macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[PeterHolbrook]

Sorry to insist on an infrequent issue, but I haven't solved an issue I'm having since I upgraded my Mac Pro 5,1 to Catalina using dosdude1's patcher. My Apple Watch used to flawlessly unlock my Mac in previous iteration of macOS. Naturally, I had installed the Apple Broadcom Bcm94360cd - 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC + Bluetooth 4.0 module, editing the relevant framework, etc., in order to whitelist my motherboard. Since everything is working as it should (hotspot, continuity, handoff, authorization, etc.), except for Mac unlocking, I would like to know if any of the readers of this thread has a working unlock feature with a setup similar to mine, i.e., people with an Apple Watch (Series 2 or better), running Catalina on a Mac Pro 5,1 with the Bcm94360cd module specifically. I'm beginning to think that Bluetooth 4.0 might have been deprecated in Catalina and perhaps 4.2 is the only accepted protocol now for Mac unlocking?

Except for unpairing and re-pairing my Apple Watch, I've tried all the suggestions I've found online purporting to solve this mystery, to no avail.

 

[TimothyR734]

[automerge]1593116371[/automerge]
updated many of the icons in Catalina

 

[twinboys]

Sometimes Samsung SSDs are problematic, specially the "good ones". Try, if you can, a Samsung 850 or another brand

@LuisN, @TimothyR734, and @BarryN, I would like to thank everyone for their input.

LuisN, my preference is to used Samsung SSD's and their M.2 NVMe drives. However, I thought about your recommendation to try another brand. So, I reached out to my son and he provided me a 64GB Crucial SSD. I installed it into the external case and plugged it into the MBP. I rebooted using my original spindle HDD and once I was at the desktop, I opened 'Disk Utils' and it recognized the external drive. So far so good. I formatted the external SDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map. I rebooted the MBP with “dosdudes’s macOS High Sierra Patcher” and the macOS on the external SDD. I then rebooted from the external SDD and now I was thinking...it finally worked. My last test was to install the external SDD into the MBP and reboot off the drive.

Well, I received the "Flashing folder with Question mark" during reboot. Darn! At this point do you believe it might be the cable? I have read other post with people changing out the cable but I never understood what additional functionality would a new cable provide above the original one. If that's the recommendation, do you have any idea what model/version of the cable I need for an MBP 8,1?

 

[mazz0]

Anybody have any tips on trouble shooting this issue?

LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed with error -10810 for the file /private/tmp/Install macOS Catalina.app.

For background: I'm using a 2011 27 Inch iMac with an SSD added to create a home-made FusionDrive, and it's currently running High Sierra.

I was trying an in-place installation, I'm trying with a USB drive now...

 

[TimothyR734]

@LuisN, @TimothyR734, and @BarryN, I would like to thank everyone for their input.

LuisN, my preference is to used Samsung SSD's and their M.2 NVMe drives. However, I thought about your recommendation to try another brand. So, I reached out to my son and he provided me a 64GB Crucial SSD. I installed it into the external case and plugged it into the MBP. I rebooted using my original spindle HDD and once I was at the desktop, I opened 'Disk Utils' and it recognized the external drive. So far so good. I formatted the external SDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map. I rebooted the MBP with “dosdudes’s macOS High Sierra Patcher” and the macOS on the external SDD. I then rebooted from the external SDD and now I was thinking...it finally worked. My last test was to install the external SDD into the MBP and reboot off the drive.

Well, I received the "Flashing folder with Question mark" during reboot. Darn! At this point do you believe it might be the cable? I have read other post with people changing out the cable but I never understood what additional functionality would a new cable provide above the original one. If that's the recommendation, do you have any idea what model/version of the cable I need for an MBP 8,1?

Is your SIP disabled boot into the High Sierra Patcher enter the terminal ty csrutil disable reboot and did you install High Sierra on your ssd

 

[twinboys]

Is your SIP disabled boot into the High Sierra Patcher enter the terminal ty csrutil disable reboot and did you install High Sierra on your ssd

Yes, I did install High Sierra on the SSD using "dosdudes’s macOS High Sierra Patcher".

Okay, I rebooted back into the 'High Sierra Patcher' and ran 'csrutil status'. The respose was it was already disabled (System Integrity Protection status: disabled (Apple Internal)). I still ran csrutil disabled anyway and rebooted the MBP. On the next reboot I still had the darn "Flashing folder with Question mark".

 

[TimothyR734]

Yes, I did install High Sierra on the SSD using "dosdudes’s macOS High Sierra Patcher".

