Mac Pro 5.1 help with OS reinstall

obviouslytom

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I have received a Mac Pro 5.1 with dual Xeon e5620, 24gb of ram, 1tb drive, and an ATI card that is not so great. I have been trying for days now to get OS X to reinstall. I have a copy of Snow Leopard 10.6.3 and no matter what I do, I can't get the system to boot from it. I got a copy of 10.7 and tried that and it still doesn't work.

I came across something that said the OS was tweaked to work on that system and that I would have to get the original install discs that came with it when it was new. As far as I know, I will not be able to do that from the person that gave it to me because I am sure they don't have it.

How else can I get OS X reinstalled on this system?
 
Huh? Do you have another Mac available? Install macOS to the drive via a separate Mac and external drive bay?
 
Just get Sierra, which it supports. Shouldn't have any hardware driver/compatibility issues.

Worst case scenario (which is annoying and dumb) if you have no other option, just make an appointment with an Apple Genius and have them install it on there for you.
 
Just get Sierra, which it supports. Shouldn't have any hardware driver/compatibility issues.

Worst case scenario (which is annoying and dumb) if you have no other option, just make an appointment with an Apple Genius and have them install it on there for you.

I have looked on Apple's site for a Sierra download and all I find are updates and not a full install
 
I have looked on Apple's site for a Sierra download and all I find are updates and not a full install

You'd have to have access to the App Store. So, on that front you may be SOL since you don't have another Mac to use to access the App Store. The OS is free, but unfortunately you have to have a working machine to get it, or do the following method, which you may also be locked out of.

If the HDD that is currently installed on it is post 10.8(?), then you could boot into Recovery Mode, which would download the OS from Apple directly. I'm assuming you've tried that, but because you haven't explicitly said so, I though I'd mention it.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

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So barring either of those options, either find a friend with a Mac, or go to an Apple Store. (Or find some other place to buy a physical copy of the OS).
 
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we have a mac at work that I may be able to go to the app store on it and get what I need.
 
A friend of mine was able to make a Sierra usb boot drive for me and I was able to get it installed. Even though this Mac Pro is a Mid 2010, it has dual 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 in it and is still fast. The only thing I don't like about it is the video card. It has an ATI Radeon HD 2600XT in it and I would like to put something better, but I think I need to get the mini 6-pin to full 6-pin power adaptor for a newer card to work in it.
 
A friend of mine was able to make a Sierra usb boot drive for me and I was able to get it installed. Even though this Mac Pro is a Mid 2010, it has dual 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 in it and is still fast. The only thing I don't like about it is the video card. It has an ATI Radeon HD 2600XT in it and I would like to put something better, but I think I need to get the mini 6-pin to full 6-pin power adaptor for a newer card to work in it.

Options are limited. I'd do a google search for compatibility. It will save you a lot of time and headache.
 
FYI I have a 980ti running in my Mac Pro. You can use a PC card, as I did, but I believe you will need a card that has a max of a 6pin/8pin power configuration. Some power wires will need to tap into the SATA ports for power (at least that is how I did it) in addition to the normal power lead (bridge 2 into the 8pin, 2 SATA ports for the 6 pin). Before this I had a 780 with no issues for quite a while. I can't recall where I got the power leads which hooked into the SATA ports but it was probably Newegg. Just keep in mind you will want to hang on to your original card as you will not have a boot screen on a PC card which is not flashed.
 
FYI I have a 980ti running in my Mac Pro. You can use a PC card, as I did, but I believe you will need a card that has a max of a 6pin/8pin power configuration. Some power wires will need to tap into the SATA ports for power (at least that is how I did it) in addition to the normal power lead (bridge 2 into the 8pin, 2 SATA ports for the 6 pin). Before this I had a 780 with no issues for quite a while. I can't recall where I got the power leads which hooked into the SATA ports but it was probably Newegg. Just keep in mind you will want to hang on to your original card as you will not have a boot screen on a PC card which is not flashed.

My Pro 5.1 has two mini ports on the inside that I could use but I didn't think that a PCI Express 3.0 card would work on a PCI Express 2.0 slot unless the card is backwards compatible?
 
IMG_6967.JPG IMG_6918.JPGScreen Shot 2017-05-19 at 12.06.37 PM.png

Hope this helps. Haven't had any issues. Upgraded my CPU's to W5590s and installed 48GB of 1333 RAM. Usually run Windows 10 for gaming :)
 
That helps a lot. Thanks for the pics. Final question: when you upgraded your CPUs, did you delid them yourself or did you order them already delidded?
 
I will look into that. I know I can take mine to dual x5690s with 6core 12 threads each.

I have the dual x5690s installed with 64GB. A local eBay seller sold me the tray.

I used an external HDD and downloaded Yosemite OS on the HDD from my PC. Then used iTunes to update to Sierra OS.
You can also do a system restore by hold down CMD+R when rebooting, and that will take you to system restore screen where you can resinstall the OS or hold the OPTION key just boot from another drive.
 
I have a x5670 in mine and a pc quadro 2000 card. Damn fast machine for how old it is.
 
I am going to try and find some of the mini 6pin pice cables and try my AND R9 290x this weekend in it
 
The only thing I don't like about it is the video card. It has an ATI Radeon HD 2600XT in it and I would like to put something better, but I think I need to get the mini 6-pin to full 6-pin power adaptor for a newer card to work in it.

I have a 2009 flashed to identify as a 2010 and I'm pretty sure I have two six pin cables in mine, so yours supports the same even if you don't have the cables. They are standard PCI power cables so any male to male cable should work.

http://netkas.org is the place to go to find out what cards work with which Mac models and versions of macOS. The last several versions of macOS haven't required cards firmware to be flashed for some time now - quite a few PC cards are now plug and play.
 
Also if you take a flash drive into an Apple store they should make a bootable disk for you. If you make a genius appointment they will for sure, but I've never needed one in the past - just walked in and asked one of the shirts for help.
 
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