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macOS 10.12 Sierra Unsupported Macs Thread

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
dosdude1 said:
It does not, due to an unsupported GPU and USB controller, among other things.
Click to expand...


So I've been doing some thinking....

I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro 2,1 running Yosemite. It has unsupported graphics too. The only way you'd notice however, is if you go to launchpad or try to play 3D chess. If there was a kext that would ignore the SSE4 and load the older USB drivers, would you seed your patch to older Mac's? I still firmly believe USBInjectAll.kext could be patched to do this.
 
Adamscomputerrepair said:
So I've been doing some thinking....

I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro 2,1 running Yosemite. It has unsupported graphics too. The only way you'd notice however, is if you go to launchpad or try to play 3D chess. If there was a kext that would ignore the SSE4 and load the older USB drivers, would you seed your patch to older Mac's? I still firmly believe USBInjectAll.kext could be patched to do this.
Click to expand...

You can try loading Sierra, but you'll just run into a Kernel Panic when the CPU fails to execute the SSE4 instructions. One can't merely "ignore" executable instructions (except in some very special circumstances), that's the core of what a program is.

The best bet is to write an SSE4 emulator for the missing functionality (at the cost of performance), but no one has made any work into it, as far as I'm aware.
 
foxlet said:
You can try loading Sierra, but you'll just run into a Kernel Panic when the CPU fails to execute the SSE4 instructions. One can't merely "ignore" executable instructions (except in some very special circumstances), that's the core of what a program is.

The best bet is to write an SSE4 emulator for the missing functionality (at the cost of performance), but no one has made any work into it, as far as I'm aware.
Click to expand...


I don't have a 32bit boot.efi for sierra either. Pike never wrote one. I know it sounds like a long shot, but where there's a will there's always a way.
 
Adamscomputerrepair said:
I don't have a 32bit boot.efi for sierra either. Pike never wrote one. I know it sounds like a long shot, but where there's a will there's always a way.
Click to expand...

I concur with @foxlet 's point. One would have to inject an SSE4 emulator that works. Mapping the SSE4 assembly language instruction set down. There have been some attempts in the gaming world (some Steam gaming comes to mind) all based on Intel emulators. Not sure if any were stable enough though. So yes, it's theoretically possible but practically very expensive. Remember it's not only the kernel extension code but the entire Sierra OS would need a full regression test as all macOS frameworks are compiled with cpu optimizations galore in Release/Production mode. And for good reason, since Apple needs to squeeze out as many cycles as possible to accomodate an ever demanding feature set.
Of course, open sourcing their "entire" OS (not just pieces of it) like the rest of the nix world would help...but that's another story.
 
at this time OSX Sierra is the best OS after Leopard.My Mac Pro 3.1 works like a charm.I have Beta 4 Installed.This is the right step to a very stable OS.

THX Apple
 
I have installed Sierra successfully on my MBP 5,5. Everything seems to work fine. Thanks for the good job. I have one question:

I tried to install beta 3 of Sierra with AUSEnabler.app, etc. and after a 1st part of the update the MBP seemed to have rebooted "by itself" and finally stopped at the grey screen with the "striked-through-circle". I made a hard shut-down (5 sec Power ON) and rebooted from Sierra-USB-stick, did the post-install, restarted and again "striked-through-circle". I booted again from Sierra-USB-Stick, did post-install and additionally clicked "Force cache rebuild" (or something like that :) ) and then the update-process continued and finally beta 3 was running.

I am now asking whether I did something wrong? Can somebody briefly explain, how updates of Sierra need to be installed?
 
swanhill said:
I have 16A323 installed on an external Firewire disk, connected to an iMac8,1, and as long as I use a pair of USB speakers (Soundsticks), the volume control works just fine. But when I switch to the built-in speakers, I cannot change the volume.

By the way: thanks to ”swamprock” who linked to http://www.ebay.com/itm/111988677835, a cheap wifi card that turned out to work perfectly on this machine.
Click to expand...

