On Jan 10, 2012, at 8:03 AM, JOHN CARMONNE wrote: > I read on Everymac that the processors in the white iMacs are swappable. I > have a iMac 20" 2.0 Core Duo and would like to put in a 2.16 Core 2 Duo. Has > any one done this? > > John Carmonne > Yorba Linda CA 92886 > From iMac Core Duo 2.0
Yes, I've upgraded a Core Duo processor in a white iSight iMac to a Core 2 Duo processor. The processor fits into a socket and is thus removable. That's the good news. The bad news is that you have to disassemble the iMac to remove the logic board so you can get at the screws that clamp the heat sink over the processor. It's an almost complete disassembly, so you would be well advised to obtain an Apple service manual for the iMac in question. Don't forget to use fresh thermal paste -- I like Arctic Silver. If you're planning to do this so you can run OS X 10.7 Lion, you need to understand that the Lion installer doesn't care a whit about what processor you've installed. It looks for the Model Identifier in About This Mac (iMac8,1, for example) and compares the one it finds with the list of models on which Lion can be installed. So even if your upgraded now-Core 2 Duo iMac otherwise runs perfectly, the Lion installer will not install directly and will give you the old white circle with a slash screen to show its displeasure. However, there is a workaround to get Lion up and running on Lion-incompatible Intel Macs with Lion-compatible Core 2 Duo processor upgrades. Here's a detailed explanation of how to do it I wrote last August to explain how I did it to some clients who wanted me to upgrade their iMac and their Mac Mini from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo. Here's the process. Keep in mind this was written in the very first days of Lion, so you may already have a USB Lion thumb driver installer, and thus can skip to Step 8: 1. Using a Lion-compatible Core 2 Duo or better Mac running OS X 10.6.8 that’s received all its latest Apple updates, click on the App Store icon in the Dock and buy OS X 10.7 (Build 11A511). When the almost 4 GB download is complete, it will appear in the Applications folder as Install Mac OS X Lion. 2. Right click on this installer icon, then select Show Package Contents, go to SharedSupport and find InstallESD.dmg. That’s the OS X 10.7 Lion installer. 3. Hold down the Option key, click on InstallESD.dmg and drag a copy of the installer to the desktop. (NOTE: If you upgrade your 10.6.8 Mac to Lion before doing steps 2. and 3., the Install Mac OS X Lion folder will disappear from Applications and you’ll have to re-download the Lion installer from the App Store. Pulling a copy of InstallESD.dmg to the desktop avoids this problem; you can delete it or move it to a backup drive to save space later.) 4. Open Disk Utility, then click on InstallESD.dmg and drag it to the left pane. 5. To burn a DVD, insert a DVD into the optical drive, select InstallESD.dmg, select Burn under Images in the menu bar, and burn the DVD. You will not use the DVD to upgrade your original Core Duo Mac to Lion, but you might as well make one now. 6. To make a bootable USB thumb drive, you will need one at least 8 GB in size. Insert it into a USB port, then select it in the left pane in Disk Utility. Click on the Partition tab, choose 1 Partition, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled), name the drive Lion USB Installer or whatever you want, click on the Options button and select GUID as the partition type. Then tap on Apply and Disk Utility will erase and format your thumb drive so it will be bootable by any original Core 2 Duo or better Intel Mac. 7. Now you’re ready to install the OS X 10.7 InstallESD.dmg image on your USB thumb drive. Click Restore in the right pane of Disk Utility, then choose InstallESD.dmg as the Source by clicking on it in the left pane. Click on the USB thumb drive in the left pane and drag it to the Destination window in the right pane. Tap on Apply and Disk Utility will create an OS X 10.7 bootable installer on your USB thumb drive. 8. Obtain an external hard drive, preferably one with a USB 2.0 interface. Connect it to a known OS X 10.7-compatible Intel Core 2 Duo or better/newer Mac. Use Disk Utility to partition the drive in GUID, and name it whatever you wish. See 12. below for a suggestion about setting up a backup partition at this time. 9. Insert the USB Lion thumb drive into a port on your Lion-compatible Mac and use the InstallESD.dmg file to install OS X 10.7 Lion on the external USB 2.0 drive. The USB thumb drive will show up on the desktop as Mac OS X Install ESD; you do not have to boot from the thumb drive although it is bootable. Simply click on the white icon to launch the Lion installer, which needs a native Lion-compatible host Mac to run the installer. 