Resolved 2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X Yosemite

[Wayne B]

I finally got up the courage to use the patched Yosemite image to update my 1.1 (updated to 2.1 with 3Ghz Quad core Xeons) Mac Pro. It took about 4 goes with 2 different USB's.
At first I tried unzipping on a Windows machine but got the message every time that the image was corrupt. If this happens to you, copy the .dmg file onto a USB then unzip it with your Mac. This worked for me anyway.
My X1900 video card was almost too hot to touch in the install process and I got a black screen several times. I had taken the side cover off the Mac, thinking it would run cooler but this was mistake on my part. When I put it back on, the cooling channels worked better and it ran the install right through.

Now, it is new Video card time as I barely get any response from the old X1900 card...it now has about 8Mb of video RAM according to system report!

What card do you guys recommend? Another issue is that in Yosemite I get 12Gb RAM reported, but when I boot it into Lion (I kept my old install on another HDD) it says 2Gb???? It's all non-Apple RAM to keep the cost down. So far I have spent less than $100 on the whole thing, including the Mac Pro and new Xeons. It flies along in 32 bit mode with Lion.
Thanks for all the advice and help you guys have given newbies like me.....

UPDATE: I installed an unflashed HD 5770 and it works great! I'm not game to flash it at this stage...

 

[VCMSound]

None of these methods seem to work for me. I've tried the Piker-Alpha Yosemite installer, the SFOTT installer build, the MacPostFactor–this one actually completed an installation–and Hennsie's Installer build–they all result in the same thing: Kernel panic. I'm at my wits end trying to figure out why I can't get this to install on my machine. Doesn't work with Mavericks or Yosemite. I'm starting to think maybe there's an issue with my hardware, but I wouldn't know where to look. I'm running Lion now and the machine runs just fine. My machine is a 1,1 upgraded to a 2,1; 20Gb RAM, 5770 video card, Crucial SSD boot drive. I don't have access to another Mac; this is my only machine. Any advice would certainly be appreciated.

 

[rthpjm]

None of these methods seem to work for me. I've tried the Piker-Alpha Yosemite installer, the SFOTT installer build, the MacPostFactor–this one actually completed an installation–and Hennsie's Installer build–they all result in the same thing: Kernel panic. I'm at my wits end trying to figure out why I can't get this to install on my machine. Doesn't work with Mavericks or Yosemite. I'm starting to think maybe there's an issue with my hardware, but I wouldn't know where to look. I'm running Lion now and the machine runs just fine. My machine is a 1,1 upgraded to a 2,1; 20Gb RAM, 5770 video card, Crucial SSD boot drive. I don't have access to another Mac; this is my only machine. Any advice would certainly be appreciated.

Hmmm.... the boot.efi file modifications were started by user @tiamo his original modifications got Mavericks (and earlier I think) to work.
When Yosemite came out Pike R Alpha took on the development for various reasons, including that Apple changed some of the compression techniques. Pike's v2 efi files work well with Yosemite, I don't know if v2 was backwardly compatible.
When El Capitan was released Pike worked hard to release v3 boot.efi files, again I'm not sure how backwardly compatible v3 is.

The other common issue tends to be RAM related. I think it's the distance in age between the MacPro 1,1 (2,1) and the more modern OSes. Because Apple dropped support for the early MacPro a long time ago, they don't consider the physical parameters of those series machines. They probably now assume each RAM card is higher capacity.

The original 512MB RAM cards are known to cause system instability, getting worse as you upgrade to more recent Mac OS versions. I believe 1GB RAM cards have also been reported as problematic.

The other common issue is that some people have purchased MacPros with improper RAM configurations. MacPros MUST have RAM cards installed in matched pairs, and should be installed in specific slots depending on how many cards you have (2, 4, 6, or 8).

My advice, check your RAM first.
You must have an even number of cards, and they must be matched (size) pairs.
If you have any 512MB cards, remove them and try to sell them. Buy some 2GB or 4GB cards to replace them.

