After installing your fresh OS, Spotlight starts indexing your machine. This will slow down your older mac until its finished. This is normal and after a while (startups and reboots) it will not be a big issue anymore and your mac feels more snappy like you used to.
@@carper1220just do your normal stuff, if it feels faster than it was then it’s probably done indexing. This happens on my iMac as well but I let it run for a while.
I also did a couple videos on 2009 iMacs as well, including comparing to a 2020 iMac (ua-cam.com/video/bO1XvSBG4d4/v-deo.html). Yes, they are fantastic machines still! And while I don't disagree that some people might need a newer/faster system, for a large majority of the population the 2009 works perfectly still. Congrats on keeping a great system alive!
Hey, i might know why u kept getting that error. I had the same issue, on my installer. It’s because iMac’s and MacBook’s sometimes reset motherboard’s time to 31 of December 2000. U just need to open terminal in recovery and change time time via code!
That's excellent! Not that I mind the ability to update via internet, but it'd be nice if initial patching could be done offline. I'll have to update my installer. Thanks!
I had a similar error while installing Ventura on my Mac mini late 2012. Then I thought it could be because of the original HDD read/write speed. When I changed my 5400rpm original HDD with a brand new 1TB SSD, it was installed like a charm. Try it.
The weird part is that it worked on the same hard drive when plugged into a different Mac. Maybe it the 2008 didn't like the specific drive I was using. Never thought to try swapping the drive out in the same machine, thanks for the tip!
That’s amazing that it works! From what I read, I think they haven’t fully got the graphics drivers working on newer versions, which might be causing lag. The nice thing is that Sonoma has lots of similarities to previous versions, so hopefully the drivers will get ported! Nice work!
My best bet as for why Monterey wasn't installing on your 2008 iMac, is because it was a USB stick. I've had similar problems with USB sticks, but no problems with external HDDs, SSDs, and fusion drives.
Very interesting. Another viewer claims this issue was related to 16GB flash drives. While I can't confirm this is the case, I can confirm I've successfully used 32GB drive but my 16GB drive was the one used in this video where the issue occurred. Your claim seems to also support this theory, since your HDDs, SSDs and fusion drives are also bigger than 16GB. I will have to test this at some point.
Looking forward when the next OCLP comes out, that will enable my 2008 dual 3.2 GHz MacPro to run Ventura. Looks like they have it running in a beta already and I have a 8GB RX580 flying around in my workshop.
ive done this on my 8,1 with Mojave. runs smooth on 4gb, runs an SDR as well as a hobby laser i have, plus i can do day to day computing on it (ironically, using Edge and its Website As An App thing. i did replace the hard drive with an HDD but an SSD and the ram upgrade will happen soon enough. a buddy of mine gave it to me, was lumped off on him and running Linux. i wiped it and installed Snow Leopard from a USB, and then did the rest.
@@sirvaant ive not bothered with anything else as of yet, but i may do a wipe and reinstall, and see about what i can run on it, as its only got 4gb of ram (i can throw up to 6 in it) and a dual core but its not too bad with Mojave.
Great video. I have one of these w/ 6gb ram & Radeon HD 2400 XT 128mb GPU. I'm mainly looking into making it a competent standalone VST guitar amp sim device. Mostly out of curiosity, and potentially for a content topic for my upcoming channel. I've already got mine running Positive Grid's legacy version of BIasFx 1.0 with great results, and IMO I'd really only need to get it up to High Sierra to push it farther. After an SSD upgrade obviously. The loss of Wi-Fi was my biggest concern overall, but observing how you overcame that hurdle has me intrigued. Thanks for sharing! I love seeing people breath new life into these machines! Cheers!
Thanks! You can also get past the WiFi issue by using the full OCLP package on a USB key rather than the base package which fetches everything online. After running the post-install patches, your built-in WiFi should work perfectly again - it did for me. The one thing I will note is that your Radeon card I believe is a Terascale 1 architecture which has graphical glitches when waking from sleep. If you're planning to disable sleep and shut it down instead between use, you might be fine running Monterey on here.
I have an identical iMac, only it's running 4GB RAM (2x2) until the 4GB DDR2 stick arrives. I used the DosDude Catalina patcher and it worked perfectly. Everything works! He has patchers for Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, and Sierra.
@@PracticaProphetica I'm using dual boot Mojave and El Capitan on my 2008 iMac (6GB RAM + SSD), in my experience Mojave runs better than Catalina in this model.
@@pipooon Thanks. That's very good to know. I was afraid that some of the hardware, being so much older, might start to fail on the latest OS. I'll consider this for any future upgrades.
Fortunately, many of the 2011's have replaceable GPUs. At that age, it's done some incredible service to you already and probably doesn't owe you anything. If you wanted, you could do a Metal GPU upgrade and install Monterey to bring it up to date, like I did here: ua-cam.com/video/n9koG8p9Ch0/v-deo.html . The 2011 is fantastic because you can upgrade lower end models to a Core i7-2600 pretty easily.
Actually I want to have my imac repaired and leave Snow leopard on it because it has the good garageband on it, anything after mt lion has a terrible upgraded and confusing garageband on it, they change the face and operation of it. Also will my garageband songs (files) that I recorded still be on there?
@@michael-dy8tz Generally if you upgrade to a newer version of any software, it will "upgrade" your files to the new version too... But I doubt you could downgrade them back if you wanted to use the old one again. I miss iWeb, part of the old iLife suite. So basic, but you could throw together a nice looking basic website very fast. Oh well.
@@rebootretro Well, see the imac has never been upgraded it's always been snow leopard and I used it like that for 11 years so if he fixes the pink screen death issue can he fix it and snow leopard stay on there and my garageband still work on snow leopard? It's ok if i can't get on the internet.
Excellent! Those modules are not so common to find casually in used or recycled machines, where I get many used parts. I'm sure 6GB vs 4GB does make it snappier!
I’m running Monterey on a 2008 MBP 15”. Work okay, but several apps are using Metal for graphics which makes it obsolete. It would be nice if Apple made apps like Logic more backwards compatible with OpenGL but that will never happen.
I know, it is very annoying not having Metal available. And on MBP, GPU isn't upgradable either. If it was me, I would dual boot an older OS with older version of FCS. For daily stuff, Monterey... For video production, High Sierra. Although I'll put up with hassles like dual booting just to prove I can keep an older machine running longer, lol.
Yes, the 2009 also has some graphical issues with the HD 4000 card (it can be noticed in my other 2009 iMac upgrade video). If you go into accessibility options and disable transparency affects, it's much better. But it still suffers from the wake-from-sleep bug, where it will glitch horribly when brought out of sleep. If you disable transparency/sleep, then it's usable, but a different GPU is a way better option.
I wish there was a way to use an external component like taking a mac mini and just plugging it in via USB port to use it like a mechanical heart on a person in need of a real heart
There is a way to do exactly this! Well, I don't recall if the 2008 iMacs support it... But on a 2009/2010/2011 iMac you can use TargetDisplay... which will let you use these older iMacs as a screen for something modern, like an M2 Mac Mini. I think it's possible to pass sound through too. I have a video planned on this :)
I have an early 2008 iMac (8.1) with ATI Radeon HD 2800 Pro 256 MB video card and updated SSD storage plus 4 GB DDR2 memory. Has anyone had issues with this configuration or should I just upgrade to Catalina using DosDude patcher? Thanks for the amazing vid Mr. Macintosh 👍👍👍
I just ran the DosDude patcher for Catalina on an early 2008 iMac (8,1) with Radeon 2400 XT graphics, 256gb SSD, and 4GB DDR2 (but I have a 4GB stick on order, so I can move it up to 6GB). It's running fine, even on 4GB. Everything seems to work!
I have 5 Gb of RAM on my 2008 iMac and it run El Capitan. I would never use it as a main computer, but my mom still uses it. It's really interesting to see it works with Monterrey. But I don't want to patch it because it's really old and it's mostly a waste of time, not financially wise. But hey.... What a value if it can still run Monterrey..
The biggest benefit to upgrade is that software updates no longer support El Capitan, so Safari/Chrome and other applications have or will stop getting updates and security patches. Also, SSL root certificates have started to expire which causes certain websites to display SSL errors and refuse connection - although this can be fixed by manually updating the certificates. You're right though, if the machine is running fine its hard to justify the investment of time to upgrade it. Although for someone who needs browser updates and doesn't have spare cash for a new Mac but has some free time, this upgrade could buy them a couple extra years of service.
@@rebootretrowant to try this on my Mac, older but has all the specs you mentioned at the beginning. I use it for GarageBand, and I want the newest version
Is installing Monterey possible if the iMac A1225 (2009) does not have a MacOS already installed? OS was wiped and reinstalling Yosemite via online method fails (says temporarily unavailable upon Apple ID sign in) and the iMac will not see my bootable USB with El Capitan setup via TransMac. Ubuntu 22 is installed at the moment.
