You should read the OP's posts. The USB ports don't work. Also, how do you know SD cards do not work for this purpose? If you read the posts, you might learn something. 🙄
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Dump pick iMac A1311: Bringing it into the 2020’s?
- Thread starter rwh63
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Macintosh wrote:
"You should read the OP's posts. The USB ports don't work. Also, how do you know SD cards do not work for this purpose? If you read the posts, you might learn something"
Heh.
The OP said the USB ports on his LAPTOP weren't working.
Nothing about whether the ports on the iMac in question work, or not.
I "know" that SD cards might not work from having tried them in the past. There may have been a time "back then" when you could boot and run from an SD card, but not any more.
I'm thinking that the circuitry/controller on an SD card may not be sufficient to do this.
In my post above, I said the OP should TRY it, but that it might not work.
The OP needs to find a fully-functioning Mac on which to create the bootable USB flashdrive.
If he doesn't have easy access to one, he might consider going to a Mac repair shop and asking them to make one for him.
If that isn't an option, there are likely to be ebay sellers who will sell a pre-configured and bootable flashdrive with the OS installer he needs on it. Cost will run about $25.
OP:
I'm going to offer another course of action.
This may or may not work. (probably not)
From a powered off condition, boot to internet recovery with this special key combination:
Command-OPTION-Shift-R
This command will take you to a modified version of internet recovery that will attempt to install the earliest version of the OS that came on the iMac.
REASON WHY I'm suggesting -- it may offer you something "earlier than" High Sierra that works (such as El Capitan).
Again, this may not work, but give it a try and see what happens.
"You should read the OP's posts. The USB ports don't work. Also, how do you know SD cards do not work for this purpose? If you read the posts, you might learn something"
Heh.
The OP said the USB ports on his LAPTOP weren't working.
Nothing about whether the ports on the iMac in question work, or not.
I "know" that SD cards might not work from having tried them in the past. There may have been a time "back then" when you could boot and run from an SD card, but not any more.
I'm thinking that the circuitry/controller on an SD card may not be sufficient to do this.
In my post above, I said the OP should TRY it, but that it might not work.
The OP needs to find a fully-functioning Mac on which to create the bootable USB flashdrive.
If he doesn't have easy access to one, he might consider going to a Mac repair shop and asking them to make one for him.
If that isn't an option, there are likely to be ebay sellers who will sell a pre-configured and bootable flashdrive with the OS installer he needs on it. Cost will run about $25.
OP:
I'm going to offer another course of action.
This may or may not work. (probably not)
From a powered off condition, boot to internet recovery with this special key combination:
Command-OPTION-Shift-R
This command will take you to a modified version of internet recovery that will attempt to install the earliest version of the OS that came on the iMac.
REASON WHY I'm suggesting -- it may offer you something "earlier than" High Sierra that works (such as El Capitan).
Again, this may not work, but give it a try and see what happens.
My SD card booted fine on my iMac 2010. Although I only made 1 EFI volume on it.
A few issue might come with the SD card reader writing prevention mechanism.
Thx. Tried it, did nothing new. Did not take me to a different screen. Still high sierra.
OP:
I'm going to recommend a completely different course of action for you.
I don't normally suggest that a user install a version of the OS using "a hack", but in this case, it may actually help. (see my personal experience at the end of this reply)
Do this on the MacBook with the working SD card slot.
I recommend that you visit dosdude1's page here:
When you get there, go to "My Software" and choose the Mac OS Mojave Patcher:
Just click the download and it will download an app "Mojave Patcher" to your drive.
Hmmm... here's the link:
It looks like this will work on a 2011 iMac without problems.
See if you can run the Mojave Patcher app on the MacBook.
Does it launch and run?
OK, then go to the "Tools" menu and download a copy of the Mojave installer to your MacBook drive, also.
Once it's downloaded, I believe the Patcher will ask if you want to create a bootable installer drive.
You DO, so insert your SD card and "point the way".
SD card shoud be pre-formatted to "Mac OS extended, journaling enabled, GUID partition format" (using disk utility).
The patcher app will take some time, but it should create a bootable OS on the SD card along with the patching stuff.
Take this to the iMac and see if it will boot.
Does it?
At this point, you can attempt an install.
Have dosdude's instructions loaded on the MacBook as you work on the iMac.
If you try this, let us know how it goes.
Personal experience:
I made several tries with High Sierra to create an installer drive and get it to boot my 2010 MacBook Pro (which can run HS).
Although I could get the flashdrives "completed", I COULD NOT get them to boot successfully -- kept getting errors that the installer was damaged.
As an earlier poster mentioned in this thread, it's a problem with HS. There are fixes, but they look like they can get complicated.
But... The Mojave patched installer drive on the SD card booted up, and looked like it could install Mojave on the MBP without problems. I DID NOT attempt an actual install, because I want the 2010 MBP to keep running an older version of the OS.
However, this won't be important to you. You just need to get that iMac up and running.
Good luck.
I'm going to recommend a completely different course of action for you.
I don't normally suggest that a user install a version of the OS using "a hack", but in this case, it may actually help. (see my personal experience at the end of this reply)
Do this on the MacBook with the working SD card slot.
I recommend that you visit dosdude1's page here:
When you get there, go to "My Software" and choose the Mac OS Mojave Patcher:
Just click the download and it will download an app "Mojave Patcher" to your drive.
Hmmm... here's the link:
It looks like this will work on a 2011 iMac without problems.
See if you can run the Mojave Patcher app on the MacBook.
Does it launch and run?
OK, then go to the "Tools" menu and download a copy of the Mojave installer to your MacBook drive, also.
Once it's downloaded, I believe the Patcher will ask if you want to create a bootable installer drive.
You DO, so insert your SD card and "point the way".
SD card shoud be pre-formatted to "Mac OS extended, journaling enabled, GUID partition format" (using disk utility).
The patcher app will take some time, but it should create a bootable OS on the SD card along with the patching stuff.
Take this to the iMac and see if it will boot.
Does it?
At this point, you can attempt an install.
Have dosdude's instructions loaded on the MacBook as you work on the iMac.
If you try this, let us know how it goes.
Personal experience:
I made several tries with High Sierra to create an installer drive and get it to boot my 2010 MacBook Pro (which can run HS).
Although I could get the flashdrives "completed", I COULD NOT get them to boot successfully -- kept getting errors that the installer was damaged.
As an earlier poster mentioned in this thread, it's a problem with HS. There are fixes, but they look like they can get complicated.
But... The Mojave patched installer drive on the SD card booted up, and looked like it could install Mojave on the MBP without problems. I DID NOT attempt an actual install, because I want the 2010 MBP to keep running an older version of the OS.
However, this won't be important to you. You just need to get that iMac up and running.
Good luck.