10. When Lion has been installed, test it by booting from the USB external drive (hold down the Option key during restart and select the external drive). Once you have set any custom preferences in the external Lion install, such as mouse right-click and scrolling functions, download and install Carbon Copy Cloner (free) or Super Duper (fee). You will need this utility to clone your external USB drive’s Lion to the upgraded Core Duo Mac with a "new" Core 2 Duo processor. 11. Once you’re happy with the way Lion is set up on the external drive, make it bootable by your upgraded Core Duo Mac by going to System>Library>CoreServices>PlatformSupport.plist. Click on PlatformSupport.plist, drag it to the trash and delete. This is a critical step that insures your external USB hard drive’s installation of Lion will not look for a Model Identifier of an OS X 10.7 “compatible” Mac and thus will boot your upgraded Core Duo “incompatible” Mac. 12. Now it’s time to install Lion on your Core 2 Duo-upgraded Core Duo Mac. Connect the Lion external USB hard drive to your upgraded Mac and turn it on. Turn on your Mac and let it boot. 13. NOTE: If you haven’t already backed up your Mac’s files, now is the time to do so. If you wish, you can create/add a second Lion Target Backup partition on your USB external hard drive now using Disk Utility, or earlier when you’re initially partitioning the hard drive in 8. above. If you have Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper installed on your OS X 10.6.8 upgraded Core Duo Mac with all Apple updates installed, now is a perfect time to clone the hard drive to the external drive so you can use Lion’s Migration Assistant to import all your data and network settings, etc. later. 14. Go to System Preferences>Startup Disk and select your external Lion hard drive as the startup drive, then restart. (Your upgraded Mac will not “see” the Lion external drive if you try to select it while holding down the Option key on startup.) 15. It will take a while, but in a few minutes you will see the Andromeda galaxy desktop wallpaper, which means your upgraded Core Duo Mac is now running OS X 10.7. Use Disk Utility to erase or repartition your Mac’s built-in hard drive (you have backed up, right?). 16. Use Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the Lion volume of your external hard drive to the internal hard drive. 17. Once cloning has completed, go to System Preferences>Startup Disk and select your Mac’s internal hard drive as the startup drive, then restart. 18. Your upgraded Core Duo Mac is now running OS X 10.7 Lion, with everything working. Run Software Update in System Preferences to make sure you’ve got the latest updates. Then import your data from your backup either manually or using Migration Assistant. Be aware that PPC applications will not work in Lion; only Universal or Intel apps will work. Lion puts a white circle with a diagonal slash in the icon of incompatible apps, by the way.1. Using a Lion-compatible Core 2 Duo or better Mac running OS X 10.6.8 that’s received all its latest Apple updates, click on the App Store icon in the Dock and buy OS X 10.7 (Build 11A511). When the almost 4 GB download is complete, it will appear in the Applications folder as Install Mac OS X Lion. 2. Right click on this installer icon, then select Show Package Contents, go to SharedSupport and find InstallESD.dmg. That’s the OS X 10.7 Lion installer. 3. Hold down the Option key, click on InstallESD.dmg and drag a copy of the installer to the desktop. (NOTE: If you upgrade your 10.6.8 Mac to Lion before doing steps 2. and 3., the Install Mac OS X Lion folder will disappear from Applications and you’ll have to re-download the Lion installer from the App Store. Pulling a copy of InstallESD.dmg to the desktop avoids this problem; you can delete it or move it to a backup drive to save space later.) 4. Open Disk Utility, then click on InstallESD.dmg and drag it to the left pane. 5. To burn a DVD, insert a DVD into the optical drive, select InstallESD.dmg, select Burn under Images in the menu bar, and burn the DVD. You will not use the DVD to upgrade your original Core Duo Mac to Lion, but you might as well make one now. 6. To make a bootable USB thumb drive, you will need one at least 8 GB in size. Insert it into a USB port, then select it in the left pane in Disk Utility. Click on the Partition tab, choose 1 Partition, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled), name the drive Lion USB Installer or whatever you want, click on the Options button and select GUID as the partition type. Then tap on Apply and Disk Utility will erase and format your thumb drive so it will be bootable by any original Core 2 Duo or better Intel Mac. 7. Now you’re ready to install the OS X 10.7 InstallESD.dmg image on your USB thumb drive. Click Restore in the right pane of Disk Utility, then choose InstallESD.dmg as the Source by clicking on it in the left pane. Click on the USB thumb drive in the left pane and drag it to the Destination window in the right pane. Tap on Apply and Disk Utility will create an OS X 10.7 bootable installer on your USB thumb drive. 