Hint there's a diagram printed on the inside of the removable side cover that shows the installation order.

Have you considered going straight to El Capitan?
Lion to El Capitan works really well using my pikify tool set. (Search the forums)

 

[VCMSound]

Hmmm.... the boot.efi file modifications were started by user @tiamo his original modifications got Mavericks (and earlier I think) to work.
When Yosemite came out Pike R Alpha took on the development for various reasons, including that Apple changed some of the compression techniques. Pike's v2 efi files work well with Yosemite, I don't know if v2 was backwardly compatible.
When El Capitan was released Pike worked hard to release v3 boot.efi files, again I'm not sure how backwardly compatible v3 is.

The other common issue tends to be RAM related. I think it's the distance in age between the MacPro 1,1 (2,1) and the more modern OSes. Because Apple dropped support for the early MacPro a long time ago, they don't consider the physical parameters of those series machines. They probably now assume each RAM card is higher capacity.

The original 512MB RAM cards are known to cause system instability, getting worse as you upgrade to more recent Mac OS versions. I believe 1GB RAM cards have also been reported as problematic.

My advice, check your RAM first.
You must have an even number of cards, and they must be matched (size) pairs.

Have you considered going straight to El Capitan?
Lion to El Capitan works really well using my pikify tool set. (Search the forums)

Hey there, and thank you so much for your timely response! I hadn't check the RAM; I'll do that–I do have all matched pairs in my machine, four 4GB sticks and four 1Gb sticks; the 1Gb sticks were the stock memory and the 4Gb sticks came from OtherWorld Computing.
I did consider maybe just going to El Capitan, but I have read that several users have issues with Logic Pro 9 on that OS, and I really need that software to be functional on my machine as I do a lot of audio production. A full-on move to Logic X is not feasible at this time, or I would just do that. There's also compatibility issues with El Capitan and Adobe CS5, which I also use quite a bit, so that version of the OS is out for now. I have heard of folks using the apps I use with good success on Mavericks and Yosemite, so for the moment, that is my target. I'll check the RAM, though–if it's that simple, I was thinking about getting another four sticks of 4Gb anyway and max the machine out. I've had this machine for several years now and am continually amazed how relevant it remains; it's just a solid toolkit, but some software is now out of reach because of OS compatibility, hence the need to upgrade to Mavericks or Yosemite. Hitting that right balance can be challenging at times! Thanks again!
[doublepost=1480648977][/doublepost]Follow up: It wasn't the RAM–I pulled the four 1Gb sticks; same thing. I did a startup off of the Piker Alpha UBS Installer that I still have, and did so in Verbose mode, and it seems to get snagged at 'BootCacheControl', looking for 'var/db/BootCache.playlist' and says no such file or directory. This is followed by a long list of localhost com.apple.xpc error messages. It then sees all the drives and their mount points, couple more locahost errors, then fade to black. If anyone who sees this knows what's happening, and a possible solution, please let me know. Thank you!

 

[Wayne B]

Hey there, and thank you so much for your timely response! I hadn't check the RAM; I'll do that–I do have all matched pairs in my machine, four 4GB sticks and four 1Gb sticks; the 1Gb sticks were the stock memory and the 4Gb sticks came from OtherWorld Computing.
I did consider maybe just going to El Capitan, but I have read that several users have issues with Logic Pro 9 on that OS, and I really need that software to be functional on my machine as I do a lot of audio production. A full-on move to Logic X is not feasible at this time, or I would just do that. There's also compatibility issues with El Capitan and Adobe CS5, which I also use quite a bit, so that version of the OS is out for now. I have heard of folks using the apps I use with good success on Mavericks and Yosemite, so for the moment, that is my target. I'll check the RAM, though–if it's that simple, I was thinking about getting another four sticks of 4Gb anyway and max the machine out. I've had this machine for several years now and am continually amazed how relevant it remains; it's just a solid toolkit, but some software is now out of reach because of OS compatibility, hence the need to upgrade to Mavericks or Yosemite. Hitting that right balance can be challenging at times! Thanks again!
[doublepost=1480648977][/doublepost]Follow up: It wasn't the RAM–I pulled the four 1Gb sticks; same thing. I did a startup off of the Piker Alpha UBS Installer that I still have, and did so in Verbose mode, and it seems to get snagged at 'BootCacheControl', looking for 'var/db/BootCache.playlist' and says no such file or directory. This is followed by a long list of localhost com.apple.xpc error messages. It then sees all the drives and their mount points, couple more locahost errors, then fade to black. If anyone who sees this knows what's happening, and a possible solution, please let me know. Thank you!

