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

[EpiV1988]

I was doing the changes on the drive using the image I restored from the description of that video. On my newer mac I was replacing the boot.efi and booting it on the Mac Pro. I'm doing the changes on another mac, but I'm not cloning the install. I've just got a sata to usb adapter hooked up to modify restore the image and change the boot.efi's.

That is a very good point. I'm going to try the pikify installer in a few minutes and report back.

I am able to download it on my 2012 Unibody MacBook Pro. I do still want to future-proof the system though.

 

[EpiV1988]

When trying the Pikify'd usb installer, It goes through the efi screen and the bar goes half way and all goes to a white screen. I don't know if this means the installer is broken or not. I DID WAIT TILL I SAW THE MESSAGE SAYING IT FINISHED. I've been staring at the white screen for little more than 5 minutes.

 

[rthpjm]

When trying the Pikify'd usb installer, It goes through the efi screen and the bar goes half way and all goes to a white screen. I don't know if this means the installer is broken or not. I DID WAIT TILL I SAW THE MESSAGE SAYING IT FINISHED. I've been staring at the white screen for little more than 5 minutes.

Hello EpiV1988

Can I check with you the following:
1. You built a pikify3.1 USB stick as your installer? It looks like you did, and you even waited patiently for it to finish building - but I'm just checking...
2. You rebooted your MacPro with the USB stick attached, held down the ALT key after the chime to enter the boot selector?
3. You selected the 'Install Mac OS X El Capitan' volume (with the USB orange disk icon) to boot from?

If you answer yes to all those, try this
a. Reboot - hold ALT-APPLE-P-R after the chime, wait for the second chime
b. Hold ALT to enter the boot selector
c. try again with the USB stick....

 

[cdmawolf]

Hello EpiV1988

Can I check with you the following:
1. You built a pikify3.1 USB stick as your installer? It looks like you did, and you even waited patiently for it to finish building - but I'm just checking...
2. You rebooted your MacPro with the USB stick attached, held down the ALT key after the chime to enter the boot selector?
3. You selected the 'Install Mac OS X El Capitan' volume (with the USB orange disk icon) to boot from?

If you answer yes to all those, try this
a. Reboot - hold ALT-APPLE-P-R after the chime, wait for the second chime
b. Hold ALT to enter the boot selector
c. try again with the USB stick....

Won't he have to re-Bless the USB Stick?

 

[rthpjm]

Won't he have to re-Bless the USB Stick?

Not unless s/he ran a successful install from the USB stick.

One of the last things the Apple Install Assistant (IA) does is to bless the install media. If you don't get to the end of the install then the USB stick will still be blessed with the IA folder/file

 

[EpiV1988]

Hello EpiV1988

Can I check with you the following:
1. You built a pikify3.1 USB stick as your installer? It looks like you did, and you even waited patiently for it to finish building - but I'm just checking...
2. You rebooted your MacPro with the USB stick attached, held down the ALT key after the chime to enter the boot selector?
3. You selected the 'Install Mac OS X El Capitan' volume (with the USB orange disk icon) to boot from?

If you answer yes to all those, try this
a. Reboot - hold ALT-APPLE-P-R after the chime, wait for the second chime
b. Hold ALT to enter the boot selector
c. try again with the USB stick....

Hello, I'll have to mess with the machine later tonight, but I answered yes to all of the 3 questions. before I left the machine, however, I created a partition on one of my disks and reran pikify 3.1 v8 from the machine itself instead of my other mac. I contemplated that maybe my drive wasn't moving fast enough too and that using a partition on the inside might work fast enough or even just work to get to the installer screen in general. (I'm a HE, I appreciate the help and also your political correctness, haha.)

 

[rthpjm]

Hello, I'll have to mess with the machine later tonight, but I answered yes to all of the 3 questions. before I left the machine, however, I created a partition on one of my disks and reran pikify 3.1 v8 from the machine itself instead of my other mac. I contemplated that maybe my drive wasn't moving fast enough too and that using a partition on the inside might work fast enough or even just work to get to the installer screen in general. (I'm a HE, I appreciate the help and also your political correctness, haha.)

Everyone,

Some users have reported that after building a pikify3.1 USB memory stick (see post #1390), they cannot boot their MacPro from it. Typical symptoms are that when rebooting, hold the ALT key immediately after the chime, enter the boot selector, choose the USB memory stick to boot from, yet the system then boots to the main OS from the hard disk(s), or the screen is blank (possibly showing the folder with a question mark).

I have replicated this on my machine. Here is what works for me....

After you build your pikify3.1 USB memory stick, but before you attempt to boot from it, try ejecting it, physically unplug it, wait a few seconds, then re-plug it in allowing it to mount. Then reboot the MacPro, hold ALT at the chime, select the USB memory stick to boot from. Cross your fingers, say a small prayer or some magic incantation.

