macOS High Sierra (10.13) Unsupported Macs Thread

[Tesseract]

Hi
1. Is there any way to downgrade to let say, El Capitan? Do I just install on top of the patched machine.
2. I'm trying to change the file system to AFPS but I'm unable to boot into recovery mode. (freshly installed SSD, carbon copied)
3. Enable TRIM doesn't seem to make the machine more responsive, any sugestions?

I just try to read all I could in this thread but is 156 pages long already.

1. Wondering this myself. Will running the uninstall script bork 10.13.6? Or will it only stop me from being able to update any further? I'm wondering if I should run the uninstall script before or after attempting to flash from 4,1 to 5,1?
2. A carbon copy might not properly copy over the recovery partition. Might want to do a full High Sierra install over your current and it should install the recovery partition with it. But I'm unsure of the best option here.
3. TRIM doesn't really make things 'go faster.' It just cleans up and prevents the SSD from slowing down over a long period of time. I doubt there is any difference at all in speed on a new SSD with TRIM on vs off. You could probably even keep auto-TRIM off and manually TRIM every once in a while with the same results if you wanted. Kind of like the ole' days of defragging your HDD.

 

[tsialex]

1. Wondering this myself. Should I run the patch before or after attempting to flash from 4,1 to 5,1?
2. A carbon copy might not properly copy over the recovery partition. Might want to do a full OS install over your current and it should install the recovery partition with it. But I'm unsure of the best option here.
3. TRIM doesn't really make things 'go faster.' It just cleans up and prevents the SSD from slowing down over a long period of time. I doubt there is any difference at all in speed on a new SSD with TRIM on vs off.

You don't need any patches to run a Mac Pro 5,1, it's a supported Mac. Update the firmware to 5,1 then download and install 10.13.6 from the Mac App Store to update your firmware to the current version, MP51.0089.B00.

On Mojave only, if you have a older GPU, like Apple Nvidia GT120/AMD HD4870/5770/5870, only then you will need patches for the GPU, but it's a lot better to upgrade to a supported one.

 

[Tesseract]

You don't need any patches to run a Mac Pro 5,1, it's a supported Mac. Update the firmware to 5,1 then download and install 10.13.6 from the Mac App Store to update your firmware to the current version, MP51.0089.B00.

Right. But I'm currently running a patched 10.13.6 right now on 4,1 firmware. So I'm curious if I run the uninstaller script NOW... if my system will even boot or do other weird stuff with unpatched 10.13.6 running on 4,1. Or if I should first flash from 4,1 to 5,1, and run the uninstall script after. Does that make sense?

The 3rd option I have is to do a clean install of El Capitan, then flash to 5,1, then install High Sierra, then update firmware to MP51.0089.B00. But I would really like to NOT have to start over from El Capitan if I can avoid it.

On Mojave only, if you have a older GPU, like Apple Nvidia GT120/AMD HD4870/5770/5870, only then you will need patches for the GPU, but it's a lot better to upgrade to a supported one.

Yeah. Got an unflashed GTX 970, and a GT120 that I somewhat regularly swap out for doing various system updates. I'm not in-the-know with the Mojave GPU situation. I thought only certain Metal-capable GPUs (just a handful of AMD cards) would run natively on Mojave. Or have some wizards found a way around that with non-Metal cards?

Are there any weird extra patches I will need for my GTX970 after the 5,1 flash? Or can I get along with just the Nvidia web driver?

 

[tsialex]

Right. But I'm currently running a patched 10.13.6 right now on 4,1 firmware. So I'm curious if I run the uninstaller script NOW... if my system will even boot or do other weird stuff with unpatched 10.13.6 running on 4,1. Or if I should first flash from 4,1 to 5,1, and run the uninstall script after. Does that make sense?

Update to 5,1 firmware first, then you remove or you can't boot.

Got an unflashed GTX 970, and a GT120 that I somewhat regularly swap out for doing various system updates. Are there any weird extra patches I will need for my GTX970 after the 5,1 flash? Or can I get along with just the Nvidia web driver?

No, just the web driver. You won't need any patches on 10.13 or 10.14. I highly recommend you do a clean install on 10.13.6, after you upgrade to 5,1.

 

[MDangerous]

[doublepost=1531342015][/doublepost]
Have you tried the post-install patch tool? It worked for me to fix the blank web pages, MAS and emails

Yep, I have tried the post-install tool and everything is working again. Thanks!

 

[mrploppy]

I don't know if I've missed it, or whether I'm losing the plot, but is the 10.13.6 full installer available for download yet, other than via @dosdude1's HS Patcher?

