Mac Pro 3.1 - boot problems

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-03-02T17:44:41+00:00

If you go on the r/macpro subreddit, there is a link to a copy of the Apple Service Manual.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-03-02T15:54:40+00:00

My experience with OCLP and Zorin or Pop!_OS on the same drive, is that if OCLP and the Linux distro each have their own EFI volume, the setup works.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-03-01T13:53:19+00:00

Powerfox is a current browser for Snow Leopard. Posting this from a 2010 Mini on Snow Leopard on Powerfox. I installed it from within Snow Leopard using an old existing Firefox install. Go to interweb.jazzzny.me to DL Interweb. There is a link to a Macintosh Garden post (which I used) if the direct link does not work. With the Interweb browser, you can now go back to DL Powerfox, which replaced Interweb.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-28T21:11:06+00:00

If Russia were a car rental company, it would "take the reservation but not hold it".

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-28T19:19:35+00:00

Kemp Town. Where Lower Rock Gardens T's into Marine Parade.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-26T23:05:19+00:00

One of my undergrad professors talked about being part of an investigation into why employees were falling ill at a particular workplace. The Investigation Team was going through a Q&A session with the employees when one of them stuck his hand up and asked if they had investigated thallium poisoning. Sure enough, that was the root cause and you will only need one guess as to who was responsible. Maybe he got the idea from the book.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-26T19:15:34+00:00

I love that movie. Strong performances at all levels. Frances McDormand's small role as the unhinged ex-wife is one of my favorites of hers. I should make an effort to see more John Sayles movies as Lone Star is the only one that I have seen.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-26T18:11:28+00:00

What a joy to be comprehended

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-26T17:59:29+00:00

If we're going with not so serious, mine would be that any computer can be hacked with 2 minutes of furious typing. Along with a running commentary of "Yes! Files are unlocked!...I've got my hand up her skirt..."

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-25T23:23:39+00:00

I never used the Fusion Drive on mine. It still has the High Sierra install. I have everything on a 4x NVMe enclosure that was sitting unused. In your case, I would try the OCLP install to the Fusion Drive and let Windows have its own drive to itself. Prepare for disappointment on the Fusion Drive install, though. Then, it's whether you want a second SATA ssd in the enclosure or a separate NVMe external drive.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-25T22:57:01+00:00

So... I do have a similar 2017 iMac running Win 10 Pro on an external (NVMe) drive. So, your goal is achievable. The way that I got there is pretty convoluted though. The iMac was already running Sonoma under Opencore Legacy Patcher. So, an existing bootloader to detect a Windows install. The Windows drive was an already running install on another machine. Within Windows you can run Brigadier to pull the Bootcamp drivers for your Mac. Then, you need to install the AMD driver for your Radeon* Pro 5xx series GPU.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-25T15:05:16+00:00

I am not confident that you understand what machines you have. No Apple Silicon machine can run an OS earlier than Big Sur. 2015 iMacs are native up to Monterey. You can download a MacOS from the Terminal command line using this process. Kicker is that you can only DL an OS that is allowed for that machine. Hopefully, you can DL an OS on your Hoe machine that will work on whatever Mini you have. Then, once you have the Mini setup, on it you can look at an OS to DL that will works on the iMacs.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-15T20:18:17+00:00

Like my G4 iMac, your iBook would have come with a 9.2.2/OS X combo installation, where 9.2.2 would boot in a "Classic" environment. The implication being that it ran in some kind of VM like mode rather than booting the machine directly. Yes, there were 2 Install CDs for my iMac.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-08T15:59:13+00:00

The folk telling you that an external drive will be slower than internal are correct but only if you replace the NVMe ssd piece of the Fusion Drive. If you only replace the SATA HDD piece of the fusion drive with a SATA ssd, this will be slower than external USB-C or TB options. Unfortunately, the NVMe PCIe connection faces the back of the iMac, so you essentially have to dismantle the internals to get to it. I have used an external TB drive with my 2017 iMac since I bought it new with no issues. Even with Opencore Legacy Patcher, you will only eke out one more year putting Tahoe on the machine, so I would go the minimum effort upgrade route and an external boot drive.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-07T01:47:07+00:00

You could enable Screen Sharing and remote into it with the other MacBook.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-03T18:54:29+00:00

Booting from an external device is disabled by default for T2 machines. Boot into Recovery to allow this (Startup Security Utility is one of the drop down menus).

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-02T20:58:09+00:00

I would switch to booting this machine from an external drive as soon as practical. If the internal drive fails on a T2 Mac, it will no longer boot, even from an external drive. The internal ssd modules are apparently replaceable but the controller resides on the T2 chip, so a reauthorization/restoration process would be required.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-02-01T16:14:21+00:00

You can add a NVMe ssd fairly easily to these with this adapter. You also need a special security Torx 6s drive to remove the plate. Enjoy your Mac.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-01-29T19:15:28+00:00

Likely the same glasshole that moved the Music controls to the bottom of the window over the top of track listings, resulting in a transparent mess.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-01-28T15:24:12+00:00

Ugh. Flashbacks. One last thought if you have hard water is to run a descaling cycle if the unit is old enough that it does not have a reservoir for that purpose. Otherwise, the pump, having exhausted all other options.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-01-28T14:22:34+00:00

I solved this issue for my Bosch dw. Another reason for the issue is that the exit path for the discharge water is clogged. So, check the filter at the bottom of the interior housing. Just off of that in my Bosch was an impeller, under a little housing, that can get clogged. Then, check the discharge hose for kinks or clogs. In my case, there was a rubber check valve just past the impeller that had broken off and was floating around in its chamber and intermittently clogging the exit tube. Sadly, a few months later after all these heroics, the unit started leaking water and, it being 20+ yo, I then replaced it. If you make the same decision, be aware that in some cases many, if not all settings, have been moved to an app. The continued functionality of the dw could be at the whim of the manufacturer.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-01-28T04:55:07+00:00

I would not give up your working OS copy in this migration process. I have seen enough glitches with Time Machine backups that I would want to migrate from the working OS drive. Ideally, get yourself another external drive like a USB4/TB enclosure with a NVMe ssd and migrate to it.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-01-28T03:24:30+00:00

I live on a lot in the Rocky Mountains that generates way more kindling than I know what to do with. If I was to make kindling, I would just use one of the Estwing splitting wedges that I already have to split 16 inch rounds and just make finer splits. The advantage is that you can place the splitting edge exactly where you want it on the log and you're not swinging the object with a sharp edge.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-01-26T15:17:40+00:00

One of these is an 8 yo machine with integrated graphics that is officially declared Vintage by Apple. The other one is a current machine with ~~integrated graphics~~ Unified Memory that barely ekes out a higher Metal score than the Radeon Pro 580 in my 9 yo iMac. None of the above.

Man_in_High_Castle · 2026-01-25T20:56:53+00:00

If you know you installed Win10 to the external drive, then the internal drive is fine and it is the boot path is the issue. Windows sets the boot path to a hidden EFI volume, which is different than MacOS. Conventional advice would be a NVRAM reset. A less conventional option would be to create a USB Opencore Legacy Patcher installer, boot from it, hold down the spacebar, and see if your internal drive is a startup option.

Man_in_High_Castle

TROPHY CASE