OS X El Capitan on Unsupported Macs

[Ebenezum]

This might be a stupid question but I am wondering why install El Capitan on models that are not supported?

I can understand installing it on Mac Pro 1.x and 2.x models because they can be upgraded to relatively modern standards but I am sceptical if the other Macs listed on the first post work fast enough with El Capitan (older Macs which are barely supported are struggling with El Capitan in my experience) and it seems its a lot of work which might not even work?

 

[Fred57]

Thanks atvusr,

I was wondering if we still were talking about 10.11.

No solution on my side, though some good clues that others could follow:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/to...-usb-series-89-keeping-vanilla-sle/?p=2172168
http://forum.osxlatitude.com/index.php?/topic/8139-patched-dsdt-usb-fix-for-os-x-1011-el-capitan/
Using a macMini 1,1 (2,1 with firmware update), I have a USBHub & plenty of ports, so a bit lost considering the references. They still do not load when modified as suggested in the links above & adding 2,1 in IOUSBHostfamily.kext.

For the time being, on the top the changes, using System/Library/Prelinkedkernels/prelinkedkernel results in KP 1665 (mentioned by Pike R Alpha in his blog).

I understand that maybe Pike will have good news for us this WE, let's cross fingers.

 

[Riwam]

The Kexts were not installed correctly. That is why you are seeing 6 MB Graphics instead of 144 MB
You can get your Kexts from OS X Extractor. Use Pacifist and in the Kext folder, extract your Graphics Card model installer

*************
Hello TMRJIJ

I managed to extract with Pacifist, as you told me, the kext installer for the 3100 card of the MP 4.1 out of all the 1.3 Extractors downloads.
I run it as well as the one saying simply ATI.
However the profiler still indicates 6 MB RAM for the Graphic Card.
Any suggestion what to do now ?

Thank you very much
Ed

 

[atvusr]

This might be a stupid question but I am wondering why install El Capitan on models that are not supported?

Because Apple doesn't support older versions of OS X anymore (not even Security-Updates) and many older Macs are still sufficient for some tasks. In addition these machines were (very) expensive. Why scrap for instance a MacBook Pro 2,x equipped with SSD, 802.11n WiFi and USB 3.0 (via ExpressCard)? Without the hurdles of the System Integrity Protection it would be possible to install OSX 10.11 El Capitan in a relatively simple manner on older Macs like OSX 10.10 Yosemite before. With a dual-boot environment with OS X 10.6.8 (offline-usage and for Software which requires the PowerPC emulation) and at least OS X 10.10 (for online-usage including the latest Security-Updates) the older Macs are not too old yet ....

 

[Riwam]

This might be a stupid question but I am wondering why install El Capitan on models that are not supported?

I can understand installing it on Mac Pro 1.x and 2.x models because they can be upgraded to relatively modern standards but I am sceptical if the other Macs listed on the first post work fast enough with El Capitan (older Macs which are barely supported are struggling with El Capitan in my experience) and it seems its a lot of work which might not even work?

***************
I believe you think in a very reasonable way.
The "security updates" mentioned by atvusr to justify all the acrobatics involved in struggling with old Macs and new OS, are vital for computers running Windows.
When Microsoft stopped to deliver them for Windows XP it actually buried that OS for any productive use.
OSX is not Windows.
Many users of old Mac hardware still love Snow Leopard and continue to use it for productive work.
If all the acrobacies would bring true solutions one might understand them but we hear from more and more failures in this forum.
As soon as one problem is solved a new one is discovered.
Some people are sensible but most aren't...

 

[Fred57]

I used the latest boot.efi from Pike R Alpha on my mac mini 2,1


The sequence is:
- USB disk flashes and loads something
- USB disk stops loading (but USB Hub is still powered) & progress bar appears on screen
- Stop sign appears a bit after the middle of the total progress bar

I do not know if the Install GUI follows a progress bar too, or my Mac loads something from somewhere else and stops ?

Thanks for sharing ideas. Also, if somebody close enough to Pike R Alpha could hint to him that owners of Macs others than MacPros would love to get his attention to get our systems to work on El Capitan, that would be superb !

 

[Ebenezum]

Because Apple doesn't support older versions of OS X anymore (not even Security-Updates) and many older Macs are still sufficient for some tasks. In addition these machines were (very) expensive. Why scrap for instance a MacBook Pro 2,x equipped with SSD, 802.11n WiFi and USB 3.0 (via ExpressCard)? Without the hurdles of the System Integrity Protection it would be possible to install OSX 10.11 El Capitan in a relatively simple manner on older Macs like OSX 10.10 Yosemite before. With a dual-boot environment with OS X 10.6.8 (offline-usage and for Software which requires the PowerPC emulation) and at least OS X 10.10 (for online-usage including the latest Security-Updates) the older Macs are not too old yet ....

