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[Guide] Installing 10.9 Mavericks on older Macs. -HackerWayne

current options for Mavericks on Mac Pro 1.1

I've been trying to follow along with the message thread, but I'll jump to the front of the daily posts and ask my question(s).

I did the Mountian Lion install during the early summer and had no real issues with 10.8.4 on my Mac Pro 1.1 with original 7300 card.

I would like to do the sam with Mavericks.

What's the current situation for my machine, a stock Mac Pro 1.1 ?

As I understand it the chameleon method pretty much installs a vanilla system with an alternative boot loader .. but the graphics card must be upgraded to a supported card (5770). OK

The other way it is similar to the mountain lion instal .. Correct ?

What are the current states of both instals and where would I get the proper files to process an instal ?

I am not a programer, nor a newbe so I am comfortable with the hacks involved.

So - any guidance is greatly appreciated in advance.

Dj Mike ..
 
DJ MIke said:
I've been trying to follow along with the message thread, but I'll jump to the front of the daily posts and ask my question(s).

I did the Mountian Lion install during the early summer and had no real issues with 10.8.4 on my Mac Pro 1.1 with original 7300 card.

I would like to do the sam with Mavericks.

What's the current situation for my machine, a stock Mac Pro 1.1 ?

As I understand it the chameleon method pretty much installs a vanilla system with an alternative boot loader .. but the graphics card must be upgraded to a supported card (5770). OK

The other way it is similar to the mountain lion instal .. Correct ?

What are the current states of both instals and where would I get the proper files to process an instal ?

I am not a programer, nor a newbe so I am comfortable with the hacks involved.

So - any guidance is greatly appreciated in advance.

Dj Mike ..
Click to expand...

The best method for a Mac Pro is to use Tiamo's boot.efi. You will however have to upgrade your 7300GT card regardless. Using Tiamo's you will have full NVRAM support and it is the most vanilla install you can get.
 
Hello
What happened to hackerwayne ? No post since 8 november !

We wait (me and my imac late 2006) for MVpost factor :D

please come... mi amigo thanks thanks thanks
 
Mac Gurus:

Okay for the past week I have been doing my best to read various posts and threads and get a complete grasp of what is the best approach for my specific situation after my first attempt at the USB Mavericks Install drive failed for reasons unknown.

I have a Mac Pro 2,1 --running 10.7.5-- with 10GB RAM and both a 7300 GT card (which let's me pick my boot partition via the option key at start-up) and a EVGA GTX 560 that I intend to use once everything is set (it currently boots fine under 10.7.5 but, missing the proper macEFI it boots black until the login screen [preventing me from selecting an alternate bootable drive/partition]).

I also have newish (Spring 2013) MacBook Air that is running the latest iteration of 10.8.

+++++

What is the easiest/fastest way to achieve a Mavericks install on the Mac Pro 2,1?

+++++

I am confused on the following in particular:

Should I create the USB stick on the 2013 MBA or download it to the MBA, transfer it over to mac pro 2,1 and build the USB stick there?

Given the fact I'm running 10.7.5 will the USB stick I create using Tiamo's boot.efi file actually boot? Secondary, which of his two (that I've seen) boot.efis should I use?

Knowing the 7300 GT does not support Mavericks AND that my GTX 560 won't let me select a boot screen what is my best approach?

Lastly, I have a USB swiss army knife tool kit that would let me mount a SATA drive hanging off USB from the MBA if I can install direct to it. If so, then I could install a fresh 10.9 on that, pull the 10.7.5 drive/install the 10.9 drive and pull the 7300 GT/install the GTX 560.

I would buy many beers for the guy/girl that helps me walk this across the finish line. I thank you all in advance and apologize if I've missed a post answering my specific questions. I've read a ton and my attempts to piece it all together at this point have failed.

Thanks,

-Saint
 
Is your guide available as regular compressed file or PDF instead of a .7z file?


Rastafabi said:
Hello everybody,

I just updated my install guide.

Thanks to Tiamo you will now get a 100% working Mavericks Installation on your Mac Pro/Xserve. (Now you'll have iMessage/Facetime/Dictation due to nvram support.)
Thanks to some other posters I corrected the guide to not run into the "Still waiting for root device" error. (Sorry did not find you in the thread.)

I now included the Mavericks download enabler to create a more comfortable way to download the installer from the AppStore in case you don't have a compatible Mac.

The guide will work on ANY* 32bit EFI Mac having a 64bit CPU, but only on MacPros (and Xserve?) you will get working graphics (if you have a newer generation GPU installed).

*You may face problems with incompatible hardware such as WIFI cards (and of course GPU)

EDIT: Updating the Mac may not be possible through the AppStore, when upgrading (maybe using a ComboUpdate/DeltaUpdate.dmg) you need to restore the included boot.efi and your SupportedMachine.plist BEFORE rebooting!

EDIT2: There's a better method available now! Forum member oemden just released app (script) that automates the process.
You still might want to download my guide, as it includes the Mavericks download enabler (else you can't even download Mavericks from the AppStore on your unsupported machine).
Click to expand...
 
rpseguin said:
Is your guide available as regular compressed file or PDF instead of a .7z file?
Click to expand...

