macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

[TimothyR734]

MBP 5.4 Mid 2009 -> Unsupported...

Got a notification, new Beta is available.
Can this be installed or not?
If "YES" has post install patcher to be used after?

if the update is 5.87 to 6 gb download its the full installer the update could be about 3 gb+ if it is the update it is safe to install and always wise to run the post install and you might need to apply the night shift patch from the patch updater

 

[Larsvonhier]

I experienced a glitch like this back when I first installed HS. Boot into safe mode, check to see if the WiFi is there, or if you can turn it on in settings. If you can, boot back into normal and see if it helped. That helped for me!

Sometimes (for me) it helped to go to advanced settings, delete all stored passwords for previous networks (clear entire list). It´s weird how this could be related, but on (High) Sierra I had this a effect a couple of times.

 

[ASentientBot]

Can someone tell me where we are up to with the Graphics translucent issues- I would like to start doing some messing about on my Mojave partition. Just so I don’t have to repeat same steps already done.

@pkouame ^^^
[doublepost=1533713250][/doublepost]

Do you have a firmware password? If so you can't do the trick. U need to unlock you firmware first.

I'm actually about 90% sure you don't have to unlock your firmware before resetting SMC. PRAM, yes. SMC, I don't think so. It's a really low-level thing. It'll kill the power to the system at any time, no matter what.

 

[jackluke]

@pkouame ^^^
[doublepost=1533713250][/doublepost]

I'm actually about 90% sure you don't have to unlock your firmware before resetting SMC. PRAM, yes. SMC, I don't think so. It's a really low-level thing. It'll kill the power to the system at any time, no matter what.

You're right, firmware password locks only the EFI CHIP, while instead SMC is a dedicated CHIP, moreover if you disconnect the battery on a Mac laptop (or power cord on a Mac desktop) and keep holding power button for 15 seconds, SMC it's being resetted anyway.

 

[arqueox]

@pkouame ^^^
[doublepost=1533713250][/doublepost]

I'm actually about 90% sure you don't have to unlock your firmware before resetting SMC. PRAM, yes. SMC, I don't think so. It's a really low-level thing. It'll kill the power to the system at any time, no matter what.

Pram yes you are totally right. My bad

 

[flygbuss]

I’m having some trouble with shutting down or restarting the MBP 8,1 with Mojave DP6.
When I select shot down or restart nothing happens. The system won’t ask me to shut down or anything it just stays like I didn’t do anything. Then I have to force a shut down and after a reboot everything is just fine.
Anyone else with this issue?

Ah, force quit to relaunch finder doesn’t work either. Neither by menue nor short cut.

Thanks!

 

[pkouame]

Hi @Czo - On software update fix ...

I get the following "Package Authoring errors" in my install.log. Some notifications are normal but the Syntax errors indicate (to me at least) that "broken lines" processing in Faker may be a little off. It must be removing lines and leaving open distribution xml sections, hence confusing the parser.

Check the log below. This may account for the inconsistent system update behavior some of us are experiencing. Can you check this out ? (I left you a pm about the tags we are ignoring also)

I matched my install.log with @TimothyR734 who successfully system updates on every shot and no such errors.

Others who've been unable to system update or always get the full install package every time, may want to check their install.log for errors also.

Thanks!

