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According to this thread the MacPro 3,1 runs Hi Sierra with no issues.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-high-sierra-10-13-unsupported-macs-thread.2048478/
And just to prove it I installed the High Sierra public Beta3 today, smooth as silk and no problems yest that I've found.

Screen Shot 2017-07-26 at 9.34.55 AM.png
 
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And just to prove it I installed the High Sierra public Beta3 today, smooth as silk and no problems yest that I've found.

View attachment 710149

Hi Gents,

I've been reading this thread with great interest. I have an 8 core 2.8GHZ 2008 MP, and am wondering what kind of figures these will Macbench at running Sierra? At present, my system is Macbenching at 1908 and 10417. The system currently has an OWC Accelsior PCI card with 528GB SSD, 32GB of 800Mhz Ram, and the standard 2600XT vid card. Is there much more that can be had out of this machine by going the Sierra route (GTX680 graphics will arrive tomorrow), or will a 12 core 5,1 system leave the 3,1 for dead?

Many thanks,

Mike.
 
Leave it for dead I doubt it, but show an improvement I would hope so or Apple should be ashamed of themselves.:rolleyes:

Sorry, to elaborate on the original question... I meant that since Apple are no longer supporting the 3,1, will running it on Sierra (with the hacks that are needed) make it keep up with the times, or is it time to jump ship to a 5,1?
 
Sorry, to elaborate on the original question... I meant that since Apple are no longer supporting the 3,1, will running it on Sierra (with the hacks that are needed) make it keep up with the times, or is it time to jump ship to a 5,1?
All depends on what you do imo. I edit videos as a side biz and need something with a decent amount of power. The 3,1 is a great machine, but unfortunately is no longer supported and the hardware was getting outdated rather fast for me. I got a 5,1 for a really good deal after I sold my 3,1 which I used for years. If the 3,1 is just a general use machine then I would hold out and run the hacks for as along as possible and build up the machine, if mission critical than I would make the jump to a 5,1 . As stated before, if you are using the 3,1 for general use and want to upgrade, a single CPU 5,1 would be better as you can always do the CPU upgrade from 4c-6c for fairly cheap. If using the machine for CPU heavy tasks, a dual CPU 5,1 would be a better choice (but are really pricey).
 
Are you still running that 2600 XT? Even an 8800 GT would be an upgrade over that. Mine came with the 2600 XT, but I had an old PC 8800 GT card that I flashed and put in the Mac. I noticed an immediate improvement in performance. I have run it this way for awhile, but got a deal on an upgrade. I will be replacing it with a Radeon HD 4870 when it arrives. If I am pleased with that card the 8800 GT will disappear.

I had to use the patch tool but macOS Sierra is running quite happily on my Mac Pro 3,1. I don't have a microphone so Siri is disabled. I'll have to get around to replacing the stock graphics card. Mine originally came with two 2600XT cards and can support up to four displays, though I took one card out so I could put in an Accelsior S card with a SATA-III controller for an SSD. (Boot time is about 35 seconds - not bad!)

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Are you still running that 2600 XT? Even an 8800 GT would be an upgrade over that. Mine came with the 2600 XT, but I had an old PC 8800 GT card that I flashed and put in the Mac. I noticed an immediate improvement in performance. I have run it this way for awhile, but got a deal on an upgrade. I will be replacing it with a Radeon HD 4870 when it arrives. If I am pleased with that card the 8800 GT will disappear.

I just ordered the Accelsior S card myself. Excited about running my SSD at SATA III speeds instead of the stock SATA II controller on the motherboard.
[doublepost=1514350163][/doublepost]
Are you still running that 2600 XT? Even an 8800 GT would be an upgrade over that. Mine came with the 2600 XT, but I had an old PC 8800 GT card that I flashed and put in the Mac. I noticed an immediate improvement in performance. I have run it this way for awhile, but got a deal on an upgrade. I will be replacing it with a Radeon HD 4870 when it arrives. If I am pleased with that card the 8800 GT will disappear.


[doublepost=1514350001][/doublepost]

I just ordered the Accelsior S card myself. Excited about running my SSD at SATA III speeds instead of the stock SATA II controller on the motherboard.

Also, you will need the 6 pin graphics card power cables for just about any upgrade graphics card that you use to replace the 2600 XT.
 
Absolutely will do and will run it past you to ensure its all correct. A big thank you again for all your help - you have been so good :)
[doublepost=1465987647][/doublepost]

I am using the web driver to get that card supported. No Pascal support yet... it's coming though from what I have heard.
[doublepost=1465988984][/doublepost]Here is something cool:

View attachment 636069

Now - in terms of a step by step tutorial on how to get this working - please bear with me. I will do this on the weekend as I want to do it properly and make it as simple as possible for you to get it working. My dad is in town for 48 hours and I need to spend family time with him for the next 48 hours. That said, if you have any direct questions, please message me and I'll do my best to help you. On the weekend, I will write and post the tutorial.

