new guide for installing mountain lion gm on unsupported macs

[Newflesh]

I followed the steps to install ML on my old Macbook.
I successed to boot using a bootable USB.
While installing was OK. But when installing finished, my Macbook showed the massage "Install failed".
I don't know why installing was failed...Help me~

Macbook 2,1 Late 2006

It didn't really fail. The installer check the PlatformSupport.plist.
I think you just have to modify PlatformSupport.plist and boot on your ML disk.

 

[leemk67]

It didn't really fail. The installer check the PlatformSupport.plist.
I think you just have to modify PlatformSupport.plist and boot on your ML disk.

It means modify PlatformSupport.plist adding "board id","mac's name". Before I installed ML, I added two things. But it failed.
Anything to modify else?
And during installing I could find the log. It showed many errors...

 

[Newflesh]

You didn't complete step 16 :

16, copy the modified PlatformSupport.plist to /System/Library/CoreService of your installation target and replace the original one. you may do it in Terminal before system reboot while the installation progress is completed

Installation target is your HDD.

 

[themav]

You didn't complete step 16 :

16, copy the modified PlatformSupport.plist to /System/Library/CoreService of your installation target and replace the original one. you may do it in Terminal before system reboot while the installation progress is completed

Installation target is your HDD.

No, I get installation failed and I have followed all the steps correctly

 

[Newflesh]

No, I get installation failed and I have followed all the steps correctly

And what message do you have when you boot with cmd-V verbose mode ?

 

[llaszlo]

I followed the steps to install ML on my old Macbook.
I successed to boot using a bootable USB.
While installing was OK. But when installing finished, my Macbook showed the massage "Install failed".
I don't know why installing was failed...Help me~

Macbook 2,1 Late 2006

Hello,

I also have a MacBook 2.1.
It is possible that I can help you and you help me.

I can't prepare good installer.
Do You upload somewhere the yours in iso or dmg?

I'd like test it.

 

[themav]

And what message do you have when you boot with cmd-V verbose mode ?

The normal startup messages (from the installer partition)
I am on a macbook (3,1) late 2007
but my issue is this:

From the installer log:

Jul 31 20:15:21 localhost OSInstaller[317]: install:didFailWithError:Error Domain=PKInstallErrorDomain Code=110 "An error occurred while extracting files from the package “Essentials.pkg”." UserInfo=0x7fbc8082c3a0 {NSUnderlyingError=0x7fbc806f31f0 "The operation couldn’t be completed. cpio read error: bad file format", NSFilePath=/Volumes/Macbook USB/.OSInstallSandbox-tmp/Root, NSURL=Essentials.pkg -- file://localhost/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg, PKInstallPackageIdentifier=com.apple.pkg.Essentials, NSLocalizedDescription=An error occurred while extracting files from the package “Essentials.pkg”.}
Jul 31 20:15:21 localhost OSInstaller[317]: Install failed: The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance.

 

[Bloubum]

Icloud & Ram Limitations

I am going to explain how I fixed my iCloud problem cause the other user who posted his issue and the actually posted again that he fixed it but never shared with others. I had a CCC back up of my main lion disk. Then I used migration assistant to transfer everything. For some reason I always get errors at the end and my old profile does not appear in my USER controls panel. But looking in my users folder I did see my transferred user home folder from my backup. Back in USERS controls panel, right click on your user profile. The one in the left with the picture that you can assign. There is an option for choosing a new home folder. I chose my transferred one. Restarted and got my iCloud back. Maybe you can just copy your user folder from your back up also


Side Bar:

I used Mac back in the early 80's but had to abandon it for Windulls when AutoDesk stopped releasing AutoCAD for Mac. (Shame on you cowardly weaklings). As soon as apple switched to Intel I bought the first Mac Pro with a very high end graphics card. I paid about 5k for the hole thing. I don't know if this makes a difference but my 7 gig of ram is working and I did not have to do anything to get sound up also. It just makes me want to go postal that apple is going the way of every other big company. Professing to care about the environment at the same time coding their new OS to NOT work with this over priced computers. I have heard people say how cheap the OS is compared to Windull but Microsoft makes their money on the fact that they can get it to work on as many computers ass possible while apple makes their money on having it work only on the newest computers. In any other business, this is called a conflict of interest. I wonder how they get away with it.

