Will not boot past [PCI configurtion begin] (in verbose mode)

[Gassyguy84]

I am asking anyone who may have had this problem.

I am not at all good at this sort of thing. I currently am trying to get a used mac pro 1,1 to run on snow leopard 10.6.
it was given to me with no hard drive.

I bought an ssd to use. also bought an install disk of snow leopard on ebay. tried to run the disk using the option key. nothing but the dvd shows up. not even the ssd. i click on it and the apple logo shows up lots of noise from the dvd drive, but no loading bar. then after it stops making noise, it just stops with the logo on the screen and nothing else.

looked up the different commands to boot from. Verbose mode works, and that is how I got this far. it stops at the pci config and then nothing. if the hard drive needs formatted, how do I do it if the stupid thing wont even boot up to an operating system?

I tried looking up if there is a way to do it using windows, but I'm not getting anywhere. while there are some situations that are close, none seem to work with my system.

Specs of the computer:
two duel core intel cpu's the 2.66 ghz versions.
8 gigs of ram
the ssd is a 500gb WD BLUE 3D NAND SSD

P.S. I do have access to a mac mini. its my brother's computer, just not with me.

 

[Quackers]

Google "booting from macos install DVD" and try that to boot into the DVD system (might be holding C key whilst booting).
If that boots ok then you might see options to format any discs present (with Disk Utility).

 

[Gassyguy84]

Google "booting from macos install DVD" and try that to boot into the DVD system (might be holding C key whilst booting).
If that boots ok then you might see options to format any discs present (with Disk Utility).

First off thank you for the reply. I went ahead with booting while holding the C key. all it does when I do that is spit the disk out and then show me the flashing folder with a question mark on it. thats when i tried to use the Verbose mode. it will boot up that. the instructions that came with the disk said hold down the option key when the disk is in the drive.

it should from what I gather give you the option of both dvd drive and Macintosh HD. it only shows the dvd.

 

[Quackers]

I see, thanks.
I'm unsure what type of SSD can be fitted to these older machines so can't comment on whether what you have will work. It's obviously not being recognised but there could be other reasons for that too.
Maybe someone will come along who is more familiar with what can and can't be used in your case.
Good luck in your endeavours!

 

[Quackers]

And yes, holding the option key at boot should show both the DVD and the drive.

 

[Gassyguy84]

I see, thanks.
I'm unsure what type of SSD can be fitted to these older machines so can't comment on whether what you have will work. It's obviously not being recognised but there could be other reasons for that too.
Maybe someone will come along who is more familiar with what can and can't be used in your case.
Good luck in your endeavours!

you reminded me of something else... I also have and old hard drive that I also bought. it is an approved hard drive for the Mac Pro. it was a last ditch effort. it also wont show up. I also know the hardware is fine (Motherboard ect.). I pulled a hard drive out of an old widows computer running windows 10. when I put in that hard drive into the mac, it worked fine. I'm sure I'm overlooking something. I'll keep looking. I'm enjoying the learning process.

Thank you again Quackers

 

[Quackers]

you reminded me of something else... I also have and old hard drive that I also bought. it is an approved hard drive for the Mac Pro. it was a last ditch effort. it also wont show up. I also know the hardware is fine (Motherboard ect.). I pulled a hard drive out of an old widows computer running windows 10. when I put in that hard drive into the mac, it worked fine. I'm sure I'm overlooking something. I'll keep looking. I'm enjoying the learning process.

Thank you again Quackers

If it works in the Windows machine you could try formatting it in Windows to FAT32 and then see if it shows up in the Mac.

 

[Gassyguy84]

I'm providing a list to anyone who would like to know...

all boot commands that I have used to try and get booted.

command+Option+Shift+Delete: tried this to boot an external drive installer and just the folder pops up.
(after more research found that the 1,1 mac pro is old enough that without a working os, this will not help. have to use the disk.)

C: spits out disk, then shows blinking folder w/ "?"

Holding down Option: this so far is the only one that brings up a fraction of disk utility by showing the dvd. Still nothing else.