8. Obtain an external hard drive, preferably one with a USB 2.0 interface. Connect it to a known OS X 10.7-compatible Intel Core 2 Duo or better/newer Mac. Use Disk Utility to partition the drive in GUID, and name it whatever you wish. See 12. below for a suggestion about setting up a backup partition at this time. 9. Insert the USB Lion thumb drive into a port on your Lion-compatible Mac and use the InstallESD.dmg file to install OS X 10.7 Lion on the external USB 2.0 drive. The USB thumb drive will show up on the desktop as Mac OS X Install ESD; you do not have to boot from the thumb drive although it is bootable. Simply click on the white icon to launch the Lion installer, which needs a Lion-compatible host Mac to run the installer. 10. When Lion has been installed, test it by booting from the USB external drive (hold down the Option key during restart and select the external drive). Once you have set any custom preferences in the external Lion install, such as mouse right-click and scrolling functions, download and install Carbon Copy Cloner (free) or Super Duper (fee). You will need this utility to clone your external USB drive’s Lion to the upgraded Core Duo Mac. 11. Once you’re happy with the way Lion is set up on the external drive, make it bootable by your upgraded Core Duo Mac by going to System>Library>CoreServices>PlatformSupport.plist. Click on PlatformSupport.plist, drag it to the trash and delete. This is a critical step that insures your external USB hard drive’s installation of Lion will not look for a Model Identifier of an OS X 10.7 “compatible” Mac and thus will boot your upgraded Core Duo “incompatible” Mac. 12. Now it’s time to install Lion on your Core 2 Duo-upgraded Core Duo Mac. Connect the Lion external USB hard drive to your upgraded Mac and turn it on. Turn on your Mac and let it boot. 13. NOTE: If you haven’t already backed up your Mac’s files, now is the time to do so. If you wish, you can create/add a second Lion Target Backup partition on your USB external hard drive now using Disk Utility, or earlier when you’re initially partitioning the hard drive in 8. above. If you have Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper installed on your OS X 10.6.8 upgraded Core Duo Mac with all Apple updates installed, now is a perfect time to clone the hard drive to the external drive so you can use Lion’s Migration Assistant to import all your data and network settings, etc. later. 14. Go to System Preferences>Startup Disk and select your external Lion hard drive as the startup drive, then restart. (Your upgraded Mac will not “see” the Lion external drive if you try to select it while holding down the Option key on startup.) 15. It will take a while, but in a few minutes you will see the Andromeda galaxy desktop wallpaper, which means your upgraded Core Duo Mac is now running OS X 10.7. Use Disk Utility to erase or repartition your Mac’s built-in hard drive (you have backed up, right?). 16. Use Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the Lion volume of your external hard drive to the internal hard drive. 17. Once cloning has completed, go to System Preferences>Startup Disk and select your Mac’s internal hard drive as the startup drive, then restart. 18. Your upgraded Core Duo Mac is now running OS X 10.7 Lion, with everything working. Run Software Update in System Preferences to make sure you’ve got the latest updates. Then import your data from your backup either manually or using Migration Assistant. Be aware that PPC applications will not work in Lion; only Universal or Intel apps will work. Lion puts a white circle with a diagonal slash in the icon of incompatible apps, by the way. 19. CAUTION: Be aware that your upgraded ex-Core Duo Mac running OS X 10.7.x will accept all Apple OS X 10.7 updates, WITH ONE EXCEPTION. Any updates to the OS itself (i.e., from 10.7.0 to 10.7.1) will download and install, but on reboot your upgraded Mac won't boot (white circle with slash). The workaround for this is to boot from your external hard drive, go into the Mac's hard drive (System>Library>CoreServices>PlatformSupport.plist) and delete the PlatformSupport.plist file. You'll have to do this every time the upgraded Mac has a new version of 10.7.x downloaded and installed. 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