macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread

[nekton1]

If the recovery partition is basically useless for unsupported models with dosdude1's patches:
1. Does it make sense to delete it from the disk structure?
2. Will doing so cause later update problems using App store?
3. What is the best way to do this if the answers to the above are Yes and No, respectively?

 

[jhowarth]

If the recovery partition is basically useless for unsupported models with dosdude1's patches:
1. Does it make sense to delete it from the disk structure?
2. Will doing so, cause later update problems using App store?
3. What is the best way to do this if the answers to the above are Yes and No, respectively?

I wouldn't say it is entirely useless since it can be used to run Disk Utility for repairs of the system volume.

 

[nekton1]

Any time I try to do so, it shows the gray no entry sign and that is with the recovery patch applied (running a boot-rom patched MP3,1 with boot-rom support for APFS).

 

[haralds]

I have looked but not found a clear reference for this.
I have been running a Mac Pro 3,1 with an Apple 4870 with DOSDUDE1 patcher and it worked like a charm with High Sierra. A spike seems to have taken out the card and a RAM module. I had an Apple 5770. I boots, but the video appears in safe mode. This looks like a known issue?

Which cards are compatible? Might just get another 4870 - it worked well for my wife's productivity work.

 

[L Caputo]

Any time I try to do so, it shows the gray no entry sign and that is with the recovery patch applied (running a boot-rom patched MP3,1 with boot-rom support for APFS).

You need to mount the Recovery HD using Terminal and then modify the Platformsupport.plist to include your Macs board ID and your Macs model identification number.
[doublepost=1528524599][/doublepost]

I loaded the latest version of the patcher. HS downloaded via the patcher. usb stick on formatted according to instructions. extented jornaled. patcher opened. install app verified, and copy to the stick. booted to the boot menu and ran "csrutil disable". then into the boot menu of the HS usb stick. Installation started but without success

I tried again. without success. the post install does not work, because he found on the ssd no installed macos version.

Can't see why you are having such a problem, the procedure is fairly simple, please read the instructions from Dosdude1
thoroughly and then attempt to do it again. http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/
There is no mention of having to disable SIP in the instructions. If you have an SSD it will be converted to APFS automatically.

 

[amnesia106]

You need to mount the Recovery HD using Terminal and then modify the Platformsupport.plist to include your Macs board ID and your Macs model identification number.
[doublepost=1528524599][/doublepost]
Can't see why you are having such a problem, the procedure is fairly simple, please read the instructions from Dosdude1
thoroughly and then attempt to do it again. http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/
There is no mention of having to disable SIP in the instructions. If you have an SSD it will be converted to APFS automatically.

"Note: Make sure SIP is disabled on the system you intend to install High Sierra on. If it's not or you're unsure, just boot into your Recovery partition of your currently installed copy of OS X, open Terminal, and run "csrutil disable"."

i will try an external HDD

 

[L Caputo]

"Note: Make sure SIP is disabled on the system you intend to install High Sierra on. If it's not or you're unsure, just boot into your Recovery partition of your currently installed copy of OS X, open Terminal, and run "csrutil disable"."

i will try an external HDD

Yes you are absolutely correct, sorry about the misinformation.

 

[danyMRF]

View attachment 764379


Yes I do, it hangs in the last two minutes and stays the same way until a window appear saying there's an error and needs to reboot, it reboots very normal and seems to work normally, it says 10.3.5.

The only thing is no info about the installed update list.

After about a week of indecision, the other day I made the update to 10.13.5 on my Mac mini (Late 2009) from the Mac App Store.

Same as for other users of this forum, it stopped when about 2 minutes were left and after a while the screen became completely black with only the mouse pointer active on the screen and nothing more and, after waiting a few more minutes, I was forced to reboot. (We hope that nothing happened to the hardware, my High Sierra is installed on external USB disk).

In the log file at the time the screen became all black, the message related to the failed update of Recovery HD appeared.

After a forced reboot (longer than usual) the system has resumed functioning, in the info is shown version 10.13.5 and in the Mac App Store there is no trace of the update. It seems to work normally, maybe it's just a little slower than usual.

