macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Edgecrusherr]

So I’m running into an issue with my MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011) after 2 months of running 10.14 betas just fine.



My AMD 6770M is shot, but the system still works because I disabled the GPU in safe mode using the nvram command. In 10.12.6, it runs just fine with Collin’s dGPU disabler tool. In 10.14 it WAS working great with the normal legacy video card disable patch option (and all the recommended stuff that’s under the MBP 8,3 as well). About 3 weeks or so ago it started crapping out. I can boot into 10.12 just fine, but I can only boot in to 10.14 with Safe Mode (I’m writing from 10.14+Safe Mode right now). I made a clean 10.14 install with the patches installed on an external drive, but it’s doing the same thing. I can confirm the 10.14 installation will boot both my supported 2012 MacBook Air, and my unsupported 2009 MacBook Pro, so I know it’s not the installation. I’ve tried previous betas, as well as the public release.



It's still good under 10.12 with the dGPU disabler, but dGPU disabler doesn't seem to work right in 10.14.



I’m not sure how it all works, but is there a chance the system is accessing the AMD 6770M during the boot process before the patch is stopping it? Does anyone have any idea why Safe Mode is ok, but the patch isn’t?



I’ve attached my system log with a boot failure that I last replicated.



Thanks in advance!

 

[David403]

That's odd. As far as I know, that's not the error most of us are seeing -- which is this:

View attachment 794352

Clicking on the Show Details link in that warning takes you to another dialog where you can proceed to the blocked page (just once) but cannot refresh it without the above warning reappearing. (This warning can be got rid of by unchecking the Fraudulent Sites checkbox in the Security tab of Safari Preferences.)

No idea what's causing your error message but you might try clearing your history (from the Safari menu) -- and, maybe, your cache (enable the Develop menu in Safari Preferences, if it isn't already enabled, and from the Develop menu click on Empty Caches).

This is the error I'm seeing.

... but it clears and I can go to the page when I uncheck the "fraudulent sites" checkbox on the Safari Preferences Security page.

 

[timthomason]

The installation will work and it'll boot and run decently, but you won't get graphical acceleration. Upgrade your GPU. See the first page for more info.
[doublepost=1539205029][/doublepost]Anybody else getting a warning in Safari when you go to this specific thread on MacRumors? It almost looks like Apple is finally making an attempt to interfere.

View attachment 793853

No other MacRumors forum thread show such a message...

yes i did , that is from apple security update

 

[hwojtek]

Well, I ran into a problem with the Dosdude1 patcher installation.
The victim here is a Mac Mini 4,1 (mid 2010) I use as a server. This computer has two 500GB spinning HDDs. The Macintosh HD is the boot disk, the other is a backup (using SuperDuper! it maintains a bootable copy of the Macintosh HD made automatically every 24 hrs).
A patched Mojave boots up from a USB SSD and then aborts seconds into the installation with "unable to unmount disk for repair". Interestingly enough, it happens no matter if I choose Macintosh HD or Backup as the installation target. Both disks cannot be unmounted in the installer Disk Utility either, with an error indicating they are in use.
I know I can dig into installer terminal and try to find whatever lsof tells me, but I wonder if anyone had seen this error before.

(BTW same thing with blocking this very thread on a Mojave machine)

[EDIT: fixed, solution here]

 

[Luckygreek]

That's odd. As far as I know, that's not the error most of us are seeing -- which is this:

View attachment 794352

Clicking on the Show Details link in that warning takes you to another dialog where you can proceed to the blocked page (just once) but cannot refresh it without the above warning reappearing. (This warning can be got rid of by unchecking the Fraudulent Sites checkbox in the Security tab of Safari Preferences.)

No idea what's causing your error message but you might try clearing your history (from the Safari menu) -- and, maybe, your cache (enable the Develop menu in Safari Preferences, if it isn't already enabled, and from the Develop menu click on Empty Caches).

