OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs

[MacVidCards]

Yep, seems that it is indeed the case. My USB HDD stops working at the same time the key stops blinking & the internal SSD starts loading some stuff (the stop sign appeared again after a few seconds).

A dead end for the time being or do you have any solution (except a clone of a working El Capitan which I do not have) ? (answer on post #211 I guess).

This is why the OP needs to update his opening post.

The ONLY EFI32 Mac that can currently run El Cap is the Mac Pro. And it doesn't need the package this thread is about. So until the USB issue is solved, this is a completely useless package.

I saw your PM about a disc image, but what you aren't understanding is that you still would have no USB. To solve the USB issue you just need a Inateck USB card, replace the 4850 with it, and finish your El Cap install. You won't be able to use 4850 until USB issue gets solved but you will have 2nd non-Pro EFI32 Mac on the planet running El Cap in a useable fashion.

Here is the card I got that works:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I027GPC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s03

You can make yourself the same disc image I have with any EFI64 Mac. All you need is pike's boot.efi. That is all my disk image is, an El Cap install with Pike R. Alpha's boot.efi.

Then, disable SIP in Recovery, and you can start testing USB fixes. I'm not going to do it by myself so if the OP isn't going to get his hands dirty, someone else will have to do it. I will toss 15 minutes at it here and there, but not going to put lots of effort into it.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Post 1 was updated on Saturday, October 4 by me and on Monday October 5 by @atvusr

I been looking at the EFI64 boot.efi (note this is my first time looking inside these boot loaders). I'm wondering where exact is SIP blocking unsigned Kexts. This is the only reference I've seen below. I'll probably compare previous builds of Pike's EFI32 bootloader to see where he implemented SIP support to fix csrutil disable/enable failure from the Recovery HD. That might be where I can set it to disable by default.

Can't allocate memory tagkext-dev-moderootless-x-vUsing Safe Mode
-ssrv=1SupportedBoardIdsconfigKernel Cache

 

[MacVidCards]

Sorry, as I was still getting desperate PMs looking for help today, I didn't know that you updated the first post.

However, I still don't think it is very clear:

Warning: The only EFI32 Macs that are currently able to run El Capitan completely are 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros.
Other older Macs have an Intel Chipset Issue that prevents Input Devices, USB, and Bluetooth from working during boot.

Note: The reason that input devices and BT don't work is because they are on USB bus. The issue is that USB doesn't work. And it isn't "during boot" it is after. During boot, they work. It is once El Cap drivers load that they stop.

Development Boot.efi and Kexts will be available in the Applications/OS X Hackers Patch Files/.Developers for testers only to make necessary changes in this issue.

As requested by Pike R. Alpha, you can not include his work in your package, if you are going to comply with his wishes and your word, you need to include his external link and not place his work in your installer. You did not write the boot.efi, had nothing to do with it's development, and have been asked to respect his wishes by removing it from your installer. You should keep your word and do so.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...unsupported-macs.1889851/page-8#post-22023515

As I am currently the only person with El Cap working on an EFI32 Mac that isn't a Pro I have very little motivation to figure out the rest of USB issue if it is just going to be swallowed up in someone else's package with no credit given.

Another error you need to correct is:

-MacBook2,x (Not Working)
-MacBook3,x (Not Working)
-MacBook4,x (Not Working / TMRJIJ testing Kexts . . .)
-MacBookPro2,x (partly working via USB-ExpressCard34 or Remote Desktop, but very laggy)
-MacBookAir1,1 (Not Working)
-MacMini1,x (C2D upgraded)
-MacMini2,x
-iMac4,x (C2D can be upgraded)
-iMac5,x (Testing from @MacVidCards )

I am unclear why you have listed me testing an iMac. As I noted on several occasions I have a Mac Mini 1,1 that has been upgraded/flashed to 2,1. I don't have any iMacs and never said I did.