I actually reseated all my RAM and that solved my problem of the machine not seeing it all. I have non-Apple RAM that came out of a server. The 5300f designation is important here, as other similar sticks with different letter suffixes don't work. Yours should be fine but try taking it all out and reseating it in case that helps.
My machine is working wonderfully well under Yosemite and I did some security updates without issues.
Hope you can get yours sorted. My next step is to flash my 5770 to get a boot screen....gulp!

 

[VCMSound]

I actually reseated all my RAM and that solved my problem of the machine not seeing it all. I have non-Apple RAM that came out of a server. The 5300f designation is important here, as other similar sticks with different letter suffixes don't work. Yours should be fine but try taking it all out and reseating it in case that helps.
My machine is working wonderfully well under Yosemite and I did some security updates without issues.
Hope you can get yours sorted. My next step is to flash my 5770 to get a boot screen....gulp!

Gotcha. Yes, I did reseat my RAM–aside from the stock memory, mine came from Other World Computing–Mac specialists, so I know that's good. I just ran the extended Apple Hardware Test with no problems found, so I know I'm clear there. I'm wondering if there may be a conflict somewhere due to the fact that my machine was originally a 1,1 that I upgraded to a 2,1. I took all the steps at the time–in 2012–and it's been a terrific machine since then, with no problems whatsoever, so it is odd to me that this process that seems to work for so many others isn't working on my end. (Is your machine a 1,1 or 2,1? or, like mine, a 1,1 that became a 2,1) I'm really wondering if that could be a factor. BTW, good luck with flashing the 5770–is it not an Apple-spec 5770?

 

[Wayne B]

Mine was a 1.1 that I upgraded to a 2.1, so maybe that's not the issue either? Try stripping back all the RAM to 2 4gb sticks if possible (make sure they are in the correct slots) and see what that does. Then change them for another two sticks. There might be one stick among the lot that throws up errors when faced with certain tasks that Hardware Test doesn't test for....

 

[VCMSound]

Thanks, Wayne–I'll give that a try.

 

[rthpjm]

Thanks, Wayne–I'll give that a try.

You should also try a "safe boot" to see if any of your non-Apple extensions are causing your issues....

 

[VCMSound]

I'll give that a shot. What I find is curious, though, is that I got the same result whether I did an OS update–preserving my apps and such, or a clean install. But I'll try the safe boot–I hadn't done that yet.

 

[xbrandonxbrownx]

I finally got up the courage to use the patched Yosemite image to update my 1.1 (updated to 2.1 with 3Ghz Quad core Xeons) Mac Pro. It took about 4 goes with 2 different USB's.
At first I tried unzipping on a Windows machine but got the message every time that the image was corrupt. If this happens to you, copy the .dmg file onto a USB then unzip it with your Mac. This worked for me anyway.
My X1900 video card was almost too hot to touch in the install process and I got a black screen several times. I had taken the side cover off the Mac, thinking it would run cooler but this was mistake on my part. When I put it back on, the cooling channels worked better and it ran the install right through.

Now, it is new Video card time as I barely get any response from the old X1900 card...it now has about 8Mb of video RAM according to system report!

