[Guide] Success! Install 10.8 on old unsupported Mac

[Lucky736]

Maybe there will be something here the officially unsupported, such as myself, can use:

"Apple is seeding three updated betas to developers. The main one is a new build of OS X 10.7.5, 11G30. Although few details have been reported, Apple states that the build has no known issues, and is asking developers to concentrate on testing graphics quality and performance. Matching the main v10.7.5 release is a beta of v10.7.5 server, which has the same build number."

 

[dgarratt]

Hi Guys, is there any solution to the 4GB memory limitation? I have 16GB in my MacPro2,1 and I get a kernel panic unless I reduce my memory down to 4GB.

From what I understand the patched boot.efi cannot address to more than 4GB of memory.

See screenshot below.

 

[BakaAlex]

Do you think that's cute?

I don´t understand you sorry.

 

[AshtonTS]

Still no QE/CI for GMA 950?

How bad would it be if I installed ML without QE/CI? What would that effect?

Hopefully the QE/CI can be fixed...

 

[themav]

Sleep and Brightness

For Sleep and Brightness on GMA X3100:
What if we include the kext from 10.7.4:
AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext

It is 64-bit so we should give it a try! I am currently trying it with my installation (posting from lion).

 

[musicman0725]

Mac Pro 1,1/2,1

Hi Guys, is there any solution to the 4GB memory limitation? I have 16GB in my MacPro2,1 and I get a kernel panic unless I reduce my memory down to 4GB.

From what I understand the patched boot.efi cannot address to more than 4GB of memory.

See screenshot below.

I was also getting a Kernel Panic with 10GB of RAM installed, but in another thread (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1404548/) I saw a user with a screenshot that had successfully installed with 5GB of RAM, so I figured 4GB can't be the max with the modded boot.efi files.

I took out 2GB and was able to successfully boot with 8GB of RAM and install ML from a flash drive. One thing that took me awhile was after I removed the extra RAM and stopped receiving the kernel panics, the bootscreen would continue to spin. I realized that when I made my flash drive and copied over the folders I actually replaced the entire folder instead of the important files when copying boot.efi and PlatformSupport.plist (which caused the rest of the files to get overwritten). I tried modifying the PlatformSupport.plist the second time around rather than copying it so I could add the system identifier in addition to the board id. I followed the steps in this thread as well as the other thread I was looking at (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1404548/) to make sure I wasn't missing anything. After looking at both, I was able to create a successful installer.

My system is a Mac Pro 1,1 with 2,1 firmware (since I upgraded to an 8-core config). I had 10GB of RAM in all 8 slots, but now I have 8GB in 4 slots (I removed 4 512MB chips). Not sure it makes a difference, but the RAM I left in has 2 sticks on the top riser and 2 on the bottom riser (in the slots further into the machine...the outer slots are all empty). Good luck with your install!

 

[blackfreccia]

Success!

Ok, so I've managed to follow the guide and I installed successfully ML, my system specs are: Macbook 4,1 (early 2008, the black model), with core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz, 4 GB of RAM, my graphics card is of course the X3100 and here's my current status:

-Brightness is at maximum and it can't be modified
-Launchpad takes like half a minute to load, which makes it unusable, I will try to reinstall the kexts, if that doesn't work, could any of you post the files of 10.7.4 that supposedly make the trick? I don't trust the ones I've found
-The new screensavers don't work
-My computer won't go to sleep
-FaceTime, iCloud and iMessage are working, but that might be because I installed on top of Lion (more on this later)
-Mission control works, but the thumbnails of the spaces act weird.
-In finder, when I see my files in cover flow, the name of them is displayed in a black rectangle and the image glitches as I browse through the files.
-I have no coverflow in iTunes whatsoever
-In the notification center, I get that gray twitter rectangle.
-I can see the miniatures in iPhoto, but when I try to see the picture at its actual size, all I get is a black screen inside the app. I guess something similar would happen with iMovie.
-Finally, and this one is a deal breaker for me, iWork doesn't work, I've tried to use both pages and keynote but here's what happens: in pages, the programs starts but I can't see the text I type and if I open old documents they open as if they were blank. In keynote, I open up the program and it does load the thumbnails of the slides, but they disappear in about 10 seconds, the field where the slide is supposed to be is blank and when I try to play the presentation, I get a message that there isn't enough VRAM, so I can't use it at all.

