Mac Pro 3,1 os install

[MrAnchovies]

Hi I'm trying and failing to install an os on my Mac pro. I bought it without a hard drive and all I have is windows machines, so using a Mac for any kind of downloads is not possible. I'd like to not spend any more than I have to to get this machine working.

[eira]

Try buying one of those USB sticks with the OS installer on it. You can find them on ebay. 

[MrAnchovies]

which os should get this mac stuff is foreign to me

[eira]

Get OS X El Capitan since that's the newest OS your mac will support 

[MrAnchovies]

i made an install usb for el capitan but it stopped at about a quarter of the way and a bunch of text popped up in black boxes i let that sit for a whole night and nothing changed

[tux_peng]

How did you "make" the USB

 

Here are some you can buy

 

Link: http://a.co/d/bTkhKYu

Link: http://a.co/d/7d6USgK

[MrAnchovies]

this is the guide I followed

 

https://www.wikigain.com/create-bootable-usb-installer-for-mac-transmac/

[MrAnchovies]

and I'd rather not spend that much on a usb installer

[tux_peng]

It looks like that DMG may be tampered with, look for InstallESD.dmg

 

https://7labs.io/tips-tricks/el-capitan-direct-download.html

[tatte]

Reading that text in those black boxes is vital to understanding what's the issue.

 

Ask around, maybe one of your friends has a Mac. See if they can borrow you any installation media to get you started.

 

If you don't even care about macOS, you can use any machine to install Windows to a hard disk and throw that in. You'd at least get to try out the performance. 

[Madgemade]

You can also install Sierra on this Mac by using the Sierra patcher tool. You could install a Linux distro too. Or has been said just install Windows 10.

[tatte]

21 hours ago, Madgemade said:

The MacPro 3,1 is the oldest MacPro which can take windows.

No, that'd be the Mac Pro 1,1.

 

21 hours ago, Madgemade said:

--, some of the mac hardware only had drivers from apple which can only be installed with bootcamp.

Apple calls their driver packages for Windows "Boot Camp Support Software", and they're available independently from the Boot Camp.

[Madgemade]

Seeing as this is in the "not windows" category, I will point out that Linux can be installed on all MacPro's. Including the 1,1 and 2,1 and it can be installed in native EFI mode, even on 32-bit EFI (just use IA32 grub). You also get full fan control for MacPro's fans. Only thing that needs drivers is the WiFi card, easily installed in Ubuntu and similar through "additional drivers".

[duncannah]

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Hold down Command-Option/Alt-R and press the Power button. (On some Mac keyboards the Option key will be named Alt).
3. Hold down those keys until you a spinning globe and the message "Starting Internet Recovery. This may take a while".
4. The message will be replaced with a progress bar. Wait for it to fill. Expect it to take a while...
5. Wait for the MacOS Utilities screen to appear.
6. Click Reinstall macOS and follow the installation process.

[tatte]

On 12/16/2018 at 11:37 AM, Madgemade said:

Yes but only in emulated CSM mode which doesn't work as well as using native EFI mode like MacOS does (MacPro 1,1 has 32-bit EFI not supported by Windows). Not using EFI mode makes life more difficult. There are problems with AHCI vs IDE mode, not important in 2006 but does make a different with SSDs.

Just to be clear, my issue here is that you're proclaiming that Mac Pro 1,1 can't run Windows, when it effortlessly does. Someone's going to read, believe and spread that. Boot Camp will hold your hand if you can settle for 32-bit Windows, and the hardware will happily run 64-bit Windows if you for e.g. install it elsewhere and just throw in the disk. Apple even provides the drivers. It's a 12 years old system, of course it has limitations and shortcomings, but that's not a good reason to spread completely false information.

[Madgemade]

I have edited my posts to remove any reference to windows not working on Mac. Just to be very clear windows will run on any Mac which has an Intel or AMD CPU. Linux will run on all Macs this century and those from the last which use a PowerPC CPU. My point was mostly a technicality about EFI booting. You're right that I shouldn't have mentioned any of that so I have deleted all references to anything overly technical.

 

I do apologize for mistakenly stating otherwise. I was referring to native EFI booting but forgot to mention that in my initial post and so I have edited it to correct the mistakes.