Catalina 10.15.7

 Even Mojave has some supplemental update and security update.

After a few months I itch to upgrade again.

No surprise, the Catalina patch still won't go through the second phase.

Every time I do this I do this in a feverish pace and in the end, I don't know what I am doing.

But I have to say I am calm and a little bit more prepared.  When it failed to boot up to continue the second phase.  I was able to recover from the Mojave recovery snapshot though I forgot the details.  But it certainly emboldened me to go really to Catalina instead of just going update Mojave as I know initially I was able to upgrade to Catalina but somehow in subsequent update I wasn't able to complete.

No surprise I wasn't able to go to the second phase of the patch to complete but then it didn't destroy the last bootable OS I was able to boot back holding the Alt or Option key.

So here are the steps

Download the latest Catalina patch from dosdude1

Make the USB drive

Boot from the USB drive (for me I have to switch back to the supported GPU card, otherwise I can't do this ALT boot sequence)

The installation reboot and back to the USB installation screen and in some instances it gives me the mouse setup, just click Next or similar to back out

Reboot holding down Alt key, you should see the Install partition of whatever it's properly called, you should see the USB and other possible Boot EFI from previous failed upgrades but pick the installation thingy you've never seen before that was just created in the first phase of the update

This should complete the second part of the installation.

Once it reboots you should be home free 

Good luck.

PS:  you won't be able to stream Netflix on Safari, but Chrome is perfectly fine.

macpro3,1 Catalina 10.15.4

I think I somehow destroyed the system.

When you trouble shoot late at night and end up regreting.

I think the SSD is kind of sort of not doing its job but there is no way I can find out what causes the OS couldn't see it.

So against my better judgement I opted to re-install the OS on a separate HDD and in the course of the installation, the HDD got wiped.  And so went my data.  Except there is a copy in my Time Machine, hopefully.

You know there is something wrong just not know what.  In the middle of data migration, the system re-boot itself so in the end, I gave up migration.

I wish I'd stay in MOJAVE.  But I know I'd never learn.

macpro3,1 maOS 10.15.4

There is a good chance, I won't say for sure, that if I unplug the power cable, then reconnect and boot, my chances of booting back to normal is 100% or close to 100%.  So there is some state stored in the memory that tells the OS to reboot to Recovery inadvertently or what I think it is inadvertently.  By unplugging the power cable I sort of clear that so the system starts anew.

I try to make sense of the scenario the best I can by making up stories the best I could.

The things that could go wrong:-
This is a 2008 macpro3,1 so it's not even supposed to be running 10.15.4 which was make possible by running dosdude1's patch since Mojave
The GPU is not supposed to be the PC version like I have installed.  Without the EFI from Apple, I don't see the boot up screens except the very last stage where I was prompted to enter my login and password.
Wired the one internal SATA to a Blu-ray drive and re-connected the EIDE superdrive, though presently disconnected to narrow down the problems for troubleshooting purpose.

To recap:
The system has been very stable starting Mojave.
Then comes Catalina 10.15 which was still stable for me.
Then I put in the Blue Ray and moved things around ... my SSD used to be using the internal SATA and put in the empty drive bay.
When I tried to connect the SSD and the Blue Ray drive using the SATA ports, it gives my problem, the system won't boot up.
In the end, I was able to put the SSD to drive bay 1 using some caddie, put all the HDDs onto bay 2 and 3.  The BR and Superdrive into the optical drive bay.
By and large it's working except after a while the superdrive would disappear.  But I can live with that.
Then somehow somewhere along the line, it develops this boot and sleep and wake up problem.  I decided to upgrade it to 10.15.4 to see if that removes the problem, alas it didn't.
Overnight, the system rebooted itself into recovery, it actually prompted the mouse setup and language setup before getting into recovery.  There were instances when the wake up screen appeared but after entering the login and password, the beach ball appeared and spins it went then it just froze.  Maybe something to do with the AFPS script boot or some kernel text with the patch ...

When the system is up and running it pretty solid.  Just don't let it go sleep or shut down.  Chances are it may boot to recovery.

Mac Storage space can vary a lot, I mean a lot between Disk Util and Mac Storage

If you can a meager size SSD and some 4TB HDD and use time machine, you will have a hard time when try to re-install the OS to the SSD with you simply delete files or moving files around.  No matter how hard you try or how much free space you you squeeze out on storage, it doesn't matter as long as Disk Util says you only have a few GB available.  Even after you disable Time Machine along the way.

