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mountain lion is not compatible

Any Idea as to why?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Oct 17, 2012 7:29 AM

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53 replies

Oct 17, 2012 9:26 AM in response to bvg83

babowa's response was perfectly correct. You can't install ML because your Mac does not support it, as the message tells you. Having an Intel CPU is not enough. Your Mac must also have an EFI capable of booting 64 bit. That means your Mac has a 32 bit EFI and cannot run ML.


Check the link keg55 already supplied. If your Mac is older than anything on the list, ML is not possible.

Oct 17, 2012 9:37 AM in response to keg55

Obviously my Mac doesn't qualify so it will have to stay on Lion. This is dissapointing but nothing new especially with computers. It was purchased in 2007 so there's the answer.


Thought the built in obsolescence thing might be better with Apple and it is, but not as good as hoped especially when you consider the cost involved.

Oct 17, 2012 9:50 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Using boot camp in the early days revealed a need to install a 64 bit version of XP. Ultimately I decided not to bother with XP because XP PRO 64 bit was too pricey for my liking and I already had shelled out for pro on a windows machne although it was 32 bit.


Point being that the Mac pro was supposed to already be 64 bit so the 32 bit argument regarding Mountain Lion I find as a bit confusing.

Oct 17, 2012 10:00 AM in response to katieIII

Point being that the Mac pro was supposed to already be 64 bit so the 32 bit argument regarding Mountain Lion I find as a bit confusing.

Yes, it is somewhat confusing. The CPUs themselves have been 64 bit capable for quite a few years. So Win 7 64 bit has no trouble running on a Mac with a 32 bit EFI. Windows actually pays no attention to the EFI since what the Mac does is fool Windows into believing it is booting to a computer with a typical PC BIOS.


And that's the difference. The EFI is basically the computer's configuration and boot sequence hardware, just like a PC's BIOS. Newer PC's are finally starting to use EFI, but most I believe are still BIOS.


Anyway, that's why your Mac doesn't support ML. The Intel CPU is of course 64 bit and can run 64 bit software from the GUI, but the boot EFI is 32 bit only, and ML requires a 64 bit EFI.

Oct 17, 2012 10:14 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks for the info. That's interesting.


The Mac pro is still an expensive machine so a new machine just for ML is a dubious move to my mind. It's still got the appeal it always has had here and none of the opposition can hold a candle to it so it's got to be status quo in my view and a replacement will need some rather drastic changes to be introduced before a fresh machine is even contemplated.


Thanks again.

Oct 17, 2012 12:15 PM in response to katieIII

so a new machine just for ML is a dubious move to my mind.

If your current Mac does everything you need, then there's no reason to jump forward. In my opinion, there's very little in ML of interest. More than anything else, Apple has tried to make OS X act like the iOS devices. Too much so, if you ask me. Other than that, the only other important change is greatly beefed up security.


As for myself, I'm slowly making the move to ML simply because some of the newer software I need to use won't run in Snow Leopard. Otherwise, my day to day OS is still SL.

Oct 17, 2012 12:51 PM in response to Kurt Lang

I spent a lot of money on the Mac pro because I wanted to run video editing amongst other things and bought Final Cut Pro at the same time. Could have bought a Windows machine for the price of the software alone, but bought the Mac instead. It has many other assetts in my opinion as well and I find that there's plenty for me to do with the machine as it is without upgrading anything.


The significance of ML is that future wise it might be a negative indicator but in reality there's bags of life in my Mac so it'll more than do for me. Can if needs be run Tiger too and should be able to run the older software as well.


I do have an iPhone which up to now has run splendidly with the Mac and if it continues to do so then all will be well.


Buying new OS's is easy with Apple and a pain with Windows and now there's Windows 8 the price of which compares poorly. I still run XP as well because there are advantages believe it or not, to XP.


Whatever you have these days though, sooner or later it's going to become obsolete. C'est la vie !!!

Nov 23, 2012 7:21 PM in response to Dummnut

Another interesting point I think here and does it mean that the latest Mac minis are excluded from Mountain Lion because they too don't have a 64 bit efi ? and what about their 64 bit capabilities overall ?


I have an old Mac mini which i'd abandoned all hope for in this respect but I didn't even attempt to upgrade it to Lion anyway. And it's still running XP as well. Obviously it's got to be 32 bit and I went into this years ago, unlike my Mac pro, the mini ran 32 bit XP most successfully at the time and probably still does.

mountain lion is not compatible

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