Doing this seems to work for me. I think the important thing is to physically remove (power down) the device. It's a good old fashioned hardware restart.

 

[EpiV1988]

My install succeeded! Mostly..

I've regained Bluetooth. BUT still have lost wireless, and my USB drives are not initializing. I have mouse and keyboard unless I unplug them and replug them, then they are gone. Only drives attached at startup are seen, BUT they do not mount anywhere.

I may attempt a reinstall tomorrow just to double check.

 

[rthpjm]

My install succeeded! Mostly..

I've regained Bluetooth. BUT still have lost wireless, and my USB drives are not initializing. I have mouse and keyboard unless I unplug them and replug them, then they are gone. Only drives attached at startup are seen, BUT they do not mount anywhere.

I may attempt a reinstall tomorrow just to double check.

Hello EpiV1988,

Your original installation method relies on a image of someone else's hard disk. Your issue with USB "could" arise from that. The hard disk image may have been "customised" before it was distributed. We know that older MacBooks and MacMinis for example have problems with USB. There's a thread on these forums dedicated to those models for exactly that reason. If that disk image you started with was taken from one of those MacBooks or MacMinis, then it's possible that it contains the modifications to kernel extensions designed to overcome those known USB issues. Those modifications are not required for a MacPro.

Watching the video closely, I have a suspicion that the originator is building a Hackintosh, not a MacPro, again there may be mods for that particular make/model of PC.

I know this is all speculation. There may be other factors involved.

Your MacPro configuration is good enough to take a direct installation. I would recommend you do that. Page 56, post #1390....

P.S. The 12Gb RAM limitation only applies to this "pikify3.1" installation method.
If you connect your hard drive to a supported Mac and install from there, then I think the minimum requirement is now 4Gb.

Once you are installed, the minimum memory recommendation is around 4Gb, but from personal experience the more RAM you have the better it is for day-to-day operation...

 

[EpiV1988]

Hello EpiV1988,

Your original installation method relies on a image of someone else's hard disk. Your issue with USB "could" arise from that. The hard disk image may have been "customised" before it was distributed. We know that older MacBooks and MacMinis for example have problems with USB. There's a thread on these forums dedicated to those models for exactly that reason. If that disk image you started with was taken from one of those MacBooks or MacMinis, then it's possible that it contains the modifications to kernel extensions designed to overcome those known USB issues. Those modifications are not required for a MacPro.

Watching the video closely, I have a suspicion that the originator is building a Hackintosh, not a MacPro, again there may be mods for that particular make/model of PC.

I know this is all speculation. There may be other factors involved.

Your MacPro configuration is good enough to take a direct installation. I would recommend you do that. Page 56, post #1390....

P.S. The 12Gb RAM limitation only applies to this "pikify3.1" installation method.
If you connect your hard drive to a supported Mac and install from there, then I think the minimum requirement is now 4Gb.

Once you are installed, the minimum memory recommendation is around 4Gb, but from personal experience the more RAM you have the better it is for day-to-day operation...

I did install fresh from pikify. ORIGINALLY I tried using the premade dmg. But that didn't work. I'm attempting a fresh clean install for the second time now with a triple wiped partition and pikify partition

If I'm installing past this point I'm using pikify, and that dmg is garbage.

 

[EpiV1988]

Upon a fresh install from pikify (which seemed to work a lot faster this round to make and install the modified installer) I still have lost Bluetooth, wireless, and USB. This is just from a downloaded from app store el cap and the pikify3.1v8 folder on a fresh partition. Everything else seems to work.

 

[rthpjm]

Upon a fresh install from pikify (which seemed to work a lot faster this round to make and install the modified installer) I still have lost Bluetooth, wireless, and USB. This is just from a downloaded from app store el cap and the pikify3.1v8 folder on a fresh partition. Everything else seems to work.

Well that's really weird.
Have you got any third party components installed?
Is your wi-fi/bluetooth module an original?

You could try a PRAM reset, and an SMC reset....

 

[Ant3000]

Can you boot back into Yosemite or an earlier OS and confirm the "broken" items are working OK under that?

 

[spin498]

Is Apple actively trying to thwart all these efforts to upgrade? Or am I imagining things? My 10.11.3 install kept telling me there was an update, first the 11.4 and then 11.5. Since I couldn't get 11.4 to work I just ignored the updates (after reinstall back to 11.3. Yesterday I was rebooting the system and didn't notice that Apple was now telling me it was going to update to 11.5 unless I specifically stopped it. I didn't realize in time and it installed the update, which, with 11.4 bricked my system.

I pulled the drive and plugged it into my iMac running 11.5 and tried the replace boot.efi routine. However, when I went to install the boot.efi into standalone/i386 folder, Finder said no such folder existed. I manually searched and used EasyFinder app to search and I still can't find the folder on my system.

