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[Guide] Lenovo Thinkpad T440S using Clover UEFI hotpatch

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Once again thank you for your efforts on keeping this guide updated for Mojave, I'll make sure to go through it this week. @Sniki If I'm right, you will release a new guide once Catalina is out, or will Catalina require only config.plist and SSDT changes with the rest of Mojave guide applicable?
When macOS Catalina comes out, Catalina guide will be up, it's too early to know what changes might happen.
I usually publish new guide, no matter how minimal the changes are.
Some more questions:
This is the full guide, temporary post was just a quick guide for people who couldn't wait.
Everything that i added on the guide i did make sure that is needed / necessary.
Read documentation:
AirportBrcmFixup Documentation on their site:
Installation types
  • Clover Airport Fix + AirportBrcmFixup
  • Clover Airport Fix + AddProperties(fake device-id) + AirportBrcmFixup (preferable)
  • Clover Airport Fix + AirportBrcmFixup + FakePCIID + FakePCIID_Broadcom_WiFi.kext
  • AirportBrcmFixup + FakePCIID + FakePCIID_Broadcom_WiFi.kext
From there i have choosed the best working option that can be the all in one solution no matter which card variant IDs that you pick / purchase.
If you browse other forums you can clearly see that for many people the only working solution from all of these installation types is FakePCIID.kext & FakePCIID_Broadcom_WiFi.kext, especially on Catalina
  • Regarding country codes for WiFi, usually there's no need for customization of country codes, right? I also don't recall doing any modifications to that in the "temporary" Mojave guide and everything working just fine so I guess it should work fine if I don't touch it. (even if I'm in Europe).
Some non US countries use one of the bands that are not available on US, therefore people end up with no connectivity.
I posted that for people who need it, if you are fine with US it's all ok, mine works with us as well.
For others here that are running macOS: which BIOS version do you use? Personally I've always used 2.36 since it's pretty much hassle-free. Even though Sniki recommends the latest BIOS version, I couldn't use it as I have some issues with the test clip/USB programmer. I can't even get the computer to recognize/read from the BIOS chip, maybe it's a faulty clip, but I'd rather not mess with it if it works. Besides, personally I've found 2.36 BIOS to work just fine with the computer.
2.36 is the way to go for beginners and people who don't want to disassemble their laptop.

I had latest bios version of T440s patched and all the process worked on first try. YMMV.

Your test clip was most probably damaged as they are very fragile.

2.36 works all fine but personally if i have the skills i would always go for latest version patched.
The biggest concern is security, there are so many security holes that need to be addressed/patched on Bios level.
The other things like additional bug fixes, stability improvements and enhancements are also welcome.

It all depends on personal choice.
Luckily we have two working options that can fit everyones need.
 
Can this guide be mostly applied to the t540p with no issues? I have the discrete graphics edition of the t540p, but the guides I've read so far just tell me to ignore the gpu and everything should be fine. Obviously I'd have to patch the bios slightly differently, just bought a clip to do that. Would there be any other issues tho? Its pretty much the same system except wider.
 
Can this guide be mostly applied to the t540p with no issues? I have the discrete graphics edition of the t540p, but the guides I've read so far just tell me to ignore the gpu and everything should be fine. Obviously I'd have to patch the bios slightly differently, just bought a clip to do that. Would there be any other issues tho? Its pretty much the same system except wider.
Off topic
Open separate thread and mention me there.
Attach "Problem Reporting" files.
At least after you create usb installer, boot from USB and when you reach Clover Boot Menu press F2/F4 and Fn+F2/Fn+F4 to collect ACPI Tables and attach the origin folder created into EFI/Clover/ACPI/origin of your USB efi partition so i can help you and create first batch of files that you need to boot the installer.

They seem similar but there are enough differences to require a different guide.

Use the guide as a install instruction as pretty much the rest should be the same except the config.plist and the SSDT
 
@Sniki, Many thanks for the guide and the accompanying files in the repo.
I can confirm that everything works perfectly.

i needed a cheap OSX machine. So, am using a refurbished T440s that I bought for 180$. Highly recommended, if you are looking for a budget machine.
Just follow the above guide carefully, and your T440s will make a perfect Hackintosh.
 
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@Sniki FYI - I updated my machine using your latest files and recommendations. So far so good - everything is working perfectly as expected.

I cannot thank you enough for your time and effort in supporting this machine. It's the best "MacBook" you can buy today in my opinion :clap:

EDIT: The VoodooPS2 kext project is very interesting - the only thing really missing from this machine would be the native gesture support on the touchpad. Have you tested out the latest version (2.0.1) available on the Github repo? I look forward to the day when it's stable enough to use everyday!

