MP 1,1-5,1 HELP, updated OpenCore and now nothing boots anymore [SOLVED]

[Jegriva]

Hi, I need help, I am a bit desperate.

I used to run the machine you can read in my signature, with Opencore installed thru Martin's Package.
Today I decided to update it, using the Opencore Legacy Patcher; I have read on their guide that for updating OpenCore I just needed to run the installer.
I run the installer, the Mac keeps working as usual, until I reboot.

At reboot, I hear the chime, and then I get this screen

Just before that, for a second I can see the boot picker, with Mojave, the old Bootcamp partition and no Recovery partition.

I am afraid I FUBAR everything, and I am very worried. I have access to another hard drive with Mojave with the original Apple EFI, a small Windows PC and an old MacBook (running High Sierra).

Please help me.

 

[Jegriva]

Can I just restore the EFI partition on the hard disk by copying the one I have on the "vanilla" hard disk (which is not physically installed in the machine yet)?

 

[sfalatko]

Can I just restore the EFI partition on the hard disk by copying the one I have on the "vanilla" hard disk (which is not physically installed in the machine yet)?

You need one and only one copy of OC (one EFI partition with OC installed and blessed).

Some things you can do - remove the drive(s) with OC and boot a clean Mojave install (Mojave doesn't need OC). Once booted into Mojave I would then create a rescue CD (see the instructions in post #1 of the main OC thread).

Install all the drive(s) again and boot with the rescue CD. You should see the boot menu - pick an OS to boot into. After a successful boot inspect your EFI partitions to ensure only one has OC. I would first try to rebless it and attempt to boot. If that fails you can always use the rescue CD to boot with OC and continue to troubleshoot/repair your OC install.

It would also help for you to provide more insight into your setup - what OS or OSs are you trying to boot with OC (Catalina, Big Sur, and/or Monterey). What drive(s) do you have installed. From your first post is seems you had originally used Martin's package but then tried to update using OCLP. Did you mix the two methods?

 

[startergo]

The forbidden sign usually is an indication that you are trying to boot usupported OS. So your OC is actually not working anymore. There is a dedicated thread for OC usually you will find an answer to your question in the first post there .

 

[Jegriva]

It would also help for you to provide more insight into your setup - what OS or OSs are you trying to boot with OC (Catalina, Big Sur, and/or Monterey). What drive(s) do you have installed. From your first post is seems you had originally used Martin's package but then tried to update using OCLP. Did you mix the two methods?

All physical hard drive, so it's just a matter of booting and swapping.

Drive 1: OpenCore Mojave (the one effed up by mixing the two methods as you said)
Drive 2: old Windows 10 Bootcamp (it doesn't boot anymore, but well before Opencore, so let's consider it dead)

I have inserted in the Mac Pro the clean Mojave drive I had for the emergency, tried with the Opencore Mojave drive still inserted, and the result is still the same, even tho the boot picker shows them both.

Now I'll try without the Opencore Mojave drive. Could I just copy/paste the clean Mojave EFI to the Opencore Mojave drive after removing the Opencore folders? Since it's Mojave, it should boot.

 

[sfalatko]

All physical hard drive, so it's just a matter of booting and swapping.

Drive 1: OpenCore Mojave (the one effed up by mixing the two methods as you said)
Drive 2: old Windows 10 Bootcamp (it doesn't boot anymore, but well before Opencore, so let's consider it dead)

I have inserted in the Mac Pro the clean Mojave drive I had for the emergency, tried with the Opencore Mojave drive still inserted, and the result is still the same, even tho the boot picker shows them both.

Now I'll try without the Opencore Mojave drive. Could I just copy/paste the clean Mojave EFI to the Opencore Mojave drive after removing the Opencore folders? Since it's Mojave, it should boot.

I see two options. If you can boot into recovery mode with your "broken" install then you could follow the instructions in the 1st post of the main OC thread for disabling OC and then see if you can boot from the (now former) OC drive. If you can't boot into recover then I would boot with the clean Mojave drive.

And as a thought - what might have happened is that when you upgraded your config.plist was updated and the Mac Pro version that is being inserted as part of hybridization - was changed to a Mac Pro 7,1 (which is now recommended). If that happened you won't be able to boot Mojave without a _no_compat_check boot arg....

 

[Jegriva]

I forgot to add that I also have a Time Machine backup. Worst case scenario, I could format the entire Opencore drive and restoring.

 

[sfalatko]

I forgot to add that I also have a Time Machine backup. Worst case scenario, I could format the entire Opencore drive and restoring.

I don't know if Time Machine backs up the EFI partition....

 

[Jegriva]

good news everyone, I have previously backed up on my cloud the APPLE folder: my plan is to buy a docking bay for hard disks (I have always needed one, this might be the best time to buy one), connect the hard disk to a computer, removing everything from the EFI, paste the original APPLE folder to the EFI.

So, i would have the vanilla bootable Mojave. THEN, I would install again Opencore just with the Legacy installaation, without ****ing up anything anymore.

 

[Jegriva]

Quick update: I bought a docking station to connect my Mac hard disk to my Windows PC, I mounted the EFI partition, and I deleted every folder apart from APPLE. Then, I pasted with Explorer++ the OpenCore folders from the latest Martin's Package, and now everything works fine!

thank you everyone, still the best community!