- Joined
- Mar 28, 2016
- Messages
- 34
- Motherboard
- Dell Precision T5400
- CPU
- 2xQuad Core Xeon X5460
- Graphics
- EVGA GTX 275
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
I was wondering about whether I could make this fly at all (especially because of the old CPUs and chipset - 2 4 core 3.16ghz CPU's and a lot of cache or not there's a lot of features they just do not have!) and I did a lot of searching here and on other sites.. came up with a bunch of people asking questions about the T5400's and other older hardware but not too many answers. I guess I'm not the only person who wants to put some old HW to use so I figured I'd drop this out here for anyone else looking before I forget how I went about it. I have Sierra running on the other almost identical box (only difference is really the video card and 4x4gb ram vs 8x2gb ram) and I had no clue where to start because it's been so long since I installed it. (It also wouldn't surprise me in the least if I find myself looking for this post at some time in the future after a HD dies or something knowing me
If nothing else, I don't remember how many people were asking questions about Dell workstations in particular versus various other older hardware, but this should give you some hope that if you screw around enough it'll work!
I posted about whether this would even be possible and got no replies.. well long story short on one of my systems I installed Ubuntu to the wrong drive (whoops, good thing all my important data is on the server anyways!!) so when I went to re-install I decided to screw around and see if I could get High Sierra up.. and.. welp.. yes!
It's running great - sleep works fine, built-in audio, serial ports (not USB, the ones on board), all 10 or whatever crazy amount of USB ports this thing has.. I can't think of anything I that doesn't work other than HWSensors reports all my CPU cores as overheating (like 100 degrees C and up!) and they're not even hot to the touch, plus this thing does a hard shutdown if anything gets too hot and I stress-tested the CPUs at 100% load across all 8 cores overnight, so it's a wrong reading for sure. I'm not sure if I've got power management - the CPU speedstep part of it - running 100% (no nullcpupowermanagement running and no panics, so probably) but I just haven't tested it out. I do have it functioning fine on Sierra on the other box, so if I need to do anything I'll figure it out and I'm sure it's possible - I don't remember if I had to screw with anything or if it worked OOTB on Sierra.
Anyway.. I'm running an iMac13,1 system definition. I don't know how or why it works but it does. I suspect it has to do with some DSDT magic in the installer I kinda-sorta used. It's really close to a MacPro3,1 but that won't do Sierra or High Sierra and I didn't feel like screwing with the installer to fake it out.
So here's what I did if anyone is looking to re-purpose some old hardware. Believe it or not, this thing is damn fast although it's kinda like the Pontiac 455 of computers - I'm using a lot more juice than need be if I had newer hardware I'm going to try it out on my HP dv5-1017nr next - for kicks, that's nowhere near as fast and pretty much my backup for when I'm screwing around with something else and it's next to me to surf for answers. The next time I blow one of these boxes up I want to try the vanilla and/or Unibeast method as I suspect the installer just has a DSDT that makes the Dell look a little less Dellish, so I figure doing Unibeast and fixing up my own DSDT should be even easier - that's probably the way to go for something non-dell but with similar older hardware. BUT don't sleep in trying this installer I used because it's designed for a much different system than I used it on and I've seen reports of it working on even less similar systems.
I used the Clover Dell Precision 690 installer (You'll need to have Install El Capitan or Install Yosemite downloaded from the App store in your /Applications folder) to create the USB drive with El Capitan - should make no difference if you do it with Yosemite, it's about to be wiped out anyway. (I tried renaming High Sierra install app to El Cap, didn't work.. I think that's how I did it with Sierra but it was so long ago I might have done it this way also, IDK.) Then run createinstallmedia from the High Sierra app you downloaded - surprisingly and thankfully it does not screw with your Clover/EFI partition or do anything to prevent it from booting it (Command in terminal: /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/-Name-Of-USB-Partition- --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app --nointeraction) to install to the USB partition, I think the Precision installer leaves it called MacUSB IIRC. Look on the desktop or launch Disk Utility and make sure. It'll take a good 10 or 15 mins with no report whatsoever until you get your command prompt back.
Now mount the EFI partition on the USB drive if it's not already, (go to terminal and usually it will be diskutil mount /dev/disk1s1 but do a diskutil list and check if you want or definitely if you have more than 1 HD and the USB hooked up.) and copy your EFI folder - you'll need the config.plist out of it. Download and run Clover 4297 (I forget where the versions break but Clover 3k that the 690 installer drops on your USB stick isn't compatible with High Sierra and 4297 was the latest as of when I'm doing this so it's verified working.) It'll stomp all over your config.plist - copy the one from the 690 installer EFI folder back and make sure there is still a DSDT in ACPI/patched, if not copy that over from the EFI folder your saved.