Holding down Shift does the exact same thing as Option in this case for some reason.

Command+V: is how I found out about the pci thing...

T: only if another mac is present and has Fire wire 800. it will do this though...

Net boot does nothing

Reset PRAM, and NV Ram: nope.

Command+Option+O+F: nothing

If it works in the Windows machine you could try formatting it in Windows to FAT32 and then see if it shows up in the Mac.

I did try it using my other windows PC and running A program I found called gibmac os after watching way more youtube than I care to admit... Still after that, I plugged it back into the mac and nothing. what is the best format for and old mac?

can you type any command in the Verbose mode or not? I've tried, but I'm not sure how yet.

 

[Quackers]

I'm providing a list to anyone who would like to know...

all boot commands that I have used to try and get booted.

command+Option+Shift+Delete: tried this to boot an external drive installer and just the folder pops up.
(after more research found that the 1,1 mac pro is old enough that without a working os, this will not help. have to use the disk.)

C: spits out disk, then shows blinking folder w/ "?"

Holding down Option: this so far is the only one that brings up a fraction of disk utility by showing the dvd. Still nothing else.

Holding down Shift does the exact same thing as Option in this case for some reason.

Command+V: is how I found out about the pci thing...

T: only if another mac is present and has Fire wire 800. it will do this though...

Net boot does nothing

Reset PRAM, and NV Ram: nope.

Command+Option+O+F: nothing




I did try it using my other windows PC and running A program I found called gibmac os after watching way more youtube than I care to admit... Still after that, I plugged it back into the mac and nothing. what is the best format for and old mac?

can you type any command in the Verbose mode or not? I've tried, but I'm not sure how yet.

Can't remember what formats are available on Windows but if HFS(journalled) is available use that or, if not use FAT32

 

[Gassyguy84]

Can't remember what formats are available on Windows but if HFS(journalled) is available use that or, if not use FAT32

ok, so now it shows the drive but as a windows drive. i try to run the disk as before and still stops at the apple logo. no spinning wheel, and no loading bar. on verbose mode, same stopping point as well.

If I try to click on the hard drive, then it just shows a black screen with the text that reads " An Operating system wasn't found"

I'm guessing then that it has to be formatted using a mac. I did take the ssd to my Brothers and used his Mac to format the ssd. it worked to format it using his mac mini with Monterey on it. when I brought the ssd back to my Mac. it wouldn't see it.

My end goal is to run Lion on it. I had originally thought that I could just buy it from apple.com and they would just send it to me with instructions on how to install it to my mac. That was a rude awakening... now I'm out 20 bucks on that OS, and the 20 dollars to buy this goofy disk with snow leopard, and the 60 dollars to get the native hard drive and gpu it came with when sold new. Apple Support is not much help... One of the "Techs" laughed at me when I told him what I was doing and said I was stupid for doing it!

I know it isn't new. Just not every day someone hands you a mac pro... no matter how old it is, I still say its pretty cool...

 

[Gassyguy84]

should also state for the record incase it is thought. I work at a printing press. My employer is who I got this from. He gave it to me because he updated his computers. Not a theft! besides, going by what Apple support says, I would be a very "Stupid" Robber...

 

[Quackers]

At the stage it sees the drive as a Windows drive you should be able to click in the menu bar above and get to Disk Utility.
You could try re-formatting it with that to a Mac format (maybe HFS+ or APFS).
I'm not entirely clear at what is not booting exactly. If the DVD is not booting fully then it might be faulty.
Now it's formatted you could try the internet installation again and see if the drive turns up this time.

 

[Gassyguy84]

I did try to ask if he still had the boot disks it came with... They had already Thrown them away by the time I got the nerve to ask about the Mac.

 

[Gassyguy84]

At the stage it sees the drive as a Windows drive you should be able to click in the menu bar above and get to Disk Utility.
You could try re-formatting it with that to a Mac format (maybe HFS+ or APFS).
I'm not entirely clear at what is not booting exactly. If the DVD is not booting fully then it might be faulty.
Now it's formatted you could try the internet in stallation again and see if the drive turns up this time.

when I formatted the ssd the first time using my Brother's Mac mini, it was before I knew anything about HFS, or APFS. I could have done it wrong...
Is the menu bar supposed to be on this screen?