 

[yucate]

I am really really pissed. not only that I spent a lot of money since 1999 for Apple. I was also their biggest fan. NOW it all changed. I remember how we were laffin about B. Gates and MICROSOFT. PRobally they are now the ones laffin their asses off that we ( for years ) financed that MORONS at APPLE. It JUST can not be that my 4 year old MAC PRO can not use the new OS Mountain Lion. Not that I need it BUT who the **** they think they are. I think all owners deserve to have a FIRMWARE UPGRADE for OUR Computers. We should FINALLY ALL GET TOGETHER and SIGN a PETITION for this issue. XP Windows was on the market for 11 years and than got announced they will no support after April 2014. What ? they can do that and APPLE cant. What a ****IN JOKE IS THIS ?

If this petition gets on its way and it really should, I really consider to SUE Apple for compensation ( a new MACPRO ) or to give me back my money for selling me something which is not even worth **** now.

I am NOT a Upgrade Junkie or something like that. I am just really pissed of all this global capitalism ********. My 2cent...sry..

 

[MacGolfer]

Early 2008 Xserve Now Running Mountain Lion

Thanks for the great instructions!

I had been worried about running Mountain Lion (ML) on three rack-mounted Xserves I use in my recording studio. I was annoyed that Apple did not include the Early 2008 Xserve on the supported hardware list while both the 2008 Mac Pro and 2009 Xserve were. Like the Mac Pro and newer Xserve, the 2008 model already had 64 bit EFI, so the problem, as I saw it, was likely was the weak graphics they included in the Xserve... an ATI X1300 with only 64MB RAM, mounted on a special PCIe-based mezzanine card. Other than that, this Xserve model is essentially a 1U rack-mountable Mac Pro.

I purchased a lightly used Apple (brand) NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB RAM. This card is officially supported by ML. I removed the mezzanine graphics card (only four screws) and installed the GT 120 in one of the empty PCIe slots in the Xserve. Everything booted up and ran perfectly under Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), but ML would not install since this board ID is excluded from the PlatformSupport.plist.

I followed your instructions, but deviated slightly by choosing to modified the OSInstall.mpkg file myself rather than use yours -- your patched file is fine, I just wanted to look under the hood -- and I did not use your boot.efi patch, since the Xserve does support 64bit EFI already.

After adding my Xserve board ID (Mac-F42289C8), and system name (Xserve2,1) to the PlatformSupport.plist file, I was able to install ML without a problem. I am very happy with this so thanks for your great post. It helped me find my way

I should also point out the Terminal command line example, for copying the PlatformSupport.plist (Step 16), did not work initially. But if anyone is having problems, simply try including the full path of your Source volume in your command line...

cp /Volumes/[your installation Source volume]/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist /Volumes/[your installation Target volume]/System/Library/CoreServices

Have fun!

 

[Bloubum]

I forgot to give credit. I want to thank the author for posting this most excellent method and including the files needed to modify the installer.

When apple claimed it would make the installer to bloated or to much effort to make ML work on older machines when in fact they put more effort into not making it work. With apple going the way of Microsoft X5 in terms of its business practice I am going to start looking into Unix system and hopefully dump apple as they should be.

As I said before, everything is working now except dictation. I will keep looking to see how this can be resolved.

I would also change system preferences to not automatically up date till it is shown that it will not block the system again.

I cannot thank the author enough.

 

[leemk67]

You didn't complete step 16 :

16, copy the modified PlatformSupport.plist to /System/Library/CoreService of your installation target and replace the original one. you may do it in Terminal before system reboot while the installation progress is completed

Installation target is your HDD.