I'm sure I found a similar solution but I just forgot and in retrospect that might not be as effective as this one here.

https://youtu.be/JfvYkhXrqAs


Terminals codes - sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots / com.apple.TimeMachine.2017-12-19-151241 com.apple.TimeMachine.2017-12-19-151441 com.apple.TimeMachine.2017-12-19-153720 tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2017-12-19-151241


this frees up the space.

MacPro 3,1 on 10.15.2

I have no intention to upgrade to the latest 10.15.4, at least not now or maybe ever.  The system has been solid, that's until a few days ago.  If I could recall any changes it would be the updated Xcode.  Ever since that, I experience some wake up issue.  Given that my keyboard and trackpad are bluetooth only.  Plus my GPU is PC based without the EFI rom or some shit like that.  But I swear, once in a while I do see the Apple logo booting up, that the weirdest shit.

Short of updating the software or removing the Xcode as a trial and error, I proceeded to change the button battery inside.  I don't know but I think this little guy was there from day one so I just changed it now.  Maybe that would help with the sleep wake up issue as the battery is supposed to keep the state of some ROM, or whatever it's called.  I have some faith not a lot that it might just take care of the problem.

Well this whole thing is a hack on borrowed time anyway.

UPDATE:  Well it didn't help...

macpro3,1 2008 hidden sata and power

it seems like i can limit 2 HDD on the HDD bays if i connected the hidden sata cables and use the ATA power.
Anyway.  I think figured out how to resolve or at least work around this problem.

Present configuration that works

Inside the 5 1/4 drive bay
1 Blu-ray drive connected to hidden sata port, with power from the original power molex to an adaptor to the drive
1 Superdrive, the stock one.  Once I connected with the ATA cable and power I was able to bootup the whole thing, even with 3 drives in the drive bays.
Drive Bays
1 the boot SSD drive
2 HDDs in drive bay 2 and 3.
Before connecting the superdrive I wasn't able to make the 3rd drive to work, I mean the system won't even bootup.

When I got this system, the superdrive was there but not connected.  Initially when I put my SSD into the 5 1/4 drive I just snaked 2 SATA cables and never bother to reconnect the Superdrive and at one point I even removed it out of the caddy.

It seems like I need to complete some circuit or something for the system power to work correctly.  Otherwise some sata won't work as previously.  I know it doesn't sound very scientific but I am not a science guy.  No excuse though.

Mac3,1 2008 Power

I am not technical enough to know for sure what goes wrong.

At some point I am able to run the following at the same time
SSD as the macOS
Blu-ray drive
The above are parked at the 51/4 drive bay with SATA connections snaked from the board and power from the original drive bay.
Originally I have the power split cable connected to the SSD and the BR drive but it won't boot up so I bought another one with no split and everything works.

The 4 HDDs bay only has 1 4TB drive running.  At some point one of the 4TB turned bad and the OS couldn't use it.  I don't know if at any point all the drives were working.

But I am sure the SSD, BR and one internal 4TB and one 2TB USB drive were working happily together.

Then came the replacement of the 4TB.  When I plugged it into one of the 4 HDD bay the Mac won't even boot up.  Nothing.  Initially I thought it's the replacement drive but I know it can't be right.  It's supposed to be a new replacement.  Not that new new but new replacement like new refurbished.  So I swapped it with the USB.  And viola it works.  So I know something is wrong with the system but not the HDD per se.

It seems like I can't have all the drive running at the same time.  Mind you I don't ever have drive bay 3 and 4 mounted.

So I took the SSD down mounted it on the HD1 bay and the 2 HDD on bay 2 and 3.  So the 5 1/4 only has the BR drive.  Still won't boot up until I unplugged the BR power.  That's very odd.

I don't know if there's anything with the Y splitter cable even I only use on end of it.  So I am ordering another one without the split.  Or the BR drive drawing too much power?  I have no idea.  It seems like if I only put 1 HDD into the drive bay then it would boot up when the SSD and BR are plugged in and powered.

This is just a bit weird to me.

MacPro3,1 can't split power from the 4-pin molex

I got one of those splitter but it won't work.  There are two 2 4-pin molex power plug in the drive bay of the MacPro3,1.  But you need 2 power adapters to convert the 4-pin molex to SATA power.  No luck with the Y splitter for that.  My boot drive, no ask me why, resides on that drive bay, using the power from the Y splitter when both are attached won't even boot up the MacPro3,1.  I mean using the Y splitter is totally fine as long as you only use one of the Y splitter but that defeats the purpose totally, doesn't it?  Got another adapter cable and now the BR drive and the SSD draws power separately and they work at the same time.  Hooray.

