Snow Leopard install disc fails on 4,1 Mac Pro

Question

Level 1

115 points

Snow Leopard install disc fails on 4,1 Mac Pro

Hi all,

I'm running a 4,1 vintage Mac Pro - Mid 2009 version.

Generally I run almost the latest OS - 10.9.5 - but I want to create one boot drive for Snow Leopard so I can run Final Cut Pro 7 with the greatest stability.

Strangely, I can't manage to install Snow Leopard.

What happens is, when I insert the Snow Leopard install DVD with the Mac running, I see something curious: The icon for "Install OS X" has a circle with slash through it. Suggesting it won't run, or it's not allowed.

When I boot from the startup DVD by holding down the "C" key and power button, I get as far as the grey screen with the Apple Logo, but then the machine goes into Kernel panic.

I wondered if my old Snow Leopard install DVD had been damaged, so I bought a new one from Apple and tried that one - with exactly the same results.

Of course, once upon a time I was running Snow Leopard on this very same Mac Pro.

I'm wondering if one of my hardware upgrades could be the culprit here. I have: swapped the stock graphics card for an Nvidia GeForce 680 (Mac version), added a bunch of RAM, and put an SSD drive in one of the bays. The older add-ons I had run with Snow Leopard for years - I have a PCI card to enable me to connect eSATA drives, and an AJA Kona LHi card.

I look forward to everyone's ideas.

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 48 GB RAM, AJA Kona LHi,GeForce 680

Posted on Dec 8, 2014 7:24 PM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Dec 9, 2014 1:28 AM in response to Joe Winston1

What specific install DVDs did you try?

What is written on the disk and what color are the disks?

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Answer 2

Joe Winston1 Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 9, 2014 5:49 AM in response to lllaass

The DVDs are White, they say "Mac OS X Snow Leopard." They are from Apple. Not a copy or anything like that. And I've tried two different install DVDs, both from Apple - one from when Snow Leopard was first released, then one I just bought yesterday.

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Dec 9, 2014 6:05 AM in response to Joe Winston1

This

User Tip: Mac Pro silver tower (2006-2012) Replacement Graphics cards

says:

3) "Mac Edition" cards that require 10.6.8 or later:

• EVGA GTX 285 Mac Edition, about US$450** Vendor recommends Mac Pro 3,1 or later (discontinued)

"Mac Edition Cards -- REQUIRE 10.8.3 or later:

• SAPPHIRE HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 MAC Edition, about US$480** Vendor recommends Mac Pro 4,1 or later

• EVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition, about US$600

But you only have 10.6.3

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Answer 4

Dec 9, 2014 7:39 AM in response to Joe Winston1

Many versions of Mac OS X will not install over a previous more-advanced version. It is no surprise at all that from a running 10.9, you cannot invoke the 10.6 Installer on the DVD. That is expected behavior.

To accomplish what you say you want, you will need to boot directly from the 10.6 DVD. Your current graphics card may or may not work in that case.

If you get a kernel panic at that point, the contents of that kernel panic report may give you additional insight. Those reports are saved and can be retrieved from the logs using this article:

Mac OS X: How to log a kernel panic - Apple Support

If "it's all Greek to you", post the text here and Readers can try to decipher it.

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Answer 5

Joe Winston1 Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 9, 2014 7:41 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

To be clear - I'm not trying to install Snow Leopard OVER Mavericks.

I'm trying to install it on an entirely separate, blank hard drive.

I'm thinking the graphics card is the problem - if lllaass is correct - that makes sense to me.

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Answer 6

Joe Winston1 Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 9, 2014 7:43 AM in response to lllaass

Hmmm. Sounds like having this graphics card installed in my machine means I cannot run Snow Leopard. Right?

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Answer 7

lllaass

Level 10

210,417 points

Dec 9, 2014 8:03 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

The poster he could not even boot from the SL install DVD. The poster said

When I boot from the startup DVD by holding down the "C" key and power button, I get as far as the grey screen with the Apple Logo, but then the machine goes into Kernel panic.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

Many versions of Mac OS X will not install over a previous more-advanced version. It is no surprise at all that from a running 10.9, you cannot invoke the 10.6 Installer on the DVD. That is expected behavior.

To accomplish what you say you want, you will need to boot directly from the 10.6 DVD. Your current graphics card may or may not work in that case.

If you get a kernel panic at that point, the contents of that kernel panic report may give you additional insight. Those reports are saved and can be retrieved from the logs using this article:

Mac OS X: How to log a kernel panic - Apple Support

If "it's all Greek to you", post the text here and Readers can try to decipher it.

Reply

Answer 8

Dec 9, 2014 8:20 AM in response to Joe Winston1

Or a million other things. If you post the kernel panic report, we can decipher the reason(s) it would not "go".

