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

[creepyTowel]

Good question! I did, but I normally leave it switched to the original BIOS (it's a PC Gigabyte 7950 with switchable BIOS) because I find it more stable. For example, some games (like Tomb Raider) are crash city using the EFI flashed BIOS but rock-steady on the non-EFI one.

Of course, it could be that I didn't flash it properly, but I don't have ready access to a "real" PC to try it again.

Which raises another good question -- what's the best combination of tools to get Boot Camp to work properly on a Mac Pro 1,1 with El Capitan? I just can't seem to get it to work.

 

[owbp]

Aha, ok, thanks for answering.
We have the same card (mine is v2) but i haven't tried any games in OS X, it is rock solid in Final Cut and in games in Windows with EFI bios. You can send me (or attach) you original BIOS or EFI you made to compare it with mine if you like. Or i could try Tomb Raider on my MP as soon as i get some time.

What windows would you like to run?
I'm now using 10 but have to unplug mouse every time it boots in different port to work and can't let it sleep (wont wake).
Started installation on another PC (old Core2Duo Dell Optiplex) and on the first reboot took out HDD, put it in Mac and let it finish installation. Then installed Bootcamp Support drivers for Win 7 and then newest drivers for Win 10 (downloaded it from this forum).

Win 7 is, IMO, much better still (more stable), and you can look here for step by step how i did it.

P.S. I did all my flashing in Bootcamp.

 

[pgrif]

Aha, ok, thanks for answering.
We have the same card (mine is v2) but i haven't tried any games in OS X, it is rock solid in Final Cut and in games in Windows with EFI bios. You can send me (or attach) you original BIOS or EFI you made to compare it with mine if you like. Or i could try Tomb Raider on my MP as soon as i get some time.

What windows would you like to run?
I'm now using 10 but have to unplug mouse every time it boots in different port to work and can't let it sleep (wont wake).
Started installation on another PC (old Core2Duo Dell Optiplex) and on the first reboot took out HDD, put it in Mac and let it finish installation. Then installed Bootcamp Support drivers for Win 7 and then newest drivers for Win 10 (downloaded it from this forum).

Win 7 is, IMO, much better still (more stable), and you can look here for step by step how i did it.

P.S. I did all my flashing in Bootcamp.

Where exactly did you find Windows 10 drivers? Thank you.

 

[creepyTowel]

Thanks @owbp for the pointers, but I just think it's too much trouble to flash the card, only then to delete the partition after it's flashed, especially as the "native" BIOS on the card works fine, including OpenCL and (I think) Metal. I can live without the Apple logo startup screen.

It's a pity none of the old flash-BIOS-on-a-Mac tools now work. That would be just perfect.

Peter.

 

[goodfidelity]

I previously did run el captain on my Mac Pro but uninstalled it after i understood that the install would fail after each update. I am now running 10.7.

Has there been any progress on this, so that one can run Capitain and still use the built in update feature of OSX and not need to do the boot.efi swap every time?

Thanks!

 

[owbp]

@creepyTowel , No problem, I was thinking that you need Bootcamp for other things (games) and then it's just two more minutes for flashing, no need to install it just for that.

@goodfidelity , There is a script with instruction in post #1391 on how to survive updates.
Btw, boot.efi was just overwritten in 10.11.4 update, so maybe we're safe with 10.11.5 one...

 

[Ant3000]

I had previously installed El Cap 10.11.1 using rthpjm's script followed by Boot64 and updated up to 10.11.4 without issue. I have just done a clean install onto a SSD from a freshly made USB installer (original wouldn't work a second time) using a new download of 10.11.4 from the MAS. All went pretty smoothly but even with Boot64 it still seems to show the boot.efi files as protected - I also ran the Terminal commands fix from post 1484 but still get "operation not permitted" when running touch /System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi.

Checking my original install of El Cap 11.4 I get the same message. So can it be assumed that 10.11.4 has stopped Boot64 working or have I missed something? This isn't a big issue but thought I would try to sort sooner than later but won't really make any difference until the next update I guess.