Yet even in previous updates from 10.13.3 to 10.13.4 and the Security Update 2018-001 there was an update of the Recovery HD but they have been regularly performed and there was no blockage. (After the reboot following the update from 10.13.3 to 10.13.4, an error message related to the "Preboot" appeared)

Now I wonder who knows what will happen next update to 10.13.6?

 

[mnsiw]

After about a week of indecision, the other day I made the update to 10.13.5 on my Mac mini (Late 2009) from the Mac App Store.

Same as for other users of this forum, it stopped when about 2 minutes were left and after a while the screen became completely black with only the mouse pointer active on the screen and nothing more and, after waiting a few more minutes, I was forced to reboot. (We hope that nothing happened to the hardware, my High Sierra is installed on external USB disk).

In the log file at the time the screen became all black, the message related to the failed update of Recovery HD appeared.

After a forced reboot (longer than usual) the system has resumed functioning, in the info is shown version 10.13.5 and in the Mac App Store there is no trace of the update. It seems to work normally, maybe it's just a little slower than usual.

Yet even in previous updates from 10.13.3 to 10.13.4 and the Security Update 2018-001 there was an update of the Recovery HD but they have been regularly performed and there was no blockage. (After the reboot following the update from 10.13.3 to 10.13.4, an error message related to the "Preboot" appeared)

Now I wonder who knows what will happen next update to 10.13.6?

It was same for me on MacBook5,1, update through combo, force reboot, showing 10.13.5 but no trace of update, it was way slower than usual, finally I downloaded 10.13.5 with patch tool and reinstalled it, now its working perfect, same as 10.13.4

 

[dlfgma]

So I tried updating to 10.13.5 on a MBP 5,4 using the App Store. Failed with a package script error (forgot to take a picture). It now hangs while trying to boot (progress bar shows halfway).

Downloading the patcher tool now to reinstall. Fingers crossed.

EDIT: Getting the following error message in /var/log/install.log

2018-06-09 13:48:50-07 MacBook-Pro softwareupdated[516]: Can't instantiate distribution from https://swdist.apple.com/content/downloads/01/30/031-12297/85qy2o6zqm59iottqp9qepht7wz0dvgc4z/031-12297.English.dist: Error Domain=NSXMLParserErrorDomain Code=76 "Line 390: Opening and ending tag mismatch: installer-gui-script line 2 and choice
    " UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Line 390: Opening and ending tag mismatch: installer-gui-script line 2 and choice
    }

 

[Nyr]

MacBook5,2 user here.

The first post in this thread indicates that my model has issues with the touchpad, brightness and volume controls. But here: http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/ It says nothing about the brightness and volume, just about the touchpad.

So, were the brightness and volume controls fixed and the first post is outdated? I also seem to remember that previously there was a suggested app to control the brightness as a workaround.

Additional question:

Yeah, unfortunately the APFS booting implementation doesn't support FileVault APFS volumes at this time. If you must use FileVault, you'll need to use an HFS volume.

Is this still the case?

 

[dosdude1]

MacBook5,2 user here.

The first post in this thread indicates that my model has issues with the touchpad, brightness and volume controls. But here: http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/ It says nothing about the brightness and volume, just about the touchpad.

So, were the brightness and volume controls fixed and the first post is outdated? I also seem to remember that previously there was a suggested app to control the brightness as a workaround.

Additional question:


Is this still the case?

The brightness and volume issues have been fixed with that machine. And no, the APFS patch should work with encrypted volumes too. If you want FULL, native APFS support, you can apply a bootROM patch using my tool found here. Keep in mind, though, that this is done AT YOUR OWN RISK. There is a small chance that your machine could become bricked as a result of this, as with any firmware modification.

 

[antibolo]

I got the thing where I had to hard reboot after it stalled at the "2 minutes left" of the 10.13.5 update. After two reboots everything seems fine now, or is it? Do I really need to do the whole "reinstall from a patched 10.13.5 installer" thing?

