Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 - 10.14.5 - Can't get to installer

[Thrashavich]

Hey guys, it's been a long time since I last dabbled in this stuff. I had set up 30+ systems in the days of Sandy Bridge but the process felt so much easier back then.

I've searched tonymac forums as well as other websites for solutions but none of the fixes I come across seem to work. I cannot make it past the Apple logo loading screen to the installer.

Here's the rundown of my rig, process, images, clover.zip:




UniBeast (9.2.0-6) drive created using a 10.14.5 Mojave MacBookPro

(Options: UEFI Boot Mode, Mojave 10.14.5 Installer, NO graphics injection)



USB Drive: Sandisk 32GB USB 2.0 (have also tried various other USB drives of all types)



Mobo:

Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (F13 Bios) **Purchased two different brands of USB 2.0 Expansions to attach to the internal mobo headers as the rear I/O doesn’t have any USB 2.0

[ • 121dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220 & High-End ESS SABRE 9018 DAC with WIMA audio capacitors

• Sound BlasterX 720°, the top-of-the-line audio engine solution for 4K gaming and entertainment
• Killer™ E2500 Gaming Network + Intel® Gigabit LAN]

CPU: i7-8700K

GPU: Radeon VII (founders) or PowerColor Radeon RX580 Red Devil

**tried with each GPU, tried with intel onboard graphics.

System Drive: Samsung 970 EVO 1GB (regular EVO, not PRO or Plus)

RAM: 4 X 16 GB G.SKill Sniper X DDR4-3200 (removed all except one left in the primary ram slot)

Wireless PCI: ASUS PCE-AC68 (removed for installation)

PSU: EVGA 750 G3

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro



No sata drives.

No accessories attached to computer.

Single 4K monitor attached via Display Port. (Tried from GPU and MOBO)









Bios Settings:

1. Save & Exit → Load Optimized Defaults
2. M.I.T. → Advanced Memory Settings Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.) : Profile1
3. BIOS → Fast Boot : Disabled
4. BIOS → LAN PXE Boot Option ROM : Disabled
5. BIOS → Storage Boot Option Control : UEFI
6. Peripherals → Trusted Computing → Security Device Support : Disable
7. Peripherals → Network Stack Configuration → Network Stack : Disabled
8. Peripherals → USB Configuration → Legacy USB Support : Auto
9. Peripherals → USB Configuration → XHCI Hand-off : Enabled
10. Chipset → Vt-d : Disabled
11. Chipset → Wake on LAN Enable : Disabled
12. Chipset → IOAPIC 24-119 Entries : Enabled

Intel iGPU:

1. Peripherals → Initial Display Output : IGFX
2. Chipset → Integrated Graphics : Enabled
3. Chipset → DVMT Pre-Allocated :128M

I only used clover configurator to get rid of nv_disable=1 since I have no Nvidia card, add USB inject and FixOwnership, change system profile to 18,1



Booting in verbose mode, I have got the same result every time regardless of the USB port I used, whether I had a GPU installed or not, USB 3.0 or USB 2.0, all but one RAM stick removed. All accessories removed as well.


No matter what I do, I can’t get to the installer. The apple logo will show up and the progress bar will load over the course of about 20 minutes and then nothing changed for hours. I do not get to the language selection screen.

 

[trs96]

First thing to do is disconnect all the Windows drives before attempting the install.
I would also turn off the XMP profile till after the install/post install is done.

M.I.T. → Advanced Memory Settings Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.) : Profile1

 

[pastrychef]

Hey guys, it's been a long time since I last dabbled in this stuff. I had set up 30+ systems in the days of Sandy Bridge but the process felt so much easier back then.

I've searched tonymac forums as well as other websites for solutions but none of the fixes I come across seem to work. I cannot make it past the Apple logo loading screen to the installer.

Here's the rundown of my rig, process, images, clover.zip:




UniBeast (9.2.0-6) drive created using a 10.14.5 Mojave MacBookPro

(Options: UEFI Boot Mode, Mojave 10.14.5 Installer, NO graphics injection)



USB Drive: Sandisk 32GB USB 2.0 (have also tried various other USB drives of all types)



Mobo:

Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (F13 Bios) **Purchased two different brands of USB 2.0 Expansions to attach to the internal mobo headers as the rear I/O doesn’t have any USB 2.0

[ • 121dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220 & High-End ESS SABRE 9018 DAC with WIMA audio capacitors

• Sound BlasterX 720°, the top-of-the-line audio engine solution for 4K gaming and entertainment
• Killer™ E2500 Gaming Network + Intel® Gigabit LAN]

CPU: i7-8700K

GPU: Radeon VII (founders) or PowerColor Radeon RX580 Red Devil

**tried with each GPU, tried with intel onboard graphics.

System Drive: Samsung 970 EVO 1GB (regular EVO, not PRO or Plus)

RAM: 4 X 16 GB G.SKill Sniper X DDR4-3200 (removed all except one left in the primary ram slot)

Wireless PCI: ASUS PCE-AC68 (removed for installation)

PSU: EVGA 750 G3

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro



No sata drives.