Oh, and if anyone wanted to know if this can be done as an update, i can tell you it is 100% possible, here's what I did:

-I followed the guide until step 5, there, I used an external HD with two partitions (but I guess that a large flash drive could be used as well) and, instead of using a thumb drive to restore the BaseSystem.dmg, I used one of the partitions. Then, format the other partition as Mac Os Plus with registry, set its size to about 20 GB.
-Follow steps 6 and 7 and in step 8, select the partition of the usb drive in which you restored the base system.
-In the OS X installer, select the 20 GB partition you created early in the external disc.
- The installation should take about 20 min.
- Then, boot from your mac's internal HD and change the PlatformSupport.plist.
- Boot from the external HD and make sure everything is OK.
- Then, go back to the Mac OS X installer, but this time, select your internal HD.
- The installation should take longer this time, it took about an hour for me, if it seems to get stucked, check the installation log.
- Once ML is installed in your main drive, boot from the mountain lion on the external drive and change the PlatformSupport.plist in your main drive.

Now follow the rest of the guide and you're good to go!

Hope this mini-guide helps

 

[macandreas3]

Make sure all files are merged. Simple as that, if you can boot ML on your Mac Mini w/o hacking, why you wanna hack it?

It won't let me merge hidden files (the ones beginning with a dot (.))
Read the last line of my previous post: I want to have a MacBook4,1 running ML.
Unless I understood something totally wrong I need a ML capable machine (my Mac mini) to follow the procedure.

 

[IllmasterMath]

It won't let me merge hidden files (the ones beginning with a dot (.))
Read the last line of my previous post: I want to have a MacBook4,1 running ML.
Unless I understood something totally wrong I need a ML capable machine (my Mac mini) to follow the procedure.

Hide the files again using terminal and let finder take care of them for you.

 

[stingray88]

Just wanted to give a big thanks to Hackerwayne and everyone else helping here. I've got a MacBook 4,1 and have been following this thread for months in hopes of getting ML on my Mac. Great to see the progress thus far!

So far things seem to be working well on my test drive except the known issue (sleep/brightness). I'm sticking with Lion until the kinks get ironed out, and I suggest all you noobies in here do the same! Some of you guys need to realize that this hackery takes time and hard work, and in the end... there might never be a 100% perfect way to get ML on these Macs. In the mean time, help where you can or just be patient.

I'm not sure if these 64bit x3100 kexts I found on this blog post are any different from the 10.6.2 kexts we've been using, but I found these from another post and they worked very well for me: http://swegen.blogspot.de/2011/07/bootefi-x64-patch-for-mac-os-x-lion-and.html?m=1

Just figured I'd share them if they help anyone else!

Anyways, thanks again for everyone's hard work! I look forward to more progress!

 

[hackerwayne]

Hi Guys, is there any solution to the 4GB memory limitation? I have 16GB in my MacPro2,1 and I get a kernel panic unless I reduce my memory down to 4GB.

From what I understand the patched boot.efi cannot address to more than 4GB of memory.

See screenshot below.

Yes, theres a 4GB cap at the moment

UPDATE: Just to make it clear, the cap only applies to the pen drive for whatever reason. Install with 4GB of RAM and put the rest back after installation

 

[foldericon]

For Sleep and Brightness on GMA X3100:
What if we include the kext from 10.7.4:
AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext

It is 64-bit so we should give it a try! I am currently trying it with my installation (posting from lion).

I tried with GMA 950, nothing changed. It seems both kexts are the same thing.

 

[hackerwayne]

Does this mean it actually works on Intel GMA 950 without any problems?