It seems that if you have some sort of external device connected to an iMac8,1 (your Soundsticks, USB sound card, my Toneport or any other input/output device), the volume control works just fine. I can switch to internal speakers for output while my Toneport is hooked up, and change the volume with no issue. If I detach the Toneport, it's full-blast volume all the way. I'm guessing that it's the actual drivers that I had to install for the Toneport that get around this quirk. I should test my old iMic to be sure, though, since that device doesn't require drivers.

I lucked out with that wi-fi card. There's a post elsewhere on this thread that mentions getting that model of Broadcom card and I took a chance on that particular eBay auction, since it was only $5. I was pretty happy that it worked.
 
dosdude1 said:
You need to repair permissions for the kexts, so you'd need to run
Code: 
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext
sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions/IOAudioFamily.kext
in Terminal. Then, rebuild the kextcache using
Code: 
sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel
I believe I've already tried this, though, I don't think it makes any difference with the El Cap kexts.
Click to expand...


I have an iMac 8,1 (Early 2008), and of course I had the volume control issues when upgrading to Sierra. However using the El Cap kexts, along with the procedures outlined above to repair permissions on the kexts and rebuilding the cache worked to fix the problem for me. I now have volume control again. Thanks for this!
 
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flyboys2003 said:
I have an iMac 8,1 (Early 2008), and of course I had the volume control issues when upgrading to Sierra. However using the El Cap kexts, along with the procedures outlined above to repair permissions on the kexts and rebuilding the cache worked to fix the problem for me. I now have volume control again. Thanks for this!
Click to expand...
Huh, didn't realize that worked... I'll have to add that to the post-install patch.
 
Has anyone tried Sierra on these 17" macBook Pros?

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 6 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

What's SSE4? Should have Googled first before asking...it doesn't look promising although I thought I saw one person claiming they got it working...maybe it was a Mac Pro 3.1.
 
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RumorzGuy said:
Folks, just to let everyone know, for the time being, I have abandoned using macOS Sierra on my early 2009 iMac, and I have returned to using the last build of El Capitan.

I won't take up all of your time with the details, but suffice it to say that I had a very nasty experience with the 10.12.1 update this morning which resulted in my keyboard, my Magic Mouse, and even my wired mouse becoming totally inoperable, so that I could not log into my active system.

I tried everything multiple times: resetting the SMC, zapping the PRAM, booting into Recovery Mode, and trying to boot into Safe Mode.

Ultimately, I had to install Mountain Lion on another external partition, and then from there reformat my internal hard drive, and do a clean install of El Capitan.

I have been at this all day working on getting everything back in order, and I am still not done yet, and I am tired.

This old iMac -- almost eight years old -- doesn't have too much time left on it, so I will be sticking with El Capitan until I can afford to purchase a new machine. Everything I have been through with Sierra on this machine just isn't worth the hassle for features which I really don't need, and which I even wouldn't use.

Thanks again to those of you who have worked so hard, and invested so much of your time, to help us get Sierra installed on our machines.

The question is, given the general age of our machines, and the problems and challenges we have had to endure, in order to get it working on our machines, is a Sierra upgrade really worth it? Looking at Apple's list of selling points for Sierra, I have come to the conclusion that at least in my case, the Sierra upgrade has not been worth it. Thus I have abandoned it, and I in fact have a peace about it.

Not only that, but because I performed a clean install of El Capitan, and also stopped using a number of apps and system enhancements, I have noticed a renewed snappiness in my machine, particularly in how fast apps load now. So again, I am pleased.
Click to expand...

EXACT same problem on my Early 2009 MacBook Pro. Got it working tho (for now...pretty sure the other shoe is going to drop soon because can load into Recovery Mode still.
...took forever.
 
macOS Sierra Patcher seems to be getting stuck for me at "Patching files..."

I'm using version 4.1.6.

I've run it twice now and both times it's spent at least 30mins at this stage. I'm going to just leave it as I can't seem to find much indication that others are getting stuck here. But any tips would be nice.

