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2008 Mac Pro needs Upward mobility ?!?

C

cap_walker_666

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 3, 2020
71
5
I'm determined to make the best of this Mac Pro that I can (within limits). For example, ram. I just got in an 8gb set from an amazon vendor. After inserting the two sticks onto the ram boards it only shows 4gb, the size of 1 stick. I used the apple manual to add memory. One stick to each ram board and in the same position, furthest in socket.

Next, the system info reports the model as 1,1. It's a 3,1 but it won't upgrade past snow leopard. How can I get it to El Capitan or maybe High Sierra ?

Is Amazon's drive tray converter to 2.5" the best ? I already have a 250gb SSD that I've love to put in. I'd like to use other drives I have as well, but even with the snow leopard formatted drive out, it won't boot into high sierra.

If answers to these questions are available elsewhere, please let me know!
 
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cap_walker_666 said:
I'm determined to make the best of this Mac Pro that I can (within limits). For example, ram. I just got in an 8gb set from an amazon vendor. After inserting the two sticks onto the ram boards it only shows 4gb, the size of 1 stick. I used the apple manual to add memory. One stick to each ram board and in the same position, furthest in socket.

Next, the system info reports the model as 1,1. It's a 3,1 but it won't upgrade past snow leopard. How can I get it to El Capitan or maybe High Sierra ?

Is Amazon's drive tray converter to 2.5" the best ? I already have a 250gb SSD that I've love to put in. I'd like to use other drives I have as well, but even with the snow leopard formatted drive out, it won't boot into high sierra.

If answers to these questions are available elsewhere, please let me know!
Click to expand...
It should be easy to install El Capitan since the MacPro3,1 supports it. Even Catalina should be easy with the dosdude1 patcher.

There are many ways to mount 2.5" drives. I used this one:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/
I also used the MacPro3,1 ODD SATA connectors to have 6 SATA drives. #2,431

First we have to make sure you have a MacPro3,1.

This script will get some system information (without serial numbers and volume names). Copy all of it, then paste into Terminal.app (or put the script in a text file and execute the text file like this sh thetextfile.txt)
Code: 
system_profiler \
SPHardwareDataType \
SPParallelATADataType \
SPAudioDataType \
SPBluetoothDataType \
SPEthernetDataType \
SPFireWireDataType \
SPDisplaysDataType \
SPMemoryDataType \
SPPCIDataType \
SPSerialATADataType \
SPUSBDataType | perl -E '
    while (<>) {
        if ( /(^.*(.*Serial Number.*|Hardware UUID): )(.*)/ ) {
            $_ = ("" . $1 . ($3 =~ s/./•/gr) . "\n")
        }
        if ( /^ +Volumes:/ .. /^$/ ) {
            if (/^$/) { print $_ }
        }
        else {
            print $_
        }
    }
' > system_profiler.txt
Compress the result and attach the zip file.
 
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cap_walker_666 said:
I'm determined to make the best of this Mac Pro that I can (within limits). For example, ram. I just got in an 8gb set from an amazon vendor. After inserting the two sticks onto the ram boards it only shows 4gb, the size of 1 stick. I used the apple manual to add memory. One stick to each ram board and in the same position, furthest in socket.

Next, the system info reports the model as 1,1. It's a 3,1 but it won't upgrade past snow leopard. How can I get it to El Capitan or maybe High Sierra ?

Is Amazon's drive tray converter to 2.5" the best ? I already have a 250gb SSD that I've love to put in. I'd like to use other drives I have as well, but even with the snow leopard formatted drive out, it won't boot into high sierra.

If answers to these questions are available elsewhere, please let me know!
Click to expand...

How do you confirm that your MP is 3,1? You presume that the system info is lying to you?
How do you confirm that your 8GB set is correct? 8GB = 2x4GB or 8GB = 4 x 2GB?
How about a photo taken from the grey label on the back of your MP? Right below the graphic card.
Even with MP 1,1, you can get OSX Lion as the latest official supported OS.
With a little trick, El Capitan can be installed, but it needs better graphic card to run smoothly.
 