No. And it won't be available in any over way. Use Keka.app/The Unarchiver.app to uncompress. I chose 7z as it maxes out compression significantly (half the size of a zip file). Also I won't just post the instructions included in the guide as the archive includes other files, too.
 
What do I do wrong?

I have a MacPro 1.1 and followed the instructions to create a Maveriks boot/install disk. I used oemden's script. The computer starts up, I get to the screen where I can select what I want to do, but when I select to install the OS, it tells me that it has to connect to the internet in order to install. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Rastafabi said:
I probably found a solution on how to download Mavericks (Mountain Lion) on an unsupported Mac the easy way. Just download the zip file, apply it, reboot and go ahead downloading.

This should work but is not confirmed yet! Please feedback.

WORKS. One user noted, that it doesn't, but I could finally test it myself and found it working. Remember that you still need a system version (10.6.8, 10.7.5, 10.8.5 I think), which is actually certified for making the Mavericks upgrade.
Click to expand...

It does NOT work on Mac Pro 1,1 running 10.7.5.
I've got Mavericks from my friend.
 
g1ngerninja said:
Any other way of downloading Mavericks?
Click to expand...


The Mac-App-Store seems to be the only official possibility to download Mavericks. Since my Mac is unsupported by Mavericks, I got it with the following way: create a new Apple-ID without real data and without payment method. Take a USB-Stick with you, go to a big Electronics/Computer retail store chain, use one of the exhibited Macs, login with your newly created Apple-ID, download Mavericks and copy afterwards the 5.29 GB Installer onto the USB-Stick. Apple says you can come into the Apple Retail Store: "If you don’t have broadband access, you can visit any Apple Retail Store to get help with downloading." I've tried that before. In the Apple Retail Store they told me they are not allowed to copy Mavericks onto my private USB-Stick. They can update my Mac directly or I can use the free Wi-Fi in the store. I wasn't able to use the exhibited Macs in the Apple Retail Store because they were running in Demo mode (only Administrators can login).
 
Last edited:
So does the 10.9.1 update overwrite boot.efi or worse, does it make tiamo's file incompatible with the OS? Any guinea pig willing to try? :D
 
jeanlain said:
So does the 10.9.1 update overwrite boot.efi or worse, does it make tiamo's file incompatible with the OS? Any guinea pig willing to try? :D
Click to expand...

Did not cause any problems on my MacPro 1,1. Downloaded and updated in minutes......
 
wwanthony said:
Did not cause any problems on my MacPro 1,1. Downloaded and updated in minutes......
Click to expand...

Sweet, I'm going to give it a try now via the App Store.

---------------
Update
---------------
Worked perfectly with Tiamos boot.efi and updating via the App Store.
 
Last edited:
Rastafabi said:
Did you reboot in-between?
Click to expand...

Of course.
I've tried all options.
I''ve even used updated Kext Utility 2.5.6
and my 10.7.5 Lion is genuine (purchased)

Rastafabi, If you find a way to do it, please let me know.
I would reinstall whole thing, as currently I have updated and running Mavericks, but with no RECOVERY partition.
The copy of Maverick I have does not let me do it, get error "no command found".

I believe Apple owns me Mavericks - the box of my Mac Pro has big 64-bit letters printed.
But unfortunately it's elaborate deception.
 
Chung123 said:
No issues for me either! I just updated after reading above post. I also did it via downloading the standalone update from link below.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1707?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Probably easier just to do via the App store.
Click to expand...

Same for me: Update went smooth.

I downloaded the update directly from the App store.
installed and rebooted fine.

note the funny part :
still cannot download the Full installer from the AppStore, but no warning nor pb when getting, downloading and installing the Update ;)

I'll test tonight or tomorow to see if my Sfott utility is doing the Key fine with this new 10.9.1 Installer.
 
macpro11 said:
Of course.
I've tried all options.
I''ve even used updated Kext Utility 2.5.6
and my 10.7.5 Lion is genuine (purchased)

Rastafabi, If you find a way to do it, please let me know.
I would reinstall whole thing, as currently I have updated and running Mavericks, but with no RECOVERY partition.
The copy of Maverick I have does not let me do it, get error "no command found".

I believe Apple owns me Mavericks - the box of my Mac Pro has big 64-bit letters printed.
But unfortunately it's elaborate deception.
Click to expand...

Okay. I have not rechecked whether my original guide still works for me. Apple may have blocked it, although I can't believe Apple even took notice and blocked the faked ID used to fool the AppStore.
However here you are! I've just created an alternative way for downloading Mavericks. I could not test it yet, but I expect it to be working. Please report back.
_________________

Only download if you have a 1,1 / 2,1 Mac Pro or an Intel Xserve. It may work on other machines, too, but it's NOT SUPPORTED.

EDIT: Works!
 

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Last edited:
Rastafabi said:
Okay. I have not rechecked whether my original guide still works for me. Apple may have blocked it, although I can't believe Apple even took notice and blocked the faked ID used to fool the AppStore.
However here you are! I've just created an alternative way for downloading Mavericks. I could not test it yet, but I expect it to be working. Please report back.
Click to expand...