Okay, I rebooted back into the 'High Sierra Patcher' and ran 'csrutil status'. The respose was it was already disabled (System Integrity Protection status: disabled (Apple Internal)). I still ran csrutil disabled anyway and rebooted the MBP. On the next reboot I still had the darn "Flashing folder with Question mark".

Did apply the post install patches for your Mac

 

[twinboys]

Did apply the post install patches for your Mac

I did not because I thought High Sierra was native for 8,1. I'll give it a try.

 

[TimothyR734]

it might be supported I am really not sure a the moment

 

[PeterHolbrook]

Sorry to insist on an infrequent issue, but I haven't solved an issue I'm having since I upgraded my Mac Pro 5,1 to Catalina using dosdude1's patcher. My Apple Watch used to flawlessly unlock my Mac in previous iteration of macOS. Naturally, I had installed the Apple Broadcom Bcm94360cd - 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC + Bluetooth 4.0 module, editing the relevant framework, etc., in order to whitelist my motherboard. Since everything is working as it should (hotspot, continuity, handoff, authorization, etc.), except for Mac unlocking, I would like to know if any of the readers of this thread has a working unlock feature with a setup similar to mine, i.e., people with an Apple Watch (Series 2 or better), running Catalina on a Mac Pro 5,1 with the Bcm94360cd module specifically. I'm beginning to think that Bluetooth 4.0 might have been deprecated in Catalina and perhaps 4.2 is the only accepted protocol now for Mac unlocking?

Except for unpairing and re-pairing my Apple Watch, I've tried all the suggestions I've found online purporting to solve this mystery, to no avail.

I'll answer myself. It appears that, in Catalina, Mac unlocking with the Apple Watch does indeed require Bluetooth 4.2, not 4.0, which means my Mac Pro requires something like a BCM943602CDP module.

 

[joergz]

I'll answer myself. It appears that, in Catalina, Mac unlocking with the Apple Watch does indeed require Bluetooth 4.2, not 4.0, which means my Mac Pro requires something like a BCM943602CDP module.

Nope, 4.0 is sufficient. There must be something wrong with your configuration. I'm using the BCM94360CD in my cMP 3,1. My MBA 2013 has only BT 4.0. Both work with Watch Unlock. Did you allow Watch Unlock in the Security settings?

 

[LuisN]

@LuisN, @TimothyR734, and @BarryN, I would like to thank everyone for their input.

LuisN, my preference is to used Samsung SSD's and their M.2 NVMe drives. However, I thought about your recommendation to try another brand. So, I reached out to my son and he provided me a 64GB Crucial SSD. I installed it into the external case and plugged it into the MBP. I rebooted using my original spindle HDD and once I was at the desktop, I opened 'Disk Utils' and it recognized the external drive. So far so good. I formatted the external SDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map. I rebooted the MBP with “dosdudes’s macOS High Sierra Patcher” and the macOS on the external SDD. I then rebooted from the external SDD and now I was thinking...it finally worked. My last test was to install the external SDD into the MBP and reboot off the drive.

Well, I received the "Flashing folder with Question mark" during reboot. Darn! At this point do you believe it might be the cable? I have read other post with people changing out the cable but I never understood what additional functionality would a new cable provide above the original one. If that's the recommendation, do you have any idea what model/version of the cable I need for an MBP 8,1?

If the question mark appears with only in the internal drive it probably is the cable, although I find strange that you can copy the external to the internal drive. Search for "macbookpro 8,1 drive cable" in EBAY. They sell for about 5 or 6 US$

 

[PeterHolbrook]

Nope, 4.0 is sufficient. There must be something wrong with your configuration. I'm using the BCM94360CD in my cMP 3,1. My MBA 2013 has only BT 4.0. Both work with Watch Unlock. Did you allow Watch Unlock in the Security settings?

I'm not dumb, so the Watch Unlock has always been set in my Security settings. It used to work flawlessly in Mojave. In Catalina, however, that's only good for authorizing Finder actions when necessary, NOT for unlocking the Mac. Your claim that Bluetooth 4.0 suffices flies in the face of several authoritative specifications that Bluetooth 4.2 is now required under Catalina. For instance, "Auto unlock requires Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi to be up and running on both your Apple Watch and Mac in order to work" (https://www.imore.com/auto-unlock-not-working-heres-how-fix-it or https://itechglobe.com/2019/12/21/cannot-auto-unlock-your-mac-together-with-your-apple-watch-solved/). For instance, "While Handoff and other features are working as they should, unlocking using my Apple Watch does not work and further investigation tells me that Bluetooth 4.2 is required for this feature" (https://github.com/osy86/HaC-Mini/issues/125). My own experience tells me the claim that Bluetooth 4.2 is now the minimum requirement for Catalina (and Big Sur) is true.

