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MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 4,1 can't see drives with El Capitan

T

TuurT

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 2, 2020
15
0
I have a very weird problem with my 2009 Mac Pro; quad-core, 16gb RAM, HD7950 (flashed).

I've used a Crucial 480gb SSD with Sierra in an external TB case with my iMac 2012. I wanted to use this SSD in my Mac Pro. I got the SSD out of the enclosure. Put it in the Mac Pro drive bay, but I got a prohibited sign.
I taught the problem was I was using Sierra and the Mac could only run El Cap. So I used an El Cap usb installer/drive, but when I want to install the OS I don't see any drives to install it on. Also in Disk Utility no sign of an SSD at all...
So then I put in my good old Snow Leopard DVD and yes then I could see the SSD and install OS X 10.6.8! Now I taught to upgrade to El Cap, by downloading the El Cap installer from the Apple Support site. But when the machine reboots, to go to the installer, I get the prohibited sign again...
Maybe a bad SSD, but it works fine in 10.6 and in external enclosures. So it has to be the Mac Pro. I put in an old 640gb HDD and this drive doesn't get detected as well. In System Information I can see the drive in the correct drive bay, but it says 'unknown'.
So weird it works with Snow Leopard but not at all with El Capitan. Any ideas? Thanks!! :)
 
TuurT said:
I have a very weird problem with my 2009 Mac Pro; quad-core, 16gb RAM, HD7950 (flashed).

I've used a Crucial 480gb SSD with Sierra in an external TB case with my iMac 2012. I wanted to use this SSD in my Mac Pro. I got the SSD out of the enclosure. Put it in the Mac Pro drive bay, but I got a prohibited sign.
I taught the problem was I was using Sierra and the Mac could only run El Cap. So I used an El Cap usb installer/drive, but when I want to install the OS I don't see any drives to install it on. Also in Disk Utility no sign of an SSD at all...
So then I put in my good old Snow Leopard DVD and yes then I could see the SSD and install OS X 10.6.8! Now I taught to upgrade to El Cap, by downloading the El Cap installer from the Apple Support site. But when the machine reboots, to go to the installer, I get the prohibited sign again...
Maybe a bad SSD, but it works fine in 10.6 and in external enclosures. So it has to be the Mac Pro. I put in an old 640gb HDD and this drive doesn't get detected as well. In System Information I can see the drive in the correct drive bay, but it says 'unknown'.
So weird it works with Snow Leopard but not at all with El Capitan. Any ideas? Thanks!! :)
Click to expand...
Two things, MP4,1 is supported up to El Capitan. Sierra is not supported with a MP4,1.

MP4,1 firmware don't have APFS support, you can't access an APFS drive. Only MP5,1 firmware after MP51.0084.B00 can access APFS formated disks.

To have APFS support with a early-2009 Mac Pro you need to cross flash it to MP5,1 firmware and then upgrade it to at least MP51.0084.B00.

Snow Leopard probably just ignored the APFS partitions that it didn't understand and you could then re-partition/re-format the disk.
 
Last edited:
tsialex said:
Two things, MP4,1 is supported up to El Capitan. Sierra is not supported with a MP4,1.

MP4,1 firmware don't have APFS support, you can't access an APFS drive. Only MP5,1 firmware after MP51.0084.B00 can access APFS formated disks.

To have APFS support with a early-2009 Mac Pro you need to cross flash it to MP5,1 firmware and then upgrade it to at least MP51.0084.B00.

Snow Leopard probably just ignored the APFS partitions that it didn't understand and you could then re-partition/re-format the disk.
Click to expand...

But my drive is Mac OS Journaled. And when I install El Cap on the SSD, using an external enclosure, it works. But when I put it back internally, again the prohibited sign...

Can I update the firmware to 5,1 in Snow Leopard?
Thanks
 
TuurT said:
But my drive is Mac OS Journaled. And when I install El Cap on the SSD, using an external enclosure, it works. But when I put it back internally, again the prohibited sign...

