Mac Pro 1,1 and Mountain Lion

Rokeneer said:

So I've heard that the Mac Pro 1,1 cannot run Mountain Lion, but the 2,1 can. I've heard that the reason is due to some 64-bit EFI firmware or something. So does this mean that if I upgrade the Woodcrests that are in it to the Clovertowns and update the EFI firmware I will still be able to run Mountain Lion?

Thanks!!!

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The 2,1 also has the 32-bit EFI.

If there was a 64-bit EFI firmware update for the 1,1 or 2,1 then maybe, but sadly there is not.

EDIT: I just saw this though, from netkas: http://www.j4mie.co.uk/blog/2012/02/18/how-to-install-mountain-lion-on-macpro11/

Rokeneer said:

Is there a way to hack it to run the Harpertown firmware, but still have the full functionality of the Clovertowns?

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From what I gather, it is technically possible to update the firmware to 64-bit EFI, but no one has put in the effort to produce a hack to do this (it's fairly difficult, and I imagine failure could cause a bricked machine). I don't expect to see anyone try this.

I couldn't really figure it out, but does the current hack on Jamie Cruickshank's blog end up booting Mountain Lion's 64-bit kernel or is it a hack to use a 32-bit kernel? If it doesn't boot the 64-bit kernel, there is also this:

Apparently with the Chameleon bootloader allows booting of Lion's 64-bit kernel on Mac Pros with 32-bit EFI: http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,1123.0.html
Maybe this could be used to boot Mountain Lion's 64-bit kernel.

I'm also a Mac Pro 1,1 user. This is still a very capable machine for me, and I haven't even put SSDs in it yet or maxed out the RAM. I was debating about whether I should sell it or not, but I think I'm going to try to keep it going with hacks. It's essentially going to be a Hackintosh now.

this thread is reliving a thread from the day 10.8 came out.

this has all been rehashed before

The current ML install works 100% perfectly on 1,1 or 2,1 once you alter 2 values in boot plist.

You also need to have replaced your 7300GT or X1900 with something that came out later.

There is a 32bit kernel that Apple built just for the OS on these machines. One or two people have claimed insider knowledge that Apple included this kernel merely as a tease and that it won't be there one day soon. (key scary music) If this happens, you will be able to use the hackintosh method and run the 64 bit. It will add some steps but it will work.

The REAL answer is a new 64bit EFI for these machines. The EFI from a 3,1 is perfect place to start as some of the parts are the same. The ONLY way to do this is to build a 1,1 with a socketed EEPROM and do ALOT of trial and error. This has in fact been done, I could show you some lovely photos of the soldering work that were shared with me. The guy doing it gave up when the mountain got too tall.

Maybe someone else will try. Or maybe some kind soul at Apple will leak it. I guarantee that they have one written. Would have been natural way to develop 3,1. They just have no good reason to let such a thing out in the wild. If someone sees a Mac Pro with Red PCBs on Ebay or Craigslist, BUY IT !!!

MacVidCards said:

The current ML install works 100% perfectly on 1,1 or 2,1 once you alter 2 values in boot plist.

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Got a link for this method? I have a 1,1 and want to use Mountain Lion. My Mac Pro is a little old, but with it's eight 2.66 GHz cores, 14 GB of RAM, 90 GB SSD drive, 1 TB HDD drive, and ATI5770 GPU, I think it may JUST be fast enough to run.

won't work anymore as 32-bit software and drivers have been removed in latest release of Mountain Lion

Cindori said:

won't work anymore as 32-bit software and drivers have been removed in latest release of Mountain Lion

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Should I be glad I'm getting a ML capable machine? Or should I downgrade all the way to SL when I get my "new" MP? Truth be told, I'm not too keen on this whole "Back to the Mac" iOS-OSX integration. Let's hope Apple gives us the option to keep the Finder (bad as it is) and the ability to load any app of our choosing.

You can't downgrade most Mac's OS. If it comes with Lion, you most likely can not run Snow Leopard on it. So you're stuck.

But the good news is that Mountain Lion is a significantly better OS than Lion. It's no Snow Leopard, but it's also no Lion.

Cindori said:

won't work anymore as 32-bit software and drivers have been removed in latest release of Mountain Lion

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Not totally true, it works fine running the 64 bit Kernel using an alternate boot loader like Chameleon. The only thing that doesn't have a 64 bit driver is the Nvidia 7300 which is why you must have something else installed.

bpd115 said:

Not totally true, it works fine running the 64 bit Kernel using an alternate boot loader like Chameleon. The only thing that doesn't have a 64 bit driver is the Nvidia 7300 which is why you must have something else installed.

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Got any links for setting that up? I do in fact have a much newer video card so I should be golden. The current preview of 10.8 is much better than the older ones. I'm definitely ready to give it a try on my primary machine. I used Lion for months but ultimately had to downgrade because using it was so much slower than Snow Leopard.

There are some long threads on the netkas.org forums. I'm figuring it out myself at the moment. Basically you install ML into a VM (which I've done already) then you clone that VM to a physical disk. I've also read that you can install the ML installer to a small HD partition and install it that way. Both methods need you to boot using the Chameleon boot loader which I've been toying with the last day or so. I am sure once a GM is out someone will have a very easy step by step or simplified installer.

