High Sierra Installation on X58 Hardware Questions

[theprovost]

I currently have El Capitan running on my X58 motherboard (see sig for details). My next step is to download High Sierra and install it on my HD. Before I do I have some pre-installation questions.

1. Currently my system is MacPro3,1. I believe High Sierra needs 5,1 to download, but 6,1 to avoid the firmware update issue. Should I set my SMBIOS as 5,1 or 6,1 to begin the installation? Will selecting this with Clover Configurator install the needed ECC RAM kext automatically or do I need to do that manually? Does this need to be added to the kext folder on the boot key?

2. Speaking of the boot key, what kext should I have in the 10.13 folder? Currently I only have verde.kext because the Radeon 7770 requires it. Does anyone know about the Lilu and Whatevergreen kexts?

3. Before I begin, is there anything else I should know? I see Going Bald has a nice guide, I was going to try and follow that: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/success-x58a-ud7-high-sierra.226342/

 

[Going Bald]

You can avoid the ECC RAM check with a flag set in Clover config.plist. Mac Pro 5,1 is the most appropriate system definition for the X58 hardware - Mac Pro 2010-2012

 

[theprovost]

But I have to set it to 6,1 initially to avoid the firmware update right? You said you had to do that in your thread (unless something has changed since the GM that is).

 

[Going Bald]

But I have to set it to 6,1 initially to avoid the firmware update right? You said you had to do that in your thread (unless something has changed since the GM that is).

Not if you add the entry in Clover config.plist:

<dict>
<key>Comment</key>
<string>Patch AppleTyMCEDriver to use MacPro5,1 name</string>
<key>Disabled</key>
<false/>
<key>Find</key>
<data>cgoATWFjUHJvNCwxAE1hY1BybzUsMQBY</data>
<key>Name</key>
<string>AppleTyMCEDriver</string>
<key>Replace</key>
<data>cgoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABY</data>
</dict>

under kernels and kexts to patch section of the config.plist

 

[P1LGRIM]

Not if you add the entry in Clover config.plist:

<dict>
<key>Comment</key>
<string>Patch AppleTyMCEDriver to use MacPro5,1 name</string>
<key>Disabled</key>
<false/>
<key>Find</key>
<data>cgoATWFjUHJvNCwxAE1hY1BybzUsMQBY</data>
<key>Name</key>
<string>AppleTyMCEDriver</string>
<key>Replace</key>
<data>cgoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABY</data>
</dict>

under kernels and kexts to patch section of the config.plist

I did see some reports that the ECC patch isn't working in High Sierra.
If you add -nehalem_error_disable to your boot arguments it will achieve the same aim.

 

[theprovost]

Thanks I'll add that. I'm seeing issues getting the Radeon 7xxx cards working with High Sierra now so I added the Lilu and Whatevergreen kexts to my plist and kext folders. Currently my boot arguments are:

-nehalem_error_disable -lilubetaall radpg=15

I'm going to give this a whirl and see what happens. At least I know I can always reinstall El Capitan if things go wrong. Hopefully the installer would blow up first before installing something I can't boot into.

 

[theprovost]

It didn't work. The installer never ever loaded. I got the following message three times in a row and then it eventually returned to the clover boot loader.

APFSStart: 1384 Mounting with apfs_efi_osx-748.146
efi-container-create 1007
efi-container-create status = 8000000000000007

I may have missed something, but that was the bulk of it. I assume this has something to do with the new APFS file system, but I'm using a regular hard drive not a SDD so it should have stayed with HFS+.

After some further reading I guess this is normal and not harmful, so the real issue is that my boot key isn't getting to the installer for some reason.

 

[P1LGRIM]

It didn't work. The installer never ever loaded. I got the following message three times in a row and then it eventually returned to the clover boot loader.

APFSStart: 1384 Mounting with apfs_efi_osx-748.146
efi-container-create 1007
efi-container-create status = 8000000000000007

I may have missed something, but that was the bulk of it. I assume this has something to do with the new APFS file system, but I'm using a regular hard drive not a SDD so it should have stayed with HFS+.

After some further reading I guess this is normal and not harmful, so the real issue is that my boot key isn't getting to the installer for some reason.

If you are not using APFS just remove apfs.efi from /EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI if Clover is UEFI.
Remove apfs.efi from /EFI/CLOVER/drivers64 if Clover is Legacy.

 

[theprovost]

Ok I thought so. I'll d that.

I was able to get the installer to boot and it seemed to be going ok, but after the status bar got to the middle the screen flashed white for a second and I was left at a black screen with nothing happening. I waited for 5-10 minutes, but I think it's hung. I did turn on the verbose feature but that stops after the screen turns black so I can't see what its hung on (the last thing it said is DSMOS has arrived).

 

[P1LGRIM]

I was able to get the installer to boot and it seemed to be going ok, but after the status bar got to the middle the screen flashed white for a second and I was left at a black screen with nothing happening.

How is it connected the monitor ?

I waited for 5-10 minutes, but I think it's hung. I did turn on the verbose feature but that stops after the screen turns black so I can't see what its hung on (the last thing it said is DSMOS has arrived).

Try turning caps lock on and off - If it really is hung the light won't go on or off.
Watch your disk light for signs of activity.