macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[Vyzantion]

I downloaded a new copy of Catalina and it was 15.0.25. I used this to build a usb installer but on the installer the Catalina is 15.0.21. No idea how that happened. Not sure how to resolve this.

There seem to be some bugs on Apple, it seems to me.

 

[TimothyR734]

I downloaded a new copy of Catalina and it was 15.0.25. I used this to build a usb installer but on the installer the Catalina is 15.0.21. No idea how that happened. Not sure how to resolve this.

Check your applications folder if you downloaded using the macOS downloader that where it downloads to if you use the Catalina Patcher it downloads to your download folder then make sure you have it pointing to the correct version when making an updated patcher to install

 

[jhowarth]

Just updated Catalina Patcher to version 1.0.7, which adds full support for Catalina Developer Preview 6! Another HUGE thanks to @ASentientBot for his work in achieving full graphics acceleration on non-Metal video cards!

I can confirm that upgrade install from a patched usb installer of 15.0.25 created using the Catalina Patcher 1.0.7 release with APFS Boot Disabled produces a crossed out zero boot failure splash screen on a MacPro 3,1 with GTX680. Manually installing the patches and clicking the Forced Cache Rebuild check box doesn't seem to really work as the building caches step 'completes' in a couple seconds rather than over a couple minutes. I'll try erasing my Catalina HD volume and do a clean install which should force the kernel rebuild to work.

 

[David403]

I have the current version of Catalina, 15.0.25 using the 'macOS Downloader'.

However, I have been unable to obtain a copy of the Catalina Patcher 1.0.7. The link ( http://dosdude1.com/catalina/) to 'Download latest patcher' gives me a 404 error.

On the same page, the changelog says version 1.0.6 is the latest version of the patcher.

Has dosdude1 changed the page to another address? if so from where can I download the 1.0.7 patcher?

Thanks

 

[TimothyR734]

I have the current version of Catalina, 15.0.25 using the 'macOS Downloader'.

However, I have been unable to obtain a copy of the Catalina Patcher 1.0.7. The link ( http://dosdude1.com/catalina/) to 'Download latest patcher' gives me a 404 error.
View attachment 853949
On the same page, the changelog says version 1.0.6 is the latest version of the patcher.

Has dosdude1 changed the page to another address? if so from where can I download the 1.0.7 patcher?

Thanks

Try the link on post 3794 t worked for me

 

[dosdude1]

I have the current version of Catalina, 15.0.25 using the 'macOS Downloader'.

However, I have been unable to obtain a copy of the Catalina Patcher 1.0.7. The link ( http://dosdude1.com/catalina/) to 'Download latest patcher' gives me a 404 error.
View attachment 853949
On the same page, the changelog says version 1.0.6 is the latest version of the patcher.

Has dosdude1 changed the page to another address? if so from where can I download the 1.0.7 patcher?

Thanks

Just refresh the page. Sometimes it gets cached.

 

[alphascorp]

Hi everybody

Unable to update MP5,1 from DP5 to DP6

DP5 has been installed from a USB stick created with Patcher v1.0.6, no patches have been applied and everything is working fine (DP2 and DP4 had also been installed and started well without installing any patches).

For DP6: 2 different USB sticks were used as well as DP6 (15.0.25) downloaded once with App Store and another time with Patchcher 1.0.7

I made 4 installations (which go until the end) but every time I get the forbidden symbol at restart.



After downgrade to DP5 (15.0.21) and USB stick created with Patcher 1.0.6 (and still without any patches) the system restarts and everything works fine.

 

[dosdude1]

Hi everybody

Unable to update MP5,1 from DP5 to DP6

DP5 has been installed from a USB stick created with Patcher v1.0.6, no patches have been applied and everything is working fine.

For DP6: 2 different USB sticks were used as well as DP6 (15.0.25) downloaded once with App Store and another time with Patchcher 1.0.7

I made 4 installations (which go until the end) but every time I get the forbidden symbol at restart.

View attachment 853957

After downgrade to DP5 (15.0.21) and USB stick created with Patcher 1.0.6 (and still without any patches) the system restarts and everything works fine.

Did you try a clean install as well? Also, boot with Command + V held and see what error it gives you.

 

[David403]

Just refresh the page. Sometimes it gets cached.

Thanks Colin - it must have needed cache clearing - refreshing worked

and PS

... thanks Timothy R374

 

[DuncanGarp]

Good catch on the user picture thing, I'm having the same issue (although you can work-around it by dragging an image file into the circle). Can somebody please test this on a supported Mac?
Edit: Replacing Accounts.prefPane from DP3 does not fix this issue, so it's most likely a more general graphics thing. Hoping it's a beta bug and not my wrappers...

You're also right about the SATA controller thing, but that shouldn't matter, right?

Thanks to everybody for testing

I have a supported Mac (MBP2012) and I do not have any issues on the user picture.




However, my current issue right now is with my desktop icons. The "external disk" icon appears as a white square.

 

[jhowarth]

Did you try a clean install as well? Also, boot with Command + V held and see what error it gives you.

