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macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
******* said:
Of course Catalaina force the APFS. As Mojave.
Click to expand...

Yeah, kinda figured that out. Is the problem getting an APFS volume to boot on an early-2009 Mac Pro? I thought this should be possible from reading through other threads. But perhaps I misunderstood this? I’m hoping there is just some patch or tweak I’ve missed that will get it to work....
 
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42towels said:
Yeah, kinda figured that out. Is the problem getting an APFS volume to boot on an early-2009 Mac Pro? I thought this should be possible from reading through other threads. But perhaps I misunderstood this? I’m hoping there is just some patch or tweak I’ve missed that will get it to work....
Click to expand...
Yes. I have one as yours. Patched the firmware.
 
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42towels said:
Yeah, kinda figured that out. Is the problem getting an APFS volume to boot on an early-2009 Mac Pro? I thought this should be possible from reading through other threads. But perhaps I misunderstood this? I’m hoping there is just some patch or tweak I’ve missed that will get it to work....
Click to expand...

And a related question ... I vaguely remember seeing mention of a 5,1 firmware version slightly newer than the one I have installed. Could that be part of my problem?
 
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avz said:
I don't have a Mac Pro myself but it seems that doing an official High Sierra install will update your firmware and prepares it for the APFS.
Click to expand...
Yes, but have to boot from an USB installer. I’m not sure, but I think Mojave also does it.
 
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42towels said:
Yeah, kinda figured that out. Is the problem getting an APFS volume to boot on an early-2009 Mac Pro? I thought this should be possible from reading through other threads. But perhaps I misunderstood this? I’m hoping there is just some patch or tweak I’ve missed that will get it to work....
Click to expand...

If you would update that ancient BootROM firmware APFS will boot fine. Current firmware version for that machine is 144.0.0.0.0.

This thread will tell you how to upgrade your firmware...
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions.2142418/
 
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crjackson2134 said:
If you would update that ancient BootROM firmware APFS will boot fine. Current firmware version for that machine is 144.0.0.0.0.

This thread will tell you how to upgrade your firmware...
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions.2142418/
Click to expand...

Hmm, so the MP51.xxxxxxx boot rom is too old? This is the first I’ve heard of any boot rom for my machine that didn’t have a version starting with MP51.

BTW I did do a Mojave install to my machine very recently ... like within the past month. Didn’t notice if it did anything to my boot rom version though.
 
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42towels said:
Hmm, so the MP51.xxxxxxx boot rom is too old? This is the first I’ve heard of any boot rom for my machine that didn’t have a version starting with MP51.

BTW I did do a Mojave install to my machine very recently ... like within the past month. Didn’t notice if it did anything to my boot rom version though.
Click to expand...

Read through all of Post#1... Just pay attention to the BootROM upgrade parts...
 
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crjackson2134 said:
Read through all of Post#1... Just pay attention to the BootROM upgrade parts...
Click to expand...

Okay I totally missed that process, thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction.

So I’m working through all to rom updates, and have stripped my machine down to one HDD and am trying to install 10.13.6 from usb.. the installer says it need to do the rom update, and gives instructions to click the shutdown button, and then holdldown the power button to do the update. However, the shutdown button doesn’t seem to do anything. Clicked it and no visible response. Left it for 10 minutes, still nothing. Is is okay to just power off at this point and then try to,do the rom update?
 
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42towels said:
Okay I totally missed that process, thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction.

So I’m working through all to rom updates, and have stripped my machine down to one HDD and am trying to install 10.13.6 from usb.. the installer says it need to do the rom update, and gives instructions to click the shutdown button, and then holdldown the power button to do the update. However, the shutdown button doesn’t seem to do anything. Clicked it and no visible response. Left it for 10 minutes, still nothing. Is is okay to just power off at this point and then try to,do the rom update?
Click to expand...

You might also look through https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions.2142418/ which seems to suggest that you may have to swap back in the GT120 graphics card for the bootrom upgrade process so that you have access to the EFI boot splash screen.
 
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42towels said:
Okay I totally missed that process, thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction.

So I’m working through all to rom updates, and have stripped my machine down to one HDD and am trying to install 10.13.6 from usb.. the installer says it need to do the rom update, and gives instructions to click the shutdown button, and then holdldown the power button to do the update. However, the shutdown button doesn’t seem to do anything. Clicked it and no visible response. Left it for 10 minutes, still nothing. Is is okay to just power off at this point and then try to,do the rom update?
Click to expand...

Nop. After some year, the apple stopped to show in the update proccess. All you see is s blank screen. If you stop it in the middle you may end in a brick. Though 10 minutos is a lot of time... did you pulse the power button till it started to blink?
 
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jhowarth said:
You might also look through https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions.2142418/ which seems to suggest that you may have to swap back in the GT120 graphics card for the bootrom upgrade process so that you have access to the EFI boot splash screen.
Click to expand...

Already swapped in the gt120. Thanks though.
[doublepost=1564331539][/doublepost]
******* said:
Nop. After some year, the apple stopped to show in the update proccess. All you see is s blank screen. If you stop it in the middle you may end in a brick. Though 10 minutos is a lot of time... did you pulse the power button till it started to blink?
Click to expand...