What card do you guys recommend? Another issue is that in Yosemite I get 12Gb RAM reported, but when I boot it into Lion (I kept my old install on another HDD) it says 2Gb???? It's all non-Apple RAM to keep the cost down. So far I have spent less than $100 on the whole thing, including the Mac Pro and new Xeons. It flies along in 32 bit mode with Lion.
Thanks for all the advice and help you guys have given newbies like me.....

UPDATE: I installed an unflashed HD 5770 and it works great! I'm not game to flash it at this stage...

My Mac Pro is the same as yours except I have 32gb RAM. I recently installed this patch and tried to update it to the Apple recommend 10.10.5. When its installed and restarted a flashing folder with a question mark appears. Why is this happening ? Please help.

 

[rthpjm]

My Mac Pro is the same as yours except I have 32gb RAM. I recently installed this patch and tried to update it to the Apple recommend 10.10.5. When its installed and restarted a flashing folder with a question mark appears. Why is this happening ? Please help.

If you have copied the Pike version of the boot.efi file into the correct two locations (please confirm), then sometimes the system "forgets" which disk is blessed. In Apple's terminology, blessing a disk volume flags that it is bootable and optionally sets it as the default boot drive. You may simply need to re-bless the drive.

How?...

If I assume that the boot.efi files have been replaced properly, AND that your graphics card shows the initial boot screens (which it must because you state that you see a flashing folder icon with a question mark), then restart your Mac, when you hear the boot-chime immediately hold down the ALT key. Wait for the boot chooser to be displayed. You should see a row of disk icons, one of which will be the familiar name of your boot volume, the next icon should be named Recovery HD. Double-click the boot volume ( or highlight it using the arrow keys and then press enter/return).

If the boot.efi files have been replaced properly, then the system should boot normally. Once booted, open the System Preferences, click the Startup Disk panel, select your boot disk, reboot to test it.

Selecting the boot disk through system prefs performs the "bless" command. You could do this from the Terminal, but that would be a whole other post.

If it doesn't boot, then you didn't replace the boot.efi files properly. You will need to boot your Mac from another volume, or from another machine so that you can have another attempt at replacing the boot.efi files....

 

[T Mac]

.

 

[xbrandonxbrownx]

If you have copied the Pike version of the boot.efi file into the correct two locations (please confirm), then sometimes the system "forgets" which disk is blessed. In Apple's terminology, blessing a disk volume flags that it is bootable and optionally sets it as the default boot drive. You may simply need to re-bless the drive.

How?...

If I assume that the boot.efi files have been replaced properly, AND that your graphics card shows the initial boot screens (which it must because you state that you see a flashing folder icon with a question mark), then restart your Mac, when you hear the boot-chime immediately hold down the ALT key. Wait for the boot chooser to be displayed. You should see a row of disk icons, one of which will be the familiar name of your boot volume, the next icon should be named Recovery HD. Double-click the boot volume ( or highlight it using the arrow keys and then press enter/return).

If the boot.efi files have been replaced properly, then the system should boot normally. Once booted, open the System Preferences, click the Startup Disk panel, select your boot disk, reboot to test it.

Selecting the boot disk through system prefs performs the "bless" command. You could do this from the Terminal, but that would be a whole other post.

If it doesn't boot, then you didn't replace the boot.efi files properly. You will need to boot your Mac from another volume, or from another machine so that you can have another attempt at replacing the boot.efi files....

So I booted from the USB and it intergraded itself to the OSX. I can boot without the USB no problem. The problem I'm have is updating. Apple has a bunch of updates which include a 10.10.5. After all these are installed and the computer is restarted that's when the Folder with the Question Mark shows up flashing.
I thought I asked this in my original question. I would like to update, but clearly something is preventing the Mac from doing that.

 

[Wayne B]

So I booted from the USB and it intergraded itself to the OSX. I can boot without the USB no problem. The problem I'm have is updating. Apple has a bunch of updates which include a 10.10.5. After all these are installed and the computer is restarted that's when the Folder with the Question Mark shows up flashing.
I thought I asked this in my original question. I would like to update, but clearly something is preventing the Mac from doing that.