UPDATE: I think I had not installed Boot64 correctly - having redone this I have successfully updated to 10.11.5

Thanks again for all who have added to this thread - your help is really appreciated.

 

[owbp]

Just guessing, but have you disabled SIP?
Type csrutil status in Terminal to check for yourself. I cannot boot into Recovery HD but if you can you can disable it with crsutil disable. If you check previous pages you'll see that SIP gets more aggressive with every update.

 

[Ant3000]

Hi, yes, I followed the instructions to disable and re-enable at post 1484 - booting into Recovery. I guess I could disable SIP altogether but perhaps better to leave it enabled. I assumed the Terminal commands prevented SIP from protecting the boot.efi files but wasn't sure if this was true for the latest version of ElCap.

 

[spin498]

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

Have you tried this?

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201663

Or this if you can't get into the system to change the preferences?


Keyboard command, at startup hold down the C key and it should give you a menu with bootable disks. Start up from a bootable CD, DVD, or USB thumb drive (such as OS X install media).

If you can't see the USB in either of these options your USB is not bootable.

 

[owbp]

Hi, yes, I followed the instructions to disable and re-enable at post 1484 - booting into Recovery. I guess I could disable SIP altogether but perhaps better to leave it enabled. I assumed the Terminal commands prevented SIP from protecting the boot.efi files but wasn't sure if this was true for the latest version of ElCap.

AFAIK you cannot touch or do any "system caches rebuild" commands with SIP enabled.

While on the topic this is what i get when trying to boot into Recovery HD, endless crashes of "Too many corpses being created". It doesn't stop (I've waited for 15 minutes) just continuously lists those screens.



Any idea what does it mean?

 

[creativelyadept]

Okay, so I used pikify's installer script to create a bootable USB installer. I pulled the HDD from my Mac Pro 1,1 that has 10.9 installed so there wouldn't be any conflicts and I could make sure I didn't mess up anything there. I inserted a freshly formatted SSD to install El Capitan to and then plugged in the USB installer and managed to boot up into it.

Started the install process it seemed to go rather slowly. After a while it restarted and from what I can tell, it booted into the Recovery Partition. Shows the screen with 4 options, Restore from, Reinstall a new Copy, Get Help and Disk Utility.

Seems that's all I can get it to boot into now.

Any ideas?

 

[Ant3000]

Okay, so I used pikify's installer script to create a bootable USB installer. I pulled the HDD from my Mac Pro 1,1 that has 10.9 installed so there wouldn't be any conflicts and I could make sure I didn't mess up anything there. I inserted a freshly formatted SSD to install El Capitan to and then plugged in the USB installer and managed to boot up into it.

Started the install process it seemed to go rather slowly. After a while it restarted and from what I can tell, it booted into the Recovery Partition. Shows the screen with 4 options, Restore from, Reinstall a new Copy, Get Help and Disk Utility.

Seems that's all I can get it to boot into now.

Any ideas?

I had a similar thing happen - the install is quite a lengthy process as the installer is 6gb. Have you tried restarting holding down ALT and then selecting the new El Cap HD (if available)?

 

[creativelyadept]

I had a similar thing happen - the install is quite a lengthy process as the installer is 6gb. Have you tried restarting holding down ALT and then selecting the new El Cap HD (if available)?

Vid card I have installed is one of the ones that I can't see anything prior to the OS booting up, so I'm kind of guessing which one I boot from when I hold down ALT. As far as I can tell, the install didn't work properly because the SSD only seems to have like 6GB or 7GB on it.

Also, I can't get it to boot into the USB installer unless I pull the SSD.

As far as I can tell, something goes sour after the first boot into the Installer USB and I start the install process.


Seems to me like the Installer USB boots up fine, but something goes wrong during the install process that only results in the creation of the Recovery Partition, but doesn't result in a working El Cap HD.



Thoughts?

 

[Ant3000]

With some cards it is possible to connect a VGA monitor to see the boot screen. Or do you have another supported Mac you can use to connect in Target Disk mode?
Did you create the installer with the Pikify script from rthpjm? Not clear what you mean by 'the installer boots up fine' or why removing the ssd will affect the install.
Can you replace the old HD and boot from that and then see if you can select the ssd as the boot drive from system preferences? This will show if it contains ElCap.

