GA-Z77X-UP5 TH + HD4000 = More wrong than right! ::headbang::

I decided that I wanted to replace my Recording Studio Golden Build with a new double-whammy Beast: Ivy Bridge build loaded into a G5 case mod!! I've poured over Stork's Thunderbolt Build, as well as Alpha147x's GA-Z77X-UP5 TH Thunderbolt Build. Been trying to get a leg up on any anticipated problems. Components list thus far:

Motherboard: GA-Z77X-UP5 TH (came with UEFI F10; I flashed to latest at the time: F11)
CPU: Intel i7 3770K Ivy Bridge (killer price on this at MicroCenter here in Dallas)
Graphics: On-board HD4000 (because I don't want the extra fan noise or heat inside the G5 case)
Memory: 2@ 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600GHz (the CL9 version because I want to be the fastest kid on the block)
SSD: SanDisk Extreme 240GB (thanks for the tip, Stork - it's smokin' fast!)
PSU: Corsair TX650M PSU

Already owned: Mini-DP 27" Cinema Display, Apple Alum USB keyboard, Apple Mighty Mouse USB

Waiting until this weekend to complete the case mod (in the daylight). In the meantime, @ night I've been putting together the basic internal components in my HoOf. HoOf has LG 23" LED monitor - I was using DVI connection to the mobo because that seemed to be the general consensus for success.

Followed instructions for building the UniBeast key. Followed both Stork's Thunderbolt Build guide for BIOS settings, as well as the article from thelostswede on the same topic. Then, used UniBeast key & followed all the usual instructions to do initial OSX install. Phase 1 install went without a hitch. Rebooted and was able to get to the first-time setup wizard without a hitch, too.

At the first sign of the desktop, I noticed that I had working Ethernet. Logged into tonymacx86.com & downloaded MB 5.2.0. I used Stork's MB settings and rebooted. As I told Stork here (comment #69), this is my 5th build, and it had been (up to then) THE MOST TROUBLE-FREE build I've done to-date! SMOKIN' fast boot time! Here's a shot of me posting in Stork's T'bolt thread on how easy this build was - from the new trouble-free build itself:


...until I rebooted a 2nd time (after the MB-completion reboot):


Soooo.... I tried Alpha147x's instructions here, with zero success. I tried dta's EFI-injection method listed here with zero succes. So then I tried the Chimera method. LIMITED success! I say "limited" because I can boot successfully into the desktop now without all the garbled screen crap. BUT, I'm stuck with the resolution I set in my org.Chameleon.Boot.plist. If I try to use the System Preferences to set a lower resolution, I'm back to the crap on the screen...and there's virtually NO WAY to get it set back to the initial settings. I guess I'll have to live with that.

Now, I'm feeling good that I've got my Beast up & running. All is right with the world....until....

Thunderbolt: FAIL!

No matter what Thunderbolt device I connect (system powered off when I connect - I'm not trying to hot-swap), it locks up my system 3-5 seconds after the desktop renders. I've tried the following devices in both Thunderbolt ports - all yielding the same system freeze:

1. Apple Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter (tried it with onboard LAN both enabled & disabled in the BIOS).
2. Apple Thunderbolt to FW800 adapter (tried it with onboard FW both enabled & disabled in the BIOS).
3. Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5TB USB3.0 - but without the USB3.0 interface, and WITH Seagate GoFlext Thunderbolt Adapter

The only other GOOD news in this story:

I wanted this board to use my mini-DP gen 27" Cinema Display out of the T'bolt ports so I don't have to have a discrete GPU. I took all the pieces/parts upstairs to the recording studio & connected my Cinema Display to the MDP1, booted up, and MAGIC! Video first try! Too good to be true after all those other Thunderbolt failures. I shut down, connected to MDP2, booted up, and VIDEO! So, I'm ASSUMING that this means my Thunderbolt ports DO work...but clearly for me, only for video. I cannot get anything non-video to work.

Have I put everyone to sleep? If not, and if anyone has any ideas on what I can try, I'm all ears! I know there are many of you who have this same board & are reporting that your Thunderbolt is working with TB devices. I'd love to know if there was anything extra you needed to do in the UEFI to get TB to work.

Not sure about the Thunderbolt issue- mine works fine on that exact board- but needs to be plugged in at boot time. The garbled graphics on boot can be solved by specifying Graphics Mode in your org.chameleon.Boot.plist:

Do not use the EFI string method- it's not right- use Chimera's Graphics Enabler and MultiBeast's 1080p Display mode. If you don't have 1920x1080, edit your Boot.plist afterward.

tonymacx86 said:

Not sure about the Thunderbolt issue- mine works fine on that exact board- but needs to be plugged in at boot time. The garbled graphics on boot can be solved by specifying Graphics Mode in your org.chameleon.Boot.plist:

Do not use the EFI string method- it's not right- use Chimera's Graphics Enabler and MultiBeast's 1080p Display mode. If you don't have 1920x1080, edit your Boot.plist afterward.

Click to expand...

Thanks, chief tonymacx86!!! I know that was a painfully long read, but I wanted to give as much detail re: my parts list, TB devices, and troubleshooting steps as I could.

The EFI string was definitely a no-go...a couple of the string options ALMOST worked, except that I had no mouse cursor. BLECH... So I am currently having success with the Chimera's Graphics Enabler. But of course, because I'm using a Cinema Display with a max resolution of 2560-by-1440, my org.Chameleon.Boot.plist reads as follows:


So if I understand you correctly, I should: 1. re-run MultiBeast & add the 1080p Display Mode option, then edit my Boot.plist after that install to make sure it reads 2560x1440x32 ...??