2018-08-07 02:47:57-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return false;
2018-08-07 02:47:58-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 02:47:59-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running volume-check script: SyntaxError: Unexpected keyword 'else' at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> else if (argv[0] == 'HP_Crossbow') { bundlePaths = ["/Library/Printers/hp/Frameworks/Crossbow.framework/Versions/D/Resources/Info.plist",]; }
2018-08-07 02:47:59-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: IFJS: Package Authoring Error: error evaluating script visible for choice su: TypeError: null is not an object (evaluating 'my.target.mountpoint') at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D/choice%5B1%5D/@visible ==> Script9(my.target.mountpoint)
2018-08-07 02:48:02-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 02:48:06-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return false;
2018-08-07 02:48:07-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 02:48:08-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running volume-check script: SyntaxError: Unexpected keyword 'else' at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> else if (argv[0] == 'HP_Crossbow') { bundlePaths = ["/Library/Printers/hp/Frameworks/Crossbow.framework/Versions/D/Resources/Info.plist",]; }
2018-08-07 02:48:11-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 03:02:51-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return false;
2018-08-07 03:02:52-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 03:02:53-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running volume-check script: SyntaxError: Unexpected keyword 'else' at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> else if (argv[0] == 'HP_Crossbow') { bundlePaths = ["/Library/Printers/hp/Frameworks/Crossbow.framework/Versions/D/Resources/Info.plist",]; }
2018-08-07 03:02:53-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: IFJS: Package Authoring Error: error evaluating script visible for choice su: TypeError: null is not an object (evaluating 'my.target.mountpoint') at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D/choice%5B1%5D/@visible ==> Script9(my.target.mountpoint)
2018-08-07 03:02:55-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 03:02:57-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring Error: PackageInfo bundle reference found without top-level bundle definition. Bundle will be skipped: <bundle id="*"></bundle>
2018-08-07 03:02:57-04 Mac-Pro system_installd[516]: Package Authoring Error: PackageInfo bundle reference found without top-level bundle definition. Bundle will be skipped: <bundle id="*"></bundle>
2018-08-07 11:18:36-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return false;
2018-08-07 11:18:37-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 11:18:37-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running volume-check script: SyntaxError: Unexpected keyword 'else' at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> else if (argv[0] == 'HP_Crossbow') { bundlePaths = ["/Library/Printers/hp/Frameworks/Crossbow.framework/Versions/D/Resources/Info.plist",]; }
2018-08-07 11:18:40-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: Package Authoring: error running installation-check script: SyntaxError: Return statements are only valid inside functions. at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D ==> return (needsEFIUpdate(actualEFI, intendedEFI, actualSMC, minSMCforEFI));
2018-08-07 11:22:04-04 Mac-Pro softwareupdated[575]: IFJS: Package Authoring Error: error evaluating script visible for choice su: TypeError: null is not an object (evaluating 'my.target.mountpoint') at x-distribution:///installer-gui-script%5B1%5D/choice%5B1%5D/@visible ==> Or0(my.target.mountpoint)

[doublepost=1533736798][/doublepost]

Oh thanks man- seem to have got confused with resetting the NVRAM. Now my Mac does not run at full fan speed on the desktop! And it’s not slow as **** anymore. Thanks dude.
[doublepost=1533705081][/doublepost]Can someone tell me where we are up to with the Graphics translucent issues- I would like to start doing some messing about on my Mojave partition. Just so I don’t have to repeat same steps already done.

Hi - I did a little spelunking myself to add to others who are investigating this issue. Here are my (summarized) findings in a nutshell:

• The issue is localized to the Skylight.framework which includes the WindowServer
• A deep inspection of skylight and windowserver binaries revealed that Mojave's version leverages two new libraries compression and the latest metal performance shaders framework (compared to HS Skylight) So Apple has moved some shader processing to their framework, consistent with their bent on "full" metal everywhere and dropping support for OpenGL and OpenCL
• A drop in swap with the HS Skylight will simply not work (and risks hosing things really up)
• I also discovered two missing traditional shaders that are very conspicuously related to transparency/translucency. Why they are gone is up for debate (just a bug by omission or neglect?) but I am almost certain it accounts for our glitches on our older non-metal accelerated cards. For example my "unsupported" macpro 3,1 has a metal capable GTX 680 and does not glitch: so it's simply that Apple really dropped support for non-metal cards like exist on some our older laptops. HS still quasi supported them
• I also believe Dark mode "glitches" on non-metal cards but since it's Dark...you get the drift
• IMHO a solution to this would be extremely difficult since Skylight is ubiquitous (linked everywhere) and a binary patch may introduce unwanted side-effects system wide (skylight handles A LOT of things)
• Transparency/lucency is traditionally handled via shaders since its the best way to accelerate it, so we're definitely on the right track - how to fix this is up for strong debate
• If I had the time, I would debug this issue using Xcode gpu tracers (opengl or metal). But the setup is a little more complex since it's the windowserver: you have to remote debug the offending laptop
• We are at beta 6 and these non-metal card glitches are still not fixed, so I don't think Apple is seriously looking into this. In fact, as stated per their policy, support for non-metal cards is officially deprecated.

