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macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

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hi guys!! has anyone made airdrop sidecar possible on mb5,2? i tryed to use the hex like it says in post #70 but nothing..i think i'm doing something wrong.
in one of my mb5,2 i have the original 2,1BT and in the othe a 4.0 LEBT dongle....
any ideas?
ty
 
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Did they lift some restrictions? I turned on my 2012 iMac a few days ago to transfer off like, 12k photos to put onto the PC and suddenly there was an 'Upgrade to Catalina' software update that appeared. I remember when Catalina was first released and for a few months after there were no updates since I thought the iMac was put on the unsupported list by Apple?
 
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I have a macbookpro5,1, running the latest Boot ROM MBP51.007E.B06 and High Sierra on an APFS SSD.

I downloaded 1.3 of dosdude1's most excellent "Install macOS Catalina" tool. The tool downloads the current version of Catalina and patches it, but when attempting to install the "Install" button is grayed out and hovering over the APFS disk icon says "Your mac needs a firmware update in order to install to this volume..." I believe this occurs, because dosdude1's tool thinks this machine is not running firmware that supports APFS, but it is, as described above. Has anyone else encountered this?
 
Recently I've got on my MacBook Pro 8,3 known problem with the dedicated GPU so I went through the steps to software disable it and (why not?) installed Catalina on it. To my surprise the system seems fully functional including the brightness control and sleep. I's strange but it is so.

Although there are problems with the latest DaVinchi and FCPX 10.4.8: both show error with GPU.

I understand that I maybe ask too much but is there any way for those programs to utilise the GMA 3000 GPU for rendering (FCPX 10.4.6 works like a charm)
 
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nicksilverstein said:
Can someone please send me their rom of a RX 580 from MacVideoCards? I really want the Apple EFI Boot Screen.
Click to expand...
Purchase a flashing service from macvidcards and send your card for flashing. It will require hardware mod not only software. But this is totally unrelated to the thread.
 
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Yes, this was my problem. I have now booted from the install volume and the catalina installation was successful!

To make this post as helpful as possible to those who come after, I was able to get my MacPro4,1 (flashed to 5,1) to run Catalina. To do so, I needed to:

Many thanks to dosdude and others who made the patcher, and to the several people who helped me here.

johnsawyercjs said:
I don't know much about how Windows formats storage devices, but it seems to me that if your USB HDD still has a Windows NTFS Recovery volume on it, that you haven't yet "fully formatted" it using Disk Utility, and maybe that's why it's not working for you as a bootable drive on your Mac Pro. Run Disk Utility again, and on the left side of the window, select the icon for the HDD itself (its uppermost icon, not any of its lower icons, which are for existing volumes on the HDD), and erase that--it should (?) remove the Windows Recovery volume. Then install a patched Catalina installer onto it again, and see if that boots.
Click to expand...
 
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Successfully updated from Catalina 10.5.0 to 10.5.2 on an iMac 11,1 (late 2009).
However, the patch updater app remains at 1.0.1 (outdated?) and wants to reinstall the NightShift patch, but this leads to a locked system (forbidden sign). Therefore no NightShift Mode.
I've read that the patch updater might be old (updated from Mojave) and should be updated, but I can't recall how to. Thanks for input
 
Hi.
I have MP 3.1 (10.15.2) installed, everything works except the video.
I want to buy: Radeon Sapphire HD 4890 (1GB) - do I need to flash BIOS, or will work "out of the box"? (Additional power supply is available.)
What video card is better to buy, for maximum performance?
Thank you, sorry for the bad English.
 
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MU3bIKAHT said:
Hi.
I have MP 3.1 (10.15.2) installed, everything works except the video.
I want to buy: Radeon Sapphire HD 4890 (1GB) - do I need to flash BIOS, or will work "out of the box"? (Additional power supply is available.)
What video card is better to buy, for maximum performance?
Thank you, sorry for the bad English.
Click to expand...