To be honest, the graphics are working now (albeit I can never change to a lower resolution using the System Prefs in the unlikely event I need to). My more troubling/urgent concern is why my Thunderbolt is not working. (...and just to confirm, I connected each & every one while the power was off - from the PSU's on/off switch to be exact).

As I'm reading Alpha's thread (I'm up to page 76), seems a LOT of people are having good success with F9 bios. Mine came with F10 & before I did anything, I updated to F11. Now there's an F12e Beta BIOS - Do I dare try either of these options?? or :

SUCCESS!!!

I've been studying all the GA-Z77X-UP5 TH success stories with all you guys who didn't have a lick of problems with the Thunderbolt ports. I discovered an interesting thing: Most everyone in an Aug/Sept timeframe was on F9 BIOS. Apparently starting with UEFI BIOS F11 (maybe it was F10 but I can't be sure), there's a new Peripherals option: Thunderbolt - Behold:


When you drill down into that new menu, any of you spot the setting which might be the root cause of my problems??


I hit me this morning: Maybe...just maybe, the reason I'm having problems with my system locking up within 2-3 seconds of the rendering of the desktop is because all of my connected TB devices are spinning up or activating (for the TB>Ethernet) upon completion of the system boot-up!! Even though I was plugging them in when the system was powered off, they were not coming "on" until the system was completely booted up.

I remember reading that we don't have hot-swap capabilities via TB YET (for non-miniDP TB devices, BTW - I can hot-swap my miniDP Cinema Display all day & it works fine). Long story short: Turn off "Wake from Thunderbolt" in the BIOS as part of your UEFI/BIOS settings process. My settings for this menu option now look like this:


Check me out now:

By the way, now when I plug in my Seagate GoFlex TB drive, or my OWC/MacAlly FW800 enclosure using the Apple FW800>TB adapter, they power up upon connection to the TB ports, even though the system is powered down (but PSU is still on). I'm guessing sort of like the new feature of being able to charge USB devices when the system is powered down...??!!

I was ALMOST going to [[shudder]] try installing Windoze as a process of elimination to see if I had a bad TB controller on my MB. Thankfully I can now stay happy in Mac land! WOOT!

Let the G5 case mode begin!!!

Look forward to your build write-up in the users section BoomR!!! I too am going to be giving my previous build to a friend and making a new machine... trying to decide between a thunderbolt build or a hexa-core build (I do mostly video / film stuff...).

Hmmm. I'm currently using a mini-DP->DVI adapter to a 24" 1920x1200 screen in MDP1, and have a 23" 1920x1080 connected to the DVI-D port.
MDP2 currently feeds a Thunderbolt->FW800 adapter.

It all Just Works. With only one Thunderbolt device I haven't bothered tweaking the I/O+RAM configuration in the BIOS. I may have turned off the Wake from Thunderbolt without thinking about it. Nice catch.

So u can add another Thunderbolt Display? I mean dual screens via Thunderbolt Port? Coz I m also on same problem . The bottom port is working fine, but the above has some issues like u said earlier the screen looks garbled .
I want to connect two TB Displays using the onboard ports. However the Internal Graphics is set to 64MB and I Don't think It will handle the display @ 2560X1440 and that also dual.Or should I set the Internal graphic ram to 256/512 or 1Gig ??
Please do reply.

The HD4000 RAM is set to 64 MB in the BIOS, but that's just enough for the OS to bootstrap. Depending on the amount of RAM in your machine you'll probably find (if you look in System Information) that the video RAM has been extended up to 512 MB by OS X. This is expected behaviour.
FWIW, a 32-bit 2560x1440 framebuffer takes up <16 MB. That extra memory is used for off-screen rendering.


I think you should be able to run two Thunderbolt or miniDP displays, but be aware of the note in Gigabyte's documentation that if you have a display connected to the motherboard's DVI port then you can't run a display off the MDP2 port. Theoretically 2x mDP + 1x HDMI might work.

BoomR,

Great to learn about your success. I have the same mobo, i7-3770, no graphics card and have been struggling for a while trying to get HD 4000 to work. Have tried all the guides (Alpha, Stork) but no luck. Also have the settings tonymacx86 mentioned in his post here.
Can you pin point exactly which step led to getting HD 4000 enabled. The other challenge I have is only VGA seems to work.
I would be grateful for any pointers.

abhijitpat said:

BoomR,

Great to learn about your success. I have the same mobo, i7-3770, no graphics card and have been struggling for a while trying to get HD 4000 to work. Have tried all the guides (Alpha, Stork) but no luck. Also have the settings tonymacx86 mentioned in his post here.
Can you pin point exactly which step led to getting HD 4000 enabled. The other challenge I have is only VGA seems to work.
I would be grateful for any pointers.

Click to expand...

To be honest, the only real problem I was having with the video was that "scrambled video" issue that so many other folks have/had. This was solved very early on by adding the display resolution option - initially I did it manually following alfa's post, then by doing it through MultiBeast per Tonymacx86's suggestion. For the majority of the time during the initial build process, I was connected to an LG 23" LED display via DVI. I also tried & was successful using the HDMI port > HDMI on the LG monitor, too. Of course, as I mentioned, I also took a quick test-drive using my mini-DP Cinema Display in my recording studio & that works like a charm connected via either port. Ultimately, the CD is what is going to be used going forward, so important that this was working flawlessly (which it is).

Can you be more specific about what's happening with your video issues? Are you getting the scrambled video after reboot? Or are you not getting ANY video of any kind? If you're only getting VGA to work, then you're quite the exception to the rule. Most guys here try VGA only to discover that they need to be using DVI or HDMI to get things to work.