MP 1,1-5,1 Opencore fails after a few weeks.

[Melbourne Park]

Mac 5,1. with 580 GPU (the recommended version). Latest Tsialex ROM etc. Installed Opencore 4 weeks ago. It worked for two weeks. Then it would not fully boot. I did a disk repair and it worked. Then failed again. It starts to boot, black screen with white Apple logo, then the screen goes black and the monitor reports its no longer getting a signal, and the monitor then never gets a signal.

I pulled the drives except for the Opencore drive - Monterey - and booted using the option key, with the Open Core install USB, and it seemed to re-install Opencore/Monterey. The OS booted but essentially hangs. When I try to do something, I get a spinning circle, either coloured or grey.

There is a file I need on the drive, which I cannot find without booting from Monterey. I can see the file while in Monterey, but when booted from Mojave, I cannot find the file.

If I format another SSD drive, can I boot from the install Opencore patcher USB Monterey USB and just re install ?

I don't want to re-format the Opencore Monterey drive, because it has the file I need on it. The SSD drive was a new Crucial 500 MX drive, 1 TB.

 

[FirDerrig33]

Just out of curiosity, did you happen to disable the auto update feature of Mac OS once you had installed Monterey through OCLP? I had this issue a lot when I first started OCLP and decided that it might be that. did you happen to install OCLP on a flash drive as well? booting to the boot picker once that's connected might give you the option to boot into Monterey that way.

Do you have more than one display connected? Depending on what you're connecting to, it might not see the display and then might also not show the boot selector.

And yes getting another one should work just fine since you already have the OCLP USB.

 

[Melbourne Park]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I disabled it. I did allow a Safari update, and another program too ... Sketchup Pro.

I might remove my RAID card ... perhaps there is a conflict with it. Its slower than normal and it seemed the OS was running its raid. But after an attempt at re-installed the OS onto the same drive - without reformatting it - the RAID software was on the desktop. But because the OS was hanging, I was not able to look at the Highpoint's raid software.

Only one monitor.

The monitor operates on selecting a boot drive (via option key) with the grey screen and coloured drives, and then when booting, the screen goes black with a white large central Apple logo, with a white horizontal progress bar, and mid way, the screen goes black, and monitor then reports no computer signal, the computer seems then make no further progress. Previously it would also go black but then the OS loading would re-appear and continue on with the monitor getting its signal all the time.

I re-installed onto the same drive, and it booted, but then hung. I have wondered if its drive related, as its a 6 week old SSD.

I will format another SSD into APFS Case Sensitive, put it into the #1 slot drive bay carrier and pop it in, remove everything else and boot from the USB Opencore installer.

Although the installer USB was created a month ago - perhaps there is a newer version?
The only file I can see on the USB installer is called Install macOS Monterey.app
Date 16 Sept.
Size is reported as 12,451,710,414 bytes (12.45 GB on disk)
Version: 17.7.61

I also have had Snapscan software appearing ... I suspect the Snapscan Fujitzu scanner (a document scanner attached via a USB port) is effecting things. It is also capable of operating via bluetooth, but I have never operated it that way. Fujitsu stopped its previous software and all its software is new. I will remove that cable as well and turn it off to be certain!!

I will reboot without the RAID card and with the document scanner turned off and see if the Monterey OS hangs before installed a fresh version via the USB installer I described.

 

[FirDerrig33]

Yes, I disabled it. I did allow a Safari update, and another program too ... Sketchup Pro.

I might remove my RAID card ... perhaps there is a conflict with it. Its slower than normal and it seemed the OS was running its raid. But after an attempt at re-installed the OS onto the same drive - without reformatting it - the RAID software was on the desktop. But because the OS was hanging, I was not able to look at the Highpoint's raid software.

Only one monitor.

The monitor operates on selecting a boot drive (via option key) with the grey screen and coloured drives, and then when booting, the screen goes black with a white large central Apple logo, with a white horizontal progress bar, and mid way, the screen goes black, and monitor then reports no computer signal, the computer seems then make no further progress. Previously it would also go black but then the OS loading would re-appear and continue on with the monitor getting its signal all the time.

I re-installed onto the same drive, and it booted, but then hung. I have wondered if its drive related, as its a 6 week old SSD.

I will format another SSD into APFS Case Sensitive, put it into the #1 slot drive bay carrier and pop it in, remove everything else and boot from the USB Opencore installer.

Although the installer USB was created a month ago - perhaps there is a newer version?
The only file I can see on the USB installer is called Install macOS Monterey.app
Date 16 Sept.
Size is reported as 12,451,710,414 bytes (12.45 GB on disk)
Version: 17.7.61

Yeah I would remove everything that's not necessary, do a bunch of NVRAM resets. That's what I had to do to fix the issue when I thought I corrupted my bootrom.

What monitor are you using? and are you only trying the boot selector holding the option key or are you also trying to boot into the recovery partition?

