bootable install disk, but every time I go into target disk mode I get no display. I'm guessing this a symptom of the first Yosemite hack? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Cheers,

Zach

What model Video card do you have and what is it flashed for? Have you cleared PRAM from a shutdown a couple times?
Mine is running ElCap and sometimes it STILL will hang. Remember we are using these for an app it was never meant to handle and we have to allow for things to go wierd every once in a while.
 

warrenza

macrumors newbie
Apr 6, 2015
4
1
Richmond, VA
What model Video card do you have and what is it flashed for? Have you cleared PRAM from a shutdown a couple times?
Mine is running ElCap and sometimes it STILL will hang. Remember we are using these for an app it was never meant to handle and we have to allow for things to go wierd every once in a while.
Vidoe card:ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
Have reset PRAM
 
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Macschrauber

macrumors 68030
Dec 27, 2015
2,979
1,487
Germany
Hi folks,
maybe I solved the upgrade-to-10.11.4-on-Mac-Pro-1.1 quest:

- I installed 10.11.0 clean with an USB Stick on a supported Mac (MP3.1)
replaced the 2 boot.efi

- booted on MP1.1 and configured an user

- I ran the CapitanPikeFix_grey.pkg patch

than I went to the /usr/standalone/i386/ directory

- replaced that (old) boot.efi.capitan.pike

with the latest version I found on the github site (3.1, it has 316.416 bytes and is from Tuesday 12 April 2016 at 22:52) and renamed it to boot.efi.capitan.pike so that the script replaces it now with the 3.1 boot.efi

- ran the 10.11.4 combo update

all went smooth without any glitch and after 5 minutes or so I found myself in the login screen. I have no EFI GPU in that Mac btw.

Also after the Recovery Update 1.0 I replaced the boot.efi with 3.1 in the recovery partition. It started with Command-R after boot chime.

hth - and that it pays a little back :)

btw I have System Integrity Protection status disabled if that counts. And also I have two 512 MB Sticks in my 1.1 - plus 6 x 1GB

cheers,
Macschrauber

odd english included :)
 

passmaster16

macrumors newbie
Aug 10, 2011
11
3
Finally had the time to do a clean build out with 10.11.4 on my Mac Pro 1,1 (2,1). I had no issues whatsoever and the OS seems to run smooth on this system. Is there a script I can add that replaces the boot.efi after an update? It's a little more problematic for me since I have a PC video card so no boot screen to look at so I'd like to avoid that scenario completely if possible haha

Also thanks to everybody that has contributed to this effort. I thought I was going to have to give up this machine a long time ago but instead ran Mavericks, Yosemite and now El Capitan using this technique. 9 years later and I'm definitely playing with house money :)
 

dhboff

macrumors newbie
Jan 27, 2015
7
2
Hi Guys!!! An Avid follower, and possibly a bit of an idiot.... Been Running My MacPro 1 1 which is now a 2 1 for many years, and with excellent support like this have had the luxury of the latest OS's.

Today I looked at my MacPro and thought Yosemite to ElCapitan Time!! - So I built the pikify v8 stick on my newish MBPro, stuck it into the MacPro. Rebooted and asked the installer to update the 10.10 OS.

Right now the machine tries to boot ElCapitan, but fails and then launches Recovery Mode......

Guys sorry to ask, as I'm sure the answer is in here somewhere - what is the method to fix this? I'm not the strongest Unix Commands guy, and apologies for the question; struggling to find the answer in the 84 Page thread.

Many Thanks

B
 

Ant3000

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2015
374
46
UK
Hi Guys!!! An Avid follower, and possibly a bit of an idiot.... Been Running My MacPro 1 1 which is now a 2 1 for many years, and with excellent support like this have had the luxury of the latest OS's.

Today I looked at my MacPro and thought Yosemite to ElCapitan Time!! - So I built the pikify v8 stick on my newish MBPro, stuck it into the MacPro. Rebooted and asked the installer to update the 10.10 OS.

Right now the machine tries to boot ElCapitan, but fails and then launches Recovery Mode......

Guys sorry to ask, as I'm sure the answer is in here somewhere - what is the method to fix this? I'm not the strongest Unix Commands guy, and apologies for the question; struggling to find the answer in the 84 Page thread.