I managed to update to 10.10.5 without any real issues. The first time I tried to reboot after doing the update I didn't get all the way to the login screen but I just shut it down (from front power button) and restarted. All went fine from there.
After initially installing Yosemite with Pike's boot efi, I realised that if I was to install any updates I would need to use the PikeYoseFix script. I ran the script and rebooted twice (nearly forgot that bit) and that seems to have sorted it for my system anyway. I made sure that I ran the script before I tried to update - luckily successfully. I am a real novice with code and suchlike, so it has been really good to have clear guides from members of this forum to follow. I had no concerns pulling my Mac Pro apart and installing updated Xeons or trying non-Apple RAM until I found what worked....but the software side really intimidated me!

 

[vincenzo79]

Hello all,
I wanted some tips to be able to install Yosemite on my Mac Pro 1.1
The graphics card installed on the Mac Pro is an ATI 4870 for the PC and unfortunately, from what I understand, the card has yet to arrive, does not show the boot screen at startup.
From the guides that appear in the first post, I have read that you need to log-in with the Command key + R and then install Yosemite, but what I'm wondering is this. But if you do not see the Boot Screen I can still access the Recovery Mode, or is it best to install everything on an external drive using a Mac compatible with Yosemite ?
Thank you all for the answers.
Vincenzo

 

[Ant3000]

You could connect the Mac where you wish to install Yosemite to a supported Mac via Firewire and boot into Target Disk Mode. This treats the connected Mac as an external drive and allows you to install. There is more info on this earlier in this thread. Lack of boot screens can be a pain - you could flash the card or buy something with boot screens already like the HD5770. This make life easier for future upgrades and updates to El Capitan if you wished to do that.

 

[vincenzo79]

You could connect the Mac where you wish to install Yosemite to a supported Mac via Firewire and boot into Target Disk Mode. This treats the connected Mac as an external drive and allows you to install. There is more info on this earlier in this thread. Lack of boot screens can be a pain - you could flash the card or buy something with boot screens already like the HD5770. This make life easier for future upgrades and updates to El Capitan if you wished to do that.

Hello,
thanks a lot for the answers.
In reality I do not need to update to the El Capitan, the Mac Pro is used by my daughter because we watch YouTube, and unfortunately with the current operating system is 10.7.5, not being the most up-to-date with any image I see, I see everything distorted.
YOU were advising to use the Target Mode, but can I still do the same thing with an external drive attached to the USB port of my Macbook Pro that supports Yosemite without any problems ? If you do I have to change only the bot.efi ? Right ?

 

[Ant3000]

Hello,
thanks a lot for the answers.
In reality I do not need to update to the El Capitan, the Mac Pro is used by my daughter because we watch YouTube, and unfortunately with the current operating system is 10.7.5, not being the most up-to-date with any image I see, I see everything distorted.
YOU were advising to use the Target Mode, but can I still do the same thing with an external drive attached to the USB port of my Macbook Pro that supports Yosemite without any problems ? If you do I have to change only the bot.efi ? Right ?

It is a while since I looked at installing Yosemite but I think there are 2 boot.efi files to change. There was also a pre patched installer available that I used when I installed Yosemite as I had issues with he other methods. Not sure if this is still available to download though. El Capitan may be an easier thing to install - you may have seen the similar thread about dong this already, but I found this easier having followed the advice and help of others. It does have a min RAM requirement and spec which may mean it costs more to upgrade. It would give a degree of future-proofing to the Mac though with security updates - for a while at least.

 

[vincenzo79]

It is a while since I looked at installing Yosemite but I think there are 2 boot.efi files to change. There was also a pre patched installer available that I used when I installed Yosemite as I had issues with he other methods. Not sure if this is still available to download though. El Capitan may be an easier thing to install - you may have seen the similar thread about dong this already, but I found this easier having followed the advice and help of others. It does have a min RAM requirement and spec which may mean it costs more to upgrade. It would give a degree of future-proofing to the Mac though with security updates - for a while at least.

