macOS 12 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Ausdauersportler]

Could you look in your accumulated box of tricks and see if there is anything that can help:
1. Update to 0.4.6 from 0.4.5 on my ancient 2011 MBP8,2? Tried 3 nvram resets, reran the nvram code to disable the discrete and problematic Radeon gpu again, & downloaded the new 0.4.6 version. It will not run, just bounces like Hamilton's F1 car, and then settles down. Doesn't even throw up any apologies. I think (not sure) that is because the nvram resets didn't clear out the 0.4.5 installed on the EFI partition of the 128GB Apple SSD. The post-install root patches were applied using 0.4.5.
2. Also, the bluetooth absolutely refuses to connect to either a battery magic mouse or a white older rechargeable magic mouse. Using the somewhat erratic trackpad with my old shacking hands is driving me nuts!
I was hoping the 0.4.6 update would help with these issues, but I am stuck out in the middle of the pond without a paddle!
'Tis enough to make me want to buy a new MacBook Air!!

This is just a hunch:

You are telling us the OCLP GUI app will not start up correctly? Works fine for me here. Download again?

First check all your EFI partitions (in case you have more than one disk) for OC installation, but the color code of the GUI during the installation dialog should already tell you were you have your OC installed.

Go back to 0.4.5, revert the root volume patches, upgrade to 0.4.6 and apply patches, again. It is not clear to me if anything there (patches) has been changed. Change logs do not mention updates there.

 

[theoak2]

Again, I would like to express appreciation for the wonderful work OCLP developers have done!

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro 9,2 non-retina and have successfully installed Monterey 12.4 using OCLP 0.4.5 TUI version. (Actually for the second time.)

I also have a 2018 11" iPad Pro with iPadOS 15.5 installed. Universal Control is supposed to just work according to OCLP Universal Control page.

I have read and re-read all documentation in OCLP Docs. I have enabled Handoff and UC in iPad settings. I have enabled UC in MBP display settings. Both devices are signed into the same iCloud account, the same Apple ID, and both devices have WiFi and bluetooth enabled. UC ONLY works if the iPad is directly in front of the MacBook, blocking use of the keyboard and obscuring the screen. This is obviously not very useful. Once I move it to the left or right where it is more useful, within a minute, Universal Control stops working.

I bought my MBP second hand, so I don't know if previous owner might have possibly changed the bluetooth card. System Info for bluetooth says that my bluetooth card is BCM_20702A3 and WiFi is BCM43xx. Is this the bluetooth/WiFi card that was supposed to come with MacBook Pro 9,2? From the first post in this thread, the Apple-unsupported bluetooth modules that OCLP has added back to their software are: BCM943224, BCM94331, BCM94360 and BCM943602. Is my card one of those? System Info appears to show a different model # than what is physically written on the card. Do I need to disassemble my MBP to read the appropriate #?

Please, before you smack my fingers and give the not very helpful advice to "read the documentation", be advised that I have read all 260 pages of this thread and the OCLP documentation, as well as watching Mr Macintosh's helpful videos. Everything is working very well except UC.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Again, I would like to express appreciation for the wonderful work OCLP developers have done!

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro 9,2 non-retina and have successfully installed Monterey 12.4 using OCLP 0.4.5 TUI version. (Actually for the second time.)

I also have a 2018 11" iPad Pro with iPadOS 15.5 installed. Universal Control is supposed to just work according to OCLP Universal Control page.

I have read and re-read all documentation in OCLP Docs. I have enabled Handoff and UC in iPad settings. I have enabled UC in MBP display settings. Both devices are signed into the same iCloud account, the same Apple ID, and both devices have WiFi and bluetooth enabled. UC ONLY works if the iPad is directly in front of the MacBook, blocking use of the keyboard and obscuring the screen. This is obviously not very useful. Once I move it to the left or right where it is more useful, within a minute, Universal Control stops working.

I bought my MBP second hand, so I don't know if previous owner might have possibly changed the bluetooth card. System Info for bluetooth says that my bluetooth card is BCM_20702A3. Is this the bluetooth card that was supposed to come with MacBook Pro 9,2? From the first post in this thread, the Apple-unsupported bluetooth modules that OCLP has added back to their software are: BCM943224, BCM94331, BCM94360 and BCM943602. Is my card one of those? System Info appears to show a different model # than what is physically written on the card. Do I need to disassemble my MBP to read the appropriate #?

