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

[MacVidCards]

I am a total noob trying to make this work, and I am about to give up and buy a newer machine. I have tried several methods to install Yosemite on my 1,1 but I have failed at all. Tried Chameleon method first - got multiple error messages and would not boot from the HD. Tried the Hennesie method - used 3 different USB drives and multiple attempts. I cut and pasted dutifully and carefully checked each step. I have re-made the USB drive 10 times. The first reboot took 45 minutes to restart the computer, and then re-opened back in Lion. Subsequent attempts have taken a shorter amount of time to reboot, but I always end up back in Lion. I just tonite decided to try the SFOTT method. My computer crashed completely. I am having to do a restore from Time Machine and since I have over 900 GB of photos, movies, files, etc, the restore appears will take several days. I will gladly pay for someone's time to help me. Desperate.

If you are having this much trouble, I doubt having someone else type the instructions for you will solve this.

You never should have 900 GB of photos on a boot drive, especially when a 1TB drive is peanuts. The beauty of a Mac Pro is you have 4 drive sleds, capable of holding 4 enormous drives.

An SSD that can be used in a USB holder and connected to another Mac is the easy answer.

Trust me, it isn't this difficult unless you make it difficult.

Drop $50 and get an SSD to use as boot drive, keep your photos elsewhere.

 

[Stefan1101]

Use the link to the new guide in the first post of the article. I started hosting the guide from iCloud so I can make changes without having to post a new PDF each time.

Ok, thank you.
I've found the new guide and done all steps you described.
But when i try to start from the usb device, the macbook starts but then tells me that OS X Yosemite is already installed. So i can't install it.
What could be the reason?

 

[PeterHolbrook]

when i try to start from the usb device, the macbook starts but then tells me that OS X Yosemite is already installed

Your statement is confusing. Your reference to a "macbook" leads one to think you are trying to use a presumably Yosemite-compatible MacBook to install Yosemite onto an external SATA disk that you will use on your incompatible Mac Pro after replacing boot.efi. If that is the case, you don't need to start from a USB device at all! On the other hand, if the installer tells you Yosemite is already installed on that particular MacBook, isn't that the case? If you want to install to another target, you'll have to specify it in the relevant option, as the installer can't read your mind.

 

[ilegal31]

Hello Henedsie2000,


Thanks for enormous help provided, today I will be installing OS X Yosemite on my 2,1 Mac Pro 8 core 3.0Ghz, with that being said, I will update the GTX 8800 graphics card, so, based on my computer specs and considering that I need CUDA, Open CL/GL for video and 3D applications, which Nvidia will give me the best performance and also runs with no problem on my 2,1 Mac Pro with Yosemite?.

Thanks.

 

[Hennesie2000]

Hello Henedsie2000,





Thanks for enormous help provided, today I will be installing OS X Yosemite on my 2,1 Mac Pro 8 core 3.0Ghz, with that being said, I will update the GTX 8800 graphics card, so, based on my computer specs and considering that I need CUDA, Open CL/GL for video and 3D applications, which Nvidia will give me the best performance and also runs with no problem on my 2,1 Mac Pro with Yosemite?.



Thanks.

Did that installer work for you?

 

[bulgakov]

tdatsmrad suggestions

Get another hard drive do not experiment on a drive with al that data.
sooner or later you will break that time machine bu.

Simplest way to do this is to clone a working Yosemite from another machine.
Swap boot files.
Unplug your old drive with data files to protect it.
Then install the cloned drive in your machine.
Boot it up.

It would be hard to figure out what is going wrong in your attempts.
It could be
Improper creation of install media.
Improper use of install media.
similar problems with SFOTT.
Hardware problems in Mac Pro.

The new Mini is $500 for a much less powerful machine that is not modifiable.
Same goes for iMac.

I live in a university town. I can get used Mac pro 1,1 for $50/$100.
Mac Pros 3,1 and 4,1 for $500/$650. On ebay or dealer double that price.
MacPro 1,1 is still a good deal.

Do not use SOFTT on your data drive.
You need to detail what you are doing to a greater extent to get help.
Example ..what video card are you using.
Stock card WILL NOT work.

 

[teameurox]

I may have missed it

Nevermind I skipped it in the first post

 

[Hennesie2000]

Nevermind I skipped it in the first post

See post #1584

 

[rogerogero]

There are no drivers for the GMA950 graphics. It would be mostly unusable.

so i'm figuring out... what's the newest OS i can install? ML?

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i have a 2006 mac mini 1.1 recently upgrded to 2.1 with t7600 processor,120 G samsung SSD, 2G RAM running snow leopard at the moment fast and smooth.
since i havent found threads about yosemite on my machine i ask if this procedure will work.
thanks

 

[Stefan1101]

Your statement is confusing. Your reference to a "macbook" leads one to think you are trying to use a presumably Yosemite-compatible MacBook to install Yosemite onto an external SATA disk that you will use on your incompatible Mac Pro after replacing boot.efi. If that is the case, you don't need to start from a USB device at all! On the other hand, if the installer tells you Yosemite is already installed on that particular MacBook, isn't that the case? If you want to install to another target, you'll have to specify it in the relevant option, as the installer can't read your mind.

