[SUCCESS] Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Thunderbolt 3) + i7-9700K + AMD RX 580

[WinterQ]

Awesome -- you're the first to update to 10.14.4 Build 18E2034 on this motherboard! Have you tried changing SMBIOS name and Board ID?

Changing SMBIOS name by itself has not made an observable difference, so we suspect that numerous other SMBIOS fields need to be updated as well. Fields such as Board ID, Firmware Features, Platform Feature, Platform Feature Mask, etc.

Yes, I tried just changing the SMBIOS name and Board ID. But like you said in your second post. We also need updated Firmware Features, Platform Feature, Platform Feature Mask. Because right now, it still shows up as an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), was using SMBIOS 18,3 originally.

 

[rj510]

The serial number will be key (along with the MLB, which is associated with the SN). The first 3 characters of the SN represent the manufacturing location (C02 is in China); the 4th digit is the year (Y = 1st half of 2019; Z, the 2nd half); the 5th character is the week of manufacture; the next 3 digits are unique to the SN; the last 4 characters represent the model, so the complete SN is LLLYMxxxMMMM.

For the 5th character, digits 1-9 are used to represent weeks 1 thru 9, while the characters C to Y [excluding A, E, I, O, U, B, S and Z, as well as 0 (zero)], representing weeks 10 to 27. For devices manufactured in the second half of the year, add 26.

We'll soon be seeing numbers like C02YDxxxMMMM (12th week) and C02ZHxxxMMMM for later this year (40th week). Thus each location can produce up to 1000 unique computers per week of that model.

The model's last 4 can be used to check with Apple. Example: click this and you'll see the model LLDN (the last 4) of my laptop on which I'm typing. Substitute the MMMM for whatever model you wish to look up (http://support-sp.apple.com/sp/index?page=cpuspec&cc=MMMM). An iMac18,1 last four are H7JY; an 18,3 are J1GJ.

I've heard, but have read conflicting comments, that the MLB (17 char) can be = SN + 5 random characters.

So once we have the MMMM values for 19,x and at least one location, we can generate the SN and maybe the MLB.

 

[CaseySJ]

*** Fenvi FV-T919 WiFi/BT Card Fully Operational in x1 Slot ***

Special thanks to @Anim8me2 for discovering that his BCM94360CD card works in a x1 PCIe slot when the Intel CNVi card is removed from the Socket 1 slot on the motherboard.

This sparked the idea of trying to disable the Intel CNVi WiFi/BT card with a SSDT. Happily, it works! I'm typing this on my Keychron K1 keyboard using Bluetooth connected to the Fenvi FV-T919. At the same time I'm streaming audio via iTunes to a Bluetooth speaker in another room and experiencing no audio dropouts. And the computer is posting this message over the Fenvi's WiFi.

Because this card has newer firmware and more MIMO antennas than my previous Padarsey card, I think I'll keep the Fenvi installed now, 4 antennas and all! It's likely that other x1 cards will also work in x1 slots with this SSDT in place.

Procedure:

1. Install Fenvi FV-T919 (or other Broadcom WiFi/BT card) into a x1 slot on the motherboard.
2. Keep the existing Intel CNVi card installed. No need to remove it.
3. Download and copy the attached file (SSDT-DESIGNARE-Z390-NO-CNVW.aml) to the CLOVER/ACPI/patched folder in the EFI partition of your Mojave SSD and reboot.
4. Open Bluetooth Preferences, un-pair and re-pair your devices.

I'll update the build guide shortly.

Edit: Build guide updated. The SSDT is available for download here or from Post-Install Files.zip in Post #1.

 

[trs96]

Because this card has newer firmware and more MIMO antennas than my previous Padarsey card, I think I'll keep the Fenvi installed now, 4 antennas and all! It's likely that other x1 cards will also work in x1 slots with this SSDT in place.

I had a feeling that the issues with a x1 slot had a specific connection to users of this motherboard. Wondering why you left the Intel CNVi card installed at all ? What was the purpose of leaving it there in socket 1 ? Also, my apolgies to anyone from Newegg reading this thread.

 

[CaseySJ]

I had a feeling that the issues with a x1 slot had a specific connection to users of this motherboard. Wondering why you left the Intel CNVi card installed at all ? What was the purpose of leaving it there in socket 1 ? Also, my apolgies to anyone from Newegg reading this thread.

