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macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread
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Have tried other macOS to eliminate Catalina? Never run your Mac with only one macOS, use the gift of being able to dual-triple-... boot Macs.
Easy. Discrete graphics is fried. When this happens, the mini displayport doesn´t work for graphics.
I accidentally wrote 10.15 instead of 4, my mistake. It was running patched Mojave (instead of the native 10.13.6 High Sierra. This is actually my brother's Mac…mine has 10.15, 10.14, Ubuntu and Windows 7 Ultimate partitions.
It's Quadroboot I guess. Catalina is still not stable enough, Mojave is my main OS.
Everyone seems to be saying it's the dGPU. Someone even said "put the logic board in the oven for 10 minutes on 170º" which sounds like a terrible idea.
I was going to try open a 'hidden defect' case with Apple, but I'd have to make it look like it wasn't tampered with (yet the display is disconnected, and when it was you could only see the screen if you shone a light on it. Optical drive is uninstalled, recycled the original Toshiba 750GB HDD, put patched Mojave on there, and installed an SSD. And there's randomly missing screws to top it all off).
Yep. Definitely a terrible idea…but the laptop was working fine until I left it overnight.
There is a correlation between the device being cool, and the GPU being unable to initialise. I do remember a lot of people trying to reflow their old Xbox360’s logic board…by lightly baking it
I say again. Horrible idea. And please dont do the options in the web about replacements of the gpu. They will fry in months.
I started a thread in MacBook Pro category about my issue. The response is almost always "your dGPU is fried".
Someone in Switzerland is attempting to get their 2011 MBP replaced with the 2019 16" model!? There's a thing called the 'hidden defect' process. I'm in an EU country too (Ireland) so that looks very tempting to try.
I'd have to make it look like I didn't tamper with it though…the patched Mojave on an SSD and a detached display will not help the case :/
I re-fitted the optical drive and found the original HDD that I thought I binned!
It's now…still terribly broke. The SIL flashes once quickly & the fan spins momentarily, and if the MagSafe cable is connected, it will repeatedly attempt to boot indefinitely) – which indicates it passed the POST Power on Self Test, but the GPU failed to initialise (and the next boot process step is the display, which is not connected anyway).
It's a fried AMDlette ?… [MacBookPro 8,3 – Late 2011, 2.4 GHz]
It's now…still terribly broke. The SIL flashes once quickly & the fan spins momentarily, and if the MagSafe cable is connected, it will repeatedly attempt to boot indefinitely) – which indicates it passed the POST Power on Self Test, but the GPU failed to initialise (and the next boot process step is the display, which is not connected anyway).
It's a fried AMDlette ?… [MacBookPro 8,3 – Late 2011, 2.4 GHz]
You know you can disable the dGPU. Right? But thunderbolt wont work as external display port.
…no…yes…well I seen some people writing about it: but their device actually booted up into Terminal. This won't even boot up at all – and even if it did, I relied on the MiniDisplay port to HDMI cable. The hinge is broken and the display cable will connect…but you can only see the screen if you shine a torch at it (something to do with the backlight).
It is a mess, but I was trying to fix it for my brother because of the quarantine.
I mean a hardware solution. Mine is hardware gpu disable. With this solution, you can even install Mojave, as mine. But again, you wont have external display. Why did you remove your display? Cause is faulty, no backlight?
The method is here
DeMux: A permanent fix for the MacBook Pro 2011 GPU - DosLab Electronics
A permanent fix to disable the defective dedicated AMD GPU on 2011 MacBook Pro models.
But with a display attached, you can do it by software, as you mentioned. Just dont erase the NVRAM and it´s ok.
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The hardware solution looks insanely difficult…I'm going to try fix the display back onI mean a hardware solution. Mine is hardware gpu disable. With this solution, you can even install Mojave, as mine. But again, you wont have external display. Why did you remove your display? Cause is faulty, no backlight?
The method is here
DeMux: A permanent fix for the MacBook Pro 2011 GPU - DosLab Electronics
A permanent fix to disable the defective dedicated AMD GPU on 2011 MacBook Pro models.doslabelectronics.com
But with a display attached, you can do it by software, as you mentioned. Just don't erase the NVRAM and it's ok.
My brother snapped the hinge one day by bending it back as far as he could while watching a video in bed. It was still working, but there was no backlight showing – so he took it to some local repair shop which disassembled it, and said they didn't know how to fix it…and then the laptop was missing the iSight cable, some random screws & rubber feet from the backplate, the hinge cover etc…I'm not even sure what more
So he bought an SSD and a Mini DisplayPort-HDMI cable, then rested the top case on the table and connected it to the TV – and that was problem solved!…but nope, the dGPU fails and he gives up, so I have the device now.
On the display, the LVDS cable hangs out on the left, and a thin cable on the right.
I think the bluetooth antenna is hanging out near the corner of the optical drive.
The hinges are pretty stiff too. I have a hunch that parts are missing, as I can't put it together.
The only Apple Store on the island of Ireland is 100 miles away in Belfast, and the Apple Authorised Service Providers won't accept vintage products – so I would have to fix it myself before I contact Apple about the GPU
Haha. I like how "professional" that local repair shop handled the repair. Your little sister probably could have done a better job by watching some youtube videos.
