macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[solarix1578]

Few days ago I upgraded from 10.15.2 to 10.15.7. 3rd party apps suddenly terminated with 'Namespace CODESIGNING Code 0x1' error. I panicked a bit as 1Password6 opened in Mini format but crashed trying to open the actual program. Whilst probably not a permanent fix, I found it interesting that temporarily disconnecting from the internet, allowed them to open. They since open online still, except for the Office16 Suite, that requires this offline start up now and then.

Thanks, I followed your advice and strangely for me too, turning off the wifi, Coconut battery and Burn start without errors! After doing this procedure, even restarting the system and with wifi disabled the applications work! I also tried the latest version of Teamviewer 15.30.3 (I think) and unfortunately it doesn't work, I always get an error (I'll attach the report soon). Thanks to Makra for help and suggestions, I think I'll switch to Catalina, to have a newer and still supported operating system from Apple.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Thanks, I followed your advice and strangely for me too, turning off the wifi, Coconut battery and Burn start without errors! After doing this procedure, even restarting the system and with wifi disabled the applications work! I also tried the latest version of Teamviewer 15.30.3 (I think) and unfortunately it doesn't work, I always get an error (I'll attach the report soon). Thanks to Makra for help and suggestions, I think I'll switch to Catalina, to have a newer and still supported operating system from Apple.

Very good and glad it worked for you. Denying permission for the Apps to "phone home" seems like a crude approach but appears to be a predictable quick fix at least. I'll get round trying Makra's suggestion once this method fails. Did you try the Terminal commands with Teamviewer?

I jumped from last supported 10.11.6 > 10.15.2 > 10.15.7. I'm glad having gone to the last version of Cat for a smoother experience, also to have Safari 15.5 on board. It's inevitable I guess to take a serious look at new HW once going beyond the scope of email and browsing. Was reminded of this recently when converting a short 500MB 4K vid to a playable mp4 format, it took 15 minutes! Interestingly enough it prompted me to do a Blackmagic read/ write test on the SSD. Yup..quite shocking figures by today's standard, under load it would seem the CPU appearing to be severely under-utilised. The bottle neck is probably the entire current package I guess.

Anecdotally today tried to mount my first SSD from 10 years ago. It failed miserably, only a cold shut down worked and the OS took a while to recover..but it did eventually (nervous moment there). Carrying on with "brave/ daring/ silly" after, then mounted the original Apple HDD (7200RPM) from 2009 with files from 10.6 Snow Leopard and was surprised at how quickly it still read. Go figure. It's a shame that old SSD is so toasted as was going to install into the CD drive bay today. Ce la vie.

 

[solarix1578]

Very good and glad it worked for you. Denying permission for the Apps to "phone home" seems like a crude approach but appears to be a predictable quick fix at least. I'll get round trying Makra's suggestion once this method fails. Did you try the Terminal commands with Teamviewer?

I jumped from last supported 10.11.6 > 10.15.2 > 10.15.7. I'm glad having gone to the last version of Cat for a smoother experience, also to have Safari 15.5 on board. It's inevitable I guess to take a serious look at new HW once going beyond the scope of email and browsing. Was reminded of this recently when converting a short 500MB 4K vid to a playable mp4 format, it took 15 minutes! Interestingly enough it prompted me to do a Blackmagic read/ write test on the SSD. Yup..quite shocking figures by today's standard, under load it would seem the CPU appearing to be severely under-utilised. The bottle neck is probably the entire current package I guess.

Anecdotally today tried to mount my first SSD from 10 years ago. It failed miserably, only a cold shut down worked and the OS took a while to recover..but it did eventually (nervous moment there). Carrying on with "brave/ daring/ silly" after, then mounted the original Apple HDD (7200RPM) from 2009 with files from 10.6 Snow Leopard and was surprised at how quickly it still read. Go figure. It's a shame that old SSD is so toasted as was going to install into the CD drive bay today. Ce la vie.