Feel free to trash/debunk or add to my theories (I don't take anything personally)

Hope this helps.

 

[jackluke]

Hi - I did a little spelunking myself to add to others who are investigating this issue. Here are my (summarized) findings in a nutshell:

• The issue is localized to the Skylight.framework which includes the WindowServer
• A deep inspection of skylight and windowserver binaries revealed that Mojave's version leverages two new libraries compression and the latest metal performance shaders framework (compared to HS Skylight) So Apple has moved some shader processing to their framework, consistent with their bent on "full" metal everywhere and dropping support for OpenGL and OpenCL
• A drop in swap with the HS Skylight will simply not work (and risks hosing things really up)
• I also discovered two missing traditional shaders that are very conspicuously related to transparency/translucency. Why they are gone is up for debate (just a bug by omission or neglect?) but I am almost certain it accounts for our glitches on our older non-metal accelerated cards. For example my "unsupported" macpro 3,1 has a metal capable GTX 680 and does not glitch: so it's simply that Apple really dropped support for non-metal cards like exist on some our older laptops. HS still quasi supported them
• I also believe Dark mode "glitches" on non-metal cards but since it's Dark...you get the drift
• IMHO a solution to this would be extremely difficult since Skylight is ubiquitous (linked everywhere) and a binary patch may introduce unwanted side-effects system wide (skylight handles A LOT of things)
• Transparency/lucency is traditionally handled via shaders since its the best way to accelerate it, so we're definitely on the right track - how to fix this is up for strong debate
• If I had the time, I would debug this issue using Xcode gpu tracers (opengl or metal). But the setup is a little more complex since it's the windowserver: you have to remote debug the offending laptop
• We are at beta 6 and these non-metal card glitches are still not fixed, so I don't think Apple is seriously looking into this. In fact, as stated per their policy, support for non-metal cards is officially deprecated.

Feel free to trash/debunk or add to my theories (I don't take anything personally)

Hope this helps.

Regarding translucency in Mojave "light mode" I am agree on all your points except one:

Apart very few negligible "glitches" on an unsupported Mac, the "dark mode" transparencies overall are working fine, maybe since they added the new .CAR "DarkAqua" files inside SystemAppereance.bundle forgotten some pending code OpenGL/CL functions call for the "dark mode" inside the SkyLight/WindowServer.


Regarding your last point, I have thought another expedient:

Since I guess everyone here has noticed that even on a supported Mac the "light mode" Finder menu bar is less brighter than HighSierra one, and someone also occurred on greyed menu bar in "light mode" on supported Mac, maybe sending some feedbacks to apple they could rewrite/redraw a brighter Finder menu bar for Mojave and luckily re-adding the same missing code they used for the "dark mode".

 

[pkouame]

Regarding translucency in Mojave "light mode" I am agree on all your points except one:

Apart very few negligible "glitches" on an unsupported Mac, the "dark mode" transparencies overall are working fine, maybe since they added the new .CAR "DarkAqua" files inside SystemAppereance.bundle forgotten some pending code OpenGL/CL functions call for the "dark mode" inside the SkyLight/WindowServer.


Regarding your last point, I have thought another expedient:

Since I guess everyone here has noticed that even on a supported Mac the "light mode" Finder menu bar is less brighter than HighSierra one, and someone also occurred on greyed menu bar in "light mode" on supported Mac, maybe sending some feedbacks to apple they could rewrite/redraw a brighter Finder menu bar for Mojave and luckily re-adding the same missing code they used for the "dark mode".

Good points. My Dark Mode is also working very well. no complaints. I just suspect that light mode just reveals some issues that may also exist in dark. Just a hunch.