Thanks your answers. But I don't know how to use Terminal...
I tried to enter Sigle user mode(cmd+s). It was success. But I couldn't do anything.
How can I solve step 16.... Help me...

 

[Bloubum]

Cannot get dictation to work nor can I log into my apple account in Imessages. Is anybody able to get it working on a non supported mac. I managed to get icloud working except for BACK TO MAC.

 

[Newflesh]

Thanks your answers. But I don't know how to use Terminal...
I tried to enter Sigle user mode(cmd+s). It was success. But I couldn't do anything.
How can I solve step 16.... Help me...

Preparation
1, a working OSX, any version could be fine

Did you try target mode ?

 

[leemk67]

Preparation
1, a working OSX, any version could be fine

Did you try target mode ?

I succeeded to install MT on my MacBook2,1.(resolve step.16)
I did boot on Lion and copied PlatformSupport.plist from the source drive to Target drive.
And rebooted my computer. I held the key 'option' and booted on Mountain Lion. It was success. Thanks.

 

[themav]

OK, the only thing i did is modify the configuration table of boot kernel selection.
use a hex editor to open boot.efi. and goto offset 722f0. then you will see the hex values:

[COLOR="Green"]AEA70600[/COLOR][COLOR="Blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="Red"]03000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]B6A70600[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]01000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]05000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]BEA70600[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]01000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]02000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]C9A70600[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]01000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]03000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]D4A70600[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]07000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]D9A70600[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]03000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]E0A70600[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]02000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

then goto offset ec8b8, you will see:

[COLOR="Green"]D869060000000000[/COLOR][COLOR="Blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="Red"]03000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]E069060000000000[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]01000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]05000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]E869060000000000[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]01000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]02000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]F369060000000000[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]01000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]03000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]FE69060000000000[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]07000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]036A060000000000[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]03000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
[COLOR="green"]0A6A060000000000[/COLOR][COLOR="blue"]00000000[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]02000000[/COLOR]0200000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

the first block is used in 32bit efi, the second block is used in 64bit.
you may see each line has 3 marked part
the green part is a pointer that defines the modle type.
the blue part is a 32bit integer that defines whether it is a laptop.
the red part is a 32bit integer that defines the modle number. this part is to modified.
these values could be translated to:

[COLOR="Green"]macmini[/COLOR][COLOR="Red"]3[/COLOR],1
[COLOR="green"]macbook[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]5[/COLOR],1
[COLOR="green"]macbookair[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]2[/COLOR],1
[COLOR="green"]macbookpro[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]3[/COLOR],1
[COLOR="green"]imac[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]7[/COLOR],1
[COLOR="green"]macpro[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]3[/COLOR],1
[COLOR="green"]xserve[/COLOR][COLOR="red"]2[/COLOR],1

if your mac has a less modle number then the definitions, boot.efi will load 32bit kernel, other wise 64bit. but 32bit kernel does not exist in ML. as a result, boot.efi will return an error when trying to load it. so, simply change all the red part to 01000000 will make boot.efi to load a 64bit kernel anyway.

but your problem is not about these definitions. it is probably because of the 32bit efi will make the 64bit kernel to do a wrong memory map when you have more then 4GB ram installed.
i don't know how to fix it by modifying the boot.efi file. but i think there are 2 ways might work.
the first way is to use a hackintosh loader. and it is not recommend.
the second way is to compile a 32bit kernel by yourself when darwin 12 source is released.

What hex editor did you use and if you can, can you give me a link?

 

[dead.xx]

What hex editor did you use and if you can, can you give me a link?

i use 0xED on mac. it's free

 

[JordanNZ]

I am really really pissed. not only that I spent a lot of money since 1999 for Apple. I was also their biggest fan. NOW it all changed. I remember how we were laffin about B. Gates and MICROSOFT. PRobally they are now the ones laffin their asses off that we ( for years ) financed that MORONS at APPLE. It JUST can not be that my 4 year old MAC PRO can not use the new OS Mountain Lion. Not that I need it BUT who the **** they think they are. I think all owners deserve to have a FIRMWARE UPGRADE for OUR Computers. We should FINALLY ALL GET TOGETHER and SIGN a PETITION for this issue. XP Windows was on the market for 11 years and than got announced they will no support after April 2014. What ? they can do that and APPLE cant. What a ****IN JOKE IS THIS ?