That still looks like the most recent version but I would say definitely check for a newer one anyway. As of right now if there have been any updates to MacOS, then they should be included on that new installer and the patches as well which would then make it not necessary for you to use software update.

Good luck! I finally got my Mac Pro to be stable with OCLP but it can be weird sometimes.

 

[Melbourne Park]

Thanks. I had tried VRAM re-sets, but no difference.

I boot into Monterey using the boot selector EFI boot loader disk icon. Then the Mac boots in Monterey before I can select another drive! I am getting slow!!

I am typing this in Monterey though ... its wroking fine I think.

Changes:
Removed:
the scanner
the Highpoint RAID card.
Formatted a new 2TB SSD drive for the Opencore Monterey installation. That drive may have also been an issue as when I booted from it with Mojave I had some problems. I had created that spare drive by using SuperDuper to create a copied Mojave drive, but I suspect there was an internet file on it causing problems. Perhaps the drive is an issue too.

Also the machine is quiet now - so the RAID card cannot be operating properly, as the fan noise I have heard has not been the RX 580 GPU but must have been the Highpoint's fan. Which indicates to me the issue is related to the Highpoint's software.

Thanks ... I suspect the issue are related to the Highpoint RAID card.

 

[Melbourne Park]

Oh the monitor is a 27" CS 2731 Eizo connected via Display port.

 

[Melbourne Park]

And it happened again ... the computer runs for 10 minutes, and then hangs. And when I boot with one formatted drive in the #1 slot and select the USB install drive, instead of installing, I get a grey circle with the angled grey bar, which indicates the USB drive cannot find a drive to install to, and then the computer shuts down. Same if the empty drive is in the #2 drive bay. It runs High Sierra and Mojave without any issues.

So now I have put the Monterey drive into the DVD drive bay SATA connection, and put the blank formatted drive which the USB Open Core Monterey stick cannot see when trying to instll the OS, and instead, I have gone into recovery mode. And recovery mode sees both drives. And i selected to install on the blank drive (not the one with seemingly a corrupted install OS.

Very strange that under recovery mode the drive is seen, but not when the drive is the only drive in the computer (besides the USB install thumb drive).

When are the new mac minis out? Maybe I'll buy one of those, and buy a Thunderbolt 3 Highpoint external PCI chassis for the RAID card ... and consider a PC ...

 

[FirDerrig33]

And it happened again ... the computer runs for 10 minutes, and then hangs. And when I boot with one formatted drive in the #1 slot and select the USB install drive, instead of installing, I get a grey circle with the angled grey bar, which indicates the USB drive cannot find a drive to install to, and then the computer shuts down. Same if the empty drive is in the #2 drive bay. It runs High Sierra and Mojave without any issues.

So now I have put the Monterey drive into the DVD drive bay SATA connection, and put the blank formatted drive which the USB Open Core Monterey stick cannot see when trying to instll the OS, and instead, I have gone into recovery mode. And recovery mode sees both drives. And i selected to install on the blank drive (not the one with seemingly a corrupted install OS.

Very strange that under recovery mode the drive is seen, but not when the drive is the only drive in the computer (besides the USB install thumb drive).

When are the new mac minis out? Maybe I'll buy one of those, and buy a Thunderbolt 3 Highpoint external PCI chassis for the RAID card ... and consider a PC ...

LOL. well not really LOL but I get it.

OCLP is a funny thing and sometimes it makes the computer do funny things too. When I first started with it, I think I installed it at least a dozen times and then I just gave up and went back to Mojave. Then when the most recent OCLP was released I decided to try again and just watch a YouTube video the whole time on another machine to make sure I wasn't messing anything up.

Disk Utility should show you something though even if the finder doesn't se it or the boot selector. Whenever I boot into Mojave I get the notification that "this disk is not useable...something something something."

I would also recommend using the recovery partition to repair the drive, then reset NVRAM again, then try booting into it again using the option key. Then if it boots into Monterey, reinstall OCLP to that drive with the newest root patches as well and see if that works. If you haven't installed OCLP and the root patches to the drive that you would like to select, then it will continue to fail I think.

Since my last install, it has been solid. I also don't allow it to update. The 5,1 shouldn't really be running it anyway so I'm happy enough that it does.

This all being said, I am now using my Mac mini 2014 as my primary machine. the 5,1 is just for fun until I decide to sell it and upgrade my mini.

Also...how is your PRAM battery? have you ever replaced it?

 

[Melbourne Park]

I have replaced the battery, but maybe three years ago. I think when I departed from High Sierra.

I installed a new Monterey OS onto a newly formatted SSD drive, but I had to do it while the faulty Monterey drive was a SATA port computer. So the install had to include that drive, otherwise the USB would not find the intended SSD drive. I thought that very strange. In my infinite wisdom (=> stupidity) I had the drive prospective Monterey drive formatted as case sensitive. Maybe that stops the installation seeing the drive. I did not realise I had done that until Migration assistant because my drives are not case sensitive it cannot import anything.
... so I'm going to have to reformat the drive again, and install again!!

