MP 1,1-5,1 How to install any Mac OS - El Capitan on a "bare metal" Mac Pro 4,1?

[OldMacPro2]

Ok, I am able to install High Sierra using the dosdude1 patcher.

But reading on the forum I know I need to update the firmware in this Mac Pro 4,1 and try to get it to 5,1 level.

According to what I've read, I need to boot into a "clean" Mac OS install not one that's been patched, to be successful in updating the firmware.

I've tried to make bootable USB installs using the Apple Support instructions that are linked in several threads.

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system.

support.apple.com

But that does not produce a bootable USB image. When I try to use that to boot, holding down the Option key, I only get a "question mark" on top of a folder.

I know the USB is good, because I can mount and view it on a MacBook Pro running Big Sur.

Any ideas on what to do?

 

[Dayo]

Any ideas on what to do?

Try running this script for ElCapitan or Yosemite (Instructions are at the top):

Creates Bootable USB for Mac OS Lion to Monterey (Excluding Mavericks)

Creates Bootable USB for Mac OS Lion to Monterey (Excluding Mavericks) - Install_USB_Maker.sh

gist.github.com

 

[OldMacPro2]

Thanks for the response, will give it try.

 

[OldMacPro2]

Ok, I running the script, getting the question displayed, saying "N" and then getting a "runtime error".

"error 'pkgutil --expand' requires two arguments"

- I have the El Capitan .dmg downloaded and mounted.

- I have the 32GB USB drive freshly formatted and named "MyInstallVolume"

- Running the script from Terminal. I had to change the attributes to make it executable. (chmod 777).

 

[Dayo]

Change
pkgutil --expand "/Volumes/${INSTALL_BASIC}/InstallMacOSX.pkg /tmp/VersionOSX"
to
pkgutil --expand "/Volumes/${INSTALL_BASIC}/InstallMacOSX.pkg" "/tmp/VersionOSX"

 

[OldMacPro2]

Ok, that's progress. Script is executing. I can see it extracting files and "restoring".

All that is done.

Now it says "Creating USB Installer"...

Volume on disk2s2 renamed to InstallMacOSX


and.....is it hanging? Or should I just be patient?

 

[Dayo]

It's probably done as it could exit before the final line in some cases.

I have updated the gist and perhaps best to grab the file again and start over.
It now includes the edit above as well as a clear notice when done.

 

[OldMacPro2]

Ok, I was patient...and finally got a bunch of errors from the "cp" command saying no space was left on the USB drive.

But it was a blank 32GB drive...hmmmmm

 

[Dayo]

Reformat and try one last time.
Use the updated file

 

[OldMacPro2]

Gave it another shot. It did copy a LOT of stuff and then crashed.

"cp" command said there was no space left on the device.

Here is one of many lines:

cp: /Volumes/InstallMacOSX/System/Installation/Packages/Essentials.pkg: No space left on device

When I erased the USB stick and formatted it, the maximum partition size was a little over 6.47GB.

Apparently, that's not enough for this install.

 

[OldMacPro2]

FWIW - I did go ahead and tried to boot off the USB, even without all the files.

It DOES boot (yeah!), gets past the white apple screen, and shows a Finder-like interface.


I was able to get to the first screen. Even ran Disk Utility from the USB drive, but when I picked to Install...it went to one screen, asking me to agree to the license, then threw an error message of "0".

Looks like the install fails because they are some critical files missing.

If I figure a way to create a larger partition on the USB drive, it would probably work.

 

[Dayo]

When I erased the USB stick and formatted it, the maximum partition size was a little over 6.47GB.

Absolute Minimum is 8GB and Preferable Minimum is 16GB

 

[OldMacPro2]

I think I’ve figured out how to grow the USB partition size. Running the script again.

For some reason, Disk Utility kept defaulting to 6.47gb. I read an article (searched) that explained how to change an existing partition size. You select the disk which is a display option in Disk Utility. You don’t see it by default. Then you can choose to extend the size of an existing partition.

I picked 9gb at random. If it fails this time, will bump it up to 20gb. 😊👍

 

[OldMacPro2]

Success! Thanks for the Help...that got me ElCapitan on bare metal.

I had to do that to prepare for the long chain of updates of the Bootrom.

Was able to flash to 5,1 and then do the High Sierra upgrade including firmware bump.

Appreciate the great script. Thanks again!