[Guide] Dell XPS 13 9360 on MacOS Sierra 10.12.x - LTS (Long-Term Support) Guide

[R.MnTnA]

My QHD Dell 9360 is set to 96mb 0x3. It seems to work just as far as the video driver/screen is concerned.

Thanks @idotel.

 

[pspracers]

I have managed to get Thunderbolt working on my 9360 (i7 / 16gb / QHD / 512gb).

Hi iannn,

Are there some special steps you had to do with your specific model? Mine(i7, 16gb, 512gb, qhd) will arrive tomorrow.

 

[bozma88]

In the meantime I still haven't figured out why Clover or OSX freeze if I plug or unplug the charger. Doesn't happen in Windows, so I'm thinking it's either a kext or an efi plugin in Clover.

If anyone has any ideas/suggestions on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Start from scratch, boot only with the basic EFI-INSTALL assets that I provide.
Does it still freeze?

 

[bozma88]

Thanks so much for this guide, it's really excellent work.

I have managed to get Thunderbolt working on my 9360 (i7 / 16gb / QHD / 512gb).

The steps I took were:

1. Update to firmware 1.3.2
2. Update Thunderbolt controller firmware (http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...-13-9360-laptop&languageCode=en&categoryId=CS)
   
3. Select Thunderbolt security level 0 in BIOS

You will not be able to hot swap, but it's working well for me with external storage devices.

One problem I have is that it cannot seem to communicate with video devices (Blackmagic Mini Monitor and Mini Recorder tested and working in Windows) - not sure what that's about, but I hope to get to the bottom of it.

Please let us know:
1- why did you update tb firmware? Was it not working before fw update?
2- did you use my ssdt-tb or did you take other steps to make it work? In the latter case, please describe them.

 

[R.MnTnA]

Opened a thread about this topic in Laptop Support, but wondering if anyone here has successfully been able to get any other USB-C to HDMI cables or adapters to output Audio & video to a TV without having to spend $70 on a Dell adapter? I've tried 2 HDMI only adapters and only get video. My ioreg and other files are attached in this thread.-
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/xps-9360-usb-c-to-hdmi-audio-still-not-working.216140/

 

[RehabMan]

Can CodecCommander run had-verb routinely every 30 second instead of after wake and boot?

Too inefficient. You could do it if you want with a simple bash daemon...

 

[einz]

Please let us know:
1- why did you update tb firmware? Was it not working before fw update?
2- did you use my ssdt-tb or did you take other steps to make it work? In the latter case, please describe them.

hey bozma88, thanks again for all the hard work here. I've got an i5, SATA SSD, FHD setup working using the guide and adding the chipset kext into the install files and everything's working great including power management. I'm not super technical, but happy to offer up some observations to the extent it's helpful. I have a Dell TB15 thunderbolt dock to test thunderbolt support - system report doesn't display any thunderbolt devices, and hot plugging just freezes the laptop. Plugging it in and then booting results in successful charging, displayport out (although it doesn't detect the right resolution on my Dell U3415W monitor), and as expected USB/ethernet don't work.

 

[jkbuha]

Start from scratch, boot only with the basic EFI-INSTALL assets that I provide.
Does it still freeze?

Good point. So I tried the following:

- EFI-INSTALL on installed SIERRA partition - freeze when plug/unplug charger
- EFI-INSTALL on boot USB - freeze when plug/unplug charger

This has now excluded both CLOVER and SIERRA/USB as the issue. I'm now thinking it may be one of the BIOS IFR variables I may have inadvertently changed. I tried reflashing/resetting the BIOS parameters but still the same result.

I'm now thinking about how to reset NVRAM by clearing all variables during the flashing process. Does anyone know how to manually invoke the InsydeH2O BIOS flashing via the command line with a parameter to clear all the variables (or point me to a link?)

 

[R.MnTnA]

Anyone else having freezing problems when connecting or disconnecting the power plug? I get frozen screen every time.

 

[bozma88]

Can CodecCommander run had-verb routinely every 30 second instead of after wake and boot?

Why?

Opened a thread about this topic in Laptop Support, but wondering if anyone here has successfully been able to get any other USB-C to HDMI cables or adapters to output Audio & video to a TV without having to spend $70 on a Dell adapter? I've tried 2 HDMI only adapters and only get video. My ioreg and other files are attached in this thread.-
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/xps-9360-usb-c-to-hdmi-audio-still-not-working.216140/

My understanding is that hdmi adapters are displayport adapters with integrated active signal/protocol conversion.
I think that audio is managed with an external usb audio device and then injected into the video signal.
Maybe cheap adapters lack the audio device.
We should check how audio is reported with the official dell adapter.

Anyone else having freezing problems when connecting or disconnecting the power plug? I get frozen screen every time.

Neven heard of it. Very strange.
On this laptop I think that nvram is cleared with a bios settings restore to defaults. Bios upgrade does not reset anything (even hidden vars like DVMT are retained after upgrade, but wiped after a defaults reset).
Try another charger, maybe a usb-c one (read carefully about safety and compatibility in first post).
Are your bios settings *exactly* like mine?