How to build your own iMac Pro [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[izo1]

Awesome work. Thank you for helping me accomplish my x299e-ITX build.
RX Vega 56/64 use a lot of power and create very high heat in ITX case.
Do you recommend RX570 for less power consumption and lower noise level?
Thanks.

I would advise you to not use SMBIOS iMac Pro 1,1 without a Vega (Or NVIDIA, if you really really really want to, which has some issues).

For Mini-ITX you can give the Vega 56 Nano a try. It is a clocked down version and should dissipate less heat.

https://www.powercolor.com/product?id=1527477130

The overall point of this guide by @kgp is to stay as close as possible to an iMac Pro so you have less issues.

 

[highnrg]

hay there wanted to try and get some help from you well from any one i have
all most the same hardware gigabyte x299 designare ex,
did go and read all your very detailed guide and thanks for it just so you know very nice work,
any how I’m just beginning to work on the install all i got to is making the USB installer,
but every time I’m trying to boot the installer it's stuck at :

Waiting on <dict ID="0"><key>IOProviderClass</key><string ID="1">IOResources</string><key>IOResourceMatch</key><string ID="2">boot-uuid-media</string></dict>

and i have no idea why is that if anyone can help me that will be just grate thanks,
HIGHNRG

 

[garbage914]

Hi all, I got my new case (Fractal Design Define S) and moved my motherboard to it from my old case. I'm not getting to the BIOS screen - nothing shows up on my monitor. On my Asus x299 Prime Deluxe Mother board code, I keep getting Code: A2 Post Error, which has to do with boot drivers. I tried re-flashing the BIOS but no help. I think that the BIOS isn't recognizing my UEFI GTX 1080 Ti. I tried putting in my old (non-UEFI) Nvidia Quadro 4000 card and the error message then says "Code B2: VGA BIOS." I tried booting with and without hard drives connected but it makes no difference. I spent a long time with Asus but couldn't figure it out - they just want me to put it back into my old case

Any ideas?

 

[kgp]

Hi all, I got my new case (Fractal Design Define S) and moved my motherboard to it from my old case. I'm not getting to the BIOS screen - nothing shows up on my monitor. On my Asus x299 Prime Deluxe Mother board code, I keep getting Code: A2 Post Error, which has to do with boot drivers. I tried re-flashing the BIOS but no help. I think that the BIOS isn't recognizing my UEFI GTX 1080 Ti. I tried putting in my old (non-UEFI) Nvidia Quadro 4000 card and the error message then says "Code B2: VGA BIOS." I tried booting with and without hard drives connected but it makes no difference. I spent a long time with Asus but couldn't figure it out - they just want me to put it back into my old case

Any ideas?

check all connectors...

 

[garbage914]

check all connectors...

Thank you KGP. I plugged in the speaker to my motherboard and it's one long beep and 3 short beeps, which consistent with what you said - the graphics card is not connecting with the motherboard. The thing that sucks is that my Quadro isn't connecting either, so it might be the motherboard

 

[kgp]

Thank you KGP. I plugged in the speaker to my motherboard and it's one long beep and 3 short beeps, which consistent with what you said - the graphics card is not connecting with the motherboard. The thing that sucks is that my Quadro isn't connecting either, so it might be the motherboard

Or just some badly plugged PCIE Adaptor, RAM, cabling, etc...

 

[garbage914]

Or just some badly plugged PCIE Adaptor, RAM, cabling, etc...

I tried unplugging everything, reseated the CPU, tried different cables. Tried lightly wiping the gold connectors on my graphics card. I'm going insane! Is it strange that I get different errors for the two different graphics cards? "Code:A2 Post Error" when I try the GTX 1060 and "Code B2: VGA BIOS" when I try the Nvidia 4000?

 

[jaminmc]

At least I’m receiving a different error! Any idea what might be happening? I have approximately the same hardware as the guide (and an Optane stick in the M.2 drive).

View attachment 343898

I had that happen to me. One day I could no longer boot any of my MacOS partitions because of an error like that. Reseting NVRAM, Clearing cmos, etc made no diff.. Windows still worked fine...

The solution was to just reflash the bios, with the same version it had. and BAM, everything worked again. Even loading the same settings that I had before I flashed the BIOS again.

 

[jaminmc]

@kgp , For E10, I made a 1 line solution from the Terminal that will copy the CPU info into the String file, or a 2 line that will set custom. It automatically backs up the original onto the desktop with the timestamp of when it was run, so it wont be overwritten if you run it multiple times.

sysinfo="/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AppleSystemInfo.framework/Versions/A/Resources/English.lproj/AppleSystemInfo.strings" ; cp "$sysinfo" ~/Desktop/"${sysinfo##*/}$(date '+%Y%m%d-%H%M%S')-bak.strings" && sudo plutil -replace "UnknownCPUKind" -string "$(sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string)" $sysinfo ; sudo codesign -f -s - $sysinfo

Or for custom set CPU info, a 2 Line is simple enough...

customcpu="This is the Custom CPU Text"

Then

sysinfo="/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AppleSystemInfo.framework/Versions/A/Resources/English.lproj/AppleSystemInfo.strings" ; cp "$sysinfo" ~/Desktop/"${sysinfo##*/}$(date '+%Y%m%d-%H%M%S')-bak.strings" && sudo plutil -replace "UnknownCPUKind" -string "$customcpu" $sysinfo ; sudo codesign -f -s - $sysinfo

The beauty about it is that you can change it as much as you want, as it properly replaces the value, no matter what value is in it before you run it, and signs it also.

 

[fischerandom]

Hi, I would very much appreciate some help because I'm stuck. I'm following this guide, and in section B1.) ASUS BIOS Configuration after setting all parameters according to the guide nothing happens at boot. The monitor does not start, no picture.

Hardware:
ASUS PRIME X299-DELUXE
i9-7900X
GTX 1050 Ti

The the Thunderbolt EX3 is not installed on the motherboard.

I have tracked down which BIOS setting causes this problem:
8.) /Boot/Compatibility Support Module/
a.) Launch CSM: Disabled

If I instead leave the Launch CSM: Enabled, I get the post screen and can go into BIOS.
I wonder what can cause the problem when setting Launch CSM: Disabled?

I'm using the X299D.CAP, the most recent ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe BIOS Firmware 1401 with an iMacPro Splash Screen, found under B.) Mainboard BIOS. The firmware was flashed successfully and the Splash Screen is shown.

Another question is why this guide is not using UniBeast? Should I do that? I have prepared a USB flash according to the instructions, using the Clover Configurator.

It is unclear to me if I shall copy the EFI-Folder (that was prepared and placed on the Desktop of an original Apple Mac Pro), to the USB flash by just drag-and-drop to the root, placing it next to the macOS installer APP, or if it needs to be written to the USB flash in some special way and location?

I followed the guide in C.) Important General Note/Advice and Error Prevention
up to point 7 but did not do point 8. Is it important to do point 8? Its confusing what I shall do there.

In point 10 I got compilation errors but fixed them by removing some code sections that is not for the target architecture anyway. I only need it to compile for High Sierra. But, will this lead to trouble when trying to upgrade later on to Mojave? I removed code related to Mojave (I think) because it did not compile.

The guide does however not mention what to do with the built kexts in step 10? So I did not copy them to the USB flash yet.