[Guide] Success! Install 10.8 on old unsupported Mac

[bacanol]

boot in verbose n post a pic up here

Here comes the log:

The "Still waiting for root device" is repeated timely. Any idea?

 

[BakaAlex]

Game center don't work too? god... ML works in gma 950 macbook but very bad.

 

[justin02]

iCloud fix: Restore your settings via "Migration Assistant" that works but not for iMessage, FaceTime, Game Center and so on -.-

Cool thanks, will give it a shot, I only want my reminders ,notes, calendar etc to sync

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Works good the brightness, Facetime, Imessage, Icloud, QE,CI?

No those dont work, Im adding screensavers to the list

 

[BakaAlex]

Cool thanks, will give it a shot, I only want my reminders ,notes, calendar etc to sync

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No those dont work, Im adding screensavers to the list

Then ML don't work good in gma950 macbook yet...

 

[BakaAlex]

Only a few things works good, but is not enough for the most, i think.

 

[Mautz001]

yeah it works like a alpha version .. still waiting for FaceTime/iMessage/DICTATION!! fix, then it would be some more usable for me. But GMA950 still lacks QE/CI support hope that will also be fixed soon!

 

[justin02]

The speed difference between lion and Ml is huge though, makes Lion feel like a alpha version

 

[Juventino]

well, I finally tested it. it's pretty easy to install the OS and the ketxs (just follow post #22) but it's still not usable for everyday work. even after installing the X3100 ketxs, animations are rather slow (it gets worse if you use an external display). iCloud, Game Center, FaceTime and Messages don't work either ... so I'm gonna stick with Lion on this laptop for now.
nonetheless, it's been a great effort by hackerwayne and others to make it possible to run ML on older machines. I hope you can make it run as good as Lion

 

[sevimli]

How do you MERGE the folders? All I am getting is "replace" or "stop" options. I also tried pressing&holding alt-option key while dragging the folder.

 

[justin02]

How do you MERGE the folders? All I am getting is "replace" or "stop" options. I also tried pressing&holding alt-option key while dragging the folder.

merging and replacing is the same thing

 

[Embio]

I installed Mountain Lion on an iMac 4,1 X1600 with a Core 2 Duo upgrade yesterday.

A list of things that don't work (apart from the obvious graphics card problems)

- iCloud won't let me sign in
- Screen Sharing from another Mac makes the WindowServer use 100% of the CPU and makes it unusable
- Notification Centre crashes
- Launchpad is unusably slow
- Startup Disk can't bless the partition
- login prompt after screensaver frequently crashes the computer
- only 5MB of graphics memory detected


All in all, I'm going back to Lion Server. It was an interesting experiment but I think there are good reasons Apple moved on.

 

[Sveto]

ML is a bitch for 32bit video chips

Yep mangling with the OS is not for everyone. Your major problem is the lack of 64 bit video drivers that changes the situation from day to night. If you get those most of the described problems will disappear.
On Macbook 3.1 (4gb ram) system is pretty speedy even booted from a really slow 32GB flash drive. I have the X3100 drivers working though and that changes the picture. The one really intolerable thing that remains without an answer so far is the lack of brightness regulation (brightness at max). The other issues are a minor and to be honest I don't even use them on a daily basis (machine should not be put to sleep, the new screensavers don't work, while the old once work, and some applications that require OpenGl 4 have an issue running)

I installed Mountain Lion on an iMac 4,1 X1600 with a Core 2 Duo upgrade yesterday.

A list of things that don't work (apart from the obvious graphics card problems)

- iCloud won't let me sign in
- Screen Sharing from another Mac makes the WindowServer use 100% of the CPU and makes it unusable
- Notification Centre crashes
- Launchpad is unusably slow
- Startup Disk can't bless the partition
- login prompt after screensaver frequently crashes the computer
- only 5MB of graphics memory detected


All in all, I'm going back to Lion Server. It was an interesting experiment but I think there are good reasons Apple moved on.

 

[Fiola]

The only reason for apples unsupport the old systems is money The users have to bye a new macbook pro or air or something else...

My macbook 2006 2,1 with 3gb ram and gma 950 is working faster and better, than lion...

Its not ok to break up the support for old macs, and bring a newer and better system, without an update of lion, so the old macs run faster with their last os...

good work with the guide

thx for the 10.6.2 kextes

 

[foldericon]

what card do you have? Gma 950 or x3100?

gma 950

 

[sevimli]

I was able to install my MacbookAir1.1
So far everything works fine, except the brightness shortcuts on the keyboard, actually the buttons works but they don't dim/increase the brightness...


Control Panel also cannot control the brightness, it is simply fixed at a certain level.

Is there anyway to change brightness? I assume my "Light sensor" is not functional.

Thanks in advance...

 

[justin02]

Migrate method doesnt work, still no icloud connection

 

[IllmasterMath]

No iWork. Documents open fine but then nothing is displayed. I'm assuming this is the OpenGL 4 issue hackerwayne mentioned? I'm getting full acceleration on X3100.

