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[Guide] Lenovo Thinkpad T440S using Clover UEFI hotpatch

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@Sniki
Want to check few points:
1. On post installation, which kexts should I put in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/other? Should all the kexts be installed at L/E and leave none inside EFI/CLOVER/kexts/other?
2. If I use BCM94360CS2, do I still need to use the WF+BT related kexts? Considering it is native, I assume no kexts needed on AirportBrcmFixup, Fake_PCIID, BT4LE, etc?
Thanks.
 
@Sniki
Want to check few points:
1. On post installation, which kexts should I put in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/other? Should all the kexts be installed at L/E and leave none inside EFI/CLOVER/kexts/other?
It's clearly explained on the post #1:
Open the mounted EFI partition of your USB Drive and go to EFI/Clover/
Replace the config.plist with the one from the downloaded Lenovo-Thinkpad-T440S repository of my Github
Into EFI/Clover/ACPI/Patched add the SSDT-T440S.aml from the downloaded Lenovo-Thinkpad-T440S Repo
Into EFI/Clover/Drivers64UEFI make sure to add HFSPlus.efi (click on HFSPlus.efi to download it)
Into EFI/Clover/kexts/Others make sure to add the following kexts listed down below:
VirtualSMC.kext
SMCProcessor.kext
SMCBatteryManager.kext
SMCSuperIO.kext
VoodooPS2Controller.kext
USBInjectAll.kext
IntelMausi.kext
Lilu.kext
WhateverGreen.kext
AirportBrcmFixup.kext
EFICheckDisabler.kext - included on the Lenovo-Thinkpad-T440S folder of my Github Repository
These needs to be on EFI/Clover/kexts/Other and the last section of kexts listed om the guide explains which kexts need to be installed into L/E
2. If I use BCM94360CS2, do I still need to use the WF+BT related kexts? Considering it is native, I assume no kexts needed on AirportBrcmFixup, Fake_PCIID, BT4LE, etc?
Thanks.
That card is native (taken from/build for real macbooks/pro) so it's supported OOB.
None of the Wireless and Bluetooth kext is needed:
- AirportBrcmFixup.kext
- BT4LEContinuityFixup.kext
- BrcmPatchRam2.kext
- BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext
- FakePCIID.kext
- FakePCIID_Broadcom_WiFi.kext
All of them are unnecessary as the card uses the macOS native kexts.
 
It's clearly explained on the post #1:

These needs to be on EFI/Clover/kexts/Other and the last section of kexts listed om the guide explains which kexts need to be installed into L/E

That card is native (taken from/build for real macbooks/pro) so it's supported OOB.
None of the Wireless and Bluetooth kext is needed:
- AirportBrcmFixup.kext
- BT4LEContinuityFixup.kext
- BrcmPatchRam2.kext
- BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext
- FakePCIID.kext
- FakePCIID_Broadcom_WiFi.kext
All of them are unnecessary as the card uses the macOS native kexts.
If we're using the DW1560, we still need the AirportBrcmFixup, BT4LEContinuityFixup, and Bluetooth kexts, correct?

Also, I edited my previous post with a few questions regarding USB and personal hotspot that I was wondering if you saw.
 
If we're using the DW1560, we still need the AirportBrcmFixup, BT4LEContinuityFixup, and Bluetooth kexts, correct?

Also, I edited my previous post with a few questions regarding USB and personal hotspot that I was wondering if you saw.
Correct, we need these kexts.
AirportBrcmFixup - is needed for the various fixes on 3rd party cards
BT4LEContinuityFixup - for the features like HandOff, AirDrop, Continuity, Universal Clipboard etc.
BrcmFirmwareRepo & BrcmPatchRam2 for Bluetooth.

About instant hotspot, never worked for me either on this card and most of the others.

It's weird that you are having issues with USB Power, as no one else yet reported issues with that as far as i have seen.
Which SMBIOS are you using, try attaching a bootlog so i can check if there is something unusual.

Did you test the 3 scenarios with the latest files that i asked you ?
Did laptop sleep and shutdown correctly (with and without usb) ?
 
Correct, we need these kexts.
AirportBrcmFixup - is needed for the various fixes on 3rd party cards
BT4LEContinuityFixup - for the features like HandOff, AirDrop, Continuity, Universal Clipboard etc.
BrcmFirmwareRepo & BrcmPatchRam2 for Bluetooth.

About instant hotspot, never worked for me either on this card and most of the others.

