macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[kral84]

Hi All,

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has made this patch possible! It is awesome!

So I have tried looking through the posts and not sure whether this has been asked before. I was running 10.15.1 quite happily on my 2011 iMac with an old AMD GPU. As there were some performance issues on graphics, I assumed this was because of metal compatibility and treated myself to a Nvidia 765M upgrade. It seemed to work really well and had no issues with the system, until last night when I decided to update it...

I thought I would use a fresh patched install of 10.15.4 as the combo update wasnt working. After the install, it seemed to boot into the OS, but I had a black screen... I tried resetting the NVRAM, but that forced it into recovery mode which I can get into, but as it is version 10.10, it is pretty useless. I swapped the graphics card back over to the stock AMD one which meant I could see the boot options and boot back into the OS which seemed to work fine. I decided then to do a clean install of 10.15.4 which worked and then decided to try and swap the graphics back over to the Nvidia card, however the black screen has come back - resetting the NVRAM sends me back to 10.10 recovery...

I am assuming this isa graphics issue, but I am not certain whether there is something I can do about it, or whether I would have to revert back to 10.15.1 or the old graphics card.

Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

You must go to.usb patcher and use post install patches after that your gpu is working..i mean auto patch doesnt working...

 

[terebin]

Hello! Thanks dosdude for the patch, i'm running MacOs Catalina on my Mbp 5,5 and it looks great without any problem.
Now I need to install windows on a partition, then I create a FAT32 partition and a bootable win10 usb using unetbootin but i cannot read the bootable usb because when I press the option button i can see only the "EFI Boot" device.
So I tried to install windows through bootcamp but I haven't the windows 10 dvd so i cannot go on.
Then i found an old win7 dvd setup and tried to install it on my partition, but when I try to install windows in the partition I created, I read this error message "windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style". I tried to format the partition using diskpart in terminal screen on windows7 setup, but nothing to do.
Any tips or advice? Thank you!

 

[michaelpbreen]

Hello,

Have not seen any mention of the issue I encountered, so I'll share it here to see if anyone else has run into this issue.

In a nutshell, running a patched version of OSX 10.15.3 (or 10.15.4) - thanks dosdude1! - DisplayLink USB adapters with the current DisplayLink beta driver (v 0.5.25) does not appear to work. By not work, I mean that no picture is displayed on the monitor that is connected via the DisplayLink USB adapter, nor does OSX appear to "see" the display adapter, as the display does not appear in System Preferences.

The DisplayLink devices (I have USB2 and USB3 devices) both work on my MacBook Pro with 10.15.3 (not a patched install).

Using the current PROD version of the DisplayLink driver does work. Only reason I am trying the new driver is because of the ridiculous amount of logging the current driver performs.

I have a 2009 Mac Pro --> Updated to 2010 Firmware:

Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3.46 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 6
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 12 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 48 GB
Boot ROM Version: 138.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 1.39f11
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11


Thanks,

Mike

 

[Shadow Demon]

Has anyone else using a MacPro with the APFS ROM patch tried installing 15.4.02 patched with Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 yet?

Yes, I have MacPro 3.1 with the APFS Rom patch. I installed 15.4.02 with Patcher 1.4.3. However, I am using non-EFI Metal compatible video card (Nvidia GeForce GT 640 4GB).

Cmd-R is nonfunctional and just boots into Catalina. Install to Machine is really my only option. This works great but I am wondering how I am gong to handle the future Secunity Updates.

 

[TimothyR734]

well, i have the installer on my stick (downgraded cuz of the same problem and decided to stay on 10.15.2 till its fixed) ..do you still need 10.15.2? i could try to upload it to a cloud. i know the struggle — it took me years and nerves to find the full installer

When installing 10.15.4 and above you need to use macOS Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 When installing 10.15.3 and below us macOS Catalina Patcher 1.3.0
[automerge]1587308165[/automerge]

Yes, I have MacPro 3.1 with the APFS Rom patch. I installed 15.4.02 with Patcher 1.4.3. However, I am using non-EFI Metal compatible video card (Nvidia GeForce GT 640 4GB).

Cmd-R is nonfunctional and just boots into Catalina. Install to Machine is really my only option. This works great but I am wondering how I am gong to handle the future Secunity Updates.

make a USB installer it always good to have around just in case something goes wrong

 

[DerrickO]

A few weeks back, I successfully installed 10.15.3 using Catalina Patcher 1.3.0 with no problems on my MacBook Air 13 i5 a1369 from 2011.

I've tried to follow the same steps as I did creating the USB flash drive for CP 1.3.0 using the latest CP 1.4.3 and I'm running into issues at the very end of the install process. It literally is hanging at the very very end of the install with the Apple logo and the percent indicator stuck at 100%. I left it there for over an hour and it never budged.

One thing I noticed that was different from CP 1.3.0 is that the install menu has Post Install patches listed two times. Should one of these read Pre-Install?