No accessories attached to computer.

Single 4K monitor attached via Display Port. (Tried from GPU and MOBO)









Bios Settings:

1. Save & Exit → Load Optimized Defaults
2. M.I.T. → Advanced Memory Settings Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.) : Profile1
3. BIOS → Fast Boot : Disabled
4. BIOS → LAN PXE Boot Option ROM : Disabled
5. BIOS → Storage Boot Option Control : UEFI
6. Peripherals → Trusted Computing → Security Device Support : Disable
7. Peripherals → Network Stack Configuration → Network Stack : Disabled
8. Peripherals → USB Configuration → Legacy USB Support : Auto
9. Peripherals → USB Configuration → XHCI Hand-off : Enabled
10. Chipset → Vt-d : Disabled
11. Chipset → Wake on LAN Enable : Disabled
12. Chipset → IOAPIC 24-119 Entries : Enabled

Intel iGPU:

1. Peripherals → Initial Display Output : IGFX
2. Chipset → Integrated Graphics : Enabled
3. Chipset → DVMT Pre-Allocated :128M

I only used clover configurator to get rid of nv_disable=1 since I have no Nvidia card, add USB inject and FixOwnership, change system profile to 18,1



Booting in verbose mode, I have got the same result every time regardless of the USB port I used, whether I had a GPU installed or not, USB 3.0 or USB 2.0, all but one RAM stick removed. All accessories removed as well.


No matter what I do, I can’t get to the installer. The apple logo will show up and the progress bar will load over the course of about 20 minutes and then nothing changed for hours. I do not get to the language selection screen.

Please try with this EFI folder.

 

[trs96]

Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (F13 Bios)

Some threads/User Builds for the Gaming 7 suggest downgrading the BIOS to something older than F13 due to issues with that version.

 

[Thrashavich]

Please try with this EFI folder.

With your EFI folder, I was able to install and boot to desktop with the clover usb. I didn’t continue with the install, but rather I rebooted the computer about a dozen times slowly reinstalling all of my components back into the board.

So right off the bat: sound works, my wireless card works, and most importantly Radeon VII works. (Strangely better than the onboard graphics which caused intense screen tearing and flickering). And it even worked with a usb 3.0 flash drive in both usb 3 and 3.1 I/O slots. I did notice some things “failing” in the verbose text and I took some pictures of them but as far as I can tell everything is working in the limited testing I’ve done.

I have no idea what you changed to the EFI folder, but I am so grateful. Now that I made it to the Mojave desktop , I can keep messing with multibeast and trial and error until I get everything working flawlessly. Thank you!

 

[pastrychef]

With your EFI folder, I was able to install and boot to desktop with the clover usb. I didn’t continue with the install, but rather I rebooted the computer about a dozen times slowly reinstalling all of my components back into the board.

So right off the bat: sound works, my wireless card works, and most importantly Radeon VII works. (Strangely better than the onboard graphics which caused intense screen tearing and flickering). And it even worked with a usb 3.0 flash drive in both usb 3 and 3.1 I/O slots. I did notice some things “failing” in the verbose text and I took some pictures of them but as far as I can tell everything is working in the limited testing I’ve done.

I have no idea what you changed to the EFI folder, but I am so grateful. Now that I made it to the Mojave desktop , I can keep messing with multibeast and trial and error until I get everything working flawlessly. Thank you!

Now that you have made it to the desktop, just mount the EFI partition of your main system drive and copy your entire EFI folder from the USB installer to it and you are done.

The only thing you have to do is follow one of the guides to address the USB 15 port limit. After that, just enjoy using macOS.

 

[trs96]

With your EFI folder, I was able to install and boot to desktop with the clover usb.

It's a good idea to generate some new Serials and a SmUUID once you've checked against Apple's database that you don't have an iMac Serial # a genuine iMac is using. It does happen. I've generated more than one that were already in use.

Checkout P1LGRIM's iMessage guide for all the steps on how to do all of that before signing in to Apple services.

 

[Pavita]

I had the same issue ...can't get into installer.
I'm using F13 BIOS as I'm upgrading CPU to i9-9900K (not sure if it causes an issue)

pastrychef's Clover do the magic!

Thanks

 

[Thrashavich]

I had the same issue ...can't get into installer.
I'm using F13 BIOS as I'm upgrading CPU to i9-9900K (not sure if it causes an issue)

pastrychef's Clover do the magic!

Thanks

Pastrychef’s clover truly is magical. I had my eye on the 9900K. Would love to drop it in without scrapping my entire build. Had no idea it was compatible with F13 but that’s great news. Please post if you get it buttery smooth!

 

[Pavita]

Pastrychef’s clover truly is magical. I had my eye on the 9900K. Would love to drop it in without scrapping my entire build. Had no idea it was compatible with F13 but that’s great news. Please post if you get it buttery smooth!

Here is the CPU support list for Gaming 7 https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z370-AORUS-Gaming-7-rev-10#support-cpu

I had success build with i7-8700k + RX580 on this board... been using it almost a year.
now upgrading to i9-9900k + Vega 64..still play around with post installation, I'll post the result soon!