PS - I'm very thankful for this tool. Without it, I'd be seriously considering swapping my MacPro3,1 with one of my Whitebox VM Host servers and going full osx86. I guess with this patcher it's already half going that way and really, my use of non-Apple GPUs has had this rig off-road for a while.

-- UPDATE --
After like 1.5hrs, it completed entirely. So yeah, maybe I'm just using a hilariously slow flash drive or something.
 
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jpvand1 said:
EXACT same problem on my Early 2009 MacBook Pro. Got it working tho (for now...pretty sure the other shoe is going to drop soon because can load into Recovery Mode still.
...took forever.
Click to expand...

Do you have SIP enabled?

If you do, you'll find that when you install an update when the kext cache is rebuilt it won't include the 'Legacy USB Injector' kext, and as a consequence your USB ports and Bluetooth won't work.

You can either reboot off your USB installer and disable SIP and use dosdude1's post-install util to rebuild the kext cache, or if you enabled 'Remote Login' / 'Screen Sharing' you can connect remotely and do it manually.

Once you reboot after rebuilding the cache USB and Bluetooth will work again.

If you want, you can then re-enable SIP. Be aware, however, that installing an OS update runs the risk of the cache being rebuilt and your peripherals not working again.
 
parrotgeek1 said:
this is a bug with metal and cards with extremely different opengl versions, it's apple's problem
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info...
can I disable metal?
could one expect that 10.12.1 might have some fixes?
Or do I need to get a new EFI boot card? Like a flashed GT 640 that claims to have display boot support and retire my 8800GT.
 
Ludacrisvp said:
Thanks for the info...
can I disable metal?
could one expect that 10.12.1 might have some fixes?
Or do I need to get a new EFI boot card? Like a flashed GT 640 that claims to have display boot support and retire my 8800GT.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't hold my breath on backward compatibility with the old 8800GT.
I replaced mine with a 680 on my pro 3,1 for the same reasons.
Apple no longer supports OpenGL core compatibility modes like they should. In fact I'm working on a project where we had to refactor a ton of OpenGL code to v3+ because of it. Not at all surprising that iMessage hiccups with the old card. So far on 10.12.1 beta the card works fine but nvidia hasn't quite caught up yet, so their latest web drivers are problematic enough that I am running With the stock Sierra drivers until they catch up. Otherwise the card works fine (metal and all). I would recommend a graphics card upgrade. By the way, my 680 is a native Mac card so I have no experience with flashed PC ones.
 
ac2334 said:
Hi Dosdude,

I found a site that has a method for making use of the Apple Hardware Diagnostics test that otherwise requires an optical drive and the original installation DVD. It is here: https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest

I think that this would be a great addition to your patcher (although there are files for various models)..but if you could let us know a method to add this option to your custom USB that would be great!
[doublepost=1475854846][/doublepost]

But again, the MBP Mid-2009 5,2 model definitely doesn't need this? Because my ALS seems to not be functioning, but how to test it? I tried turning off every light in my room and then the screen should dim a little, correct?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hey guys, still looking for answers to these questions/suggestions if anyone can help, thank you
 
pkouame said:
By the way, my 680 is a native Mac card so I have no experience with flashed PC ones.
Click to expand...
I thought the GTX 285 was the last official "Mac EFI64 Native" card from nVidia...
My second card being a GTX650 it would make sense to pick another one up from the same series but I need to have something with boot display support.

Is there a list that is actually up to date with all native mac cards for both AMD/ATI and nVidia?
 
Ludacrisvp said:
I thought the GTX 285 was the last official "Mac EFI64 Native" card from nVidia...
My second card being a GTX650 it would make sense to pick another one up from the same series but I need to have something with boot display support.

Is there a list that is actually up to date with all native mac cards for both AMD/ATI and nVidia?
Click to expand...
Just google mac edition nvidia cards. My GTX 680 mac edition is currently discontinued. Found a used one in the usual places (amazon, ebay etc...) A "flashed" pc card will be cheaper and run just fine. I was just too pressed for time to play around...
 
i have 10.12.1 beta 4 installed,but i can`t see beta 5 and 6 ( released) with AUSEnabler.Wy?
 
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