MB 1,1-7,1 Running OCLP on Late 2008 MacBook (aluminum, MacBook5,1)?

[DominikHoffmann]

So, according to MacTracker, the aluminum 13-in Late 2008 MacBook can run with up to 8 GB of RAM. This is currently really cheap. A 256-GB SATA SSD is, also. Is it worth that investment (about $37) and the effort to install Ventura or Sonoma on it with OpenCore Legacy Patcher?

My son needs a computer for taking a distance-learning online class and will run Adobe Connect (most likely, unless the course provider has switched to a new platform in more recent years). I would like to keep the hardware running the more recent versions of macOS, because it’s so easy to forget how to handle quirks with some of the older versions.

 

[swamprock]

I don't see why not. I had Sonoma running on a 2009 white Macbook with very similar specs (albeit with 6gb RAM, but same Geforce 9400m), and it was fine. You won't have the trackpad issues that I had (no two-finger click or other gestures) with that machine. It's now happily running Mavericks.

Just make sure you have a good battery (at least, one with some charge ability), or the machine will slow down by about half its CPU speed.

 

[DominikHoffmann]

Thanks very much for the reassurance, @swamprock! I am expecting an Amazon shipment of an 8 GB RAM upgrade today. I will report back here with my experience.

 

[DominikHoffmann]

I just looked at this thread again and see that I had promised to report back. I have made a few posts about the process since this one:

Sonoma installer won’t boot without 🚫
A fools errand? Trying to transfer user from Sonoma to Ventura
Another go at it: Update OCLP Aluminum MacBook with Ventura to Sonoma

An attempt to install Sonoma (via OpenCore Legacy Patcher—OCLP) directly failed. I got the large 🚫 symbol on the screen during the later stages of the installation process.

I was wondering, whether I would fare better, if the installation USB drive were generated on the MacBook itself. The problem was that the SSD I put inside never had a version of macOS (Mac OS X, OS X) on it that got it working. So I first installed Lion on it with the help of a USB drive installer. I then found out that OCLP requires High Sierra to work. I therefore had to find a way to install High Sierra. That’s where dosdude1’s instruction and patch came in.

Finally, with High Sierra running I made another copy of a OCLP USB drive containing the Sonoma installer. The process went fine at first, only to end with the black screen with the 🚫 symbol on it. Obviously this was not the route to take.

With the OS installation on the boot drive hosed now, I started over: Lion, High Sierra, OCLP… This time I kept it to Ventura. Making the USB installer for Ventura worked, and Ventura installed just fine. Ventura offers the upgrade to Sonoma right in Settings → General → Software Update. OCLP (1.5.0) now recognizes the attempt to jump major versions of macOS and proactively installs (with my okay) patches readying the machine for that version. I tried that but got 🚫 again.

I went back to square one and this time stopped at Ventura. I still would like to find a way to get it to Sonoma that works. I have a Photos library from a Sonoma account that I would like the user account on the MacBook to be able to use. Photos library don’t downgrade.

Maybe someone seeing this saga has some advice on tricks to use to get the MacBook to run Sonoma. I will try it.

 

[DominikHoffmann]

I got Sonoma to install! Eventually. Here’s what was necessary:

1. With OCLP, I made a USB installer for Sonoma on this machine (it was running on Ventura).
2. I booted it up with that inserted and held down ⌘ and V (to initiate Verbose mode) after selecting the USB installer in the OCLP boot picker.
3. The installation proceeded without problems.

Why verbose mode makes a difference, I don’t understand at this point.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I found the same thing installing it on my 13" 2009 MBP 5,5, that it kept giving the prohibited sign until I started it in verbose mode. After that the only quirks were down to the USB issues with older Macs, and that it was picky about the specific USB hubs that I used in addition to only the forward USB port working until the patches were installed. But with all that sorted it's fairly happy running Sonoma with an SSD and 8GB of RAM ^_^

 

[BrianBaughn]

What is the end result…that is…does Adobe Connect run satisfactorily?