Hello
thanks for the reply.
The pre patch is still available and I'm downloading at this time. My only doubt concerns the setup screens, having a pc card that does not support the boot screen, I fear that I will not be able to perform the installation.
As an alternative I thought of remove the disk from the Mac Pro (it's a SSD) and put it as an external disk on a case by 2.5” and then proceed with the installation from my Macbook Pro that supports Yosemite. Theoretically it should work. What do you think?
El capitan does not interest me, it was heavy on my Macbook Pro, with 16GB, 480 GB SSD, let alone a sun, a Mac Pro with 6GB and 128 GB SSD.

 

[Ant3000]

Sounds like it should work OK although I have never tried doing this. What you will probably need to do is update the pre patched version after it is installed - install PikeYoseFix BEFORE you do this or it will break. The updates sometimes/often change the boot.efi files and all the work you have done - the patch fixes this. If you search this thread you will find a link to this. El Cap would be fine but need 12gb of RAM as a minimum with no 512mb modules, but this is cheap to do if you ever wish to do it.

Lack of boot screen is a pain but I think there are ways round it - working out where the installer or boot drive will appear and then hitting the tab key to select. A bit hit and miss but I am sure others have managed to do it. If you get it wrong it just boots to the original drive. Pulling all but the installation drive may help as there are fewer chances to guess incorrectly with only one drive and the installer USB.

 

[vincenzo79]

Hello @Ant3000,
thank you so much for the information.
After three days I was able to download the prepatch and today afternoon I try to install it using the Macbook Pro on an external drive.
Currently I have only 6 GB of RAM and I think that they are sufficient to be able to install Yosemite.
As soon as it arrives your card if something does go can I have a bit of support ?
I ask you for information. Currently on the Mac Pro is running Mac Os X 10.7.5 and it works without problems with the card GT-7300.
To verify that indeed the card works, do you think I can replace the GT-7300 and install the ATI 4870 using the operating system 10.7.5 ? If there are special things to do ? Always consider that the card is a PC card flashata for the Mac Pro.
Thanks again for the support.
Vincenzo

 

[Ant3000]

Hi, sorry I can't help with the graphics cards but I am sure someone else can or check back through this thread as virtually every issue has been addressed at some point. I think some cards work in later versions of the OS but not the earlier but I only have experience of the cards I have used (HD5770 and 7950). I assume you are keeping the original OS on a separate HD? This way you still have a bootable drive should anything stop working or not install correctly. I still have several different operating systems on different drives. You don't want to end up with a machine you cannot boot at all.
Looking at your earlier post what was the distortion you were experiencing? I have a couple of Macs running Snow Leopard that I support and they seem to run OK so not sure if this issue is related to the OS - it could be something else including the graphics card.

 

[vincenzo79]

Hello,
thank you so much for the response. Don't worry about your support if I have problems I post a post and see what I responded to.
In this moment, I am doing a installation on a separate drive, because, so, if I have problems I can, however, start with the old operating system, the only intervention should be to change the graphics card, but for that it takes ten minutes I don't think more.
In this moment I'm creating the USB and just finished I do the installation immediately and boot from my Macbook Pro so much to understand whether it works or not.
Then when tomorrow should get the graphics card do all the operations of the case.
Will update as soon as I have news.
[doublepost=1482930577][/doublepost]Hello,
I am surprised, very surprised.
After you have downloaded the DMG change, I made the installation on the external drive and I also booted.
SURPRISE...it also works with the tab 7300. There is a reason for this ? At this point, I just install the card and it should work.
Insert the images.

There are problems with the rendering, because on 10.7.5 memory of the graphics card is equivalent to 256MB while on 10.10 instead recognizes 7 MB , but I think I can work with no particular problems.

Correct ?
Thanks,
Vincenzo

 

[ADDvanced]

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