Ok, I'll try to describe exactly what i want to do.
I've replaced the original HDD Drive on my 17" Macbook Pro 2.1 with a 250GB Samsung SSD and now want to install the latest version of OS X.
I have created an USB device following the guide from Hennesie2000. The SDD is new and formatted with OS X journaled.
Now i want to install Yosemite from the USB device. When I start the computer the grey screen appears with the apple logo, then a beam but afterwards the install-program tells me that Yosemite is already installed.
Would be great if you can tell me what's my mistake.

 

[H2SO4]

If you are having this much trouble, I doubt having someone else type the instructions for you will solve this.

You never should have 900 GB of photos on a boot drive, especially when a 1TB drive is peanuts. The beauty of a Mac Pro is you have 4 drive sleds, capable of holding 4 enormous drives.

An SSD that can be used in a USB holder and connected to another Mac is the easy answer.

Trust me, it isn't this difficult unless you make it difficult.

Drop $50 and get an SSD to use as boot drive, keep your photos elsewhere.

In addition I would add that a clone is a good way to go. I always pick a day when I’m going to be doing nothing to start to tinker.
The night before boot from an alternative OS, (10.7 or 10.8) and use disk utiltity to clone your ‘production machine’.
Now you start to play.

 

[atvusr]

so i'm figuring out... what's the newest OS i can install? ML?

Seems so - see here or here: www.osxhackers.tk .

 

[Hennesie2000]

so i'm figuring out... what's the newest OS i can install? ML?

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Check out Mountain Lion 4 All. That is going to the latest though.

 

[rogerogero]

thanx a lot guys

 

[TwangKing]

A couple quick questions -

Created the USB Installer per the instructions on the first page, I'm waiting on my SSD which should arrive in a few days before I can install. One glitch I ran into was when I ran the flat package editor and tried to save the package with the modified distribution file, I would get the following alert: "This document cannot be saved with the original signing identity. Pick another identity or no identity to save this document." I chose "No Identity". I watched a couple youtube tutorials on editing the OSInstall.mpkg Distribution file with FPE and I never saw this alert, they just hit save and they were done. Is this going to be okay?

The other thing is when I plug in my USB installer, it doesn't show up in my system startup preferences, according to several members, this is preferred way to boot, as opposed to holding down the option key, which some people say doesn't work for them. Any thoughts? Did I do something wrong?

Currently on Snow Leopard and looking forward to the upgrade. Thank's in advance!

Steve

 

[Hennesie2000]

A couple quick questions -



Created the USB Installer per the instructions on the first page, I'm waiting on my SSD which should arrive in a few days before I can install. One glitch I ran into was when I ran the flat package editor and tried to save the package with the modified distribution file, I would get the following alert: "This document cannot be saved with the original signing identity. Pick another identity or no identity to save this document." I chose "No Identity". I watched a couple youtube tutorials on editing the OSInstall.mpkg Distribution file with FPE and I never saw this alert, they just hit save and they were done. Is this going to be okay?



The other thing is when I plug in my USB installer, it doesn't show up in my system startup preferences, according to several members, this is preferred way to boot, as opposed to holding down the option key, which some people say doesn't work for them. Any thoughts? Did I do something wrong?



Currently on Snow Leopard and looking forward to the upgrade. Thank's in advance!



Steve

Was your thumb drive formatted as HFS+ and a GUID partition table?

 

[TwangKing]

Non-Journaled HFS Plus & GUID

 

[Hennesie2000]

Non-Journaled HFS Plus & GUID

It should be recognized as bootable as soon as you restore the BaseSystem.dmg file. To make it actually bootable you need the kernel and boot.efi files. All other modifications are to remove the installer checks for incompatible systems.

 

[TwangKing]

Thanks for the quick replies.

What's interesting is I made a Mavericks installer on another USB using the SFOTT script, that one doesn't show up either. Both should show up, correct? Maybe I should start from scratch again tomorrow.

 

[Hennesie2000]

Thanks for the quick replies.



What's interesting is I made a Mavericks installer on another USB using the SFOTT script, that one doesn't show up either. Both should show up, correct? Maybe I should start from scratch again tomorrow.

Yes both should show up. I have done it dozens of times and it does work perfectly if the guide is followed exactly. Also I have never gotten anything about package signatures when editing the OSInstall.mpkg.

 

[tdatsmrad]

TwangKing Thanks for the quick replies.

What's interesting is I made a Mavericks installer on another USB using the SFOTT script, that one doesn't show up either. Both should show up, correct? Maybe I should start from scratch again tomorrow.

