iM 4,1-14,4 macOS 10.11 Installation Infuriation

[Hydrogen_]

Over the past couple weeks I've been trying to install macOS El Capitan on my iMac5,1. It's been going horribly.
My first thought was that I'd take a look at OpenCore Legacy Patcher, since I'd heard it dealt with this kinda stuff. Turned out that it doesn't support this thing.
A friend then suggested that I use MacPostFactor (2.0), which was an entire ordeal. I patched the .pkg installer from Apple's website (editing function isSupportedPlatform() in the Distribution script to always return true) and it installed fine. I then fed MCPF the El Capitan installer .app and it complained about BaseSystem.dmg not being found and that I should check my installer.
After not checking my installer, my friend said I should try macOS Extractor with Yosemite. AutoPatch.pkg gave me an error. I don't know what error, it just said it errored.
Finally, I tried OS X Patcher, which gave me errors about the InstallESD.dmg file. I finally decided to go check the dmg, and mounting it gave me a "not recognized" error. I've tried two Yosemite .apps and three El Capitan .apps, both with OS X Patcher and MCPF. None of them worked with either tool. We're both completely lost at this point.

 

[theMarble]

To be honest, I really wouldn't bother with trying to install El Cap on a Late '06 Mac (unless it's a Mac Pro). The patchers that do exist for it (OS X Patcher, MPF, macOS Extractor) are all extremely finicky to get running, and even once you do get it installed, you'll realise that it really wasn't worth it.

In my experience (across both a fully maxed-out 17" Late '06 MBP and '07 Mac mini), performance was horrible even with an SSD due to the very lackluster support for hardware acceleration (as no 64-bit driver was ever developed for the GMA 950 or Radeon X1600). Doing anything more than looking at a blank Google page was difficult, and sometimes even dragging windows around lagged.

Very different experience in comparison to NexPostFacto, the dosdude1 patcher and of course OCLP which have been great across many machines of mine.

If you are wanting a newer OS, I would suggest using Linux instead, as you can manually modify the ISO of most distros to add a 32-bit bootloader. You can also install 64-bit Mavericks using NexPostFacto, which would run quite well on an iMac5,1.

 

[TheShortTimer]

To be honest, I really wouldn't bother with trying to install El Cap on a Late '06 Mac. The patchers that do exist for it (OS X Patcher, MPF, macOS Extractor) are all extremely finicky to get running, and even once you do get it installed, you'll realise that it really wasn't worth it.

Pedant time!

It depends on the '06 Mac. Don't forget that 10.11 can be finessed onto a MP 1,1 with great results - provided that you don't require USB 3.0 via PCIe…

You can also install 64-bit Mavericks using NexPostFacto, which would run quite well on an iMac5,1.

Mavericks is a good choice. I run it on my Mac Pro and I think that coupled with a Linux dual boot, the OP could have the best of both worlds.

 

[theMarble]

Pedant time!

It depends on the '06 Mac. Don't forget that 10.11 can be finessed onto a MP 1,1 with great results - provided that you don't require USB 3.0 via PCIe…

Funnily enough, I was actually just thinking about that. Yes, El Capitan does work great on an MP1,1 (or 2,1) if you upgrade the GPU to something from the GeForce 8000/Radeon HD 2000 series or newer.

As it can only run El Cap, you both don't have to worry about Metal, and also have access to NVIDIA Web Drivers, so as long as you are fine with giving up the boot screen, you can put in almost any Maxwell-based GPU, including the 980Ti and the original Titan X.

I recall that someone over at LowEndMac put in either a 980 or a 980Ti into his 2,1, and got a pretty decent VR experience (for 2016 games IIRC).

Mavericks is a good choice. I run it on my Mac Pro and I think that coupled with a Linux dual boot, the OP could have the best of both worlds.

100% agree with that. Mavericks + a modern Linux distro is a good choice for Late '06 Macs with an X1600. Getting the bootloader on the ISO modified is a bit of a hassle sometimes, but is definitely worth it.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Funnily enough, I was actually just thinking about that. Yes, El Capitan does work great on an MP1,1 (or 2,1) if you upgrade the GPU to something from the GeForce 8000/Radeon HD 2000 series or newer.

As it can only run El Cap, you both don't have to worry about Metal, and also have access to NVIDIA Web Drivers, so as long as you are fine with giving up the boot screen, you can put in almost any Maxwell-based GPU, including the 980Ti and the original Titan X.

I recall that someone over at LowEndMac put in either a 980 or a 980Ti into his 2,1, and got a pretty decent VR experience (for 2016 games IIRC).

Neither of those are compatible with Mavericks according to this pretty reliable source.

Ah well, that's a shame. I'll have to stick with my GT 630.

100% agree with that. Mavericks + a modern Linux distro is a good choice for Late '06 Macs with an X1600. Getting the bootloader on the ISO modified is a bit of a hassle sometimes, but is definitely worth it.

Where computers are concerned, some level of hassle is unavoidable - as I've been reminded over the past few days.

 

[theMarble]

Neither of those are compatible with Mavericks according to this pretty reliable source.

Maxwell-based cards (GTX 9xx + GTX 750/750Ti) require at least version 343.01.01 of the NVIDIA Web Drivers, which only works on 10.10.0.

You could however put it in a GTX 780 Ti, or possibly a Titan Black (not 100% sure on wattage requirements so YMMV).

