macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[dosdude1]

Wait, so do we have to recreate a new USB installer to install DP10 on DP9 using the patcher? I don't have the update OTA in settings, did they get rid of it on unsupported APFS like they did in Mojave with non-APFS drives?

I have not been able to make a working Software Update Patch for Catalina thus far. To update, though, just use Catalina Patcher to download the latest release, and use the "Install to This Machine" option to update your system.

 

[kral84]

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just make sure macOS Catalina Dev Beta 10 is in your downloads folder. Think the post install patches are installed automatically after the second boot as I have forgot a few times and and it went into the desktop just fine without using my usb Cat patcher after you get into your desktop then try making a Cat patcher usb

Ok install dev10 is working (install to this.machine,)... I will try after working create an usb drive... But i say the mac software is broken... The patch menu is broken too... I can click it but nothing is opening ...

 

[nekton1]

I can confirm that the GTX680 DisplayPort output in a MacPro 3,1 is STILL MIA with Cat beta 10 (fresh install using patcher 1.1.5). Fortunately, other GPU OUT ports still work. I wish Apple would get over its childish nVidia squabble so some new nVidia cards with efi could come to market.

 

[kautame]

Maps has started working PERFECTLY on machines with the non-Metal GPUs

@dosdude1, Regarding GPUs, my iMac 12,1 has an eGPU (GDC Beast with Radeon RX560 4GB). On your site, regarding my iMac you say that

"systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina"​

but I'm wondering if my configuration could work. And should I install the Legacy Video Card Patch or not?

 

[nekton1]

The Radeon RX560 is NOT part of the HD5xxx series, which would be something like the HD5870 for example.

 

[kautame]

The Radeon RX560 is NOT part of the HD5xxx series, which would be something like the HD5870 for example.

Yes, that's obvious. But the RX560 it's an eGPU, that works only on external monitors. The main card is an AMD Radeon HD 6770M. So I was asking if on my system the internal GPU will remain the main GPU, creating problems with Catalina, of if my eGPU could make it work.

 

[Flacko]

I can confirm that the GTX680 DisplayPort output in a MacPro 3,1 is STILL MIA with Cat beta 10 (fresh install using patcher 1.1.5). Fortunately, other GPU OUT ports still work. I wish Apple would get over its childish nVidia squabble so some new nVidia cards with efi could come to market.

My GTX680 is working ok. EVGA 2GB reference design flashed with Mac efi. I agree, it would be great if Apple and nVidia sorted out their problems as the present driver is fairly basic.

 

[Alex-Microsmeta]

@dosdude1 @ASentientBot Some remaining macOS Catalina B10 minor glitches to fix (on Macmini late 2010 Core 2 Duo Penryn 2.4 Ghz, 8 GB RAM, EXT usb 3.0 harddisk, Samsung S24D300 connected via HDMI (Macmini4.1) . (On 1.3.3 patched Mojave 10.4.6 Supplemental Update 2 all four above features work fine)

1) Inverted \| -> <> keys on 2 different usb wired PC Italian keyboard (fixed with karabiner-elements util).
2) Num Lock\Caps Lock\Scroll Lock leds OFF on PC keyboard (functions work) Workaround: Captin mac app
3) Wifi menu icon greyed (as disabled, shown normal after clicking on it) but wifi function working & stable.
4) CPU uses 100% after boot, without heavy processes shown. After about 30 min it go down to 15/40%

 

[hvds]

I already had the issue with the beta 9.

I have now installed the SwitchResX app (Version 4.9.0), disabled SIP and changed the colors from 1 billion to millions, which has fixed the issue:

View attachment 865559

Currently, 3 people have reported the issue: @iMac-Oldschool probably has a AMD Radeon HD 2400 or 2600, @antony34 has a AMD Radeon HD 4670 and I have a AMD Radeon HD 4850.

3 persons could not reproduce the issue: You (@ASentientBot) have a GeForce 320M, @TimothyR734 has a GeForce 9400M and @vince22 has a metal-compatible video card.

So it's very obvious that the issue only occurs with metal-incompatible AMD video cards.

Maybe others who can reproduce the issue can say which video card they have.

Incidentally, videos that are double-clicked in the Photos app are played correctly (with 1 billion colors).

I noticed something else: If you look at the system info, on High Sierra (the last official macOS for my iMac) the „Framebuffer Depth" is "24-Bit Color (ARGB8888)" (= about 1.67 million colors or 8 bit per channel/sample) and with the Mojave and Catalina patch the „Framebuffer Depth" is "30-Bit Color (ARGB2101010)" (= about 1 billion colors or 10 bit per channel/sample).

Therefore, I think that the affected AMD video cards do not support 30-bit color (see also). Or what do you think? @ll

Maybe the above fix/workaround that @ASentientBot has suggested will help some users and developers.