Ok I'll answer my own question. 10.13.6 is available to download from the MAS, but trying to download it results in a "10.13.6 can't be installed on the this computer". Is there a way around this, or is the route via @dosdude1's patcher the only way to download the full installer on an unsupported machine?

 

[Tesseract]

Update to 5,1 firmware first, then you remove or you can't boot.

Just reporting back: success! Thanks for the help, tsailex.
Successfully flashed 4,1 --> 5,1 then ran dosdude's HSPatcher uninstall script. It had a few "could not find xxxx" errors in terminal (I assume they were just possible directories for hardware configs other than my own), but otherwise successfully completed.

And aside from a few of the usual 'new machine' hiccups from having software thinking I have 'new hardware' (e.g. iCloud reauthentication, Chrome account reauthentication, etc.)... it seems to be working just fine so far. Kind of surprising, really... considering what a Frankenstein-Machine I have.

I'm still on old 5,1 firmware (MP51.007F.B03)... so no Spectre and Meltdown fixes. But stable so far. We'll see how it handles the next update. I'll probably get around to updating to the latest firmware/microcode eventually.

No, just the web driver. You won't need any patches on 10.13 or 10.14. I highly recommend you do a clean install on 10.13.6, after you upgrade to 5,1.

I believe you with the 10.13.6 clean install advice, but I'm a bit hesitant to start from scratch again. Out of curiosity and in the interest of learning, why do you recommend a clean install specifically?

(I've done a lot of weird hacky stuff to my OS install and I don't even remember some of what I've done at this point. So getting back to where I am now from a fresh install would be a lot of work that I am hesitant to do.)

 

[tsialex]

(I've done a lot of weird hacky stuff to my OS install and I don't even remember some of what I've done at this point. So getting back to where I am now from a fresh install would be a lot of work that I am hesitant to do.)

Usually when the last update of the current macOS is released, like now, I clean all the dust-bunnies of my Mac Pro with compressed air, backup all my files and do a nuke&pave install. With a little organization I can do this in one afternoon. Then 6 months later I'll update to the new macOS version on my main disk, around 10.xx.3 by now and with all the show-stopper bugs corrected. Rinse & repeat.

It's not because it's needed, but because it's a lot easier to manage and control from now on. Sometimes I do that, just to get to the point I can have reproducibility.

You could do a clean install on another disk, keeping your actual as a backup. There's lots of ways to do this, do what's easier for you.

 

[David403]

@dosdude1,


I have a white MB early 2009 running 10.13.5 - thanks to the support/patches you and the crew here provide

I applied the bootROM patch using your tool found here. I knowingly did this AT MY OWN RISK. My machine was NOT bricked as a result of this.... it works BUT...

...when I power on at first I get a long full volume tone for about 4 seconds and the DVD drive starts, the power light stays on but the screen is black. It stays like that even if I leave it for 10 minutes.

If after this ‘almost start’, I hold the power button down to force a shut down, wait a couple of seconds, then press the power button again it boots again - but this time normally.

Should it do this ? if not have you any suggestions as to how I should fix it so it just boots first time.

I'd like to use the patcher at macOS 10.14 Mojave on this machine but I'm nervous about using it if I have somehow not applied the bootROM patch for HS...


Thanks again for all the work in getting these patches to work.

 

[d4gli]

Sorry, haven't followed this thread for a long time - so it's not recommended to upgrade my MacBook Unibody with updates from MAS anymore? Or just as usual upgrade, running onyx for problemlos with apps using safari engine and done?

 

[KernkraftX360]

MacBook Pro Mid 2010 updated to 10.13.6 but wifi is not available. Any other work around?

 

[jhowarth]

Hi
1. Is there any way to downgrade to let say, El Capitan? Do I just install on top of the patched machine.
2. I'm trying to change the file system to AFPS but I'm unable to boot into recovery mode. (freshly installed SSD, carbon copied)
3. Enable TRIM doesn't seem to make the machine more responsive, any sugestions?

I just try to read all I could in this thread but is 156 pages long already.

My experience with High Sierra Patch on a MacPro 3,1 with Radeon HD2600XT condenses down to the following axioms.

1) Always upgrade High Sierra from a patched full installer rather than through Software Update
2) Migrating to APFS works best if you format the drive as APFS and then clean install patched HS onto it with migration from another volume.

I can't imagine why you would want to migrate back to El Capitan as patched HS is rock solid (at least on a MacPro 3,1). My only concern going forward is how well the coming Security Patch updates will apply on unsupported machines or if they will be twitchy like the HS system Software Updates.
[doublepost=1531573474][/doublepost]

I don't know if I've missed it, or whether I'm losing the plot, but is the 10.13.6 full installer available for download yet, other than via @dosdude1's HS Patcher?