MacPro3,1 and Catalina macOS10.15.2

Everytime there is an update pushed out by Apple I tend to apply it and update my system.
My system being a MacPro3,1 early 2008 with a half ass supported or not quite supported graphic card is really a pain in the rear end when it comes to upgrade.  Mainly, I can't get in all those necessary reboot modes without the EFI or boot rom for the graphics.  So I have to pull the card and plug back in the original card which is mildly painful.  Everything adds up.  And in the end, what seems like a rather straight operation invariably ends up like life or death, at least for the system, operation.  Usually it spans for hours to get it done.

Again, it's a dosdude1.com patch.
download the patch
download the full Catalina install from Apple via the patch
create a Catalina bootable USB finger using the patch
reboot from the USB
And good luck.

Somewhere along those steps something will happen I guarantee you that.

I am not on macOS 10.15.2 after hours of patching ...

MacPro 2008 Blu-ray

Got myself a LG Blu-ray player blah blah blah.

Chuck the thing inside the MacPro3,1.  Unfortunately the machine doesn't want to boot.  After some mildly painful troubleshooting, I think it's the power.  I ran a power splitter from one of the 2 4-pin power cable for the EIDE drive.  It is running OKAY as long as only one of the splitter is in use.  Once I plugged the other end to the Blu-ray SATA, the SSD won't boot.  I guess there is no power going there.  I vaguely remember reading somewhere a year or 2 ago something to that effect.  The traditional or old Blu-ray standard is only 1920x1080, but the newer one can go up to double that, i.e. 3840x2160 or called UHD.  Though my monitor only goes up to 2560x1080.

So I ordered a 4pin molex to 12 pin Sata cable.  Let's see if it works.

When I plug the splitter to both the SSD which is my boot and the BR drive, the BR seems to get the power OK as I was able to see the light and open the tray.

Before I proceeded to install the drive, I needed to remove the front plate from the drive which is a bit of a pain as people mentioned it but there was no clear shot as to exactly how it's to be done.  Well I am guilty of that as well.  All I can say is you need to be careful and do not force it.

Since I can't get the machine to boot if the drive is power plugged in so I can't really test it yet.  Judging from what I read, this model with the 1.02 firmware may just even read the UHD BR disc as well.

UPDATE 1/11/2020:
I am happy to report that, what I thought was right.  The 4-pin molex won't split power.  With separate adapter to the SATA to the SSD and the BR drive, both of them work now.

Xcode 11.1

I wasn't able to download and install Xcode 11 after Catalina.

It would download but unable to install, tried many times, but just a waste of bandwidth.

In the end, I deleted the existing Xcode version, do a restart of the mac, then do a download and install, success.

Apple, why are you screwing up?

Free Space macOS style

Sometimes you aren't aware of a problem until it becomes a problem.

Normally I notice my hard drive or OK, SSD space by going to the About This Mac, then Storage.  This is where I am happy when I see lots of free space.  Didn't care about Disk Util until I need to do some more low level job like formatting a new hard drive or a SSD.

Finally I noticed there was a vast difference between what's reported in Storage than what's reported in Disk Util.  What matters to me is Disk Util as when I tried to install Catalina there it complains I don't have enough space.  This is a WTF moment for me.  Disk Storage clearly has enough space while Disk Util is barely not enough.

After much Googling, I found a way, which is kind of counter intuitive, I went ahead and created numerous large files and then deleted them.  I don't quite understand what I was doing but in the end it worked.

From what I understand it has to do with iCloud and optimisation.  So I had to deactivate them when I did the create and delete files trick.

-----

Also, I just also noticed I can't update Xcode, it would download and install and fail in the end.  Again I searched and found out I am not alone on this.  Yet another mystery.

macOS 10.14.6 macpro3,1 internal speaker disappears

After the second supplemental updates, I found out the internal speaker is missing.  That's it no longer shows on the Sound.  I don't know if it's just a coincident or not.

I tried to reset the whatever RAM by pressing the Alt Command P R keys when restarting, and you know how that is:  I can never be sure if I indeed hitting the keys at the right time given the fact that I am using the wireless Bluetooth keyboard and a non supported GPU.

Anyway, no luck with any of the resets I performed.  The machine connects with the Samsung Bluetooth speaker OK, just like before.  (One of the very odd things from day 1 is say I turned on the speaker and the machine connects for a second then it would immediately drops the connection and the video would get congested so much so Youtube thought there is a internet connection issue, well there is indeed a connection issue.  At that point I have to manually connect the BT speaker.  But this is just an aside.)