I have been trying to install Yosemite with our success as outlined above in posts. I have a MacPro 1,1 with the 2 x 3.0 GHz processor option. I have upgraded the RAM to 10 G. I have three 1 TB drives - one as the main drive, one as a backup to the first, and the third empty. I recently updated the graphics card to NVIDIA 8800 GT in preparation for this attempted update. I am running OSx Lion. I wanted to see if I could install Yosemite on my machine first before investing in other upgrades such as SSD drive. When I tried the Hennesie method, in making the USB drive on my MacPro, I encountered problems like TwangKing - the drive does not appear as a startup disk. When I created the drive on my wife's MacMini 5,2 it did show up as a startup disk on my MacPro. However, when I attempted to boot from this drive, my computer would reboot into Lion. The first attempt took 45 minutes for the computer to reboot and then it went back into Lion. I re-created the drive a couple more times to make sure I had done it correctly. When I tried the SFOTT method, I used the MacPro to create the drive, and when done, it said it was ready to install Yosemite on my MacPro 1,1. I did not think it would say this if I had not done it correctly. This drive did show up a startup disk. When I rebooted, after a while the screen flickered back and forth between the grey screen with the Apple logo and a black screen, then froze on the Apple logo screen. I waited an hour with no change. When I rebooted, and chose MAC OSx, it stated I need to restore the drive, and asked where I wanted to restore from. I am still restoring since last night, and apparently will be for a few days. That is all I know. Thank you all for your help.

 

[atvusr]

Maybe this new Tool from Apple helps with the iMessage issues:

www.macrumors.com/2014/11/09/apple-web-tool-deregister-phone-numbers-imessage.

 

[Hennesie2000]

TwangKing Thanks for the quick replies.

What's interesting is I made a Mavericks installer on another USB using the SFOTT script, that one doesn't show up either. Both should show up, correct? Maybe I should start from scratch again tomorrow.

I have been trying to install Yosemite with our success as outlined above in posts. I have a MacPro 1,1 with the 2 x 3.0 GHz processor option. I have upgraded the RAM to 10 G. I have three 1 TB drives - one as the main drive, one as a backup to the first, and the third empty. I recently updated the graphics card to NVIDIA 8800 GT in preparation for this attempted update. I am running OSx Lion. I wanted to see if I could install Yosemite on my machine first before investing in other upgrades such as SSD drive. When I tried the Hennesie method, in making the USB drive on my MacPro, I encountered problems like TwangKing - the drive does not appear as a startup disk. When I created the drive on my wife's MacMini 5,2 it did show up as a startup disk on my MacPro. However, when I attempted to boot from this drive, my computer would reboot into Lion. The first attempt took 45 minutes for the computer to reboot and then it went back into Lion. I re-created the drive a couple more times to make sure I had done it correctly. When I tried the SFOTT method, I used the MacPro to create the drive, and when done, it said it was ready to install Yosemite on my MacPro 1,1. I did not think it would say this if I had not done it correctly. This drive did show up a startup disk. When I rebooted, after a while the screen flickered back and forth between the grey screen with the Apple logo and a black screen, then froze on the Apple logo screen. I waited an hour with no change. When I rebooted, and chose MAC OSx, it stated I need to restore the drive, and asked where I wanted to restore from. I am still restoring since last night, and apparently will be for a few days. That is all I know. Thank you all for your help.

If the drive you created using the Mac Mini will not boot or it boots into Lion then you did not properly replace both boot.efi files. There is no reason it would take 45 mins to boot into anything unless your drive is bad.

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Maybe this new Tool from Apple helps with the iMessage issues:



www.macrumors.com/2014/11/09/apple-web-tool-deregister-phone-numbers-imessage.

This has nothing to do with registering a Mac with iMessage. This is only for people who no longer have an iPhone and are not receiving text messages Apple users on their new phone. Sometimes when switching devices people's phone numbers stay registered to Apples iMessage servers so when someone with an Apple device tries to message them it is routed through Apples server as an iMessage and they never receive it on their phone because they can't anymore.

 

[darthgeekonius]

Took the plunge and just wanted to confirm for everyone with a 1.1./2.1 running Yosemite that 10.10.1 from the App Store WORKS and all is well.

 

[smate]

NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 2 GB Boot Issues

First of all big THANK YOU!!! to everyone involved in enabling breathing new life in our perfectly fine MacPro 1.1.

Yosemite is awesome, especially with the iPhone/imessage/facetime continuity feature (you have to call Apple unblock Serial). Note, I did have to reboot to allow FaceTime to use the mic if on cellular phone call, it was working fine otherwise. For phone calls and iMessage you don't need to upgrade your bluetooth to 4 LE, bluetooth is not even needed for that.

I do have an issue with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 2 GB card when rebooting or turning on. I do have to confirm though that 3 displays are working perfectly fine if efi decides to load properly. When I do a regular restart, or a regular turn on, for some reason the graphics card is not loading. I can remote in from another computer and see that the system booted, but no graphics, screens are black. If I do a hard reset (holding the power until turns off and and turn on) the card boots.

Why is that?