I used 10.6.8 in old iMac until it broke down recently and I certainly understand its attraction with older software. For my use its much simpler to have separate 10.6.8 capable Mac which isn't connected to internet and another Mac for newer operating systems. Given the number of problems reported in this discussion I personally am reluctant to try installing 10.11 to non supported Mac.

***************
I believe you think in a very reasonable way.
The "security updates" mentioned by atvusr to justify all the acrobatics involved in struggling with old Macs and new OS, are vital for computers running Windows.
When Microsoft stopped to deliver them for Windows XP it actually buried that OS for any productive use.
OSX is not Windows.
Many users of old Mac hardware still love Snow Leopard and continue to use it for productive work.
If all the acrobacies would bring true solutions one might understand them but we hear from more and more failures in this forum.
As soon as one problem is solved a new one is discovered.
Some people are sensible but most aren't...

It might be interesting to try updating unsupported Mac to 10.11 and I might try it if I owned such a Mac but I am not certain security updates are worth this kind of work. While 10.6.8 isn't receiving any security updates and it has vulnerabilities I don't think most criminals would target it considering it's relatively low % of the Macs connected to internet.

 

[Riwam]

It might be interesting to try updating unsupported Mac to 10.11 and I might try it if I owned such a Mac but I am not certain security updates are worth this kind of work. While 10.6.8 isn't receiving any security updates and it has vulnerabilities I don't think most criminals would target it considering it's relatively low % of the Macs connected to internet.

*******************
... AND considering the low % of world computers using OSX as their OS.
Criminals target their weapons to the greater concentration of possible victims to maximise their illegal benefits.
Therefore... to Windows users.

I think I would sleep peacefully even if my Mac was still running Snow Leopard and it was connected to the web.
Reasonable behaviour, for instance regarding mails, is still the best protection, considering how many large companies and even state institutions were hacked...mainly because of stupid human curiosity.

 

[MacVidCards]

I used the latest boot.efi from Pike R Alpha on my mac mini 2,1


The sequence is:
- USB disk flashes and loads something
- USB disk stops loading (but USB Hub is still powered) & progress bar appears on screen
- Stop sign appears a bit after the middle of the total progress bar

I do not know if the Install GUI follows a progress bar too, or my Mac loads something from somewhere else and stops ?

Thanks for sharing ideas. Also, if somebody close enough to Pike R Alpha could hint to him that owners of Macs others than MacPros would love to get his attention to get our systems to work on El Capitan, that would be superb !

Yep, that is what happens when USB driver quits.

 

[atvusr]

A new version of Pike R. Alpha's Boot.efi for OSX 10.11 El Capitan is now available:

http://piker-alpha.github.io/macosxbootloader/

 

[Riwam]

I'm

The Kexts were not installed correctly. That is why you are seeing 6 MB Graphics instead of 144 MB
You can get your Kexts from OS X Extractor. Use Pacifist and in the Kext folder, extract your Graphics Card model installer

***********
Hello TMRJII

Your suggestion to run the package from the Extractor corresponding to my 3100 graphic card did not change the value of 6 MB video RAM shown by the profiler.
However I run the MCPF installer with the same OS a second time over the existing system and that brought success.
Now the graphic card is indicated again with 144 MB of (shared) video RAM.

My only problem still unsolved is the fact that the supposedly "Recovery Partition" does not allow to boot from it. The booting screen shows just the well known circle with a diagonal line over it.
Any suggestion?
(There is a tool supposed to create a missing Recovery Partition but it did not work for me and I doubt that it works at all).

#############################################################
TO COMPLETE THIS MISSING RECOVERY PARTITION MATTER, IN A THREAD IN OSX 10.10 called
"My Recovery Partition won't update" under Post #8 there is a link to a VERY useful and interesting Terminal script with instructions which actually RECREATES a missing Recovery Partition.
However it is of course intended for normal, non hacked OS.
I do not know if it might work if the OS was installed through MCPF in an unsupported Mac ?...
IN ANY CASE IT IS WORTH KEEPING THAT INFO FOR ANY POSSIBLE FUTURE NEED !
##############################################################

Thank you again TMRJIJ for your efforts to help others.
Have a pleasant time.
Ed

 

[Fred57]

Update:

I used latest commit from Pike R Alpha & new USB installer with CreateMedia method. I changed all the boot.efi(s), the platform support, Distribution list, etc...

