MP 1,1-5,1 Unable to install Monterey 12.7.4 using OCLP on a Mac Pro 5,1

[notasmartguy]

Hello everyone. I've been running into this issue no matter what and I am desperate to fix it
Using OCLP 2.4.0, I've created a Monterey bootable usb. I'm able to install it on my ssd just fine, however when it's continuing the installer on the ssd, it always gets stuck at this moment: No port micro restart (we don't support SMC on this platform). From there it just reboots, gets stuck here, rinse and repeat.

Some additional information:
- I've already installed Mojave before, so the firmware is at 144.0.0.0.0.
- The settings I used on OCLP are all defaults, the only thing I changed was the target model to MacPro5,1, enabled Verbose output, and enabled AMD GOP Injection.

I couldn't find any sort of information related to this specific issue, so I wanted to ask here. Is there some sort of solution I could do to fix this?

 

[Bigwaff]

The settings I used on OCLP are all defaults, the only thing I changed was the target model to MacPro5,1, enabled Verbose output, and enabled AMD GOP Injection.

Can you provide detailed specs for your cMP5,1 - internal storage config, GPU, other cards, etc.

 

[notasmartguy]

Can you provide detailed specs for your cMP5,1 - internal storage config, GPU, other cards, etc.

Yes of course

- Intel Xeon X5675
- 32GB (4X 8GB) DDR3-1333 PC3-10600
- Reference Radeon RX 480
- Crucial P3 Plus 500GB as the only boot drive using a MNQJRH generic m.2 to pcie adapter. During install I formatted it as APFS and GPT
- There’s also the Apple internal dvd player that it came with.

Other than that I don’t have any other cards or storage drives attached to the system. Hope this helps.

 

[Bigwaff]

Crucial P3 Plus 500GB as the only boot drive using a MNQJRH generic m.2 to pcie adapter. During install I formatted it as APFS and GPT

Did you have Mojave installed prior on the Crucial?

 

[notasmartguy]

Did you have Mojave installed prior on the Crucial?

No. The Crucial was a brand new ssd that I bought a couple of days ago.
I have installed Mojave over a year ago on a different ssd, which was a Crucial P2 250gb 3D NAND. I did want to mention that during that time, I also wanted to install Monterey on that ssd but ran into the same issue.

 

[reader50]

Do you have a spare SATA SSD or HD sitting around? Suggest putting one in, and install OCLP on the SATA device. Then try Monterey again on your M.2 drive.

I've had trouble getting OCLP to load from my M.2s for some reason. When it doesn't load, nothing later works. For this reason, OCLP is installed on a SATA SSD while I routinely boot macOS from M.2.

The SATA device can be really small, as you only need the EFI partition on it. The rest can be a data volume. Or a Mojave safety volume, for troubleshooting.

 

[notasmartguy]

Do you have a spare SATA SSD or HD sitting around? Suggest putting one in, and install OCLP on the SATA device. Then try Monterey again on your M.2 drive.

I've had trouble getting OCLP to load from my M.2s for some reason. When it doesn't load, nothing later works. For this reason, OCLP is installed on a SATA SSD while I routinely boot macOS from M.2.

The SATA device can be really small, as you only need the EFI partition on it. The rest can be a data volume. Or a Mojave safety volume, for troubleshooting.

Yes, I have a couple of hard drives lying around. I’ll install Mojave on it, apply oclp on it, and try again on the m.2.

 

[notasmartguy]

Do you have a spare SATA SSD or HD sitting around? Suggest putting one in, and install OCLP on the SATA device. Then try Monterey again on your M.2 drive.

I've had trouble getting OCLP to load from my M.2s for some reason. When it doesn't load, nothing later works. For this reason, OCLP is installed on a SATA SSD while I routinely boot macOS from M.2.

The SATA device can be really small, as you only need the EFI partition on it. The rest can be a data volume. Or a Mojave safety volume, for troubleshooting.

So update, I did install Mojave on that separate hdd and installed oclp on it. From there my Monterey usb installer was connected and began installation on that separate ssd. However it's still giving me this issue. I attached some images on to show the error again and the oclp boot screen.