Hello, I haven't tried the commands suggested by Makra yet with coconut battery and burn, I think tomorrow (if I have some free time to dedicate). I tried the commands suggested by Makra with the latest version of Teamviewer, but nothing to do, it crashes on startup. I think i will install the version 14 or use an alternative program. My Macbook pro, with ssd crucial and new battery (just replaced) has come back to life! I use the machine for "home" use and already running Catalina in a fluid and reactive way is already an excellent result for me! We will see in the future... have a nice day friend 😃

 

[makra]

Hello, I haven't tried the commands suggested by Makra yet with coconut battery and burn, I think tomorrow (if I have some free time to dedicate). I tried the commands suggested by Makra with the latest version of Teamviewer, but nothing to do, it crashes on startup. I think i will install the version 14 or use an alternative program. My Macbook pro, with ssd crucial and new battery (just replaced) has come back to life! I use the machine for "home" use and already running Catalina in a fluid and reactive way is already an excellent result for me! We will see in the future... have a nice day friend 😃

Teamviewer seems to be a different story - nobody has mentioned it here. Whereas Coconut, Burn, Chrome/Edge/Brave keep acting up. Good luck!

 

[solarix1578]

Teamviewer seems to be a different story - nobody has mentioned it here. Whereas Coconut, Burn, Chrome/Edge/Brave keep acting up. Good luck!

Hello and thank you for your invaluable help! Your terminal commands work perfectly with both Burn and Coconutbattery apps! Thanks again for your support! Now I can enjoy Catalina on my "old" Macbooky

 

[treee111]

Hi @Alpha Centauri, sorry for the late reply.
For me, it worked exactly as written by you:
- update to full installer 10.15.7 over existing OS, data and settings stay are untouched
- beta updates on top of 10.15.7 via OTA-tool

I would still recommend to have backups of you whole laptop or/and all the data you have on your device!

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Hi @Alpha Centauri, sorry for the late reply.
For me, it worked exactly as written by you:
- update to full installer 10.15.7 over existing OS, data and settings stay are untouched
- beta updates on top of 10.15.7 via OTA-tool

I would still recommend to have backups of you whole laptop or/and all the data you have on your device!

Thanks for the reply. I can report that, aside losing all content of the Download Folder, all went well with all other data. Not a big deal as there wasn't anything vital and did have a bootable version of 10.15.2 still. But yes..backup, backup, backup!

To clarify briefly though:

You mentioned a build number, I believe mine was the same. I updated just recently from the dosdude site (changelog shows 28.05.2020 being the last update). So what do you mean by beta updates? OTA tool, as in over-the-air? The patch updater in System Prefs?

Noticed coming from 10.15.2 that immediately things have become smoother, just flowing better. Bonus points having Safari 15.5 now.

Cheers

 

[makra]

Thanks for the reply. I can report that, aside losing all content of the Download Folder, all went well with all other data. Not a big deal as there wasn't anything vital and did have a bootable version of 10.15.2 still. But yes..backup, backup, backup!

To clarify briefly though:

You mentioned a build number, I believe mine was the same. I updated just recently from the dosdude site (changelog shows 28.05.2020 being the last update). So what do you mean by beta updates? OTA tool, as in over-the-air? The patch updater in System Prefs?

Noticed coming from 10.15.2 that immediately things have become smoother, just flowing better. Bonus points having Safari 15.5 now.

Cheers

Read the very first post thoroughly: "Enabling OTA updates". Only by using the tools mentioned there, you get security updates for 10.15.7.
Dosdude1's patcher most probably won't get any further updates.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Read the very first post thoroughly: "Enabling OTA updates". Only by using the tools mentioned there, you get security updates for 10.15.7.
Dosdude1's patcher most probably won't get any further updates.

Right, I've got the CatalinaOTAswufix App, documentation, SW update to "check only" as suggested. However!