Hopefully money can work around this problem.  I ordered a CR2032 3V battery.  Maybe the existing one lost its power but even so I don't think it affects the presence or absence of the internal speaker.  But I just like to buy stuff.  Another prong of attack to this problem is I bought a USB mic and headphone jack adapter.  The latter solution hopefully can work around the problem.

UPDATE:
Apparently, or not so apparently, after the Supplemental updates, I need to manually do the patch updates because my whole macpro3,1 is a hack in order to upgrade to 10.14.6.  In the past, the dosdude patch would do a prompt automagically but not this time.  So after scratching my head for some hours I finally remember ahhh maybe I need to do that manually.  Unfortunately I placed the order to get some hardwares and hopefully the cancellation can go through.  After re-installing all the patches, the headphone port, internal speakers all work as they should be.  Magic.

macOS 10.14.6 on MacPro3,1

Thing should have gone a bit smoother if only I took a bit more time preparing.

Since last time, I have changed my file system to APFS which allows normal software update via Apple.

As such I just needed to download and restart to install.  Or so I thought.

I was basically taking a chance as I didn't put back the stock GPU.

So when it reboot, nothing kind of happened.  I tried holding Alt, or Command R to get under the hood.  I tried a few times.  I am using bluetooth keyboard and touchpad so they can be a bit iffy when doing the bootup and holding down keys kind of operation.  But apparently it can be done.  I suppose the bluetooth connection is pretty low level and is connected right away without the OS fully loaded so you can work on it right away.

Since I couldn't boot up so actually got my old macOS USB drive and boot with Alt down and boot to base macOS.  I used Time Machine to go back to 10.14.5.

I got everything running and I made sure I removed the non native GPU and put the stock GPU back before I started my download, install and reboot route.

It seems like I need to remove the USB drive, or I am not sure as I thought unless you hold down Alt otherwise it doesn't matter.

In any event I was able to boot back into the user login screen.  And the patch program automatically asked to update the patches.  Then reboot.

After everything works like I am sure it's the latest 10.14.6, then I powered down, removed the stock GPU card and put back the newer more powerful but not natively supported GPU.

It was on my third trial that everything worked.

macOS 10.14.5 and APFS

Previously my macOS was on the older file system.  Finally I got the OS updated to 10.14.5 and then moved it to APFS.  I had to put back the old video card so I can access the boot up option menu.

I actually updated it to 10.14.5 first so I could have left it alone but then I felt like to update the file system to APFS as chances are the next subsequent update may also work against me if I am on the old file system.  The software update from macOS simple won't find update on the old file system.

The macpro3,1 2008 is on it very last leg and I don't know how long it can last.  The next OS can be in the offing and totally obliterates this model.  I mean this is on borrowed life already as Apple's Mojave officially doesn't support this old model.

macOS Mojave 10.14.4 MacPro3,1 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2 GB

They work!

After a year, I finally got myself the GTX 770 2 GB card.  The display is much better now.  I am no gamer but I can appreciate some fluid browsing.

It's a little bit of a hassle, yes, anything involves any slight extra effort I consider it a hassle.

I got to order 2 power PCIe power cable for the card, mini 6-pin to 8-pin.  The card is a MSI branded one, it's very quiet "even" it has two big fans.  I don't think they are running but if they are they are awfully quiet.

The GPU is not a Mac specific graphic card but it boots up just without the boot screen which I can live with.  If I need it I can use the old card for this purpose.

Now this 2008 Mac Pro is more alive than before.

UPDATE:  I also have to live with the "fact" that the HDMI won't be outputting audio in this macpro3,1.  Oh well.  Let me return this card.  Just kidding.  I am happy this eBay dumpster diving found works.

GTX 770

Latest distraction:

The GTX 680 is pricier and harder to come by.  So GTX 770 is.  The version I got is by MSI with I think 2 8-pin power interface.  Sometimes you asked the seller it takes them forever to respond or not respond at all.

Judging from the manufacturer's web site, it should be a 2 8-pin power interface.  As such I ordered 2 of those cables that enable than connect from the Mac3,1 motherboard to the GTX 770.  It should be a mini 6-pin to the 8-pin.  The thing with this is I don't know if 6-pin is considered mini 6-pin already, or 6-pin and mini 6-pin are two different standards all together.  That's the word mini is just an additional descriptor.  I do see some cable just marked as 6-pin to 8-pin without the word mini.

I hope this combo works as I expect.  It would work, just without the Apple bootup screen, which I can live without.

Probably in three days I'd find out.

Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD 802.11ac mini PCI-E WiFi WLAN Bluetooth 4.0 Card

This is the board, together with the adapter, I got to upgrade my Mac Pro 2008.  An eBay find from a seller called miraclelove, what a name.  It takes more than a week to reach here all the way from China.  But the items seem good quality.  The guy could use a box to better protect the item but mine survived the long distance odyssey just fine.  The cards appear brand new and in protective plastic bag, probably static proof or something.  It seems like miraclelove is a decent seller who wrote me right away when he shipped the item and emphasized in case something something happened, contact the him or the seller first.  I always appreciate an eBayer who is open to communication.

This has WiFi and BlueTooth together.

In my old 2008 Mac Pro (MacPro3,1) there are four antennae with paper flag marked 1 to 3 and one marked BT which has been attached with the BT module that came with the Mac Pro 2008 system.  I removed the old BT module and set free the antenna for later use on the new module.  I read somewhere regarding the antenna placement it says the BT antenna should be placed on the 3 position and the 3 antenna should go to the 0 position on the board.  I guess something  must have changed or this wire attachment simply is not for this card.  So the first time I did it,   the BT wasn't working.  It wasn't working at all.  It was like it didn't exist.  WiFi was great though.

The second time, I just followed what the Broadcom card says and attached the antenna accordingly with the BT antenna attached to the 0 position on the board, and bang, it worked.

WiFi is very strong, it's the AC standard.  BlueTooth I can't really tell as my attached devices aren't all that new.  The BT magic keyboard is the second iteration that uses two AA batteries.

I have to say with poor eyesight it's a miracle that I can attach the four antennae, it's just very very difficult to feel your way to the connector.  Using the wireless magic keyboard is such a breeze.  Got to pay attention not to let any battery leak to the battery compartment though.

Mojave on MacPro3,1

The power splitter came.

Chucked the SSD into the drive bay.  I didn't bother to get any adapter at all.  I figure the clipped on power and data cables would "secure" the SSD no problem.  I just saved myself a couple of days and $10.  I formatted the SSD and proceeded to install Mojave.  It went on no problem.

The on board Bluetooth is iffy.  I guess I need to upgrade that.
For internet connection, I just share the MacBook Pro using a RJ45 cable.  It works pretty well.  The MacPro doesn't come with one though I am going to get one comes this Saturday.

The graphics is a tiny bit sub optimal.  This has been documented on the patch documentation.  The windows title bar doesn't have transparency.  So it's expected.  When I use Safari the graphics shortcoming becomes more apparent; some buttons on webpages would appear smeared when navigating.  The Safari tabs also would smear when mouse over.  This happens in day or night mode regardless.  Strange enough, it doesn't exhibit this behavior on Chrome.  When I wanted to do a Command-Shift-5 to capture that smear, the screen refreshes and it's gone.

I am using ancient USB keyboard.  It's just not any USB keyboard but a DELL by Microsoft keyboard with number pad and all the special buttons for web browsing which I have no use on a Mac environment.  It's raised and supposed to be ergonomic.  But it's just way too big for the desk..  The mouse is an optical one with a click wheel which doesn't work on scrolling.  Oh well.

So I am think of getting

Magic Keyboard
Magic Mouse
WiFi and Bluetooth for Airdrop and Handoff
One or two 4TB of HDD

First Time Boot up the 2008 MacPro3,1

Here are the updates:-

I got the dosdude1 program to patch the Apple installer.

I downloaded the Mojave installer from Apple and even verified good by the patcher program.  But when it actually ran it complained can't mount.  I reformatted the USB thumb drive one more time, downloaded the patcher program one more time but still no go.  I don't find lots of information other than you must have the wrong install program (from Apple?) or you need another 16GB USB thumb drive.  Oh no!  OK, so I tried using the patcher's program utility to download the mojave again, instead from Apple, I don't know where it was from but worth a try.  This was like the last resort as it would take some 30 minutes to download.  Hey this time it worked.  So it's a mystery to me.  As the original mojave is from Apple and checked ok even by the patcher program why it failed I don't know.

So the patcher program created this modified installer which doesn't discriminate against old hardware or something something so my MacPro3,1 from early 2008 can install mojave.

I checked the installers by eyeballing them they look the same to me.

My build isn't quite ready as I am still waiting for the power cable splitter to power the STA SSD which is going to be installed on the optical drive bay.  It doesn't come with any drive at all.  So I have no way of booting it up from any existing old OS.

Anyway, I tried to boot from the USB drive.  And the MP came alive!  Since the SSD is not ready so I can't really install mojave from scratch.  The odd thing is I have another 3.5" HDD in the 2nd bay, I wonder why it can't see it.  I hope I can install and boot from the lower bay of the 5.25" optical drive bay, that's the goal.

I guess I need to wait till Tuesday to find out.