 

[reader50]

I haven't seen that error before. Was hoping my upgrade process would just avoid it. Before doing anything further, suggest a force-shutdown to break out of the boot loop. And reset your SMC in case it's confused and responding incorrectly to the installer. Then boot, and re-enter the 'macOS Installer' that's supposed to become your Monterey install (you can unplug the USB installer).

I recall when I originally upgraded from Mojave to Monterey, it was a difficult upgrade. And each time, I seemed to be stuck towards the end. Requiring a single forced-shutdown. After which, manually re-entering the install process allowed it to finish within a reasonable time. This isn't anything the instructions recommend, in fact it goes against current OCLP advice. Also, I was using a much earlier version of OCLP.

But it worked each time, giving me a completed Monterey install. So try it. If it fails, see below for what I'd try next.

---------------------

If the above fails, boot into your Mojave install and open up the OCLP app for some sanity checks.

Check OCLP -> Target Model to confirm it says "Host Model". To make sure it didn't change targets somehow.

Also, check OCLP -> Settings -> Security
These are my settings (all other options are unchecked):
note: these settings are good through Sequoia, might not all be needed for Monterey. But I can confirm my Monterey install still boots with these settings.

[x] Disable Library Validation
[x] Disable AMFI

[x] ALLOW_UNTRUSTED_KEXTS
[x] ALLOW_UNRESTRICTED_FS
...
[x] ALLOW_UNAUTHENTICATED_ROOT

Then check OCLP -> Settings -> SMBIOS
SMBIOS Spoof Level (popup): Minimal
SMBIOS Spoof Model (popup): Default

If any of the above is off (especially Target Model) fix the setting, and rewrite OCLP to disk. Might have to re-clone and reinstall Monterey afterwards, so alternatively consider below.

---------------------

If it were my system, and M.2 space allowed, I'd create APFS volumes for Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, and Monterey. Then serially install, cloning forwards until a problem appears (or doesn't appear). Ideally, you'd get around the boot-loop problem. But if not, at least you'd end up with the highest macOS you can reach before solving whatever is hanging things up.

I prefer my Mac set up like a developer, with every major macOS version installed. So I'd do it this way anyway. But it's a valid (if time-consuming) method to sneak up on your Monterey problem.

Clone Mojave over to M.2, make sure it boots OK. This makes sure it isn't an incompatibility with your M.2 stick, or host card.

Then clone M.2_Mojave to 'M.2_Catalina' and install Catalina using the DosDude installer. Confirm it boots and works.

Clone M.2_Catalina to 'M.2_Big Sur', and use the OCLP installer to get Big Sur going. Confirm it works.

Finally clone from M.2_Big Sur to M.2_Monterey, and proceed. If everything goes as expected, you have your Monterey install. Along with some unneeded earlier macOS versions that you could presently delete to recover space.

 

[notasmartguy]

I haven't seen that error before. Was hoping my upgrade process would just avoid it. Before doing anything further, suggest a force-shutdown to break out of the boot loop. And reset your SMC in case it's confused and responding incorrectly to the installer. Then boot, and re-enter the 'macOS Installer' that's supposed to become your Monterey install (you can unplug the USB installer).

I recall when I originally upgraded from Mojave to Monterey, it was a difficult upgrade. And each time, I seemed to be stuck towards the end. Requiring a single forced-shutdown. After which, manually re-entering the install process allowed it to finish within a reasonable time. This isn't anything the instructions recommend, in fact it goes against current OCLP advice. Also, I was using a much earlier version of OCLP.

But it worked each time, giving me a completed Monterey install. So try it. If it fails, see below for what I'd try next.

---------------------

If the above fails, boot into your Mojave install and open up the OCLP app for some sanity checks.

Check OCLP -> Target Model to confirm it says "Host Model". To make sure it didn't change targets somehow.

Also, check OCLP -> Settings -> Security
These are my settings (all other options are unchecked):
note: these settings are good through Sequoia, might not all be needed for Monterey. But I can confirm my Monterey install still boots with these settings.