No , didn’t get that far. What I meant is, I booted from the high Sierra usb installer, and chose to,install from there. The installer windows gave instructions to do the rom update, and there is a shutdown button at the bottom of the installer window. That button seems to do nothing. My question is whether it is okay to,just power down at this point and proceed with the rom update (via holding down the power button).

Maybe I am being paranoid, but just trying to be super careful with rom updates.
 
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42towels said:
Already swapped in the gt120. Thanks though.
[doublepost=1564331539][/doublepost]

No , didn’t get that far. What I meant is, I booted from the high Sierra usb installer, and chose to,install from there. The installer windows gave instructions to do the rom update, and there is a shutdown button at the bottom of the installer window. That button seems to do nothing. My question is whether it is okay to,just power down at this point and proceed with the rom update (via holding down the power button).

Maybe I am being paranoid, but just trying to be super careful with rom updates.
Click to expand...

I understand. Yes. Switch off manually and go for the updating proccess. Sometimes simply the PRAM dont want to turn off. Maybe you want to try one more time resetting the PRAM before.
[doublepost=1564331856][/doublepost]
******* said:
I understand. Yes. Switch off manually and go for the updating proccess. Sometimes simply the PRAM dont want to turn off.
Click to expand...
Done a lot of updating proccess in the last years. Mac mini, Macbook Air, 2 Macbook Pro, Mac Pro 5.1....

But I understand you carefullness.
 
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******* said:
I understand. Yes. Switch off manually and go for the updating proccess. Sometimes simply the PRAM dont want to turn off.
[doublepost=1564331856][/doublepost]
Done a lot of updating proccess in the last years. Mac mini, Macbook Air, 2 Macbook Pro, Mac Pro 5.1....

But I understand you carefullness.
Click to expand...

Great, thanks again!
 
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42towels said:
Already swapped in the gt120. Thanks though.
[doublepost=1564331539][/doublepost]

No , didn’t get that far. What I meant is, I booted from the high Sierra usb installer, and chose to,install from there. The installer windows gave instructions to do the rom update, and there is a shutdown button at the bottom of the installer window. That button seems to do nothing. My question is whether it is okay to,just power down at this point and proceed with the rom update (via holding down the power button).

Maybe I am being paranoid, but just trying to be super careful with rom updates.
Click to expand...

Did you follow the instructions at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208691 which indicates that the power button has to be held down (after shutdown) until the led continuously flashes.
 
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All this BootROM discussion is off topic for this thread. Please move this discussion to one of the BootROM threads and you will get all the help you need. The shutdown problem is very common for those users who have 4,1>5,1 conversions. It's not a deal breaker. Just move to the appropriate thread please.
 
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42towels said:
Okay I totally missed that process, thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction.

So I’m working through all to rom updates, and have stripped my machine down to one HDD and am trying to install 10.13.6 from usb.. the installer says it need to do the rom update, and gives instructions to click the shutdown button, and then holdldown the power button to do the update. However, the shutdown button doesn’t seem to do anything. Clicked it and no visible response. Left it for 10 minutes, still nothing. Is is okay to just power off at this point and then try to,do the rom update?
Click to expand...


I have had the same problem when update the Mojave 10.14.4 with BootROM 140.0.0.0.0 to 144.0.0.0.0 on both my MP mid 2009. When click on shutdown is not do anything. Here how I did to get the firmware update.
1. Left it for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Hold the power button until the l.e.d at power button out, wait 15 seconds.
3. Hold the power button until the l.e.d flash rapidly and the long beep, then release it. The CD/DVD tray open/closed.
4. BootROM is successfully updated.
5. Now able to update or install the software.

Also big thanks to Collin @dosdude1 for creating the OS patchers.
Hope this help,
 
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42towels said:
Great, thanks again!
Click to expand...

Kinda seems like the rom update worked. Took a couple tries. After the second try, it booted back to the usb installer, and let me start the high Sierra install.

The weird thing is that I expected the rom update to take a few minutes and to show a blank gray screen while flashing. Instead it went to a grayed-out looking boot screen (Apple logo and progress bar), progress bar advanced for maybe 30 seconds, then it rebooted back to the usb installer. It then let me proceed with the high Sierra install. Does this seem normal?
[doublepost=1564333565][/doublepost]
crjackson2134 said:
All this BootROM discussion is off topic for this thread. Please move this discussion to one of the BootROM threads and you will get all the help you need. The shutdown problem is very common for those users who have 4,1>5,1 conversions. It's not a deal breaker. Just move to the appropriate thread please.
Click to expand...

Sorry, the discussion started off with my attempts to get Catalina working, and just kinda morphed into the boot rom discussion.
 
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42towels said:
Kinda seems like the rom update worked. Took a couple tries. After the second try, it booted back to the usb installer, and let me start the high Sierra install.

The weird thing is that I expected the rom update to take a few minutes and to show a blank gray screen while flashing. Instead it went to a grayed-out looking boot screen (Apple logo and progress bar), progress bar advanced for maybe 30 seconds, then it rebooted back to the usb installer. It then let me proceed with the high Sierra install. Does this seem normal?
[doublepost=1564333565][/doublepost]

Sorry, the discussion started off with my attempts to get Catalina working, and just kinda morphed into the boot rom discussion.
Click to expand...
I told you. Completely normal nowadays. Congratulations.
 
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