Edit: Because the SwitchResX app is only free for 10 days, I looked for a permanently free alternative and found the ResXtreme app (Version 1.0.1 (6)), which also works well for me (you have to choose your resolution with 8 instead of 10 bit/sample).

Updated MBP5,2 to DP10 with patcher 1.1.5, "Install to this machine".

Photos works well, not showing the reported misbehaviour. This is with both 9400M and 9600M GT GPUs. It is always 24-bit colour in system info, with the internal 17" display. - Was already OK in DP9.

Maps is working well in DP10. Thanks!

(MBP5,2 17" 2.8GHz mid 2009, 8GB, APFS ROM patch applied, Samsung SSD 840 EVO with APFS.)

 

[jackluke]

Hello everyone, I've improved my earlier Mojave APFS recovery script, now this should 99% work and allow any unsupported Catalina Mac to use "CMD+R" through an "official" apple Catalina APFS Recovery.

It retrieves the latest apple Catalina (beta 10) Recovery package (yes, apple delivers it separately through OTA on supported Catalina Mac), but you can find it also in their catalogURL.

This script is safe and harmless for your machines.

If you have multiple osx installations (Mojave, Catalina, HighSierra) on your internal drives, to make Catalina APFS Recovery work with CMD+R, after applied my script, go to System Preferences, Startup Disk and select your current Catalina Volume label.

edit:
If you have Mojave and Catalina installed on the same APFS drive, the Catalina APFS Recovery is incompatible with Mojave APFS Recovery, I mean you can't have both (the Recoveries).

Instead the script won't touch the HighSierra (Recovery) or any other previous OSX Recovery, since they are not on APFS roles Preboot Volumes, but only HFS+.

In any case, every possible multiple OSX (and other OS) during this process are totally kept safe, they are untouched, and the script won't broke nothing.

 

[kevink1429]

I have the iMac 7,1 running Catalina with the T9300. I have the IDE drivers installed but cannot get it to recognize my internal dvd drive. I do think the drive may be messed up, but I wanted to see if anybody had any input as to whether or not Catalina SHOULD recognize my IDE internal dvd drive, or if there are any workarounds to figure out what the issue is.

 

[ASentientBot]

@avz

Hi, I see that your new battery is recently manufactured !
I am also looking to buy a new battery for my macbook7,1. On which site did you buy yours?
Thank you

For what it's worth, I got a new MacBook7,1 battery from NewerTech and it is excellent. 5ish hours under regular use, 8-9 if I really try to conserve power, 2-3 under very heavy use. Which is about how long I remember it lasting back in 2012 when it was new.

 

[jackluke]

@dosdude1, Regarding GPUs, my iMac 12,1 has an eGPU (GDC Beast with Radeon RX560 4GB). On your site, regarding my iMac you say that

"systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be almost unusable when running Catalina"​

but I'm wondering if my configuration could work. And should I install the Legacy Video Card Patch or not?

I thought eGPU requires at least a "Thunderbolt 2.0" internal port, does it work with "Thunderbolt 1.0" too?

 

[antony34]

I already had the issue with the beta 9.

I have now installed the SwitchResX app (Version 4.9.0), disabled SIP and changed the colors from 1 billion to millions, which has fixed the issue:

View attachment 865559

Currently, 3 people have reported the issue: @iMac-Oldschool probably has a AMD Radeon HD 2400 or 2600, @antony34 has a AMD Radeon HD 4670 and I have a AMD Radeon HD 4850.

3 persons could not reproduce the issue: You (@ASentientBot) have a GeForce 320M, @TimothyR734 has a GeForce 9400M and @vince22 has a metal-compatible video card.

So it's very obvious that the issue only occurs with metal-incompatible AMD video cards.

Maybe others who can reproduce the issue can say which video card they have.

Incidentally, videos that are double-clicked in the Photos app are played correctly (with 1 billion colors).

I noticed something else: If you look at the system info, on High Sierra (the last official macOS for my iMac) the „Framebuffer Depth" is "24-Bit Color (ARGB8888)" (= about 1.67 million colors or 8 bit per channel/sample) and with the Mojave and Catalina patch the „Framebuffer Depth" is "30-Bit Color (ARGB2101010)" (= about 1 billion colors or 10 bit per channel/sample).

Therefore, I think that the affected AMD video cards do not support 30-bit color (see also). Or what do you think? @ll

Maybe the above fix/workaround that @ASentientBot has suggested will help some users and developers.

Edit: Because the SwitchResX app is only free for 10 days, I looked for a permanently free alternative and found the ResXtreme app (Version 1.0.1 (6)), which also works well for me (you have to choose your resolution with 8 instead of 10 bit/sample).

Just tested to install SwitchResX and changed to millions color, its work again!! thank you for your information!

 

[roysterdoyster]

I have not been able to make a working Software Update Patch for Catalina thus far. To update, though, just use Catalina Patcher to download the latest release, and use the "Install to This Machine" option to update your system.