Can I update the firmware to 5,1 in Snow Leopard?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Some USB2SATA controllers initialise disks differently than native SATA ports, it's a well know problem and you have to erase and re-partition your drive when you install it on your Mac Pro.

Yes, you can cross-flash to MP5,1 with Snow Leopard. This is the thread on Netkas forum:

Mac Pro Firmware Upgrade Utility Released!

Mac Pro Firmware Upgrade Utility Released!
netkas.org
 
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So format and erase it under Snow Leopard? Because that's the only way on how I can acces the disk internally.
 
tsialex said:
Or use diskutil with Terminal.
Click to expand...

Used Snow Leopard DVD to format the SSD (Mac Journaled), but without succes.
So weird I can see everything fine in Snow Leopard (even my Windows Bootcamp HDD), but just not in El Cap.
 
TuurT said:
Used Snow Leopard DVD to format the SSD (Mac Journaled), but without succes.
So weird I can see everything fine in Snow Leopard (even my Windows Bootcamp HDD), but just not in El Cap.
Click to expand...

Identify the diskID with diskutil list:
Code: 
diskutil list
Do a zero out until ~3%, change diskXX to the correct one:
Code: 
diskutil zerodisk diskXX
Format the disk:
Code: 
diskutil erasedisk jhfs+ Macintosh\ HD GPT diskXX
 
tsialex said:
Identify the diskID with diskutil list:
Code: 
diskutil list
Do a zero out until ~3%, change diskXX to the correct one:
Code: 
diskutil zerodisk diskXX
Format the disk:
Code: 
diskutil erasedisk jhfs+ Macintosh\ HD GPT diskXX
Click to expand...

But in the El Capitan installer I can't see the ssd in the terminal when typing in diskutil list..
 
TuurT said:
But in the El Capitan installer I can't see the ssd in the terminal when typing in diskutil list..
Click to expand...

diskutil list shows the disk unformatted, no partitions. If it's not showing, something is wrong.
 
I can see it in the terminal in Snow Leopard, but not in El Cap. If it works perfectly in 10.6 then there shouldn't be a hardware problem right?
 
tsialex said:
System Report shows anything?
Click to expand...

In Snow Leopard it detects the SSD and HDD just fine, I can see all the information. In El Cap system information shows there is something in the drive bay but says 'unknown'
 
TuurT said:
In Snow Leopard it detects the SSD and HDD just fine, I can see all the information. In El Cap system information shows there is something in the drive bay but says 'unknown'
Click to expand...
Very strange. Did you tried downloading 10.11.6 again from Mac App Store? 10.10 or 10.9 works?
 
tsialex said:
Very strange. Did you tried downloading 10.11.6 again from Mac App Store? 10.10 or 10.9 works?
Click to expand...

In Snow Leopard I tried downloading El Capitan from the Apple support page. I went through the installer but then when the Mac wanted to reboot (to continu installation) I got the prohibited sign.
I'll try to install Yosemite and see how that goes. So strange...
 
TuurT said:
In Snow Leopard I tried downloading El Capitan from the Apple support page. I went through the installer but then when the Mac wanted to reboot (to continu installation) I got the prohibited sign.
I'll try to install Yosemite and see how that goes. So strange...
Click to expand...
Btw, you know that you have to go back with the system clock to before October 2019, no?
 
I flashed the Mac Pro to 5,1 firmware, but still the same problem. I see everything fine when using 10.6 DVD, but nothing when using El Cap USB. Also Mavericks tested, but same problem...
 
tsialex said:
Btw, you know that you have to go back with the system clock to before October 2019, no?
Click to expand...

I have installed a new 6 core CPU, same problem.
I'm on MP51.007F.B03
When I go to my El Cap installer onto the usb, I see that the firmware is 'locked' (this was in the file name from the firmware). Do you have more info about this?
Thanks!
 
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