The files that I needed that were in the faulty start up Monterey drive (that had the computer hang) are still there, so that is a relief. I don't know why they don't seem to be on the cloud ... all a bit strange.

 

[MrScratchHook]

I have replaced the battery, but maybe three years ago. I think when I departed from High Sierra.

I installed a new Monterey OS onto a newly formatted SSD drive, but I had to do it while the faulty Monterey drive was a SATA port computer. So the install had to include that drive, otherwise the USB would not find the intended SSD drive. I thought that very strange. In my infinite wisdom (=> stupidity) I had the drive prospective Monterey drive formatted as case sensitive. Maybe that stops the installation seeing the drive. I did not realise I had done that until Migration assistant because my drives are not case sensitive it cannot import anything.
... so I'm going to have to reformat the drive again, and install again!!

The files that I needed that were in the faulty start up Monterey drive (that had the computer hang) are still there, so that is a relief. I don't know why they don't seem to be on the cloud ... all a bit strange.

ive had this issue before, what i did was booted from mojave which had martin lo open core installed while also leaving monterey inserted, once it booted into mojave i deleted opencore from monterey and that got me in. the best practice is to have opencore on mojave in bay 1(furthest left) and monterey inserted on a different disk.

 

[Melbourne Park]

ive had this issue before, what i did was booted from mojave which had martin lo open core installed while also leaving monterey inserted, once it booted into mojave i deleted opencore from monterey and that got me in. the best practice is to have opencore on mojave in bay 1(furthest left) and monterey inserted on a different disk.

That sounds a solution. I had opencore Monterey on Bay 1 and it was possible to boot Mojave from anywhere.

On Opencore Legacy patch's page, it says (I have deleted the text before this quote): Quote:
" ...

..... (🚫) Prohibited Symbol​

This means macOS has detected an SMBIOS it does not support. To resolve this, ensure you're booting OpenCore before the macOS installer in the boot picker. Reminder that the option will be called EFI Boot.

Once you've booted OpenCore at least once, your hardware should now auto-boot it until either an NVRAM reset occurs, or you remove the drive with OpenCore installed.

However, if the 🚫 Symbol only appears after the boot process has already started (the bootscreen appears/verbose boot starts), it could mean that your USB drive has failed to pass macOS' integrity checks. To resolve this, create a new installer using a different USB drive (preferably of a different model.) " End Quote

OpenCore Support Page Link ​

And this seems pretty much like my issue. I have not always run the same OS since being able to easily choose my boot drive. I think choosing another drive and OS, and then going back, I must have not gone via the EFI boot picker on a start up, and then things got corrupted. NVRAM re-sets did not achieve anything.

So I will start again and create a new install USB install Opencore thumbdrive, using a new different branded USB thumbdrive.

I also did replace my battery. No difference. But the battery (I think the machine's second) had a big dent in it, from the strong battery tong (keeper/spring or whatever it should be called). I suspect the replacement battery was not up to Apple's original spec! And neither would the one I put in yesterday!! Everything seems lower cost these days, often effective, but made on the minimum specifications ... the dimensions would probably be the same, but the metal being thinner or software, heck ...

 

[Melbourne Park]

Now I cannot download Mojave (for a clean install of mojave because Opencore 2.02 crashes). Apple rejects my password on their site. My other macs accept my password, but that will not download Mojave - one because it has later software, and one because its a 2013 computer and Apple says its not supported for Mojave.

I may have to do a clean install with High Sierra ... and then install Opencore from High Sierra ... or with a clean High Sierra, then upgrade to Mojave I guess ... then try opencore again onto another drive of course.

Such a waste of my time ... Opencore was great for the several weeks it worked.

 

[sfalatko]

Now I cannot download Mojave (for a clean install of mojave because Opencore 2.02 crashes). Apple rejects my password on their site. My other macs accept my password, but that will not download Mojave - one because it has later software, and one because its a 2013 computer and Apple says its not supported for Mojave.

I may have to do a clean install with High Sierra ... and then install Opencore from High Sierra ... or with a clean High Sierra, then upgrade to Mojave I guess ... then try opencore again onto another drive of course.

Such a waste of my time ... Opencore was great for the several weeks it worked.

Try the Mojave link here - https://mrmacintosh.com/how-to-download-macos-catalina-mojave-or-high-sierra-full-installers/

 

[Melbourne Park]

Thanks. I thought I tried Mr Macintosh and I thought it was a link to Apple's site.

I had a High Sierra system, and put in a 1TB SSD that I had labelled the exterior as "Blank", and when I SATA attached it, it had a clean copy of Mojave on it. Phew! I rebooted from that, without anything else, and eventually was able to create a fresh install Opencore USB, and that installed into a formatted blank drive. So all is well I hope.

I will now label that blank Mojave drive ... I was told by Mac Rumors helpers here when installing Open Core to make a clean copy, and I did. Thanks goodness - and for all those advising me to do so. Saved a huge amount of time.

I suspect I did not use the EFI boot selection at one time, and that corrupted my whole OS ...