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Resolved Mac Pro 1,1 Will NOT boot from any media

NZXTInerTia

NZXTInerTia

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2016
96
21
Minnesota
Hey guys, new to Mac Rumors, but definitely not new to classic Mac and OSX Pre-Leopard.

I just picked up a 1,1 Mac Pro with the dual 3GHz CPUs, 4GB memory, 320GB HDD, etc. and I can not get it to boot from any OSX media. Whether it be a USB or even my OEM Leopard DVD that came with my G5. Any suggestions? USB boots preffered, but I've read mixed things about USB not working for 1,1 / 2,1 Mac Pro's.

Nothing works. I've tried burning a few different versions of Snow Leopard via my mid 2012 MacBook Pro, I just keep getting write errors on that. I bought this for a media PC, and to back up my ever so full HDDs in my primary computer. Its "fully loaded" for the time, and I'd really like to get it running being I've wanted one of these machines forever.

So far my attempts to get it to work have gone as such

USB>Snow Leopard
DVD>Snow Leopard (Failed burning process on my MacBook)
DVD (OEM)>Leopard
CD>Tiger

 
I think there is a way you can get it to boot from your other comp using a firewire cable. I did it ages ago but I think you would have to look up directions.

Also did you try booting in safe mode?
 
Apple Master said:
I think there is a way you can get it to boot from your other comp using a firewire cable. I did it ages ago but I think you would have to look up directions.

Also did you try booting in safe mode?
Click to expand...

I should mention the Mac Pro is newly purchased and was completely wiped by the used Mac distributor.

Target disk mode is what you're thinking of, and I may try that with my G5 or my MacBook Pro sooner than later, if for some reason my Super Drive is toast.

Not sure if safe mode would have any effect without an OS.
 
So you can see bootable media (when holding alt at the boot) but it stops when you choose DVD/USB?

Your mac is capable of running every OS X installation from USB, so no need for DVDs.
Have you tried cloning any OS X DVD to USB on some other machine?
 
owbp said:
So you can see bootable media (when holding alt at the boot) but it stops when you choose DVD/USB?

Your mac is capable of running every OS X installation from USB, so no need for DVDs.
Have you tried cloning any OS X DVD to USB on some other machine?
Click to expand...

When I hold ALT I get absolutely nothing but a cursor, not even the HDD. (Not sure if it shows up without an OS)

I have not tried cloning any of my OSX copies (legitimate or not) to a USB. But I'm not sure if that would make any difference since the USBs are not showing up in the ALT boot menu.
[doublepost=1467954242][/doublepost]I will mention I've tried MBR and GUID partition setups with no luck at every USB attempt, although I know GUID is the proper one.
 
HDDs or USBs won't show if they don't have bootable OS or Installer on them.

You could try plugging your USB on the rear ports of your Mac, maybe front ports are damaged?
I would, if USB doesn't work for any reason, install OS X on HDD (with SATA adapter) from Macbook and then try putting it back to Mac Pro. Without target disk mode, just simple unplug, install, plug back in and boot.
 
owbp said:
HDDs or USBs won't show if they don't have bootable OS or Installer on them.

You could try plugging your USB on the rear ports of your Mac, maybe front ports are damaged?
I would, if USB doesn't work for any reason, install OS X on HDD (with SATA adapter) from Macbook and then try putting it back to Mac Pro. Without target disk mode, just simple unplug, install, plug back in and boot.
Click to expand...

I've learned my lesson many times using non-hard mounted PCB USBs. So yah, I've been using primarily the rears, only using the front ones to test if it would make any difference.

I know on a Windows machine, external Windows installations tend to disagree being switched between machines for hardware reasons. Perhaps its different with OS X and Apple.

At the moment I'm using my G5 to move the disc to a DMG, and then to a USB using restore. I'll update as soon as I know how that works out. I'm using an OEM Tiger disc to do so, at this point I'm more just curious to see if I can get ANYTHING to work.
 
NZXTInerTia said:
I know on a Windows machine, external Windows installations tend to disagree being switched between machines for hardware reasons. Perhaps its different with OS X and Apple.
Click to expand...
Not a problem on Mac, since Apple controls the hardware and all drivers are in the OS already. You can easily switch disks after or before installation. Just don't log into any iCloud services when switching HDDs so you don't get banned from iMessages.
I am running El Capitan with zero problems that people are talking about and it was installed on HDD that i put in Hackintosh for installation and replacement of boot.efi. Stable as a rock (aka Snow Leopard :D).

NZXTInerTia said:
At the moment I'm using my G5 to move the disc to a DMG, and then to a USB using restore.
Click to expand...
Just have in mind that Installation DVDs for Power PCs and Intel Macs aren't the same (AFAIK), so be sure to use OS X for Intel Mac.