It's weird that you are having issues with USB Power, as no one else yet reported issues with that as far as i have seen.
Which SMBIOS are you using, try attaching a bootlog so i can check if there is something unusual.

Did you test the 3 scenarios with the latest files that i asked you ?
Did laptop sleep and shutdown correctly (with and without usb) ?
I haven't had a chance to update the latest files and test yet. I plan to do that later this afternoon/evening (in a few hours) and will report back as soon as I can test those scenarios.

Instant hotspot would be nice to have, but it seems that it will never work for us unless someone finds a fix.

Thanks for confirming the WiFi kexts needed for the DW1560. Those are the ones I have installed and everything is working as expected (well, other than instant hotspot unfortunately).

As for USB: it's weird because I can only reproduce this problem with devices which would seemingly require more power. I've noticed it with an iPad 4th Generation, iPhone X, and iPhone XS. Older, smaller devices (like iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6s) all work without any issues. I can usually make the higher-powered devices work after changing out the USB ports a few times.

FYI, I'm actually using MacBookPro11,1 SMBIOS instead of your MacBookAir6,2. This is because when I first installed MacOS back in the El Capitan days the guide I followed recommended MacBookPro11,1 (it uses the same/similar processor as MacBookAir6,2). I didn't want to switch it because I didn't want to screw up my iMessage/Facetime since I know switching SMBIOS and the serial numbers can do that. Do you think this would cause an issue with USB?

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that when I was troubleshooting this a few weeks/months ago, I decided to "redo" the USB configuration by enabling all ports and checking each one just to double check your configuration. Turns out you did everything perfectly :D One thing I did notice when I did that, was the problem with power was much worse with all ports enabled. It got better as I started to remove ports (such as the unused fingerprint reader). So this might just be a limitation with the laptop. In fact, upon google searching, I found out that people have been having this issue on real Macbooks as well, and it has something to do with the power draw available to a given port (i.e. a hardware limitation of the motherboard).
 
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FYI, I'm actually using MacBookPro11,1 SMBIOS instead of your MacBookAir6,2. This is because when I first installed MacOS back in the El Capitan days the guide I followed recommended MacBookPro11,1 (it uses the same/similar processor as MacBookAir6,2). I didn't want to switch it because I didn't want to screw up my iMessage/Facetime since I know switching SMBIOS and the serial numbers can do that. Do you think this would cause an issue with USB?
You can leave everything as it is and just change the SMBIOS value manually like this (just the "product name" value):
415738

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that when I was troubleshooting this a few weeks/months ago, I decided to "redo" the USB configuration by enabling all ports and checking each one just to double check your configuration. Turns out you did everything perfectly :D One thing I did notice when I did that, was the problem with power was much worse with all ports enabled. It got better as I started to remove ports (such as the unused fingerprint reader). So this might just be a limitation with the laptop. In fact, upon google searching, I found out that people have been having this issue on real Macbooks as well, and it has something to do with the power draw available to a given port (i.e. a hardware limitation of the motherboard).
Test by changing to macbookair6,2 smbios as stated above without even touching your iMessage configuration.
See if situation improves, if not we may be able to fix that in another way if hardware allows to.
 
You can leave everything as it is and just change the SMBIOS value manually like this (just the "product name" value):
View attachment 415738

Test by changing to macbookair6,2 smbios as stated above without even touching your iMessage configuration.
See if situation improves, if not we may be able to fix that in another way if hardware allows to.
Okay, I finally managed to use the new files to do all of the tests. I started by updating to your latest changes, and then testing the scenarios you asked about before:
- Leave a USB plugged in and put laptop to sleep, see if it sleeps or not.
It went to sleep just fine.
- Try to shutdown the laptop with usb plugged in and see if it shuts down correctly or reboots instead
It shut down correctly.
- Try normal shutdown without usb device plugged in.
It shut down correctly.
As for brightness: it's working just like before with your new patches.
EDIT: Not sure how this happened, but I've noticed that my brightness now gets WAY brighter with this new brightness implementation. I wonder if it wasn't configured correctly before?

I then started to test with my USB power problem. Using the same SMBIOS that I had previously been using (MacBookPro11,1) but with your latest files, I tested with my iPhone XS again. Unfortunately I had the same problem (constant reconnecting, sometimes only giving power and no data).

I tried switching to MacBookAir6,2 just like you had mentioned in your screenshot. Unfortunately this didn't change anything - same issues. For that reason, I simply switched back to MacBookPro11,1 since that has been very stable for me.