In terms of degree of difficulty of being able to follow the tutorial, I'd rate it fairly easy. It is straight forward - there are a few steps that you'll need to follow, but they will be straight forward. I also know the pitfalls, so I'll also be able to warn you on what not to do as well :)

Maintaining it is very easy. It's a matter of deleting one file on boot post implementing an update. Again, I'll be very specific on exactly how to do that.
[doublepost=1535921827][/doublepost]Have been beating my mac pro 3.1 with a broom handle to try to get it to comply.
Still cant get sierra on it after a dozen fails.
It gets right to the end of download then craps out.
A link to instuctions would be massively appreciated.
I am novice.use my mac purely for logic pro.
Was thinking of buying pre installed flash drive off ebay?any thoughts?
Thankyou
 
[doublepost=1535921827][/doublepost]Have been beating my mac pro 3.1 with a broom handle to try to get it to comply.
Still cant get sierra on it after a dozen fails.
It gets right to the end of download then craps out.
A link to instuctions would be massively appreciated.
I am novice.use my mac purely for logic pro.
Was thinking of buying pre installed flash drive off ebay?any thoughts?
Thankyou
You would be better moving over to this forum to get a more successful method to install Sierra on your Mac.
Read the first page thoroughly, and always make a back up prior to attempting anything like this.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-12-sierra-unsupported-macs-thread.1977128/
 
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Hi Folks,


I've decided to create a specific thread for the Mac Pro 3,1 as that has its own unique set of circumstances to get Sierra up and running.

The good news is, after a LOT of help from Netkas, it looks like I'm finally there and have Sierra running on Mac Pro 3,1

It's installing now.

I will produce detailed, clear, unambiguous, instructions on how to get Sierra running on the Mac Pro. Given everything I have learned from repeated, failed installs, I now know what works and what doesn't, and you'll find that if you follow the instructions precisely, it isn't difficult to get it up and running. Nor will it be maintaining it.

NVIDIA has also released the web driver for Sierra - which is great news.

http://us.download.nvidia.com/7tx5AvsWQd8nYQnjJcntrzcxTzpKACuH/WebDriver-367.05.10.05b03.pkg
had Sierra for a while now, go to dosedude1,com you can get Mojave
 
How are you guys running Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave on your 3,1? I had zero issues with my 4,1... Had to do the firmware hack so the software wouldn't puke on me...

If I use Dosdude1.com his patcher works, completes and then after I try and boot off the disk I created my mac reports with a hazard type symbol. Basically same thing that happened to my mac 4,1 before the firmware update.

I disabled SIP as well and no dice so far. Any ideas? I just installed a clean install of El Capitan on a SSD to get the system in a good known state.

Thanks!
 
How are you guys running Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave on your 3,1? I had zero issues with my 4,1... Had to do the firmware hack so the software wouldn't puke on me...

If I use Dosdude1.com his patcher works, completes and then after I try and boot off the disk I created my mac reports with a hazard type symbol. Basically same thing that happened to my mac 4,1 before the firmware update.

I disabled SIP as well and no dice so far. Any ideas? I just installed a clean install of El Capitan on a SSD to get the system in a good known state.

Thanks!
How are you guys running Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave on your 3,1? I had zero issues with my 4,1... Had to do the firmware hack so the software wouldn't puke on me...

If I use Dosdude1.com his patcher works, completes and then after I try and boot off the disk I created my mac reports with a hazard type symbol. Basically same thing that happened to my mac 4,1 before the firmware update.

I disabled SIP as well and no dice so far. Any ideas? I just installed a clean install of El Capitan on a SSD to get the system in a good known state.

Thanks!

I am running High Sierra on mine due to the need for the nVidia web drivers for my graphics card. No issues. I can't say for sure why it is giving you so much trouble. Are you using a legacy (non Metal) graphics card? Did you do the post install patch for legacy cards? Just curious.
[doublepost=1546670432][/doublepost]
Here is what I get when I try and boot to the usb drive on my 3,1.
8c0b8c1e21d6b377507f17131ff93b79.jpg
That symbol indicates that the computer isn't recognizing the volume that you are trying to boot from. Yikes.
[doublepost=1546670742][/doublepost]
I am running High Sierra on mine due to the need for the nVidia web drivers for my graphics card. No issues. I can't say for sure why it is giving you so much trouble. Are you using a legacy (non Metal) graphics card? Did you do the post install patch for legacy cards? Just curious.
[doublepost=1546670432][/doublepost]
That symbol indicates that the computer isn't recognizing the volume that you are trying to boot from. Yikes.

Wait, is your SSD in the standard bay or on a PCI-express controller card? I've heard that installs can be funky if you do them on drives hooked to a third party controller. If yours is, hook it up to the standard drive bay and see what happens. Another thing you can try is installing the OS on a drive that isn't the SSD and using Carbon Copy Cloner or a similar app to clone it to the SSD. I have heard of people having success with that. Good luck, man.
 