 

[hackerwayne]

Here comes the log:
Image

The "Still waiting for root device" is repeated timely. Any idea?

Check your HDD or use a different thumb drive

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I was able to install my MacbookAir1.1
So far everything works fine, except the brightness shortcuts on the keyboard, actually the buttons works but they don't dim/increase the brightness...


Control Panel also cannot control the brightness, it is simply fixed at a certain level.

Is there anyway to change brightness? I assume my "Light sensor" is not functional.

Thanks in advance...

2 things i discovered today.

1. Boxes, cursors and typing cursors relies on OpenGL 4. iWork, Twitter, Notification Center and Facebook uses it, so in this case it won't work.

2. Display brightness is controlled by ACHI and Power Management kexts. Replaced them with Lion ones will result in a kernel panic. Haven try 10.6, & will try it later.

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Migrate method doesnt work, still no icloud connection

Migrate method does work, but you have to do it during the initial setup. So heres what you can do:

1. boot in Single User Mode.

2. type (exclude the $)

$/sbin/mount -uw /
$rm /var/db/.applesetupdone
$reboot

3. You will see the setup screen again, use system migrate and create a new administrator account with a different name.

 

[spookfx]

Here comes the log:

Or, oddly enough this worked for me.... put the usb drive out wait 2 seconds and plug it back in to the same slot... and magic!

I think the USB controller is a bit odd and doesn't re-scan the bus properly during a boot from USB....

Good Luck and thank you everyone who helped get this much working! hopefully Apple/Intel will write or release an OpenGL4 driver for us!

 

[antony34]

No iWork. Documents open fine but then nothing is displayed. I'm assuming this is the OpenGL 4 issue hackerwayne mentioned? I'm getting full acceleration on X3100.

View attachment 350523

I think it should be qe/ci issue. I tried 10.6.2 driver on lion and got same issue. So it may not OpenGL 4 issue.

 

[hackerwayne]

well, I finally tested it. it's pretty easy to install the OS and the ketxs (just follow post #22) but it's still not usable for everyday work. even after installing the X3100 ketxs, animations are rather slow (it gets worse if you use an external display). iCloud, Game Center, FaceTime and Messages don't work either ... so I'm gonna stick with Lion on this laptop for now.
nonetheless, it's been a great effort by hackerwayne and others to make it possible to run ML on older machines. I hope you can make it run as good as Lion

No, you shouldn't have used it for everyday work. The hack method is still in "beta". FaceTime *does* work but you have to register a FaceTime Apple ID else where (e.g: on iPod Touch 4). iMessage works but you have to use Migration Assistant, and graphics is slow because your X3100 does not support OpenGL 4.0 which is required by Mountain Lion.

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I think it should be qe/ci issue. I tried 10.6.2 driver on lion and got same issue. So it may not OpenGL 4 issue.

QE/CI is working, if its not you won't be able to watch YouTube videos and stuff.

 

[antony34]

QE/CI is working, if its not you won't be able to watch YouTube videos and stuff.

I see. Maybe a different drive I was install.

 

[Mautz001]

No, you shouldn't have used it for everyday work. The hack method is still in "beta". FaceTime *does* work but you have to register a FaceTime Apple ID else where (e.g: on iPod Touch 4). iMessage works but you have to use Migration Assistant, and graphics is slow because your X3100 does not support OpenGL 4.0 which is required by Mountain Lion.

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QE/CI is working, if its not you won't be able to watch YouTube videos and stuff.

neither iMessage nor FaceTime works I just get logged out again... -.- WHAT do I need to migrate? I migrated System settings

 

[Archy]

Macbook Mid 2007 GMA 950 64 (???) MB

Use the modified OSInstall.mpkg on post #22

Install break at ~95% - "OS X Doesn't install. Try again and use Disk Utility..."
Why?
I already format BOOTCAMP partition by Disk Utility to "MacOs Extended Journaled" just after installer start
It 21GB. Now try chk under Lion by DiskUtil - no errors, fix rights - ok...
Trying to replace PlatformSupport and boot 10.8...

YES! It start and it WORK! THANK U GUYS!!!

But...
i can't enter to icloud with my login-passwd with initial setup, but i can from Settings.
my trackpad doesn't understand 2 finger right-mouse (emulating is on) click.

 

[indiecraig]

I believe I have following all the steps on a MacBook 3,1. The install was successful and I'm actually posting this from within the Mountain Lion install. Sleep, facetime, launchpad and brightness don't work as expected, but I am also unable to watch YouTube videos in the Chrome browser. Safari is OK, not perfect but usable. I think this is because Chrome uses flash while Safari uses HTML5.

Have I missed a step, or is this a limitation of the incomplete X3100 drivers that are linked to in Post 22? Is there any way this driver might be improved over time?

One thing I'm not considering is trying out Developer Preview 1 with the 32 bit driver. Are there any reasons why the public release version with gimped graphics would be superior to the developer preview with graphics working? What exactly has been added/fixed since the preview was released?