[Guide] Success! Install 10.8 on old unsupported Mac

[SierraRomeo]

iMac 6,1 with 7600GT

Hi there,

I saw your post and wondered if you had a chance of testing on a late 2006 iMac with 7600GT ? If not, i can test it, but i don't know what i should do and how to do it ?

I guess the only thing missing is a sort of 7600GTHack file with Kext, Plugin and Bundle...
How can we make one ?

Any help or advise on this would be greatly appreciated !

Best,
Mark

 

[hackerwayne]

Hi there,

I saw your post and wondered if you had a chance of testing on a late 2006 iMac with 7600GT ? If not, i can test it, but i don't know what i should do and how to do it ?

I guess the only thing missing is a sort of 7600GTHack file with Kext, Plugin and Bundle...
How can we make one ?

Any help or advise on this would be greatly appreciated !

Best,
Mark

Can you try with Lion 10.7.4s kexts?

 

[coolio2004]

Success!! OS X 10.8 is running beautifully from what I can tell on my Early 2008 Black MacBook4,1 with working audio and full video acceleration xD. Once I finally got it, it was so easy and obvious that I feel slightly stupid hahaha. Here's the programs I used:

VMWare Fusion 4
VMWare Fusion 3.1.3
OSXfuse
Carbon Copy Cloner
OS X 10.7.4 Lion
OS X 10.8

Plus
hacked X3100 drivers
Hacked AppleHDA
Hacked boot.efi

AFAIK the brightness adjustment is the only feature that doesn't work properly.

I had to leave like 10 minutes after I got it all booted into ML so this is all from memory but I'll write up a short guide when I get home cause I don't wanna have to type it out on my iPhone haha. But it's easy as Apple pie xD

There is no full video acceleration with x3100, cause the kexts never had QE/CI. Fusion doesn´t need QE/CI. Try new VLC with video streaming and you will see the message.

 

[SierraRomeo]

Can you try with Lion 10.7.4s kexts?

Sure but how can i know which they are and where to find them ?
I found a NVEnabler64.kext on OSx86.net, will see how it goes...
Where do i find KEXTs on 10.7.4 ? Do i have to look in the DMG, cause i can't find any on the file system nor in the extensions directory of the library.

What scares me is that my iMac's EFI is 32 and not 64 compatible.

 

[bacanol]

Nearly at the final target, but what is missing?

Hello Everyone,

I could manage to get ML installed successfully, but during the boot process after replacing the file (as described in #22) I get this message:
--> See attached image!
What do I need to do? I double-checked the instructions and I do not miss anything...

Thank you in advance!!

 

[H2SO4]

Hello Everyone,

I could manage to get ML installed successfully, but during the boot process after replacing the file (as described in #22) I get this message:
--> See attached image!
What do I need to do? I double-checked the instructions and I do not miss anything...

Thank you in advance!!

That F22788C8 tells the installer that your Mac is the wrong type.

 

[bacanol]

That F22788C8 tells the installer that your Mac is the wrong type.

... but I am already done with the full installation... This happens after the successful installation... Any idea?

 

[H2SO4]

Hello Everyone,

I could manage to get ML installed successfully, but during the boot process after replacing the file (as described in #22) I get this message:
--> See attached image!
What do I need to do? I double-checked the instructions and I do not miss anything...

Thank you in advance!!

... but I am already done with the full installation... This happens after the successful installation... Any idea?

Oh, well in that case, No.

 

[bacanol]

Oh, well in that case, No.

Anyone?

I could not determine which file might be used for checking the version other than the PlatformSupport.plist in CoreServices...

Strange to me...

 

[H2SO4]

Anyone?

I could not determine which file might be used for checking the version other than the PlatformSupport.plist in CoreServices...

Strange to me...

Is it possible you could boot from another working drive and edit it?

 

[bacanol]

Is it possible you could boot from another working drive and edit it?

of cause, I already double-checked all mentioned file locations and contents (according to #22), but the id is present in all files... :-(

 

[H2SO4]

of cause, I already double-checked all mentioned file locations and contents (according to #22), but the id is present in all files... :-(

Hmm, does looking here help? Search for the term, 'var PlatformSupportValues'.

 

[bacanol]

Hmm, does looking here help? Search for the term, 'var PlatformSupportValues'.

Sounds like a possible way, but where is this file located after the installation?

 

[H2SO4]

Sounds like a possible way, but where is this file located after the installation?

No idea yet, I'm still waiting for a way to get ML.

 

[hackerwayne]

... but I am already done with the full installation... This happens after the successful installation... Any idea?

You simply forgot to replace platform support.plist AFTER the installation

 

[bacanol]

You simply forgot to replace platform support.plist AFTER the installation

I did. I did it multiple times now. And my System ID is in there... Any idea what went wrong?

 

[dec-182]

I did. I did it multiple times now. And my System ID is in there... Any idea what went wrong?

Perhaps you need to fix the permissions on the plists?
Boot off a CD or something and run Disk Utility and fix permissions, perhaps.