Please see this post:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...unsupported-macs.1889851/page-8#post-22002257

If you are going to fix this issue, you will need to take accuracy a little more seriously.

 

[atvusr]

@MacVidCards:

The Post #1 in this thread is a WikiPost, you can simply correct faulty passages by yourself.
As far as I know every member with more than 25 Posts is entitled to edit this WikiPost.
To prevent more confusion I have now edited the complained passages in Post #1.

 

[MacVidCards]

@MacVidCards:

The Post #1 in this thread is a WikiPost, you can simply correct faulty passages by yourself.
As far as I know every member with more than 25 Posts is entitled to edit this WikiPost.
To prevent more confusion I have now edited the complained passages in Post #1.

Great news. Looking forward to your guys progress on the USB issue.

Any plans to treat Pike R Alpha's boot.efi as he requested and TMRJJ agreed to?

 

[atvusr]

Great news. Looking forward to your guys progress on the USB issue.

It would be interesting if you were able to install/running the GMA950 Kexts on the Mac mini 2,1.

Any plans to treat Pike R Alpha's boot.efi as he requested and TMRJJ agreed to?

This is a question for TMRJJ. I'm not involved in this project, I'm only testing if OSX 10.11 works with a MBP2,2 or not.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Great news. Looking forward to your guys progress on the USB issue.

Any plans to treat Pike R Alpha's boot.efi as he requested and TMRJJ agreed to?

Pike R Alpha's boot.efi License will be respected. His link will be in the downloads section and removed from the installer.
I am only working on editing the EFI64 Boot.efi

 

[Fred57]

I played a little with the USB Kexts in the Capitan installer using MacVidCards link
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/306777-guide-usb-fix-el-capitan-1011/page-1

Being naive, I copied pasted the Mini3,1 details and renamed to Mini2,1 in the Kexts mentioned in the link above.
--> No success (No miracle).

The interesting thing though is that the Installation just stops now on the Apple logo. No more Stop Sign or Installation from somewhere else. USB goes to sleep though.

What would interesting is something like the below for our beloved 2,1
http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/03/10/mac-mini-diamond-rough/

MacVidCards, thanks for your explanations on USB issues. One cannot really understand it until trying it. I will wait on real programmers mentioned in post 177 to get us a solution

 

[MacVidCards]

Keep in mind that there is a MAJOR Catch 22 here.

USB will likely need modded USB kexts to work.

Modded kexts won't load unless machine in SIP disabled mode.

To get into SIP disabled mode you need to type things on a keyboard.

So, unless Recovery Partition can be accessed through Screen Sharing, or the nvram variable can be set another way, someone will need to figure out a way to "game" Apple's SIP system.

If you consider that in order to make USB work, someone will basically need to figure out EXACTLY what a slimy, scheming hacker would need to hack into OS X, perhaps you see the level of challenge here.

Also keep in mind, that unless the driver hack can be made to be 100% kosher (i.e., signed by Apple or appearing to be signed by a licensed provider) that you will have to always run with SIP disabled. This also means that anything that resets the NVRAM, or an OS update/install itself will very likely kill USB again, requiring more fun hacks to get it back.

Apple may have put up a really good "no El Cap on EFI32" fence this time. To make this work, someone needs to undo all of Apple's SIP work. The only "easy" way out would be if removing something that doesn't have dependencies that bring down house of cards can work.

 

[MacVidCards]

Quick update, put the GMA950 64bit Kexts from 10.6.2 into the El Cap on Mini 1,1 and they did their usual magic.

Not full acceleration, but better then nothing. Definitely sped things up. In System Profiler it now knows it is GMA950, but doesn't list a quantity of RAM. Will add screen shots later.

So if someone figures out USB thingy, will be as good/bad as past couple OS's.

For guy who put the X1600 kexts in, did you use a kext app to use the correct permissions? First time I just dragged them and even with SIP disabled it wouldn't load them.