Thank you,

Derrick

 

[Shadow Demon]

When installing 10.15.4 and above you need to use macOS Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 When installing 10.15.3 and below us macOS Catalina Patcher 1.3.0
[automerge]1587308165[/automerge]

make a USB installer it always good to have around just in case something goes wrong

Without an EFI card, there is no boot menu with Option. Starting with Catalina USB, it no longer appears in Startup Disk like Mojave. So no Open Core either. Install to Machine is really the only option with my current graphics card.

 

[TimothyR734]

A few weeks back, I successfully installed 10.15.3 using Catalina Patcher 1.3.0 with no problems on my MacBook Air 13 i5 a1369 from 2011.

I've tried to follow the same steps as I did creating the USB flash drive for CP 1.3.0 using the latest CP 1.4.3 and I'm running into issues at the very end of the install process. It literally is hanging at the very very end of the install with the Apple logo and the percent indicator stuck at 100%. I left it there for over an hour and it never budged.

One thing I noticed that was different from CP 1.3.0 is that the install menu has Post Install patches listed two times. Should one of these read Pre-Install?

Thank you,

Derrick

did you format your usb extended-journaled? sometimes when the progress bar reaches 100% and gets stuck you can boot into your patcher and apply the post install patches sometimes it works

 

[bigGbowski]

You must go to.usb patcher and use post install patches after that your gpu is working..i mean auto patch doesnt working...

Thanks for the quick response. I have gone back and applied the post install patches (didn’t know these existed as 10.15.1 worked so well!) and it still doesn’t seem to have fixed the issue. I installed the legacy video drivers but these do not seem to have worked.

Thanks

 

[jhowarth]

When installing 10.15.4 and above you need to use macOS Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 When installing 10.15.3 and below us macOS Catalina Patcher 1.3.0
[automerge]1587308165[/automerge]

make a USB installer it always good to have around just in case something goes wrong

The point is that the Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 is now recreating a non-functional Recovery partition (where it didn't bother creating one in the past). Obviously this feature wasn't sufficiently tested prior to release.
[automerge]1587310311[/automerge]

Hello,

Have not seen any mention of the issue I encountered, so I'll share it here to see if anyone else has run into this issue.

In a nutshell, running a patched version of OSX 10.15.3 (or 10.15.4) - thanks dosdude1! - DisplayLink USB adapters with the current DisplayLink beta driver (v 0.5.25) does not appear to work. By not work, I mean that no picture is displayed on the monitor that is connected via the DisplayLink USB adapter, nor does OSX appear to "see" the display adapter, as the display does not appear in System Preferences.

The DisplayLink devices (I have USB2 and USB3 devices) both work on my MacBook Pro with 10.15.3 (not a patched install).

Using the current PROD version of the DisplayLink driver does work. Only reason I am trying the new driver is because of the ridiculous amount of logging the current driver performs.

I have a 2009 Mac Pro --> Updated to 2010 Firmware:

Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3.46 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 6
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 12 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled
Memory: 48 GB
Boot ROM Version: 138.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 1.39f11
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11


Thanks,

Mike

Sounds like another permutation of the broken DisplayPort support seen with Nvidia cards (like the GTX680) that has been present in all versions of patched Catalina. I assume that you haven't tested this usb Display adapter breakage on prior patched Catalina, right?

 

[0134168]

Hi there, I’m hoping that someone can help please.

I’ve got a 2011 17” MBP. I’ve disabled the faulty AMD Chip so everything should be ready and straight forward to upgrade to Catalina ( using dosdudes patcher program ) however I’m hitting problems like :

macOS could not be installed on your computer

An error has occurred while updating firmware. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.



I decided to go a different route and also got this message :



This copy of the stall macOS Catalina application is damaged, and can’t be used to install macOS.

I’m downloading Catalina onto USB and going that route.



I’m current running Hi Sierra .......



Can anyone offer any suggestions to help me please ?



Many thanks in advance

Same computer here. What firmware do you have? Should be 87.0.0.0

 

[TimothyR734]

The point is that the Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 is now recreating a non-functional Recovery partition (where it didn't bother creating one in the past). Obviously this feature wasn't sufficiently tested prior to release.
[automerge]1587310311[/automerge]


Sounds like another permutation of the broken DisplayPort support seen with Nvidia cards (like the GTX680) that has been present in all versions of patched Catalina. I assume that you haven't tested this usb Display adapter breakage on prior patched Catalina, right?

The recovery works on my mid 2009 iMac 9,1 I don't if it makes a difference or not but I don't have AMFI_get_out_of_my_way in my boot-args just the no_compat_check and my iMac is running just as smoothly as 10.15.3 final except opening Microsoft Office or Edge

 

[bigGbowski]

Same computer here. What firmware do you have? Should be 87.0.0.0

Yup - same firmware...! Can't put my finger on it, it was working fine in 10.15.1, but seems to have significant issues with 15.15.4

 

[Alex.picc]

Hi, I found this thread yesterday and I have some questions before I install Catalina on my iMac 10.1.
The Apple services like iMessage, Facetime, App Store, Reminders, iCloud, Apple TV + and other things work normally?
The other question is: how can I update the Catalina software? There is a a client for the update in the patch?
Thanks everyone.