If this petition gets on its way and it really should, I really consider to SUE Apple for compensation ( a new MACPRO ) or to give me back my money for selling me something which is not even worth **** now.

I am NOT a Upgrade Junkie or something like that. I am just really pissed of all this global capitalism ********. My 2cent...sry..

Did your mac pro suddenly stop working when mountain lion came out?


But in all seriousness. What machine do you have? What graphics card?
If it's 4 years old, it should be supported. Is it actually older than 4 years?

 

[prattio]

HMS and NOGLIDER!!!!!

I made the mistake several times attempting to install ML GM on a MacPro1,1. I was able to install the firewire method and also from the macpro itself using an installation partition. Just follow the guide above but make sure you DO NOT HAVE the NVIDIA 7300. I also kept getting the grey circle with a line through it. I bought the HD5770 ATI card, swapped out the NVIDIA and booted perfectly. And I don't know if the extra RAM on the video card is helping but I now have a lot more free RAM. Safari would kill my system in Snow Leopard.

I ordered the card from B&H photo online yesterday with free shipping for $229 but I paid $10 extra for faster shipping.

TPMcGuire,

It looks like we have the same exact machine. Before I go through this process, I wanted to confirm w/ you that you were unable to boot up until you got a new ATI card?

Was that the case for either Dead's instructions, or the firewire external drive method? Saw you implemented both.

I don't care about iCloud, but are you experiencing any issues with iMessages or Notification Center? Are things stable enough to use in production, or more or less just to say you did it.

Thanks

 

[themav]

I know that there is a 32 bit kernel at: http://netkas.org/?p=1187.
Has anyone tried this and made it work?

 

[gusbemac]

USB Thumb Drive

I reboted my Macbook and pressed "option". And my Macbook doesn't recognise my USB thumb drive. :-(
And I rebooted again and pressed "C" and it doesn't recognise my USB thumb drive and started Lion 10.7. :-(

 

[gusbemac]

Hello everybody and hackers

i have a bad news for you

ML works very well in my 2008 Macbook, but there are two problems:

1) Every video and animation based in Flash always prick many times.
2) Keyonte doesn't show normally the slides. It gave a warning:

"Your computer may not have enough video random-access memory (VRAM) to play the slideshow at the current screen resolution.

Try changing your colors from millions to thousands, or choosing a lower screen resolution in the Displays pane of System Preferences."

How do I hack this solution?

It's very dangerous to open Launchpad because it gives more lag and you have to restart. For searching for an app, use Spotlight or Application folder on the Dock. It's safe to use Mission Control.

 

[minik]

Following dead.xx's direction. It works however I can't select the volume as a startup disk even resetting the PRAM. This MacPro 1,1 used to have an ATI X1900 XT card in it until Apple replaced it with a nVidia 8800 GT through the repair extension program.

Thanks, dead.xx.

 

[Bloubum]

Share

I thought we where all in this together to stick it to Apple the way they try and stick it to us but it seems people are mostly taking not sharing.
FYI
I installed the 10.8.1 update and had no issues. I figured it there would not be since it was such a small update. But I still cannot use dictation, Facetime and Ichat. I chat works with Google account I just cannot send text messages to other IOS devices.

 

[Wind06]

Hi All,

Thanks dead.xx I succeed to install Mountain Lion on my MacPro 1,1 2006 using a PC Flashed graphic card ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB.

But I have an issue, when running ML I'm unable to select a 10.7.4 or BootCamp drive. I always got an error message telling me that I'm not allowed to do this !!!!

Is this a known issue, and how can I fix it ?

Thanks