Only other issue I could think of is that you have more than 4GB of RAM installed. Remove it to get down to 4GB and see if that works. Wayne says he has 16GB working after the install finishes (puts it back in), but that hasn't worked for me yet.

 

[chaliwang]

Thanks

Many thanks. It's Working in my A1181 (MacBook 2,1) with GMA950,but no QE/CI

Still waiting you can find way to fix it

If have any news , please send a message to me (iMassage Acc. & Email Acc. is 57386568@qq.com)

Thanks again

CHALI WANG from Taiwan ROC

 

[MI-Drum420]

Hello Everyone,

I could manage to get ML installed successfully, but during the boot process after replacing the file (as described in #22) I get this message:
--> See attached image!
What do I need to do? I double-checked the instructions and I do not miss anything...

Thank you in advance!!

Your ML won't boot so after trying a couple times and failing it tries to boot from your recovery HD, that's when your get the board-id error. Cause you haven't hacked the recovery partition boot files.

It looks like either your boot.efi or Mach kernel is corrupted or not loading but idk why.

 

[musicman0725]

Mac Pro 8GB RAM unstable video card

Additionally, although my graphics card is detected (Nvidia Geforce 8800GT for Apple 32bit EFI) I was only able to open aperture once. Every other time I've booted the system I get "your graphics card does not meet the requirement". Graphics performance hasn't been great with my card on ML (although it's fine on Lion).

Just wanted to provide an update for those with older Mac Pro's attempting to use this method. Although I was able to boot and have all of my memory detected when using 8GB of RAM, I wanted to look into the video glitches further (I have an Nvidia Geforce 8800GT).

The crash I was receiving was:
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEV)
Exception Code: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x000......

I ran Rember on the memory and everything was good, however, I continued to get errors loading CoreAnimation (and was unable to open Aperture). When I changed my configuration to 6GB I could load aperture and no longer received the CoreAnimation errors. Also, the graphics are now much smoother and the performance is what you'd expect from ML.

One more interesting thing I found in the Console logs was the following message after every boot:
EFI32: kernel virtual space limited to 4GB

 

[DanCT]

Just wanted to provide an update for those with older Mac Pro's attempting to use this method. Although I was able to boot and have all of my memory detected when using 8GB of RAM, I wanted to look into the video glitches further (I have an Nvidia Geforce 8800GT).

The crash I was receiving was:
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEV)
Exception Code: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x000......

I ran Rember on the memory and everything was good, however, I continued to get errors loading CoreAnimation (and was unable to open Aperture). When I changed my configuration to 6GB I could load aperture and no longer received the CoreAnimation errors. Also, the graphics are now much smoother and the performance is what you'd expect from ML.

One more interesting thing I found in the Console logs was the following message after every boot:
EFI32: kernel virtual space limited to 4GB

Yup. For now, this does not seem to be the best solution for Mac Pro 1,1/2,1 owners (with a gobs of RAM).
I wonder if using the Chamaleon bootloader method wouldn't be a better way to go.
The problem is that knowledge on different potential methods is really spread out and not a single website seems to host a consolidated, up-to-date, knowledge base on the various methods.

 

[cgc]

How do I get a legit copy of OSX 10.8 for my MacPro 1,1 since I can't DL it from the AppStore?

 

[Intell]

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?

It should be possible. The Apple's Mac OS X mach kernel has been edited before. A notable example it the inclusion of support for Intell Atom CPUs that Apple explicitly removed in 10.6.2.

Anybody able in here who can compile a kernel that will eat 32 bit (gma950) kexts?

http://opensource.apple.com/release/mac-os-x-108/

I'm very sure this will work. Alas, I lack the needed knowledge to get it working. It appears that no one else in this thread has taken notice of the one possible way that could make this work. I also remember Apple used to release some of the kext's source code.

 

[chrisj2110]

Mac Pro 2,1 ?

Anybody on here have one of these besides me?

How did the install go? Anything broken/not working?

I have Mountain Lion just sitting in a .dmg And I'm not touching a thing, until I know it works properly. My Graphics are ATI Radeon 5770, 8GB RAM.

I wish Apple had of updated this MacPro. Its more than enough to run ML.

We should probably email Tim Cook, expressing our annoyance.

 

[liantianji]

Image

UPDATE: 7/31/2012 Posted GMA 950 kexts (No QE/CI) and iCloud fix.

UPDATE: 7/26/2012 The guide has been modified to fix "Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer" problem & support the retail version of Mountain Lion.

A little note:
Unfortunately, either Apple has completely removed 32bit kernel, or locked it up. I tried to start it by holding down "3" and "2" and by typing arch=i386 in com.apple.boot.plist did nothing. (Kernel is still LP64) And because of that, I can't get 32bit kexts started such as ATI1600Controller.kext and all the Intel GMA950 kexts.


