What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[ToniCH]

And thanks for the heads-up about firmware upgrading, still early in my Mac knowledge!

Its equivalent to BIOS upgrade in PC-machines. With PC's you usually decide when and if to do it but with Macs its something Apple makes the decision for you, usually. With cMP's one can do it manually and intentionally but with others its pretty much done automatically and often unexpected.

Why its so heart stopping moment to hear the loud horn sound? Because usually you hear that foghorn when something is broken and the computer does not pass the start up tests. Like when RAM or RAM slots are broken you might hear one beep repeating or several beeps depending on the issue.

 

[ToniCH]

Foghorn twice? Does it upgrade firmware step by step, or is something not quite right?

First let it work itself out. Then check your memory. Then reset PRAM.

My only beeps have been either the firmware update or memory problems. The firmware updates have been one beep only, then the different progress bar.

This doesn't list 2 beeps: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102210

I think you need to google for it.

EDIT: unless your are hearing 1 beep repeating every 5 seconds? That could indicate RAM problem.

 

[DCBassman]

First let it work itself out. Then check your memory. Then reset PRAM.

My only beeps have been either the firmware update or memory problems. The firmware updates have been one beep only, then the different progress bar.

This doesn't list 2 beeps: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102210

I think you need to google for it.

EDIT: unless your are hearing 1 beep repeating every 5 seconds? That could indicate RAM problem.

I wrote that badly. It didn't beep twice, but it did do the foghorn/progress bar a second time. HS installed and updating now, all seems well. Additional 16GB RAM already ordered!

 

[ToniCH]

Well, hopefully it did the firmware update twice or something. Sometimes OS installs fail and it tries again. If it works then don't worry about it.

 

[headlessmike]

Well, hopefully it did the firmware update twice or something. Sometimes OS installs fail and it tries again. If it works then don't worry about it.

I believe that it sometimes updates multiple firmwares. My MacBook did so, once for the main board and once for a battery controller. These were discrete updates available under Lion and not part of the OS update, so it was easier to tell what was going on. But I know that they also bake in various firmware updates into later OS and Security updates.

 

[eyoungren]

WTH. 🤷‍♂️

Just thought I'd go and add the eighth display. Of course now the wallpaper on the other monitor is short. Gotta fix that.

 

[ToniCH]

I believe that it sometimes updates multiple firmwares. My MacBook did so, once for the main board and once for a battery controller. These were discrete updates available under Lion and not part of the OS update, so it was easier to tell what was going on. But I know that they also bake in various firmware updates into later OS and Security updates.

Yeah, that is probably it. I wonder why they chose to indicate firmware update with the "horn of ultimate doom and destruction" instead just putting a simple message on the screen saying "updating firmware, please wait..."?! 😉

 

[eyoungren]

Using the eighth screen on the MP for media. In the garage, the two displays I am using for the Early 2009 Mini are also set for media. Out there I have Julie London, torch singer and actress.

So, I repeated that here on the MP using Photoshop. Only, on the MP the theme is more forest/cosmic rather than lounge. So, here we are…

 

[swamprock]

You’re right! It kind of does.

As I’m no electrical engineer, I lack the know-how to kludge something together, but for years, I have pondered ways to, somehow, sandwich in a backlight sheet from, say, an aluminium PowerBook/MacBook Pro or unibody with the key lime iBook keyboard (which uses the same translucent white keys as the ice iBooks). [The construction of the unibody backlight might work a bit better, since it’s a separate piece from the keyboard assembly. Even so, that’s still a couple tenths of a millimetre and would be a very tight fit.]

If, somehow, I could get that to function (even if it meant it’s just on all the time with no rheostatic control, since the firmware or the board would know what to do with it otherwise, even if Tiger could), it’d be yet-another checkbox ticked in the never-ending project of “all the things you didn’t realize you could get a Rev. C clamshell iBook G3 to do (but you can).”

There was a Japanese guy, many years ago, that modified an Icebook G3 with keyboard backlighting. I assume that the site is long gone, but I think he used LED strips under the keyboard and a switch or button to turn them off and on. Not sure how he powered them, though (USB bus, maybe?).