Eager to hear good news!:)
 
owbp said:
Not a problem on Mac, since Apple controls the hardware and all drivers are in the OS already. You can easily switch disks after or before installation. Just don't log into any iCloud services when switching HDDs so you don't get banned from iMessages.
I am running El Capitan with zero problems that people are talking about and it was installed on HDD that i put in Hackintosh for installation and replacement of boot.efi. Stable as a rock (aka Snow Leopard :D).


Just have in mind that Installation DVDs for Power PCs and Intel Macs aren't the same (AFAIK), so be sure to use OS X for Intel Mac.

Eager to hear good news!:)
Click to expand...

Well that would somewhat explain why they wouldn't be working (perhaps) since they're all OEM for my G5 (Tiger CD being from my G3 lol).

So doing the Disc (Tiger DVD for G5) to DMG to USB did not work. Still nothing but a cursor on the boot menu.
[doublepost=1467958963][/doublepost]Wonder if it would almost be counter productive to but a DVD or USB install off of eBay, such as this. Lots of OEM DVD's for sale as well. Definitely something newer than the stuff I have for my PPC Mac's.

 
Lol, at least some good news (means Mac Pro is ok). ;)

You could very easily build your installer on Macbook with BaseSystem.dmg method and replacing boot.efi for unsupported OS Xs (10.8-10.11).
Also, Ill send you a PM in few minutes.
 
owbp said:
Lol, at least some good news (means Mac Pro is ok). ;)

You could very easily build your installer on Macbook with BaseSystem.dmg method and replacing boot.efi for unsupported OS Xs (10.8-10.11).
Also, Ill send you a PM in few minutes.
Click to expand...

That would be awesome, and appreciated!
 
One thing to look at those mac pro's use a DVD drive that is well known for being flakey so try a dvd drive booted from firewire or a usb install hope that helps
 
CapnDavey said:
also try a pram and smc reset it might help
Click to expand...

Yes I have held the C key, by PRAM reset/SMC reset I've removed the CMOS battery and let it sit for about an hour. Not sure of any other process to reset those two things.

Would a standard SATA DVD drive work? I know I got one to work in my PowerMac G4 MDD a few years back, although OSX said it was unsupported. Played DVDs and wrote DVDs just fine.
 
owbp said:
Yes, you just have to use SATA to IDE adapter or SATA connections on your motherboard (there are two spares/unused behind the front fan assembly).
Click to expand...

Is the Super Drive really still an IDE with the HDDs being SATA? I haven't torn that deeply into the machine.
 
yep they sure are and in the 3.1 as well the optiarc drives that came with my 06 were so flakey I put a pioneer dvr118 that was in my G5 in there worked much better
 
CapnDavey said:
yep they sure are and in the 3.1 as well the optiarc drives that came with my 06 were so flakey I put a pioneer dvr118 that was in my G5 in there worked much better
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'm going to the computer store (Micro Center) tonight and I'm picking up an SSD, so I'll grab a cheap DVD drive as well.
 
Alright, a Sata DVD burner has been acquired, along with a SanDisk 240GB SSD. Also picked up a new USB for ***** and giggles to see if that had anything to do with anything.
 
SATA DVD Burner installed, along with 240GB SSD. I also got a copy of Intel OSX 10.4 Tiger from OWBP, and that didn't work either.

Ugh
 
Success! New Flash Drive, and it boots absolutely beautifully. I also did get my 240GB SSD installed along with my Sata DVD burner. Now loaded successfully with OSX 10.7 Lion.

A graphics card upgrade, probably flashed with an Apple EFI unless I can find a legitimate Apple 5770 will be next. Then three or four, if I can mount my SSD up in the 5.25 bay, 1TB Green drives in RAID for a huge backup machine/HTPC.

Awesome! You guys are great, thanks for the help. Special thanks to OWBP as well for sending me a bunch of software.


 
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NZXTInerTia said:
Success! New Flash Drive, and it boots absolutely beautifully. I also did get my 240GB SSD installed along with my Sata DVD burner. Now loaded successfully with OSX 10.7 Lion.

A graphics card upgrade, probably flashed with an Apple EFI unless I can find a legitimate Apple 5770 will be next. Then three or four, if I can mount my SSD up in the 5.25 bay, 1TB Green drives in RAID for a huge backup machine/HTPC.

Awesome! You guys are great, thanks for the help. Special thanks to OWBP as well for sending me a bunch of software.


Click to expand...


Hi. Could you share the solution for the problem? Because i also face same problem. Cannot boot using dvd and only cursor using usb drive. I quite not understand. Thank you
 
Selikatwo said:
Hi. Could you share the solution for the problem? Because i also face same problem. Cannot boot using dvd and only cursor using usb drive. I quite not understand. Thank you
Click to expand...

Honestly, I just think I had some bogus install disks. OWBP helped me out, and provided me with some Dev copies that I was initially able to get the machine to post with.

Currently its loaded with a modified El Capitan install on an SSD. Been that way for two years now.
 
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