Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iMacker20

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 12, 2020
7
5
I have recently figured out how to solve the problem of graphics card support in Mac OS 10.4 on the 3,1 Mac Pro. This solution does not require using an Aluminum iMac's hard drive installation. It might not even require another computer.

Download these files:
Mac OS 10.4 installer (The iso file is the top button) :

Mac OS 10.5 installer:

iMac Software Update 1.2.1:

Mac OS 10.4.11 Combo update (Intel):

You will be taking a driver from Mac OS 10.5 and installing it into Mac OS 10.4.

I assume you are using an ATI Radeon 2600.

Tell this is a continuation of this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/new-mac-pro-8-core-and-tiger-10-4.413958/

- ATI Radeon 2600 problems when no driver is available:
-- prevents sleep
-- resolution will not be changeable
-- games will probably not work

- Installing Mac OS 10.4
-- Format a 8GB or larger flash drive to HFS+ Journaled
-- Download the Intel iso file: https://isoriver.com/download-mac-os-x-tiger-10-4-iso-dmg/
-- Double-click on the iso file to mount it
-- Use Disk Utility to copy all the files from the iso file to the USB flash drive.
---- Click on the image file on the left side of the window and the Restore tab will become visible.
---- Drag the image file's mounted partition into the source field
---- Drag your USB flash drive to the destination field
---- Push the Restore button
-- In Terminal run this command: open /Volumes/<Your USB flash drive's name>/System/Installation/Packages
-- Right click on the OSInstall.mpkg file and select 'Show Package Contents'.
-- Open the file Contents/OSInstall.dist in TextEdit
-- Find this line: 'var machineCount = hwbeSupportedMachines.length;'
-- Right below that line add this: return true;
-- To boot from the flash drive, double click on the 'Install Mac OS X and Bundled Software' icon and click on restart.

Issues with booting:
- If you experience problems with booting from the flash drive I found that using the front USB ports rather than the keyboard's ports work better.
- If you still have issues, try restarting the computer while holding down the options key. Then try plugging in your flash drive into all the USB ports until you see it appear on the screen.

Plan B:
- If you can't install Mac OS 10.4 directly onto your computer, you could try installing it onto another computer, then use Disk Utility to copy the files onto a flash drive. This is what I did originally using an old MacBook. The Mac OS 10.4 installer did not like my Crucial MX500 2 TB SSD, so I could not install directly onto it. It thought it was 14 TB in size for some reason.
- Another option is to install Mac OS 10.4 into an image file using VirtualBox. I had success using the server version of Mac OS 10.4, not with the non-server version.


Install the iMac Software Update 1.2.1
- Download it from here: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/imac-2007-software-update-121
- Double-click on the zip file to extract the pkg file.
- Right click on the pkg file and select "Show Package Contents".
- Open the file Contents/iMacSoftwareUpdate1.2.1.dist with TextEdit.
- Replace the function systemIsCorrectHardware() with this version:

function systemIsCorrectHardware()
{
return true;
}

- Save and close the file.
- Double-click on the pkg file to install the ATI video drivers.
- Once done leave the installer's window alone. You do not want to restart yet.
- run 'sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeonX2000.kext' from the Terminal.
- Install the Mac OS 10.4.11 Combo update.
- Restart your computer.
- Hold down the shift key. If you don't you will see a corrupted display.
- Double-click on Mac OS 10.5 iso file to mount it.
- copy "/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/Extensions/ATINDRV.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ATY_Lamna.kext" to /System/Library/Extensions/ATINDRV.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ATY_Lamna.kext" like this:
sudo cp -R "/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Library/Extensions/ATINDRV.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ATY_Lamna.kext" /System/Library/Extensions/ATINDRV.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ATY_Lamna.kext
- Go to the /System/Library/ folder and delete Extensions.kextcache and Extensions.mkext.
- Restart your computer

You should be done now. You will be able to put your computer to sleep, change the resolution, and play full screen games now.
 

G4DPII

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2015
401
544
What is the point?

Why would anyone wanting to install 10.4 on a 2008 Mac Pro?

If it was just to see if it could be done, fair play. It has no practical use what so ever.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.