Many Thanks

B
How much RAM do you have and is any of it 512mb modules? If less than 12GB and if any 512s in there this will be a well documented problem.
 

dhboff

macrumors newbie
Jan 27, 2015
7
2
How much RAM do you have and is any of it 512mb modules? If less than 12GB and if any 512s in there this will be a well documented problem.

Thanks Ant, I did upgrade the unit a while ago - I don;t think I have any 512's and I am upto 12Gb, is there any way of checking without taking the lid off?
 

cdmawolf

macrumors member
Feb 26, 2016
63
10
Thanks Ant, I did upgrade the unit a while ago - I don;t think I have any 512's and I am upto 12Gb, is there any way of checking without taking the lid off?

Go to "About this Mac" then click the Memory tab. It will show the memory slots and what is in them.
 

rthpjm

macrumors 6502a
Jan 31, 2011
720
309
U.K.
Err slight problem the macpro 1,1 doesnt boot from usb you must have another os lion and then restore the el capitan image to a 2nd hdd or in firewire mode transfer the data
Sorry nightmare111 but you are exactly wrong.
MacPro's can boot from USB keys, I boot my 2,1 (formerly 1,1) from USB keys all the time!
Of course they need to be built properly (see my posts on page 56 post #1390).

If you only have access to the one Mac, and it is a MacPro 1,1 or 2,1 the USB key is the only method that is going to help you get El Capitan installed.

If you do have access to more than one Mac, then there are other ways. See post #1
 
Last edited:

dhboff

macrumors newbie
Jan 27, 2015
7
2
Sorry nightmare111 but you are exactly wrong.
MacPro's can boot from USB keys, I boot my 2,1 (formerly 1,1) from USB keys all the time!

Exactly right - I built the USB Boot key for my 1.1 this afternoon, and it built the machine from the key. These machines boot perfectly from USB
 
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rthpjm

macrumors 6502a
Jan 31, 2011
720
309
U.K.
Exactly right - I built the USB Boot key for my 1.1 this afternoon, and it built the machine from the key. These machines boot perfectly from USB
Hi dhboff,

Did you boot off the USB key? It will go straight into the Installer (looks a bit like recovery but isn't).
If the installer ran (with your input), did it run to completion?

If you can get access to the disk, the installer log file can be found at /var/log/install.log. If you can get to it, then post it here and I'll take a look at it for you.....
 

dhboff

macrumors newbie
Jan 27, 2015
7
2
Hi dhboff,

Did you boot off the USB key? It will go straight into the Installer (looks a bit like recovery but isn't).
If the installer ran (with your input), did it run to completion?

If you can get access to the disk, the installer log file can be found at /var/log/install.log. If you can get to it, then post it here and I'll take a look at it for you.....

Wicked.
[doublepost=1460740691][/doublepost]

I think it did run to completion. I think being the key point.
 

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  • Installer Log 15-Apr-2016.txt
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rthpjm

macrumors 6502a
Jan 31, 2011
720
309
U.K.
Wicked.
[doublepost=1460740691][/doublepost]

I think it did run to completion. I think being the key point.

Your log file does not show me what I expected to see. It does not look like a typical install log from a "pikify" USB key install. So it's either been overwritten by another installer run or we need to make sure you are following the steps correctly (no offence intended, it's just hard to know when using forum boards)

1. Perform a backup (if you didn't already do that)
2. Boot into the USB key (installer), reboot, hold the ALT key down immediately on hearing the boot chime, select the Install OS X El Capitan partition
3. It should boot into the installer environment, you may get the language chooser, or you may see the Install window
4. Work through the install
5. When the install completes you may need to hit the reboot button.

Assumptions:
A. You are using a pikify built USB key
B. Your graphics card shows boot screens (my flashed 5770 does!)
C. When you created the USB key you are using a (very) recent copy of Install OS X El Capitan App downloaded from the Mac App Store (if you have the latest copy it will already be 10.11.4, no need for update after the install)

Good luck
 

nightmare111

macrumors newbie
Apr 12, 2016
5
0
Milkyway
Your log file does not show me what I expected to see. It does not look like a typical install log from a "pikify" USB key install. So it's either been overwritten by another installer run or we need to make sure you are following the steps correctly (no offence intended, it's just hard to know when using forum boards)

1. Perform a backup (if you didn't already do that)
2. Boot into the USB key (installer), reboot, hold the ALT key down immediately on hearing the boot chime, select the Install OS X El Capitan partition
3. It should boot into the installer environment, you may get the language chooser, or you may see the Install window
4. Work through the install
5. When the install completes you may need to hit the reboot button.