What works what doesn't (to avoid confusion)
- Mac Minis with X3100 > Perfect
- Mac Pros with upgraded graphics > Perfect
- MacBooks with X3100 > Works, display brightness & sleep issue
- MacBookAir with X3100 > Works, display brightness & sleep issue
- MacBookPros with X1600 > Graphics Issue (Frame buffer mode with Core Image lacks Quartz Extreme)
- iMacs with X1900 > Graphics Issue (Frame buffer mode with Core Image lacks Quartz Extreme)
- MacBooks with GMA 950 > Works, no QE/CI
- iMacs with GMA 950 >Works, no QE/CI
- Mac Minis with GMA 950 > Works, no QE/CI
- Mac Pros with 7300GT and X1900XT >Doesn't work at all, no plans to fix it
- iMacs with 7600GT > Didn't work on it yet, don't have such a system to test on.


For education purpose only. Try at your own risk, please back up everything before installing or install it on a second partition.

Requirements:
- a Mac with Core 2 Duo processor and with Lion installed.
- At least 2GB of RAM.
- A copy of Mountain Lion.
- 8GB USB Thumb drive
- A second partition with at least 20GB free. Name it Mountain Lion.

Full instructions:

1. Get a copy of Mountain Lion, please purchase the retail version of ML from the Mac App Store. Seriously, buy it, its only $19.99

2. Boot up to the Lion partition, show hidden file in Finder. Google it if you're unsure.

3. Right click on OS X Mountain Lion.app and click "show all content" Navigate to Shared Support and drag "InstallESD.dmg" to your desktop.

4. Enable hidden files if you haven't. You should see a file called BaseSystem.dmg, open it and mount it.

5. Plug in your 8GB thumb drive and bring up Disk Utility. Click on the 8GB drive and select "Restore" tab, next, drag BaseSystem.dmg from the sidebar to "Source" and the thumb drive to "Destination". The process should take approximately 10 to 20 minutes, when its done, go to the newly restored 8GB drive, navigate to System>Installation and replace the file "Packages" with the one in InstallESD. The file should be 4.xGB.

6. Once the copying is done we have to replace some files, download this modified 1.14MB zip file. and this hackedOSInstall.mpkg

7. Open up both ZIP files. You should get a folder called MountainLionHack, and it contains 2 folder, which is CoreServices and i386, and a file called OSInstall.mpkg Open up the 8GB thumb drive, navigate to /System/Library and MERGE the patched CoreServices folder in, when it ask about files replacement, click replace. Next, on the same 8GB drive, navigate to /usr/standalone and MERGE the patched i386 folder in. Replace files when asked. Then, go to /System/Installation/Packages and replace OSInstall.mpkg with the newly downloaded one.

8. Reboot your Mac and hold down "Option" while booting. Select the thumb drive and hit enter. Once you're at the installation screen, click next till you reach the destination drive, click show all drives and select the 20GB partition you made for Mountain Lion, hit next to install. Once installation is completed system will restart, DO NOT try to boot into Mountain Lion. While restarting, hold down "Option" and boot back into Lion 10.7. Bring up Finder, open Mountain Lion drive and navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices and replace PlatformSupport.plist with the one in MountainLionHack folder.

9. Reboot into Mountain Lion drive and set up your Mac. (Guide is not done yet, please continue reading)

10. You will realize that sound and graphics will not work.
Note: Fix sound guide will be up in a bit.

UPDATE: 8.55PM GMT+8
Sound guide
- First download this zip file, it contains 2 file, 1 hacked AppleHDA kext by me, and Kext Utility by Cvad-Mac.
- You will need to install the hacked kext. Launch Kext Utility and drag AppleHDA.kext into Kext Utility. Type in your password and wait. Once its done, reboot and you should get sound now.

UPDATE: July 13th 2012
iCloud and iMessage fix (yeah iMessage sort of, not tested by myself. Report back if it works)

After the installation, use Migration Assistant to migrate iCloud settings from Lion.
11. Working Mountain Lion on not supported system. (Except graphics, for now)

12.
Intel GMA X3100 ONLY! ~ Credit - Kylegray post #391
- Use the same Kext Utility download the ZIP from the sound fix, and download X3100Hack and install following files in Mountain Lion:
(all are located in System/Library/Extensions in your Lion installation you install them to Mountain Lion in the corresponding place)
AppleIntelGMAX3100.kext
AppleIntelGMAX3100FB.kext
AppleIntelGMAX3100GA.plugin
AppleIntelGMAX3100GLDriver.bundle
AppleIntelGMAX3100VADriver.bundle

Intel GMA 950 ONLY! ~ Credit - Trunkz
- Use the same Kext Utility download the ZIP from the sound fix, and download GMA950Hack and install following files in Mountain Lion:
(all are located in System/Library/Extensions in your Lion installation you install them to Mountain Lion in the corresponding place)
AppleIntelGMA950.kext
AppleIntelIntegratedFramebuffer.kext
AppleIntelGMA950GA.plugin
AppleIntelGMA950GLDriver.bundle
AppleIntelGMA950VADriver.bundle

Give it a thumbs up if it helped you =) Good luck!

I've followed this guide,
but it failed to install before finishing.