Rastafabi, You DID it !!!
Thank you very much.
I did encountered a small issue, but I've got MAVERICKS ( 10.9.1 ) already downloaded.

Here are the details:

When I rebooted I have 4 small icons corresponding to CLOVER like Options etc...
I wasn't sure what to do, but the worse was that RETURN/ENTER key did not work.
I had no option to CONFIRM anything, It looked like I was stuck.
So I forced to shut DOWN my Mac with POWER button.

I rebooted, but this time with OPTION key.
After that I saw all my BOOT drives ( with custom icons ), including Windows 7 ( custom installation, not a part of BOOT CAMP )

When I was back in LION, all my preferences reset, and my Mac was MacPro3,1 accordingly to System Information (with your previous Mavericks Download Enabler my Mac was unchanged - 1,1)
After I launched APP STORE, I managed to download with my AppleID's password.

I haven't install yet Mavericks,
but a quick test of createinstallmedia command was successful.

I will be all right now.
I only wonder if I'll be able to download Xcode, but that's for another day.
Once more THANK YOU !
 
Last edited:
A bit of a "Heads Up" RE: OS X 10.9.1 Update

While I am uncertain if this will effect and/or apply to everyone in all cases, I found that after applying/installing the OS X 10.9.1 Update on all of my applicable Macs, the "App Store" preferences located in System Preferences changed my settings to check/allow any/all updates as they become available from Apple.

As one might guess, this default alteration could potentially be a huge problem for anyone running Mavericks on an unsupported Mac in that while OS X 10.9.1 installed/updated without issue, there is no guarantee that this will be the case with any update released in the future. Personally, I have never allowed any Mac I have owned to automatically install updates as I prefer to maintain full control over the process. And in my humble opinion, maintaining this control is absolutely imperative when your OS is altered to run on a machine that it is not supported to do so. So if you have updated to OS X 10.9.1 you might want to open the App Store icon in system preferences and insure those boxes are unchecked !
 
Last edited:
gpatpandp said:
While I am uncertain if this will effect and/or apply to everyone in all cases, I found that after applying/installing the OS X 10.9.1 Update on all of my applicable Macs, the "App Store" preferences located in System Preferences changed my settings to check/allow any/all updates as they become available from Apple.

As one might guess, this default alteration could potentially be a huge problem for anyone running Mavericks on an unsupported Mac in that while OS X 10.9.1 installed/updated without issue, there is no guarantee that this will be the case with any update released in the future. Personally, I have never allowed any Mac I have owned to automatically install updates as I prefer to maintain full control over the process. And in my humble opinion, maintaining this control is absolutely imperative when your OS is altered to run on a machine that it is not supported to do so. So if you have updated to OS X 10.9.1 you might want to open the App Store icon in system preferences and insure those boxes are unchecked !
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up......but this did not happen on my machines. I had them set to check for updates, but do nothing else. After applying 10.9.1 my settings are the same.
 
macpro11 said:
Rastafabi, You DID it !!!
Thank you very much.
I did encountered a small issue, but I've got MAVERICKS ( 10.9.1 ) already downloaded.

Here are the details:

When I rebooted I have 4 small icons corresponding to CLOVER like Options etc...
I wasn't sure what to do, but the worse was that RETURN/ENTER key did not work.
I had no option to CONFIRM anything, It looked like I was stuck.
So I forced to shut DOWN my Mac with POWER button.

I rebooted, but this time with OPTION key.
After that I saw all my BOOT drives ( with custom icons ), including Windows 7 ( custom installation, not a part of BOOT CAMP )
Click to expand...

I have no idea why it did not work for you at first, but it's great that you could solve it yourself.
I hope you enjoy it, am I'm glad, that I could help you.

macpro11 said:
When I was back in LION, all my preferences reset, and my Mac was MacPro3,1 accordingly to System Information (with your previous Mavericks Download Enabler my Mac was unchanged - 1,1)
Click to expand...

Yep. Everything behaves just like it's supposed to behave. As OS X think it's a Wohle new system, where it's installed to every hardware related (and some other) settings are resetted.
The previous version was not supposed to change the computer-identfier value, but it should change have some others (Board-ID and some more) this would have let the AppStore work, while not resetting any settings.

macpro11 said:
After I launched APP STORE, I managed to download with my AppleID's password.

I haven't install yet Mavericks,
but a quick test of createinstallmedia command was successful.

I will be all right now.
I only wonder if I'll be able to download Xcode, but that's for another day.
Once more THANK YOU !
Click to expand...

Xcode should not be a problem at all, as ordinary software only checks for the OS it's installing on.
 
Last edited:
imac 6,1 white 24 10.8.5

Hi guys,

I'm trying to install 10.8.5 on my white 24 iMac. It has a 7600gt nvidia card. So far I have managed to get everything working properly with tiamo's boot.efi except the video which is very slow and jerky. I would like to transfer the kexts from lion 10.7.5 to the 10.8.5 install to see if that helps. however, I have no idea what kexts I need to move over. Can anyone help? Thanks.
 
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