Unless you really need to use DisplayPort instead of DVI-D or HMDI, I would strongly recommend getting a GTX 680 instead. Otherwise you are on the bleeding edge of using hacked emulation for the unsupported SSE 4,2 opcodes with the AMD Metal drivers. That problem doesn't exist with the Nvidia Kepler drivers in Catalina.
 
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Just tried Catalina 15.2 on a Mac Pro 5.1 with a Kepler GPU and Display Port.

Still no Video on ACTIVE Display Port Connection (dont have a native display port device but an active DVI adapter which acts like a native display port device)

But Video on PASSIVE Display Port DVI adapter works on all ports.

So as long as it is single link DVI display one can hook up 2 displays on a Kepler card, one on DVI, one on a passive Display Port dvi adapter.

booted 15.1 was same, nothing new in 15.2 there.

so there's some action needed in the Kepler drivers...
 
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I'm running a MP4,1 identifying as a MP5,1 after a firmware update, and macOS Catalina 10.15.1 after applying Catalina Patcher 1.23. I've downloaded Catalina Patcher 1.30 and used it to download a fresh copy of the 10.15.2 updater and create a new 32gb USB memory stick installer. SIP is off.

Booting off the USB stick, the installation to 10.15.2 is hanging at around 30% "Estimated time remaining...". If I tap the power button the message changed to "Your Mac will restart when update completes".

Any suggestions? What am I doing wrong?
 
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jhowarth said:
Yes, the EVGA GTX 680 2Gb models are actually the best as you are certain to have no issues at all flashing the official EVGA Mac ROM onto them under Windows.

How to Flash GTX 680 for Mac

Purchasing a non-EVGA brand or a 4Gb model may require modified Mac ROM images which adds an extra layer of complexity that you don't want.
Click to expand...

Took on test ASUS GTX680, Catalina works, there is no only boot screen. Is it possible to flash it so that the boot screen is visible?
 

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mwakious said:
hi guys!! has anyone made airdrop sidecar possible on mb5,2? i tryed to use the hex like it says in post #70 but nothing..i think i'm doing something wrong.
in one of my mb5,2 i have the original 2,1BT and in the othe a 4.0 LEBT dongle....
any ideas?
ty
Click to expand...

Sidecar won't be possible because you need hardware HEVC support for that to work.
 
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MU3bIKAHT said:
Took on test ASUS GTX680, Catalina works, there is no only boot screen. Is it possible to flash it so that the boot screen is visible?
Click to expand...

According to this thread, yes if it is a 2gb model.

Confirmed and Possible Flashable GTX 680 Models
[automerge]1576593673[/automerge]
MacAlien said:
Did they lift some restrictions? I turned on my 2012 iMac a few days ago to transfer off like, 12k photos to put onto the PC and suddenly there was an 'Upgrade to Catalina' software update that appeared. I remember when Catalina was first released and for a few months after there were no updates since I thought the iMac was put on the unsupported list by Apple?
Click to expand...

According to the list, it always was supported.

macOS Catalina is compatible with these computers
 
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I am a longtime user of Dosdude1’s tools, including donating, who now has Catalina 10.15.2 on Mac mini 3,1

BUT
I need to clean up this system, since every reboot is somewhat hanging, providing NO start-up chime, restarting twice or three times, splashing a crash dialog screen and providing a generally nerve-racking experience, wondering if the machine will actually successfully boot up. Which it always does….until one day, it may not.

So,
I see TWO Patch Updaters in the Utilities folder, so there must be a left over from a prior install, PLUS a Patch Updater in System Preferences PLUS APFS Boot in System Preferences.

Please,
How do I identify everything that can be removed & completely deleted
And How Exactly do I remove each
  1. the extra patch updater, and which specifically, in the utilities folder?
  2. the Patch Updater in the System Preferences?
  3. The APFS Boot in System preferences?
Thank you
 
RafaelP93 said:
Download the kext files here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ed-macs-thread.2121473/page-199#post-26343097

Choose the desired VRAM size.