Yes, you can install directly to Monterey. The only issue is you need another working Mac to create the installer and build OpenCore. Just remember, when you build OpenCore it detects your system automatically. If you're building it on another system, you must manually change the Model Identifier to match the 2009 or else the installer will not work properly on the 2009.
I tried the OCLP the latest one on my iMac late 2009, 12GB Ram 1333mhz with Radeon 512MB, with Kingston 250GB, using Monterey, it was working, though there are some glitch when im on the full screen, using canva and zoom, it suffers some graphical artifact while on the full screen, while full screen on youtube works well, after some days, a popping sound on the left speaker began to show, I thought this was a bug on Monterey on this model, and I tried Zorin OS, the same popping sound came though this iMac was snappy on linux, the popping sound would disappear when I plugged an headphone jack, I decided to go back to High Sierra, and the popping wasnt showing up, I read on some random youtube comment that switching from monterey to HS was the solution for the popping speaker noise, and I did, I finally concluded to stick on HS for me to use the speaker freely, and be able to use the graphics card on my daily task(some graphics,video editing too, and zoom meetings) my main goal buying this imac was to run linux with it, but the popping noise just irritates me. Its just a fun experience I have owning this jurrasic unit, had it cleaned from the inside, installed monterey and linux back and fort, opening it up and upgrading the ssd and ram, I learn from it so much on my 1st attempt. Cheers Justin.
The popping sound is a weird problem. Monterey is used here as a daily driver on a late 2009 iMac 27" and no popping sound to speak of. The 2009 also ran Big Sur briefly and also didn't have this issue. Volume is always mid-ish level, regularly playing UA-cam videos, Facebook videos and occasionally iTunes. I know it probably won't help, but did you by any chance try a PRAM reset? I suppose it's possible your audio processor came from a different batch of chips than mine, which could explain why you get the popping sound and mine does. I find it really bizarre that the issue is persistent on Linux, but not HS. But you're definitely right about graphics, there are definitely some issues using the stock GPU. It can be usable if all you do is web browsing, but yes video editing is completely out of the question for most software on the stock GPU. I actually JUST upgraded that 2009 to a FirePro M5100 which is Metal supported, and it fixed ALL my graphical issues! I wasn't going to initially, but the screensaver trick wasn't working as well as I hoped and the stock GPU was beginning to fail, causing random lockups/crashes. I'll be posting a video later about this upgrade.
This is very hopeful. But does this process disable SIP? Would Monterey (or even Mojave ) work acceptably if you did not change to a SSD? Thank you for posting this Justin.
I'm not sure about SIP... I know you don't manually disable it, but I'm not sure if OpenCore does in the background. It will run without an SSD for sure, the issue is performance will be poor. Opening webpages will be fine, but initially booting an opening the browser will be very slow.
@@rebootretro Thank you for responding so quickly!! I guess I can check the SIP status in Terminal and if it's on this is going to be such a computer rescuer! We're try to rescue e-wasted computers for kids and seniors.
Yes, it disables SIP on its own. It is my understanding, however, that common sense (stay with trusted apps, don’t open strange links in emails…) should keep you on safe ground. SIP may have to stay disabled for Opencore Legacy to install its patches.
Why would it be limited to 6GB? Why not 8GB? if you had 2 slots what would stop you from putting in 2 4GB sticks. 4GB sticks of DDR2 do exist they’re just rare and expensive.
If you put 8GB in, most of the time the system will see it but the computer will become unbearably slow and unstable. Its an Intel chipset limitation; likely those high capacity sticks didn’t exist when the chipset was engineered by Intel. Although the chipset can see it, it can’t properly address it. Some early Core 2 PCs have that same limitation, however I think it was only with the very early chipsets. As you correctly point out, later Core 2 systems will accept 2x 4GB DDR2 for a total 8GB.
Unfortunately I still didn't figure out why this happens. I can only suggest to try a different version older/newer of OpenCore. Otherwise, you could try like I did - Connect the drive as external to another Mac, install a vanilla copy of Monterey, then move it back to the original Mac and finish OpenCore installation and patches as per usual.
Have one with a Samsung SSD and macOS Monterey. Everything works amazingly except one thing: When I enter the fullscreen mode during UA-cam playback and leave it again, the iMac graphics card totally fails. As a result, a wide span of colors appear all over the screen. Do you have any fixes? I also installed the latest version of Open Core Legacy Patcher which came out yesterday and I use the latest version of macOS Monterey (12.6).Its annoying since I always had to restart the machine to perfectly work again. Greetings from Germany!
That's a weird problem. Mine worked perfectly entering and exiting full screen mode on UA-cam using an nVidia 8800 GS. The 8800 was an upgrade; the stock machine shipped with an ATi/AMD card. Which GPU do you have? I've not heard of this being an issue with either one, but it would be interesting to know if your hardware is the same as mine. Also, I used Chrome; what browser are you using? If it's not Chrome, perhaps Safari (or Firefox, etc) is making some sort of Metal API call as it returns from full screen which causes the issue. Please post back and let me know how it works, I'm sure there are other people who have this issue too that may benefit knowing the solution :)
I installed Monterey to my iMac 8.1 (20-inch early 2008), 4GB DDR2 SDRam, 1TB SSD, ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 128 MB , using the latest OCLP. I manage to install the OS successfully but then I am having some issues with the screen having some glitches time by time. I have done resetting NVRAM, and it works for a while but then the issue still comes back after some time. I don't know what triggers the glitching screen issue because even when I am in login window and I shake the mouse, it happens then will disappear. Coming back and forth and a restart helps. I also tried to boot into safe mode. I also tried to run a hardware diagnostic test, but it doesn't show me the result.
Got one of these for 20 eur locally (Here you never find old macs for cheap, so this was awesome) and I could not believe my eyes when I saw it had been upgraded to the 6gb ram!! However the graphics card was not saved by the hot air gun :( what model would you recommend to get as a replacement?
The 6GB upgrade isn't very common, since DDR2 4GB sticks weren't all that common. That's an excellent find!! If your goal is to modernize it with Monterey, I don't think there are any "really good" options for GPU because none of them will support Metal acceleration (too old). I'd probably recommend the official Mac version of the 8800GS, like I have. The reason being is that with legacy acceleration patches, AMD cards tend to have graphical glitches where the Nvidia seemed to work perfectly, as you see in my video. The 8800GS was a pretty top tier card for that socket, and was the top tier available for the iMac at the time. Going for a slightly better one will yield little benefit by today's performance standards, and will require a lot of messing around with drivers and BIOS mods which I don't believe is worthwhile. The 8800GS is properly supported by OpenCore patches for legacy acceleration (video playback basically) making patching very easy, and in my brief testing I didn't notice any glitches. Pop a cheap SSD in there, and with 6GB of RAM that thing is going to be a really decent system for only 20 eur! Congrats on a great find!
It should still work without an SSD, the SSD only improves performance. If you are getting past the initial part of the installer, you may have to hold OPT key and choose HDD as boot device.
These 2008 iMacs use mobile Core 2 Duo chips, not desktop LGA775. I did look into this a while back, and I believe that no one has successfully upgraded to anything other than a slightly faster Core 2 Duo. I don't know, but I suspect it is a chipset limitation - because most of these late Core 2 PC systems would accept two 4GB DDR2 modules and the iMac doesn't. It seems like Apple built these using "old stock" - but that's just a guess. IMO, the difference between the stock chip and the fastest supported chip is probably not going to be worth the hassle in upgrading. The later Core i systems can run modded Xeons, as well as quad core chips. The Core i systems were a massive improvement over the Core 2.
That is an excellent question. I'm not sure, but I suspect it is a bug with OpenCore Legacy Patcher and this specific iMac model. If I do figure it out, I'll post about how to fix it.
@@SpeedGamerJ if your Mac has a fusion drive that is part of it runs on a solid state ship on the board that part being the operating environment and then all your data stored on a regular mechanical spinning drive this command would help you out a lot and make it so you can reinstall the OS on the internal SSD it’s on the motherboard for fusion equipped max support.apple.com/en-us/HT207584 I have a 2014 I Mac running Big Sur and did this procedure and it runs like a new incredibly fast to boot with only eight gigs of ram installed going to bump it up to the ready to give it a shot it might help out.
Actually you're incorrect, AMDs Athlon 64 and Athlon X2 kicked off modern computing. If it wasn't for those chips, Intel would have kept selling lackluster Pentium chips. The Core/Core 2 series was a response to AMD.
I have a early 2009 iMac 24" that I put Big Sur 11.7.3 on and it works ok except certain "buttons" don't show up like the "continue" button when you first open Maps. Also when you attempt to resize the Safari window the pointer is supposed to change to an arrow pointing in both directions, but it simply disappears. You can still resize it with the now invisible pointer and it will reappear when you move off the edge of the the window. Any ideas?
