macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

[visberry]

Just picked up a Samsung 840 PRO, ready for Mojave to speed up my 2010 MCP.
[doublepost=1534555020][/doublepost]

I've checked right now, on Mojave beta 6 (18A353d) the trackpad and mouse (with a Magic Mouse bluetoothed) prefpanes sample videos playback are stopped/static with a kind of glitch on it (but on Nvidia at least the prefpanes don't crash), maybe from DP6 they use some hybrid OpenGL/Metal rendering, just a supposition.
Instead I remember previously on Mojave beta 4/5 the mouse/trackpad prefpanes sample videos playback worked fine.

middle-edit:
I've re-opened them after 10 minutes and they now playback correctly on Mojave beta 6 too.

I guess on the next DP8 if these issues still persist, should be find a method to disable those mouse/trackpad samples videos to avoid unwanted prefpanes crashes.

Also noticed Quick Look does not work either. "Missing display bundle"

 

[TimothyR734]

I've checked right now, on Mojave beta 6 (18A353d) the trackpad and mouse (with a Magic Mouse bluetoothed) prefpanes sample videos playback are stopped/static with a kind of glitch on it (but on Nvidia at least the prefpanes don't crash), maybe from DP6 they use some hybrid OpenGL/Metal rendering, just a supposition.
Instead I remember previously on Mojave beta 4/5 the mouse/trackpad prefpanes sample videos playback worked fine.

middle-edit:
I've re-opened them after 10 minutes and they now playback correctly on Mojave beta 6 too.

I guess on the next DP8 if these issues still persist, should be find a method to disable those mouse/trackpad samples videos to avoid unwanted prefpanes crashes.

On my MacBook 5,2 when I open my trackpad prefpane it is searching for a bluetooth trackpad

 

[pkouame]

Have you checked my log file about that crash? Maybe it could help.

Nothing to glean from your crash log except that preferences pane trackpad app crashed (dughh!) Sorry.

It looks like an internal (bad) bug as an object is trying to send a message to a point in memory where there is no one listening (no instance of a class to execute it). In this case trackpad app is trying to compare some type of string to another (isEqualToString). It's a very common type of objective-c error. I get these when memory is clobbered by my own coding ineptness.

Application Specific Information:
objc_msgSend() selector name: isEqualToString:
com.apple.preference.trackpad v.14.0 (Trackpad)

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0   libobjc.A.dylib                   0x00007fff611d059d objc_msgSend + 29
1   com.apple.preference.trackpad     0x000000010e75096d 0x10e747000 + 39277
2   com.apple.preference.trackpad     0x000000010e74a9cf 0x10e747000 + 14799
3   libdispatch.dylib                 0x00007fff62255d4f _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 12

So unfortunately internal. Nothing much you can do about this if it's an Apple bug. Now for the link to APFS...it seems strange since (I'll take your word) the exact same preferences/configuration works on HFS+. But not totally weird: keep in mind that the APFS API is different than the HFS API. Not totally a superset. There has never been a promise of complete "downward compatibility" and a developer can quite possibly code something that will work properly on one and not the other. Apple has a lot of developer documentation on this. As some have mentioned, Apple is debugging APFS as we speak.

And yes, the sophisticated trackpad and mouse preferences panes have a lot of video, so there's probably some fancy file system buffering being attempted etc. I also don't think swapping HS versions in will fix this. Nor do I believe it's related to NightShift.

Let's hope they fix this going forward. I'll check the developer forums to see any supported macs have reported this.

One last obvious question: are others with similar configurations as yours experiencing the same thing?

 

[BookEmDanno]

Alright, I've finally finished it... APFS ROM Patcher is finally done! Some precautions:

- APFS ROM Patcher is to be used AT YOUR OWN RISK! There is always the possibility that your machine could become bricked as a result.
- DO NOT apply APFS ROM Patcher if your machine already can boot from APFS volumes
- If you get the following dialog, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you open your machine, remove your logic board if necessary, and verify the exact EEPROM type your machine has. Selecting the wrong EEPROM model will MOST LIKELY result in a bricked system!

View attachment 776034

Download here. Please be sure to post results!

Mahalo for this @dosdude1.
This ROM patcher worked with no issues on my old MBP5,3.

