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

[zzmadd]

Hi all,

I'm experiencing an issue with Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt on the Sage WS X299 is implemented as per the guide (see attachment).
All the Thunderbolt 3 and 2 devices tested work with Hot Swap and the Gigabyte Titan Ridge PCIe Card:
Apogee Element Thunderbolt 2 audio card, BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Monitor, Thunderbolt HDDs/SSDs.

BUT one Thunderbolt 1 device that I need to edit video is not recognised at all. It doesn't show up in IOReg at all.
The device not working is the BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D.
This device happily works on my MacBook Pro 2017 and EVEN on a 3 years old Gigabyte motherboard with integrated Thunderbolt, the Gigabyte Z170X UD5TH. But again this card is not seen at all in my system.

I tested with the very same EFI and TH3 SSDT 3 cards:
- Gigabyte Titan Ridge (Main choice): see above, a lot of devices work with hot swap.
- Gigabyte Alpine Ridge: this card works bad, no devices recognised at all. Same slot, same SSDT. It could be I have to reset the Bios?
- Asus Thunderbolt EX 3: this card works bad, no devices recognised at all. Same slot, same SSDT. It could be I have to reset the Bios?

Does anyone have an advice, or something I could try to fix the situation?
Thanks all in advance.

 

[jgaltone]

Please help. I have spent days trying to follow the steps on the first page of this post and I cant get my system to boot the point of running the High Sierra installer.

I get to these two screen and then it crashes. I eventually see a circle with a line through it.

 

[jgaltone]

I do not understand the purpose of the steps in section C.8 if I am erasing the flash drive when I get to step D.3.

8.) Already during the first Beta Versions of macOS 10.13 High Sierra, Apple forced the beta users to use the new Apple file system APFS in case of a Clean Install/update of MacOS High Sierra 10.13. Also within macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65) and 1.13.6 SU (17G3025) this is the case. Most APSF incompatibilities with available system related software apparently have been already removed. All recent versions of Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) support the direct cloning of APFS system disks and provide the previously missing option for APFS system backups. Until Boot-Loader Distribution Clover_v2.4k_r4210, it was also impossible to install the Clover Boot-Loader in the EFI-Partition of an APFS System Disk by means of the Clover Boot-Loader Installer Package (the Clover Boot-Loader files had to be added manually). However, all recent Clover Boot-Loader Distributions work absolutely flawless with APFS System Disks.

Do I need to use @Brumbear's UnSolid.kext? It's not clear if this is essential or optional.



I performed the following command...but what I am I supposed to put on this "iMacPro" partition?

diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk2 GPT JHFS+ iMacPro 0b

Is the apfs convert step essential or optional?

diskutil apfs convert /dev/diskX

Step 10...did not have a clue what this meant or what to do here. I skipped this step.

10.) Lilu and Lilu Plugin distribution remarks:

To access, download and compile the actual but not yet officially released Lilu and Lilu plugin distributions, follow these links:

a.) Lilu Source distribution
b.) AppleALC Source Distribution
c.) Whatevergreen

Step D.3 is a bit confusing...I am erasing the "iMacPro" partition that I created in step C.8?

D.3) iMac Pro macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65) USB Flash Drive Installer Creation

Follow the individual steps detailed below to successfully create a bootable iMac Pro macOS High Sierra macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G65) USB Flash Drive Installer.

1.) Format a USB Flash Drive of your choice (source, named USB) with HFS+ [(Mac OS Extended (Journaled)] and a GUID partition table by means of Apple's Disk Utility on any other Hackintosh or Mac of your choice. This will create an empty HFS+ Partition and a yet empty EFI-partition on your iMac Pro macOS USB Flash Drive Installer.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[kubusikan]

I get to these two screen and then it crashes. I eventually see a circle with a line through it.

Maybe try another USB-Port.
Way back when i was installing for the first times not every port was usable for the installation steps after first boot to clover boot screen.
Try the USB 3.1 port first.

Do I need to use @Brumbear's UnSolid.kext? It's not clear if this is essential or optional.

I don't think you need it. It is not essential.

Unfortunately i have no answers for your other questions.

 

[kgp]

Hi all,

I'm experiencing an issue with Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt on the Sage WS X299 is implemented as per the guide (see attachment).
All the Thunderbolt 3 and 2 devices tested work with Hot Swap and the Gigabyte Titan Ridge PCIe Card:
Apogee Element Thunderbolt 2 audio card, BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Monitor, Thunderbolt HDDs/SSDs.