Maps requires a Metal supported GPU to work properly, I suspect components won't draw correctly without it. I did not notice any issues with Safari on Monterey, but I seldom use it as I usually use Chrome. If you can't (or prefer not to) upgrade your GPU to a Metal supported one, you could try switching to Google Chrome. Also, in Chrome you can open Google Maps, then go to the menu, then "More Tools", then "Create Shortcut". Make sure to select "Open in New Window". Now you can remove the Apple Maps icon in your doc and put your new Google Maps icon instead, which works in Chrome without Metal GPU :)
@@rebootretro I just tried Chrome and Firefox, both have the pointer disappear when you try to resize the browser windows. Mine is the iMac 9,1 with the 4850 GPU. Not sure if it's upgradable...
Is it better to use catalina or Monterey? I have a 2008 mac mini a1283 running catalina, and a late 2007 imac running mint, would you suggest Monterey for one or both of these?
There's always trade-offs. Running an older OS like Catelina means you don't have current security patches, newer apps won't work at all, and because you can't install a current web browser certain websites can even have issues loading. This is where upgrading to Monterey or newer can be a huge benefit. The downside is that since the Monterey (or newer) is patched to run, there can be some bugs/glitchy behavior in some cases. For example, certain GPUs have graphical glitches, transparency doesn't work, and apps that require Metal don't work - specifically, Apple maps app won't work since the graphics are rendered with Metal (although Google Maps in Chrome works perfectly as alternative). Personally, I think the modern OS, security updates and latest apps are worth the tradeoff if you're using the computer for daily tasks - assuming OpenCore has decent support for your hardware (check Dortania GitHub docs before starting upgrade!). For example, earlier Mac Minis have Intel graphics which won't work properly past dosdude1's Catalina patcher. Although if you're willing to run Linux Mint as it appears you are, you're probably going to see way better performance and you'll have better hardware support too. Both those systems may be possible to run Monterey, but I think Linux would run much better on both if you want something newer. :)
@@rebootretro that’s what I figured although I think I’m gonna try to install tiny 11 on them. That way I’m running Monterey on my windows PC and windows on my Mac lol. I would like to install tiny 11 on the iMac, but the USB installer that I made using Rufus just won’t appear on the iMac. Even though I have been using Lennox on that machine for a couple years now do I need to install an older version of macOS in order to use Bootcamp to install windows? I’m starting to think hackintosh was way easier to install on a windows pc then windows on an apple! Lol
@@95Comics I had issues getting the Windows 11 installer to load on a 2006 Mac Pro. What I did was install it (using MBR/BIOS, not GPT/UEFI) on a PC and swap the hard drive into the Mac. Not sure if it will help with your problem or not, but here is the video ua-cam.com/video/xOYHCXqNT8Y/v-deo.html . You shouldn't need to install Mac OS at all, or even Boot Camp :)
When originally purchased, this Mac was fully optioned out with almost every option Apple offered, which included an upgraded GeForce 8800 GS 512MB instead of the typical Radeon HD with 256MB.
@@forcesshorts5779 Unfortunately, you have the ONLY iMac model from that 2008/2009 series with a non-upgradable/soldered GPU. Not sure why Apple chose to make the other models socketed, but this model soldered. For basic web browsing though, it shouldn't make a difference. With the OpenCore Legacy patcher you should get basic graphics acceleration and videos should play fine. Of course any sort of gaming these days probably won't like that card.
I have a few mac mini 2010s - I (foolishly) thought that Samsung QVO ssds would make them usable - and while initially SSHD seemed to adequate with Catalina over time they became unusable after updates.. the result was going back to Mojave and the SSDs actually didn't make that much of a difference.. I can't see how Monterey will be any better over than (poor) Catalina.. but I'm open to convincing - has anyone got Mac Mini 2010 working (i.e. browsing) reasonably well with Monterey? any tips adjustments I could try?
I'm not sure why it's so slow... We use a 2009 iMac as a daily driver running Monterey with no speed issues whatsoever. If the Mini runs an i5 and 8GB+ RAM, it should be usually snappy.
The DDR2 4GB sticks were made towards the end of the DDR2 era I believe. Many older chipsets don't support (or don't fully support) those modules, so it really depends on what chipset is in the system. There should be some chipsets out there which will support 2x or even 4x 4GB modules. On this particular 2008 iMac, you can run 1x 2GB + 1x 4GB DDR2 modules for 6GB total. The system will boot with 2x 4GB, but there have been reported severe performance issues/crashes/etc because the chipset cannot handle both.
High Sierra stopped getting security patches a while ago, some newer software and web browsers won't install, and some websites give a security warning and won't open because some SSL root certificates have expired. If any these are a concern to you, the Monterey upgrade may be a great option for you.
I saw your other comment, but I'm not completely sure which step you are stuck on. Basic process is: 1. Make USB installer (official installer, unmodified) 2. Install OpenCore bootloader to USB stick 3. Boot Mac holding Option key and select OpenCore partition (NOT Installer partition) 4. OpenCore loads a drive picker and shows available drives. Now choose Installer partition and Mac OS Installer will boot. 5. Install normally, same as official Mac. 6. When installer finishes and reboots, if it does not boot into freshly installed drive then hold Option key on boot and choose OpenCore bootloader. OpenCore loads a new picker: choose your freshly installer boot drive, NOT the Installer 7. Finalize the Mac OS install (create username, etc). This will be very laggy until next step. 8. Launch OpenCore app. Install bootloader directly to the freshly installed system boot drive, then install post-install patches which will fix graphics, WiFi, Bluetooth, sound, etc with modded drivers where necessary. This will fix the laggy issue and should work properly after reboot. Let me know what step you made it to, and where you had issues. I will try to help with some suggestions :)
I don't think there are any official pre-made USB sticks sold with Monterey installer. But if you find one or pay someone to create one, then you should be able to install OpenCore on it the same way.
Are you 100% sure the post-install patches were successful? Do you have graphics acceleration working (graphics smooth, not laggy and choppy)? Which iMac model exactly do you have? Can you check the System Profiler to find the WiFi card model? I will try to help as much as I can.
@@rebootretro Thank you for your response. I own an Imac 8,1, which is a 20-inch model from 2008. The graphics card is an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro MB. Memory: 4 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM The processor name is Intel Core 2 Duo. I could not find the wifi card model, and I also looked it up, but you might think that the RAM is 4 GB instead of 2? Idk, because I bought it from Marktplaats, so I dont know if the owner before me upgraded it or not. I also forgot to subscribe, so I just did it now.
Big deal. Heaps of us are doing this, and doesn't give a shit. But it won't be too much longer until drops support for intel macs entirely. What then?
hi ! i have done the updat from an imac late 2009 27", upgraded the ssd 1to, added 16g of ram, and upgraded the graphics card to the 6970 radeon. my issue is that the wifi trips my modem. i have to manually reset it everytime the mac connect to the internet almost immediately. also i have at the top right corner the blutooth icon checked off. but my magic keyboards and track pad works but there are some functionalities that don't work ex: volume, screen brightness, 2 finger scroll up or down. you think you might have a lead for me?
I've had experience with modem/router combos behaving badly with some computers, but in my experience this is almost always the fault of the router itself, not the computer. I would recommend to borrow another router to test. You also could try disabling WiFI and borrowing a WiFi dongle to test. This would confirm if there is a problem with your Mac's WiFI radio or not. I do still suspect the issue is probably your router. As for the keyboard controls, there is some known issues with older Magic Keyboards when updating Mac OS beyond 10.15.7 where the function keys don't work. I suspect you have the older Magic Keyboard model? As far as I'm aware, Apple has not fixed this (I suppose they just want you to buy a new keyboard). Some have suggested to fully remove the Apple Keyboard from Bluetooth settings and re-add it, so you could try that. There may be third party fixes that remap the keys, which is probably the only thing that will work if resetting doesn't. For the trackpad, go into your Settings -> Trackpad. Make sure your Mac recognizes it as a trackpad. If not, you can try going to Bluetooth settings, deleting it and repairing it. You could double check that Scrolling is enabled under Settings -> Accessibility -> Mouse & Trackpad. Aside from that, I'm not sure about your scrolling issue. Hopefully at least some of those suggestions help. Good luck! :)
Unfortunately I don't have an iMac 12,1 but according to the OpenCore group, the 12,1 iMac is supported and appears to be very similar to the 2009 model in this video I made: ua-cam.com/video/WsjyPFolmhw/v-deo.html
@@thelol6019 I have upgraded 2 iMac 12,1. I use the 21.5" i5 and my dad uses the 27" core i5. I swapped out the old Radeon cards for Nvidia cards with flashed Bios from eBay, maxed out the RAM on both and swapped in some SSD's. They run Monterey absolutely flawlessly. Just for shits & giggles I purchased a 2010 MacBook Pro 15" and did the upgrade on that too. Mr Macintosh has the best videos on exactly how to upgrade step by step and I strongly suggest you search him out on UA-cam first.
The links are on the Dortania GitHub page, which are the maintainers of the OpenCore Legacy Patcher project: dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/START.html
I am havin an 2009 imac i am trying to upgrade it with the help of bootable usb but iam unable to access boot menu in it when I am holding the option button its just showing a blank white screen
How did you create your bootable USB? You need to also add OpenCore bootloader to the USB key, are you sure it is installed correctly? The blank white screen will happen if Mac cannot find a bootable operating system or installer. Let me know, I will try to help.