But before replacing the kext files you downloaded, open terminal and paste this line: sudo mount -uw / ; killall Finder

Then, go to System / Library / Extensions and replace both files

After that, go back to terminal and copy this whole line (copy and paste all at once):
sudo chown -R 0:0 /System/Library/Extensions
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions

sudo kextcache -i /

sudo reboot

Wait until your mac reboot (it may take a while). DONE!!!

It worked for me (MacOS 10.15.2)
Click to expand...
Didn’t work for me, after copy / paste the terminal commands a lot of errors were writen in the terminal window. After reboot I was with 3mb vram, the system report didnt even knew graphics as intel 3000 just generic display. Repeated the process 4 times . After reaplying the post install pacthes, everything is as it was, 512mb vram on intel 3000
 
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***FOUND THE ANSWER ON POST #7,342***
Ever since installing Catalina on my 13" Early 2011 MacBook Pro my machine doesn't seem to want to fetch for the latest os updates. I am stuck on 10.15.0 and am trying to fetch 10.15.2 via the Software Update panel in System Preferences. When 10.15.1 came out it also never showed up. Any reason for this?
 

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Zayg1994 said:
***FOUND THE ANSWER ON POST #7,342***
Ever since installing Catalina on my 13" Early 2011 MacBook Pro my machine doesn't seem to want to fetch for the latest os updates. I am stuck on 10.15.0 and am trying to fetch 10.15.2 via the Software Update panel in System Preferences. When 10.15.1 came out it also never showed up. Any reason for this?
Click to expand...

The patched Catalina on unsupported Macs doesn't support upgrading through software update yet. You'll want to grab the current 1.3.0 Catalina Patcher and use that to download the 10.15.2 full installer. Use that to recreate the usb patched installer and then do an upgrade installer over your 10.5.0 installation.
 
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Zayg1994 said:
***FOUND THE ANSWER ON POST #7,342***
Ever since installing Catalina on my 13" Early 2011 MacBook Pro my machine doesn't seem to want to fetch for the latest os updates. I am stuck on 10.15.0 and am trying to fetch 10.15.2 via the Software Update panel in System Preferences. When 10.15.1 came out it also never showed up. Any reason for this?
Click to expand...
Updating via system preferences/software updates, aka OTA over-the-air, as we had in Mojave, doesn't work yet. There is a semi-automated OTA procedure by jackluke if you want to give it a try.
The standard procedure to use is:
- download the latest dosdude1 patcher (now 1.3.0)
- use the patcher to download the latest Catalina full installer (now 15.2.02 for 10.15.2)
- in the patcher options, check disable APFS booting if your machine supports APFS booting in firmware
- then use the patcher to either create a new bootable USB installer, or to install to your machine directly. Both will preserve your user data, but of course, do a backup before.
 
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jhowarth said:
The patched Catalina on unsupported Macs doesn't support upgrading through software update yet. You'll want to grab the current 1.3.0 Catalina Patcher and use that to download the 10.15.2 full installer. Use that to recreate the usb patched installer and then do an upgrade installer over your 10.5.0 installation.
Click to expand...

Thanks, working on this now.
[automerge]1576612463[/automerge]
hvds said:
Updating via system preferences/software updates, aka OTA over-the-air, as we had in Mojave, doesn't work yet. There is a semi-automated OTA procedure by jackluke if you want to give it a try.
The standard procedure to use is:
- download the latest dosdude1 patcher (now 1.3.0)
- use the patcher to download the latest Catalina full installer (now 15.2.02 for 10.15.2)
- in the patcher options, check disable APFS booting if your machine supports APFS booting in firmware
- then use the patcher to either create a new bootable USB installer, or to install to your machine directly. Both will preserve your user data, but of course, do a backup before. In the
Click to expand...

That is why I thought something was wrong. I've been doing this patch since Mojave and would update just fine before. Good to know this is just something that isn't working yet. Thanks for the info.
 
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