Get a copy of Clover Configurator and run it. Do NOT let it edit your config.plist!! Do a file/close to make sure, then file/new and just select the SMBIOS section, iMac13,1, hit generate serial numbers a few times and save it somewhere. Open up the new file, and copy the entire SMBIOS section (from <dict> to </dict>) then paste it into the one on the USB, overwriting the same section there.
OK.. now boot the PC and select whatever you need to boot the USB drive - F12 on the Dell Precision. If you're using a Nvidia card, to get the install working you'll probably need to disable nvidia injection in clover options/graphics and add nv_disable=1 to the boot flags. Select boot from the USB for the first phase of the install. It should now boot no problem - well other than crappy graphics but we'll fix that later. You'll need to do this each time it reboots until you get a desktop up and it fully installed. For the second and third phases of the install you'll need to boot the USB but at the clover screen select the same options (nv_disable=1 and uncheck inject nvidia if you needed to for the initial boot) but boot the HD, not the USB stick.
When you get to the desktop, install Clover 4297 to your HD, and copy the config.plist off your USB EFI partition to the HD EFI partition. Boot the HD with nv_disable and uncheck inject Nvidia to make sure it works.
Two more things need done:
1-If you're running Nvidia, at least for all the older cards I've tried, NVDAStartup.kext is not compatible, it'll panic. I replaced it with the one off my working Sierra system, which I *THINK* is from the original Sierra install, but I do remember I did an update and it overwrote it with a new one that caused a panic. It might be one from El Capitan even, I don't remember. The rest of the kext's work fine.
2-If you're doing this on a Dell T5400 (and probably anything else with the same Broadcom Gig Ethernet chip) you'll need to use version 2.3.6 of BCM5772D - the one I'm using is BCM5722D-v2.3.6(Jief).kext. I don't remember where I got it but Google is your friend. Other versions work fine except when your box goes to sleep - after it wakes back up Ethernet is no dice until you ifconfig down, kextunload the kext, kextload, and ifconfig up.
Anyway that's it! I'm typing on it now. Works great.. I'm surprised I got it running at ALL on anything less than a Sandy Bridge but don't ask me.. it works.
Hope this helps someone else when they're searching on whether you can run later OS X versions on old hardware sitting around! I've had Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, and now High Sierra running on my two T5400's and all work great with various amounts of tweaking.. Sierra and High Sierra were probably the easiest to get up and going 100% but that may be due to more experience Hackintoshing, I've used real Macs and had Windows on these boxes prior to the Yosemite release or so.
End result:
Oh yeah LOL this is what I was talking about when I said I have no clue why this even works.. this box does not have 667mhz DDR3 memory, it's fully-buffered ECC memory But whatever, it works.. and that's actually the only thing I've found reported incorrectly even though Sierra and High Sierra are supposed to be compatible with... well... nothing in my system.
If nothing else, I don't remember how many people were asking questions about Dell workstations in particular versus various other older hardware, but this should give you some hope that if you screw around enough it'll work!
I posted about whether this would even be possible and got no replies.. well long story short on one of my systems I installed Ubuntu to the wrong drive (whoops, good thing all my important data is on the server anyways!!) so when I went to re-install I decided to screw around and see if I could get High Sierra up.. and.. welp.. yes!
It's running great - sleep works fine, built-in audio, serial ports (not USB, the ones on board), all 10 or whatever crazy amount of USB ports this thing has.. I can't think of anything I that doesn't work other than HWSensors reports all my CPU cores as overheating (like 100 degrees C and up!) and they're not even hot to the touch, plus this thing does a hard shutdown if anything gets too hot and I stress-tested the CPUs at 100% load across all 8 cores overnight, so it's a wrong reading for sure. I'm not sure if I've got power management - the CPU speedstep part of it - running 100% (no nullcpupowermanagement running and no panics, so probably) but I just haven't tested it out. I do have it functioning fine on Sierra on the other box, so if I need to do anything I'll figure it out and I'm sure it's possible - I don't remember if I had to screw with anything or if it worked OOTB on Sierra.
Anyway.. I'm running an iMac13,1 system definition. I don't know how or why it works but it does. I suspect it has to do with some DSDT magic in the installer I kinda-sorta used. It's really close to a MacPro3,1 but that won't do Sierra or High Sierra and I didn't feel like screwing with the installer to fake it out.
So here's what I did if anyone is looking to re-purpose some old hardware. Believe it or not, this thing is damn fast although it's kinda like the Pontiac 455 of computers - I'm using a lot more juice than need be if I had newer hardware I'm going to try it out on my HP dv5-1017nr next - for kicks, that's nowhere near as fast and pretty much my backup for when I'm screwing around with something else and it's next to me to surf for answers. The next time I blow one of these boxes up I want to try the vanilla and/or Unibeast method as I suspect the installer just has a DSDT that makes the Dell look a little less Dellish, so I figure doing Unibeast and fixing up my own DSDT should be even easier - that's probably the way to go for something non-dell but with similar older hardware. BUT don't sleep in trying this installer I used because it's designed for a much different system than I used it on and I've seen reports of it working on even less similar systems.
