What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[rin67630]

I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to clone Win10Pro from the spinning drive of my early-2009 24" iMac onto an external SSD-drive without the convenience of CCC, TDM, FireWire etc. ...
No success with PartitionWizard9, since the bootable CD-version of PartitionWizard wouldn't want to boot at all and a PartitionWizard installation located on the spinning drive got stuck at "grub" in the process of rebooting ...

IMHO Windows 10 can only boot from the first partition of your HD drive.
You will need a To-Go installation to run from an external drive.
Another solution is to clone to a Thunderbolt drive. That TB drive is recognized as Disk 0, even before the internal none.
Windows 11 has not that limitation.

 

[DCBassman]

Back to the White Screen of Death on my own MBP: could this be a clue? This is what trying to boot a live Mint Linux session causes.

I do not have much insight into what this means (read: not a clue!).

 

[ToniCH]

More details: Late 2011, 2.4GHz i7, 8GB, 1TB, unsure about resolution. Screen has a white bezel. The RAM fitted is DDR3L-1333, which I didn't think would work in this, but apparently this one has done OK with it. Will hopefully pick up tomorrow evening.

Ok, good news then. The silver bezel screen is the high res antiglare optional and extra cost -display ie. the best one. Even if you would not get this one to work you can use the screen with your other machine if it doesn't have it and/or sell the parts for good profit. People are always seeking for good non dented chassis, working keyboard and many other internal parts. You could double-triple your money if you part it out - even if you keep the display. And the display alone is worth more than you paid now.

My both 2011's and the 2012 15" MBPs have the high res matte display. But, I knew about the display thing when I bought each one of them. With 17" there is no high res version as the stock display is already 1920x1080 but there is an anti glare version. But, 17"s are so rare here that one can not be picky. So, both mine are the stock shiny displays. But, to be honest the shiny/non shiny thing has never bothered me, even when they were new.

 

[DCBassman]

The silver bezel screen is the high res antiglare optional

Good news! Will transplant it if I end up parting out.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Ps. High Sierra installations can sometimes be problematic.

Yes! I've experienced this - just once but the stress it caused me was enough for a lifetime.

I've had good success with them so I don't really know what is the cause, other than with el Capitan it had something to do with system date which needed to be set back to some specific year or something.

That's due to the certificates expiring on older versions of macOS installers. Apple have fixed this issue by releasing updated installers. You can download them from here.

 

[rampancy]

Ps. High Sierra installations can sometimes be problematic.

Not having worked with High Sierra all that much myself, I didn't realize how true this would be...

So yesterday I snagged an incredible find: for $40 CAD, a CTO 2010 A1369 with 4 GB RAM instead of the standard 2 GB, in almost mint condition, with only ~40 cycles on the battery and an almost good SSD. (According to DriveDx at least)

It came with a clean installation of 10.13. Which stubbornly refused any attempt to update to 10.13.6. I manually downloaded the 10.13.6 Combo Updater, which didn't work. I tried to download and use the 10.13.6 Installer app from the App Store, only to run afoul of the infamous "The update server could not be contacted" error. (I was today years old when I discovered that Apple broke the OS update servers for anything below Mojave!?)

I discovered the fix, but it requires booting into recovery mode; my Mac didn't come with a recovery partition, since I discovered the OS had actually just been copied onto the system using Carbon Copy Cloner. (I thought CCC by default cloned the recovery partition as well as the main system partition too?)

I tried doing a reinstall using a full version of the App Store High Sierra install app that I downloaded off the Internet Archive. (The version I initially downloaded off the App Store was only about ~20 MB in size; I guess Apple doesn't host downloads for the full 4 GB install app anymore!?) It just threw up a "this app is damaged" error message.

I was able to get another full install app from another place online and finally, finally it ran and updated my system to 10.13.6.

My Mac runs great, but I can't believe the hoops I had to jump through to get the update to work.

 

[dandeco]

Got another one for the collection!

