Trouble installing High Sierra on SSD PCIe

[machenryr]

First off I’m having a lot of trouble using the internet. I have a thread about that. I haven’t fixed it. It’s possible the problem is in my MacPro. I don’t know.

But THIS is about installing HS on a new SSD PCIe drive. I’m making this my primary boot drive.

I booted into a SSD with High Sierra. The Install MacOS HS app is on the target SSD. I click on the install, it opens. I select the proper drive. Warns me it has to restart and may have to reinstall a few times. Mac restarts. It boots up to the same old SSD. I put my password in. The only thing that’s in the target SSD is the HS install app and a folder MaCOS Install Data. No instructions. I can repeat these moves ad infinitum. Any clues?

The first problem I’m aware of is I can’t seem to download. I just can’t do it. It doesn’t download. So perhaps if the install requires downloading data from Apple I’m stuck.

Also - perhaps an unrelated thing - half the time I launch into this test SSD HS drive, the one I’m using to try and install HS on the virgin SSD - I get a VERY bright screen. I just have to reboot and mostly it comes back normal. My regular boot drive is a Sierra HD, but I’m trying to ditch that.

 

[flowrider]

What kind of SSD do you have? What BootROM version do you have?

Lou

 

[treekram]

It's unusual to put the installer app on the target drive that doesn't already have a working OS. I don't know if that's the problem or not but I would try putting the installer program either on your boot disk or even on an external disk (HDD or SSD) and run it from there (I've done that without a problem). Make sure to target the right disk.

 

[machenryr]

What kind of SSD do you have? What BootROM version do you have?

Lou

I have a samsung Evo 960, I think. I don’t know what bootROM version. I’ll try and find out. Not sure exactly what that is.

 

[machenryr]

It's unusual to put the installer app on the target drive that doesn't already have a working OS. I don't know if that's the problem or not but I would try putting the installer program either on your boot disk or even on an external disk (HDD or SSD) and run it from there (I've done that without a problem). Make sure to target the right disk.

Yeah. I tried to install it from the boot drive as well after I posted the OP.

 

[flowrider]

I have a samsung Evo 960, I think. I don’t know what bootROM version. I’ll try and find out. Not sure exactly what that is.

This:

You can tell what kind of SSD you have by opening "Disk Utility" and checking.

Lou

 

[machenryr]

This:

View attachment 838649

You can tell what kind of SSD you have by opening "Disk Utility" and checking.

Lou

Thank you.
Boot ROM Version: MP51.0084.B00
All I know is I had to do a firmware update to install the SSD PCIe card or High Sierra or something.

 

[treekram]

Thank you.
Boot ROM Version: MP51.0084.B00
All I know is I had to do a firmware update to install the SSD PCIe card or High Sierra or something.

Looks like flowrider is on the right path, according to this article, you need a BootRom of 140/141/144.0.0.0.0 in order to boot from a NVMe SSD (which the Evo 960 is) from High Sierra. Newer BootROM versions are all numbers, you are at the older-style BootROM version. Double-check your SSD model - if you have a Evo 970 Plus, that's known to cause problems with Macs.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/blade-ssds-nvme-ahci.2146725/

 

[machenryr]

It’s definitely not the plus because I knew it wouldn’t work. This isn’t recognized in Sierra but if I boot from another High Sierra drive there it is.

If you’re right how do I update? Or can I? I remember looking at a compatibility chart before I bought the blade.

 

[treekram]

Which Mac Pro do you have? The article I linked had a link on how to upgrade the Mac Pro 5,1 BootROM.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...requisite-to-disable-hyper-threading.2132317/

If you have Mac Pro 4,1, there's a Mac Pro 4,1 to 5,1 firmware upgrade guide at:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-5-1-upgrade-guide-sticky-discussion.2099092/

Both of these threads look to involve some work and a lot of caveats. Post your Mac Pro version if you're unsure on how to proceed. I'm don't have a Mac Pro so maybe flowrider can give you advice or it probably would be better to post in the Mac Pro forum as this appears to be more of a Mac Pro vs. a High Sierra issue.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^He's on a cMP 5,1 as stated in his sig. He needs to follow these instructions:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-mojave-bootrom-upgrade-instructions.2142418/

And as far as folks helping, you need to be specific. "I think" and "or something" doesn't cut it.

Lou

 

[machenryr]

My confusion came in that I don’t want to upgrade to Mojave. I didn’t get the metal GPU. I THOUGHT I upgraded the firmware to a compatible one. Maybe I short circuited. But when I installed the blade and saw the SSD PCIe in high Sierra. I thought i was good. I can drag files to it. I might have forgotten to finish the job. I know I really didn’t want to buy a new GPU.

But I’ve had massive problems with my modem so perhaps it didn’t take.

Thank you.
[doublepost=1558649788][/doublepost]This is what I got - Samsung 970 EVO 1TB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD (MZ-V7E1T0BW)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BN217QG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_EdVZCbZS69CKJ

 

[machenryr]

Now we’re be got a very peculiar problem. I switched modems so I can now download files. So i was partially right because now the OS installer is trying to work. But I’m stuck in a circular circus or zoo. It keeps trying to install. It fails and says there was an error. “To use Apple Diagnostics to check your Mac hardware, shutdown, press the power button, and immediately hold the D key until diagnostics begins. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.”

There isn’t anything I can do to stop the installer attempts. I’ve shutdown and restarted hold D many times. I’ve restarted holding the option key do i can choose another start up drive. I’ve reset the pram several times. It keeps repeating.

It started trying to install in the target PCIe card. Now it’s trying to install on the boot drive which already has High Sierra.

Help again. How do I stop this?