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KawaiiAurora

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 16, 2016
307
190
Europa
Hey everybody,
I'm more of a PowerPC person but I found an iMac 2006 with the following specs for a decent price:

  • Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz
  • Geforce 7600GT
  • 250GB HDD
  • 2GB RAM that I'll upgrade to 4GB
  • 24" screen
I think that it's decent for $150. Now, I know that the maximum supported version is Lion but I've read about Mountain Lion running on these things with graphics acceleration and I wish to install ML as it can run the latest version of Firefox (ik it's not officially supported). Now, I've read some posts about MLPF and MacPostFactor.

Some people claim that the 7600GT works in 64-bit mode, while some say it only works in 32-bit mode.. I know that the 7600GT was an extra purchase so that's why it's not common I guess.

Can someone clear up the confusion and tell me whether I should install the 32 or 64 bit version? Can someone link me to a guide too because the information is a bit confusing and I don't have much time to close the deal.

Thanks,
Aurora
 

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
To come across one with the BTO upgrade GeForce 7600GT is not very common, nice find. Mine also has the 7600GT (and Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz).

Not sure what you mean by 32 vs 64-bit here; the OS is 64-bit but the EFI in the iMac and GPU kernel extension are not, hence why the patch is needed. What I can tell you is I was able to use MLPostFactor (not MacPostFactor, was never able to boot from the installer created with that) to successfully install 10.8.5. After the OS was patched it booted just fine.
 

KawaiiAurora

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 16, 2016
307
190
Europa
To come across one with the BTO upgrade GeForce 7600GT is not very common, nice find. Mine also has the 7600GT (and Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz).

Not sure what you mean by 32 vs 64-bit here; the OS is 64-bit but the EFI in the iMac and GPU kernel extension are not, hence why the patch is needed. What I can tell you is I was able to use MLPostFactor (not MacPostFactor, was never able to boot from the installer created with that) to successfully install 10.8.5. After the OS was patched it booted just fine.


Can you link me to the download link and guide of MLPostFactor? I can't seem to find it..
 

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
MLPostFactor does have a download somewhere, but it won't work with 10.8.5. You're much better off using the newest version of MacPostFactor. You shouldn't need a guide, the newest version is very easy to use.
You're not much better off using a solution that doesn't work; as I mentioned in my post, MacPostFactor's 10.8.5 installer did not successfully boot on my iMac 6,1 (which is the same model the OP posted about). MLPostFactor was the only solution that worked for me.

It can install 10.8.5, but annoyingly changes the SystemVersion.plist (located in /System/Library/CoreServices) and puts a 10.8.4 version number in there. You can replace with the default 10.8.5 SystemVersion.plist after the patch is complete, and get back the correct version/build number
[doublepost=1499717222][/doublepost]
Can you link me to the download link and guide of MLPostFactor? I can't seem to find it..
I can't remember the exact site I downloaded it from, was over a year ago I used it. But with some research it should be possible to find.
 

AmazingHenry

macrumors 65816
Jul 6, 2015
1,285
534
Central Michigan
You're not much better off using a solution that doesn't work; as I mentioned in my post, MacPostFactor's 10.8.5 installer did not successfully boot on my iMac 6,1 (which is the same model the OP posted about). MLPostFactor was the only solution that worked for me.

It can install 10.8.5, but annoyingly changes the SystemVersion.plist (located in /System/Library/CoreServices) and puts a 10.8.4 version number in there. You can replace with the default 10.8.5 SystemVersion.plist after the patch is complete, and get back the correct version/build number
MacPostFactor gave me a lot of problems when I used the one click installation option, but when I checked the box to use Apple's OS X installer to install, it worked a lot better. Have you tried that?
 

KawaiiAurora

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 16, 2016
307
190
Europa
MacPostFactor gave me a lot of problems when I used the one click installation option, but when I checked the box to use Apple's OS X installer to install, it worked a lot better. Have you tried that?

Hmm.. MacPostFactor wants to be an SoB. MLPostFactor too


So, I tried with MLPostFactor on an 8GB USB pendrive first. Didn't get the EFI Boot option in the boot selector (ALT key at startup) and then found out that there was no EFI Boot partition..

After that, I put MLPF on an external hard drive and NOPE; I got a no entry sign and that was it.. just booted into Lion.

Then, I tried MacPostFactor 2.0.1 (latest version AFAIK) and it just stays on the Apple logo for ages. The external HDD doesn't seem to be doing anything and I left it for about 20 mins and nothing.. MacPostFactor 1.0.1 gave me the same result..

I tried updating the Lion install with MacPostFactor and well.. I got some weird OSX wallpaper and nothing else when I booted the computer up; then it just crashed and rebooted itself. Fortunately, the recovery partition didn't get borked and the ML recovery partition loaded up and I was able to miraculously select Lion and it booted..

What the hell am I doing wrong? :/

I am going to try booting MLPF from a 16GB partition on my 320GB external HDD and see if that works. Then, I'm going to try installing the MLPF installer to a partition on the HDD. If that fails, I guess I'll have to take a leap of faith and upgrade via MacPostFactor without the one-click option.

Wish me luck... (Gah.. PowerPC G4 Macs have never given me all this bloody trouble)
 

KawaiiAurora

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 16, 2016
307
190
Europa
I was able to fully install Mountain Lion and it's working really well :)

When I went into System Profiler, the Nvidia kexts seem 64-bit so would they work on Mavericks? :O
 
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yeffer46

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2017
3
0
colombia
[QUOTE = "KawaiiAurora, post: 24797450, member: 1062189"] He podido instalar completamente Mountain Lion y funciona muy bien :)

Cuando entré en el Profiler de Sistema, los kexts de Nvidia parecían de 64 bits así que trabajan en Mavericks? : O [/ QUO

por favor me ayudas tengo el mismo problema tengo una imac de 2006 con core 2 duo arquitectura de 64 bits y admite hasta mac osx león pero no me deja ni actualizar y quiero con MacPostFactor pero no corre en snow leopard
 
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