The full installer for 10.13.6 popped up on the App Store yesterday. Of course, you need to download that from a supported machine or from macOS running under a VM like VirtualBox in order to get past the hardware check.

 

[mrploppy]

I'm considering doing something radical before installing 10.13.6. - making a backup of my current system. I've been somewhat lazy in the past regarding backups and haven't done one in a while so I've forgotten things. I know this is a general question about backup but I've asked it in this forum because my MacBook Pro is unsupported, in case there's something odd about unsupported machines. So here goes:

When I say backup, I want to clone the whole of my internal drive to my external 1TB drive to handle the worst case scenario i.e. my internal drive dies completely. I have a bootable system on my recovery drive, I think. I'm currently running 10.13.5. I've edited the PlatformSupport.plist on my recovery partition to include my MacBook Pro and board id.
1. I'm going to use the Restore function in Disk Utility
2. Presumably I have to boot into an external drive, either a full system or recovery partition, to be able to clone the internal drive (because the internal drive has to be unmounted) - is that correct?
3. Does the Restore function backup the the whole of the drive - main macOS, recovery partition - in one go, or do I have to do them separately?
4. I presume I should backup the recovery partition because it has the edited PlatformSupport.plist on it?
5. Does the recovery partition have to have the edited PlatformSupport.plist in order to boot from it on unsupported machine?

Grateful for any help. Hope these questions aren't too newbie.

 

[EugW]

Did the full 10.13.6.02 method of installation. Worked fine for MacBookPro5,5 and MacBook5,1. WiFi is fine.

Did not risk the firmware update and stuck with HFS+.

 

[mrploppy]

In my quest to perform a backup I thought I'd first try booting into the Recovery HD. Failed miserably. I tried both the CMD-R and opt key combos during boot - same effect. I first get the light grey screen with Apple logo (two chimes), then black screen with Apple logo, then dark grey screen for while, then the language selection dialog appears with the cursor in the top left of the screen. However, I can't answer the dialog - can't move cursor with trackpad or USB mouse, and can't accept the default (English) with the enter key or mouse. This partition has an edited PlatformSupport.plist which includes my MacBook Pro version and board id. Any suggestions what might be wrong or how I could go about creating a bootable one? Thanks.

Update: TL;DR: All's good.

Made a 10.13.6 installer on my external USB drive. Booted into that and used Disk Utility to back up my internal HD containing 10.13.5. Ran the 10.13.6 installer, and the post install including the recovery HD patch. I can now boot both 10.13.6 and the recovery HD. A couple of things scared me
1. When I boot the patched installer or the recovery HD, the first thing I get is always the language selection dialog, and I can't seem to answer that with my trackpad, so I always have to use a USB mouse (but that may be a dodgy click on my trackpad).
2. When I first booted 10.13.6 it said it couldn't find a keyboard but I think it was looking for a BT one, because BT had been turned on somehow. Anyway, rebooting made everything work.

One question: when running the patched installer or recovery HD does everyone else get the language selection dialog first or is it just me?

 

[hiyel]

Just another confirmation. I’m on a late 2008 unibody MacBook (5,1) with HFS+ formatting. I was running 10.13.4. I did a full install of 10.13.6 over the 10.13.4 without reformatting it. Everything went ok and exactly as when I installed 10.13.4 for the first time.

I had to do two things that are out of ordinary. Night shift didn’t show up at first. So I had to re-install the night shift patch from the patch updater app, then it worked. The other thing was that my recovery partition wasn’t loading (was showing the no sign). So I had to boot into the patched install disk and ran the recovery partition patch. Both of these was the same when I installed 10.13.4 as well.

For some reason recovery partition patch is not included in the suggested patches of MacBook5,1. But I found that I needed it in both 10.13.4 and 10.13.6 installs. So you can save yourself a boot if you select that manually along with the other patches.

 

[BananaBomb]

Hi,

I have an iMac 9,1 (Early 2009) with Intel Core 2 Duo (2,66 GHz) and Geforce 9400 (256 Mo).
Updated from El Capitan to High Sierra (10.13.5) without issue.

But since the 10.13.6, I have a problem when I go to the Apple website (main page) : there is a system glitch (see attachment). I did a clean install with High Sierra Patcher and run post-install script for my Mac.

If I wait a little time, it disappears and the webpage display again correctly.

The patcher proposes to me to install an update of Backlight Control Patch and if I accept (after reboot), the problem on Apple website appears again and iMac freeze (I can move the mouse but all the UI is frozen and I can't click anywhere).