No Sir, GMA 950 will not have QE/CI. In other words, no acceleration (no youtube, launchpad, flash etc)

----------

Ok, so I've managed to follow the guide and I installed successfully ML, my system specs are: Macbook 4,1 (early 2008, the black model), with core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz, 4 GB of RAM, my graphics card is of course the X3100 and here's my current status:

-Brightness is at maximum and it can't be modified
-Launchpad takes like half a minute to load, which makes it unusable, I will try to reinstall the kexts, if that doesn't work, could any of you post the files of 10.7.4 that supposedly make the trick? I don't trust the ones I've found
-The new screensavers don't work
-My computer won't go to sleep
-FaceTime, iCloud and iMessage are working, but that might be because I installed on top of Lion (more on this later)
-Mission control works, but the thumbnails of the spaces act weird.
-In finder, when I see my files in cover flow, the name of them is displayed in a black rectangle and the image glitches as I browse through the files.
-I have no coverflow in iTunes whatsoever
-In the notification center, I get that gray twitter rectangle.
-I can see the miniatures in iPhoto, but when I try to see the picture at its actual size, all I get is a black screen inside the app. I guess something similar would happen with iMovie.
-Finally, and this one is a deal breaker for me, iWork doesn't work, I've tried to use both pages and keynote but here's what happens: in pages, the programs starts but I can't see the text I type and if I open old documents they open as if they were blank. In keynote, I open up the program and it does load the thumbnails of the slides, but they disappear in about 10 seconds, the field where the slide is supposed to be is blank and when I try to play the presentation, I get a message that there isn't enough VRAM, so I can't use it at all.

Oh, and if anyone wanted to know if this can be done as an update, i can tell you it is 100% possible, here's what I did:

-I followed the guide until step 5, there, I used an external HD with two partitions (but I guess that a large flash drive could be used as well) and, instead of using a thumb drive to restore the BaseSystem.dmg, I used one of the partitions. Then, format the other partition as Mac Os Plus with registry, set its size to about 20 GB.
-Follow steps 6 and 7 and in step 8, select the partition of the usb drive in which you restored the base system.
-In the OS X installer, select the 20 GB partition you created early in the external disc.
- The installation should take about 20 min.
- Then, boot from your mac's internal HD and change the PlatformSupport.plist.
- Boot from the external HD and make sure everything is OK.
- Then, go back to the Mac OS X installer, but this time, select your internal HD.
- The installation should take longer this time, it took about an hour for me, if it seems to get stucked, check the installation log.
- Once ML is installed in your main drive, boot from the mountain lion on the external drive and change the PlatformSupport.plist in your main drive.

Now follow the rest of the guide and you're good to go!

Hope this mini-guide helps

Use the kexts attached in post #22. Its the ones from 10.6.2 which are 64 bit. Lion's kexts are not

----------

I was also getting a Kernel Panic with 10GB of RAM installed, but in another thread (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1404548/) I saw a user with a screenshot that had successfully installed with 5GB of RAM, so I figured 4GB can't be the max with the modded boot.efi files.

I took out 2GB and was able to successfully boot with 8GB of RAM and install ML from a flash drive. One thing that took me awhile was after I removed the extra RAM and stopped receiving the kernel panics, the bootscreen would continue to spin. I realized that when I made my flash drive and copied over the folders I actually replaced the entire folder instead of the important files when copying boot.efi and PlatformSupport.plist (which caused the rest of the files to get overwritten). I tried modifying the PlatformSupport.plist the second time around rather than copying it so I could add the system identifier in addition to the board id. I followed the steps in this thread as well as the other thread I was looking at (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1404548/) to make sure I wasn't missing anything. After looking at both, I was able to create a successful installer.

My system is a Mac Pro 1,1 with 2,1 firmware (since I upgraded to an 8-core config). I had 10GB of RAM in all 8 slots, but now I have 8GB in 4 slots (I removed 4 512MB chips). Not sure it makes a difference, but the RAM I left in has 2 sticks on the top riser and 2 on the bottom riser (in the slots further into the machine...the outer slots are all empty). Good luck with your install!

Only the installation drive is 4GB capped. ML isn't, so you install with 4GB ram and put back the rest after installation. I have 16GB installed after installation.