Result:
Load hangs at "Missing Bluetooth Controller Transport !"

and then new screen with
"Still missing Root Device"

see below screenshot

 

[atvusr]

I used latest commit from Pike R Alpha & new USB installer with CreateMedia method.

Try the Boot.efi commit 70f77b1a86590bdce100b5eda2f7cd574d47be1e with the legacy Installer (Hennesie-Guide). It boots into the Installer-GUI, the install starts, but on the MBP2,2 I get a Kernel Panic after 2 mins.

 

[MacVidCards]

Try the Boot.efi commit 70f77b1a86590bdce100b5eda2f7cd574d47be1e with the legacy Installer (Hennesie-Guide). It boots into the Installer-GUI, the install starts, but on the MBP2,2 I get a Kernel Panic after 2 mins.

Is the install media via USB? If so it will never work.

 

[atvusr]

Is the install media via USB? If so it will never work.

It's booted via FireWire800 or eSATA.

 

[Adamscomputerrepair]

***************
I believe you think in a very reasonable way.
The "security updates" mentioned by atvusr to justify all the acrobatics involved in struggling with old Macs and new OS, are vital for computers running Windows.
When Microsoft stopped to deliver them for Windows XP it actually buried that OS for any productive use.
OSX is not Windows.
Many users of old Mac hardware still love Snow Leopard and continue to use it for productive work.
If all the acrobacies would bring true solutions one might understand them but we hear from more and more failures in this forum.
As soon as one problem is solved a new one is discovered.
Some people are sensible but most aren't...

I'm kinda with you on this. I still use an iMac G4 for basic web browsing and even light video editing.

 

[MacVidCards]

I think especially with these older EFI32 machines it would be much better to get a working install via a newer machine, then switch the boot.efi files in all 3 spots. There are enough other issues that trying to make a working installer is going to be very difficult.

It's a pity that nobody is working on the USB, though with the other issues may not be worth the bother.

 

[Fred57]

I think especially with these older EFI32 machines it would be much better to get a working install via a newer machine, then switch the boot.efi files in all 3 spots. There are enough other issues that trying to make a working installer is going to be very difficult.

It's a pity that nobody is working on the USB, though with the other issues may not be worth the bother.

As the load was hanging on the BT Kext, I just tried to replace the IOBTFamily kext by the Yosemite one. Same result though, hanging there & "still waiting for a root device message"

I agree with you that we need more people involved here on USB / BT issue.
Would you know some firewire --> USB adapter for me to at least install the OS ?

Thanks

 

[Fred57]

Try the Boot.efi commit 70f77b1a86590bdce100b5eda2f7cd574d47be1e with the legacy Installer (Hennesie-Guide). It boots into the Installer-GUI, the install starts, but on the MBP2,2 I get a Kernel Panic after 2 mins.

Yes, I tried & same result. Till there is a solution for USB/BT stopping working when EC loads Kexts, there is no way to get the installer to the end.
Also, I am under the impression that new commits from Pike R Alpha are more & more MacPro focused, and less "old" unsupported Macs as a whole. Is that true ? It would be bad news for now.

 

[MacVidCards]

Yes, I tried & same result. Till there is a solution for USB/BT stopping working when EC loads Kexts, there is no way to get the installer to the end.
Also, I am under the impression that new commits from Pike R Alpha are more & more MacPro focused, and less "old" unsupported Macs as a whole. Is that true ? It would be bad news for now.

You are not taking a realistic view of things.

Pike has just finally gotten a good boot.efi for Mac Pro. The level of seriousness in this thread is clownlike. I keep telling everyone that USB doesn't work and you all keep trying to use USB. IT DOESN"T WORK.

That has been securely established. For $60 anyone can get the Mini PCIE and USB card I got and help. Your keyboard, trackpad, mouse and BT all use USB, so no way to even finish install, much less use the OS.

Or sit around whining about USB not working. It won't fix itself andPike has no reason to do it. The OP of this thread has made a habit of stealing Pike's work and wrapping it into his "package" so why would Pike help here?

I have offered to work WITH someone, but so far all I have gotten is a bunch of empty nonsense. Either someone helps me figure it out, or it sits and nothing happens. USB DOESN'T WORK. I'm not going to do it by myself. Twice in this thread I have offered ways to get El Capitan running on these other Macs, twice I was right. Still nobody is helping. Not worth my time if everyone is going to sit and wait for it to be spoon fed to them in a download.

