ASUS ROG GL551JK fully working on Mavericks

ASUS ROG GL551JK fully working on Mavericks / El Capitan

EDIT: Updated laptop to 10.11 El Capitan with all the same drivers and it works.
Testing now, first boot after install... but all that worked before seems working now.
Brief notes - attempted update from running install of 10.9.5 but it wouldn't boot to the "Install OS" option.
Steps were basically to first update to the latest Clover, then the RtVariables for SIP 0x3 mode, and I copied all my custom kexts to the EFI partition in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/10.11/ before attempting the in-place upgrade. When that didn't work, I used the Unibeast 6.0 USB drive method, booted to that with same Cover options manually entered.
More testing now...
Played some Hotline Miami - graphics and sound are all good.
Seems that the LCD brightness control is gone. Full brightness all the time, even on battery.
Sleep and wake worked. I tested by using Apple menu option to put it to sleep, then waited for it to go to sleep (still takes a long time to sleep) then closed the lid. Woke it by opening the lid to test that part.
Pretty good so far but for the brightness hurting my eyes at 12:26 AM.
Multi-touch trackpad still working also.

This is a placeholder (sort-of) post, and later with more time I should have a decent how-to guide written.

Currently typing this on 10.9.0 using the amazing ASUS ROG GL551JK gaming laptop. Everything works with the single exception of keyboard backlights at the moment. One incompatible thing was the wifi/bluetooth card of course. I bought an Atheros 9280 PCIe half-mini card from Amazon for $17 and it worked with no modifications to anything. Lost bluetooth as a result of that but don't need it anyway.
EDIT: forgot to mention the SD Card Reader doesn't work - haven't found any working driver for that.

Laptop has Core i7 4710HQ 2.5GHz CPU with Intel HD 4600 graphics, 12GB DDR3 1600 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M 2GB (only for Windows gaming - Optimus graphics)

I used the latest as of January 2015 Unibeast to make the USB installer, then latest Clover for the UEFI boot loader on the internal drive after installation. Patched mach_kernel is necessary, see the RehabMan post about locked MSR's etc:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks...-locked-msrs-hp-envy-15-j063cl-i7-4700mq.html
From that guide I used the 2 patches for the 10.9.X kernel.

Will update this later after I do the latest Mavericks combo updates or make a new post with a how-to guide as I mentioned earlier - this is like a placeholder to help potential buyers I guess.

As for the latest OS, Yosemite, I have not attempted and I don't plan to, because it looks like a bunch of stupid "flat UI" garbage to me and I see no real benefits to the "upgrade" to Yosemite.


Here's a paste of my original hardware / device ID's notepad:

PS/2 Touchpad, ASUS ETD0108
Compatible ID's: SYN0A00, SYN0002, PNP0F03/0F13/0F12

Keyboard Device, ATK3001
Compatible ID: PNP030B

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M, 10DE:1391

Intel HD Graphics 4600, 8086:0416

Atheros AR9485WB-EG, 168C:0032

Realtek RTL8168B/8111 Ethernet, 10EC:8168

Realtek PCIe Card Reader, 10EC:5287

Intel 8 Series SATA AHCI Controller, 8086:8C03

HID compliant wireless radio controls (?), ATK4002

Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0, USB VID 13D3 PID 3402

Intel USB 3.0 XHCI, 8086:8C31

Intel 8 / C220 Series USB EHCI, 8086:8C26

High Def Audio Controller, 8086:8C20

Realtek High Def Audio, 10EC:0668

Here's a list of Extensions added or modified for the final install:

ACPIBacklight.kext v2.0.3
ACPIBatteryManager.kext v1.53 from RehabMan
AppleHDADisabler.kext v1.01 <--- goes along with VoodooHDA v.2.8.7 for audio to work
ApplePS2ElanTouchpad.kext v3.8 from Emily Dinesh
AsusNBFnKeys.kext v2.3 from Emily Dinesh
ElliottForceLegacyRTC.kext v1.0.0d1 (not sure if necessary)
EvOreboot.kext v1.03 (not sure if necessary)
FakeSMC.kext v6.8.1307
NullCPUPowerManagement.kext v1.0.0d2 (probably not needed now, CPU is clocking up/down on its own even with this installed somehow - DSDT / SSDT edits were done and installed with Clover etc)
RealtekRTL8111.kext v1.2.2 (probably not needed, System Info shows the one inside IONetworkingFamily is loaded instead)
VoodooHDA.kext v2.8.7
VoodooTSCSync.kext (no version listed, dated 3/4/2012)

As noted, not all of these extensions are probably needed and some should probably even be removed. But this is what's in my Extensions folder at the moment, with nothing installed to Clover's extension folders etc.

The trackpad driver was one of the hardest to track down. I tried at least 5 or 6 different drivers before finding one that would work. Even version 4.0 of the same Elan driver doesn't work right. Version 3.8 was the sweet spot - all gestures working and everything.

Along with these extensions there were DSDT edits to enable graphics acceleration on the HD 4600 and smooth things out. Basically I followed the guides here for the DSDT:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-laptop-support/153390-guide-lenovo-y50.html

The Lenovo y50 shares many of the core parts with this ASUS ROG GL551. The audio and trackpad drivers are different though - could not find any certain solution to use patched AppleHDA for audio for the ALC668, so I tried a few versions of VoodooHDA and it finally worked with the HDA Disabler kext, even though I don't seem to have an AppleHDA kext installed.

