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[Guide] Intel NUC7/NUC8 using Clover UEFI (NUC7i7Bxx,NUC8i7Bxx,etc)

I'm still having issues with intermittent purple screen flickering when watching video (VLC or Youtube).
I have NUC8i5BEH. I did all the installation with @RehabMan 's original guide, which worked great for me - except for those flickers. And just now I took the awesome zip file from @Leesureone 's awesome post 901. Rebooted and saw the new Clover kick in, but still having intermittent flickers and random screen shut offs during video playback. Seems like I have the same configuration as the rest of you know, no idea why my machine behaves differently. Here are my debug files.
BTW flickers never happen during normal operation - when not watching videos, and when screen is plugged into another machine - so it's definitely not hardware/wiring related.
 

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I have CPU temp and Frequency working, not gpu temp with some additional fakesmc kexts

Can you tell me exactly which Kexts I need, that you have, to enable at least what you've been able to get working?

Thx!
 
I'm still having issues with intermittent purple screen flickering when watching video (VLC or Youtube).
I have NUC8i5BEH. I did all the installation with @RehabMan 's original guide, which worked great for me - except for those flickers. And just now I took the awesome zip file from @Leesureone 's awesome post 901. Rebooted and saw the new Clover kick in, but still having intermittent flickers and random screen shut offs during video playback. Seems like I have the same configuration as the rest of you know, no idea why my machine behaves differently. Here are my debug files.
BTW flickers never happen during normal operation - when not watching videos, and when screen is plugged into another machine - so it's definitely not hardware/wiring related.

How are you connecting your screen? HDMI port or using the USB-C connection?

Also when you used the EFI folder from post 901 did you completely delete the OLD EFI folder before copying NEW EFI folder to the mounted EFI partiton?

I can confirm I have installed Catalina both as upgrade from Mojave and also clean installed Catalina with Leesureone's EFI folder. I have tested both the HDMI AND USB-C to HDMI connector and use youtube and VLC to watch videos without any issue.
Do have have a different cable to try just in case. I have had HDMI cables work on one computer and play up on another and when I have changed out the cable and it has fixed the problem.
One other thing to try. The flicker can be due to a faulty powerboard or the cord running near a magnet ie unshielded speakers etc.
Try the NUC in a different room and powerboard. Worth trying just in case.
Also I'll post more on this later but post 901 EFI folder doesn't need for my NUC8i7BEH any other install after install. I didn't need to install Clover it is in the EFI folder. The only thing I needed to do was change the serial number to be unique.
Everything works. Sleep and wake. Audio after sleep and restart etc etc. I am running lastest Bios 74. Post 901 EFI folder has everything to both do a clean install or update. I needed no multibeast or clover install post install. I did the clean install today just to check the post 901 worked for clean install as is.
I used apples terminal commands to create bootale usb that you would install to a real mac and added the post 901 EFI folder. Leesureone has done ALL the hard work on our behalf. https://support.apple.com/hr-hr/HT201372 termainal commands to create boot catalina boot usb.
 
I noticed that the Bluetooth vendor changed, (maybe?) when I view via System Information...
Would this be a clue as to what happened?


BCM20702A0:

Product ID: 0xe07a
Vendor ID: 0x0489 (Foxconn / Hon Hai)
Version: 1.12
Serial Number: ACD1B8E64738
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/s
Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp
Location ID: 0x14500000 / 3
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 0
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
Built-In: Yes
This is RESOLVED:
There may be other solutions; I followed this guide: Github Hologose Upgrade-from-macOS-Mojave-to-macOS-Catalina
 
How are you connecting your screen? HDMI port or using the USB-C connection?

Also when you used the EFI folder from post 901 did you completely delete the OLD EFI folder before copying NEW EFI folder to the mounted EFI partition?

I'm connecting it through HDMI port. The flicker happens only during video. I can look at a browser window for hours and there will be no flicker. Mind you, that I had this issue for a few months now, so I had plenty of time to observe it. If it was hardware/wiring related, I'm sure the flicker would manifest itself at least once during a non-video session over these few months. I'm pretty sure it's not the port, and it's not the cable.