Please, before you smack my fingers and give the not very helpful advice to "read the documentation", be advised that I have read all 260 pages of this thread and the OCLP documentation, as well as watching Mr Macintosh's helpful videos. Everything is working very well except UC.

BCM94360 and BCM943602 are still fully supported with Monterey and the only cards working with UC. Feeding your BCM_20702A3 into Google lets me believe you have an older BCM94331 - which does not work with UC. But you can easily update your MacBookPro9,2 with a newer compatible model.

 

[theoak2]

BCM94360 and BCM943602 are still fully supported with Monterey and the only cards working with UC. Feeding your BCM_20702A3 into Google lets me believe you have an older BCM94331 - which does not work with UC. But you can easily update your MacBookPro9,2 with a newer compatible model.

Thank you Ausdauersportler! I will look for one of those cards. This helps immensely!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank you Ausdauersportler! I will look for one of those cards. This helps immensely!

Have to correct myself and have to kick your .... you have not read the docs entirely:

Universal Control on unsupported Macs | OpenCore Legacy Patcher

This page claims the BCM94331 should do the job. Sorry, cannot deny or confirm since I do not own such a device, only the more recent BCM94360x versions - which work nearly perfectly with UC.

Edit (multiple times, now):
Unfortunately UC works only between my 2011 iMa12,2, the 11,3 cannot become part of the game although it shares the same hardware upgrades using a BCM943602CPD. So there will be some hidden limits.

 

[davidlv]

This is just a hunch:

You are telling us the OCLP GUI app will not start up correctly? Works fine for me here. Download again?

First check all your EFI partitions (in case you have more than one disk) for OC installation, but the color code of the GUI during the installation dialog should already tell you were you have your OC installed.

Go back to 0.4.5, revert the root volume patches, upgrade to 0.4.6 and apply patches, again. It is not clear to me if anything there (patches) has been changed. Change logs do not mention updates there.

Edited 6-16-2022
Thanks for your time and reply.
I gave up on installing Monterey on the 2011 MBP8,2, just too much hassle and it ran slowly. After a temporary reversion to High Sierra, where most but not all apps worked, I finally was able to install Big Sur 11.6.7 using OCLP 0.4.6 on the MBP late 2011, after a long involved hassle (another horror story, but one with a good end)!
On my iMac late 2014 model15,1, Monterey runs great under 0.4.6 release version. No Root patches required.
In fact it feels better than Big Sur 11.6.7, and if anything, a bit faster! Kudos to the devs and everyone involved!
Thanks again.

 

[theoak2]

Ausdauersportler,

Actually I have read and re-read (and re-re-read, and clicked on all links, and read and re-read those) that Universal Control on unsupported Macs you linked to. I can't say how many times I've read the documentation. Although it does not mention the BCM94331 card specifically, it says that MacBook Pro9,2 (which seems to have that card, at least mine does) "Universal Control will work". Mine is not on the Blacklisted list, and is not in the list of those requiring SMBIOS spoofing. From everything I have read, the card that comes in my MBP should "just work". Still I have the problems I have described earlier.

I have ordered an adapter from Intriguing Industries (developed by MacRumors members) and the BCM94360CS2 card that they recommend, and I am hoping that this newer card will make a difference. Even if UC still does not work, it is a newer (and possibly better supported) card.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Ausdauersportler,

Actually I have read and re-read (and re-re-read, and clicked on all links, and read and re-read those) that Universal Control on unsupported Macs you linked to. I can't say how many times I've read the documentation. Although it does not mention the BCM94331 card specifically, it says that MacBook Pro9,2 (which seems to have that card, at least mine does) "Universal Control will work". Mine is not on the Blacklisted list, and is not in the list of those requiring SMBIOS spoofing. From everything I have read, the card that comes in my MBP should "just work". Still I have the problems I have described earlier.

I have ordered an adapter from Intriguing Industries (developed by MacRumors members) and the BCM94360CS2 card that they recommend, and I am hoping that this newer card will make a difference. Even if UC still does not work, it is a newer (and possibly better supported) card.

Not sure if this will solve all your issues, but with Ventura only 94360 will be supported - if it ever will work on unsupported older Macs.

