MP 1,1-5,1 USB Windows keyboard not being recognized on bootup MC Pro 2,1

[jave808]

Hi
A while back I picked up an old Mac Pro desktop that was not working. It's a 2,1 model I think. It's old and heavy - like me!!
Seriously though, it boots up into Windows 11 but I can't log in to that account as it's protected by a PIN. I don't care about that - I want to reinstall OSX.
So, I hold down the Windows key and R - but no recovery mode. I tried Windows + Alt + R - still no go. Tried a different keyboard - nup. Tried all the ports - nup.
BUT when I plug in a USB mouse, the tracking LED lights up - so it's getting power. And when I boot into that old account, I can still move the mouse pointer around.
Can anyone shed some light into what's happening here? And what I can try to get into Recovery mode?

 

[Bigwaff]

Some 3rd party keyboards don’t send the proper key signals an Apple keyboard will send. Get yourself a used Apple USB keyboard. I keep one around just for these purposes when fiddling with older model Macs.

 

[tsialex]

No Mac Pro before late-2013 Mac Pro have Internet Recovery. If the disk have only Windows installer, you won't access Recovery, obviously.

Btw, the most recent macOS release that you can install to a MacPro2,1 is Lion.

 

[jave808]

No Mac Pro before late-2013 Mac Pro have Internet Recovery. If the disk have only Windows installer, you won't access Recovery, obviously.

Btw, the most recent macOS release that you can install to a MacPro2,1 is Lion.

Ok thank you. I didn't know that!!!

So how do I go about installing Windows 11 or 10? Or a flavour of Linux?

I tried booting up off a USB image of Windows 11 (TPM and processor check removed). I created the USB with bootiso on my Linux Mint PC.

I held down the Alt key until the chime and white screen appeared. The mouse pointer was displayed but no boot option. Something could be wrong with the ISO image that I wrote to the USB.

I will try again with a Linux Mint boot USB.

 

[tsialex]

Ok thank you. I didn't know that!!!

So how do I go about installing Windows 11 or 10? Or a flavour of Linux?

I tried booting up off a USB image of Windows 11 (TPM and processor check removed). I created the USB with bootiso on my Linux Mint PC.

I held down the Alt key until the chime and white screen appeared. The mouse pointer was displayed but no boot option. Something could be wrong with the ISO image that I wrote to the USB.

I will try again with a Linux Mint boot USB.

Mac Pros before the early-2009 (MacPro4,1) can't install Windows from USB, only from DVD. Besides that, MacPro1,1/2,1 are 32bits, you can't use a 64bit image.

It's a 18 years old Mac Pro, here it can drink legally already…

 

[jave808]

Mac Pros before the early-2009 (MacPro4,1) can't install Windows from USB, only from DVD. Besides that, MacPro1,1/2,1 are 32bits, you can't use a 64bit image.

It's a 18 years old Mac Pro, here it can drink legally already…

Ha ha ha that's true.

I can boot up a Ventoy USB formatted drive but Ventoy only works with Secure Boot option (Well that's what it tells me when I boot up the USB).

I have no DVD drives installed - so can I use an external USB DVD drive?

I downloaded a DMG image of OSX Lion from the Apple site. I tried converting it to an IMG file then writing it to USB. Still not recognised when holding down the Alt key until the white screen appears.

There must be some way I can boot up an installer?

 

[tsialex]

Ha ha ha that's true.

I can boot up a Ventoy USB formatted drive but Ventoy only works with Secure Boot option (Well that's what it tells me when I boot up the USB).

I have no DVD drives installed - so can I use an external USB DVD drive?

Nope. You have to use a DVD drive connected to the internal ports. A MacPro1,1/2,1 can only boot from USB if you are booting macOS.

I downloaded a DMG image of OSX Lion from the Apple site. I tried converting it to an IMG file then writing it to USB. Still not recognised when holding down the Alt key until the white screen appears.

There must be some way I can boot up an installer?

Ask someone with a Mac to create a Lion installer for you or try to get DVD of Snow Leopard, loads of people have one since Apple sent multiple copies to people that back then payed for MobileMe subscription.

There are loads of posts with the same questions as yours, use the search/google for more in detail help.

 

[jave808]

Nope. You have to use a DVD drive connected to the internal ports. A MacPro1,1/2,1 can only boot from USB if you are booting macOS.



Ask someone with a Mac to create a Lion installer for you or try to get DVD of Snow Leopard, loads of people have one since Apple sent multiple copies to people that back then payed for MobileMe subscription.

There are loads of posts with the same questions as yours, use the search/google for more in detail help.

Thank you. You have been very helpful and patient with me. I will do some more Googling/searching.

 

[jave808]

Update: I managed to get OSX Leopard installed onto a 512GB SSD I had lying around. I bought a 2.5 to 3.5 inch sled then screwed in the SSD and then the sled into a tray.

So, these beast is actually a Mac Pro 1,1 with 2 Dual-core Xeon CPUs and 4GB DDR2-667 RAM. And I booted off a USB. It has a DVD drive installed but I when I try to "open" the tray you can hear the motor going but nothing appears. Do you have to remove those plastic covers on the front of the case??

I downloaded OSX Leopard using this Internet Archive torrent - https://archive.org/details/osx-leopard-install