Also the frequency of flickers changed as I made changes to the software setup. When I did RehabMan guide install, it was bearable. When I did my first MacOS version bump, it got worse. Now that I got Leesureone's EFI folder in, things improved slightly, though I have to observe it for longer to make that conclusive.

And yes, I rm -rf'ed the old folder and got the new one in, and did nothing after that - just rebooted and all the new settings including the new Clover kicked in.

The only way my setup is different from yours is that I'm still on the old BIOS (v56 I think) and I'm still on Mojave. Gonna try bumping those, but I don't have much hope there.

I was hoping that someone could take a glance at my debug logs that I attached above and tell me that I made some mistake somewhere - maybe kexts are in more than one places and are conflicting or something like that. I would so appreciate it guys, this thing has been bugging me for months.
 
New Catalina Supplemental update came out today and I did the update with no issues on my NUCi7BEH.

Two reboots and the install finished without issue. Details to what it fixes is below.

same here, updated without a problem (in my clover.plist I do have timeout of 0 and default boot volume set to my installation. That I do have to change every update otherwise it just reboots without going into the installer but I know that by now. Afterwards I revert)
 
Can you tell me exactly which Kexts I need, that you have, to enable at least what you've been able to get working?

Thx!
FakeSMC_ACPISensors.kext
FakeSMC_CPUSensors.kext
FakeSMC_GPUSensors.kext
FakeSMC_LPCSensors.kext
FakeSMC_SMMSensors.kext
FakeSMC.kext

Is what I have. But besides some cpu temp/frequencies/voltages I don't see anything in hwmonitor.
 
I'm still having issues with intermittent purple screen flickering when watching video (VLC or Youtube).
I have NUC8i5BEH. I did all the installation with @RehabMan 's original guide, which worked great for me - except for those flickers. And just now I took the awesome zip file from @Leesureone 's awesome post 901. Rebooted and saw the new Clover kick in, but still having intermittent flickers and random screen shut offs during video playback. Seems like I have the same configuration as the rest of you know, no idea why my machine behaves differently. Here are my debug files.
BTW flickers never happen during normal operation - when not watching videos, and when screen is plugged into another machine - so it's definitely not hardware/wiring related.
From your terminal output I can see Rehabman's script installed a bunch of kexts to Library/ Extensions (did the same for me first time out). Then if you are using my EFI Folder you are duplicating loading the same kexts and that is an issue. If you are going to ask me which kexts to remove please just start over following my post on page 90 post 901. If you have experience and know which kexts to remove and which to leave from L/E then go ahead
 
How to "Create Clean install Catalina/Mojave 10.15.2 bootable USB for Hackintosh"

Super important. Page one of this guide by Rehabman is out of date and will no longer work for creating a bootable Hackintosh.


READ THIS PARAGRAPH BEFORE PRECEDING.

Short version. All you need to do is make a bootable Catalina install drive. Follow my guide or even apple's support site even. When you format a USB it will create an empty EFI partition. This guide will point you to a FINISHED EFI FOLDER which has everything done for you. Clover is already installed and your usb will boot and install Catalina so don't mess it up by installing something. After you follow this guide the only things left to do is to copy the EFI folder from your USB to your Hard Drive/SSD EFI partition so you can boot into your Mac without the USB. One more thing is a good idea to do and that is to give your Hackintosh a unique serial number so that icloud, imessage, facetime and appstore all work and apple think your computer is a real mac.

TWO DAYS AGO THIS TREAD AND IT'S LINKS ALL GOT MESSED UP. POST NUMBER AND PAGES WITH INPORTANT INFO CHANGED. 4/11/2019.
I have updated WORKING LINKS to the EFI folders for NUC8 and NUC7. The latest bios versions are supported in these EFI folders.

NUC8 EFI download location by @Leesureone. Scroll to bottom of his post #894 to download .zip



Works for upgrade from Mojave 10.14 to Catalina 10.15 and newer too. I own Intel Nuc8i7BEH. Read Note at bottom of post about in place upgrade from Mojave to Catalina.

NUC7 download location by Sevift uploaded by BenMiller here: Post #1,819. Works for both Mojave and Catalina.