 

[TheShortTimer]

Maxwell-based cards (GTX 9xx + GTX 750/750Ti) require at least version 343.01.01 of the NVIDIA Web Drivers, which only works on 10.10.0.

You could however put it in a GTX 780 Ti, or possibly a Titan Black (not 100% sure on wattage requirements so YMMV).

Thanks for the info. I don't want to hijack someone else's thread, so any further questions on this topic will be posted elsewhere.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Over the past couple weeks I've been trying to install macOS El Capitan on my iMac5,1. It's been going horribly.
My first thought was that I'd take a look at OpenCore Legacy Patcher, since I'd heard it dealt with this kinda stuff. Turned out that it doesn't support this thing.
A friend then suggested that I use MacPostFactor (2.0), which was an entire ordeal. I patched the .pkg installer from Apple's website (editing function isSupportedPlatform() in the Distribution script to always return true) and it installed fine. I then fed MCPF the El Capitan installer .app and it complained about BaseSystem.dmg not being found and that I should check my installer.
After not checking my installer, my friend said I should try macOS Extractor with Yosemite. AutoPatch.pkg gave me an error. I don't know what error, it just said it errored.
Finally, I tried OS X Patcher, which gave me errors about the InstallESD.dmg file. I finally decided to go check the dmg, and mounting it gave me a "not recognized" error. I've tried two Yosemite .apps and three El Capitan .apps, both with OS X Patcher and MCPF. None of them worked with either tool. We're both completely lost at this point.

The easiest thing to do is asking someone with a USB installer of El Capitan, or a working El Capital disk to back it up to a dmg file and give you. From the you just need to restore the file to a blank disk and run...

I have a link to such a file, but it's a 32bit pikified version to be run on Mac Pro 1,1..... Probably not compatible on MP 5,1....
Check the description in the below video for link to download. I used that file.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I have a link to such a file, but it's a 32bit pikified version to be run on Mac Pro 1,1..... Probably not compatible on MP 5,1....
Check the description in the below video for link to download. I used that file.

Yes, I've used that on my 2006 Mac Pro in the past.

It's 64 bit but modified to circumvent the 32 bit EFI's on 2,1 & 1,1 Mac Pros - which the iMac 5,1 has in common but as @theMarble has already mentioned, the X1600 GPU is not supported by El Capitan.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Yes, I've used that on my 2006 Mac Pro in the past.

It's 64 bit but modified to circumvent the 32 bit EFI's on 2,1 & 1,1 Mac Pros - which the iMac 5,1 has in common but as @theMarble has already mentioned, the X1600 GPU is not supported by El Capitan.

Oh, I didn't know about that.
I use 7300GT, HD6670, GTX680 and all of them are supported in El Capital...
Quadro K2000 is also a nice to have card that is supported in El Capital.

 

[theMarble]

Oh, I didn't know about that.
I use 7300GT, HD6670, GTX680 and all of them are supported in El Capital...
Quadro K2000 is also a nice to have card that is supported in El Capital.

In terms of running El Capitan (or anything newer than Lion), support for the Mac Pro 1,1/2,1 is vastly different in comparison to every other early-C2D architecture (Merom) Mac.

The big difference is that on the Mac Pro you can upgrade the GPU to a much newer generation card that is supported in later OS X releases.

There wasn't any support for the GMA 950, X1000 and GeForce 7000 series GPUs past the first developer beta of Mountain Lion, as DP2 ditched all support for them (and their 32-bit only drivers). That is where the drivers for NexPostFacto come from. I'm surprised that you've used the 7300 GT on El Capitan, despite it having zero hardware accleration!

The reason why El Capitan is the hard physical limit for pre-Penryn Macs is because the Merom architecture lacks all support for the SSE4.x instruction set.

 

[TheShortTimer]

The reason why El Capitan is the hard physical limit for pre-Penryn Macs is because the Merom architecture lacks all support for the SSE4.x instruction set.

Yes, a great pity.

I suppose there's a plus in that the early Mac Pros aren't affected by Spectre and Meltdown.

 

[Hydrogen_]

Well, I did eventually get something to work. Although, it is 10.9 with NexPostFacto, not the original El Capitan I was hoping to amuse myself with. Does anyone think I could get regular OpenCore to run on this thing with the "EFI Boot" stuff?

 

[Amethyst1]

Although, it is 10.9 with NexPostFacto, not the original El Capitan I was hoping to amuse myself with.

That’s with graphics acceleration and pretty much as good as it gets. El Capitan will run terribly due to no graphics acceleration.

 

[tsialex]

Does anyone think I could get regular OpenCore to run on this thing with the "EFI Boot" stuff?

OpenCore have extremely poor support for anything earlier than Mojave, while for OCLP the earliest that you can run is Big Sur.

Btw, iMac5,1 is EFI32, no? You won't even run any macOS release after Lion without pikifing it.

 

[theMarble]

Btw, iMac5,1 is EFI32, no? You won't even run any macOS release after Lion without pikifing it.

Yes, being a pre-Penryn Mac, the iMac5,1 is EFI32. Along with the piker-alpha bootloader, there is also NexPostFacto which allows you to run 64-bit Mavericks with full GPU hardware acceleration on any Merom-based Mac with an R500-series Radeon GPU (X1300/X1600/X1900XT).

It doesn't work with any Macs that either have a GeForce 7 series GPU (7300GT/7600GT) or the GMA 950 though.