(MacBook Pro 5,1)

 

[roronl]

I got the thing where I had to hard reboot after it stalled at the "2 minutes left" of the 10.13.5 update. After two reboots everything seems fine now, or is it? Do I really need to do the whole "reinstall from a patched 10.13.5 installer" thing?

(MacBook Pro 5,1)

No, it's the end-result that will count. Other users choose the other route via a full installer, because that is their way to get to the same finish line.

 

[LuisN]

APFS ROM patch
MacPro 3,1 = success
MacBook 5,2 = bricked

 

[roronl]

APFS ROM patch
iMac 9.1 (NVIDIA GeForce 9400) = succes.

 

[EugW]

So I was hesitant to use the App Store updater so I did the full 10.13.5 install method with the USB drive.

Worked fine with my MacBook5,1.

For my MacBookPro5,5 upon restart, I couldn't read the USB drive anymore. The USB drive wasn't seen after a cold boot, after the OS install. It turns out I had restarted my computer from 10.13.4 into the USB drive, thereby maintaining power to it the whole time, so I could install 10.13.5 off the USB drive, but then a power off then power on killed access to the USB drive. Arrggh. So I had to create the USB installer again on a different USB drive to boot into it, to patch the MacBookPro5,5. Alternatively, I suppose a powered USB hub could have helped, but I didn't have one handy.

So, here's a piece of advice: Before using your USB drive to install, do a cold start with the USB drive to see if it's seen at bootup. Cuz while it may be seen at a live restart, it may not be seen on a completely cold boot.

I'm not going to temp fate with the APFS ROM patch, or at least not yet. HFS+ is totally fine for me for those old machines, until I hear no more reports of bricking from the APFS ROM patcher.

BTW, for my MacBook5,1 after the install, it rebooted back as normal. For my MacBookPro5,5, after the install, it did the macOS setup thing again before rebooting back as normal. I never know when at macOS setup page is going to be displayed for OS updates.

 

[Schnegg]

I have been a bit reluctant to try the 10.13.5 update on my 3,1 MP after reading the forum. Is the full install method the way to go?

 

[roronl]

I have been a bit reluctant to try the 10.13.5 update on my 3,1 MP after reading the forum. Is the full install method the way to go?

Yes, IMHO it is.

 

[gotcoding24]

Don't know if you guys know but there currenty is a forum open for MacOS 10.14 Mojave on unsupported Macs here.

 

[roronl]

Don't know if you guys know but there currenty is a forum open for MacOS 10.14 Mojave on unsupported Macs here.

I'm guessing most of us here do know, but 10.14 seems way too tricky for machines older then 2012 just yet.

 

[TimothyR734]

APFS ROM patch
iMac 9.1 (NVIDIA GeForce 9400) = succes.

iMac 9.1 success as well

 

[nekton1]

Humor me—when building the dosdude1 patched USB installer, is there some way to convert the USB HFS+ partition to APFS?

When I try using DU, I get this error but perhaps there is a command from the CL?

When I try from CL, I get this error.

 

[thewebgal]

I have reconfigured my machine to make another attempt at the upgrade. My machine still displays as a mac Pro 5.1 - I pulled the 1TB conventional WD drive, wiped the OWC 480GB SSD and restored it to the current version of 10.12.6

I have a spare macPro with quad 2.66 processors, and am thinking I'll swap that processor card in, and pull the custom hex core card I have been using, just to get the update working.

I also have an nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (2GB) video card on the way (flashed for Mac use), looking towards an update to Mojave later this summer ... and the Geforce GTX 285 won't do!

 

[2008earlymacpro]

The brightness and volume issues have been fixed with that machine. And no, the APFS patch should work with encrypted volumes too. If you want FULL, native APFS support, you can apply a bootROM patch using my tool found here. Keep in mind, though, that this is done AT YOUR OWN RISK. There is a small chance that your machine could become bricked as a result of this, as with any firmware modification.

@dosdude1 i am totally ignorant about what is APFS support i have a mac pro 3,1 ...do i need to be concerned with this ?