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Nguyen Duc Hieu said:
How do you confirm that your MP is 3,1? You presume that the system info is lying to you?
How do you confirm that your 8GB set is correct? 8GB = 2x4GB or 8GB = 4 x 2GB?
How about a photo taken from the grey label on the back of your MP? Right below the graphic card.
Even with MP 1,1, you can get OSX Lion as the latest official supported OS.
With a little trick, El Capitan can be installed, but it needs better graphic card to run smoothly.
Click to expand...
I've done my due dilagance. EVERYMAC says it's 3.0 based on serial number. I've not tried an Apple regular install except this snow leopard. Why ? Because I just want to do it once and the "software update" doesn't offer a new OS.
 
cap_walker_666 said:
I've done my due dilagance. EVERYMAC says it's 3.0 based on serial number. I've not tried an Apple regular install except this snow leopard. Why ? Because I just want to do it once and the "software update" doesn't offer a new OS.
Click to expand...
Software Update won't offer the new OS. You can get the El Capitan installer here but I'd still investigate which computer you really have. It'd be very strange if someone set up the computer to fake being an older model.
 
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cap_walker_666 said:
EVERYMAC says it's 3.0 based on serial number.
Click to expand...

Problem: There is no Mac Pro "3,0". Only a 3,1.

It could be a 3.0 GHz CPU model which would make it either a 1,1 or a 2,1. This would be consistent with what System Profiler reports.

Can you post the serial number here so we can check?
 
Last edited:
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^ As helpful as it would be, posting serial numbers publicly is actually not the best idea. :) It could theoretically be used by a Hackintosh user, if they’re (A) too lazy to spend half an hour generating a correctly-formatted original serial and (B) unethical.
 
Last edited:
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joevt said:
It should be easy to install El Capitan since the MacPro3,1 supports it. Even Catalina should be easy with the dosdude1 patcher.

There are many ways to mount 2.5" drives. I used this one:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/ADPTADRV/
I also used the MacPro3,1 ODD SATA connectors to have 6 SATA drives. #2,431

First we have to make sure you have a MacPro3,1.

This script will get some system information (without serial numbers and volume names). Copy all of it, then paste into Terminal.app (or put the script in a text file and execute the text file like this sh thetextfile.txt)
Code: 
system_profiler \
SPHardwareDataType \
SPParallelATADataType \
SPAudioDataType \
SPBluetoothDataType \
SPEthernetDataType \
SPFireWireDataType \
SPDisplaysDataType \
SPMemoryDataType \
SPPCIDataType \
SPSerialATADataType \
SPUSBDataType | perl -E '
    while (<>) {
        if ( /(^.*(.*Serial Number.*|Hardware UUID): )(.*)/ ) {
            $_ = ("" . $1 . ($3 =~ s/./•/gr) . "\n")
        }
        if ( /^ +Volumes:/ .. /^$/ ) {
            if (/^$/) { print $_ }
        }
        else {
            print $_
        }
    }
' > system_profiler.txt
Compress the result and attach the zip file.
Click to expand...


I've tried running this with sudo as me (admin) and root. Terminal says "invalid command". I'm nowhere as good as you, but I tried monkeying. It seems the first commands aren't recognized.
 
Wowfunhappy said:
^ As helpful as it would be, posting serial numbers publicly is actually not the best idea. :) It could theoretically be used by a Hackintosh user, if they’re (A) too lazy to spend half an hour generating a correctly-formatted original serial and (B) unethical.
Click to expand...
I hear you! Now I'd not post the s/n of my main machines publicly. This one only cost $35 for the shell at a local Goodwill LOL.
 
cap_walker_666 said:
I've tried running this with sudo as me (admin) and root. Terminal says "invalid command". I'm nowhere as good as you, but I tried monkeying. It seems the first commands aren't recognized.
Click to expand...
This is all one single huge command. sudo is not required. Copy and paste it in one go, then press "Enter" to run. This is what my Terminal window looks like after pasting (but before pressing Enter):


Bildschirmfoto 2021-03-31 um 16.08.35.png
 
cap_walker_666 said:
I'm determined to make the best of this Mac Pro that I can (within limits). For example, ram. I just got in an 8gb set from an amazon vendor. After inserting the two sticks onto the ram boards it only shows 4gb, the size of 1 stick. I used the apple manual to add memory. One stick to each ram board and in the same position, furthest in socket.

Next, the system info reports the model as 1,1. It's a 3,1 but it won't upgrade past snow leopard. How can I get it to El Capitan or maybe High Sierra ?

