macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

[NitDawg]

Anyone have issues with getting SSO authentication to work with Office 365 on unsupported Mojave?

I installed an SSD in place of the optical drive in a late 2009 27" iMAC and used that to clean install Mojave. It went well after including the iSight patch (wasn't selected by default). However, I kept hitting issues with SSO active directory activation of office 365 products.

When I went back and did a clean install of High Sierra, activation works just fine. I'll probably give it another go...maybe just update the HS installation on the new SSD (instead of wipe and clean)?

On a side-note, I ended up installing HS via recovery (via my old HDD that I'm keeping in the machine). That approach would not produce the recovery partitions on my SSD. However, once I re-installed HS through the App Store, it put everything there:

/dev/disk2 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +1000.0 GB  disk2
                                 Physical Store disk1s2
   1:                APFS Volume SSD                     28.2 GB    disk2s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 23.7 MB    disk2s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                516.1 MB   disk2s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      20.5 KB    disk2s4

 

[Romanesq]

If it´s still a model with CCFL backlight instead of later LED models, it might be a failing inverter.
Had this on several occasions on older MacBooks and it could be solved by replacing the small PCB in the space between the hinges of the display. In one case, temporarily and spontaneous loss of backlight was caused by a failed insulation of the high voltage cable solder joint on the CCFL tube. All the issues were similar to the ones you describe: Short backlight periods after restarting or when re-enabling backlight, flickering, dropouts.

Yes, it's an early 2008 Macbook Pro 4,1 and the backlight shows up only very faintly when the screen's lighting is turned all the way down. I replaced the entire screen assembly and it's in very good shape. You can see very faintly some dim light underneath the keyboard but the backlight is up to maximum.

Don't know what a "small PCB" is between the hinges but if it's the yellowish inverter board inside the screen assembly itself, that's delicate and difficult to access. I went in and cleaned up the little connector near the hinge by the logic board and reinserted to no good effect. If it requires an inverter (board) replacement, I doubt that I'd mess with opening up the screen and trying to replace it. Thanks for the kind reply.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Don't know what a "small PCB" is between the hinges but it's the yellowish inverter board inside the screen assembly that's delicate and difficult to access.

We´re talking about the same, as PCB stands for "printed circuit board", and yes, it´s an inverter circuit.
I´d regard it as not too difficult to replace, see ifixit.com for instructions. Did it a few times on various machines myself. Not too costly, also: You could get the inverter board for less than US$10,-

 

[MTBnBeer]

GREAT NEWS !!!

The brand new $9.50 Apple Broadcom 4322 AGN BCM94322MC 802.11 a/g/n 300Mbps Wifi Mini PCI-E Card (eBay item 272528670442) that I installed using https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBoo...29+and+A1261+AirPort+Extreme+Replacement/2184 works flawlessly in my 17" Early 2008 MacBook Pro 4,1 2.6Ghz 6GB RAM 500GB SSD (model A1261). Connects to our WiFi network at 120Mbps down / 10Mbps up... exact same speed as Ethernet !!! This $9.50 WiFi card fixed the NO WiFi issue with the 10-year old Apple WiFi card after the amazing Mojave Patcher upgrade to 10.14.2. INCREDIBLE job DosDude !!! Keep up the AMAZING work!

 

[uniquename]

I've installed Mojave on a Macbook Pro late 2011 and a Mac Pro 2008 (3.1). It works like a charm on my MacBook Pro...

Did you have to disable your dedicated GPU to get it to work?

I'm happily running Mojave on a 2009 MB Pro, but have held off on my late 2011 model because I really need an external display. I check here occasionally to see if there's a fix yet, although it looks like dosdude1 may have given up on this problem.

 

[MTBnBeer]

Did you have to disable your dedicated GPU to get it to work?

I'm happily running Mojave on a 2009 MB Pro, but have held off on my late 2011 model because I really need an external display. I check here occasionally to see if there's a fix yet, although it looks like dosdude1 may have given up on this problem.

I didn't have to disable my dedicated GPU to get my 24" Samsung T240 display at 1200x1900 using my 17" Early 2008 MacBook Pro 4,1 2.6Ghz 6GB RAM 500GB SSD (model A1261) in Extended Desktop mode using the MBP's DVI port

 

[antony34]

Yes it can! But you need the latest Office v16.20, 2019 version, since it has native support for dark theme.

it's supported since v.16.20 and it changes automatically when you switch to dark mode in system preferences.
View attachment 816462

Edit: @Sveto has been faster

thanks!!
let me update to v16.20.

 

[DanieleDN]

Using a similar configuration: same 4,1 2008 model, RAM & SSD.

1) On 10.14.2 Mojave, I tested a download from the App Store, "Tactical Monsters" and it downloaded and started fine. Not sure your Mojave version. Seems fine here.