@@photosall6136 It would not be impossible, but extremely more difficult to do on Windows. I've never done it, but it is documented by the group who makes OpenCore: dortania.github.io It would be MUCH easier to restore an older supported version on your iMac (like High Sierra), and build your Monterey USB from there.
Do you mean that you can't install the OpenCore EFI bootloader, or you can't install the post-installation patches? Were you able to successfully create the USB stick installer or no?
@@rebootretro everything is downloaded but I can’t open opencore. The Mac says that opencore was closed unexpectedly. Maybe my mid 2007 iMac is too bad😂 it was difficult to download anything from the internet with the old Mac
@@tims6216 What version of Mac OS are you trying to run it on? You might have to run the patcher on a newer OS version. You can actually borrow any Mac to do it, just make sure you are change the Model ID to match yours, and make 1000% sure you patch the correct drive/USB stick!
My oldest Mac is a Macintosh Plus 1MB. It didn't turn on, and had a battery which exploded. I'm actually in the (LONG) process of doing a restoration on it. This is a much more complex restoration than I usually do, but I video will eventually be out when I finish it :) My oldest non-Apple "computer", however, is a DEC VT05 computer terminal from 1973.
With Apple's factory fan curve settings, the fans are quiet but the system gets relatively hot. But I use (and recommend) Macs Fan Control app which allows you to customize your fan speed so the system runs cooler.
@@lucasvautherot549 With an SSD upgrade, at least 4GB RAM, and Monterey upgrade I would say yes. It likely will not be "fast" for these tasks, but it should be very usable if you're only running one app or webpage at a time. As you can see in the video, UA-cam opens and runs fine but it takes a few moments for each webpage to open. Without upgrading to an SSD or upgrading to at least 4GB RAM, it will probably be extremely slow and possibly unusable.
@@rebootretro okay. It have the same specs as you, with the 3,06 Intel, 8800 GS nvidia and 4 Gb of ram with 256 Gb ssd. I think use big sur instead Thanks :)
My 2008 iMac it keeps booting into recovery after install. clearing NVRAM did nothing unfortunately. Stops at 13% than restarts. I have tried a 16 GB USB and a 2.5 HDD via SATA to USB and neither worked. I have also tried a clean install and an upgrade and both fail. Upgrade just boots me back into Catalina. Is there anywere I can post logs?
Hi, sorry for the late reply. When doing a clean install, are you formatting the disk with APFS or HFS+? It should be APFS. Also, do you have another Mac to perform the install with? I had some weird issues similar to this when installing direct to the 2008.
I think I have a similar issue with my iMac 8,1... everything seems to be going fine with the USB OCLP EFI boot and install of macOS but then I end up back at the recovery screen and it is an endless loop : (
@@animusmusic1 That's very weird; my issue was in the first part (the installer itself). After the installer completed, I moved the drive back to the 2008 and it booted fine. I would suggest trying a different version of OCLP and rebuilding the patches (double check it detected your Model Identifier correctly - I mistakenly was using iMac9,1 for my 2009 instead of 11,1 and it cause major headaches). As a last resort, if you haven't tried already, try a different larger 32GB+ USB stick. At that stage of the installer it shouldn't matter, but a number of people had issues specifically with 16GB sticks, despite being technically "big enough". Again, this shouldn't make a difference for you, but might be worth a shot if you've exhausted all other options.
@@rebootretro I got a larger usb flash drive but unfortunately it didn’t help. Do you know which versions of OCLP and macOS ended up working for you? Thanks!
@@animusmusic1 I had an old v0.3.x originally. I also used 0.4.6 TUI on a recent 2009 GPU upgrade video that isn't finished. I've only ever used the TUI (terminal) versions. If you're making it all the way to that point before yours fails, it makes me think the issue isn't OCLP. Some people have claimed that certain internal SSDs gave them trouble. That might be worth trying to swap if you have a spare of a different brand? Can you boot with a verbose flag to see where it's getting stuck? It may not exactly pinpoint the issue, but should get us looking in the right area.
That's excellent! Those are not very common, compared to the 2GB ones. Just note in the 2008 models if you put 2x 4GB many people have reported stability issues but 4GB + 2GB is said to work perfectly :).
@@massmassive8329 You must have upgraded the CPU as well, I don't believe those came with T9500 stock. Nicely outfitted system, I bet it runs pretty good still.
@@rebootretro yes, the original cpu was the t7200 if im correct. I even wanted to upgrade the gpu to a nvidia 8800m or 9800m but it seems like that is not possible. My other project was the upgrade of my mac pro 1,1. The upgrades i did: CPU: old dual xeon 5130 4x2.0 ghz, new dual xeon x5365 8x3.0 ghz Memory: 32gb ddr2 GPU: old nvidia 7300gt, new nvidia gtx1050 SSD: 120gb HDD: 2tb
@@massmassive8329 Nice! Not sure the 9800m would be a huge step up these days, but it's still fun to take it to the limit when possible! I also did a video on the Mac Pro 1,1 (ua-cam.com/video/xOYHCXqNT8Y/v-deo.html). My biggest issue with the Mac Pro is that you can't run a modern Mac OS version anymore, even with OpenCore. Still a good capable machine, but just very limited if you want to run Mac OS. It does pretty well with Linux and Windows though!
BAD NEWS...I really do not think apple will give a shit about what you do with a 14 year old computer any more than BMW will care if you put their 2024 engine in an old car.
![macOS Monterey on Unsupported Macs [2008-2015] OpenCore Legacy Patcher!!!](/img/n.gif)
After installing your fresh OS, Spotlight starts indexing your machine. This will slow down your older mac until its finished. This is normal and after a while (startups and reboots) it will not be a big issue anymore and your mac feels more snappy like you used to.
How do I know if the index os done?
@@carper1220just do your normal stuff, if it feels faster than it was then it’s probably done indexing. This happens on my iMac as well but I let it run for a while.
i have early 2009 iMac to I bought year a go it still works great
I also did a couple videos on 2009 iMacs as well, including comparing to a 2020 iMac (ua-cam.com/video/bO1XvSBG4d4/v-deo.html). Yes, they are fantastic machines still! And while I don't disagree that some people might need a newer/faster system, for a large majority of the population the 2009 works perfectly still. Congrats on keeping a great system alive!
Hey, i might know why u kept getting that error. I had the same issue, on my installer. It’s because iMac’s and MacBook’s sometimes reset motherboard’s time to 31 of December 2000. U just need to open terminal in recovery and change time time via code!
Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it. It is very possible the date was wrong. I will have to try that the next time I'm installing. Thanks!!
I did this to my early 2009 20 inch iMac and installed the latest macOS Ventura (commenting from that iMac running Ventura)
@@aIwI89 CAN YOU EVER LEAVE ME ALONE AND STOP STALKING ME AND I DO NOT WANT WINDOWS!!!
@@aIwI89 I DO NOT WANT WINDOWS LEAVE ME ALONE NOW
Damn any videos or tutorials that can help me do the same to my imac?
@@prodbyk19 probably the same as installing Monterey on this iMac
@@prodbyk19 use open core legacy patcher
If you use the latest version of OCLP all of the root patches are built into the app and you don’t need internet to get them
That's excellent! Not that I mind the ability to update via internet, but it'd be nice if initial patching could be done offline. I'll have to update my installer. Thanks!
I had a similar error while installing Ventura on my Mac mini late 2012. Then I thought it could be because of the original HDD read/write speed. When I changed my 5400rpm original HDD with a brand new 1TB SSD, it was installed like a charm. Try it.
The weird part is that it worked on the same hard drive when plugged into a different Mac. Maybe it the 2008 didn't like the specific drive I was using. Never thought to try swapping the drive out in the same machine, thanks for the tip!
got it working on an external ssd on my early 2009 iMac running macOS Ventura. it took AGES to install but it works
Fun fact: I managed to install Mac OS sonoma on it. It’s a bit laggy, but works as good as it was on Yosemite.
That’s amazing that it works! From what I read, I think they haven’t fully got the graphics drivers working on newer versions, which might be causing lag. The nice thing is that Sonoma has lots of similarities to previous versions, so hopefully the drivers will get ported! Nice work!
Great video. I like you didn't edit out key moments of the install with OpenCore.
Thank you! It wasn't meant as a tutorial, but I wanted it to be helpful for anyone who also wanted to do it. :)
Running Monterey on my MacBookPro (late 2008) and Ventura on my MacMini (late 2014) with OCLP...
My best bet as for why Monterey wasn't installing on your 2008 iMac, is because it was a USB stick. I've had similar problems with USB sticks, but no problems with external HDDs, SSDs, and fusion drives.