I thought about reporting this to Apple - your approach of addressing a supported mac issue is a good one. It may nudge them into fixing other issues I think I will follow up on this idea when I get home tonight.

Thanks! Will keep you posted.

 

[mashersaurus]

Thank you for this tool. This might just save me from having to buy a new computer to continue macOS development...

I’ve just installed Mojave on a late 2011 iMac (12,1). I left the installation running while I was out, and when I came back my Mac was actually switched off. I powered back on, booted to the install medium, installed the patches, rebooted, and all seemed fine. It booted to Mojave!

Now I can’t run a lot of apps. Safari, Mail, Xcode, Terminal and Console all refuse to start. They bounce in the dock with a dot underneath them, but then stop bouncing and the dot disappears. A window never appears. I tried downloading and running Onyx as per the FAQ, but I just get an error saying “Onyx will not work with this version of macOS. This version of Onyx requires macOS High Sierra 10.13”.

ETA - WhatsApp and Opera both open fine after the upgrade.

Any ideas where I go from here? Thanks in advance!

 

[TimothyR734]

I think the dot underneath some apps in the dock are running apps for example finder is always running I don't think its anything to worry about

 

[mashersaurus]

I think the dot underneath some apps in the dock are running apps for example finder is always running I don't think its anything to worry about

I know what the dot means. The problem is that the apps don’t finish launching; their window never appears, and the dot beneath their dock icon disappears, which means it has quit.

 

[TimothyR734]

I know what the dot means. The problem is that the apps don’t finish launching; their window never appears, and the dot beneath their dock icon disappears, which means it has quit.

I have a dot under my finder, the clock app and safari and my weather app both my clock and weather app start when my Mac boots up

 

[mashersaurus]

I have a dot under my finder, the clock app and safari and my weather app both my clock and weather app start when my Mac boots up

I realise that the dot is supposed to be there. As I explained, the problem in my case is that the app does not open.

 

[TimothyR734]

I realise that the dot is supposed to be there. As I explained, the problem in my case is that the app does not open.

right click on the app hit quit the dot should disappear then try opening the app again or you can hit the apple logo on top the use force quit

 

[mashersaurus]

right click on the app hit quit the dot should disappear then try opening the app again

Please try to understand the original problem I described: the app icon bounces in the dock, the dot appears under it, then the app icon stops bouncing and the dot disappears. The app is no longer running at this point. It has crashed. There is nothing to quit, because the app never actually launches.

 

[shaocaholica]

Just dove into this for the first time. Using the tool to download 10.14 beta. The post install tool doesn't have an option anymore for APFS boot loader. Is that still being worked on?

 

[TimothyR734]

Please try to understand the original problem I described: the app icon bounces in the dock, the dot appears under it, then the app icon stops bouncing and the dot disappears. The app is no longer running at this point. It has crashed. There is nothing to quit, because the app never actually launches.

did you see if there is an update for the app or maybe your app is 32 bit which is being phased out is support for 64 bit apps
[doublepost=1533748698][/doublepost]

Just dove into this for the first time. Using the tool to download 10.14 beta. The post install tool doesn't have an option anymore for APFS boot loader. Is that still being worked on?

As far as I know it is still being worked on
[doublepost=1533748861][/doublepost]

Please try to understand the original problem I described: the app icon bounces in the dock, the dot appears under it, then the app icon stops bouncing and the dot disappears. The app is no longer running at this point. It has crashed. There is nothing to quit, because the app never actually launches.

and when you installed macOS Mojave did you install over High Sierra or did you do a clean install

 

[mashersaurus]

did you see if there is an update for the app or maybe your app is 32 bit which is being phased out is support for 64 bit apps

and when you installed macOS Mojave did you install over High Sierra or did you do a clean install

Safari, Mail, ... Terminal and Console all refuse to start.

These are all stock apps. They would have been updated to be compatible with Mojave and will already be on the latest version.

This was an install over High Sierra, which as far as I can tell from the patch installation instructions should be fine.

 

[jackluke]

Thank you for this tool. This might just save me from having to buy a new computer to continue macOS development...