Mounted my backup, wasn't 10.15.2 but ElCapitan. Convinced it was bootable copy, showed up hitting option key, that's when all went to balls unfortunately. Luckily 10.15.7 seems unscathed but the backup is hit and miss, mounts/ unmount/ disc ejection error. First aid in DU couldn't fix and appears I've managed to corrupt it

So first and foremost I'm going to park this thing until I buy a new disc, it's a public holiday here today.

When I've got one in hand to backup my stable 10.15.7, what best course would you suggest? I recall the dosdude patcher USB having to be Journaled, not APFS to boot from. Is it then not possible to have a bootable copy, just a backup of all user files instead? I have the latest version of Super Duper.

So only after a satisfactory backup will I try to salvage (if it mounts) the old external with DiskWarrior.

Oh boy..what a morning, tuned things to a stand still.

 

[solarix1578]

Hello everyone nice people, I have a dilemma, do you think it is better to increase the current RAM memory of my Macbook pro 2010 from the current 8 Gb to 16 Gb? The expense to be incurred of about € 60 in your opinion is convenient for me and above all Catalina would work better with 16 GB of RAM? Thanks in advance for your help! Happy Saturday, ciao!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello everyone nice people, I have a dilemma, do you think it is better to increase the current RAM memory of my Macbook pro 2010 from the current 8 Gb to 16 Gb? The expense to be incurred of about € 60 in your opinion is convenient for me and above all Catalina would work better with 16 GB of RAM? Thanks in advance for your help! Happy Saturday, ciao!

Honestly?

I would sell the 2010 and buy a 2012 to run Catalina fully supported and unpatched instead of investing more money into an already dead horse.

If you have memory pressure buy more memory. But you should just check this out in advance...(i.e. by using the Activity Monitor app).

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Hello everyone nice people, I have a dilemma, do you think it is better to increase the current RAM memory of my Macbook pro 2010 from the current 8 Gb to 16 Gb? The expense to be incurred of about € 60 in your opinion is convenient for me and above all Catalina would work better with 16 GB of RAM? Thanks in advance for your help! Happy Saturday, ciao!

For that money, if supported...absolutely. I can run only 8 Gb and get memory swap, around 300 MB on nothing intensive. Even if you don't have memory pressure, € 60 I wouldn't hesitate.

Edit: Yer metal support and supported OS of the later models does have greater advantages.

 

[makra]

Honestly?

I would sell the 2010 and buy a 2012 to run Catalina fully supported and unpatched instead of investing more money into an already dead horse.

If you have memory pressure buy more memory. But you should just check this out in advance...(i.e. by using the Activity Monitor app).

And 2012 would give you the opportunity to move over to Big Sur or Monterey without the restrictions of non-metal graphics. I'm writing this on a MBP10.2, which works perfectly - and cost me about 140€.

 

[solarix1578]

And 2012 would give you the opportunity to move over to Big Sur or Monterey without the restrictions of non-metal graphics. I'm writing this on a MBP10.2, which works perfectly - and cost me about 140€.

Hello Makra, I partly agree with your thoughts, definitely 140 € for a good MacBook pro 10.x like yours, is a great deal!!! In Italy, the prices are higher… in any case my old Macbook Pro 7.1 with ssd, and 16 gb of ram works fine now with Catalina on board. I hope to be able to resell the 2x4gb sodimm and recover some money. In the future, I will definitely look for a newer used MacBook, but for the moment I have extended my “old man's” life 😅

 

[solarix1578]

For that money, if supported...absolutely. I can run only 8 Gb and get memory swap, around 300 MB on nothing intensive. Even if you don't have memory pressure, € 60 I wouldn't hesitate.

Edit: Yer metal support and supported OS of the later models does have greater advantages.