 

[creativelyadept]

With some cards it is possible to connect a VGA monitor to see the boot screen. Or do you have another supported Mac you can use to connect in Target Disk mode?
Did you create the installer with the Pikify script from rthpjm? Not clear what you mean by 'the installer boots up fine' or why removing the ssd will affect the install.
Can you replace the old HD and boot from that and then see if you can select the ssd as the boot drive from system preferences? This will show if it contains ElCap.

Using a VGA cable connected to to either DVI via an adapter or to the VGA port doesn't show the boot screen with the card I have sadly.

I do have another Mac, or two, actually... 3 of them... MBP, MB, Mac Mini are all running El Capitan. Never done a Targeted Disk mode before but might try that if all else fails.

I did create the installer using the script from rthpjm. And I am able to boot from the USB it created.

What I mean about removing the SSD is that when it is freshly formatted — as in empty — I can boot from the USB Installer and start the install process. However, after that install process is done, I can no longer get it to boot from the USB or into El Cap — only the Recovery. If I remove the SSD, I can boot into the USB again. If I wipe the SSD I can then boot into the USB again and start the install process again.


I'm going to wipe the SSD and then try the install again, and if it doesn't work, I'll boot from my old 10.9 HDD with the SSD still attached to see if El Cap actually ended up on there — and to see if I can select it as the Startup Disk.

I'll report back in after we see what little squirt does.


In the mean time, and thoughts?

 

[Ant3000]

It may be the way you phrased it but the USB installer created with the script is just a way to install ElCap, it doesn't boot into it as such. I had created an installer some months ago and used it as a test but it wouldn't work a second time, so I created a new installer and it worked well onto a fresh SSD.
If you install via TD mode you can install with MAS installer and then change the boot efi files manually. There is a video by rthpjm with good instructions a few pages back.
Some failed installs have been due to dodgy installers from Apple - perhaps being damaged in the download process. Maybe worth redownloading and building the installer again? Did you mention how much RAM you have? 12gb with no 512mb sticks seems to be necessary but you can use less if installing with TD mode but you are still advised to remove the 512s. Good luck.
[doublepost=1462142208][/doublepost]

I previously did run el captain on my Mac Pro but uninstalled it after i understood that the install would fail after each update. I am now running 10.7.

Has there been any progress on this, so that one can run Capitain and still use the built in update feature of OSX and not need to do the boot.efi swap every time?

Thanks!

There will perhaps always be a degree of tinkering needed to get the latest version of the OS on a 10 year old Mac. But if don't wish to keep doing this you don't have to update. But you may be better being stuck at 10.11.4 rather than stuck at 10.7. There is loads of help on here to do either.

 

[creativelyadept]

Did you mention how much RAM you have? 12gb with no 512mb sticks seems to be necessary but you can use less if installing with TD mode but you are still advised to remove the 512s. Good luck.

Oi. Sonnoffabiii... Erm. Theres our problem probably.

I have, 7GB installed. 2x2GB, 2x1GB and 2x512MB.



I've been meaning to order up some more RAM for eet... Guess now's the time.

 

[Ant3000]

Oi. Sonnoffabiii... Erm. Theres our problem probably.

I have, 7GB installed. 2x2GB, 2x1GB and 2x512MB.



I've been meaning to order up some more RAM for eet... Guess now's the time.

Sounds like it could be the issue. I bought 32gb on eBay for around £135 with the big heat sinks. If you use Target Disk the extra RAM isn't essential though, I believe.

 

[macprobuffalo]

Just installed 10.11 without a hitch. Thanks for the great work everyone!