 

[Riwam]

TO MACVIDCARDS

Hello MacVidCards.
Since you have the knowledge I lack, would you be so kind to answer my question, although it is not in direct relation to your posts above.

I have been waiting for an answer to my worries from the thread starter but am afraid he hasn't found the time to answer me.
My question is explained in detail under post #216, my reminder to TMRJIJ under post #225 brought no result until now and I am afraid I will remain not knowing what to do and if there is or not any remaining risk I am not aware of, in trying MCPF or the Extractor in my MB 4.1 (with Lion presently) in case of failure to install any newer OSX in it.

Please, please help me
Thank you very-very-very much in advance for your opinion based on your knowledge.

Have a very nice week end MacVidCards!
Ed

 

[a02]

TO MACVIDCARDS

Hello MacVidCards.
Since you have the knowledge I lack, would you be so kind to answer my question, although it is not in direct relation to your posts above.

I have been waiting for an answer to my worries from the thread starter but am afraid he hasn't found the time to answer me.
My question is explained in detail under post #216, my reminder to TMRJIJ under post #225 brought no result until now and I am afraid I will remain not knowing what to do and if there is or not any remaining risk I am not aware of, in trying MCPF or the Extractor in my MB 4.1 (with Lion presently) in case of failure to install any newer OSX in it.

Please, please help me
Thank you very-very-very much in advance for your opinion based on your knowledge.

Have a very nice week end MacVidCards!
Ed

Ed,

If you have access to a system already running a newer version of OS X than 10.7, you may attempt to create an installer with MPF. You will be able to create an installer for 10.8, 10.9, or 10.10 with MPF. Installing and using 10.11 El Capitan is currently not possible on the MacBook 4,1 with the discussed USB issues. You will need to already have the respective installer app from the Mac AppStore for one of those versions. I have not had success using MPF from a 10.7 install. You can also follow the manual instructions for creating these installers available in the forums.

Take note that the MacBook 4,1 will lack full support for graphics acceleration in 10.9 and beyond. Basic functions will still work though things like video playback in DVD player, iTunes, and VLC will not function and could cause the app to crash. Apps that depend on OpenGL such as maps will not work either. Sleep functions are not fully supported anymore as well. The system will go to sleep, but will not fully wake up and you will have to force-restart it. Overall there may be more issues with this set up than are worthwhile to you.

10.8 will mostly work just fine on this model. It too though is a hack to get it to work in this case. So there may be an odd bug here or there you could run into. This version doesn't receive updates from Apple anymore either.

All of this needs to be considered before leaving your fully supported (for that Mac) setup with 10.7.

 

[Riwam]

Ed,

If you have access to a system already running a newer version of OS X than 10.7, you may attempt to create an installer with MPF. You will be able to create an installer for 10.8, 10.9, or 10.10 with MPF. Installing and using 10.11 El Capitan is currently not possible on the MacBook 4,1 with the discussed USB issues. You will need to already have the respective installer app from the Mac AppStore for one of those versions. I have not had success using MPF from a 10.7 install. You can also follow the manual instructions for creating these installers available in the forums.

Take note that the MacBook 4,1 will lack full support for graphics acceleration in 10.9 and beyond. Basic functions will still work though things like video playback in DVD player, iTunes, and VLC will not function and could cause the app to crash. Apps that depend on OpenGL such as maps will not work either. Sleep functions are not fully supported anymore as well. The system will go to sleep, but will not fully wake up and you will have to force-restart it. Overall there may be more issues with this set up than are worthwhile to you.

10.8 will mostly work just fine on this model. It too though is a hack to get it to work in this case. So there may be an odd bug here or there you could run into. This version doesn't receive updates from Apple anymore either.

All of this needs to be considered before leaving your fully supported (for that Mac) setup with 10.7.

*********
It is very kind of yours a02 to take the time and patience to answer me!
Thank you heartily for all your useful and reasonable advises.

