macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

[jackluke]

Hello again!

Got a brand new sealed ssd today for my 13" late 2011 mbp 8.1.
Installed mojave, formatted ssd to apfs(only - no case sensitive, no encryption), but ssd is not in option menü and it dont start from ssd.

Patches applied - no apfs patch.
I cant choose it. Its greyed out.

Whats wrong?
Sip disable?

You should plug the SSD to the primary SATA port and not to the caddy DVD-Drive one.
In few cases there is also some incompatibility with SSD vendor's flash memory controllers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flash_memory_controller_manufacturers

 

[16v]

Yes, it is primary.

I see the folder icon with "?" on it!

Mojave was already running on a regular hfs formatted hdd.

The latest apfs fw is already installed.

Same problem when installing high sierra...

Installed lion using recovery - worked.

 

[jackluke]

Yes, it is primary.

I see the folder icon with "?" on it!

Mojave was already running on a regular hfs formatted hdd.

The latest apfs fw is already installed.

Same problem when installing high sierra...

"folder ?" icon means typically missing EFI partition on the drive, or a non-fit correctly SATA cable, or what ASentientBot wrote before.

But I don't exclude a rare incompatibility with some SSD controllers and APFS format, vendors sometimes allow SSD firmware update to increase compatibility.

Just few examples on SSD controllers:
Samsung has its own, Crucial uses Silicon Motion, and so on, but for my experience I encountered incompatibility with SandForce and Intel controllers, so those I'd avoid, and not only those probably.

Another aspect not to be underestimated is using a SATA3 ssd on a SATA2 machine, I don't advise, since sometimes SATA3 drive require more power from SATA port.

 

[dosdude1]

Yes, it is primary.

I see the folder icon with "?" on it!

Mojave was already running on a regular hfs formatted hdd.

The latest apfs fw is already installed.

Same problem when installing high sierra...

Installed lion using recovery - worked.

You definitely do not have the latest EFI firmware installed. You need to first install a copy of El Capitan or Sierra on your SSD (on an HFS volume), then upgrade to High Sierra by running the installer app. This will convert the volume to APFS and install the necessary firmware. Once this is done, you can install Mojave onto an APFS volume.

 

[jackluke]

Hello again!

Got a brand new sealed ssd today for my 13" late 2011 mbp 8.1.
Installed mojave, formatted ssd to apfs(only - no case sensitive, no encryption), but ssd is not in option menü and it dont start from ssd.

Patches applied - no apfs patch.
I cant choose it. Its greyed out.

Whats wrong?
Sip disable?

I'm gonna write a stupid thing, without an official EFI firmware upgrade you couldn't format a drive in APFS, I mean using the "DiskUtility Erase" from the drop down-menu "APFS choices" can't appear if you don't have the latest firmware, and about a MBP late 2011, I doubt hasn't never been upgraded to HighSierra, sometimes I keep use older macOSX for fun but from their Safari/Chrome cannot open properly 70% of the Internet, so upgrading the whole system is almost mandatory to stay online.

 

[Perezx]

Try to re-apply the audio patch.
Or scroll to the top of the page

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ed-macs-thread.2121473/page-489#post-27116469

Thanks a lot!
My bad: I havent read DosDude's guide attentively and thought I have to just use Software Update

Perhaps, you can answer one more question?
Since the very first day of Mojave on this Mac the F1 and F2 keys dont adjust screen brightness. Moreover, after the laptop goes to sleep and back, brightness is zero. So there is image on the screen, but no backlight. This is annoying

 

[flygbuss]

Thanks a lot!
My bad: I havent read DosDude's guide attentively and thought I have to just use Software Update

Perhaps, you can answer one more question?
Since the very first day of Mojave on this Mac the F1 and F2 keys dont adjust screen brightness. Moreover, after the laptop goes to sleep and back, brightness is zero. So there is image on the screen, but no backlight. This is annoying

Have you applied all the required patches?
There is a drop-down menu at the top of the patcher. Select your machine from the list and it should automatically select the patches you will need. Apply them and force-rebuild caches (check the provided box). @dosdude1 made it quite easy and understandable but it takes some effort from your side as well.

Edit: I remember some posts of people having the same issue, though I don’t remember anymore if this can be fixed by the patcher. But give it a try if you haven’t already.

 

[Perezx]

This issue persists since the very first day, when patches have been applied automatically. Tried to reinstall them with no effect

 

[nandor690]

I just updated my 7,1 iMac to Mojave. Everything went very smooth with the upgrade. I did a clean install. I updated to a BCM94360CAX combo card that worked great on high Sierra. But I noticed that Bluetooth is not showing up in System Preferences and it shows as no hardware found in About this Mac. Anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know of a fix for it?
Thanks for all the great work everyone!!!