Thanks for the tips. Single SSD in the first bay. USB key (same one I used for High Sierra install on Mac Pro 4,1 that was converted to 5,1 with firmware update) used to copy the files over to using dosdude1.com's instructions. I feel his instructions are straight forward.

I get to Step #4 located here.... http://dosdude1.com/sierra/ then that's when I get the boot error image I posted earlier.

Basically when I select the USB drive so I can get the installer to run it just doesn't work.

Here is a pic of my current system info.

Screen-Shot-2019-01-04-at-9-44-46-PM.png
 
Thanks for the tips. Single SSD in the first bay. USB key (same one I used for High Sierra install on Mac Pro 4,1 that was converted to 5,1 with firmware update).

Basically when I select the USB drive so I can get the installer to run it just doesn't work.

Here is a pic of my current system info.

Screen-Shot-2019-01-04-at-9-44-46-PM.png
Yeah, other than the SSD everything looks stock. Strange that you are having issues. Nice setup,by the way. Mine is quad core, and on apps capable of implementing multiple cores, those extra four cores would be nice.
 
If I try and run the installer from within El Capitan this is what I get...

I assume this is standard?

Screen-Shot-2019-01-04-at-9-53-45-PM.png[\img]
 
If I try and run the installer from within El Capitan this is what I get...

I assume this is standard?

The hard drive is greyed out. It won't let you install on that drive for some reason. Is there data on the SSD that you need to save? If not, format the drive and try a clean install. If that doesn't work and you have a spare SATA drive around, do a clean install on it with the dosdude patched installer. If that drive works, use a cloning utility to clone the exact settings from that drive to the SSD and see if you can boot from it. Those are my best suggestions off the top of my head.
Screen-Shot-2019-01-04-at-9-53-45-PM.png[\img]
 
This is actually Apple telling you that the OS you are attempting to boot is not compatible.
They show a folder with a question mark if it can’t find an OS to boot from.

Sounds like you need to add the flag to ignore compatibility checks or remove the PlatformSupport.plist file from the installer.

Add to kernel flags in com.apple.Boot.plist:
“-no_compat_check”
(Without quotes)
This would need to be added to any installers post 10.11.x and any installed copy of those versions in order to boot. (10.12/10.13/10.14)

Here is what I get when I try and boot to the usb drive on my 3,1.
8c0b8c1e21d6b377507f17131ff93b79.jpg
 
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Also, this may sound weird, but try moving the SSD to a different drive bay. That would help exclude a failing drive port on your motherboard. If it works in the other bay, that is probably the issue.
 
Thanks, tried those suggestions already. I have a spare 300gb drive that came with my mac (old and slow) and then a spare evo 860 250gb drive. I get the same error on the drives using the dosdude method just like I do on this evo 860. It's like apple is denying me from installing anything above El Capitan on my system.
[doublepost=1546671891][/doublepost]
This is actually Apple telling you that the OS you are attempting to boot is not compatible.
They show a folder with a question mark if it can’t find an OS to boot from.

Sounds like you need to add the flag to ignore compatibility checks or remove the PlatformSupport.plist file from the installer.

Add to kernel flags in com.apple.Boot.plist:
“-no_compat_check”
(Without quotes)
This would need to be added to any installers post 10.11.x and any installed copy of those versions in order to boot. (10.12/10.13/10.14)

Thanks, I will try those suggestions!
 
This is actually Apple telling you that the OS you are attempting to boot is not compatible.
They show a folder with a question mark if it can’t find an OS to boot from.

Sounds like you need to add the flag to ignore compatibility checks or remove the PlatformSupport.plist file from the installer.

Add to kernel flags in com.apple.Boot.plist:
“-no_compat_check”
(Without quotes)
This would need to be added to any installers post 10.11.x and any installed copy of those versions in order to boot. (10.12/10.13/10.14)

Yeah, but if he were running the dosdude installer patch it should have theoretically corrected that issue. Then again, the word theoretically was in that last sentence for a reason.
 
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Added it to the com.apple.Boot.plist located on the thumb drive reboot and verified the edit took. I then rebooted, held down the option key selected the usb boot device and same deal. I'm stumped.
 
Added it to the com.apple.Boot.plist located on the thumb drive reboot and verified the edit took. I then rebooted, held down the option key selected the usb boot device and same deal. I'm stumped.
Add “-no_compat_check” and "-v" to the NVRAM.

Code:
sudo nvram boot-args="-v -no_compat_check"

The easiest way is to install 10.13.6 via your MP5,1 NATIVELY, without dosdude tools, and then move the drive to the MP3,1, remember that you need to install using HFS, APFS is not supported by MP3,1 firmware.
 
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