On a MacPro 3,1 with GTX 680, I have confirmed that clean installing on a freshly formatted APFS partition produces a usable patched DP6 installation. Also, the patch updater automatically applies the remaining Broadcom BCM4321 Wifi support patch and Night Shift patch on the first boot. The kernel cache rebuild step in the Patch Updater works as expected with the forced rebuild of the cache taking several minutes. So the problem seems to be that the patched usb installer produced by 1.0.7 has broken its ability to actually execute a forced kernel cache rebuild. This means that it only works for clean installs and can't upgrade a pre-existing Catalina volume or properly reinstall the patches from the macOS post install patcher.

 

[alphascorp]

Did you try a clean install as well? Also, boot with Command + V held and see what error it gives you.

Hello Collin, thank you for the excellent work done
The first 2 installations were updated from DP5 but the following 2 installations were clean installations.
It's late here in France I'm going to bed, I'll try to reinstall DP6 tomorrow and I'll restart with CMD + V to see the errors

 

[DuncanGarp]

Just updated Catalina Patcher to version 1.0.7, which adds full support for Catalina Developer Preview 6! Another HUGE thanks to @ASentientBot for his work in achieving full graphics acceleration on non-Metal video cards!

Quick question for you @dosdude1.

Regarding the discussion on APFS boot patches and the like, what exactly is the reason you mentioned that you implemented to "not" automatically include that patch? I know that I have an unsupported Mac that requires the APFS rom patch inorder to boot.

Thanks.

 

[dosdude1]

Quick question for you @dosdude1.

Regarding the discussion on APFS boot patches and the like, what exactly is the reason you mentioned that you implemented to "not" automatically include that patch? I know that I have an unsupported Mac that requires the APFS rom patch inorder to boot.

Thanks.

It's for the small number of people who have used my APFS ROM Patcher tool on their machine, in which case the APFS Boot Patch is unnecessary. If you don't have the APFS ROM Patch applied, you should always leave that enabled (and it will always be enabled by default).

 

[jhowarth]

deleted

 

[nekton1]

Although it appears to work for clean installs, on my MP3,1, the second and subsequent boots fail. The grey Apple progress bar gets to 66% and then the screen goes black but there is no second white progress bar and the Mac is unreachable by SSH, etc.
There is a problem.

On a MacPro 3,1 with GTX 680, I have confirmed that clean installing on a freshly formatted APFS partition produces a usable patched DP6 installation. Also, the patch updater automatically applies the remaining Broadcom BCM4321 Wifi support patch and Night Shift patch on the first boot. The kernel cache rebuild step in the Patch Updater works as expected with the forced rebuild of the cache taking several minutes. So the problem seems to be that the patched usb installer produced by 1.0.7 has broken its ability to actually execute a forced kernel cache rebuild. This means that it only works for clean installs and can't upgrade a pre-existing Catalina volume or properly reinstall the patches from the macOS post install patcher.

 

[jhowarth]

Although it appears to work for clean installs, on my MP3,1, the second and subsequent boots fail. The grey Apple progress bar gets to 66% and then the screen goes black but there is no second white progress bar and the Mac is unreachable by SSH, etc.
There is a problem.

I'm not seeing that behavior on my MacPro 3,1 with GTX 680. Once clean installed, the second reboot (as a result of the the Patch Updater installing the newer Broadcom BCM4321 wifi support patch and the Nightshift patch which requested as restart) completes without issue. A third restart beyond that also behaves normally. On my machine, the breakage seems to be entirely limited to the usb installer created by Catalina Patcher 1.0.7 and its inability to actually perform a forced rebuild of the kernel cache as advertised.

I should note that I only have Catalina installed on the hard drive in question (so I'm not trying to share that drive with another macOS release). Also I have the APFS ROM patch installed so I disable the APFS Boot patch in the Catalina Patcher menu before creating the usb installer.

The only other difference might be that I tend to nuke the drive on clean installs using

sudo gpt destroy
sudo gpt create

before erasing as APFS. Just to purge out any crap left by accidental APFS Boot patching (when I forget to toggle on the Disable APFS Boot menu in Catalina Patcher before creating the usb installer).

 

[nekton1]

That's exactly 100% my setup too.
I just rolled back to Cat5 using a completely fresh patcher (1.0.6) and Cat5 beta (.21) and absolutely no boot problems.
Now in the last stages of doing the same fresh build of the patcher (1.0.7) and Cat6 beta installer (.25). I'll know in 5 (Apple) minutes if it has gone wrong or not.
I think this is 7th attempt!

I'm not seeing that behavior on my MacPro 3,1 with GTX 680. Once clean installed, the second reboot (as a result of the the Patch Updater installing the newer Broadcom BCM4321 wifi support patch and the Nightshift patch which requested as restart) completes without issue. A third restart beyond that also behaves normally. On my machine, the breakage seems to be entirely limited to the usb installer created by Catalina Patcher 1.0.7 and its inability to actually perform a forced rebuild of the kernel cache as advertised.

I should note that I only have Catalina installed on the hard drive in question (so I'm not trying to share that drive with another macOS release). Also I have the APFS ROM patch installed so I disable the APFS Boot patch in the Catalina Patcher menu before creating the usb installer.