 

[16v]

Sure my mbp 8.1 has latest fw.
1. I already wrote smc/fw version one ore two weeks ago in this thread
2. Apfs can be choosen in drop down menü
3. Mojave
already run on this machine on hdd.

 

[jackluke]

I just updated my 7,1 iMac to Mojave. Everything went very smooth with the upgrade. I did a clean install. I updated to a BCM94360CAX combo card that worked great on high Sierra. But I noticed that Bluetooth is not showing up in System Preferences and it shows as no hardware found in About this Mac. Anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know of a fix for it?
Thanks for all the great work everyone!!!

Try these: Bluetooth Mojave GM untouched kexts
if still don't work, then try using the same method replacing those kexts from the latest High Sierra.
[doublepost=1550865752][/doublepost]

Sure my mbp 8.1 has latest fw.
1. I already wrote smc/fw version one ore two weeks ago in this thread
2. Apfs can be choosen in drop down menü
3. Mojave
already run on this machine on hdd.

Then try reset PRAM twice, after chime power on, hold CMD+ALT+P+R

 

[flygbuss]

Sure my mbp 8.1 has latest fw.
1. I already wrote smc/fw version one ore two weeks ago in this thread
2. Apfs can be choosen in drop down menü
3. Mojave
already run on this machine on hdd.

What kind of SSD did you buy?

 

[16v]

What kind of SSD did you buy?

I m from germany...
Intenso sata3 256GB.
It was the cheapest.

And with lion it works. Next step loading el cap - but forgot my apple acc infos...

Try it step by step.

 

[flygbuss]

A couple of hundred pages earlier someone had the exact same issue. The SSD did even run flawlessly with El Capitan on it. In the end it was either the SSD itself or a broken SATA cable inside the Mac.
I haven't memorized the 490 pages, but I'm working on it.
I think it was the cable which only caused this error with Mojave.
[doublepost=1550866651][/doublepost]Actually I do speak german so I quickly read some tests about the Intenso drives.
There are some complaints about failing drives after a couple of days.
I would recommend you try to get your hands on a second SSD, just to eliminate that a faulty drive and / or incompatible controller causes your problems.

 

[Porthos38]

• Get yourself some new macs already! Unibody models is a history now, and having anything older than 2012 model is a nonsense!
• Retina hi-res screen is a must-have nowadays!
• If you can not afford the newest mac, or just do not want to cope with absence of ports and faulty keyboards - get yourself nice 2013-2015 retina model!
• Just realize, next macOS would completely rely on Metal API to draw interface, it is time to move on!
• I greatly appreciate dosdude1 and other community members contribution! But the only point of installing mojave on unsupported models, is if this models are the models which you can upgrade GPU in (like old iMac and MacPro!

No go. I still love my MacBook Pro 17 2.2Ghz, which supports pcmcia slot / Express Cards with my https://www.newertech.com/products/gmaxmini.php. An no I don't want a dongle life, I and others live that in the 80s and 90s when software companies like Newtek lightwave dongle to run it. if you lost your dongle, you couldn't run the software.

Really Retina? Apple Cinema Display are not retina, no reason to plug retina MBP into a External Monitor.
an what software you know that requires a retina??


IOS 13 (dark mode) is to kill the support for iPhone 6 and 6s, I don't remember Apple putting a AMD 6770 GPU in my phone. This apple way to force people to play their upgrade game. some people are still running apps and games for the older hardware.
[doublepost=1550868798][/doublepost]

MBP4,1 17-inch (Early 2008) on Mojave 10.14.3 (18D42)

Q1: should I convert internal SSD from HFS+ to APFS?
Q2: also convert external USB Time Machine to APFS?
Q3: also format USB Installer stick with dosdude1's patcher on it with APFS?

Best way to do it?

I convert three hard drives to APFS all of them are door stoppers now.

 

[jackluke]

A couple of hundred pages earlier someone had the exact same issue. The SSD did even run flawlessly with El Capitan on it. In the end it was either the SSD itself or a broken SATA cable inside the Mac.
I haven't memorized the 490 pages, but I'm working on it.
I think it was the cable which only caused this error with Mojave.
[doublepost=1550866651][/doublepost]Actually I do speak german so I quickly read some tests about the Intenso drives.
There are some complaints about failing drives after a couple of days.
I would recommend you try to get your hands on a second SSD, just to eliminate that a faulty drive and / or incompatible controller causes your problems.

Agree, Intenso SSD is reported somewhere to use Marvell (haven't tested) or SandForce controller the worst compatible with Mac hardware.