I do have a question though. My internal SSD drive on this has 2 partitions ~ High Sierra and El Capitan. This is still formatted as HFS+. If I go ahead and re-format the drive to APFS, can El Capitan still be installed and ran from this APFS formatted drive? Or, is it possible for the 2 partitions on the same drive with different formats? (HS on APFS partition, EC on HFS partition).

Mahalo.

 

[dosdude1]

Mahalo for this @dosdude1.
This ROM patcher worked with no issues on my old MBP5,3.

I do have a question though. My internal SSD drive on this has 2 partitions ~ High Sierra and El Capitan. This is still formatted as HFS+. If I go ahead and re-format the drive to APFS, can El Capitan still be installed and ran from this APFS formatted drive? Or, is it possible for the 2 partitions on the same drive with different formats? (HS on APFS partition, EC on HFS partition).

Mahalo.

You'll have to make one APFS partition for High Sierra, and one HFS partition for El Capitan. El Capitan doesn't have APFS filesystem drivers.

 

[jbarley]

This question is for the "man" @dosdude1.

I was running HighSierra on my MP3,1 and booting from APFS using your patched install system, and quite happy with it all.
Can this not be done now running Mojave using a similar APFS patch?
It's this quote taken from your website-Mojave page that has me concerned.

"-- ONLY use APFS on Late-2009 and later machines. Currently, older machines will not be able to boot from an APFS volume."

 

[tsialex]

This question is for the "man" @dosdude1.

I was running HighSierra on my MP3,1 and booting from APFS using your patched install system, and quite happy with it all.
Can this not be done now running Mojave using a similar APFS patch?
It's this quote taken from your website-Mojave page that has me concerned.

"-- ONLY use APFS on Late-2009 and later machines. Currently, older machines will not be able to boot from an APFS volume."

You can add the APFS DXE on the BootROM with dosdude1 APFSROMPatcher or you can use UEFITool manually. I used APFSROMPAtcher on my MP3,1.

 

[thegurgz]

So, I got the error code 0 while trying to install DP7 over the broken software updated OS. I thought this was due to the OS, but once I erased and reformatted it back to HFS+, I realized that it was the patcher stick, not the OS. Probably should have checked that before erasing. Booted into El Capitan, rewrote DP7 to the patcher stick, install went fine. I recommend to stay on HFS+ until GM due to the bugginess of APFS. I don't understand why the native updater broke the OS two times, I'm guessing it has to do with the APFS on unsupported machines, but it seemed to be successful for others so I have no clue. Not going to risk converting and updating again until GM. It could work for others, so if you are a risk-taker you can attempt.

 

[pkouame]

This question is for the "man" @dosdude1.

I was running HighSierra on my MP3,1 and booting from APFS using your patched install system, and quite happy with it all.
Can this not be done now running Mojave using a similar APFS patch?
It's this quote taken from your website-Mojave page that has me concerned.

"-- ONLY use APFS on Late-2009 and later machines. Currently, older machines will not be able to boot from an APFS volume."

I'n not the "man", but I flashed a new ROM easily with the ROM PATCHER 2.0. I also have a macpro 3.1 GTX 680. I posted screenshots a while ago. Good luck. The tool recognized my 3.1 ROM immediately. Follow the usual precautions though (and read other experiences)

 

[applCore]

I'm curious about patching Mojave for a supported Metal card Mac Pro that ALSO has an additional non-Metal card to drive an extra monitor. Is this doable and will my Metal supported card outputs still work at full acceleration even if my non-Metal card suffers somewhat perhaps?

Not entirely sure what to expect with such a combination of video cards...

 

[jbarley]

I'n not the "man", but I flashed a new ROM easily with the ROM PATCHER 2.0. I also have a macpro 3.1 GTX 680. I posted screenshots a while ago. Good luck. The tool recognized my 3.1 ROM immediately. Follow the usual precautions though (and read other experiences)

What with the encouragement gained from the last couple of posts I decided to take the plunge and try the flash.
But typical for me not so lucky, this is all I get after several attempts of closely following the instructions,
Power on, hold start button-flashing light, loud sound followed by the startup chime etc.
fortunately it does not appear to have bricked my 3,1

 

[pkouame]

ADDITIONAL INFO for any macbook pro 5.3 owners contemplating flashing your ROM to APFS
THE ROM PATCHER will need help recognizing your exact EEPROM (SPI ROM)

macbook pro 5.3 16GB SSD (2) NVidia GPUs (mid-2009)

My exact specs are: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/....8-aluminum-15-mid-2009-sd-unibody-specs.html

I've attached the logic board's schematic - where you find the SPI ROM schematic (if you don't want to disassemble your lap to double check your chip) NOTE: Your SPI ROM is on page 57/101.