2) Replaced the original wifi card some years ago with an Atheros 9380. Had to use a usb Wifi adaptor and update it before it would work with Mojave. There are similar wifi cards available on Amazon and eBay for about $12 that will drop right into the slot inside the laptop.

Good luck!

I've updated my Mac to 10.14.2 and now the App Store works fine.
I'm only waiting for a Broadcom 4322 Wi-Fi card.

 

[Innacity Man]

Did you have to disable your dedicated GPU to get it to work?

NO. As I said, I just installed it to my SSD from my MacBook Pro. I brought back my SSD to my studio and installed it back on my Mac Pro and started it up and got these issues. I'll try to install again from the USB drive but directly into the Mac Pro and see if there is any improvement. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to go back to High Sierra but not sure I can do that without erasing everything before and formatting the SSD.

 

[L Caputo]

So I finally decided to update my MacPro 3.1, Mojave 10.14.0 (SSD with APFS ROM patched) to Mojave 10.14.2
through the Software Update in System Preferences. Updated and failed to boot. So reapplied the post install patches
and rebooted with Force Cache Rebuild selected. Now the Mac will boot to Mojave, the only thing is I get the APFS verbose boot screen before going to the usual progress bar screens. Booting up is taking a little longer than it did before the update. How do you get rid of the ugly APFS verbose screen, do I have to reapply the APFS ROM patch.

Any help gratefully accepted.

 

[AnonMac50]

Yes, it's an early 2008 Macbook Pro 4,1 and the backlight shows up only very faintly when the screen's lighting is turned all the way down. I replaced the entire screen assembly and it's in very good shape. You can see very faintly some dim light underneath the keyboard but the backlight is up to maximum.

Don't know what a "small PCB" is between the hinges but it's the yellowish inverter board inside the screen assembly that's delicate and difficult to access. I went in and cleaned up the little connector near the hinge by the logic board and reinserted to no good effect. If it requires an inverter (board) replacement, I doubt that I'd mess with opening up the screen and trying to replace it. Thanks for the kind reply.

Happened to me on my 4,1 back in 2010, I ended up replacing the left IO board (actually bought a whole bottom case with IO bord from eBay, and moved everything over). That fixed the issue for me.
[doublepost=1547981380][/doublepost]

NO. As I said, I just installed it to my SSD from my MacBook Pro. I brought back my SSD to my studio and installed it back on my Mac Pro and started it up and got these issues. I'll try to install again from the USB drive but directly into the Mac Pro and see if there is any improvement. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to go back to High Sierra but not sure I can do that without erasing everything before and formatting the SSD.

Just a quick question, is the MacPro3,1 patched with an APFS patch?

 

[mrploppy]

So I finally decided to update my MacPro 3.1, Mojave 10.14.0 (SSD with APFS ROM patched) to Mojave 10.14.2
through the Software Update in System Preferences. Updated and failed to boot. So reapplied the post install patches
and rebooted with Force Cache Rebuild selected. Now the Mac will boot to Mojave, the only thing is I get the APFS verbose boot screen before going to the usual progress bar screens. Booting up is taking a little longer than it did before the update. How do you get rid of the ugly APFS verbose screen, do I have to reapply the APFS ROM patch.

Any help gratefully accepted.

Do you have the APFS post-install patch installed? If so, you need to remove it if you've patched the ROM.

 

[Flacko]

So I finally decided to update my MacPro 3.1, Mojave 10.14.0 (SSD with APFS ROM patched) to Mojave 10.14.2
through the Software Update in System Preferences. Updated and failed to boot. So reapplied the post install patches
and rebooted with Force Cache Rebuild selected. Now the Mac will boot to Mojave, the only thing is I get the APFS verbose boot screen before going to the usual progress bar screens. Booting up is taking a little longer than it did before the update. How do you get rid of the ugly APFS verbose screen, do I have to reapply the APFS ROM patch.

Any help gratefully accepted.

This happened to me as well. I did not realise the the patcher will automatically apply the APFS patch as soon as you select an APFS drive, even if you do not need it with an APFS ROM. You have to make sure this option is unticked before you apply the patches. I did not notice that when I selected my drive the patcher re-ticked the APFS patch so ended up with the verbose start up. Remove this by mounting the relevant efi partition and deleting the relevant files (see below if you need help). You will not have to reapply the ROM patch.

If you have a successful ROM update then to remove the verbose output you will need to mount the efi drive. To find which one it is use:

sudo diskutil list

This will display your drives and you can identify the efi partition. In my case it is disk0s1. Then mount this partition:

sudo diskutil mount disk0s1

After a moment the efi drive should appear on your desktop. You can then use finder to delete the following: apfs.efi, /BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI and startup.nsh.
[doublepost=1547989123][/doublepost]

NO. As I said, I just installed it to my SSD from my MacBook Pro. I brought back my SSD to my studio and installed it back on my Mac Pro and started it up and got these issues. I'll try to install again from the USB drive but directly into the Mac Pro and see if there is any improvement. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to go back to High Sierra but not sure I can do that without erasing everything before and formatting the SSD.