I used the Clover Dell Precision 690 installer (You'll need to have Install El Capitan or Install Yosemite downloaded from the App store in your /Applications folder) to create the USB drive with El Capitan - should make no difference if you do it with Yosemite, it's about to be wiped out anyway. (I tried renaming High Sierra install app to El Cap, didn't work.. I think that's how I did it with Sierra but it was so long ago I might have done it this way also, IDK.) Then run createinstallmedia from the High Sierra app you downloaded - surprisingly and thankfully it does not screw with your Clover/EFI partition or do anything to prevent it from booting it (Command in terminal: /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/-Name-Of-USB-Partition- --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app --nointeraction) to install to the USB partition, I think the Precision installer leaves it called MacUSB IIRC. Look on the desktop or launch Disk Utility and make sure. It'll take a good 10 or 15 mins with no report whatsoever until you get your command prompt back.
Now mount the EFI partition on the USB drive if it's not already, (go to terminal and usually it will be diskutil mount /dev/disk1s1 but do a diskutil list and check if you want or definitely if you have more than 1 HD and the USB hooked up.) and copy your EFI folder - you'll need the config.plist out of it. Download and run Clover 4297 (I forget where the versions break but Clover 3k that the 690 installer drops on your USB stick isn't compatible with High Sierra and 4297 was the latest as of when I'm doing this so it's verified working.) It'll stomp all over your config.plist - copy the one from the 690 installer EFI folder back and make sure there is still a DSDT in ACPI/patched, if not copy that over from the EFI folder your saved.
Get a copy of Clover Configurator and run it. Do NOT let it edit your config.plist!! Do a file/close to make sure, then file/new and just select the SMBIOS section, iMac13,1, hit generate serial numbers a few times and save it somewhere. Open up the new file, and copy the entire SMBIOS section (from <dict> to </dict>) then paste it into the one on the USB, overwriting the same section there.
OK.. now boot the PC and select whatever you need to boot the USB drive - F12 on the Dell Precision. If you're using a Nvidia card, to get the install working you'll probably need to disable nvidia injection in clover options/graphics and add nv_disable=1 to the boot flags. Select boot from the USB for the first phase of the install. It should now boot no problem - well other than crappy graphics but we'll fix that later. You'll need to do this each time it reboots until you get a desktop up and it fully installed. For the second and third phases of the install you'll need to boot the USB but at the clover screen select the same options (nv_disable=1 and uncheck inject nvidia if you needed to for the initial boot) but boot the HD, not the USB stick.
When you get to the desktop, install Clover 4297 to your HD, and copy the config.plist off your USB EFI partition to the HD EFI partition. Boot the HD with nv_disable and uncheck inject Nvidia to make sure it works.
Two more things need done:
1-If you're running Nvidia, at least for all the older cards I've tried, NVDAStartup.kext is not compatible, it'll panic. I replaced it with the one off my working Sierra system, which I *THINK* is from the original Sierra install, but I do remember I did an update and it overwrote it with a new one that caused a panic. It might be one from El Capitan even, I don't remember. The rest of the kext's work fine.
2-If you're doing this on a Dell T5400 (and probably anything else with the same Broadcom Gig Ethernet chip) you'll need to use version 2.3.6 of BCM5772D - the one I'm using is BCM5722D-v2.3.6(Jief).kext. I don't remember where I got it but Google is your friend. Other versions work fine except when your box goes to sleep - after it wakes back up Ethernet is no dice until you ifconfig down, kextunload the kext, kextload, and ifconfig up.
Anyway that's it! I'm typing on it now. Works great.. I'm surprised I got it running at ALL on anything less than a Sandy Bridge but don't ask me.. it works.
Hope this helps someone else when they're searching on whether you can run later OS X versions on old hardware sitting around! I've had Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, and now High Sierra running on my two T5400's and all work great with various amounts of tweaking.. Sierra and High Sierra were probably the easiest to get up and going 100% but that may be due to more experience Hackintoshing, I've used real Macs and had Windows on these boxes prior to the Yosemite release or so.
End result:
Oh yeah LOL this is what I was talking about when I said I have no clue why this even works.. this box does not have 667mhz DDR3 memory, it's fully-buffered ECC memory But whatever, it works.. and that's actually the only thing I've found reported incorrectly even though Sierra and High Sierra are supposed to be compatible with... well... nothing in my system.
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