This assumes you have downloaded "Install macOS Catalina" app in your Applications folder. If you have only Windows 10 I'm sorry I cannot help you. I have a macbook Air 2013 and cannot help you. Find a friend that will allow you to download Catalina and make the USB on their computer. It will NOT change anything on their computer at all. Just be careful when you mount the EFI partition you mount the USB and not their internal hard drive.

All I did was create a normal Catalina USB install bootable drive. It has a Mojave terminal command as well. used to install on a normal Mac. I used "Apple Support's" Guide https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201372 I like this as it is a simple format.

Format USB using "Disk Utility" This formats the disk and most importantly CREATES AN EMPTY EFI FOLDER. Search Disk Utility in spotlight search. Look at attachment bottom of Post. "Disk Utility Format USB" picture. This makes two partitions an EFI folder and a partition which we can install Mac OS to as well.

The format should have renamed your USB to MyVolume. Now copy and and paste the command for Catalina into TERMINAL which is below in BOLD. Make sure to name for the USB is "MyVolume" for the below terminal Command to find the correct volume. This will copy the Catalina install app from your Application folder to the USB.

PASTE Catalina Terminal Command below to create bootable USB into TERMINAL UTILITY:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume


Hit Enter then type your PASSWORD. You wont see the letters on the screen just hit ENTER and the copy process will start. Wait until you see that the process has finished.

NUC8 EFI download location by @Leesureone. Scroll to bottom of his post #894 to download .zip


Scroll to the bottom of post #894 on page 90 and download his attachment at the bottom of his post named "EFINUC8Cat.zip"

USE LINK TOP OF PAGE: NUC7 Link Below: All credit for EFI folder goes to @Sevift
Again his hard work and sharing has helped the NUC7 builds.


Download EFI_Nuc7_latest_sevift.zip at bottom of link.

CLOVER CONFIGURATOR: This is essential for mounting EFI partition
Unzip EFINUC8Cat.zip or EFI.zip. Use Clover Configurator https://mackie100projects.altervista.org/download-clover-configurator/ (See Clover mount pic bottom of this post)

Mount your USB EFI partition using Clover Configurator and copy Leesureone's or Servift's EFI folder in finder to the USB EFI Partition.

That is it. You now have a CLEAN CATALINA 10.15 install USB if you ever just want to start again. Also it will work to boot into your Catalina install in the event you update clover incorrectly and your OS is not bootable.

To be clear after I CLEAN INSTALLED Catalina yesterday I installed nothing extra. No Clover Bootloader as Clover 5070 is already installed. No Rehabman scripts. No Multibeast post install etc etc.

POST INSTALL IMPORTANT:
To make your Hackintosh hard drive bootable WITHOUT YOUR USB you need to again use Config Configurator to copy the EFI from the USB drive to your MacOS hard drive. Mount both USB and internal hard drive in Clover Configurator and copy and past the EFI from USB to internal hard drive. (see Clover Config Mount pic bottom of this post)

Make unique SERIAL NUMBER.
The ONLY thing needed to be done if not done already was to use "Clover Configurator" To make a unique serial number open Clover Configurator and on left menu choose SMBIOS. See pic attached to bottom of post. Hit generate new for both "serial number" and "smUUID" and on the right check coverage. Look up the many guides on this. Here is one guide but skip down to "Choose your intended System Definition from the list" do a search and it has all the steps to take. This unique serial makes sure iCloud, iMessage, Facetime etc works properly. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/
(See Clover Config Serial Number change pic bottom of this post)

The only thing if you are new to Nuc Hackintosh's is to follow Rehabman's BIOS SETTINGS part of the guide page 1. Search Bios Settings as it is down the page a bit.

Again Thanks so much to Leesureone and Servift for ALL their hard work in posting a working and updated EFI folder for Mojave and Catalina. All the magic and why the above is so simple is due to their hard work and experience.