 

[Phycoduck]

-Brightness is at maximum and it can't be modified
-Launchpad takes like half a minute to load, which makes it unusable, I will try to reinstall the kexts, if that doesn't work, could any of you post the files of 10.7.4 that supposedly make the trick? I don't trust the ones I've found
-The new screensavers don't work
-My computer won't go to sleep
-FaceTime, iCloud and iMessage are working, but that might be because I installed on top of Lion (more on this later)
-Mission control works, but the thumbnails of the spaces act weird.
-In finder, when I see my files in cover flow, the name of them is displayed in a black rectangle and the image glitches as I browse through the files.
-I have no coverflow in iTunes whatsoever
-In the notification center, I get that gray twitter rectangle.
-I can see the miniatures in iPhoto, but when I try to see the picture at its actual size, all I get is a black screen inside the app. I guess something similar would happen with iMovie.
-Finally, and this one is a deal breaker for me, iWork doesn't work, I've tried to use both pages and keynote but here's what happens: in pages, the programs starts but I can't see the text I type and if I open old documents they open as if they were blank. In keynote, I open up the program and it does load the thumbnails of the slides, but they disappear in about 10 seconds, the field where the slide is supposed to be is blank and when I try to play the presentation, I get a message that there isn't enough VRAM, so I can't use it at all.

You call this a Success? Sounds like your laptop is now unusable.

 

[hackerwayne]

I don´t understand you sorry.

Just stop asking us how to bypass the 2GB ram requirements. Its possible, and I've made the modified files for you some pages back,TWICE. So if you're not familiar with file replacement, i suggest that you just go ahead and buy 2GB 2x1GB (cost $15), and it will solve your problem right away.

 

[antony34]

I keep hold on this screen and can't install ML on MacBook 4,1.
What can I do now?

 

[chimpy72]

I've done the hack on the MacBook 4,1 too (C2D 2.4 GHz, white, 4 GB RAM). I did a clean install.

Ok, so I've managed to follow the guide and I installed successfully ML, my system specs are: Macbook 4,1 (early 2008, the black model), with core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz, 4 GB of RAM, my graphics card is of course the X3100 and here's my current status:

-Brightness is at maximum and it can't be modified
-Launchpad takes like half a minute to load, which makes it unusable, I will try to reinstall the kexts, if that doesn't work, could any of you post the files of 10.7.4 that supposedly make the trick? I don't trust the ones I've found
-The new screensavers don't work
-My computer won't go to sleep
-FaceTime, iCloud and iMessage are working, but that might be because I installed on top of Lion (more on this later)
-Mission control works, but the thumbnails of the spaces act weird.
-In finder, when I see my files in cover flow, the name of them is displayed in a black rectangle and the image glitches as I browse through the files.
-I have no coverflow in iTunes whatsoever
-In the notification center, I get that gray twitter rectangle.
-I can see the miniatures in iPhoto, but when I try to see the picture at its actual size, all I get is a black screen inside the app. I guess something similar would happen with iMovie.
-Finally, and this one is a deal breaker for me, iWork doesn't work, I've tried to use both pages and keynote but here's what happens: in pages, the programs starts but I can't see the text I type and if I open old documents they open as if they were blank. In keynote, I open up the program and it does load the thumbnails of the slides, but they disappear in about 10 seconds, the field where the slide is supposed to be is blank and when I try to play the presentation, I get a message that there isn't enough VRAM, so I can't use it at all.

All of this confirmed.