 

[theoak2]

Good to hear. Especially if I get BCM94360 installed and working. I would very much like UC to work with Monterey, but if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. I strongly suspect that our older computers are being weeded out by both Apple and Microsoft. Still nice that a 10 year old computer is saved from becoming fodder for the landfills for a few more years.

 

[kasproso]

Hello Guys (ladies as well)

I was searching this thread but it's soo big and I could missed it. Recently I've decide to upgrade my MacBook Pro Early 2015, so bought new disk Kingston snvs/1000g M.2 nvme, but can not figure out how to make it work. I mean I've plug ssd in to Mac, but installer didn't find any disks. So I've found info, that I need an external case to initialize os on it.
I get one (Ugreen M.2 case) but system still doesn't see it.
In systems information, under USB section I can see Ugreen devide, but Disk utility doesn't see any usable disks. I saw in some posts, that this SSD model was used in older MacBooks. How can I make it work?

 

[DragenFi]

Hi All, I am currently running Catalina natively on my MBP 9.2, I would like to upgrade to Monterey either via a clean install or just update, whatever is the best is good for me. Can I bypass Big Sur, or do I need to install/update to it to be able to get to Monterey?

Also, is there anything I need to look out for that needs patches etc?

Thanks

 

[TimmuJapan]

Hi All, I am currently running Catalina natively on my MBP 9.2, I would like to upgrade to Monterey either via a clean install or just update, whatever is the best is good for me. Can I bypass Big Sur, or do I need to install/update to it to be able to get to Monterey?

Also, is there anything I need to look out for that needs patches etc?

Thanks

If you are going to put Monterey on this machine, you may want to consider keeping your Catalina install and putting Monterey on a separate partition or separate volume (if a separate volume instead of partition for OCLP Monterey is also possible—I'm not sure). Until later this year, machines that natively run Catalina like the MBP 9,2 will still be getting firmware updates sometimes when you do the Catalina security update. You will want to receive those firmware updates bundled with the security updates. Up-to-date firmware will help your machine run [OCLP Monterey] as well as possible.

You don’t need to install Big Sur first, per my knowledge.

I would do a clean install of Monterey on a separate partition (or a separate volume if that is good too—you can double check the partition vs. volume issue in the docs, I imagine.)

 

[darngooddesign]

260 pages... holy cow. Great job y'all!!!

 

[thegdn]

Same issue here. I gave up worrying, just either use the website (speedtest.net) or the free app Speediness.

or at command prompt enter... networkQuality

% networkQuality
==== SUMMARY ====
Upload capacity: 200.106 Mbps
Download capacity: 164.798 Mbps
Upload flows: 20
Download flows: 20
Responsiveness: High (1761 RPM)

man the command for options

 

[macinfo]

macOS 12.5 Beta 3 (21G5046c) is available.

 

[Tockman]

Need a little help. After updating to Beta 3 (OCLP 0.4.6), successful reboot and login, installing post-install patches and final reboot I stuck with login window. Password input - indicator wheel spins, then stops - 20 sec pause - logout. Reinstallation of OCLP and patches didn't change the picture. Safe Mode is OK. Any advice?

 

[dnwr98]

Need a little help. After updating to Beta 3 (OCLP 0.4.6), successful reboot and login, installing post-install patches and final reboot I stuck with login window. Password input - indicator wheel spins, then stops - 20 sec pause - logout. Reinstallation of OCLP and patches didn't change the picture. Safe Mode is OK. Any advice?

Me too on my 2012 iMac. I thought it might have been something to do with me previously trying to install Ventura so I clean installed Monterey with OCLP. Then I updated it to 12.5 beta 3 but it still gets stuck at login after installing the post install patches.

 

[Tockman]

No, I didn't mess with Ventura yet So the truth is out there but not right here.

 

[BuffyzDead]

I also have a 14.2 iMac and the best thing I did, before moving on to Big Sur and Monterey, was separating the Fusion Drive disks and replacing the mechanical HD with a fast 2TB Crucial MX SSD.

Mac with Monterey 12.4 and OCLP 0.4.6 Night works a thousand times better than with Catalina.

I also have Carbon Copy Cloner, but I use Time Machine.
I use CCC for an additional Backup to another external drive which I plug in from time to time.
If you read the CCC Instructions you will see that you cannot create a bootable disk except under certain configurations.