[x] Disable Library Validation
[x] Disable AMFI

[x] ALLOW_UNTRUSTED_KEXTS
[x] ALLOW_UNRESTRICTED_FS
...
[x] ALLOW_UNAUTHENTICATED_ROOT

Then check OCLP -> Settings -> SMBIOS
SMBIOS Spoof Level (popup): Minimal
SMBIOS Spoof Model (popup): Default

If any of the above is off (especially Target Model) fix the setting, and rewrite OCLP to disk. Might have to re-clone and reinstall Monterey afterwards, so alternatively consider below.

---------------------

If it were my system, and M.2 space allowed, I'd create APFS volumes for Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, and Monterey. Then serially install, cloning forwards until a problem appears (or doesn't appear). Ideally, you'd get around the boot-loop problem. But if not, at least you'd end up with the highest macOS you can reach before solving whatever is hanging things up.

I prefer my Mac set up like a developer, with every major macOS version installed. So I'd do it this way anyway. But it's a valid (if time-consuming) method to sneak up on your Monterey problem.

Clone Mojave over to M.2, make sure it boots OK. This makes sure it isn't an incompatibility with your M.2 stick, or host card.

Then clone M.2_Mojave to 'M.2_Catalina' and install Catalina using the DosDude installer. Confirm it boots and works.

Clone M.2_Catalina to 'M.2_Big Sur', and use the OCLP installer to get Big Sur going. Confirm it works.

Finally clone from M.2_Big Sur to M.2_Monterey, and proceed. If everything goes as expected, you have your Monterey install. Along with some unneeded earlier macOS versions that you could presently delete to recover space.

So I tried again, following your instructions. The first thing I did was a complete reinstall of Mojave and Monterey. First Mojave, applied OCLP (using the settings you mentioned in the second recommendation), and created a fresh Monterey usb drive. Unfortunately, the issue still persisted. I forced shutdown and reset the SMC a couple of times. I also completely removed Mojave and just had the usb and the crucial ssd. It still also gave me the same error. Rinse and repeat a couple of times.
I even went as far as to install Big Sur, but it ended up giving me another error (Picture attached).
One thing to note is that I don't suspect it to be the m.2 ssd. I've tried installing Monterey before on a sata ssd, another m.2 ssd, and even a hdd, but they all gave me the same error.

I would try the APFS volumes method you mentioned, but at this point I am just burnt out on this. Installing Catalina using the DosDude installer works fine, I've tried it before in the past. However my preference is to have Monterey installed instead.
I very much appreciate your help with this. Unfortunately this problem has been present for a while now. Maybe I'll stick with Catalina but more than likely I will install another OS on it. Thank you once again for your help.

 

[reader50]

This is looking like a hardware problem to me. Suggest checking your PRAM battery for low voltage. That's the easiest hardware to check. If a RAM stick were bad, it would give different errors, and mostly would not be recognized.

Any chance you have access to Apple's hardware tests? I'm unsure what suspect to point to at this point. Hardware swaps would narrow down any fault, but only if you had a spare Mac Pro to swap parts with.

 

[notasmartguy]

This is looking like a hardware problem to me. Suggest checking your PRAM battery for low voltage. That's the easiest hardware to check. If a RAM stick were bad, it would give different errors, and mostly would not be recognized.

Any chance you have access to Apple's hardware tests? I'm unsure what suspect to point to at this point. Hardware swaps would narrow down any fault, but only if you had a spare Mac Pro to swap parts with.

Yeah I tried to access the Hardware Test, but for some reason it just wouldn’t let me. I did do another fresh install of Mojave, shut the Mac down, held D (and then opt+D later on), but nothing worked.
As for the battery, I swapped it out with a fresh one, redid the Monterey install, but it didn’t work.
Yeah I agree that maybe it could be a hardware problem, but I’m not sure as well. It couldn’t be the cpu because the Mac came with a w3530, and it still gave me that error before I upgraded it. The ram seems fine as well, Mojave detects all 4 sticks. The 480 works just fine as well. Unfortunately I don’t have another Mac Pro to swap parts from.