- Though with FaceTime I got an unexpected quit when I tried to call somebody (it was "cl_kernels" that crashed).
- My problem wasn't that it wouldn't go to sleep when I closed the lid, but that it wouldn't come out of it.
- The Twitter problem looks like this: http://cl.ly/IREJ
- YouTube partially works in Safari 6 (and that's only because I asked for them in HTML 5). If I didn't do that, they simply don't play. Same behaviour in Chrome. [This could be overcome by using an extension to force HTML 5 video on every single video, like Click2Flash].
- Other Flash things work fine though, like the jwplayer plugin and Vimeo.
- Weird image contrast issues in Safari 6: http://cl.ly/IQL8/ - now look at the image opened up in a new tab: http://cl.ly/IQRe Confirm this for yourself here: http://zackeryfretty.com/forwarding-growl-notifications-to-notification-center-on-mountain-lion/ - this seems to happen completely at random on a variety of sites. Does not happen in Chrome.
- Apparently the invisible scroll-bars are supposed to fade-in when you rest two fingers on the trackpad - doesn't happen for me. Could simply be to do with the fact that the trackpad is an old model though, not a "glass" one.

I will report back as and when I find other issues.

I think I'm using the kexts in #22 already... :/ I would be intrigued to get a package of Sveto's drivers if he's able to open LaunchPad instantly.

 

[foldericon]

Am I right that when apple releases the source of Darwin 11 someone could build a 32 bit version of the kernel without any changes and the graphic drivers from lion will work including Quartz Extreme and Core Image?

 

[dec-182]

Only the installation drive is 4GB capped. ML isn't, so you install with 4GB ram and put back the rest after installation. I have 16GB installed after installation.

I'm going to try again tonight using post 22.

I installed ML on a drive from a compatible 10.8 laptop, then copied over boot.efi and the plists, did a permissions repair, and I got a kernel panic unless I took out all but 4GB of RAM when I plugged that drive into my Mac Pro 1,1. Even then, iCloud didn't want to work, so mail, messages, etc. were all inoperative.

 

[musicman0725]

Only the installation drive is 4GB capped. ML isn't, so you install with 4GB ram and put back the rest after installation. I have 16GB installed after installation.

That's good to know that it's just a limitation on the installation drive. I noticed a message in verbose boot about being reduced to 4GB of RAM, however, I no longer received kernel panics from the installation drive once I reduced the RAM in my machine to 8GB (from 10GB), so the physical limit may actually be 8GB before the system starts to receive kernel panics when booting from USB. Anyways, I'll have to try adding the rest of my RAM when I get home.

 

[fbe546]

Thanks for the very nice guide!

When you say "Frame buffer mode with Core Image lacks Quartz Extreme", what does it imply ? No graphical acceleration ?

 

[Pendora]

I've installed ML on my Macbook2,1 with the Kext files from 10.6.2 (It was before it was posted here so i've downloaded the combo 10.6.2 update from apple and extracted them).

In my install Youtube and Flash works normal.

I did not get iMessage working but for the most things it works. What I find very strange is that iWork (even the older one so it can't be OpenGL 4) would not work. It gives me a 31-07-12 20:01:54,312 Pages[3207]: invalid context
and 31-07-12 20:02:01,559 Pages[3207]: invalid pixel format
error in my Console.

Also in my install the unified search/url balk in Safari is very slow. I do not know if thats because I installed it on top of my Lion install.

To bad Aperture does not work either. It tells me that my graphics card does not meet the minimum requirements. Fortunately for me iPhoto now also supports folders.

 

[yuckz0ne]

No Sir, GMA 950 will not have QE/CI. In other words, no acceleration (no youtube, launchpad, flash etc)

Thanks for the quick answer.
And there actually is (or will be) no way to get QE/CI for GMA 950?

I'm sorry to ask that many questions but the updates in your first posts kinda irritate me.

 

[dgarratt]

Yes, theres a 4GB cap at the moment

UPDATE: Just to make it clear, the cap only applies to the pen drive for whatever reason. Install with 4GB of RAM and put the rest back after installation

Hi Hackerwayne,

I also want to give my appreciation for all the work you guys are doing.

In my testing the 4GB limitation also applies post installation. I did try upping my memory to 8GB and I didn't get a kernel panic but after the first reboot once the installation finished it gets close the the end of the boot process and then stalls on a spinning cog.

 

[antony34]

I keep hold on this screen and can't install ML on MacBook 4,1.
What can I do now?

additional information. I follow #22 again and got same result. anyone can give me suggestion?

* Macbook 4,1 4GB Ram installed.