I'm hoping that will be the case since my 1,1 is more than capable for what I use it for. I just don't want to lag behind version wise with OS X. I'm one of those people who lives to be up to date software wise.

I wish someone started crowdfunding effort to develop EFI64 for MP1,1 and some sort of service to replace the EFI chip (I heard that the size of the chip is a factor too). I would gladly pledge $200 towards having EFI64 on my trusty 10k+ Geekbench Mac Pro 1,1

bpd115 said:

Not totally true, it works fine running the 64 bit Kernel using an alternate boot loader like Chameleon. The only thing that doesn't have a 64 bit driver is the Nvidia 7300 which is why you must have something else installed.

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I responded to the use of jamie's trick.


ofc you can use chameleon, but it's a pita. might just sell your machine and buy faster PC-parts for the same money.

My How-To.

http://www.jabbawok.net/?p=47

jabbawok said:

My How-To.

http://www.jabbawok.net/?p=47

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Thorough.


but as I said, going down this route is going to be a PITA for most people.

you open up yourself to the worst negative effect you get from hackintoshing: possibility of stuff breaking upon OS updates

sure it might work fine once you get it running, but some people might not realize you have to start constantly read forums to make sure upcoming updates won't break your work computer...

Thank you so much for that step by step. I'm out of town until Sunday but I'll try it when I get back.

It's simply an alternate boot loader. I don't see anything being bricked by an OS update. The only real difference between the supported 3,1 and the 1,1/2,1 is the EFI which you are bypassing. I will keep a small Lion install on a drive and just run 10.8.

But you're on an OS with hardware not supported by Apple. You should consider the possibility of more crucial drivers being removed in future updates, just as the 7300GT driver already has been.

Cindori said:

Thorough.


but as I said, going down this route is going to be a PITA for most people.

you open up yourself to the worst negative effect you get from hackintoshing: possibility of stuff breaking upon OS updates

sure it might work fine once you get it running, but some people might not realize you have to start constantly read forums to make sure upcoming updates won't break your work computer...

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True it is a bit of a fath and not for unadventurous, but a 3rd party EFI is likely to be as unpredictable. Also more than once a software update from Apple has broken standard Macs. The update for the Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet for example.
Anyone who blindly installs updates to their work machine on the day they come out deserves what they get. I've been stupid enough to SPack an Exchange server without waiting for the dust to settle and it's a mistake I'll not make again.

I suspect if apple dropped legacy boot from the EFI there'd be enough room for EFI64 and if they really wanted they could write their own EFI64 soft boot loader that worked with GUID and EFI32 and just bung it in with M' Lion. But the EFI32 macs are old and manufacturers cant support their hardware forever. I just wish they'd give my 1,1 a little more.

Great How-To Jabbawok !

Thanx for that!

I plan on running this 1,1 for at least a year as a main rig.... upgrading, then keeping it as a backup.
(8x 2.66, 16GB RAM, 2x SSD's for OS and Working Sessions, 2x HDD's for Storage)

Very very capable machine!!!!!!!! (I'm doing Audio and Music Videos)

TableSyrup said:

Great How-To Jabbawok !

Thanx for that!

I plan on running this 1,1 for at least a year as a main rig.... upgrading, then keeping it as a backup.
(8x 2.66, 16GB RAM, 2x SSD's for OS and Working Sessions, 2x HDD's for Storage)

Very very capable machine!!!!!!!! (I'm doing Audio and Music Videos)

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Please post on the blog if you have any issues or indeed if you are totally successful. I hope I haven't made any mistakes but I can't be sure.

It's probably gonna be after official ML release before I get a shot at installing....

I'm busy with work and need the machine up and running as is, and don't have the time to play just yet, but I'm hopeful there will be a good solution in the end.

I've read through 4 or 5 how to's so far, and tons of stuff on Netkas, so I'm feeling confident there's going to be a solid solution for 1,1's.

What I do with my working machines is get everything set up and LEAVE IT AS IS making me money, until there is substantial need for upgrades. (So updates shouldn't be an issue for me , since I won't be needing them once I'm up and running in ML)

I will eventually need to bump my OS from SL to Lion or ML in order to utilize the full potential of my upgrades to Pro Tools 10HD, and most importantly - of my Waves Plugins (That cost me $5k) in order to get some free new inclusions.

Hopefully not too long

If it runs the GM I seriously doubt they will go back and remove something like an Ethernet driver. On the off chance they do, you can always reinject the ktext from the GM release. They never removed the 64 bit ktext for the 7300, there simply never was one.

Also, I'll have to go back and look closer at the supported 2008 machine but I don't think the hardware they used was much different, therefore I doubt they will pull support for anything.

Yes, it's a tad more involved than simply downloading ML from the app store and walking away, but it's a lot less hassle for me then wasting money on 3 year old "new" hardware with a true update do next year or trying to get something which isn't that much faster (like an 08) off eBay, which will be useless to me next year once the 2013 machines drop.

There is a whole community dedicated to running OS X on non apple hardware. I doubt I'll have much trouble on official Apple hardware.