Type of installation: Upgrade from OS X 10.10
Installation Location: Striped RAID Array (RAID0 boot disk made with disk utility)
Installer Location: Internal HD
GPU: PC ATI 5770 with no boot screens
RAM: 32GB

Notes:
1. Selecting the correct startup volume without boot screens is trial and error obviously.
2. After the installation finished I had to shutdown the machine and remove the HD with the installer to get the mac to boot from the newly installed El Captain RAID volume.
3. Running the installer from a HD allowed the entire install process to complete in about 20min

 

[ewheat]

Hi ewheat,

You appear to be mixing and matching I think you have just double-clicked the installer app from the USB key whilst booted into the MBP. Sorry, that will not work, as you have discovered.

You have two options:

1. Install from the MacPro
   • connect your SSD to the MacPro, preferably in an internal bay
   • connect your pikify created USB key to the MacPro
   • reboot, hold the ALT key when you hear the chime
   • Select the USB key (Install OS X El Capitan) to boot from
   • (I'm assuming your Radeon 280x will show you the EFI boot screen)
2. Install from your MBP
   • connect your SSD to the MBP
   • There is no need to use to use a pikify created USB key. Just use an unmodified Install OS X El Capitan app (from your MBP).
   • Once the install has finished you will need to manually replace the /Volumes/[SSD]/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi and /Volumes/[SSD]/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi files. Do this from the MBP whilst the SSD is still connected.
   • Move the SSD to your MacPro, check that it boots
   • I recommend you also fix the Recovery HD partition on the SSD. (See above)

I would recommend option 1 because it "just works". There is no need for manual intervention after the install, you will have a working El Capitan installation, and a working Recovery HD. Option 2 means you have to perform the fix-ups yourself after the install completes.

==== edit ====

You could try a variant of option 1.

I don't know if it will work, because your MBP is a 64-bit EFI machine, and the USB key has a 32-bit hybrid Pike efi file, I'm unsure if your MBP will boot from the USB key. Hey give it a try and let me know

• connect your SSD to the MBP
• connect your pikify created USB key to the MBP
• reboot, hold the ALT key when you hear the chime
• Select the USB key (Install OS X El Capitan) to boot from

I have been out of town for awhile so haven't had a chance to respond but I really appreciate the help and all the work you guys have put in.

Option 1 variant- I tried booting on the MBP from USB. It shows up as an option but when clicked I boot normally.

I finally figured out why I couldn't boot usb on Mac Pro (broken option/alt key). Felt a little dumb about that.

So on the Mac Pro now I can get to the boot screen and I select the pikified installer usb.
The progress bar starts working and gets to about 3/4 of the way and the apple and bar disappear. I have let it sit for awhile, pressed keys, removed the 10.6.8 boot ssd (so only clean ssd and installer usb in). I thought other people had this problem but it was tied to RAM? I should be good in that sense.

 

[Ant3000]

Hi, your original post showed the installer being reported as damaged - have you downloaded a fresh copy of 10.11.4 and created the installer again? You may have to delete any copies already downloaded or the MAS just sits there doing nothing after you click download. I assume at leat 12gb RAM and no 512s?

 

[ewheat]

Hi, your original post showed the installer being reported as damaged - have you downloaded a fresh copy of 10.11.4 and created the installer again? You may have to delete any copies already downloaded or the MAS just sits there doing nothing after you click download. I assume at leat 12gb RAM and no 512s?

Yea that was my mistake trying to double click the installer while on my MBP. I have since found why I couldn't boot from USB on MacPro (me being dumb, broken key).
32 gb RAM no 512s
I did do the firmware update so I could see my upgraded processors identified correctly (1,1 to 2,1).
Running r9 280x that shows boot screens.
I am going to regular install from MBP then manually edit files and see where that gets me.
It would be interesting to find out where I am going wrong though.

 

[Ant3000]

I have similar set-up to you - upgraded processors and firmware to show as a 2.1. I have installed El Cap twice using the same process - yesterday onto a new SSD. It could still be a dodgy copy of the installer - this has happened to others and downloading again would help to rule it out as a problem.

 

[ewheat]

I have similar set-up to you - upgraded processors and firmware to show as a 2.1. I have installed El Cap twice using the same process - yesterday onto a new SSD. It could still be a dodgy copy of the installer - this has happened to others and downloading again would help to rule it out as a problem.

Ok I am re-downloading and will let you know in a few hours if it works.