Now one point still to be answered.
Supposing I manage to install one of those 3 non-Lion OSX using, to do so, a different internal HD and, as you warn me, I come to the conclusion it is not worth while, will putting again into the MP 4.1 the original HD with Lion work as before my experiments with no booting or other issues remaining?
Or do I risk to remain with even an unstable Lion?

Thank you very much for kindly advising me in this point.
I truly appreciate very much your help!
Ed

 

[a02]

*********
It is very kind of yours a02 to take the time and patience to answer me!
Thank you heartily for all your useful and reasonable advises.

Now one point still to be answered.
Supposing I manage to install one of those 3 non-Lion OSX using, to do so, a different internal HD and, as you warn me, I come to the conclusion it is not worth while, will putting again into the MP 4.1 the original HD with Lion work as before my experiments with no booting or other issues remaining?
Or do I risk to remain with even an unstable Lion?

Thank you very much for kindly advising me in this point.
I truly appreciate very much your help!
Ed

If you're going to try any experimenting make sure you have a backup of your data. As long as you install to an external drive and make no modifications/changes to the Lion drive/partition it should run just as before. Though you may have to select it at boot by holding down the option key if it is no longer set as the startup disk and your other install goes bad.

 

[Riwam]

If you're going to try any experimenting make sure you have a backup of your data. As long as you install to an external drive and make no modifications/changes to the Lion drive/partition it should run just as before. Though you may have to select it at boot by holding down the option key if it is no longer set as the startup disk and your other install goes bad.

If you're going to try any experimenting make sure you have a backup of your data. As long as you install to an external drive and make no modifications/changes to the Lion drive/partition it should run just as before. Though you may have to select it at boot by holding down the option key if it is no longer set as the startup disk and your other install goes bad.

************************************
Thank you very much.
I will try it in an external drive as you suggest.
Have a very pleasant week end.
It is truly good that people bother to help others as you do.
Best regards from far away Switzerland
Ed

 

[MacVidCards]

As I have stated 1 or 2 billion times, always ALWAYS have an image of your previous working install. A full copy, not just files backed up on other disks. If you create a full restore image before you start you never risk losing anything.

I think you need to also understand that nothing other then your hard drive gets modded by any of this.

 

[Fred57]

Bought a USB to IDE adaptor to try to replace the Superdrive by a USB extension while keeping the HD4850 working. 10 days to delivery. But still missing a EFI64 working cloned EC image (Recov HD + main drive) to do further tests (Mac Pro only it seems). Donators welcome.

 

[MacVidCards]

You can make the install on any recent Mac.

1. Install on HD that will end up in Mini
2. Boot to regular OS on the EFI64 Mac
3. Get Pike R. Alpha's boot.efi from his blog
4. Use the EFI64 Mac to replace the 3 locations of the file
5. Put drive in Mini
6. Hit power button

It really is that simple, IF you have a USB solution

 

[MacVidCards]

Bought a USB to IDE adaptor to try to replace the Superdrive by a USB extension while keeping the HD4850 working. 10 days to delivery. But still missing a EFI64 working cloned EC image (Recov HD + main drive) to do further tests (Mac Pro only it seems). Donators welcome.

Hey, are you trying to use USB to create SATA or other way around?

Do you have a link?

I don't think they go that way but would be happy to be wrong.

Here are shots of GMA950

 

[Fred57]

Hey, are you trying to use USB to create SATA or other way around?

Do you have a link?

I don't think they go that way but would be happy to be wrong.

Here are shots of GMA950
View attachment 591298 View attachment 591297

Hi,

Ouch, you are correct, seems the other way after careful reading.... Well, worth a try any way considering the price.

Great stuff on the GMA950.

On the EC image issue, I do not have access to a compatible MAC to switch HDD and do as you guide me to. Thus the need to get the clone file already finished from somewhere else.

 

[Riwam]

As I have stated 1 or 2 billion times, always ALWAYS have an image of your previous working install. A full copy, not just files backed up on other disks. If you create a full restore image before you start you never risk losing anything.