MBP4,1 17" ...Am stuck with DP8, wasn't able to make the USB installer with DP9 and DP10, due to some specific error, wasn't able to get the terminal hack to work... the resulting "macOS Base System" however is bootable, although only 1.75GB in size.

How can I proceeed, anyone of the fellow boardmembers willing to help me out, please? Thanks alot in advance

 

[dosdude1]

MBP4,1 17" ...Am stuck with DP8, wasn't able to make the USB installer with DP9 and DP10, due to some specific error, wasn't able to get the terminal hack to work... the resulting "macOS Base System" however is bootable, although only 1.75GB in size.

How can I proceeed, anyone of the fellow boardmembers willing to help me out, please? Thanks alot in advance

Use the "Install to This Machine" option instead to update from DP8 to DP10.

 

[cransy]

Is there an easy way to remove the legacy wifi patch from the MacPro 5,1? It was installed using DosDude's patcher, but I don't need it as I've upgraded to OSX Wifi's card. I think it may be preventing my Watch from unlocking my Mac.

 

[jhowarth]

Is there an easy way to remove the legacy wifi patch from the MacPro 5,1? It was installed using DosDude's patcher, but I don't need it as I've upgraded to OSX Wifi's card. I think it may be preventing my Watch from unlocking my Mac.

If you recreate your patched usb installer in Catalina Patcher with the disable post-install patching selected from the menu, a reinstallation should purge any previous patching out.

 

[jowaju]

I have the iMac 7,1 running Catalina with the T9300. I have the IDE drivers installed but cannot get it to recognize my internal dvd drive. I do think the drive may be messed up, but I wanted to see if anybody had any input as to whether or not Catalina SHOULD recognize my IDE internal dvd drive, or if there are any workarounds to figure out what the issue is.

I just booted mine up to check and it shows up fine in ATA devices and Disc Burning, disks inserted auto mounted to the desktop. No issues here.

 

[bigdaddybesbris]

I cannot get my iMac 9,1 to update to Dev Beta 10. I've tried a few times using the "in-place" method, verified everything is getting copied to /tmp, and gone through all the prompts. Each time, the machine jus reboots to Beta 9. No errors of any kind. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or there's something that I need to hit during the install process?

I'm building a Catalina USB now to try and do it that way. I have not yet tried updating my 5,1 Mac Pro, but the Metal compatible card in it does not show the boot options, so I'm hoping an "in-place" upgrade will work since I can't select the USB device. Attached are some screenshots that I took during the install process on my 9,1.

UPDATE: My Mac Pro 5,1 updated fine with the "in-place" method. My iMac is still installing via USB. Seems to be working. Another 20ish minutes, maybe?

 

[TimothyR734]

I cannot get my iMac 9,1 to update to Dev Beta 10. I've tried a few times using the "in-place" method, verified everything is getting copied to /tmp, and gone through all the prompts. Each time, the machine jus reboots to Beta 9. No errors of any kind. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or there's something that I need to hit during the install process?

I'm building a Catalina USB now to try and do it that way. I have not yet tried updating my 5,1 Mac Pro, but the Metal compatible card in it does not show the boot options, so I'm hoping an "in-place" upgrade will work since I can't select the USB device. Attached are some screenshots that I took during the install process on my 9,1.

UPDATE: My Mac Pro 5,1 updated fine with the "in-place" method. My iMac is still installing via USB. Seems to be working. Another 20ish minutes, maybe?

Is you SSD formatted APFS and your Usb Catalina Patcher formatted HFS-Extended Journaled

 

[0134168]

If you recreate your patched usb installer in Catalina Patcher with the disable post-install patching selected from the menu, a reinstallation should purge any previous patching out.

No way.

 

[jhowarth]

No way.

You do realize that only does an upgrade install of over your existing installation. It won't wipe out your existing installation and is the only way to purge out the patches applied by the post-install patcher.

 

[bigdaddybesbris]

Is you SSD formatted APFS and your Usb Catalina Patcher formatted HFS-Extended Journaled

Everything updated correctly on my Mac Pro 5,1 using the "in-place" upgrade method. My iMac I had to do manually by creating a USB installer. Everything is good. As far as how things are formatted, both SSDs (the one in my 9,1 iMac and 5,1 Mac Pro) are APFS. The USB is formatted however the Patcher tool formatted it.

 

[jhowarth]

Yes, that's obvious. But the RX560 it's an eGPU, that works only on external monitors. The main card is an AMD Radeon HD 6770M. So I was asking if on my system the internal GPU will remain the main GPU, creating problems with Catalina, of if my eGPU could make it work.

In any case, an iMac 12,1 appears to be using a Sandy Bridge cpu which means it has both SSE4,2 and AVX support so you shouldn't need the legacy patch.