Very interesting. Another viewer claims this issue was related to 16GB flash drives. While I can't confirm this is the case, I can confirm I've successfully used 32GB drive but my 16GB drive was the one used in this video where the issue occurred. Your claim seems to also support this theory, since your HDDs, SSDs and fusion drives are also bigger than 16GB. I will have to test this at some point.
Looking forward when the next OCLP comes out, that will enable my 2008 dual 3.2 GHz MacPro to run Ventura. Looks like they have it running in a beta already and I have a 8GB RX580 flying around in my workshop.
The 2008 iMacs are pretty useful still today. A dual MacPro like yours probably performs amazingly!
@@rebootretro The RX580 is still impresivelly good, even today and especially during the gpu craze.
ive done this on my 8,1 with Mojave. runs smooth on 4gb, runs an SDR as well as a hobby laser i have, plus i can do day to day computing on it (ironically, using Edge and its Website As An App thing. i did replace the hard drive with an HDD but an SSD and the ram upgrade will happen soon enough. a buddy of mine gave it to me, was lumped off on him and running Linux. i wiped it and installed Snow Leopard from a USB, and then did the rest.
Were you able to run 12.7.5 on it?
@@sirvaant ive not bothered with anything else as of yet, but i may do a wipe and reinstall, and see about what i can run on it, as its only got 4gb of ram (i can throw up to 6 in it) and a dual core but its not too bad with Mojave.
Great video.
I have one of these w/ 6gb ram & Radeon HD 2400 XT 128mb GPU.
I'm mainly looking into making it a competent standalone VST guitar amp sim device.
Mostly out of curiosity, and potentially for a content topic for my upcoming channel.
I've already got mine running Positive Grid's legacy version of BIasFx 1.0 with great results, and
IMO I'd really only need to get it up to High Sierra to push it farther. After an SSD upgrade obviously.
The loss of Wi-Fi was my biggest concern overall, but observing how you overcame that hurdle has me intrigued.
Thanks for sharing!
I love seeing people breath new life into these machines!
Cheers!
Thanks! You can also get past the WiFi issue by using the full OCLP package on a USB key rather than the base package which fetches everything online. After running the post-install patches, your built-in WiFi should work perfectly again - it did for me.
The one thing I will note is that your Radeon card I believe is a Terascale 1 architecture which has graphical glitches when waking from sleep. If you're planning to disable sleep and shut it down instead between use, you might be fine running Monterey on here.
I have an identical iMac, only it's running 4GB RAM (2x2) until the 4GB DDR2 stick arrives. I used the DosDude Catalina patcher and it worked perfectly. Everything works! He has patchers for Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, and Sierra.
@@PracticaProphetica I'm using dual boot Mojave and El Capitan on my 2008 iMac (6GB RAM + SSD), in my experience Mojave runs better than Catalina in this model.
@@pipooon Thanks. That's very good to know. I was afraid that some of the hardware, being so much older, might start to fail on the latest OS. I'll consider this for any future upgrades.
Amazing! I also have a 2011 imac that got the pink screen of death after 11 years of beautiful service.
Fortunately, many of the 2011's have replaceable GPUs. At that age, it's done some incredible service to you already and probably doesn't owe you anything. If you wanted, you could do a Metal GPU upgrade and install Monterey to bring it up to date, like I did here: ua-cam.com/video/n9koG8p9Ch0/v-deo.html . The 2011 is fantastic because you can upgrade lower end models to a Core i7-2600 pretty easily.
Actually I want to have my imac repaired and leave Snow leopard on it because it has the good garageband on it, anything after mt lion has a terrible upgraded and confusing garageband on it, they change the face and operation of it. Also will my
garageband songs (files) that I recorded still be on there?
@@michael-dy8tz Generally if you upgrade to a newer version of any software, it will "upgrade" your files to the new version too... But I doubt you could downgrade them back if you wanted to use the old one again.
I miss iWeb, part of the old iLife suite. So basic, but you could throw together a nice looking basic website very fast. Oh well.
@@rebootretro Well, see the imac has never been upgraded it's always been snow leopard and I used it like that for 11 years so if he fixes the pink screen death issue can he fix it and snow leopard stay on there and my garageband still work on snow leopard? It's ok if i can't get on the internet.
Hi! i bought a new ram 4gb ddr2 8000 mhz in aliexpress an works perfect! mi imac 2008 has 6 gb ddr2 an runs very very well!
Excellent! Those modules are not so common to find casually in used or recycled machines, where I get many used parts. I'm sure 6GB vs 4GB does make it snappier!
I think secretly Apple do like this is says a lot about the quality of the equipment.
It’s funny, they build them to last 14 years, but software updates don’t come that long. This is why OCLP is so great! 😀
@@rebootretro Absolutely
I’m running Monterey on a 2008 MBP 15”. Work okay, but several apps are using Metal for graphics which makes it obsolete. It would be nice if Apple made apps like Logic more backwards compatible with OpenGL but that will never happen.
I know, it is very annoying not having Metal available. And on MBP, GPU isn't upgradable either. If it was me, I would dual boot an older OS with older version of FCS. For daily stuff, Monterey... For video production, High Sierra. Although I'll put up with hassles like dual booting just to prove I can keep an older machine running longer, lol.
2008 iMacs with AMD have issues with Monterey. Serious screen pixelation. Probably same problem with 2009. NVidia works well because OCLP has patch.
Yes, the 2009 also has some graphical issues with the HD 4000 card (it can be noticed in my other 2009 iMac upgrade video). If you go into accessibility options and disable transparency affects, it's much better. But it still suffers from the wake-from-sleep bug, where it will glitch horribly when brought out of sleep. If you disable transparency/sleep, then it's usable, but a different GPU is a way better option.
I got 2 kits of rare 4GB ddr2 kits, no it will not boot with 8GB
Probs no Mach to my 2015 21.5 one which officially supports this version
I wish there was a way to use an external component like taking a mac mini and just plugging it in via USB port to use it like a mechanical heart on a person in need of a real heart
There is a way to do exactly this! Well, I don't recall if the 2008 iMacs support it... But on a 2009/2010/2011 iMac you can use TargetDisplay... which will let you use these older iMacs as a screen for something modern, like an M2 Mac Mini. I think it's possible to pass sound through too. I have a video planned on this :)
I have an early 2008 iMac (8.1) with ATI Radeon HD 2800 Pro 256 MB video card and updated SSD storage plus 4 GB DDR2 memory. Has anyone had issues with this configuration or should I just upgrade to Catalina using DosDude patcher? Thanks for the amazing vid Mr. Macintosh 👍👍👍
@@mylmo123 Thanks for the info. I thought it might be the better choice. 👍
I just ran the DosDude patcher for Catalina on an early 2008 iMac (8,1) with Radeon 2400 XT graphics, 256gb SSD, and 4GB DDR2 (but I have a 4GB stick on order, so I can move it up to 6GB). It's running fine, even on 4GB. Everything seems to work!
@@PracticaProphetica Thanks Frank. I'll be ordering a 4 gig stick to up the memory to the max 6 gig and then do the upgrade to Catalina.
I have the same question, I think catalina probably should be a better option right?
I have 5 Gb of RAM on my 2008 iMac and it run El Capitan. I would never use it as a main computer, but my mom still uses it.
It's really interesting to see it works with Monterrey. But I don't want to patch it because it's really old and it's mostly a waste of time, not financially wise.
But hey.... What a value if it can still run Monterrey..
The biggest benefit to upgrade is that software updates no longer support El Capitan, so Safari/Chrome and other applications have or will stop getting updates and security patches. Also, SSL root certificates have started to expire which causes certain websites to display SSL errors and refuse connection - although this can be fixed by manually updating the certificates.
You're right though, if the machine is running fine its hard to justify the investment of time to upgrade it. Although for someone who needs browser updates and doesn't have spare cash for a new Mac but has some free time, this upgrade could buy them a couple extra years of service.
@@rebootretrowant to try this on my Mac, older but has all the specs you mentioned at the beginning. I use it for GarageBand, and I want the newest version
Is installing Monterey possible if the iMac A1225 (2009) does not have a MacOS already installed? OS was wiped and reinstalling Yosemite via online method fails (says temporarily unavailable upon Apple ID sign in) and the iMac will not see my bootable USB with El Capitan setup via TransMac. Ubuntu 22 is installed at the moment.
Yes, you can install directly to Monterey. The only issue is you need another working Mac to create the installer and build OpenCore. Just remember, when you build OpenCore it detects your system automatically. If you're building it on another system, you must manually change the Model Identifier to match the 2009 or else the installer will not work properly on the 2009.
I've never liked projects that involve Github.
ALL the software that you use uses GitHub directly or indirectly
I have to try this.