 

[B S Magnet]

There was a Japanese guy, many years ago, that modified an Icebook G3 with keyboard backlighting. I assume that the site is long gone, but I think he used LED strips under the keyboard and a switch or button to turn them off and on. Not sure how he powered them, though (USB bus, maybe?).

Interesting! If you happen to end up finding a path back to a web-archived link, that would be fun to see.

I’ve figured whatever the solution, it would need to draw from some kind of bus power.

On another “I still haven’t done this though I oughtta but probably won’t” project, I have an old USB hub whose board dimensions are just a hair larger than the modem board (which I removed from mine a long time ago). The project would be to send wires from the logic board’s USB points, route them to the USB hub’s USB input, with at least one of those hub ports having wires sent back to where the OEM USB port is, to maintain the ability to externally plug in ordinary USB items (the internal hub ports would be for things like wifi and bluetooth dongles).

But the point of mentioning this is where I might draw bus power from: the two pinouts on the PATA/IDE hard drive which, in an earlier life, would have supplied spindle motor power for an HDD (which is separate from the power supplied to the logic portion of the HDD, and is basically what an SSD uses). This would, especially for post-late 2005 ’Book backlight sources (which rely on USB, not ADB) probably be where to tap into power for lighting.

Then again, I’m not gifted with electronics. This is why I haven’t done this modification yet.

 

[DCBassman]

So, I'm patching my latest acquisition (iMac 12,1 21.5") up to Monterey, for much the same reason as I did the 10,1 27", to have a search around the App store for stuff I want. I'm assuming this machine will tolerate Monterey better than the poor old Core 2 Duo, especially when the RAM upgrade is installed, so I won't be removing it for a while, assuming it is stable enough. I might even let it go up to Ventura if that's offered! But will probably wait for the RAM first.

 

[swamprock]

Interesting! If you happen to end up finding a path back to a web-archived link, that would be fun to see.

I’ve figured whatever the solution, it would need to draw from some kind of bus power.

On another “I still haven’t done this though I oughtta but probably won’t” project, I have an old USB hub whose board dimensions are just a hair larger than the modem board (which I removed from mine a long time ago). The project would be to send wires from the logic board’s USB points, route them to the USB hub’s USB input, with at least one of those hub ports having wires sent back to where the OEM USB port is, to maintain the ability to externally plug in ordinary USB items (the internal hub ports would be for things like wifi and bluetooth dongles).

But the point of mentioning this is where I might draw bus power from: the two pinouts on the PATA/IDE hard drive which, in an earlier life, would have supplied spindle motor power for an HDD (which is separate from the power supplied to the logic portion of the HDD, and is basically what an SSD uses). This would, especially for post-late 2005 ’Book backlight sources (which rely on USB, not ADB) probably be where to tap into power for lighting.

Then again, I’m not gifted with electronics. This is why I haven’t done this modification yet.

I searched around for a while, to see if someone may have posted a blurb about it with a link, but found nothing so far. It was so long ago that it may be lost to the sands of time, but I'll keep looking as time permits. I'm interested in doing a similar mod on a Whitebook, as I now have a pile of them to play around with.

 

[DCBassman]

I now have 2 iMacs to upgrade, so I need to plan. I may have to wait a while to affird the OWC or iFixit sensor cable to go on the 2011 i5, or I could go the 2nd hard drive route. Meanwhile, RAM upgrade is incoming.
For the 27" Core 2 Duo, it's a CPU swap, and a new optical drive. More 1333 RAM for this in the future, too.
Fun, but I'm not the most patient worker, and must steel myself to do a steady, accurate job!

 

[DCBassman]

Probably a simple question, but knowing Apple, it doesn't have a simple answer:
Going to up the Core 2 Duo in the 27" from E7600 to E8500. This runs at 1333MHz. Once that's in place, will it run RAM at that speed also, assuming 1333MHz RAM, of course?

 

[headlessmike]

Probably a simple question, but knowing Apple, it doesn't have a simple answer:
Going to up the Core 2 Duo in the 27" from E7600 to E8500. This runs at 1333MHz. Once that's in place, will it run RAM at that speed also, assuming 1333MHz RAM, of course?

I had the late 2009 i7 27” iMac. It shipped with 1066 MHz RAM but fully supported 1333 MHz memory at full speed without any other upgrades that the RAM sticks themselves. Not sure about the Core 2 variants though.