I was getting that dialog you posted, as of late (yesterday) I was getting a different dialog as posted, did check the Fraudulent Sites checkbox and have emptied cache, seemed to allow 1 browser then as I try to go to next page I get dialog I posted. Currently, I can get to the thread, however, the problem was it would kick me off on HS, then Mojave would work for a period of time then I couldn't get to site with any browser in either HS or Mojave. At this point as of today, all seems well.
Footnote I did get dialog you posted before disabling Fraudulent Sites.

 

[physwizz]

What's your AMD/ATI id (vendor, device, revision) in "system profiler" from 18A314k (not 18A391) ?

From Terminal: system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType

Otherwise, if on your 18A314K you don't have acceleration and transparencies, then simply boot from 18A391 open Terminal and copy/paste this in one line:

sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext2

reboot and you will have normal RGB and no windows trails, but no video acceleration.

Vendor AMD (0x1002)
Device 0x6740
Revision 0x000

 

[flyinmac]

With the error messages being reported when browsing to Dosdude’s website, I would expect it mean Apple has taken notice of the hacks to enable the OS to run on unsupported machines.

Since it appears to be a flag Apple has added to the filters. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple starts issuing updates that deliberately break any installs on unsupported machines.

 

[Luckygreek]

With the error messages being reported when browsing to Dosdude’s website, I would expect it mean Apple has taken notice of the hacks to enable the OS to run on unsupported machines.

Since it appears to be a flag Apple has added to the filters. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple starts issuing updates that deliberately break any installs on unsupported machines.

Funny you should mention that as Apple has released 2 Security updates (HS) within weeks of each other, I installed the first but not to keen on the second one.
Also used to be able to drag & drop images, now actually have to upload.
The other thing I've noticed is the uptick in "warning" from the National Cyber Awareness System (DHS), used to perhaps get 2 or 3 a week now getting 2-3 a day.

 

[Starplayr]

I got a GTX 690 dual processor to work on Mojave with no power issues using the DVD power for both connectors. Apparently it sends some juice in there.

It sees both GPU’s and runs well. This card might do well with video editing if it will use the spare.” and with CUDA if that will run which I hsben’t Officially got thst to work in Mojave just High Sierra.

In the process of backing up the BIOS And see if it has two EEPROMs inside can be flashed. Installing MSDOS to disk as the moment to make backing up ROMs easier. been having driver issues in Windblows.

I also have a MVC GTX 780 and wil rub some comparisons with the GTX 680 and my unflashed Titan. So far the Titan is the fastest single GPU even at 2.5 GT/s.

Only issue I have with the MVC 780 is the APFS software patch is so slow it can’t boot. I think it is the software patch. But I rebooted with boot options and got Mojave to boot fast thst way by selecting the disk.

I also get tons of EFI boot partitions on any Mac EFI card. I think it’s the APFS firmware that did it not sure. But may reformat and remove the used EFI partitions on none boot drives.

There rally is not a performance issue beteeen 2.5GT/s and 5.0GT/s. Even though the math says otherwise. There is a bottleneck and it’s not the speed. A faster GPU will still run faster than a slower GPU but a card thst runs 2.5GT/s vs the same card at 5.0GT/s has the same proceeds by power. The same goes for a 5.0GT/s at x16 vs 5.0GT/s At x8. Same deal.

Now a 2.5GT/s x8 card vs a 5.0GT/s x16, then I think you’ll see the difference.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I didn't find a way to make it work on a 2009 11,1 iMac with Radeon HD 4850 GPU and I thought like you that the feature was not directly related to the OS but more on the hardware/firmware side.

My solution is an SSD with two partitions:

1. Big one for Mojave, successfully installed and working perfectly on that GPU
2. Small one for High Sierra, loaded only when I need Target Display Mode for my Windows gaming rig

In case anyone has a solution for TDM on Mojave, I'd love to try it.

Shoot. Unfortunately, since I use it 99% of the time in TDM, that wouldn't work for me. (Plus I have the really badly supported GPU, so I wouldn't load Mojave on it for "use" at all. Just to have the same OS for "server" duties.)

