MP 1,1-5,1 Newb: No EFI partition visible when booting from Install USB

[smartin80]

I'm in full panic mode as I rely on my Mac for work...

I'm running a 5,1 Mac pro with a Metal compatible graphics card.
I had OS 12.7.3 running like a train but made the mistake of upgrading to 12.7.4. Now ethernet is broken and I can't run the patcher because the OS can't verify the developer...

I have created an installer on an old Mini, being careful to build OCLP for my 5,1 model, using the 1.4.2 patcher.

Last time I did an install it was pretty easy but now I hold down the Option key during boot, I get a black screen.

If I hold Control and Option, I get a choice between my existing boot drive (Bravo) and "Install Monterey OS". There's no EFI partition to select.

If I go in to the installer, I'm told that the Bravo disk "Can't be downgraded".

Why am I not seeing the EFI partition?

I have rebuilt the Installer using the Debug checkboxes but I can't see any logs anywhere...

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm not getting anywhere with this at the moment and it was so easy previously...

S

 

[Macschrauber]

have you right-click / control-click the patcher?

This is very pretty basic, btw. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac...-unidentified-developer-mh40616/12.0/mac/12.0

 

[smartin80]

have you right-click / control-click the patcher?

This is very pretty basic, btw. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac...-unidentified-developer-mh40616/12.0/mac/12.0

I'm sorry, I had no idea you could do that! I'll give it a spin...

Thank you

S

 

[smartin80]

have you right-click / control-click the patcher?

This is very pretty basic, btw. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac...-unidentified-developer-mh40616/12.0/mac/12.0

Macschrauber, I can't thank you enough. It seems to be back! Still tidying up but at least I'm breathing again

S

 

[smartin80]

God forbid this happens again but why was I not seeing the EFI partition during boot of the installer?
Is creating an installer for anything other than the host machine not reliable...?

S

 

[Macschrauber]

if your GPU has a boot screen you should see the ESP (efi system partition) with the OpenCore boot loader that OCLP has built on.

The patcher app dont copy the bootloader if you dont actively tell it.

Read the docs: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/

if you understand how it works you dont need to panic if something breaks. This can happen.

Also, make a dont panic install to test updates before. Also you should have a bootable backup of your System disk. Especially if you need the box up for your income.

 

[smartin80]

if your GPU has a boot screen you should see the ESP (efi system partition) with the OpenCore boot loader that OCLP has built on.

The patcher app dont copy the bootloader if you dont actively tell it.

Read the docs: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/

if you understand how it works you dont need to panic if something breaks. This can happen.

Also, make a dont panic install to test updates before. Also you should have a bootable backup of your System disk. Especially if you need the box up for your income.

I thought the whole point of OCLP was that it created the bootloader... It's all over my head to be honest. The first time I did it I found it pretty straightforward. This time I got in a knot. Thanks again for your help.
I thought I did have backups. I have a *supposedly* bootable copy of my main drive created by Carbon Copy Cloner every 24 hours. I also have a Timemachine disk.
Looking at the startup disk pane, it didn't show the CCC disk and Time Machine threatened to wipe my entire boot disk so I kept that as a last resort.
Clearly I need to rethink my strategy! I actually keep most documents on big NAS drives, which are also backed up but more recent work is on my boot drive as it's a fairly fast SSD thing...

Thank you again

S