I tried the OCLP the latest one on my iMac late 2009, 12GB Ram 1333mhz with Radeon 512MB, with Kingston 250GB, using Monterey, it was working, though there are some glitch when im on the full screen, using canva and zoom, it suffers some graphical artifact while on the full screen, while full screen on youtube works well, after some days, a popping sound on the left speaker began to show, I thought this was a bug on Monterey on this model, and I tried Zorin OS, the same popping sound came though this iMac was snappy on linux, the popping sound would disappear when I plugged an headphone jack, I decided to go back to High Sierra, and the popping wasnt showing up, I read on some random youtube comment that switching from monterey to HS was the solution for the popping speaker noise, and I did, I finally concluded to stick on HS for me to use the speaker freely, and be able to use the graphics card on my daily task(some graphics,video editing too, and zoom meetings) my main goal buying this imac was to run linux with it, but the popping noise just irritates me. Its just a fun experience I have owning this jurrasic unit, had it cleaned from the inside, installed monterey and linux back and fort, opening it up and upgrading the ssd and ram, I learn from it so much on my 1st attempt. Cheers Justin.
The popping sound is a weird problem. Monterey is used here as a daily driver on a late 2009 iMac 27" and no popping sound to speak of. The 2009 also ran Big Sur briefly and also didn't have this issue. Volume is always mid-ish level, regularly playing UA-cam videos, Facebook videos and occasionally iTunes. I know it probably won't help, but did you by any chance try a PRAM reset? I suppose it's possible your audio processor came from a different batch of chips than mine, which could explain why you get the popping sound and mine does. I find it really bizarre that the issue is persistent on Linux, but not HS.
But you're definitely right about graphics, there are definitely some issues using the stock GPU. It can be usable if all you do is web browsing, but yes video editing is completely out of the question for most software on the stock GPU. I actually JUST upgraded that 2009 to a FirePro M5100 which is Metal supported, and it fixed ALL my graphical issues! I wasn't going to initially, but the screensaver trick wasn't working as well as I hoped and the stock GPU was beginning to fail, causing random lockups/crashes. I'll be posting a video later about this upgrade.
This is very hopeful. But does this process disable SIP? Would Monterey (or even Mojave ) work acceptably if you did not change to a SSD? Thank you for posting this Justin.
I'm not sure about SIP... I know you don't manually disable it, but I'm not sure if OpenCore does in the background. It will run without an SSD for sure, the issue is performance will be poor. Opening webpages will be fine, but initially booting an opening the browser will be very slow.
@@rebootretro Thank you for responding so quickly!! I guess I can check the SIP status in Terminal and if it's on this is going to be such a computer rescuer! We're try to rescue e-wasted computers for kids and seniors.
Yes, it disables SIP on its own. It is my understanding, however, that common sense (stay with trusted apps, don’t open strange links in emails…) should keep you on safe ground. SIP may have to stay disabled for Opencore Legacy to install its patches.
Why would it be limited to 6GB? Why not 8GB? if you had 2 slots what would stop you from putting in 2 4GB sticks. 4GB sticks of DDR2 do exist they’re just rare and expensive.
If you put 8GB in, most of the time the system will see it but the computer will become unbearably slow and unstable. Its an Intel chipset limitation; likely those high capacity sticks didn’t exist when the chipset was engineered by Intel. Although the chipset can see it, it can’t properly address it. Some early Core 2 PCs have that same limitation, however I think it was only with the very early chipsets. As you correctly point out, later Core 2 systems will accept 2x 4GB DDR2 for a total 8GB.
I must have did something wrong.. never worked for me
iMac 8.1 2008 early
21.5 / 2.4ghz core 2 duo / 6 GB 800 MHz Dd2 / 240 ssd / ati 2400xt 128 mb
Upgrade help
3:50 i keep on getting this on my 2009 mbp
Unfortunately I still didn't figure out why this happens. I can only suggest to try a different version older/newer of OpenCore. Otherwise, you could try like I did - Connect the drive as external to another Mac, install a vanilla copy of Monterey, then move it back to the original Mac and finish OpenCore installation and patches as per usual.
@@rebootretro maybe its your flash stick, i got a new 64gb one and it works fine so i think if its 16gb its not gonna work
Se quemo mi tarjeta de video en el iMac 2008 256Mb porque Big Sur y Monterrey le exigen mucho al procesador y la tarjeta de video :/
Get a 2012 Mac book pro for this
Have one with a Samsung SSD and macOS Monterey. Everything works amazingly except one thing: When I enter the fullscreen mode during UA-cam playback and leave it again, the iMac graphics card totally fails. As a result, a wide span of colors appear all over the screen. Do you have any fixes? I also installed the latest version of Open Core Legacy Patcher which came out yesterday and I use the latest version of macOS Monterey (12.6).Its annoying since I always had to restart the machine to perfectly work again. Greetings from Germany!
That's a weird problem. Mine worked perfectly entering and exiting full screen mode on UA-cam using an nVidia 8800 GS. The 8800 was an upgrade; the stock machine shipped with an ATi/AMD card. Which GPU do you have? I've not heard of this being an issue with either one, but it would be interesting to know if your hardware is the same as mine. Also, I used Chrome; what browser are you using? If it's not Chrome, perhaps Safari (or Firefox, etc) is making some sort of Metal API call as it returns from full screen which causes the issue. Please post back and let me know how it works, I'm sure there are other people who have this issue too that may benefit knowing the solution :)
@@rebootretro sorry for my late reply, I will try Chrome and see what happens. Otherwise it must be the GPU since I didn't upgrade the stock GPU
@@Morschyt So how was it bro?
Update: It works on Chrome, however, soon after it start flikering again! So after using UA-cam on Fullscreen, the graphics fail
I installed Monterey to my iMac 8.1 (20-inch early 2008), 4GB DDR2 SDRam, 1TB SSD, ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 128 MB , using the latest OCLP.
I manage to install the OS successfully but then I am having some issues with the screen having some glitches time by time.
I have done resetting NVRAM, and it works for a while but then the issue still comes back after some time.
I don't know what triggers the glitching screen issue because even when I am in login window and I shake the mouse, it happens then will disappear.
Coming back and forth and a restart helps.
I also tried to boot into safe mode.
I also tried to run a hardware diagnostic test, but it doesn't show me the result.
Mine just gave out tbh
Got one of these for 20 eur locally (Here you never find old macs for cheap, so this was awesome) and I could not believe my eyes when I saw it had been upgraded to the 6gb ram!! However the graphics card was not saved by the hot air gun :( what model would you recommend to get as a replacement?
The 6GB upgrade isn't very common, since DDR2 4GB sticks weren't all that common. That's an excellent find!!
If your goal is to modernize it with Monterey, I don't think there are any "really good" options for GPU because none of them will support Metal acceleration (too old). I'd probably recommend the official Mac version of the 8800GS, like I have. The reason being is that with legacy acceleration patches, AMD cards tend to have graphical glitches where the Nvidia seemed to work perfectly, as you see in my video. The 8800GS was a pretty top tier card for that socket, and was the top tier available for the iMac at the time. Going for a slightly better one will yield little benefit by today's performance standards, and will require a lot of messing around with drivers and BIOS mods which I don't believe is worthwhile. The 8800GS is properly supported by OpenCore patches for legacy acceleration (video playback basically) making patching very easy, and in my brief testing I didn't notice any glitches.
Pop a cheap SSD in there, and with 6GB of RAM that thing is going to be a really decent system for only 20 eur! Congrats on a great find!
@@rebootretro Thanks a lot for such a detailed response!! This information is gold. Having fun already !
When will they stop supporting Monterey
I can’t find an official date, but based on previous releases I’d expect it to reach end of life by fall 2024.
Crack 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻 😍😍😍😍
I tried on a iMac 2008 without SSD, and it keeps restarting to the installer page
It should still work without an SSD, the SSD only improves performance. If you are getting past the initial part of the installer, you may have to hold OPT key and choose HDD as boot device.
Can these Imacs support quad cores or the faster Xeon dual core chips using the conversion sticker?
These 2008 iMacs use mobile Core 2 Duo chips, not desktop LGA775. I did look into this a while back, and I believe that no one has successfully upgraded to anything other than a slightly faster Core 2 Duo. I don't know, but I suspect it is a chipset limitation - because most of these late Core 2 PC systems would accept two 4GB DDR2 modules and the iMac doesn't. It seems like Apple built these using "old stock" - but that's just a guess. IMO, the difference between the stock chip and the fastest supported chip is probably not going to be worth the hassle in upgrading. The later Core i systems can run modded Xeons, as well as quad core chips. The Core i systems were a massive improvement over the Core 2.
I am running into the same error. Is there a way to install it without having an extra mac at hand?
That is an excellent question. I'm not sure, but I suspect it is a bug with OpenCore Legacy Patcher and this specific iMac model. If I do figure it out, I'll post about how to fix it.
@@rebootretro I was able to install BigSur 11.2 on my 2008 iMac. Its pretty slow since I don't have an SSD.
@@SpeedGamerJ if your Mac has a fusion drive that is part of it runs on a solid state ship on the board that part being the operating environment and then all your data stored on a regular mechanical spinning drive this command would help you out a lot and make it so you can reinstall the OS on the internal SSD it’s on the motherboard for fusion equipped max
support.apple.com/en-us/HT207584
I have a 2014 I Mac running Big Sur and did this procedure and it runs like a new incredibly fast to boot with only eight gigs of ram installed going to bump it up to the ready to give it a shot it might help out.