NOTE IN PLACE UPGRADE FROM CATALINA NOT CLEAN INSTALL COMMENT: If you have Mojave running on your Hackintosh already and want to upgrade to Catalina just mount your Mojave EFI partition using Clover Configurator and DELETE YOUR EFI FOLDER COMPLETLY and copy and paste in finder Leesureone's EFI OR Sevift's folder and REPLACE YOUR EXISTING EFI. (Note you will have to change config.plist serial to your existing build. Then download and run the Catalina Final upgrade and from within Mojave like you own a "Real Mac". It works for both EFI builds currently.

I already had already successfully upgraded Mojave to Catalina as in place upgrade. The REASON I wanted to do a clean install of Catalina was to test what was the bear minimum steps required to get a working NUC Hackintosh. As post 901 states the start of this guide is no longer up to date and following it will no longer work. Like many I followed the guide and was ready to throw my NUC out the window until I read the end of this guide and found many posts referring to post 901. I hope this has helped other novices like me to get a NUC Hackintosh up and running with very few steps to follow.

EDIT: 31st Oct 2019 added links to EFI zip files for both Nuc7 and Nuc8. Added extra instructions to help make things clear for those new to Hackintosh. Also added link to serial number using Clover Configurator. Added Pics for some things to make it clear what to do.

THIS IS TONYMACX86 in place upgrade guide which might have some extra info that might help. We don't need to do much of it because we have EFI folders with clover, config.plist and kexts/drivers etc all tweaked for us. But worth a look for in place upgrades.

 

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How to "Create Clean install Catalina 10.15 bootable USB for Hackintosh" using Leesureone's post 901 on page 91.

Works for upgrade from Mojave 10.14 to Catalina 10.15 too. I own Intel Nuc8i7BEH. Read Note at bottom of post about in place upgrade from Mojave to Catalina.

All I did was create a normal Catalina USB install bootable drive used to install on a normal Mac. I used "Apple Support's" Guide https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201372 I like this as it is a simple format.

Rename USB to MyVolume and paste the command for Catalina into TERMINAL. Attached Pic for formatting USB. Make sure to name the USB "MyVolume" for the below terminal Command to find the correct volume ie: USB to copy the Catalina install app correctly.

Catalina Terminal Command to create bootable USB:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume


This creates a USB and it has an "EMPTY" EFI partition.

Go to post #901 on page 91 and download his attachment at the bottom of his post named "EFINUC8Cat.zip"

Unzip EFINUC8Cat.zip. Use Clover Configurator https://mackie100projects.altervista.org/download-clover-configurator/

Mount your USB EFI partition and copy Leesureone's EFI folder in finder to the USB EFI Partition.

That is it. You now have a CLEAN CATALINA 10.15 install USB if you ever just want to start again. Also it will work to boot into your Catalina install in the event you update clover incorrectly and your OS is not bootable.

To be clear after I CLEAN INSTALLED Catalina yesterday I installed nothing extra. No Clover Bootloader as Clover 5070 is already installed. No Rehabman scripts. No Multibeast post install etc etc. The ONLY thing needed to be done if not done already was to use "Clover Configurator" to make a unique serial number so icloud etc works.

The only thing if you are new to Nuc Hackintosh's is to follow Rehabman's BIOS SETTINGS part of the guide.

Again Thanks so much to Leesureone for ALL his hard work in posting a working and updated EFI folder for Mojave and Catalina. All the magic and why the above is so simple is due to his hard work and experience.

NOTE UPGRADE NOT CLEAN INSTALL: If you have Mojave running on your Hackintosh already and want to upgrade to Catalina just mount your Mojave EFI partition using Clover Configurator and DELETE YOUR EFI FOLDER COMPLETLY and copy and paste in finder Leesureone's EFI folder to the NOW empty EFI partition in finder. Then download and run the Catalina Final install from within Mojave like you own a "Real Mac".

I already had already successfully upgraded Mojave to Catalina as in place upgrade. The REASON I wanted to do a clean install of Catalina was to test what was the bear minimum steps required to get a working NUC Hackintosh. As post 901 states the start of this guide is no longer up to date and following it will no longer work. Like many I followed the guide and was ready to throw my NUC out the window until I read the end of this guide and found many posts referring to post 901. I hope this has helped other novices like me to get a NUC Hackintosh up and running with very few steps to follow.

Nice job on the install recap!
 
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