 

[ASentientBot]

Guys, this warning most likely not Apple's doing. I initially speculated that it was, but it's not a Safari/macOS specific thing. Maybe they reported it to Google's safe browsing service, but it seems much more likely it's an automated filter. After all, antivirus programs do flag some of dosdude1's stuff every now and then since it alters the system.

Sorry for kicking off another conspiracy discussion. Apple will most likely never mess with us. They don't care. They don't even fight the Hackintosh community, why bother a couple hundred of their own customers first?

 

[jhowarth]

Guys, this warning most likely not Apple's doing. I initially speculated that it was, but it's not a Safari/macOS specific thing. Maybe they reported it to Google's safe browsing service, but it seems much more likely it's an automated filter. After all, antivirus programs do flag some of dosdude1's stuff every now and then since it alters the system.

Sorry for kicking off another conspiracy discussion. Apple will most likely never mess with us. They don't care. They don't even fight the Hackintosh community, why bother a couple hundred of their own customers first?

Since the unsupported High Sierra thread isn't being flagged, I think we can safely assume that the link to the boot firmware installer is the trigger. While removing those links from this thread might eventually clear it from the warnings, I suspect it might be easier to just start a new thread here with explicit requests not to post the link to the firmware updater. Alternatively perhaps obfuscated references to the url would avoid triggering the scans of the new thread.

 

[physwizz]

Otherwise, if on your 18A314K you don't have acceleration and transparencies, then simply boot from 18A391 open Terminal and copy/paste this in one line:

sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext2

reboot and you will have normal RGB and no windows trails, but no video acceleration.

This works great. Thank you.

 

[dosdude1]

Since the unsupported High Sierra thread isn't being flagged, I think we can safely assume that the link to the boot firmware installer is the trigger. While removing those links from this thread might eventually clear it from the warnings, I suspect it might be easier to just start a new thread here with explicit requests not to post the link to the firmware updater. Alternatively perhaps obfuscated references to the url would avoid triggering the scans of the new thread.

It had to do with an old version of DirectHW.kext I had used with the firmware updating tools I had. I've removed those for now, and my site is no longer flagged by Google. Once they update the database, the warning here will go away as well. Definitely no need to start a new thread, that would only cause confusion.

 

[FlorisVN]

I'm wondering why google chrome reports that this link of this thread is dangerous.. ?
Anybody else got same warning messages ??

opening this link in latest chrome build :
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ed-macs-thread.2121473/page-360#post-26653161

 

[Czo]

I'm wondering why google chrome reports that this link of this thread is dangerous.. ?
Anybody else got same warning messages ??

opening this link in latest chrome build :
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ed-macs-thread.2121473/page-360#post-26653161

In a perfect world, "write only" users will be burn in Hell.

 

[jhowarth]

It had to do with an old version of DirectHW.kext I had used with the firmware updating tools I had. I've removed those for now, and my site is no longer flagged by Google. Once they update the database, the warning here will go away as well. Definitely no need to start a new thread, that would only cause confusion.

So the firmware updater is now DirectHW.kext free, or will we be revisiting this issue again in the future? Also, any progress towards eliminating the duplicate efi boot icons for APFS volumes in the option booter?

 

[jackluke]

ThemeEngine exports modified .car files for me. Do you have a working build for Mojave? I just rebuilt one if you need it.

Yes, it exports correctly but doesn't let import again back or at least I didn't succeeded. I guess @testheit is trying to edit the finder top menu bar (for the "light mode"), I don't see many other reasons why someone wants to edit a .CAR file.

 

[0403979]

I'm not sure if anybody wants this information, but I might as well share it. I never use the automated macOS downloaders. Since day one I just downloaded the files from the software catalog by hand. (I just got beta 4 this way.) If anybody else wants to know how to do that...