I’ve just installed Mojave on a late 2011 iMac (12,1). I left the installation running while I was out, and when I came back my Mac was actually switched off. I powered back on, booted to the install medium, installed the patches, rebooted, and all seemed fine. It booted to Mojave!

Now I can’t run a lot of apps. Safari, Mail, Xcode, Terminal and Console all refuse to start. They bounce in the dock with a dot underneath them, but then stop bouncing and the dot disappears. A window never appears. I tried downloading and running Onyx as per the FAQ, but I just get an error saying “Onyx will not work with this version of macOS. This version of Onyx requires macOS High Sierra 10.13”.

ETA - WhatsApp and Opera both open fine after the upgrade.

Any ideas where I go from here? Thanks in advance!

Those you indicate are all core main system apps, they deal with many macOS frameworks, to me there is not so much to investigate, I would suggest to reinstall Mojave.

 

[Badruzeus]

I’ve just installed Mojave on a late 2011 iMac (12,1). I left the installation running while I was out, and when I came back my Mac was actually switched off. I powered back on, booted to the install medium, installed the patches, rebooted, and all seemed fine. It booted to Mojave!

Now I can’t run a lot of apps. Safari, Mail, Xcode, Terminal and Console all refuse to start. They bounce in the dock with a dot underneath them, but then stop bouncing and the dot disappears. A window never appears. I tried downloading and running Onyx as per the FAQ, but I just get an error saying “Onyx will not work with this version of macOS. This version of Onyx requires macOS High Sierra 10.13”.

1. Boot to RecoveryHD: Disk Utility, run First Aid of ur Mojave partition.
2. Open Terminal to disable SIP: $ csrutil disable
3. Reboot to ur Mojave MainSystem, run this:

Spoiler

sudo rm -f /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache && sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions && sudo kextcache -u / && sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force

4. Reboot again && test. Good luck.

 

[mashersaurus]

Those you indicate are all core main system apps, they deal with many macOS frameworks, to me there is not so much to investigate, I would suggest to reinstall Mojave.

I was wondering the same. Would reinstalling over the top be sufficient, or would you suggest a format and reinstall?

1. Boot to RecoveryHD: Disk Utility, run First Aid of ur Mojave partition.
2. Open Terminal to disable SIP: $ csrutil disable
3. Reboot to ur Mojave MainSystem, run this:

Spoiler

sudo rm -f /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache && sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions && sudo kextcache -u / && sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force

4. Reboot again && test. Good luck.

Thank you for this. I have to go out for the evening now, but I’ll try this when I get back later and report the result.

 

[Badruzeus]

Those you indicate are all core main system apps, they deal with many macOS frameworks, to me there is not so much to investigate, I would suggest to reinstall Mojave.

Agree. Seems there're many dependency problems between two diff. major OSes, as Apple also has changed how i386 && x86_64 apps to run under Mojave. I guess there's no better choice than deal with clean install.

 

[jackluke]

I was wondering the same. Would reinstalling over the top be sufficient, or would you suggest a format and reinstall?

Sometimes it works just refreshing same installation, sometimes better formatting and installing from scratch.

Anyway I try everything to avoid a reinstallation in general, so try first others suggested methods they could work.

edit:
for example you could investigate why an "app dot" crashes launching her MacOS's unix exec from Terminal, but in your case you can't launch neither the Terminal so there are no much alternatives to reinstallation.

 

[Badruzeus]

for example you could investigate why an "app dot" crashes launching her MacOS's unix exec from Terminal, but in your case you can't launch neither the Terminal so there are no much alternatives to reinstallation.

Oh, I remember.. ever gotten similar problem, after did worse method when upgrading from 10.12.x to 10.13.5 << with directly executing it's pkg from another running mac partition and using hSierra as target installation #LoL (for testing #ofc). I got sooooo many binary mismatch'es on hSierra system partition, uhmb.. invalid sign on kexts, frameworks, lib, uh.. almost everything are useless, so.. I go to DiskUtility then click Erase! Ah, forget it.. use safer way on yours.