 

[owbp]

However, when I went to install the boot.efi into standalone/i386 folder, Finder said no such folder existed. I manually searched and used EasyFinder app to search and I still can't find the folder on my system.

Still there and hidden, as always.

 

[EpiV1988]

@rthpjm listed my hardware earlier, but it is all original. The airport card did come from a macbook pro 1,1 though. Bluetooth came with the machine when I purchased it from eBay. Next time I'm at the machine I will reset both pram and smc. Last install did nothing when I did both last night though. It may do the same. Would it be possible to get an 11.0 installer then if it works right just upgrade by .1?

Also, @Ant3000 I have my lion install where all of it works, but I haven't done anything for Yosemite or Mavericks. I figured I didn't need to if I can run el capitan.

 

[Ant3000]

This offers further steps if SMC reset doesn't work...
http://www.igeeksblog.com/fix-bluetooth-not-available-error-mac/

I wouldn't assume the problematic hardware items are original if it is a second hand machine - they probably are, but there is a degree of doubt as to what may have been used.
FWIW I don't have built in BT but have a cheap dongle that seems to work just as well now as before, although it does stop the Mac form sleeping if I have it turned on.

 

[spin498]

Still there and hidden, as always.
View attachment 634513

Yeah, my bad, was looking in the wrong place. Getting a bit frustrated with this.

 

[drkheure]

I installed 32 gigs memory now. And the previously worked on copy off el capitan booted fine. Will have to replace the boot.efi files after upgrade last evening.

I am a bit annoyed that the fans run louder with more memory installed. I even hear the difference on windows.
Is this expected behaviour ? It's not like the fans run louder after a while, its immediately after booting.

Now I would like to get airdrop working on it. It has no bluetooth or wifi. Any suggestions ? Do I need a pci card for this or is there a usb dongle that has both and can handle airdrop ? That way I could also use it on my mid 2010 macbookpro.

The RAM has these metal plates on them, but they are not like the black heat sinks.
I didn't know smc fan control was still around. I'll have a look for it.

 

[Ant3000]

Did you use the RAM with big heatsinks? Although if it does this from cold it may not be heat causing the fans to ramp up. You can check temps and mod fan speed with SMC fan control.
Maybe reset the SMC and PRAM first?

 

[owbp]

I recently added 8 more gigabytes of Samsung RAM and my fans (CPU and Exhaust) are up by 150rpm always. Also, these Samsung sticks with smaller heat sinks have temperature sensors on them, Kingston with big sinks never showed temps.
The only thing that is annoying is that now my Mac ramps up those two fans for a minute every time it wakes from sleep. Never on boot or reboot and it isn't associated with 10.11, it does the same in 10.8 too.

 

[rthpjm]

I recently added 8 more gigabytes of Samsung RAM and my fans (CPU and Exhaust) are up by 150rpm always. Also, these Samsung sticks with smaller heat sinks have temperature sensors on them, Kingston with big sinks never showed temps.
The only thing that is annoying is that now my Mac ramps up those two fans for a minute every time it wakes from sleep. Never on boot or reboot and it isn't associated with 10.11, it does the same in 10.8 too.

I get fan increase in speed on wake-from-sleep, but after approx 1 minute they ramp down to "normal" (I can't hear them)

 

[redheeler]

I recently added 8 more gigabytes of Samsung RAM and my fans (CPU and Exhaust) are up by 150rpm always. Also, these Samsung sticks with smaller heat sinks have temperature sensors on them, Kingston with big sinks never showed temps.
The only thing that is annoying is that now my Mac ramps up those two fans for a minute every time it wakes from sleep. Never on boot or reboot and it isn't associated with 10.11, it does the same in 10.8 too.

Mine has been ramping the fans after sleep too. I didn't really know if it was normal or caused by one of the upgrades but the RAM definitely makes sense. All the DIMMs in mine have large heat sinks, but only two are Apple-branded (it was a new old stock 2x2 GB upgrade for the 2006 Mac Pro).

 

[rthpjm]

So I decided to make a video....

I used my iPhone for the second half, apologies for the moire patterns.

I decided to start from my MacPro running 10.7.x Lion, since this is the last officially supported version.
The only difficulty for people is to get hold of a copy of Apple's "Install Mac OS X El Capitan" app. I recommend using a newer "supported" Mac and then copying it to the MacPro....

One of the steps in the video shows me formatting my hard disk drive, do not do this step if you have data on your hard disk (unless you have a backup and are prepared to wipe the drive)

 

[drkheure]

I get fan increase in speed on wake-from-sleep, but after approx 1 minute they ramp down to "normal" (I can't hear them)

After sleep on mine the fans come up on full speed for a small minute or so.
I suppose the ram chips are still powered during sleep and get kinda warm........
Would it be better to not use sleep and always shutdown, or leave running ? or can these ram chips handle a bit off warmth ?
During normal operation fans are a bit louder than normal. ( before ram upgrade )
gonna look for smc fan control now