It's nearly identical to my other 2012 unibody 15" MacBook Pro in terms of specs, but it has the anti-glare matte screen option! This was the last Mac laptop to have such a screen. I put my 1 TB Mac OS X El Capitan drive in there for fun.

 

[wicknix]

Because i was bored last night....

Win11 dual booting with 14.4.1 via OCLP on my 2015 iMac.
I wont bore you with the OCLP installation. It's well documented.

Part 2 is not very straight forward either because this machine doesn't qualify as supported by Win11.
I didn't want all the fluff that is included and forced upon win11 users, so i chose a bloat free version.

Step 1) Downloaded official win11 iso from microsoft.
Step 2) Downloaded Tiny11 / Windows x-lite, etc. and wrote to usb stick with rufus.
Step 3) Fired up bootcamp and downloaded the windows support drivers and copied to usb stick.
Step 4) Let bootcamp resize partitions and begin install (used official win11.iso for this step)
Step 5) The install soon bombed out because this machine isn't supported by win11.
Step 6) Reboot with Tiny11 usb stick (or whatever version you want that disables TPM) and continue installation.
Step 7) Upon install of win11 proceeded to install all the bootcamp drivers.
Step 8) Rebooted and basked in the glory of.... well... Windows 11 (and the latest MacOS).

 

[TheShortTimer]

(I was today years old when I discovered that Apple broke the OS update servers for anything below Mojave!?)

Does this mean that Tiger can no longer be updated online from 10.4 to 10.4.11? Despite my antipathy for Apple's behaviour in recent years I'd praised them for continuing to provide online updates all the way down to PPC OS X but I suppose all good things come to an end, especially given that they switched to Silicon a while ago.

Got another one for the collection!
View attachment 2376040
It's nearly identical to my other 2012 unibody 15" MacBook Pro in terms of specs, but it has the anti-glare matte screen option! This was the last Mac laptop to have such a screen. I put my 1 TB Mac OS X El Capitan drive in there for fun.

Is that why the LCD housing has a silver outline instead of a black one, to differentiate it from the glossy displays?

Because i was bored last night....

Amazing what you accomplish during boredom!

Part 2 is not very straight forward either because this machine doesn't qualify as supported by Win11.
I didn't want all the fluff that is included and forced upon win11 users, so i chose a bloat free version.

Step 1) Downloaded official win11 iso from microsoft.
Step 2) Downloaded Tiny11 / Windows x-lite, etc. and wrote to usb stick with rufus.
Step 3) Fired up bootcamp and downloaded the windows support drivers and copied to usb stick.
Step 4) Let bootcamp resize partitions and begin install (used official win11.iso for this step)
Step 5) The install soon bombed out because this machine isn't supported by win11.
Step 6) Reboot with Tiny11 usb stick (or whatever version you want that disables TPM) and continue installation.
Step 7) Upon install of win11 proceeded to install all the bootcamp drivers.
Step 8) Rebooted and basked in the glory of.... well... Windows 11 (and the latest MacOS).

Thanks for sharing the details of the processes involved - I'm minded to give this a go myself. This method will work on other unsupported Macs too?

 

[rin67630]

Step 2) Downloaded Tiny11 / Windows x-lite, etc. and wrote to usb stick with rufus.
...
Step 5) The install soon bombed out because this machine isn't supported by win11.

Why that complicated?
Rufus has the option to remove the TPM requirement directly.

 

[DCBassman]

Is that why the LCD housing has a silver outline instead of a black one, to differentiate it from the glossy displays?

Apparently so. The one I hope to pick up later is the same. Still two possibilities, though, AIUI: HI-Def and Hi-def anti-glare.

 

[ToniCH]

Is that why the LCD housing has a silver outline instead of a black one, to differentiate it from the glossy displays?

Yes, the optional displays have the silver bezel, or at least the anti glares and high res anti glares do. If somebody has a high res glossy (2011-2012) then please report the bezel color.