 

[Quackers]

No.
It will appear if you click on the DVD and it boots fully.
But now the drive is visible you may be able to run internet recovery which I believe you tried earlier?
If you run that and it asks where you want to install macos and your drive is still visible you should be able to install a version of macos.
The different key holding options offer different versions of macos. One offers the OS that your mac came with and the other offers the latest compatible version for your machine.
You'll need to google the one you want as unfortunately I can't remember which is which

 

[Gassyguy84]

No.
It will appear if you click on the DVD and it boots fully.
But now the drive is visible you may be able to run internet recovery which I believe you tried earlier?
If you run that and it asks where you want to install macos and your drive is still visible you should be able to install a version of macos.
The different key holding options offer different versions of macos. One offers the OS that your mac came with and the other offers the latest compatible version for your machine.
You'll need to google the one you want as unfortunately I can't remember which is which

yep, got the same apple logo after both command key variants. Thanks anyway. I will keep trying. the big thing with this computer that I really was impressed with was the fact that you could max the ram to 32 gigs and from what I'm seeing from used ram, its fairly cheap! same with the processor. not a huge difference in todays systems but still good for regular computing.

 

[Quackers]

Apple logo? Not a spinning world? Has it asked you to connect to the internet?

 

[Gassyguy84]

Apple logo? Not a spinning world? Has it asked you to connect to the internet?

no, just the logo. this is where i'm completely stumped... tried multiple times.

 

[Gassyguy84]

sorry for the long time between replys. My wife wanted me to go get printer paper.

 

[Gassyguy84]

oh wait I tried N for network server... now there is a blinking globe.

 

[Gassyguy84]

nevermind, it went back to the folder...

 

[Gassyguy84]

it never asked to connect to the internet either

 

[DeltaMac]

No "spinning world" (Internet recovery) on a MacPro 1,1-- it's just too old for that. That bit of "Apple-magic" didn't appear until 2011 Macs (also when Lion was first shipping on Macs)
Sounds like you either don't have a good Snow Leopard installer DVD, or the optical drive doesn't work good enough to boot with anything.
A hard drive, or SSD, must have a bootable system installed before it will appear in the boot select (Option-boot) screen. That's why the SSD doesn't show there. It won't show up unless you already have a system (such as Snow Leopard) installed on that SSD. A blank SSD won't appear in that Option-boot screen.

 

[Gassyguy84]

No "spinning world" (Internet recovery) on a MacPro 1,1-- it's just too old for that. That bit of "Apple-magic" didn't appear until 2011 Macs (also when Lion was first shipping on Macs)
Sounds like you either don't have a good Snow Leopard installer DVD, or the optical drive doesn't work good enough to boot with anything.
A hard drive, or SSD, must have a bootable system installed before it will appear in the boot select (Option-boot) screen. That's why the SSD doesn't show there. It won't show up unless you already have a system (such as Snow Leopard) installed on that SSD. A blank SSD won't appear in that Option-boot screen.

well that sucks...

What if I take the hard drive and disk over to the Mac mini? do you think it would work in that setting?
If not any other ideas on how to get the operating system on the ssd?

 

[Gassyguy84]

No "spinning world" (Internet recovery) on a MacPro 1,1-- it's just too old for that. That bit of "Apple-magic" didn't appear until 2011 Macs (also when Lion was first shipping on Macs)
Sounds like you either don't have a good Snow Leopard installer DVD, or the optical drive doesn't work good enough to boot with anything.
A hard drive, or SSD, must have a bootable system installed before it will appear in the boot select (Option-boot) screen. That's why the SSD doesn't show there. It won't show up unless you already have a system (such as Snow Leopard) installed on that SSD. A blank SSD won't appear in that Option-boot screen.

Yeah when I contacted apple support they are the ones who said Lion as the absolute last os to work on the mac pro1,1