EDIT 2: @Sniki also did you see a newer version of ALCPlugFix was forked/rewritten by @the-braveknight? Not sure if it's better or of any additional use for our machines. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...with-custom-hda-verb-commands-support.260266/

EDIT 3: As someone else mentioned before, my WiFi is seemingly working perfectly without the FakePCIID kexts. In my case with my WiFi card, am I ok to omit those kexts? Is there any benefit to adding them back?
 
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EDIT: The VoodooPS2 kext project is very interesting - the only thing really missing from this machine would be the native gesture support on the touchpad. Have you tested out the latest version (2.0.1) available on the Github repo? I look forward to the day when it's stable enough to use everyday!
I do follow their projects regularly on daily basis but still not 100% ok or ready for replacement.
The kext is not completely cleaned up from the ports from Rehabman and VoodooI2C.
There are still some dependencies not renamed/rebranded which causes some parts of the code not working.

I did sent a request on their bugtracker to adjust the ThinkPad SSDTs with their kext as the SSDT does brake some of their gestures.

I believe they can resolve the issues for next release which they do them on monthly basis.
As soon as they are ready and i feel it's stable enough i will replace it right away, update the thinkpad SSDT, rebuilt the SSDT-T440S.aml with the update code for trackpad and update links on the guide.
EDIT 2: @Sniki also did you see a newer version of ALCPlugFix was forked/rewritten by @the-braveknight? Not sure if it's better or of any additional use for our machines. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...with-custom-hda-verb-commands-support.260266/
Thanks for the heads up on this, i will check it.
EDIT 3: As someone else mentioned before, my WiFi is seemingly working perfectly without the FakePCIID kexts. In my case with my WiFi card, am I ok to omit those kexts? Is there any benefit to adding them back?
Yes, that's true, some cards have native ID(s) or ID(s) that AirportBrcmFixup.kext does take care of.
In these cases you can omit the kexts, i should add a note about this.

DW1560 for example works perfectly fine without those two kexts on my Lenovo Thinkpad L440.
But some cards (even some DW1560 from different brands) may not work without it.

Extra note, some other major optimizations and cleanup have been done... (and i just updated the guide a few days ago..)
Another update should go live these upcoming days.
 
Update: A major update has been pushed / released, download newer files from the repo, Enjoy !!
 
Update: A major update has been pushed / released, download newer files from the repo, Enjoy !!
Thank you again for updating your guide and replying to my questions/comments above. I plan to implement your changes into my machine later today.

I'm just wondering if the "AddPNLF" is necessary in the Clover config. When I removed the SSDT with the latest release of WhateverGreen, I never added that to Clover and brightness seemingly still worked fine.
 
Thank you again for updating your guide and replying to my questions/comments above. I plan to implement your changes into my machine later today.

I'm just wondering if the "AddPNLF" is necessary in the Clover config. When I removed the SSDT with the latest release of WhateverGreen, I never added that to Clover and brightness seemingly still worked fine.
When you implement the latest changes, make sure to test these scenarios:
- Leave a USB plugged in and put laptop to sleep, see if it sleeps or not.
- Try to shutdown the laptop with usb plugged in and see if it shuts down correctly or reboots instead
- Try normal shutdown without usb device plugged in.
As for brightness:
Adjusting the brightness on a laptop
Method 1
Enable Clover DSDT fix AddPNLF. Enable SetIntelBacklight and SetIntelMaxBacklight. A specific value is not necessary - it will be automatically injected according to the processor installed.

Method 2
Use this ACPI table: SSDT-PNLF.dslSSDT-PNLF.aml

Do not use both methods at the same time!
This is what the description of the WhateverGreen.kext readme says.
It is needed according to their description.
It may fix the correct ranges of brightness.
I would leave it enabled as they recommend.
 
When you implement the latest changes, make sure to test these scenarios:
- Leave a USB plugged in and put laptop to sleep, see if it sleeps or not.
- Try to shutdown the laptop with usb plugged in and see if it shuts down correctly or reboots instead
- Try normal shutdown without usb device plugged in.
As for brightness:

This is what the description of the WhateverGreen.kext readme says.
It is needed according to their description.
It may fix the correct ranges of brightness.
I would leave it enabled as they recommend.
After updating, I'll test out those scenarios and report back.

You are right regarding the WhateverGreen README. I agree we should keep those Clover patches in that case.

EDIT: @Sniki since you've been so helpful, I figured I'd ask you about 2 other issues I've had with this laptop. First is USB power. I made a post about this in the previous thread (https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-lenovo-thinkpad-t440s.244798/page-38#post-1963208). I'm particularly having issues with newer iPhones (iPhone X, XS, etc.). The devices will reconnect over and over, and sometimes not be recognized at all. It seems to be not getting enough power. Switching the ports sometimes works, or reconnecting the cable in the same port sometimes fixes it.

The other issue is with Instant Hotspot. It has never worked for me on this laptop. It shows up under the WiFi menu, but never connects. I have to manually enable the hotspot on my phone and connect to it through System Preferences.
 
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