Hi Innacity Man. Most of us with macPro 3.1's have been successful with Mojave and find it runs very well on our old machines. I am sure you can get it up and running. In fact Mojave runs better on my MP3.1 than High Sierra. What is the actual configuration of your MP3.1, especially the exact graphics card? Are you using APFS with the SSD?

I would start by using dosdude1's installer to make a new drive with Mojave 14.2. Use this to install Mojave over the top of your present installation. You may get lucky and any files causing problems may get overridden. Then apply the patches for a MacPro 3.1. Default ones probably ok but more info on your system would help here.

 

[uniquename]

NO. As I said, I just installed it to my SSD from my MacBook Pro. I brought back my SSD to my studio and installed it back on my Mac Pro and started it up and got these issues. I'll try to install again from the USB drive but directly into the Mac Pro and see if there is any improvement. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to go back to High Sierra but not sure I can do that without erasing everything before and formatting the SSD.

Is your MacBook Pro a 13"? According to the wiki, it's the 15" and 17" ones from 2011 that have the problem with Radeon GPUs. Because of that, I haven't even tried it on my 2011 17", but would be happy to hear that the problem's been fixed.

Anyone else here successfully running Mojave on an 8,2 or 8,3 MBP? Is an external monitor possible?

 

[L Caputo]

This happened to me as well. I did not realise the the patcher will automatically apply the APFS patch as soon as you select an APFS drive, even if you do not need it with an APFS ROM. You have to make sure this option is unticked before you apply the patches. I did not notice that when I selected my drive the patcher re-ticked the APFS patch so ended up with the verbose start up. Remove this by mounting the relevant efi partition and deleting the relevant files (see below if you need help). You will not have to reapply the ROM patch.

If you have a successful ROM update then to remove the verbose output you will need to mount the efi drive. To find which one it is use:

sudo diskutil list

This will display your drives and you can identify the efi partition. In my case it is disk0s1. Then mount this partition:

sudo diskutil mount disk0s1

After a moment the efi drive should appear on your desktop. You can then use finder to delete the following: apfs.efi, /BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI and startup.nsh.

[doublepost=1547989123][/doublepost]
Hi Innacity Man. Most of us with macPro 3.1's have been successful with Mojave and find it runs very well on our old machines. I am sure you can get it up and running. In fact Mojave runs better on my MP3.1 than High Sierra. What is the actual configuration of your MP3.1, especially the exact graphics card? Are you using APFS with the SSD?

I would start by using dosdude1's installer to make a new drive with Mojave 14.2. Use this to install Mojave over the top of your present installation. You may get lucky and any files causing problems may get overridden. Then apply the patches for a MacPro 3.1. Default ones probably ok but more info on your system would help here.

Hi thanks for replying, yes I guess I never noticed the APFS patch checking itself when I selected my SSD, so that was the problem. Deleted the files you suggested and now Mac is booting up without the APFS verbose screen.

Thank You Very Much.
[doublepost=1547993074][/doublepost]

Do you have the APFS post-install patch installed? If so, you need to remove it if you've patched the ROM.

Yeah didn't notice the APFS patch selecting itself when I chose my SSD drive using the patch tool.
Found the answer from Flacko above, so back and happy.

Thanks.

 

[uniquename]

I didn't have to disable my dedicated GPU to get my 24" Samsung T240 display at 1200x1900 using my 17" Early 2008 MacBook Pro 4,1 2.6Ghz 6GB RAM 500GB SSD (model A1261) in Extended Desktop mode using the MBP's DVI port

No problem with my 17" early 2009 MBP, either. The frustrating issue here is with my newer, late 2011, model.

Unless I've missed it somewhere in this long thread, there seems to be no progress towards a solution. Dosdude1 has a hardware fix that permanently disables the dedicated GPU, but also loses any support for external monitors—a trade-off I'm not willing to make.

(That said, I do commend dosdude1 on all the work he's put into extending the life of old machines like mine. It's a shame Apple has abandoned the 17" screens, but if I'm going to use an external monitor half the time anyway, maybe it's time to just buy a little new MBP.)

 

[jhowarth]

Hi,

I've installed Mojave on a Macbook Pro late 2011 and a Mac Pro 2008 (3.1). It works like a charm on my MacBook Pro but I got a lot of issues on my Mac Pro. Graphic issues even if I have a compatible Nvidia graphic card. Applications crashes (Logic Pro 10.4.2), wifi not working anymore. I had High Sierra running perfectly before trying to install Mojave on my Mac Pro 3.1.

