Mac Pro (early 2008 3,1) not booting Velocity Solo x1

[pastrychef]

My issues were all with trying to boot from it. It worked for a while, then I tried to boot in to my Bootcamp drive (a separate 3.5" drive) and after that it would no longer boot from the velocity Solo X1. The issue was 100% reproducible. Once I got it working again, I could not boot from my Bootcamp drive again or it would stop working.

I tried so many things to get it working again that I don't remember what eventually worked. Eventually, I just decided to pull the card and revert back to the built-in SATA ports. I never tried using the card but not booting from it as that would defeat the purpose I purchased the card for. At the time, my only SSD in my Mac Pro was the boot drive.

It's possible that the support person you were in contact with my not be aware of the issues involving 3,1s.

The good news is that if you manage to get it to boot again, it should continue to work indefinitely. Just make sure you DO NOT boot in to Bootcamp.

 

[Twimfy]

I have an issue with mine whereby the machine will only boot to my Bootcamp drive (which is in a regular SATA slot) by default. If I remove the Bootcamp drive my 3,1 will boot from the X1 every time without fail.

I've resorted to only plugging in my Windows drive when it's absolutely needed, otherwise god forbid should I need to restart OS X for any reason, I have to go all the way into Windows to select startup disk.

Drives me mad and I cannot find a fix.

 

[pastrychef]

Yes, I remember the issue was definitely related to the Bootcamp drive.

 

[mac65]

I have an issue with mine whereby the machine will only boot to my Bootcamp drive (which is in a regular SATA slot) by default. If I remove the Bootcamp drive my 3,1 will boot from the X1 every time without fail.

Darn. I want to be able to boot into Windows, too. I have to get access my Pip-Boy from time to time, after all!

Have you or anyone else tried to use rEFInd as a boot manager to solve this, perhaps?

Also, I wonder if installing both OSX and Windows on the same SSD on the Velocity card might help this issue you're describing. Have you tried?

Lastly, which Windows version are you using? I missed the opportunity to upgrade my Win7 to 10, and now the option seems to be gone. (I got it converted on my MacbookPro, but I cannot simply clone that Win10 to the MacPro, right? It'll want a new registration/purchase then, I'm sure.)

 

[hfg]

I missed the opportunity to upgrade my Win7 to 10, and now the option seems to be gone. (I got it converted on my MacbookPro, but I cannot simply clone that Win10 to the MacPro, right? It'll want a new registration/purchase then, I'm sure.)

The Windows 10 free upgrade program runs until July 29, 2016 ... so you can still participate if desired.

No, you can't move the installed Windows to a different machine as the installation machine "fingerprint" is now stored on a Microsoft server early in the update process. You will have to install Windows 7 or 8 on your MacPro and then initiate the update to Windows 10.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-upgrade

 

[elvisizer]

Ah, okay, that makes sense. My experience is with Windows and USB drives.

So would Windows 10 boot on a Lycom DT-120 M.2 Adapter/Samsung XP941 combo? Because despite 55 pages of posts and dozens of people using that or a similar combo, I couldn't get a single person to confirm that they did it with Windows.

Googling "boot from m.2 ssd" shows some people having issues, some not, so it's going to depend on the exact hardware used. I don't have the drive you're asking about, so I don't have an answer, sorry! I would think using an m.2 adapter rather than an m.2 slot built into an MB would make it less likely to work.

edit: Actually, comments on that adapter on amazon show people saying it'll boot both OSX 10.10 (on a Mac Pro 3,1, even!) and Windows 10, so it should be fine as long as your MB/BIOS isn't weird about it.

 

[ActionableMango]

Googling "boot from m.2 ssd" shows some people having issues, some not, so it's going to depend on the exact hardware used. I don't have the drive you're asking about, so I don't have an answer, sorry! I would think using an m.2 adapter rather than an m.2 slot built into an MB would make it less likely to work.

edit: Actually, comments on that adapter on amazon show people saying it'll boot both OSX 10.10 (on a Mac Pro 3,1, even!) and Windows 10, so it should be fine as long as your MB/BIOS isn't weird about it.

That's a very helpful link, thank you!

 

[mac65]

SUCCESS!

Apricorn was so kind to replace my card. The new card reports a newer firmware version (when booting into Windows via Bootcamp) and boots just fine now into OSX on my macpro3,1.

The new card reports this during Windows boot:

Apricorn Velocity Solo X1 Ver..1.1 AHCI Mode
Copyright (C) Apricorn 2012 All Rights Reserved
S.M.A.R.T. Supported
Using PCIE Gen 2​

 

[kswalker75]

Hi All,

Just bought a Velocity solo and a Kingston hyperX 480gb disk for my old 3.1 early 2008 pro.

All is fine apart from it won't boot off of that disk. I checked that the card is bootable on 3,1 which it is. The card is in slot 2.

At the moment I'm holding option to select the boot disk which is no major hardship. would just be nice if i could get it to boot off of the disk.

Any ideas?

I have the Velocity Solo x1 and I have it installed in my Mac Pro3,1. For what ever reason, Yosemite and El Capitan both show no driver installed for the card in the System Report. I haven't tried any other version of OS X on this MP since installing the Velocity card which I dont want to go below 10.10 Yosemite!! I have tried the card with both a regular mechanical HDD as well as a SSD and it made no difference obviously.

My question is, if anyone else has had this issue, what did you do to get the drivers installed so the card will work properly? Im not looking to use the drive on the card as a boot drive, just storage!

Thanks for any help you can provide!!

Oh just a side note, the Velocity card works perfect in my gaming PC with no issues what so ever so I know the card is fine.

 

[honeycombz]

Hey, I'm having a similar issue where my Velocity Solo x1 was booting properly on 3,1 until I installed Bootcamp. How can I check the firmware version of my card?

 

[honeycombz]

I've read a few other posts about Win 7, Bootcamp, and Apricorn Velocity Solo X1 card issues... I am not seeing the disk attached to this card in the bootcamp control panel either as a startup disk. I am on BootCamp version 4.0.4033. What version should I be using? Also, it sounds like if I upgrade to Win 8 or 8,1 perhaps some issues are cleared up. Can I do this on a 3,1? I'm currently running a 5770 gpu. I think there is something that can be sorted out here just not sure what.

 

[mac65]

How can I check the firmware version of my card?

Boot into Bootcamp or put it into a "normal" PC. Then the info will appear briefly on the screen when booting. If you don't have a v1.1 version but an older one, contact the maker and explain the issue. If you're lucky, they'll send you a new card as they did for me.

And I didn't see my bootble Windows system in the Bootcamp control panel either - however, I can select it when I hold down the alt key at startup. Also, the free Mac tool "Bootchamp" finds it as it's smarter about locating Windows partitions.