EDIT: It isn't a hardware issue per se. It's a Catalina issue, which also affects Hackintoshes. See https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/unlock-with-apple-watch-not-working-in-catalina.287027/

 

[mazz0]

Anybody have any tips on trouble shooting this issue?

LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed with error -10810 for the file /private/tmp/Install macOS Catalina.app.

For background: I'm using a 2011 27 Inch iMac with an SSD added to create a home-made FusionDrive, and it's currently running High Sierra.

I was trying an in-place installation, I'm trying with a USB drive now...

Well this is embarrassing. Just noticed I used an El Capitan image instead of Catalina. I'll try again with the right one...??

 

[mazz0]

Just posted this in the Discord but copying here:

I just installed Catalina on my Mid 2011 27-ing iMac with Radeon HD6770M and the graphics are super laggy, and Pixelmator won't launch, gives the error "Pixelmator cannot run without access to the graphics processor." I understood this graphics card was supported - any suggestions?

---

I think I see the reason:

Video Card Support
Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6xxx series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4xxx series and older with acceleration.)

so I'd actually get better results with a 4xxx series card?

Anyone have any tips? Anything I can tweak in software, any replacement card I could buy?

 

[trifero]

Sorry to insist on an infrequent issue, but I haven't solved an issue I'm having since I upgraded my Mac Pro 5,1 to Catalina using dosdude1's patcher. My Apple Watch used to flawlessly unlock my Mac in previous iteration of macOS. Naturally, I had installed the Apple Broadcom Bcm94360cd - 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC + Bluetooth 4.0 module, editing the relevant framework, etc., in order to whitelist my motherboard. Since everything is working as it should (hotspot, continuity, handoff, authorization, etc.), except for Mac unlocking, I would like to know if any of the readers of this thread has a working unlock feature with a setup similar to mine, i.e., people with an Apple Watch (Series 2 or better), running Catalina on a Mac Pro 5,1 with the Bcm94360cd module specifically. I'm beginning to think that Bluetooth 4.0 might have been deprecated in Catalina and perhaps 4.2 is the only accepted protocol now for Mac unlocking?

Except for unpairing and re-pairing my Apple Watch, I've tried all the suggestions I've found online purporting to solve this mystery, to no avail.

I tried everything during months. No success for me. My bluetooth is 4.2.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

I tried everything during months. No success for me. My bluetooth is 4.2.

Mac Pro 5,1? Which edition of the Apple Watch? Are you using a Bcm94360cd or a BCM943602CDP? Do Continuity/Handoff work for you in Catalina? Did Automatic Unlock work for you in Mojave? Did you run or have to run the Continuity Activation Tool? Was the run successful? Did you manually edit /System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist in order to whitelist your Mac Pro 5,1? Did you use perl on or hex-edit /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360 for good measure?

 

[trifero]

Mac Pro 5,1? Which edition of the Apple Watch? Are you using a Bcm94360cd or a BCM943602CDP? Do Continuity/Handoff work for you in Catalina? Did Automatic Unlock work for you in Mojave? Did you run or have to run the Continuity Activation Tool? Was the run successful? Did you manually edit /System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist in order to whitelist your Mac Pro 5,1? Did you use perl on or hex-edit /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360 for good measure?

This is the one I have.

Genuino Apple Wi-Fi 802.11ac y Bluetooth 4.2 Kit De Actualización Adaptador * Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 | eBay

Las mejores ofertas para Genuino Apple Wi-Fi 802.11ac y Bluetooth 4.2 Kit De Actualización Adaptador * Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 están en eBay ✓ Compara precios y características de productos nuevos y usados ✓ Muchos artículos con envío gratis!

www.ebay.es

I did all those things, except CAT.
Can´t help you any more, cause I returned to Mojave. I really don´t like Catalina.

 

[PeterHolbrook]

This is the one I have.

Genuino Apple Wi-Fi 802.11ac y Bluetooth 4.2 Kit De Actualización Adaptador * Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 | eBay

Las mejores ofertas para Genuino Apple Wi-Fi 802.11ac y Bluetooth 4.2 Kit De Actualización Adaptador * Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 están en eBay ✓ Compara precios y características de productos nuevos y usados ✓ Muchos artículos con envío gratis!

www.ebay.es

I did all those things, except CAT.
Can´t help you any more, cause I returned to Mojave. I really don´t like Catalina.