Assumptions:
A. You are using a pikify built USB key
B. Your graphics card shows boot screens (my flashed 5770 does!)
C. When you created the USB key you are using a (very) recent copy of Install OS X El Capitan App downloaded from the Mac App Store (if you have the latest copy it will already be 10.11.4, no need for update after the install)

Good luck
i created a pikify usb boot with the 10.11.4 from the app store but didn't manage to boot from it, but i used pikify boot files on a restore and it worked fine even the restore partition
 

ls2025

macrumors newbie
Apr 18, 2016
1
0
2. Right-click on the downloaded El Capitan Installer app and click show package contents.
3. Browse to the folder /Contents/SharedSupport.
4. Double-click to mount “InstallESD.dmg”.
5. Open up Disk Utility and drag BaseSystem.dmg to the side bar (in Disk Utility).
6. Click on BaseSystem.dmg in Disk Utility and select the Restore tab.
7. Set the BaseSystem.dmg as the source and choose the thumb drive or the 8GB internal blank partition (formatted as HFS+) as the destination.
8. Restore the image to that destination.
9. If you so desire, rename the thumb drive or the internal partition. For instance, I named mine “Install”.
10. Use the Finder to browse the newly restored installer. Go to the folder /System/Installation on the installer and delete the “Packages” alias file.
11. Go back to the mounted InstallESD.dmg and drag the “Packages” folder to the installer into the /System/Installation folder where the alias file used to be.
12. Copy the “BaseSystem.dmg” and “BaseSystem.chunklist” files to the root of the installer.
13. On the installer, go to /System/Installation/Packages/ and right-click on Essentials.pkg. Open it with Pacifist. Within Pacifist, navigate to /System/Library/Kernels/. There you will see a file named “kernel”.
14. Using the Finder, on the installer, create a folder named “Kernels” [without the quotation marks] in /System/Library/ and open the new folder.
15. Drag the “kernel” file from Pacifist to the Finder window where the “Kernels” folder is open.

Modification of the generic stand-alone El Capitan installer so that it will run on an old Mac Pro

1. Using the Finder, on the installer, navigate to System/Installation/Packages.
2. Right-click OSInstall.mpkg and open it with the Flat Package Editor.
3. Click and drag the “Distribution” file to your desktop and then open that using the text editor.
4. Scroll down a little bit until you see “var platformSupportValues=[...” [without the quotation marks]. That is followed by a bunch of board ID. For the Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 you will need to add "Mac-F4208DC8","Mac-F4208DA9" [it is imperative that such ID be surrounded by non-curly quotation marks]. Add them to the beginning of the list. You can copy the following line, including the last comma (without the carriage return that follows it), and then paste it to “Distribution”:
"Mac-F4208DC8","Mac-F4208DA9",
5. Save the edited Distribution file.
6. In the Flat Package Editor window, with the Distribution file highlighted, click Delete.
7. Now drag the edited Distribution file into the window and save the package file.
8. Also in the Packages folder you will need to modify the InstallableMachines.plist file with the same to above board ID again following the syntax.
9. You have to modify the PlatformSupport.plist located in the System/Library/CoreServices folder, again adding the two board IDs in the correct syntax.
10. And now we come to the most crucial part: including Pike’s boot.efi on the installer. For this, replace the boot.efi files located in System/Library/CoreServices and usr/standalone/i386 with Pike’s boot.efi that you previously downloaded as indicated earlier.
11. Finally, replace the bootbase.efi file located in System/Library/CoreServices with Pike’s bootbase.efi that you previously downloaded as indicated earlier.

Installation of El Capitan on an old Mac Pro using the modified installer

1. Boot from the installer by holding option after the boot chime
IMG_0295.JPG
 

rthpjm

macrumors 6502a
Jan 31, 2011
720
309
U.K.
1. Boot from the installer by holding option after the boot chime
View attachment 627526

Hello ls2025,

Take a look at the posts above, my post #2092 contains links to a method of building the USB key.
The directions you are following are a little out of date, they can work, but you will have to get everything correct otherwise it will not boot, as you have experienced!
 
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