I think you need to also understand that nothing other then your hard drive gets modded by any of this.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Thank you very much MacVidCards for your kind answer.

From your clear explanation I understand that ONLY the HD is patched and no other hardware of the MacBook involved in its normal operation will be affected by any experiment with another OSX.
Therefore if I put inside my MP 4.1 a different 2.5" to do the tests, it would be no problem to replace it by the original HD with Lion if the patching proves not to be worth while.
It is accordingly not imperative to use an external HD for the experiment, just a different HD even if it is inside the MB, as long as I keep the original Lion HD.

Please correct me if I am wrong with this assumption.
Thank you very much in advance!

P.S. Please forgive me, being myself a non english speaker (making often many writing mistakes), to call your attention that you write the word "than" (as used in "other than, more than, less than...") with an "e" instead of an "a".

 

[Riwam]

If you're going to try any experimenting make sure you have a backup of your data. As long as you install to an external drive and make no modifications/changes to the Lion drive/partition it should run just as before. Though you may have to select it at boot by holding down the option key if it is no longer set as the startup disk and your other install goes bad.

*******************
Hello again a02

Since you kindly answered me before, I write to you again but any good soul who wants to help me is most warmly welcome to do so

I tried to run MCPF pointing (for safety reasons) to an external USB drive for the installation but always got an error message at the end of the MCPF process.
I then put inside my MB 4.1 another 2.5" HD I had made before with Mavericks on it (created with MCPF in a now non-working-any-longer MB 2.1).
The MB 4.1 refused to boot with that 10.9 HD.
Then I tried MCPF pointing this time to the inner Lion HD as installation drive but got the usual error message.

Finally I run MCPF pointing to install Mavericks to a 8 GB USB key.
I received after a while a message that it had "succeeded".
So MCPF created "some kind of installer" of Mavericks in that USB key.
I can see inside it all kind of files.
However I cannot boot from that key and do not know how to install Mavericks in the HD itself using that apparently "successful" key installation.

Any kind hint how to proceed will be very very appreciated!
Thank you very much!
Ed

 

[Riwam]

Hey, are you trying to use USB to create SATA or other way around?

Do you have a link?

I don't think they go that way but would be happy to be wrong.

Here are shots of GMA950
View attachment 591298 View attachment 591297

**********************
Hello MacVidCards

In case you read my new message #247 (related to MCPF and not to this post of yours) and can give me any useful hint, it would be very kind of yours.

Thank you in advance!
Ed

 

[TMRJIJ]

*******************
Hello again a02

Since you kindly answered me before, I write to you again but any good soul who wants to help me is most warmly welcome to do so

I tried to run MCPF pointing (for safety reasons) to an external USB drive for the installation but always got an error message at the end of the MCPF process.
I then put inside my MB 4.1 another 2.5" HD I had made before with Mavericks on it (created with MCPF in a now non-working-any-longer MB 2.1).
The MB 4.1 refused to boot with that 10.9 HD.
Then I tried MCPF pointing this time to the inner Lion HD as installation drive but got the usual error message.

Finally I run MCPF pointing to install Mavericks to a 8 GB USB key.
I received after a while a message that it had "succeeded".
So MCPF created "some kind of installer" of Mavericks in that USB key.
I can see inside it all kind of files.
However I cannot boot from that key and do not know how to install Mavericks in the HD itself using that apparently "successful" key installation.

Any kind hint how to proceed will be very very appreciated!
Thank you very much!
Ed

May I ask what the error code was? It could be the Recovery Partition Issue that MLforAll was spending most of his time fixing.

 

[MacVidCards]

I have never, ever used any of that jiggery pokery to install. Just do the install on a newer Mac and move the files after. Or post in the threads about those tools.

There are still active threads in the OSX sections on those versions.

I would guess that most people give up eventually, machines with multiple issues and hurdles gets boring after awhile.