JimmyDerp said:

Here's a list of Extensions added or modified for the final install:

ACPIBacklight.kext v2.0.3
ACPIBatteryManager.kext v1.53 from RehabMan
AppleHDADisabler.kext v1.01 <--- goes along with VoodooHDA v.2.8.7 for audio to work
ApplePS2ElanTouchpad.kext v3.8 from Emily Dinesh
AsusNBFnKeys.kext v2.3 from Emily Dinesh
ElliottForceLegacyRTC.kext v1.0.0d1 (not sure if necessary)
EvOreboot.kext v1.03 (not sure if necessary)
FakeSMC.kext v6.8.1307
NullCPUPowerManagement.kext v1.0.0d2 (probably not needed now, CPU is clocking up/down on its own even with this installed somehow - DSDT / SSDT edits were done and installed with Clover etc)
RealtekRTL8111.kext v1.2.2 (probably not needed, System Info shows the one inside IONetworkingFamily is loaded instead)
VoodooHDA.kext v2.8.7
VoodooTSCSync.kext (no version listed, dated 3/4/2012)

As noted, not all of these extensions are probably needed and some should probably even be removed. But this is what's in my Extensions folder at the moment, with nothing installed to Clover's extension folders etc.

Click to expand...

For a correctly installed system, remove:
ElliottForceLegacyRTC.kext v1.0.0d1
EvOreboot.kext v1.03
NullCPUPowerManagement.kext v1.0.0d2
VoodooTSCSync.kext

Along with these extensions there were DSDT edits to enable graphics acceleration on the HD 4600 and smooth things out. Basically I followed the guides here for the DSDT:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-laptop-support/153390-guide-lenovo-y50.html

Click to expand...

http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...tel-hd4200-hd4400-hd4600-mobile-yosemite.html

Thanks for all your great work in general RehabMan.

I will do these adjustments and update my install later, then post a more readable and complete guide. ATM I'm goofing off at work posting this stuff, and I need my laptop for remote server administration etc.

JimmyDerp said:

Thanks for all your great work in general RehabMan.

I will do these adjustments and update my install later, then post a more readable and complete guide. ATM I'm goofing off at work posting this stuff, and I need my laptop for remote server administration etc.

Click to expand...

Don't worry... you'll find more things broken as you continue to test.

After a week I finally got around to doing the 10.9.5 Combo update.
It broke the graphics drivers that had been patched using the Clover config method from the post I linked to about the Lenovo Y50.
I was able to boot up in safe mode with no sound or GPU acceleration to fix things. Unfortunately I couldn't mount my EFI partition to get at the Clover config file from Safe Mode - couldn't mount any FAT32 or ExFAT partitions.
So I used Ubuntu on a USB stick and got to my config file.

But the first thing to do after the Combo update is to immediately re-patch mach_kernel as mentioned in Post #1 here.

The fix for the graphics turned out to be the FakePCIID kexts that you can find on the post above by RehabMan, along with the edits to the Clover config.plist. I deleted the code from my Clover config for patching the Intel graphics that is from the Lenovo Y50 guide - I suspect the FakePCIID.kext method is the way to go for all versions.
Basically you install the 2 kexts on that link for FakePCIID and Intel HD 4600 graphics, then set the Clover config to inject the desktop version of the HD 4600 with FakePCIID.kext. This is the fix that is posted for Yosemite, but works on Mavericks.5

So at the moment it appears I'm back to everything working again except for keyboard backlighting and SD card reader.
Meanwhile I still reboot to suffer the ugly Windows 8 user interface to play my Steam games....

Hi, and thank you for your post. I just bought the same laptop but not exactly the same configuration, mine is ASUS G551JM-CN102H with Intel Core i7-4710HQ 8 Go 1 To 15.6" NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M DVD Burner Wi-Fi N/Bluetooth Webcam Windows 8.1 64 bits.

I'm glad to see that somebody succeed in Mavericks installation on this ROG, i'm trying to install Yosemite and like all beginners, I encounter difficulties. I continue the installation but if I have issues regarding this could I ask you?

I'm following your post and this one from RehabMan (thanks for him) : http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...oting-os-x-installer-laptops-clover-uefi.html but if you plan to do a detailed post I will be very grateful.

I come back to this post to talk about advancements in my project: Yosemite Clover installation on my ASUS UEFI-G551JM CN102H.
I followed scrupulously the thread http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...oting-os-x-installer-laptops-clover-uefi.html as well as http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-laptop-support/145427-fix-intel-hd4200-hd4400-hd4600-mobile-yosemite.html to properly operate the display and it works : I have a fresh and functional Yosemite installation. All seems to be good, my Intel HD 4600 QE/CI is working well.

Then I used the guide: http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-laptop-support/152573-guide-patching-laptop-dsdt-ssdts.html to extract my SSDT DSDT with Ubuntu, and set aside files that concerned the CPU. I tried to clean my files for patching/compiling using MaciASL and save them as ACPI Machine language binary to my EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched directory (I also disabled the Geforce GTX 860 via DSDT). I checked "drop oem" in my clover configurator and put my DSDT.aml into the slot where it asks for the DSDT name.

After reboot i have a bug : my graphic card is only 7 MB of VRAM (normally 1536 MB). I found lot of people having the same trouble but nothing look to work. Can somebody help me?

i guess the G551 is very alike to mine (N551) just yours is black while mine is silver?
if you run bios v 204 try the attached acpi files on the clover's acpi/patched folder and also check you have these patches enabled on config.plist


and this


this is what mine show (sorry for nationalization)
View attachment specs.tiff

Thanks shutt1e for your response, i think theses too laptops are near the same configuration yes, here's my informations:
Bios version 204
GOP Version 5.0.1036
EC Version F02S090001



I'll check my config.plist to see if i got the same as yours and do modifications if necessary then reboot to test. If it don't work again, maybe trying your acpi files.

I'm not at home so i'll do this later.