There are several reasons for leaving the card installed:

• Dual or multi-boot systems running Windows and/or Linux can use the card.
• The Padarsey card worked perfectly without the SSDT, so until today we had no idea that Intel CNVi was interfering with anything. And certainly no one raised any eyebrows.
• If the card is removed, it can be misplaced.
• Removing the card requires pulling out 2 small Mhf4 connectors. If we're not careful (or don't use a magnifying glass) we can inadvertently damage the fragile wires.
• Judging by the number of people purchasing this motherboard, it would be awkward to ask everyone to remove the card.

However, older 20702 firmware works properly with or without the SSDT. But it seems that whereas multiple Ethernet ports are common on motherboards, multiple WiFi cards are not. Operating systems and embedded firmware may be confused by the presence of more than one WiFi/BT controller. So regardless of motherboard or operating system, one should enable only a single WiFi/BT card at a time.

 

[trs96]

However, older 20702 firmware works properly with or without the SSDT.

Good to know that. As mine has 20702 I could leave the Intel card alone if I ever buy this board. Great to hear this has finally been sorted out. Thanks for posting the solution.

One other question. Is the SSDT to disable the CNVi card applicable to other motherboards with Intel wifi or just the Designare ?

 

[CaseySJ]

Good to know that. As mine has 20702 I could leave the Intel card alone if I ever buy this board. Great to hear this has finally been sorted out. Thanks for posting the solution.

One other question. Is the SSDT to disable the CNVi card applicable to other motherboards with Intel wifi or just the Designare ?

The SSDT operates specifically on the device:

_SB.PCI0.CNVW

So it will work on any motherboard that maps its CNVi device to this PCI path and does not define a native DSM method for this device.

 

[skittlebrau]

I've spent the last week reading this entire post. It's been like a good book and can't put it down!!

I've been struggling with what I'll call the "phantom display" as also mentioned in post #810. For some reason I'm showing to have two identical LG UltraFine displays. Not a big deal other than my dock sometimes moving to this phantom display.

LG UltraFine 5k is connected to the Thunderbolt port and the RX580 DisplayPort out is obviously going to the motherboards DisplayPort in.

Any recommendations???

Thanks!

Tom

I'm probably late to this, but it would be worth trying out adding agdpmod=pikera to your Boot Arguments to fix your MST display showing as two screens. While I don't have mine connected over TB3, my Dell UP2715K is the same panel as the LG Ultrafine 5K and also relies on MST (multi-stream transport) which makes the above boot flag necessary for it to work properly.

 

[CaseySJ]

The serial number will be key (along with the MLB, which is associated with the SN). The first 3 characters of the SN represent the manufacturing location (C02 is in China); the 4th digit is the year (Y = 1st half of 2019; Z, the 2nd half); the 5th character is the week of manufacture; the next 3 digits are unique to the SN; the last 4 characters represent the model, so the complete SN is LLLYMxxxMMMM.

For the 5th character, digits 1-9 are used to represent weeks 1 thru 9, while the characters C to Y (excluding A, E, I, O, U, and S), representing weeks 10 to 27. For devices manufactured in the second half of the year, add 26.

We'll soon be seeing numbers like C02YDxxxMMMM (12th week) and C02ZHxxxMMMM for later this year (40th week). Thus each location can produce up to 1000 unique computers per week of that model.

The model's last 4 can be used to check with Apple. Example: click this and you'll see the model LLDN (the last 4) of my laptop on which I'm typing. Substitute the MMMM for whatever model you wish to look up (http://support-sp.apple.com/sp/index?page=cpuspec&cc=MMMM). An iMac18,1 last four are H7JY; an 18,3 are J1GJ.

I've heard, but have read conflicting comments, that the MLB (17 char) can be = SN + 5 random characters.

So once we have the MMMM values for 19,x and at least one location, we can generate the SN and maybe the MLB.

This is very helpful.

The Apple Park Visitor Center, adjacent to the Apple Spaceship, is about a 10 minute drive from the office. The staff indicated that new iPads and iMacs will be on display starting tomorrow. So time permitting, I'll stop by and grab a bunch of M&Ms! Will also examine IOReg for ig-platform-id.

 

[skittlebrau]

Just to chime in again with another TB3 device you can add to your list, I've been using a Sonnet Solo 10G TB3 network adaptor successfully for super fast 10G LAN network speeds.