For the machines I have it means:
1. MBP 6,1 17" mid 2010: anti glare instead of glossy, $50 option
2. MBP 8,2 15" early 2011: high resolution anti glare, $150 option (there is also high res glossy but I do not know about its bezel, $100 option)
3. MBP 8,2 15" late 2011: same as above
4. MBP 9,1 15" mid 2012: same as above but options were $100 both

With the 15" models the resolution difference is very noticeable as the stock glossy display has only 1440x900 resolution but the high res models have 1680x1050 displays. And the glossy vs. anti glare is easy to understand if one thinks glossy vs. matte instead.

It seems like 2006-2009 models had a really mixed bag of display options, some were glossy only, some anti glare as stock but the glossy was optional etc. But, the 15" all seem to be 1440x900. Some 17"s had optional high res display as they started with lower res than the later models. No idea about bezel colors on those.

These are quite well documented in everymac.com. Worth investigating when planning to buy one. 👍

This does not apply to Retinas (2012->).

 

[wicknix]

This method will work on other unsupported Macs too?

I don’t see why not.

Why that complicated?
Rufus has the option to remove the TPM requirement directly.

I know, but i didn’t want vanilla win11 with all its bloated mess and adware. Bootcamp just needed a “valid” windows iso to download the drivers and partition the drive.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Apparently so. The one I hope to pick up later is the same. Still two possibilities, though, AIUI: HI-Def and Hi-def anti-glare.

Yes, the optional displays have the silver bezel, or at least the anti glares and high res anti glares do. If somebody has a high res glossy (2011-2012) then please report the bezel color.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check the display on my 15" 2012 MBP just in case I got lucky with an HD glossy...

I don’t see why not.

Excellent!

I know, but i didn’t want vanilla win11 with all its bloated mess and adware.

The most recent version of Windows that I've used at home is 7 so I was curious about this and did some Googling. For goodness sake - how annoying. I remember how irritating it was when Windows Live/MSN Messenger displayed adverts at the bottom of the contact list and having to investigate how to remove it and now they've extended this practice into the OS itself? Grim stuff.

 

[ToniCH]

That's due to the certificates expiring on older versions of macOS installers. Apple have fixed this issue by releasing updated installers. You can download them from here.

Yes, I have done it to make sure I have every version I might need at some point even if Apple didn't host them anymore. I also made an installer drive with several ready made bootable installers and couple of bootable full operating systems too (to test if machine works) and also couple of folders with essential software installers, Dosdude & OCLP patchers, Sorbet etc.

The drive itself is an old MBP 256GB SSD installed into compatible case (sits on top of my 17" in post #3614). There is still probably 80GB free space for additional installers.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Yes, I have done it to make sure I have every version I might need at some point even if Apple didn't host them anymore.

A wise decision. Till relatively recently it was possible to obtain 9.2.2 for free directly from Apple but the URL's have now been deactivated or perhaps re-ordered. (Yes, I'm aware that you could still access them via the Wayback Machine and that it can be found elsewhere etc.) So it pays to take nothing for granted and to prepare yourself for all eventualities.

 

[ToniCH]

Oh dear, think my MBP has just died. Boot a High Sierra installer, clean drive, and instead of the install menu, just a plain white screen.

Back to the White Screen of Death on my own MBP: could this be a clue? This is what trying to boot a live Mint Linux session causes.

I dug out my early 2011 MBP 15" with a broken GPU which no longer reacts to cmd+S or cmd+R+S key presses during boot (so, no sw fix for me anymore) and noticed that in some light the screen does look like its white. But, if I look closely it does have the faint light blue horizontal pin striping which is a common sign of the failed GPU. So, recheck yours to be sure.

If you see the stripes then its bad news. You might be able to disable the GPU by software, if it's not too late.

This is the fate of all 2011 15" MBPs sooner or later so no surprise. I read somewhere that somebody had replaced 2011 logic board with a 2012 board successfully but have not investigated how difficult it is. I think the ports are in same place but what about the display connector, is it the same?