Also, know that I took out the SSD of the Mac Pro and installed the Mojave Patch from my MacBook Pro, but I choose Mac Pro 3.1 when I got the configuration window.

Any Idea ? Also, is it possible to downgrade to High Sierra ?

Thanks for any help.

Exactly which compatible Nvidia graphics card do you have? On my Mac Pro 3,1 with 16 GB ram, Nvidia GTX680 Mac rom flashed and with APFS ROM patched applied, the graphics are perfect. Make sure you don't have the legacy video support patches applied if you have a Metal supported Nvidia card.

 

[wim1732]

You mean, you didn't use the power button trick and just hit to continue, right?

@telepati, As you may recall, I was having trouble getting into firmware update mode on my iMac8,1, I've just tried starting from an patched installer external drive, dismounted my internal SSD and was able to convert from HFS to APFS in Disk Utility. I was then going to install the software APFS patch but tried booting from the internal SSD and it started!! So I conclude that at some point in the past APFS ROM Patcher must have worked, perhaps iMac8,1 and 9,1 are always in firmware update mode or don't have the long tone?

Is there a simple way, I can check if the ROM has been patched correctly other than being able to boot an APFS volume?

Also does APFS ROM Patcher check if the ROM has already been patched?

 

[Romanesq]

Happened to me on my 4,1 back in 2010, I ended up replacing the left IO board (actually bought a whole bottom case with IO bord from eBay, and moved everything over). That fixed the issue for me.
[doublepost=1547981380][/doublepost]

I've replaced the I/O board twice and didn't even think that could/can be impacting the keyboard backlight. So we have a vote for an inverter inside the screen assembly and now an I/O board. I'd sooner do the I/O board again if I thought it would help but I have my doubts. The two times of late the keyboard backlight recovered, all I did was clean the ribbon cable on the upper case connection and it came right back. Then I went back and cleaned all of them and it did again but for only a brief time of less than a day. If I knew for sure... well, such is life.

Maybe I'll play around with some older OS software and see if it recovers. That this thing is kicking so well in Mojave 11 years out is remarkable. Thanks again Mighty dosdude1!

 

[premjm12983]

Need help downgrading my MacPro3,1 to High Sierra. I cannot access recovery mode and need to remedy this quickly. I would like to avoid a clean install if possible and just reinstall high Sierra back on my boot drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Innacity Man]

My graphic card is an Nvidia Geforce GT 120. I think I'm on HFS +. I'll try today to re-install the patch and let you know. I'll also check the number of my airport card to see if it's compatible or not. I have a 256 GB Samsung SSD and two back up HDD. 20 GB of ram. I use trim unable for the SSD. This computer has always worked very well, perfect for music production with what I use it for

 

[L Caputo]

Need help downgrading my MacPro3,1 to High Sierra. I cannot access recovery mode and need to remedy this quickly. I would like to avoid a clean install if possible and just reinstall high Sierra back on my boot drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Not being able to access the recovery drive is fairly usual. Do you still have a USB with the patched High Sierra on, if so use that to boot to and then use Disk Utility on the USB to erase your disk, and then install High Sierra. Downgrading does mean a clean install is necessary. You could install High Sierra on another drive or partition, and migrate your personal data over from Mojave.

 

[Flacko]

Your GT120 graphics card is not metal capable and will therefore not work well in Mojave. If you want to stick with Mojave a graphics card upgrade is really required. A GTX680 works very well. Otherwise I would suggest you return to High Sierra as that was working well for you.

 

[premjm12983]

Not being able to access the recovery drive is fairly usual. Do you still have a USB with the patched High Sierra on, if so use that to boot to and then use Disk Utility on the USB to erase your disk, and then install High Sierra. Downgrading does mean a clean install is necessary. You could install High Sierra on another drive or partition, and migrate your personal data over from Mojave.

When I try to create another USB patch of High Sierra using dosdude’s patcher tool on my recently upgraded Mojave macOS I get error messages. One error is when the patcher tool is in the process of creating the bootable USB. The other is an error message that says the macOS I’m trying to patch is too old for the current macOS I’m using. Idk what to do. I do not have another Mac to make a boot disk from either.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Strange. I've gotten Macbooks from 2,1 to 4,1 running El Cap, and all hardware is supported with the exception of graphics acceleration (framebuffer is working on all three). The kexts must be tied to the kernel somehow, so maybe Apple has removed support for the older hardware in the Mojave kernel, and attempting to load older kexts just pukes out due to this support removal.

Regardless, impressive work!

(All pre-coffee musing here, so take it for what it is...)

I´d like to tie ends from the other side (OSX hackers kexts for MB 4,x for El Cap), so if you could PM me the prelinked kernel of one of your machines, that might help!