BUT one Thunderbolt 1 device that I need to edit video is not recognised at all. It doesn't show up in IOReg at all.
The device not working is the BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D.
This device happily works on my MacBook Pro 2017 and EVEN on a 3 years old Gigabyte motherboard with integrated Thunderbolt, the Gigabyte Z170X UD5TH. But again this card is not seen at all in my system.

I tested with the very same EFI and TH3 SSDT 3 cards:
- Gigabyte Titan Ridge (Main choice): see above, a lot of devices work with hot swap.
- Gigabyte Alpine Ridge: this card works bad, no devices recognised at all. Same slot, same SSDT. It could be I have to reset the Bios?
- Asus Thunderbolt EX 3: this card works bad, no devices recognised at all. Same slot, same SSDT. It could be I have to reset the Bios?

Does anyone have an advice, or something I could try to fix the situation?
Thanks all in advance.

I don't think that your problem with the BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D is an issue caused by the current TB SSDT implementation, moreover as you report yourself that your current TB implementation is working for all other TB devices including HotPlug. I do not use this TB device myself and I do not know if it requires certain drivers which refuse to properly work with Hacktinosh TB implementations or requires a local TB node an and TB bus drivers not implemented on Hackintosh systems either. In any case, I would assume that your BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D issue is device specific.

To your other general statements about available TB adapters and the current TB3HP SSDT implementation: as clearly outlined in my guide, I achieved best and most reliable performance and results with the TTR, good performance/results with the APR (I hardly remember if for HotPlug with the latter the THB_C must be removed in any case) and not very reliable performance/results with the TBEX 3, which I totally dropped from my systems in any case. In addition, the TB performance rather seems hardware and not SSDT dependent and varies moreover from motherboard to motherboard or even likely for each particular TB device in use.

Concerning the BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D, I can just recommend to properly initialise the latter under Windows, with the hope that by this it will be also properly recognised under macOS. Maybe somebody with the same BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D TB device might be of more help in this particular issue in any case.

Good luck and all the best,

KGP

 

[jgaltone]

Maybe try another USB-Port.
Way back when i was installing for the first times not every port was usable for the installation steps after first boot to clover boot screen.
Try the USB 3.1 port first.

Thanks for your suggestion. I had it plugged into one of the blue USB ports. I moved it to a USB 2 port and it let me install High Sierra without any issues. It's a miracle!

 

[franksanderdo]

Please help. I have spent days trying to follow the steps on the first page of this post and I cant get my system to boot the point of running the High Sierra installer.

I get to these two screen and then it crashes. I eventually see a circle with a line through it.

View attachment 398115

View attachment 398116

Hi @jgaltone

can you please attache the clover boot log?
from the second picture my guess is that you are loosing the USB ports and with the the installation media. But I hope we can find some more hints in the clover boot log.

okok... I was to slow
All the Best
Frank

 

[zzmadd]

I don't think that your problem with the BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D is an issue caused by the current TB SSDT implementation, moreover as you report yourself that your current TB implementation is working for all other TB devices including HotPlug. I do not use this TB device myself and I do not know if it requires certain drivers which refuse to properly work with Hacktinosh TB implementations or requires a local TB node an and TB bus drivers not implemented on Hackintosh systems either. In any case, I would assume that your BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D issue is device specific.

To your other general statements about available TB adapters and the current TB3HP SSDT implementation: as clearly outlined in my guide, I achieved best and most reliable performance and results with the TTR, good performance/results with the APR (I hardly remember if for HotPlug with the latter the THB_C must be removed in any case) and not very reliable performance/results with the TBEX 3, which I totally dropped from my systems in any case. In addition, the TB performance rather seems hardware and not SSDT dependent and varies moreover from motherboard to motherboard or even likely for each particular TB device in use.

Concerning the BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D, I can just recommend to properly initialise the latter under Windows, with the hope that by this it will be also properly recognised under macOS. Maybe somebody with the same BlackMagic Design UltraStudio 3D TB device might be of more help in this particular issue in any case.

Good luck and all the best,

KGP

Thanks a lot, as always, for your help!!
Greatly appreciated.

Luca

 

[jgaltone]

Hi @jgaltone

can you please attache the clover boot log?
from the second picture my guess is that you are loosing the USB ports and with the the installation media. But I hope we can find some more hints in the clover boot log.

All the Best
Frank

Thank you Frank. Yes, it turned out to be a USB issue. Switching to a different port fixed it.

 

[arquicion]

Hello KGP. Im follow your guide with my setup and I getting ramdon freezes. I'm using your config.plist. I thought I could be the GPU, but I tried with a Gigabyte RADEON RX 570 4GB and things got worst. Could not export in H264, and suffering the ramdon freezes. Can you give me a hand, please?
Thanks in advance.