 

[rampancy]

Does this mean that Tiger can no longer be updated online from 10.4 to 10.4.11? Despite my antipathy for Apple's behaviour in recent years I'd praised them for continuing to provide online updates all the way down to PPC OS X but I suppose all good things come to an end, especially given that they switched to Silicon a while ago.

On further digging around it seems like Apple let the https certificate of the software update catalog expire, so I'd chalk it up more to neglect than deliberate malice. If your Mac has a recovery partition, it's apparently as simple a matter as telling the system's recovery in nvram to use the http URL instead of https.

For 10.6 and below, or for systems copied using SuperDuper! or CCC, I don't know.

 

[TheShortTimer]

On further digging around it seems like Apple let the https certificate of the software update catalog expire, so I'd chalk it up more to neglect than deliberate malice. If your Mac has a recovery partition, it's apparently as simple a matter as telling the system's recovery in nvram to use the http URL instead of https.

Thanks for the clarification.

I wonder if they could be persuaded to renew the certificates via some prompting on social media?

For 10.6 and below, or for systems copied using SuperDuper! or CCC, I don't know.

From what I could see, the updates for those versions are available on the Mac Garden so it's not the end of the world I suppose.

 

[DCBassman]

I dug out my early 2011 MBP 15" with a broken GPU which no longer reacts to cmd+S or cmd+R+S key presses during boot (so, no sw fix for me anymore) and noticed that in some light the screen does look like its white. But, if I look closely it does have the faint light blue horizontal pin striping which is a common sign of the failed GPU. So, recheck yours to be sure.

Definitely no stripes. And it works perfectly with MX Linux. The 2012 option seem worth investigating...

 

[DCBassman]

Just retried it, but this time with an OCLP-patched Sonoma installer. Working. Will try and see if the install completes.

 

[ToniCH]

Definitely no stripes. And it works perfectly with MX Linux. The 2012 option seem worth investigating...

Ok, then you are fine for the time being. 👍

 

[DCBassman]

Ok, then you are fine for the time being. 👍

Once I've picked up the hi-def screened unit, I'll swap logic boards so I have a fully-working machine, then use my original to play with the other one and see if I can't coax something out of it.

 

[headlessmike]

Yes, the optional displays have the silver bezel, or at least the anti glares and high res anti glares do. If somebody has a high res glossy (2011-2012) then please report the bezel color.

For the machines I have it means:
1. MBP 6,1 17" mid 2010: anti glare instead of glossy, $50 option
2. MBP 8,2 15" early 2011: high resolution anti glare, $150 option (there is also high res glossy but I do not know about its bezel, $100 option)
3. MBP 8,2 15" late 2011: same as above
4. MBP 9,1 15" mid 2012: same as above but options were $100 both

With the 15" models the resolution difference is very noticeable as the stock glossy display has only 1440x900 resolution but the high res models have 1680x1050 displays. And the glossy vs. anti glare is easy to understand if one thinks glossy vs. matte instead.

It seems like 2006-2009 models had a really mixed bag of display options, some were glossy only, some anti glare as stock but the glossy was optional etc. But, the 15" all seem to be 1440x900. Some 17"s had optional high res display as they started with lower res than the later models. No idea about bezel colors on those.

These are quite well documented in everymac.com. Worth investigating when planning to buy one. 👍

This does not apply to Retinas (2012->).

The glossy displays always had a single glass pane covering the entire inner lid of the laptop and that is what gives the black bezels. Both the standard and high resolution models look the same with the standard glossy display. The high panel could be specified with the option of an anti-glare display. That came without the glas covering the bezels and display and hence have bare aluminum bezels.

 

[ToniCH]

Thanks. Uhhh... let me try to understand this...

So...
1. standard and high resolution glossy = black bezel look
2. anti glare displays are the ones with silver bezel

Did I understand it right?

My only glossies are the 17" and they are indeed full glass, the 15" high res anti glares have an actual aluminium bezel.