You can read this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/carbon-copy-cloner-6-monterey-bootable-backup.2332092/

but have to read here:
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc6/cloning-macos-system-volumes-apple-software-restore

As you can see, Bombich CCC strongly advises against creating a boot disk with Monterey and/or APFS systems in general

EDIT
I use the internal 2TB SSD drive with Monterey for my work. In the 128GB Apple SSD disk, on the other hand, I have Catalina as it is used to allow Firmware updates through Security Updates.
It is important to keep the Firmware updated as in this way Apple makes Macs compatible with new Input devices (Keyboards, Trackpads, Mice) and with other things; as well as improving safety, energy management, etc ...

@OKonnel
Or anyone that can help

I am about to do the very same thing on my 14,2. The HDD has gone bad and so I am replacing it with a Crucial MX500. I intend to Install Monterey 12.4 on that New SSD and your idea of installing Catalina on the 128GB Internal flash makes sense. The Fusion drive is no more, and will not be reset or used. This 14,2 will have two drives. One 128GB Flash Drive and One 2TB Crucial SSD.

So,
1) I am expecting to install the OCLP 0.4.6, onto the EFI of the Crucial 2TB SSD

2) Should I Erase/restore the EFI of the 128GB Internal SSD? (it previously had/has OCLP 0.4.5 on its EFI, and I want to avoid conflicts) ...How do I erase/restore that EFI to factory default?

And
3) Will I be able to install Catalina, onto the internal 128GB SSD, using the single OCLP 0.4.6 EFI, installed on the 2TB Crucial SSD?

Any additional clarity or explanation, allowing me to succeed the first time, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

[Aston441]

Thanks for your time and reply.
I gave up on the 2011 MBP8,2, just too much hassle and it ran slowly. Reverted to High Sierra, and it is back to usable!
On my iMac late 2014 model15,1, Monterey runs great under 0.4.6 release version. No Root patches required.
In fact it feels better than Big Sur 11.6.7, and if anything, a bit faster! Kudos to the devs and everyone involved!
Thanks again.

Weird. My 2011 MBA runs snappier on Monterey than it ever did on HSierra.

 

[Aston441]

Hello Guys (ladies as well)

I was searching this thread but it's soo big and I could missed it. Recently I've decide to upgrade my MacBook Pro Early 2015, so bought new disk Kingston snvs/1000g M.2 nvme, but can not figure out how to make it work. I mean I've plug ssd in to Mac, but installer didn't find any disks. So I've found info, that I need an external case to initialize os on it.
I get one (Ugreen M.2 case) but system still doesn't see it.
In systems information, under USB section I can see Ugreen devide, but Disk utility doesn't see any usable disks. I saw in some posts, that this SSD model was used in older MacBooks. How can I make it work?

Can a Windows or Linux box see the disk and format it?

 

[Tockman]

Me too on my 2012 iMac. I thought it might have been something to do with me previously trying to install Ventura so I clean installed Monterey with OCLP. Then I updated it to 12.5 beta 3 but it still gets stuck at login after installing the post install patches.

Didn't you try to boot into Safe Mode ant turn Auto-login on?

 

[vendini]

After updating to Beta 3 (OCLP 0.4.6), on iMac 13.2, successful reboot and login, installing post-install patches and final reboot, the posinstall doesn't work. No graphic acceleration. I received these 2 messages. After applying the root patches, as suggested by OLCp, it still doesn't work. I need some help please.

 

[kasproso]

Can a Windows or Linux box see the disk and format it?

Not really. I've check that today on windows 10 and disk is not visible. Now I don't know is that disk problem or case. I've order new better case and will see. That Ugreen one start's heating after plug in. I hope that didn't burn the disk.

 

[sigbals]

Will universal control work on a macbook pro 2011 13 late with this card?

BCM94331PCIEBT4AX WiFi Airport Bluetooth Card for Macbook Pro A1278 A1286 A1297 | eBay

WiFi Bluetooth Card BCM943224PCIEBT for Apple Unibody Macbook Pro 13" A1278 15" A1286 17" A1297 2011. Macbook Pro 17" A1297 2011. (This WIFI BT Card just for unibody macbook Pro A1278 A1286 A1297 2011 Models ).

www.ebay.com