I've been running Ventura on a MB 5,1 for a while and it's quite graphically challenged.

 

[spacebyte]

I have this very same MacBook, and I'm trying the very same thing. I'm having trouble with the High Sierra patcher, though. It seemed to have stall a bit more than half way, I was using the latest version of the patcher, and the installer that the patcher provides directly from apple. Did you do something differently than I did? dosdude1's website said something about a similar (or the same issue) happening when you use an older install with the latest version of the tool, which I don't think is the issue since I got the installer from the tool itself, though I did try using an older version anyway, and that didn't boot at all.

 

[DominikHoffmann]

What is the end result…that is…does Adobe Connect run satisfactorily?

I've been running Ventura on a MB 5,1 for a while and it's quite graphically challenged.

My son connects to his online class via Adobe Connect weekly. No issues. Everything launches very slowly. Other than that it is fine. It’s a fine computer for introducing a 7th-grader to computing, especially since I spent only about $25 on a RAM upgrade. Okay, okay! Let’s not talk about the countless hours I spent on trying to get it to running Sonoma!

 

[DominikHoffmann]

I have this very same MacBook, and I'm trying the very same thing. I'm having trouble with the High Sierra patcher, though. It seemed to have stall a bit more than half way, I was using the latest version of the patcher, and the installer that the patcher provides directly from apple. Did you do something differently than I did? dosdude1's website said something about a similar (or the same issue) happening when you use an older install with the latest version of the tool, which I don't think is the issue since I got the installer from the tool itself, though I did try using an older version anyway, and that didn't boot at all.

It’s been quite a while since I went through all that. There were a number of issues with getting it to the point, where it ran Sonoma. I tackled them one by one, but unfortunately don’t recall specifics.

 

[swamprock]

I have this very same MacBook, and I'm trying the very same thing. I'm having trouble with the High Sierra patcher, though. It seemed to have stall a bit more than half way, I was using the latest version of the patcher, and the installer that the patcher provides directly from apple. Did you do something differently than I did? dosdude1's website said something about a similar (or the same issue) happening when you use an older install with the latest version of the tool, which I don't think is the issue since I got the installer from the tool itself, though I did try using an older version anyway, and that didn't boot at all.

High Sierra is possibly problematic due to the certificate expiration on the installer. It'll usually run for a bit, then stop with a "There is a problem installing Mac OS X" error. There is a way to install High Sierra with the command line that bypasses this issue.

Boot your install USB, then run Terminal. Enter this line:

/Volumes/[usb drive here]/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall

This will start the install. You won't get any feedback in Terminal while the install takes place. If you don't want APFS, add this switch to the end of that line:

--converttoapfs NO

HOWEVER, I'm not sure installing in that manner, then using the patcher to install the post-install patches will give you a bootable install. I don't see why it wouldn't, if you used dosdude1's patcher to create the media, but I cannot be sure since I've never tried this method on an unsupported machine.

 

[DominikHoffmann]

HOWEVER, I'm not sure installing in that manner, then using the patcher to install the post-install patches will give you a bootable install. I don't see why it wouldn't, if you used dosdude1's patcher to create the media, but I cannot be sure since I've never tried this method on an unsupported machine.

I said, I don’t remember how exactly I overcame the various obstacles. However, an approach like the one presented by @swamprock sounds like what I had to do.

 

[spacebyte]

HOWEVER, I'm not sure installing in that manner, then using the patcher to install the post-install patches will give you a bootable install. I don't see why it wouldn't, if you used dosdude1's patcher to create the media, but I cannot be sure since I've never tried this method on an unsupported machine.

I had already figured it out, while it's not the exact same result, I instead used dosdude1's Catalina patcher instead, it is much more up to date and worked first try without issue. I've only used it on Catalina since updating to it, but I'll try to use OCLP to get Monterey or Sequoia on it soon.