A bit of an off-topic nonsense but does that mean that NVIDIA GeForce 320M just smashed an Intel HD4000 in a synthetic benchmark test(CinebenchR15 15.038)? Can somebody share some insight?
I almost gave up on this. But I had the display connected face down (hinges need replacement). I removed the logic board and gave it a little light baking…but was too scared, so I took it out.
I tried booting it now, and it gave a loud revving sound, as if it was trying to start.
Naturally, I whip out the heat gun, and start carefully blasting the dGPU. I was a bit fed up anyway, so I didn't mind doing this.
It started in Safe Mode. Fans full blast. Could see the white boot-up screen (with the help of my iPhone light – backlight's still gone).
Strange colours, weird noises. Honestly thought it was going to blow up…so I quickly put the 'gfxCardStatus' app on from a USB stick, and switched to Integrated Only.
I'm afraid to even put it to sleep ?…
If not, I could just never shut the laptop down. Not sure what would happen
Definitely going to have a nice conversation with Apple about EU laws regarding hidden defects…
I tried booting it now, and it gave a loud revving sound, as if it was trying to start.
Naturally, I whip out the heat gun, and start carefully blasting the dGPU. I was a bit fed up anyway, so I didn't mind doing this.
It started in Safe Mode. Fans full blast. Could see the white boot-up screen (with the help of my iPhone light – backlight's still gone).
Strange colours, weird noises. Honestly thought it was going to blow up…so I quickly put the 'gfxCardStatus' app on from a USB stick, and switched to Integrated Only.
I'm afraid to even put it to sleep ?…
Is this dosdude1's software fix a permanent enough solution? I just don't understand exactly what it does, and if I could accidentally disable the fix (because it's a not a hardware fix).
If not, I could just never shut the laptop down. Not sure what would happen
Definitely going to have a nice conversation with Apple about EU laws regarding hidden defects…
If you mean the method of the NVRAM, just deleting de NVRAM will revert. If you mean the Demux, is not revertable.
I have a full macbook 17 system, except the logic board. Wifi/bluetooth included, in case you are interested.
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This seems like a terrible trade-off. I'll stick to gfxCardStatus 2.1. I guess flashing the gMux IC is the only way to properly disable the dGPU without problems.
I am getting parts locally (Dublin, Ireland) as well as on eBay, so it's ok. Thank you for the offer, and for your replies too.
Also, when on 10.4.6 with patcher 1.3.7…when you download the Security Update 2020-002, it renders the startup volume un-bootable, even with applying the relevant patches, and ticking Force Cache Rebuild.
I doubt it's that important, but I had to reinstall Mojave twice to learn the hard way :/
Free?…I would've never thought free. I would've thought: "Oh $200-300 + shipping", and then maybe I get scammed
If you were offering it to me for free/donating it, you would've sent me a DM. You should keep the parts for yourself – you never know when you might need it, or sell locally instead of giving vague suggestions to someone all the way in Ireland.
Also, the passive aggressive "Good luck." is a bit low…I thought you were nice. Thanks for your previous help and replies.
I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro 8,1. I have tried installing Mojave 10.14.6 and Catalina 10.15.3/4 using DosDude1 Patcher with drives formatted with APFS. It doesn’t matter which OS I’m using but once at the desktop and after DosDude1’s Patcher updates, the computer reboots and I get a ‘Folder w/ a Blinking Question Mark’.
I followed post #10,445 @AphoticD, up to changing out the SATA cable. I will order a replacement cable but until then, does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks
I followed post #10,445 @AphoticD, up to changing out the SATA cable. I will order a replacement cable but until then, does anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks
Can't really help. Mine is a MacBook Pro 8,3. Are you sure that 8,1 is APFS capable?. I don't think is the SATA cable, cause installation is right. Have you tried pressing ALT in the boot chime and if the macbook sees any boot drive?
If you don't have a bootable installer, use a Recovery key combo on startup:
⌘R Reinstall the latest macOS that was installed
⌥⌘R Upgrade to the latest compatible macOS (recommended)
⇧⌥⌘R Reinstall the macOS that came with your Mac (or the closest version still available)
Use Disk Utility to run the First Aid feature, then install High Sierra so that you have the latest BootROM version. The Folder w/ Question Mark [?] is usually sign of something wrong with the startup volume, or maybe the installer app itself was corrupt. I still get my installer apps from the Mac App Store links on the page below ⬇︎ before I open dosdude1's patcher tool, because I've had a problem with that before.
Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system.
A white spark came out and it immediately shut itself down — New SATA cable and an SSD solved it.
I highly recommend you make a bootable installer with a USB drive (or a partition of an external storage device formatted as macOS Extended) — it's much more reliable. You can reformat the drive, repair & check its status without relying on the internal HD. You should establish that your machine runs High Sierra without problems, then prepare a bootable installer – boot from that and run first aid, erase the drive, and download macOS 10.14.6 or 10.15.4, hold ⌥ while it reboots and select the same bootable installer, use macOS Post Install, then boot up normally. Install the new patches in the updater that should pop up at the desktop, and hit Restart – and if that caused the problem, then contact Colin (dosdude1) himself.
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