 

[jhowarth]

That's exactly 100% my setup too.
I just rolled back to Cat5 using a completely fresh patcher (1.0.6) and Cat5 beta (.21) and absolutely no boot problems.
Now in the last stages of doing the same fresh build of the patcher (1.0.7) and Cat6 beta installer (.25). I'll know in 5 (Apple) minutes if it has gone wrong or not.
I think this is 7th attempt!

Are you completely nuking the pre-existing APFS partition scheme and starting with a clean gpt? If you aren't doing that and are only erasing the AFPS system volume, it might be picking up the previous stale kernel caches from the previous Catalina installation (which inhibits the automatic kernel cache rebuild). I've never been clear on which APFS partition volume those kernel caches get stored on (Preboot?).

 

[nekton1]

Hmm—good point. I'm erasing the target SSD from DU but not using the DU Partition function. If this attempt fails—less than an Apple minute—I'll try an SSD nuke too. It's encouraging that you have it working though.
However, the patcher tool needs some more overtime work to fix the Cache issues it seems—sorry Colin!
OK—got to the first setup boot now with Welcome screen.
Creating account
Choose your look (Dark) and ....installing two patches (a stage I did not do the last 6 times), rebuilding Kextcache.... Update installed....Restart now
And .....gray Apple screen — progress bar — black screen with no white progress bar and no response! Dammit.

 

[jhowarth]

Hmm—good point. I'm erasing the target SSD from DU but not using the DU Partition function. If this attempt fails—less than an Apple minute—I'll try an SSD nuke too. It's encouraging that you have it working though.
However, the patcher tool needs some more overtime work to fix the Cache issues it seems—sorry Colin!
OK—got to the first setup boot now with Welcome screen.
Creating account
Choose your look (Dark) and ....installing two patches (a stage I did not do the last 6 times), rebuilding Kextcache.... Update installed....Restart now
And .....gray Apple screen — progress bar — black screen with no white progress bar and no response! Dammit.

Until the forced kernel cache rebuild issue is fixed in the created usb installer, I think you are going to have to use this approach (adjusted for your own disk partitioning numbers found with 'diskutil list')...

/dev/disk5 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +499.9 GB disk5
Physical Store disk1s2
1: APFS Volume Catalina HD - Data 32.1 GB disk5s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 80.0 MB disk5s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 726.4 MB disk5s3
4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 MB disk5s4
5: APFS Volume Catalina HD 10.3 GB disk5s5

by executing...

sudo diskutil unmountDisk disk5
sudo gpt destroy disk1
sudo gpt create disk1

then erase disk1 as a APFS volume on gpt partition in Disk Utility. This should purge out the contents of Preboot from prior installs and allow for a successful clean install (until Catalina Patcher gets fixed).

IMHO, the usb installer and associated macOS post install patcher should always default to forced cached rebuilds. It only wastes some CPU cycles and seems to be a point of endless grief on patched Catalina.

 

[nekton1]

Working with dosdude on discord, we found the issue. I use the Display Port video out on the GTX680 (which is fine with beta 5). It seems that Apple has screwed the nVidea drivers in beta 6. When the main GPU drivers load in the second boot phase, there is no output from Display Port. Swapping to DVI-D solves the issue. Why it happens on the second boot but not the install boot is odd, but it looks like a Cataline beta 6 video bug.
[doublepost=1566351033][/doublepost]I wonder if this will cause problems on the few extant supported Macs with nVidea GPUs like the MBP 2013?

 

[s.berlin]

Your volume have FileVault enabled? If so, you'll have to unlock it first with Disk Utility.

The fileVault is Disabled ,
but the error is still be there.

 

[zephar42]

On my Mac Pro 3,1 ... I tried to update to beta6 using a USB drive created with the 1.0.7 tool and after installing, it failed with the following on the APFS boot screen....

Searching for macOS Boot File...
Starting macOS...
Error loading kernel cache (0xe)
Boot failed; will sleep for 10 seconds before exiting...

I tried to reapply the patches and force the cache to be updated when it rebooted from the USB stick, but it still gave me the same error. I reinstalled beta5 and Catalina is back up and running again.

I'll try reformatting the SSD drive the next time I try (probably tomorrow) and see if it helps.

I currently have the latest Mojave on the SSD in bay 1 and Catalina beta5 on the SSD in bay 2.

 

[dosdude1]

On my Mac Pro 3,1 ... I tried to update to beta6 using a USB drive created with the 1.0.7 tool and after installing, it failed with the following on the APFS boot screen....

Searching for macOS Boot File...
Starting macOS...
Error loading kernel cache (0xe)
Boot failed; will sleep for 10 seconds before exiting...

I tried to reapply the patches and force the cache to be updated when it rebooted from the USB stick, but it still gave me the same error. I reinstalled beta5 and Catalina is back up and running again.

I'll try reformatting the SSD drive the next time I try (probably tomorrow) and see if it helps.

I currently have the latest Mojave on the SSD in bay 1 and Catalina beta5 on the SSD in bay 2.

View attachment 853992

Apple screwed up my cache rebuild method it seems. I'll update the Patcher momentarily to fix this.