Hi friend, I bought a pair of Timetec ram module on Amazon and my macbook work very fast now with Catalina. Ok, I have an old Core 2 duo processor on board, but the Mac is more responsive now 👍🏼😃

 

[Houpla]

A year ago I installed Catalina using dosdude's patcher on my iMac7,1 (with upgraded CPU). Everything worked flawlessly until recently. After turning on, the startup progress bar reaches middle and then the screen goes totally white. After a couple of minutes progress bar appears gain for a moment and then disappears. After that nothing happens, just a white screen. It even goes to sleep if I wait long enough (screen turns black) and wakes back to white if I move the mouse. I can boot into safe mode using Shift, that works. When I restart normally again, white screen.

Anyone has idea what has happened?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Hi friend, I bought a pair of Timetec ram module on Amazon and my macbook work very fast now with Catalina. Ok, I have an old Core 2 duo processor on board, but the Mac is more responsive now 👍🏼😃

Ahh you've got the 2010 (7,1) then? My mid 2009 I upped the ram to 8GB, installed first SSD back already in 2011. Boy was it expensive then. Also have the Core2Duo. Officially 4GB memory officially supported, now I'm wondering if mine would even recognise 16GB with Catalina. Hmm....?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Bit of an emergency question. Currently no backup having lost some drives.

Running a fairly stable 10.15.7 environment with the dosdude patch on 5,3 HW. Would everyone recommend on a patched OS to simply copy the user folder only to ext backup OR cloning it. I've got Super Duper.

If cloning and making a bootable copy (if even possible with a patched OS), should the ext initially be APFS formatted as the main drive currently must be? Seems obvious it must be but just wanting to confirm.

Thanks in advance

 

[MafaldaMay]

I went several pages back in this thread and couldn't find anything answering my question, so here it is:

I have a MacBook Pro 2011. In 2020, I installed the DosDude Catalina patcher. However, 2 years later, it won't go past 10.15.3, which means I can't install Safari 15.

What should I do to be able to update my macbook to the latest Catalina update?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I went several pages back in this thread and couldn't find anything answering my question, so here it is:

I have a MacBook Pro 2011. In 2020, I installed the DosDude Catalina patcher. However, 2 years later, it won't go past 10.15.3, which means I can't install Safari 15.

What should I do to be able to update my macbook to the latest Catalina update?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Go back to the very first post of this thread and learn how to (OTA) update your installation or simply install the latest full package 10.15.7 using the latest patcher as two years ago and then go back to the first post of this thread and learn how to update an existing installation. Possibly the second approach will be better since it forces you to use the latest version of the patcher.
You might also consider using Big Sur or Monterey using a patcher with a strong developer community instead of using this abandoned patcher and a macOS version which will go out if support these days…

 

[treee111]

You might also consider using Big Sur or Monterey using a patcher with a strong developer community instead of using this abandoned patcher and a macOS version which will go out if support these days…

personally, I can't recommend Big Sur or Monterey with a 2011 MBP I own by myself.
Having 10.15.7 and updating one in a while via OTA seams to be the best suitable for this computer imho.

 

[Houpla]

personally, I can't recommend Big Sur or Monterey with a 2011 MBP I own by myself.

Why?

 

[makra]

Why?

OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Experience macOS just like before

dortania.github.io

Have a closer look at this: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/ACCEL.html

Those restrictions haven't kept us from updating to Big Sur and Monterey on non-metal (pre 2012) machines. There are some apps that only work if you install current versions - but you can't do that running Catalina anyway (exception: Microsoft Word has a transparency problem since 16.50 running OCLP on non-metal Macs).

That my personal view - there are some hardware issues with some Macs, though. I haven't had any problems.

 

[treee111]

Why?

Because of the lack of metal support by the GPU. See also the link and comment of @makra
The UI was very sluggish on my MBP early 2011 and I went back to Catalina

 

[makra]

Because of the lack of metal support by the GPU. See also the link and comment of @makra
The UI was very sluggish on my MBP early 2011 and I went back to Catalina

Just to be sure: You applied the root patches, didn't you? Because "very sluggish" is not really what I would call the Big Sur and Monterey machines...