Your EEPROM should be MX25L3205D M2I-12G. Attached is its spec sheet.

Make sure you have the same model.
Backup your stuff.
Download the latest APFS ROM PATCHER.
Follow its instructions carefully (especially the deal about holding power for 15 secs until you get the the rapidly flashing lights)
Carefully select the EEPROM when prompted to choose (I had three possible part numbers)
Heed all the warnings.

Good luck.

 

[Olivia88]

Could you check if the prefpane crashes even with the stock CoreBrightness Mojave Beta 7 ?

@arqueox I can assure that the prefpanes issues don't depend from APFS, I do have APFS since Mojave beta 1 on my unsupported Macs and prefpanes are perfectly working even with the trackpad samples videos.

@flygbuss maybe this happens on unsupported Macs with dual GPUs AMD/ATI and IntelHD ?
Because on Nvidia unsupported Macs it doesn't occur, neither on MacBook 13" with only IntelHD3000.

Try the trackpad settings on light mode, mine only crashes in dark mode.
I think somethings changed in dp7 with the graphics processing, that's why my dock in light mode gets white.

Edit: seems like just switching between dark and light was enough to make it stop crashing, as the trackpad settings works in dark mode now too. Edit: crashes in dark mode again now too.

 

[pkouame]

Try the trackpad settings on light mode, mine only crashes in dark mode.
I think somethings changed in dp7 with the graphics processing, that's why my dock in light mode gets white.

and @jackluke and @arqueox
Agreed. To check this out, I just upgraded my mbp 5.3 to APFS and re-installed a clean DP6: preferences for trackpad and all else work very well, but it has (2) NVidia GPUs. I did check dp4 before the upgrade and preferences trackpad was blank (but did not crash)
[doublepost=1534572503][/doublepost]

What with the encouragement gained from the last couple of posts I decided to take the plunge and try the flash.
But typical for me not so lucky, this is all I get after several attempts of closely following the instructions,
Power on, hold start button-flashing light, loud sound followed by the startup chime etc.
fortunately it does not appear to have bricked my 3,1
View attachment 776564

Ouch! Many of us 3.1 owners haven't had a problem flashing the rom as ROM PATCHER recognizes the chip immediately.

Is your machine tricked out in any way?
What is the exact model?
Was your rom already flashed? If it was, there may be an issue with the patcher. Only the "man" can help you there...
What does "not" bricked mean: did you reboot and try multiple times?

 

[tsialex]

What with the encouragement gained from the last couple of posts I decided to take the plunge and try the flash.
But typical for me not so lucky, this is all I get after several attempts of closely following the instructions,
Power on, hold start button-flashing light, loud sound followed by the startup chime etc.
fortunately it does not appear to have bricked my 3,1
View attachment 776564

You're trying to patch your FWHub flash memory from Mojave? Try from a totally vanilla ElCap install.

Check if your FWHub flash memory is ST M50FW016. It's the 40pin TSOP between BT module and AirPort Extreme.

 

[TimothyR734]

and @jackluke and @arqueox
Agreed. To check this out, I just upgraded my mbp 5.3 to APFS and re-installed a clean DP6: preferences for trackpad and all else work very well, but it has (2) NVidia GPUs. I did check dp4 before the upgrade and preferences trackpad was blank (but did not crash)
[doublepost=1534572503][/doublepost]
Ouch! Many of us 3.1 owners haven't had a problem flashing the rom as ROM PATCHER recognizes the chip immediately.

Is your machine tricked out in any way?
What is the exact model?
Was your rom already flashed? If it was, there may be an issue with the patcher. Only the "man" can help you there...
What does "not" bricked mean: did you reboot and try multiple times?

