5.2 logic board into 3.1 case?

[MkkDdd]

Wanting to run Mavericks, but my late 2007 2.2 GHz Santa Rosa 3.1 MB won't do it. Thinking of upgrading logic board to MB 5.2.

Wondering when optical drive interface changed from PATA (IDE) to SATA - was it before MacBook 6.1?

Probably look for an early- or mid-2009 board, because they run 667MHz RAM, so could use to my current modules, though this isn't a deal-breaker, could just buy new 800MHz or DDR3, as well.

The 6.1 (unibody) board probably won't fit into an earlier case, will it? I understand the 5.2 had some fundamental, but workaroundable, differences (battery or MagSafe connector?) as well.

Any comments, suggestions, tips, details of similar experience greatly appreciated.

 

[logana]

You will need a new bottom case, fan and heatsink to fit the 5,2 logicboard to the rest of your MacBook.....

You can either ditch the optical drive or buy a SATA drive. The 5,2 version was the first to use SATA in the A1181 range

Probably much cheaper to sell yours and buy a 5,2 version - there is not that much difference in the prices...

6,1 logicboard is wildly different and cannot be fitted into the A1181 case

 

[MkkDdd]

You will need a new bottom case, fan and heatsink to fit the 5,2 logicboard to the rest of your MacBook.....

Right, I thought I'd read there was a compatibility problem with one of the power connectors, either MagSafe or battery... So, the only way around it is to get a new bottom case (as opposed to a new MagSafe board or battery connector)?

You can either ditch the optical drive or buy a SATA drive. The 5,2 version was the first to use SATA in the A1181 range

You mean SATA in the optical drive bay (because the HDD had been SATA for some years)? Yeah, that's what I thought. What was the link speed - 6, 3 or 1.5GB/s (SATA III, II or I)?

Probably much cheaper to sell yours and buy a 5,2 version - there is not that much difference in the prices...

Maybe, but I'm kind of hoping to put something together cheaper than that. I've got an SSD on this machine's SATA and an HDD in the optical drive bay (which is PATA/IDE, so wouldn't fit a 5,2, but that's not a big problem because caddies are cheap). Don't know where I'd sell mine to get a 5,2 for the same price (or not much more). Mine is a good, clean, well-loved machine. I see a lot of tatty, half-baked crap going on e-Bay for a lot more than it's worth, and I wouldn't risk letting mine go there on the cheap, because it's worth a lot more. What were you thinking of? I don't mean that sarcastically, I'm genuinely asking, 'What would you suggest: where would you sell a 3,1 and where would you get a 5,2?'

6,1 logicboard is wildly different and cannot be fitted into the A1181 case

Yeah, I thought that might be the case (excuse pun).

 

[l.a.rossmann]

This is kinda like upgrading from 64K to 256K memory on your 286 to prepare it for BF2.

 

[MkkDdd]

This is kinda like upgrading from 64K to 256K memory on your 286 to prepare it for BF2.

Good point well put, but not quite.

 

[gpatpandp]

Save your money and simply do this...

Good point well put, but not quite.

Just an F.Y.I for owners of this particular MacBook Pro. As this happens to be the only officially "supported" machine that I own, I thought I would make mention that despite its supposedly supported status, it is common to experience a situation where after installing either OS X 10.8.5 (makes no difference if it's the incremental update, combo, or full .app install) or OS X 10.9 and while the machine will boot to various stages of start-up, the login screen, or the desktop, after installation eventually the entire system will freeze requiring a force/hard shut down and nothing of normal troubleshooting procedure will repair it.

Through extensive testing, I can assure anyone experiencing this same issue that you are not alone, there is nothing wrong with your MacBook Pro, and that it is entirely a software issue. Also whether or not your MacBook Pro had the nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics replaced/upgraded under Apple's warranty a few years back makes no difference as those folks are reporting the same. A quick google search will show that this is a fairly wide spread problem and while I was hopeful that the 10.8.5 supplemental update and/or the release of OS X 10.9 would solve the issue unfortunately for many, myself included, it did not.

As no official fix has yet been released, the vast majority of owners of this particular MacBook Pro have had to stick with OS X 10.8.4 (which runs absolutely flawlessly on this machine might I add). The oddity of this phenomena is that since this issue was reported, different solutions seem to work at random for different folks. At any rate and while I am uncertain that this can be deemed a unanimous fix that will work for everyone, after very careful analysis, I believe I have correctly identified what is problematic in the stock OS X 10.9 Mavericks version for this MacBook Pro model and upon performing the following, my MacBook Pro 3,1 now runs Mavericks as one would expect on a "supported" Mac.

Firstly, I found that both the:

AppleACPIPlatform.kext
IOPCIFamily

…installed when choosing the “Replace AppleACPIPlatform 10.8.1” in the “Standard Install” tab located in Niresh’s “PCI Configuration Begin Fix” Installer package worked better (greater system stability, faster boot up times, and better fan control/heat dispensation) then using the same kexts from my OS X 10.8.4 system.

Once the package is installed, grab these remaining kexts from your OS X 10.8.4 system and replace the same located in your newly installed OS X 10.9 Mavericks System/Library/Extension folder with “Kext Wizzard”:

AppleAHCIPort
AppleSMC
IO80211Family
IOAHCIFamily
IOPlatformPluginFamily
IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily

Hope this is helpful for those who are also effected by this issue.

PS. I just Updated my MacBook Pro 3,1 2.2 GHz yesterday to OS X 10.9.2 and upon re-applying my fix that I have listed above, it runs perfectly.