Is this a known problem ?

Thanks in advance

Have a good day / night.

 

[Jehm83]

Ugh. I blindly installed it and now my browser windows are all blank. Same with App Store etc. Email bodies are blank.


iMac10,1

UPDATE: ran the post-install tool to redo patches and all seems to be well!

Hello Bartman..

Thanks by advance if you know a proper way to use the post-install tool (i have issues with the MacOSX.13.6 update process like many..) directly from the Macbook or do i need the USB Boot system to do that?..i did a search in my Mac to find this application but didn't succeed..so i guess it might be on the USB Disk (i have to erase it since i have only one USB key..) thanks for your help & precisions..

Jehm

 

[kkinto]

Hello Bartman..
Thanks by advance if you know a proper way to use the post-install tool...directly from the Macbook or do i need the USB Boot system to do that?
Jehm

Yes Jehm83 you need the USB boot - app appears in window next to installer window.

-------------------

For me: Mac 3,1 updated via App Store went okay, same issues as before with stalled progress bars but rebooting to old installer disk and re-applying post install patches sorted that out.

Only problem is graphics card issues seem to have gotten worse, lots of window redraw flashing that wasn't there before. Tried reapplying the ATI patch but no luck. (ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB)

If I was to replace the graphics card - anyone have a suggestion on which one to go for?

 

[phastphil]

Hi All - a little patience.

I've read through all the replies, and a bit confused.

Successfully using the HS DOSDUDE patcher since Sierra with perfect results.
MacPro 3,1, SSD, 22GB, currently at 10.13.5

Tried upgrading to HS10.13.6 and experienced what others have found, missing web content and received the following:
An Error occurred while running scripts from package: "macOSUpd10.13.6RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg"

Can I use the POST PATCHER to fix this or do I need do a ground up reinstall of the HS xx.6 using DosDude HS Patcher software??

thanks
Phil

 

[roronl]

Hi All - a little patience.

I've read through all the replies, and a bit confused.

Successfully using the HS DOSDUDE patcher since Sierra with perfect results.
MacPro 3,1, SSD, 22GB, currently at 10.13.5

Tried upgrading to HS10.13.6 and experienced what others have found, missing web content and received the following:
An Error occurred while running scripts from package: "macOSUpd10.13.6RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg"

Can I use the POST PATCHER to fix this or do I need do a ground up reinstall of the HS xx.6 using DosDude HS Patcher software??

thanks
Phil

Yes, use the post patcher to fix and add (chose) the extra option for the Recovery disk as Patch. Restart.

 

[phastphil]

Yes, use the post patcher to fix and add (chose) the extra option for the Recovery disk as Patch. Restart.

RORONI, thanks - I'll make those changes as noted, Thanks greatly for the update info.

 

[Dr.Proton]

Just installed High Sierra with the High Sierra Patcher Tool. as expected the trackpad is not working. Unfortunately, the camera is also not working. It was working before. Any workaorunds for me? Igoogled for hours now and can´t find anything helpful. I did a clean HS install, therefore no VM or anything like this is running.

Thanks alot.

 

[ATC]

Hi,

I have an iMac 9,1 (Early 2009) with Intel Core 2 Duo (2,66 GHz) and Geforce 9400 (256 Mo).
Updated from El Capitan to High Sierra (10.13.5) without issue.

But since the 10.13.6, I have a problem when I go to the Apple website (main page) : there is a system glitch (see attachment). I did a clean install with High Sierra Patcher and run post-install script for my Mac.

If I wait a little time, it disappears and the webpage display again correctly.

The patcher proposes to me to install an update of Backlight Control Patch and if I accept (after reboot), the problem on Apple website appears again and iMac freeze (I can move the mouse but all the UI is frozen and I can't click anywhere).

Is this a known problem ?

Thanks in advance

Have a good day / night.

Is that just happening when loading the Apple site? Not others?

FWIW, I have the same iMac as you (iMac 9,1) but mine has the GT120 GPU, running 10.13.6 and I'm not seeing that.

To me, from that pic you posted, it looks like a GPU hardware issue.

 

[kkinto]

Hmmm...unfortunately my update to 10.13.6 is looking worse and worse with respects to my video card. Can no longer use Final Cut Pro X ("Graphics configuration not supported") - worked fine on 10.13.5. Also "Stickies" app no longer working as active 'stickie' just keeps redrawing constantly....much flashing when opening windows, contextual menus etc.

I have installed the drivers twice from the patched startup disk post-install app. Not sure what else to do other than revert to backup?

(ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB/Mac Pro 3,1)