 

[flygbuss]

Agree, Intenso SSD is reported somewhere to use Marvell (haven't tested) or SandForce controller the worst compatible with Mac hardware.

I read that as well. I usually buy Samsung. Just because I have very good experiences with the drives. I tried a couple of other manufacturers but besides a small amount of exceptions I wasn’t really happy with the drives and I returned most of them. My oldest drives (840 Basic and 840 Pro) I bought 6 years ago and they still run fine.

 

[alphascorp]

Hi everybody,
In France, the biggest online store selling spare parts for Mac is "macway.com", they recommend Samsung and / or Crucial SSDs.
In my MBP 5.3 and in my iMac 8.1 I use Samsung 860 EVO SSDs with which I have never had any problem. Also in the few MacBook and MacBook pro I had to fix, the SSD originally mounted by Apple was Samsung. It may not be by chance.

 

[16v]

Intenso top Performance 256gb
Phison controller.

This:

 

[ASentientBot]

While everyone's talking about SSDs, I might as well chime in.

I got this SSD from OWC for under $50 and it works flawlessly. I'd highly recommend it for anyone else with a MacBook7,1. There is no point buying a 6 Gb/s drive for a Mac that only supports SATA II.

I've actually heard (but not confirmed) that some SATA III drives can fall back to an even lower speed when used in old hardware. So, look for a 3 Gb/s drive if you have an older MacBook.

 

[jackluke]

I read that as well. I usually buy Samsung. Just because I have very good experiences with the drives. I tried a couple of other manufacturers but besides a small amount of exceptions I wasn’t really happy with the drives and I returned most of them. My oldest drives (840 Basic and 840 Pro) I bought 6 years ago and they still run fine.

SSD Samsung older drives are even better than newest, sometimes I bid for those models and they are rare and more expensive.
[doublepost=1550913128][/doublepost]

Intenso top Performance 256gb
Phison controller.

This:

We are not saying that Intenso SSD is a bad disk probably better fit for PC, just not reliable with Mac and they could be incompatible with APFS file system. Where you read it has Phison Controller ? Do you have disassembly the plastic caddy ?

Anyway Ive checked and your machine has a SATA3 Controller so you can use SATA 6 Gb/s SSD.
[doublepost=1550913240][/doublepost]

While everyone's talking about SSDs, I might as well chime in.

I got this SSD from OWC for under $50 and it works flawlessly. I'd highly recommend it for anyone else with a MacBook7,1. There is no point buying a 6 Gb/s drive for a Mac that only supports SATA II.

I've actually heard (but not confirmed) that some SATA III drives can fall back to an even lower speed when used in old hardware. So, look for a 3 Gb/s drive if you have an older MacBook.

That disk is reported to use a SandForce Controller, but OWC is known for supporting well the Mac with their SSD firmware upgrades, anyway do you use APFS format with that OWC ?
Because the point with SandForce is incompatibility with APFS, not HFS.
Agree with using a SATA2 SSD on any mac pre-2011.

 

[16v]

I googled it.

 

[jackluke]

I googled it.

Ok then I saw you were upgrading to El-Capitan following the standard route to upgrade EFI firmwares, so let us know if after upgrading to HighSierra 10.13.6 you'll fix the startup manager showing the APFS disk as bootable device at power-on.

I don't exclude that a EFI firmware refresh could fix that, but I still think it's a SSD controller issue.

 

[Larsvonhier]

A couple of hundred pages earlier someone had the exact same issue. The SSD did even run flawlessly with El Capitan on it. In the end it was either the SSD itself or a broken SATA cable inside the Mac.
I haven't memorized the 490 pages, but I'm working on it.
I think it was the cable which only caused this error with Mojave.
[doublepost=1550866651][/doublepost]Actually I do speak german so I quickly read some tests about the Intenso drives.
There are some complaints about failing drives after a couple of days.
I would recommend you try to get your hands on a second SSD, just to eliminate that a faulty drive and / or incompatible controller causes your problems.

Just my 2ct:
Stay away from intenso products, particularly from their SSDs.

 

[16v]

Ok then I saw you were upgrading to El-Capitan following the standard route to upgrade EFI firmwares, so let us know if after upgrading to HighSierra 10.13.6 you'll fix the startup manager showing the APFS disk as bootable device at power-on.

I don't exclude that a EFI firmware refresh could fix that, but I still think it's a SSD controller issue.

I did it yesterday, but after restarting there was a big apple, and a very big progressbar, and after few seconds always a reset and chime.

Watching this for 10 minutes, i pressed power butten.
After restart el cap was running but no updates in smc and efi.