Actually you're incorrect, AMDs Athlon 64 and Athlon X2 kicked off modern computing. If it wasn't for those chips, Intel would have kept selling lackluster Pentium chips. The Core/Core 2 series was a response to AMD.
I have a early 2009 iMac 24" that I put Big Sur 11.7.3 on and it works ok except certain "buttons" don't show up like the "continue" button when you first open Maps. Also when you attempt to resize the Safari window the pointer is supposed to change to an arrow pointing in both directions, but it simply disappears. You can still resize it with the now invisible pointer and it will reappear when you move off the edge of the the window. Any ideas?
Maps requires a Metal supported GPU to work properly, I suspect components won't draw correctly without it. I did not notice any issues with Safari on Monterey, but I seldom use it as I usually use Chrome.
If you can't (or prefer not to) upgrade your GPU to a Metal supported one, you could try switching to Google Chrome. Also, in Chrome you can open Google Maps, then go to the menu, then "More Tools", then "Create Shortcut". Make sure to select "Open in New Window". Now you can remove the Apple Maps icon in your doc and put your new Google Maps icon instead, which works in Chrome without Metal GPU :)
@@rebootretro I just tried Chrome and Firefox, both have the pointer disappear when you try to resize the browser windows. Mine is the iMac 9,1 with the 4850 GPU. Not sure if it's upgradable...
Is it better to use catalina or Monterey? I have a 2008 mac mini a1283 running catalina, and a late 2007 imac running mint, would you suggest Monterey for one or both of these?
There's always trade-offs. Running an older OS like Catelina means you don't have current security patches, newer apps won't work at all, and because you can't install a current web browser certain websites can even have issues loading. This is where upgrading to Monterey or newer can be a huge benefit. The downside is that since the Monterey (or newer) is patched to run, there can be some bugs/glitchy behavior in some cases. For example, certain GPUs have graphical glitches, transparency doesn't work, and apps that require Metal don't work - specifically, Apple maps app won't work since the graphics are rendered with Metal (although Google Maps in Chrome works perfectly as alternative).
Personally, I think the modern OS, security updates and latest apps are worth the tradeoff if you're using the computer for daily tasks - assuming OpenCore has decent support for your hardware (check Dortania GitHub docs before starting upgrade!). For example, earlier Mac Minis have Intel graphics which won't work properly past dosdude1's Catalina patcher. Although if you're willing to run Linux Mint as it appears you are, you're probably going to see way better performance and you'll have better hardware support too. Both those systems may be possible to run Monterey, but I think Linux would run much better on both if you want something newer. :)
@@rebootretro that’s what I figured although I think I’m gonna try to install tiny 11 on them. That way I’m running Monterey on my windows PC and windows on my Mac lol. I would like to install tiny 11 on the iMac, but the USB installer that I made using Rufus just won’t appear on the iMac. Even though I have been using Lennox on that machine for a couple years now do I need to install an older version of macOS in order to use Bootcamp to install windows? I’m starting to think hackintosh was way easier to install on a windows pc then windows on an apple! Lol
@@95Comics I had issues getting the Windows 11 installer to load on a 2006 Mac Pro. What I did was install it (using MBR/BIOS, not GPT/UEFI) on a PC and swap the hard drive into the Mac. Not sure if it will help with your problem or not, but here is the video ua-cam.com/video/xOYHCXqNT8Y/v-deo.html . You shouldn't need to install Mac OS at all, or even Boot Camp :)
how does this have 512mb graphics and not 256mb
When originally purchased, this Mac was fully optioned out with almost every option Apple offered, which included an upgraded GeForce 8800 GS 512MB instead of the typical Radeon HD with 256MB.
@@rebootretro so i have a imac 9,1 can i upgrade the gpu from 256mb to 512mb btw thanks for replying highly appreciated
@@forcesshorts5779 Unfortunately, you have the ONLY iMac model from that 2008/2009 series with a non-upgradable/soldered GPU. Not sure why Apple chose to make the other models socketed, but this model soldered. For basic web browsing though, it shouldn't make a difference. With the OpenCore Legacy patcher you should get basic graphics acceleration and videos should play fine. Of course any sort of gaming these days probably won't like that card.
I have a few mac mini 2010s - I (foolishly) thought that Samsung QVO ssds would make them usable - and while initially SSHD seemed to adequate with Catalina over time they became unusable after updates.. the result was going back to Mojave and the SSDs actually didn't make that much of a difference.. I can't see how Monterey will be any better over than (poor) Catalina.. but I'm open to convincing - has anyone got Mac Mini 2010 working (i.e. browsing) reasonably well with Monterey? any tips adjustments I could try?
I'm not sure why it's so slow... We use a 2009 iMac as a daily driver running Monterey with no speed issues whatsoever. If the Mini runs an i5 and 8GB+ RAM, it should be usually snappy.
@@rebootretro - 2010 Mac mini => Intel Core2Duo like your 2009 iMac - graphics might be the bottle-neck..
The 2012 i7 Mac mini is the one to go for I recently got one here in UK for the equivalent of $98 with EVO SSD and 16GB RAM. These machines fly.
@@mikepxg6406 That's an amazing deal!! The "going" rate for these on eBay is hundreds of dollars still. You did very well! Congrats!
I have a couple of 4GB DDR2 ram sticks, they wont work in anything else besides these iMacs or will they ?!?!
The DDR2 4GB sticks were made towards the end of the DDR2 era I believe. Many older chipsets don't support (or don't fully support) those modules, so it really depends on what chipset is in the system. There should be some chipsets out there which will support 2x or even 4x 4GB modules.
On this particular 2008 iMac, you can run 1x 2GB + 1x 4GB DDR2 modules for 6GB total. The system will boot with 2x 4GB, but there have been reported severe performance issues/crashes/etc because the chipset cannot handle both.
I have macOS High Sierra on my 2011 imac. Should I try to install Monterey?
High Sierra stopped getting security patches a while ago, some newer software and web browsers won't install, and some websites give a security warning and won't open because some SSL root certificates have expired. If any these are a concern to you, the Monterey upgrade may be a great option for you.
Hi guys I have iMac 21.5 inches middle 2011. And I want to install last iOS. Does it work can someone give me information 😂
Can you explain how you got it to work😅
I saw your other comment, but I'm not completely sure which step you are stuck on. Basic process is:
1. Make USB installer (official installer, unmodified)
2. Install OpenCore bootloader to USB stick
3. Boot Mac holding Option key and select OpenCore partition (NOT Installer partition)
4. OpenCore loads a drive picker and shows available drives. Now choose Installer partition and Mac OS Installer will boot.
5. Install normally, same as official Mac.
6. When installer finishes and reboots, if it does not boot into freshly installed drive then hold Option key on boot and choose OpenCore bootloader. OpenCore loads a new picker: choose your freshly installer boot drive, NOT the Installer
7. Finalize the Mac OS install (create username, etc). This will be very laggy until next step.
8. Launch OpenCore app. Install bootloader directly to the freshly installed system boot drive, then install post-install patches which will fix graphics, WiFi, Bluetooth, sound, etc with modded drivers where necessary. This will fix the laggy issue and should work properly after reboot.
Let me know what step you made it to, and where you had issues. I will try to help with some suggestions :)
Is it possible to buy a usb with Monterey and download the core legacy patcher only?
I don't think there are any official pre-made USB sticks sold with Monterey installer. But if you find one or pay someone to create one, then you should be able to install OpenCore on it the same way.
the instalation works but my wifi dosent work i did post instal with cabel wifi but that dosent work either
Are you 100% sure the post-install patches were successful? Do you have graphics acceleration working (graphics smooth, not laggy and choppy)? Which iMac model exactly do you have? Can you check the System Profiler to find the WiFi card model? I will try to help as much as I can.
@@rebootretro Thank you for your response. I own an Imac 8,1, which is a 20-inch model from 2008. The graphics card is an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro MB. Memory: 4 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM The processor name is Intel Core 2 Duo. I could not find the wifi card model, and I also looked it up, but you might think that the RAM is 4 GB instead of 2? Idk, because I bought it from Marktplaats, so I dont know if the owner before me upgraded it or not. I also forgot to subscribe, so I just did it now.
Big deal. Heaps of us are doing this, and doesn't give a shit. But it won't be too much longer until drops support for intel macs entirely. What then?
How to install windows 10 on imac 2008
That’s a really good idea. I think it would be possible to install Windows 11 also!
@@rebootretro can u post a video about it,it will help me a lot
hi ! i have done the updat from an imac late 2009 27", upgraded the ssd 1to, added 16g of ram, and upgraded the graphics card to the 6970 radeon. my issue is that the wifi trips my modem. i have to manually reset it everytime the mac connect to the internet almost immediately. also i have at the top right corner the blutooth icon checked off. but my magic keyboards and track pad works but there are some functionalities that don't work ex: volume, screen brightness, 2 finger scroll up or down. you think you might have a lead for me?