I did take some screenshots of the iPhone in the USB tree (from About This Mac) for the 2 different scenarios that happen most often. In this first scenario, the phone is connected and does not constantly "reconnect" but instead simply was charging the phone.
Screen Shot 2019-07-10 at 6.29.32 PM.png


In this second screenshot, the phone is connected but will consistently reconnect itself (it vibrates over and over again) indicating that it cannot get a stable connection:
Screen Shot 2019-07-10 at 6.29.40 PM.png


In both cases, they showed up under the "USB 3.0 Bus." In both cases, this was plugged into the same port - the one on the top left when looking at the laptop straight on. (FYI I blanked out the serial number).
 
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Okay, I finally managed to use the new files to do all of the tests. I started by updating to your latest changes, and then testing the scenarios you asked about before:
- Leave a USB plugged in and put laptop to sleep, see if it sleeps or not.
It went to sleep just fine.
- Try to shutdown the laptop with usb plugged in and see if it shuts down correctly or reboots instead
It shut down correctly.
- Try normal shutdown without usb device plugged in.
It shut down correctly.
As for brightness: it's working just like before with your new patches.
EDIT: Not sure how this happened, but I've noticed that my brightness now gets WAY brighter with this new brightness implementation. I wonder if it wasn't configured correctly before?

I then started to test with my USB power problem. Using the same SMBIOS that I had previously been using (MacBookPro11,1) but with your latest files, I tested with my iPhone XS again. Unfortunately I had the same problem (constant reconnecting, sometimes only giving power and no data).

I tried switching to MacBookAir6,2 just like you had mentioned in your screenshot. Unfortunately this didn't change anything - same issues. For that reason, I simply switched back to MacBookPro11,1 since that has been very stable for me.

I did take some screenshots of the iPhone in the USB tree (from About This Mac) for the 2 different scenarios that happen most often. In this first scenario, the phone is connected and does not constantly "reconnect" but instead simply was charging the phone.
View attachment 415761

In this second screenshot, the phone is connected but will consistently reconnect itself (it vibrates over and over again) indicating that it cannot get a stable connection:
View attachment 415762

In both cases, they showed up under the "USB 3.0 Bus." In both cases, this was plugged into the same port - the one on the top left when looking at the laptop straight on. (FYI I blanked out the serial number).
Thanks for confirming the new changes working.

About USB power, i will check the values injected from USBX of MacbookPro 14,1/14,3 and see if the values are higher, i also have an iPhone XS that i can test on my Lenovo V330-15IKB.
Maybe we can adjust these values as it may be possible that macbookpro11,1 or macbookair6,2 as smbios have lower power properties.
 
Thanks for confirming the new changes working.

About USB power, i will check the values injected from USBX of MacbookPro 14,1/14,3 and see if the values are higher, i also have an iPhone XS that i can test on my Lenovo V330-15IKB.
Maybe we can adjust these values as it may be possible that macbookpro11,1 or macbookair6,2 as smbios have lower power properties.
I had started to look into that myself, but never got that far. I was under the impression that this was simply a limitation of the hardware of the laptop so I gave up on the investigation.

It's interesting to note that Apple themselves have a document on devices using/requiring USB power. Interestingly in their example, it shows how an iPhone can require "Extra Operating Current" but I've never seen that before in the USB tree.
It's worth noting that a Lightning to USB A cable is still just a USB 2.0 cable. I've tried using both third party and official cables and both do the same thing. Apparently a USB 2.0 connection can only ever supply 500mah.

I'm interested to see if your V330 experiences the same issues.

EDIT: Here's more people with the same issue, with various different fixes:

I'm leading to believe that trying to use a powered USB hub would fix the problem for me, but I'll have to find one to try out.
 
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I had started to look into that myself, but never got that far. I was under the impression that this was simply a limitation of the hardware of the laptop so I gave up on the investigation.
One method is that you can verify on Windows if it's hardware limitation
It's interesting to note that Apple themselves have a document on devices using/requiring USB power. Interestingly in their example, it shows how an iPhone can require "Extra Operating Current" but I've never seen that before in the USB tree.

I'm interested to see if your V330 experiences the same issues.
Personally i believe i don't have/didn't have that issue, i had the iPhone XS and i believe i wasn't affected, i can confirm that later tonight for you after testing on my V330.
But if it's not a hardware limitation, we should be able to fix that without much trouble.
 
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