 

[DCBassman]

I had the late 2009 i7 27” iMac. It shipped with 1066 MHz RAM but fully supported 1333 MHz memory at full speed without any other upgrades that the RAM sticks themselves. Not sure about the Core 2 variants though.

Once the 2x8GB sticks arrive, I'll try and see if the Core2 machine recognises the 2x2GB sticks currently in the 2011 machine. I think that answer will be 'no'. But I see no obvious reason, once the CPU is running at 1333, that the board shouldn't run it correctly. If it doesn't, it would surely be a deliberate choice on Apple's part to make it like that? My quite long experience with LGA775 PCs always showed that if it took the CPU, it would switch up the RAM if it were the correct frequency.

 

[ToniCH]

Yesterday I tried to install OCLP 0.6.8 and Monterey to my troubled early 2011 MBP 15" i7 with high res screen. This machine has a broken GPU and I think there is something wrong with the second RAM slot too as sometimes the second DIMM does not show up. No success, tried many times and it always crashed and boot looped before installation was finished. I did chose the options in settings which ignore the broken GPU. This should have worked but no. 🧐

Almost gave up but decided to try Big Sur. If it would also fail then this machine is scrap. But, to my surprise installation was success and I have not found any problems yet (other than second RAM slot appearing empty). 👍🏻

Well, one thing: battery is new. Big Sur reports battery is not working properly and should be serviced. High Sierra didn't report this and Coconut Battery says battery status is good. Weird.

 

[headlessmike]

Yesterday I tried to install OCLP 0.6.8 and Monterey to my troubled early 2011 MBP 15" i7 with high res screen. This machine has a broken GPU and I think there is something wrong with the second RAM slot too as sometimes the second DIMM does not show up. No success, tried many times and it always crashed and boot looped before installation was finished. I did chose the options in settings which ignore the broken GPU. This should have worked but no. 🧐

Almost gave up but decided to try Big Sur. If it would also fail then this machine is scrap. But, to my surprise installation was success and I have not found any problems yet (other than second RAM slot appearing empty). 👍🏻

Well, one thing: battery is new. Big Sur reports battery is not working properly and should be serviced. High Sierra didn't report this and Coconut Battery says battery status is good. Weird.

A failing RAM slot is pretty common on those machines.

 

[ToniCH]

A failing RAM slot is pretty common on those machines.

Is it a cold solder or such problem or maybe oxidation?

 

[headlessmike]

Is it a cold solder or such problem or maybe oxidation?

I've seen people report on cracked solder joints where the connectors mount to the board, but also seen cases where the CPU itself has a bad connection to the motherboard that causes the RAM issue.

Here are two easier things to test first: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/429239/RAM+slot+went+bad

 

[DCBassman]

Idle eBAy time results in me buying an i5-2500S, because why not, only a fiver.

 

[DCBassman]

The 2011 iMac RAM is up from 4 to 22GB, much better. Next jobs: that i5-2500S ^up there, and modding the SSD into it. If I can ever find a cheap i7-2600S, that will get installed also. With the extra RAM, I let it take itself up to Ventura, but still using a spinner did not go well with the OS, so wipe back to High Sierra until mods complete.

 

[DCBassman]

"What have you done with an early Intel recently?"

Well, I've come to the conclusion, having read through a great deal on this sub-forum, that my new-to-me iMac 12,1 2011 is best served, after upgrades, being installed with Linux Mint (other distros are available) and left to enjoy its potentially long life.
I've grown to like these 2009-2011 iMacs, despite their foibles, and the idea of such a nicely-built AIO computer being my daily driver is really appealing. But without ridiculous major surgery, it cannot do this with macOS properly. As I'm no great fan of the OS anyhow, moving to Mint is a no-brainer, I'm quite well acquainted with it, and as experience on the 2009 27" has shown, 'it just works'.
Now, where have I heard that phrase before?

 

[ToniCH]

moving to Mint is a no-brainer, I'm quite well acquainted with it, and as experience on the 2009 27" has shown, 'it just works'.

You just need to tackle that weird disappearing mouse -thing you had. I've never personally experienced it even though I have installed Mint to various Macs manymany times.

 

[0423MAC]

Linux Mint is great on older macs. Probably my favorite distro unless I need to strip it all down to something that looks like it's a windows 95 machine.