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Answer 9

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Dec 9, 2014 8:30 AM in response to Joe Winston1

Might want to always begin threads with a hardware profile, yes?

the 4,1 shipped with 10.5.7 and GT120, the GTX 285 was offered and could boot but poorly.

Many people went with the Apple ATI 5770 later when available.

Did you do that? do you have the original GPU?

you would not want to run SL as a guest OS inside Mavericks, but, it can be done - no fun though.

Also there were problems with the 4,1 and 10.6.0-10.6.2 (may be one of the reasons a 10.6.3 retail DVD was made possible)

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Answer 10

Joe Winston1 Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 9, 2014 8:39 AM in response to The hatter

Sorry not to be more clear about the Graphics card (if that is the issue.) I've copied the Kernel Panic report below. Happy for any insights it might lead to.

Anonymous UUID: C47E2C90-FA2A-4B30-00D0-83E865038BC5

Mon Dec 8 18:57:28 2014

panic(cpu 14 caller 0x2a8ac2): Kernel trap at 0xa690f57c, type 14=page fault, registers:

CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000018, CR3: 0x00100000, CR4: 0x00000660

EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x00000000, ECX: 0x00000000, EDX: 0x29663004

CR2: 0x00000018, EBP: 0xa5d53c58, ESI: 0x2a521000, EDI: 0x2a521000

EFL: 0x00010282, EIP: 0xa690f57c, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x00290010

Error code: 0x00000000

Backtrace (CPU 14), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)

0xa5d53a68 : 0x21b449 (0x5ce420 0xa5d53a9c 0x2238a5 0x0)

0xa5d53ab8 : 0x2a8ac2 (0x590478 0xa690f57c 0xe 0x590642)

0xa5d53b98 : 0x29e9a8 (0xa5d53bb0 0x2a50bd00 0xa5d53c58 0xa690f57c)

0xa5d53ba8 : 0xa690f57c (0xe 0x48 0x10 0xa5d50010)

0xa5d53c58 : 0xa68a9599 (0x0 0x2a50bd00 0xa5d53c88 0x52f5e6)

0xa5d53c88 : 0xa5f50269 (0x2a521000 0xa5f5745c 0x2a7b2b20 0x29247a00)

0xa5d53d08 : 0xa5f4ebb2 (0x2a521000 0xa5d53dcc 0x29819000 0x4bad654f)

0xa5d53d38 : 0x532987 (0x2a521000 0x29819000 0x29819000 0x0)

0xa5d53d88 : 0x563364 (0x2a521000 0x29819000 0x29819000 0x0)

0xa5d53de8 : 0x285002 (0x2a521000 0x29819000 0x0 0x0)

0xa5d53e58 : 0x21d7eb (0x2a694b68 0x2a694384 0x2a694b6c 0x2a694ba4)

0xa5d53e98 : 0x210977 (0x2a694b00 0xa5d53edc 0x29811ae4 0xa5d53ed0)

0xa5d53ef8 : 0x216bda (0x2a694b00 0x0 0x0 0x0)

0xa5d53f78 : 0x293dd1 (0x29a0d888 0x0 0x0 0x0)

0xa5d53fc8 : 0x29f48d (0x29a0d884 0x0 0x29e6db 0x2937b9a4)

Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies):

com.apple.NVDAResman(6.1.0)@0xa68a5000->0xa6b7dfff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x97743000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.1)@0xa5ef8000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.1)@0xa5f3e000

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.1)@0xa5f3e000->0xa5f5efff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x97743000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer

Mac OS version:

10D575

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 10.3.0: Fri Feb 26 11:58:09 PST 2010; root:xnu-1504.3.12~1/RELEASE_I386

System model name: MacPro4,1 (Mac-F221BEC8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 108405702297

unloaded kexts:

(none)

loaded kexts:

com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver 1.0.1d8

com.apple.driver.AGPM 100.10.21

com.apple.driver.InternalModemSupport 2.6.2

com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.4

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelYonahProfile 14

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 1.2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPenrynProfile 17

com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 1.8.4fc3

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelNehalemProfile 11

com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 1.8.4fc3

com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver 1.1.2

com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.3.2

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelMeromProfile 19

com.apple.GeForce 6.1.0

com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 4.1.1d0

com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 1.4.11

com.apple.driver.DiskImages.SparseDiskImage 283

com.apple.driver.DiskImages.ReadWriteDiskImage 283

com.apple.driver.DiskImages.UDIFDiskImage 283

com.apple.driver.DiskImages.RAMBackingStore 283

com.apple.driver.DiskImages.HTTPBackingStore 283

com.apple.driver.DiskImages.FileBackingStore 283

com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 2.6.2

com.apple.driver.PioneerSuperDrive 2.5.3

com.apple.BootCache 31

com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 4.5.7

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 3.9.6

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 1.6.1

com.apple.driver.Intel82574L 1.0.4b1

com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx 422.91.27

com.apple.driver.AppleIntel8254XEthernet 2.1.1b7

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 3.9.6

com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 2.1.1

com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 1.3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI 3.9.6

com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.3.1

com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.5

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.3.2

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.5

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.3.2

com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.4

com.apple.security.sandbox 0

com.apple.security.quarantine 0

com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 2.1.11

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 104.3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 104.3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAPlatformDriver 1.8.4fc3 - last loaded 105299447716