I think what he means there was an error while patching kind like mine when it could find eeprom on my MacBook 5,2 I think its a safety feature as you can't proceed any further with the patching
[doublepost=1534574272][/doublepost]I have been trying to install this for 3 days on my MacBook 5,2 Mojave DP7 HFS this might be further evidence APFS will be required. It installed just fine on my iMac 9,1 APFS Mojave DP7

 

[ASentientBot]

@jackluke You are correct, the videos in trackpad preference pane don't play. I imagine this is probably connected to the crash, as App Store videos crash the same computers, right?

@visberry QuickLook is working just fine on my MacBook7,1 with DP7.

Edit: After a few tries, the trackpad videos play normally. Weird...

 

[pkouame]

I think what he means there was an error while patching kind like mine when it could find eeprom on my MacBook 5,2 I think its a safety feature as you can't proceed any further with the patching

I've never bricked, so I'm not familiar with the error you get or "how" it bricks.
But I think @jbarley had already patched his ROM on HS: I'm not sure how @dosdude1 's patcher deals with that. It attempts to recognize your ROM - if it doesn't -> pulls up some suggestions...we need a better blow by blow from @jbarley to help.

EDIT: maybe he didn't even need to patch his rom?

 

[tsialex]

I've never bricked, so I'm not familiar with the error you get or "how" it bricks.
But I think @jbarley had already patched his ROM on HS: I'm not sure how @dosdude1 's patcher deals with that. It attempts to recognize your ROM - if it doesn't -> pulls up some suggestions...we need a better blow by blow from @jbarley to help.

He can check with binwalk (for "Microsoft executable, portable (PE)" at the end of the report) or UEFITool (search for NVMe with UNICODE disabled). Edit: I did a error on the UEFITool part, I showed how to check for NVMe. I have to check what is searchable string or the GUID for APFS.

Something like that:

 

[TimothyR734]

If you brick your Mac by choosing the wrong eeprom model number your Mac is unusable unless you pull out the eeprom chip and use a programmer to reprogram your bootrom back in

 

[pkouame]

He can check with binwalk (for "Microsoft executable, portable (PE)" at the end of the report) or UEFITool (search for NVMe with UNICODE disabled).
[doublepost=1534574726][/doublepost]Something like that View attachment 776569

Why? If he/she has a stock pro 3.1 APFS patched for HS already. I don't get what you mean?

 

[TimothyR734]

@jackluke You are correct, the videos in trackpad preference pane don't play. I imagine this is probably connected to the crash, as App Store videos crash the same computers, right?

@visberry QuickLook is working just fine on my MacBook7,1 with DP7.

Edit: After a few tries, the trackpad videos play normally. Weird...

What is Quicklook ?

 

[tsialex]

If you brick your Mac by choosing the wrong eeprom model number your Mac is unusable unless you pull out the eeprom chip and use a programmer to reprogram your model number back in

Correct that to: reprogram your BootROM back in
[doublepost=1534575022][/doublepost]

Why? If he/she has a stock pro 3.1 APFS patched for HS already. I don't get what you mean?

I showed how to confirm if he has the DXE injected.

But I did a error on the UEFITool, I showed how to check for NVMe.

 

[pkouame]

If you brick your Mac by choosing the wrong eeprom model number your Mac is unusable unless you pull out the eeprom chip and use a programmer to reprogram your model number back in

Yes, I get that. But he says he ain't bricked...and has tried repeated flashes. Doesn't a failure brick or are there nuances...I guess only @jbarley can clear this up.
[doublepost=1534575126][/doublepost]

What is Quicklook ?

The QuickLook file previews from the Finder.
[doublepost=1534575194][/doublepost]

Correct that to: reprogram your BootROM back in
[doublepost=1534575022][/doublepost]

I showed how to confirm if he has the DXE injected.

But I did a error on the UEFITool, I showed how to check for NVMe.

Ah. Ok.
[doublepost=1534575253][/doublepost]

He can check with binwalk (for "Microsoft executable, portable (PE)" at the end of the report) or UEFITool (search for NVMe with UNICODE disabled). Edit: I did a error on the UEFITool part, I showed how to check for NVMe. I have to check what is searchable string or the GUID for APFS.
[doublepost=1534574726][/doublepost]Something like that:

View attachment 776569

View attachment 776570

Great! Thanks for the tips!

 

[tsialex]

Great! Thanks for the tips!

I need to sleep, I was thinking about APFS and writing about NVMe, sorry. Tomorrow I'll find the APFS GUID.

You can install binwalk with homebrew, btw.