1. Download the software catalog. This year's is https://swscan.apple.com/content/ca...n-lion-snowleopard-leopard.merged-1.sucatalog but they always follow the same pattern. Next year's will just be ...index-10.15seed-10.15-10.14... so you can do what I do and grab a copy the moment it's released to developers without waiting for somebody to upload the beta access utility.

2. Open it in a text editor.

3. Search for InstallAssistantAuto.smd and go to the last instance of that.

4. From the point you're at, find the next instance of RecoveryHDMetaDmg.pkg and download that link.

5. Do the same for InstallESDDmg.pkg and InstallAssistantAuto.pkg. They should all be close together inside a "Packages" dict.

6. Extract the contents of the packages and the payload of InstallAssistantAuto.pkg (use a pbzx parser). You should end up with the install app, InstallESD.dmg, and RecoveryHDMeta.dmg.

7. Show package contents on the app and go to Contents/SharedSupport. Copy InstallESD.dmg into here.

8. Mount RecoveryHDMeta.dmg and copy the contents of the virtual disk into SharedSupport too.


These steps, without fail since at least macOS Sierra, will produce a functioning copy of the install app without needing an Apple ID, developer ID, or supported Mac.

Since there are now automatic download scripts, there's no real reason to follow these steps. I figured I'd share them for academic purposes only, if anyone wants to make their own automated downloader or whatever.

Edit: I've never actually looked at the code for the automated downloaders. I assume that they use this same process, though.

I'd like to add that you need to remain InstallESDDmg.pkg, and RecoveryHDMetaDmg.pkg to InstallESD.dmg, and RecoveryHDMeta.dmg. Also, you can extract the installer app with an app like Suspicious Package or Pacifist.

 

[jlnsgr]

You should use these two kext IOBluetoothFamily.kext and IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext taking from a Mojave clean installation or late HighSierra, using those inside the USB Installer I guess won't work cause they are smaller in size so presumably can't cover all the BT devices.

In case you don't have, I attach both the Bluetooth kexts from a clean Mojave GoldenMaster, replace the ones inside your Mojave /System/Library/Extensions/ after you have to launch Terminal and type:

sudo chmod -R 755 /S*/L*/E*
sudo chown -R 0:0 /S*/L*/E*
sudo kextcache -i /
sudo reboot

Thanks a lot. It worked for me!

 

[testheit]

@dosdude1 which EFI version is this? MacBookPro5,1
I’m not really sure...

 

[physwizz]

Does anyone know what's happened to all the screensavers?
I like to see my pics as a screensaver.
They didn't work on Mojave beta now they're not even listed on Mojave final.

 

[ASentientBot]

I'd like to add that you need to remain InstallESDDmg.pkg, and RecoveryHDMetaDmg.pkg to InstallESD.dmg, and RecoveryHDMeta.dmg. Also, you can extract the installer app with an app like Suspicious Package or Pacifist.

No, you have to extract the pkg files, that will give you the dmg file. Renaming it will not work.

 

[Hack5190]

Update on my 3.1 - after using dosdude1's APFS patcher and unsupported Mojave installer, the 3.1 is booting Mojave from an APFS SSD (without the APFS patch).

Thank you dosdude1 for all your work and for sharing it with the MAC community.

 

[Polydactyl]

I upgraded my 2010 iMac with a GTX675. I was running High Sierra, and everything was working quite well after the upgrade. I then used DosDude’s installer and configured a bootable USB, and that worked as well. I booted from the USB, and the Mojave install seemed to be going fine, if not a little slow because of the thumbdrive. I left the computer unattended for some of the install, and when I came back the iMac was **** down. Tried rebooting, and I only get a black screen and the computer shuts down again. I’ve tried PRAM resets, SMC resets, and even startup manager (with no display visible). If I hold down the option key (for start up manager) at startup, the computer won’t shut down, so I tried using the arrow keys followed by return, hoping that I would get lucky.

Any suggestions or tips to get the computer booted, so I can repair whatever went wrong with the install?

Apologies if this has been discussed somewhere in the previous 9000 posts, but I searched and couldn’t find an answer.