Install on another machine, replace boot.efi files, and add a way to use input devices or you aren't helping. Re-confirming 10 more times that USB doesn't work isn't helping.

 

[Fred57]

You are not taking a realistic view of things.

Pike has just finally gotten a good boot.efi for Mac Pro. The level of seriousness in this thread is clownlike. I keep telling everyone that USB doesn't work and you all keep trying to use USB. IT DOESN"T WORK.

That has been securely established. For $60 anyone can get the Mini PCIE and USB card I got and help. Your keyboard, trackpad, mouse and BT all use USB, so no way to even finish install, much less use the OS.

Or sit around whining about USB not working. It won't fix itself andPike has no reason to do it. The OP of this thread has made a habit of stealing Pike's work and wrapping it into his "package" so why would Pike help here?

I have offered to work WITH someone, but so far all I have gotten is a bunch of empty nonsense. Either someone helps me figure it out, or it sits and nothing happens. USB DOESN'T WORK. I'm not going to do it by myself. Twice in this thread I have offered ways to get El Capitan running on these other Macs, twice I was right. Still nobody is helping. Not worth my time if everyone is going to sit and wait for it to be spoon fed to them in a download.

Install on another machine, replace boot.efi files, and add a way to use input devices or you aren't helping. Re-confirming 10 more times that USB doesn't work isn't helping.

David (May I call you David ?)

Consider taking some anger management courses. Forums are not the right place to unleash your emotional states.

Questions:
"That has been securely established" --> source ?

Have you asked yourself why usb does not work and got a reasonable answer ? Stating "it does not work" reads like "the sun orbits the earth and turtles down the way". If you do have one, I and maybe others would love to know because if we know why it does not work, there is definitely a way to fix it by the community.

Side note, I admire Pike R Alpha's dedication, work and astonishing results. HE does things.

Finally, if the level of the thread is so low, why continuing posting here ? Not really helping anybody at all.

Be well

 

[whodatrr]

"Bring your old Mac back to life", indeed?

El-Capitain has brought two of my relatively new Macs to near death. Do't know why anyone would want to risk putting that stuff on unsupported hardware, if it doesn't even work on the supported stuff?

 

[TMRJIJ]

Is the iMac 5,1 the only EFI32 Mac that needs SIP disabled? I know the Mac Pros are fine with it enabled but I'm wondering if it is really necessary trying work with the Bootloader for testing the kexts if Pike's source code already has the references in the git version control to him disabling it for testing.
If this is the case then I would just need some time on the EFI64 Mac's Bootloaders.

 

[atvusr]

Is the iMac 5,1 the only EFI32 Mac that needs SIP disabled?

Dunno. The MBP2,x has EFI32 too, but I cannot test disabling SIP because OSX 10.11 runs not stable, a lot of Kernel Panics at the moment.

Here a list of Macs which have either EFI32 or EFI64. Plus a list of Board-IDs.

According to the list above, these are the Macs with EFI32:

- MacBook Air 1,1
- MacBook 2,1
- MacBook Pro 2,x
- Mac mini 1,1 (upgraded to C2D)
- iMac 4,x (upgraded to C2D)
- iMac 5,x
- iMac 6,1
- Mac Pro 1,1/2,1
- Xserve 1,1

Mac models officially supported by OSX 10.11 El Capitan:
http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/#hardware-requirements

 

[MacVidCards]

Consider taking some anger management courses. Forums are not the right place to unleash your emotional states.

Questions:
"That has been securely established" --> source ?

Have you asked yourself why usb does not work and got a reasonable answer ? Stating "it does not work" reads like "the sun orbits the earth and turtles down the way". If you do have one, I and maybe others would love to know because if we know why it does not work, there is definitely a way to fix it by the community.

Side note, I admire Pike R Alpha's dedication, work and astonishing results. HE does things.

Finally, if the level of the thread is so low, why continuing posting here ? Not really helping anybody at all.

Be well

Sorry if I was rude but I have been hoping for a serious person to come around to work on USB. Thus far, rien.

I think you are having some reading comprehension issues. Could be language related.

When someone else has El Cap running on a non-Pro EFI32 machine I'll be happy to work with them on USB.

On 2,1 Mini it has been relatively stable, but I haven't done much, with airport slot being used for USB can't get on Internet.