 

[lotfix]

Has anyone gotten a usable Recovery partition on a APFS ROM patched machine with Catalina Patcher 1.4.3? On my MacPro 3,1, option selecting the installed volume with command-R only produces a hang at the gray Apple icon splash screen with no progress bar ever appearing.

Hi @jhowarth on my side too I have the same situation 😅. I used the script provided by @jackluke to get stock Recovery.

MacBookPro8,2

 

[jhowarth]

Hi @jhowarth on my side too I have the same situation 😅. I used the script provided by @jackluke to get stock Recovery.

MacBookPro8,2

My point is that there should be an updated Catalina Patcher 1.4.4 to add that functionality into the patched installer.

 

[TimothyR734]

My point is that there should be an updated Catalina Patcher 1.4.4 to add that functionality into the patched installer.

dosdude does the best he can with all the issues. college homework and trying to have a life outside MR and Discord I am sure the Recovery is a work in progress we certainly did not get macOS Catalina on our unsupported macs when it was in the first beta

 

[michaelpbreen]

The point is that the Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 is now recreating a non-functional Recovery partition (where it didn't bother creating one in the past). Obviously this feature wasn't sufficiently tested prior to release.
[automerge]1587310311[/automerge]


Sounds like another permutation of the broken DisplayPort support seen with Nvidia cards (like the GTX680) that has been present in all versions of patched Catalina. I assume that you haven't tested this usb Display adapter breakage on prior patched Catalina, right?

Thanks. Yes, this behavior with the DisplayLink beta driver was present in 10.15.2 at least. The previous DisplayLink driver worked fine functionally, but it was out of control in how frequently it spit out messages to the log file.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[MrPopman]

I have a minor problem with my (new to me) cMP 2010. I have installed Catalina 10.15.4 using DosDude patcher on a new drive and made no other patches. I use an Apple Cinema Display HD 30 at 2560x1600 via a DisplayPort to DVI powered adapter. When the computer boots from power off there is no output to the display after allowing the OS to boot. After booting and waiting 30 seconds after the boot chime, if I unplug the DisplayPort and replug it in the login screen is displayed and everything seems to works fine. If I boot from power off, let the computer sleep without the unplug/replug then wake from sleep the display output works. (Lots of hours too narrow down to this set of actions after the initial install.) If the monitor goes to sleep, it displays fine when I click the mouse or KB key (either to the desktop or login screen.) The only similar report I can find is #9,318 by @iamMacPerson.

 

[FixerMX]

Update that I ran the 1.4.3 patcher and nothing seems to have happened. "About This Mac" still reads version 10.15.2 and I can't tell that any attempt at creating a recovery partition was made.

Long-time lurker, running 10.15.2 on a MacBookPro5,1 with APFS. Three questions that I'm having trouble wading through the 414 pages to sort out:

If I want to upgrade to 10.15.4, are there any gotchas that I need to worry about or is it safe to simply make a new installer USB with Catalina Patcher 1.4.3?

Are there any new configuration changes that I'll need to make? Does "amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1" apply to me?

Will the new Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 actually create a recovery partition where there was none before?

 

[bigGbowski]

Yup - same firmware...! Can't put my finger on it, it was working fine in 10.15.1, but seems to have significant issues with 15.15.4

So managed to fix it, I installed Nick's firmware onto the card and it booted in. It was still a little unstable to I reinstalled everything and now seems to work as smooth as ever! Hopefully now I have boot screens as well, I will not have to worry about that again!

 

[TimothyR734]

Here is the Recovery Patch inside Catalina Patcher 1.4.3 post install patches

 

[0134168]

Yup - same firmware...! Can't put my finger on it, it was working fine in 10.15.1, but seems to have significant issues with 15.15.4

Can´t help. Using Mojave. Runs perfet.

 

[109mmk27]

Guys the beta 2 10.15.5 works with 1.4.3?

I can’t enable the extensions on Safari and I’m thinking that 10.15.5 might solves the issue.

 

[ZebraDude]

Hi, I found this thread yesterday and I have some questions before I install Catalina on my iMac 10.1.
The Apple services like iMessage, Facetime, App Store, Reminders, iCloud, Apple TV + and other things work normally?
The other question is: how can I update the Catalina software? There is a a client for the update in the patch?
Thanks everyone.

well....I have some very TINY issues, The first one is you need to install all apps that have extensions and make sure that they are ACTIVATED before patching! (as I believe this issue is still open (unable to activate extensions on a patched version of Catalina) The second thing I found out is in photos when you display a photo the picture obscures (I believe that this issue has a fix I just don't know it) and in photos you I do not have a sidebar selection for all.

Messages works well, FaceTime (not sure I have not tested it) App Store works well, Reminders, iCloud, Apple TV all good for me

good luck