The minimum requirement of Bluetooth 4.2 affects not only the AirPort/Wi-Fi card inside the classic Mac Pro running Catalina, but the Apple Watch itself. For instance, the Apple Watch Series 2 has Bluetooth 4.0, which is good enough for Mojave, but completely inadequate for Mac Auto Unlocking in Catalina. The Apple Watch Series 3 and higher is fully compatible with Catalina, provided, naturally, that the Mac also understands Bluetooth 4.2 communications. I've already ordered (from eBay) the relevant Bluetooth 4.2 replacement for my AirPort/Wi-Fi card, purchased not that long ago, but I still won't be able to automatically unlock my Mac Pro 5,1 after I install the new card, simply because my Apple Watch is a Series 2 model. Hopefully, I'll purchase a Series 5 (or 6?) model by the time Big Sur is released.

By the way, if you know how to edit /System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist and /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360 (or the like), you don't need to use the Continuity Activation Tool. That's precisely what it does.

 

[DWomack]

I updated my unsupported iMac mid 2008 to Catalina 10.15.3 with dosdude1's software about 3 months ago.

Is it safe to let it upgrade to 10.15.5 through software update?

I'll use CCC to back it up before doing it.

Thanks,


Dennis

10.15.5 does not show up in SystemPreferences->SoftwareUpdate

Trying to run 10.15.5 ComboUpdater pkg says it is not compatible.

So how do I update? Create a new Patcher USB for 10.15.5?

Help!

 

[Shadow Demon]

So how do I update? Create a new Patcher USB for 10.15.5?

Help!

Yes, indeed. I am really hoping that there is working Software Update by the time Catalina is ready for Security Updates.

 

[trifero]

10.15.5 does not show up in SystemPreferences->SoftwareUpdate

Trying to run 10.15.5 ComboUpdater pkg says it is not compatible.

So how do I update? Create a new Patcher USB for 10.15.5?

Help!

Yes. Create a new patched USB and install over.

 

[joergz]

The minimum requirement of Bluetooth 4.2 affects not only the AirPort/Wi-Fi card inside the classic Mac Pro running Catalina, but the Apple Watch itself. For instance, the Apple Watch Series 2 has Bluetooth 4.0, which is good enough for Mojave, but completely inadequate for Mac Auto Unlocking in Catalina. The Apple Watch Series 3 and higher is fully compatible with Catalina, provided, naturally, that the Mac also understands Bluetooth 4.2 communications. I've already ordered (from eBay) the relevant Bluetooth 4.2 replacement for my AirPort/Wi-Fi card, purchased not that long ago, but I still won't be able to automatically unlock my Mac Pro 5,1 after I install the new card, simply because my Apple Watch is a Series 2 model. Hopefully, I'll purchase a Series 5 (or 6?) model by the time Big Sur is released.

By the way, if you know how to edit /System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist and /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortBrcm4360.kext/Contents/MacOS/AirPortBrcm4360 (or the like), you don't need to use the Continuity Activation Tool. That's precisely what it does.

Per my experience the Apple Watch generation has nothing to do with it. As mentioned earlier both of my Macs do have BT 4.0 and I'm using Unlock with my Apple Watch Series Zero (1st Gen) which is also BT 4.0 only.

 

[chores]

I tried, and failed to install Catalina on my 2007 iMac using dosdude1's Patcher, then ****ed up trying to start over from scratch. Not really sure if I should be posting here or making my own thread, but here we are!

I got up until the "Reinstall macOS" option and couldn't proceed from there. This all happened late last night, and I regrettably didn't record the steps I took to get to where I'm currently stuck, or the error messages that I received. I don't know why it didn't work, I believe I got a message saying that the certificate for this server is invalid. After retracing my steps, I accidentally erased my Macintosh HD instead of converting it to APFS? (sorry, I'm new to Apple products, and have no idea what I'm doing/talking about - if it wasn't painfully obvious by now). Oof. Once I realized what happened, I thought I could just reinstall my old OS, El Capitan, so I erased everything on my external SSD as well (why? I don't know, I panicked). Also, it might be worth noting that after the installation (before everything went wrong) I wasn't able to boot to the screen listing bootable devices (since I was using a windows keyboard?) so I set it up to boot from my external SSD as a default. Not sure if that's important information or not. Anyways, I restarted my computer, tried to Reinstall OS X and couldn't. The only disk showing to install to is Recovery HD, and the disk is locked. In Disk Utility when I try to erase what's there, the erase process fails. Not sure what to do from here, any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[PeterHolbrook]

Per my experience the Apple Watch generation has nothing to do with it. As mentioned earlier both of my Macs do have BT 4.0 and I'm using Unlock with my Apple Watch Series Zero (1st Gen) which is also BT 4.0 only.

In Catalina?