I've had experience with modem/router combos behaving badly with some computers, but in my experience this is almost always the fault of the router itself, not the computer. I would recommend to borrow another router to test.
You also could try disabling WiFI and borrowing a WiFi dongle to test. This would confirm if there is a problem with your Mac's WiFI radio or not. I do still suspect the issue is probably your router.
As for the keyboard controls, there is some known issues with older Magic Keyboards when updating Mac OS beyond 10.15.7 where the function keys don't work. I suspect you have the older Magic Keyboard model? As far as I'm aware, Apple has not fixed this (I suppose they just want you to buy a new keyboard). Some have suggested to fully remove the Apple Keyboard from Bluetooth settings and re-add it, so you could try that. There may be third party fixes that remap the keys, which is probably the only thing that will work if resetting doesn't.
For the trackpad, go into your Settings -> Trackpad. Make sure your Mac recognizes it as a trackpad. If not, you can try going to Bluetooth settings, deleting it and repairing it. You could double check that Scrolling is enabled under Settings -> Accessibility -> Mouse & Trackpad. Aside from that, I'm not sure about your scrolling issue.
Hopefully at least some of those suggestions help. Good luck! :)
can you do a video of a imac 12.1 thats the imac im currently using i want to know if it would work
Unfortunately I don't have an iMac 12,1 but according to the OpenCore group, the 12,1 iMac is supported and appears to be very similar to the 2009 model in this video I made: ua-cam.com/video/WsjyPFolmhw/v-deo.html
Yes it works on the 2011 very well I have two up and running Monterey go to Mr Macintosh and he walks you through it!
@@lotecmike thank you for the feedback 🙏🏽
@@thelol6019 I have upgraded 2 iMac 12,1. I use the 21.5" i5 and my dad uses the 27" core i5. I swapped out the old Radeon cards for Nvidia cards with flashed Bios from eBay, maxed out the RAM on both and swapped in some SSD's. They run Monterey absolutely flawlessly. Just for shits & giggles I purchased a 2010 MacBook Pro 15" and did the upgrade on that too. Mr Macintosh has the best videos on exactly how to upgrade step by step and I strongly suggest you search him out on UA-cam first.
where did you find the opencore download link
The links are on the Dortania GitHub page, which are the maintainers of the OpenCore Legacy Patcher project: dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/START.html
I am havin an 2009 imac i am trying to upgrade it with the help of bootable usb but iam unable to access boot menu in it when I am holding the option button its just showing a blank white screen
How did you create your bootable USB? You need to also add OpenCore bootloader to the USB key, are you sure it is installed correctly? The blank white screen will happen if Mac cannot find a bootable operating system or installer. Let me know, I will try to help.
@@rebootretro not sure sir please can u make a video on it i request
@@rebootretro i dont have another imac can we make bootable in a windows laptop
@@photosall6136 It would not be impossible, but extremely more difficult to do on Windows. I've never done it, but it is documented by the group who makes OpenCore: dortania.github.io
It would be MUCH easier to restore an older supported version on your iMac (like High Sierra), and build your Monterey USB from there.
Hey, I can’t open the openCore patcher. Everything else is ,,working“ but without the patcher I cannont install Monterey
Do you mean that you can't install the OpenCore EFI bootloader, or you can't install the post-installation patches? Were you able to successfully create the USB stick installer or no?
@@rebootretro everything is downloaded but I can’t open opencore. The Mac says that opencore was closed unexpectedly. Maybe my mid 2007 iMac is too bad😂 it was difficult to download anything from the internet with the old Mac
@@tims6216 What version of Mac OS are you trying to run it on? You might have to run the patcher on a newer OS version. You can actually borrow any Mac to do it, just make sure you are change the Model ID to match yours, and make 1000% sure you patch the correct drive/USB stick!
@@rebootretro now it worked. I tried the hole process again Bus this time with google chrome. thanks🙏
@@tims6216 Nice! Glad to hear you'll now be able to keep a great iMac in service! :D
What is the earliest mac you have?
My oldest Mac is a Macintosh Plus 1MB. It didn't turn on, and had a battery which exploded. I'm actually in the (LONG) process of doing a restoration on it. This is a much more complex restoration than I usually do, but I video will eventually be out when I finish it :)
My oldest non-Apple "computer", however, is a DEC VT05 computer terminal from 1973.
@@rebootretro Woah that’s quite old
Hi ! I have an early 24’’ 2008 iMac and i wanted to know : does it heat a lot or not ?
With Apple's factory fan curve settings, the fans are quiet but the system gets relatively hot. But I use (and recommend) Macs Fan Control app which allows you to customize your fan speed so the system runs cooler.
@@rebootretro Okay. Is it usable for an everyday use (Internet, Facebook Messenger, microsoft office…) ?
@@lucasvautherot549 With an SSD upgrade, at least 4GB RAM, and Monterey upgrade I would say yes. It likely will not be "fast" for these tasks, but it should be very usable if you're only running one app or webpage at a time. As you can see in the video, UA-cam opens and runs fine but it takes a few moments for each webpage to open. Without upgrading to an SSD or upgrading to at least 4GB RAM, it will probably be extremely slow and possibly unusable.
@@rebootretro okay. It have the same specs as you, with the 3,06 Intel, 8800 GS nvidia and 4 Gb of ram with 256 Gb ssd. I think use big sur instead Thanks :)
My 2008 iMac it keeps booting into recovery after install. clearing NVRAM did nothing unfortunately. Stops at 13% than restarts. I have tried a 16 GB USB and a 2.5 HDD via SATA to USB and neither worked. I have also tried a clean install and an upgrade and both fail. Upgrade just boots me back into Catalina. Is there anywere I can post logs?
Hi, sorry for the late reply. When doing a clean install, are you formatting the disk with APFS or HFS+? It should be APFS. Also, do you have another Mac to perform the install with? I had some weird issues similar to this when installing direct to the 2008.
I think I have a similar issue with my iMac 8,1... everything seems to be going fine with the USB OCLP EFI boot and install of macOS but then I end up back at the recovery screen and it is an endless loop : (
@@animusmusic1 That's very weird; my issue was in the first part (the installer itself). After the installer completed, I moved the drive back to the 2008 and it booted fine. I would suggest trying a different version of OCLP and rebuilding the patches (double check it detected your Model Identifier correctly - I mistakenly was using iMac9,1 for my 2009 instead of 11,1 and it cause major headaches).
As a last resort, if you haven't tried already, try a different larger 32GB+ USB stick. At that stage of the installer it shouldn't matter, but a number of people had issues specifically with 16GB sticks, despite being technically "big enough". Again, this shouldn't make a difference for you, but might be worth a shot if you've exhausted all other options.
@@rebootretro I got a larger usb flash drive but unfortunately it didn’t help. Do you know which versions of OCLP and macOS ended up working for you? Thanks!
@@animusmusic1 I had an old v0.3.x originally. I also used 0.4.6 TUI on a recent 2009 GPU upgrade video that isn't finished. I've only ever used the TUI (terminal) versions.
If you're making it all the way to that point before yours fails, it makes me think the issue isn't OCLP. Some people have claimed that certain internal SSDs gave them trouble. That might be worth trying to swap if you have a spare of a different brand?
Can you boot with a verbose flag to see where it's getting stuck? It may not exactly pinpoint the issue, but should get us looking in the right area.
I have a 4gb ddr2 module
That's excellent! Those are not very common, compared to the 2GB ones. Just note in the 2008 models if you put 2x 4GB many people have reported stability issues but 4GB + 2GB is said to work perfectly :).
@@rebootretro at the moment im still using the imac 7,1 with mac os 10.15. Full specs are: CPU: c2d T9500, 6GB DDR2 memory, 120GB SSD
@@massmassive8329 You must have upgraded the CPU as well, I don't believe those came with T9500 stock. Nicely outfitted system, I bet it runs pretty good still.
@@rebootretro yes, the original cpu was the t7200 if im correct. I even wanted to upgrade the gpu to a nvidia 8800m or 9800m but it seems like that is not possible. My other project was the upgrade of my mac pro 1,1. The upgrades i did:
CPU: old dual xeon 5130 4x2.0 ghz, new dual xeon x5365 8x3.0 ghz
Memory: 32gb ddr2
GPU: old nvidia 7300gt, new nvidia gtx1050
SSD: 120gb HDD: 2tb
@@massmassive8329 Nice! Not sure the 9800m would be a huge step up these days, but it's still fun to take it to the limit when possible! I also did a video on the Mac Pro 1,1 (ua-cam.com/video/xOYHCXqNT8Y/v-deo.html). My biggest issue with the Mac Pro is that you can't run a modern Mac OS version anymore, even with OpenCore. Still a good capable machine, but just very limited if you want to run Mac OS. It does pretty well with Linux and Windows though!
BAD NEWS...I really do not think apple will give a shit about what you do with a 14 year old computer any more than BMW will care if you put their 2024 engine in an old car.