Is Amazon's drive tray converter to 2.5" the best ? I already have a 250gb SSD that I've love to put in. I'd like to use other drives I have as well, but even with the snow leopard formatted drive out, it won't boot into high sierra.

If answers to these questions are available elsewhere, please let me know!
Click to expand...
Are you sure you have a 3,1? You can check your Mac Pro's product code at the back panel near the expansion port slots. It's printed there as to what Mac Pro you have. It should say A1186 EMC2133 for 1,1 or A1186 EMC2180 something for 3,1. Secondly, to install Lion, you need an OpenCL graphics card like the Nvidia GT120 or the Radeon HD5770. These 2 cards will allow you to take the Mac Pro 1,1 to Lion and 3,1 to El-Capitan. There are hacks for the 1,1 to go up to El-Capitan by flashing the firmware to 2,1. Whereas the Dos Dude hack allows the 3,1, with the appropriate Nvidia metal based card such as the Nvidia GTX770 with Mac firmware if you want a boot screen(fastest card you can put in 3,1) to go to Mojave. So with the Mac Pro, what video card you have in it dictates how high the OS you can go up to. You should have at least 2Gb or 4Gb of RAM also to begin with. Both the 1,1 and 3,1 have older stock cards which you will need to swap out. The 1,1 has the GeForce GT 7300 and the 3,1 has a stock AMD 2600XT. If you open up the side case and take a look inside and check the graphics card and if you have a GT7300, then you more likely have a 1,1. If you have a 2600XT, then you might likely have a 3,1. The system profiler usually don't lie. If you have a 1,1, then you have a 1,1. What type of RAM did you get? Did you get the PC-5300 DDR2 ECC (667Mhz) or the PC-6400 DDR2 ECC (800Mhz)? The 3,1 uses PC-6400 DDR2 ECC version.

In regards to drive trays.. I don't use drive trays on my Mac Pro 5,1 for SSDs so I can't offer any thoughts on what's available on Amazon. SSDs are often light enough that you can just add a 3M velcro sticker (that you use to hold up picture frames with) which you can buy from either the dollar store or a hardware store to hold the SSD in place after you inserted the SSD drive into the SATA port.

For further questions, you might want to post in the dedicated Mac Pro forum where you have more experienced users and hackers who had upgraded their 1,1 and 3,1 to the max.
 
Last edited:
Amethyst1 said:
Nope - the stock cards are supported in Lion. The 2600 XT is even supported up to El Cap.
Click to expand...
Hmm, I'm following Apple support page recommendation and it doesn't mention either GT7300 or 2600XT.

OpenCL
requires one of the following graphics cards or graphics processors:

  • NVIDIA GeForce 320M, GeForce GT 330M, GeForce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce 8600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GS, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX5600
  • ATI Radeon HD 4670, ATI Radeon HD 4850, Radeon HD 4870, ATI Radeon HD 5670, ATI Radeon HD 5750, ATI Radeon HD 5770, ATI Radeon HD 5870
  • AMD Radeon HD 6630M, AMD Radeon HD 6750M, AMD Radeon HD 6770M, AMD Radeon HD 6970M

OS X Lion - Technical Specifications - Apple Support (CA)

support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
cap_walker_666 said:
I hear you! Now I'd not post the s/n of my main machines publicly. This one only cost $35 for the shell at a local Goodwill LOL.
Click to expand...
The easiest solution is to open up System Profiler and look at the BootROM version. If the version number starts with MP31 you have a 2008 3,1, and if it starts with MP21 or MP11 you have a 2006 or 2007 model.
 
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Maybe your "GoodWill Special" does not have a 3,1 logic board?
(Maybe someone, somewhere, swapped it out, and downgraded the hardware. I don't even know if that would be a simple swapout, or require other components to be swapped out to get that work - I'm not a MacPro user, just ask questions :D )
Is the serial number in "About this Mac" the same as what is printed on the serial number label?
 
cap_walker_666 said:
I've tried running this with sudo as me (admin) and root. Terminal says "invalid command". I'm nowhere as good as you, but I tried monkeying. It seems the first commands aren't recognized.
Click to expand...
It's all one command. Copy and paste the entire thing at once. It should create a system_profiler.txt file in the current folder.
Open the current folder in the Finder with the following command and sort by Date Modified or Date Added.
open .
 
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