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileReadCounterAction 17

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileTimestampAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileThreadInfoAction 14

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileRegisterStateAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileKEventAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileCallstackAction 20

com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 74.0

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 2.3.1f4

com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 10.0.3

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver 1.8.4fc3

com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 1.8.4fc3

com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 1.7.6fc2

com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 1.3

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.8d0

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.0.3

com.apple.iokit.AppleProfileFamily 41

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 1.8.4fc3

com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 1.8.4fc3

com.apple.NVDAResman 6.1.0

com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 2.1

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 2.1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.0.1d2

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 4.1.1d0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.8d0

com.apple.driver.DiskImages.KernelBacked 283

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHIDKeyboard 1.2.0a3

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 3.9.6

com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard 1.2.0a3

com.apple.driver.BroadcomUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.3.1f4

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.3.1f4

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 2.3.1f4

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 3.9.6

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 3.9.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 2.6.2

com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 402.1

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.2.6

com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver 2.0

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 3.9.6

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 1.2.3

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.6.2

com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 310.6

com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 1.9

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.0.3

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 3.9.6

com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 1.3.0

com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.6.2

com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1

com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 6

com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1

com.apple.driver.DiskImages 283

com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.3.2

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6

com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.3.0

System Profile:

Model: MacPro4,1, BootROM MP41.0081.B07, 8 processors, Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 2.26 GHz, 48 GB, SMC 1.39f5

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, PCIe, 2048 MB

Memory Module: DIMM 1, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x463732314755363546393333334700520000

Memory Module: DIMM 2, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x463732314755363546393333334700520000

Memory Module: DIMM 3, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x463732314755363546393333334700520000

Memory Module: DIMM 5, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x463732314755363546393333334700520000

Memory Module: DIMM 6, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x463732314755363546393333334700520000

Memory Module: DIMM 7, 8 GB, DDR3 ECC, 1066 MHz, 0x85F7, 0x463732314755363546393333334700520000

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x8E), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.100.22)

Bluetooth: Version 4.2.7f3 14616, 3 services, 15 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: Ethernet 1, Ethernet, en0

Network Service: Ethernet 2, Ethernet, en1

Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en2

PCI Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, Display Controller, Slot-1

PCI Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, NVDA,Parent, Slot-1

PCI Card: DeckLink Studio 2, Video, Slot-2

PCI Card: AJA KonaLHi, Video, Slot-3

PCI Card: pci1095,3124, RAID Controller, Slot-4@5,0,0

Serial ATA Device: PIONEER BD-RW BDR-205

Serial ATA Device: HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH41N

Serial ATA Device: Hitachi HDS722020ALA330, 2 TB

Serial ATA Device: WDC WD6400AAKS-41H2B0, 640.14 GB

Serial ATA Device: Hitachi HDS722020ALA330, 2 TB

Serial ATA Device: OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD, 480.1 GB

USB Device: Keyboard Hub

USB Device: Kensington USB Mouse

USB Device: Apple Keyboard

USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller

FireWire Device: built-in_hub, Up to 800 Mb/sec

Thunderbolt Bus:

Reply

Answer 11

Dec 9, 2014 8:50 AM in response to Joe Winston1

That page fault in the NVIDIA graphics driver does indeed imply, "card not supported".

You got Mac OS X completely up and running, tried to enable Driver-based graphics, and blam -- it died right there, which would have been the login screen or drawing the desktop.

Reply

Answer 12

Dec 9, 2014 8:50 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

One other thought -- You may be able to boot into Safe Mode and do some work from there. Safe Mode deliberately does NOT load the graphics (and several other) Drivers.

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Answer 13

Joe Winston1 Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 9, 2014 9:29 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I love that idea - I tried Safe Boot. I install the Snow Leopard Installation DVD, the "Install Mac OS X" icon still has a circle with a slash over it.

If I try to launch it, the error message reads: "You can't use this version of the application 'Install Mac OS X' with this version of OS X. You have to "install Mac OS X" 23.1.1

This is the same error I'd get before.

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Answer 14

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Dec 9, 2014 9:49 AM in response to Joe Winston1

Minimum requirements now that you and we know thus:

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680

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