[Guide] Razer Blade 15 (2018) Detailed Install Guide High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G2208-17G5019)

[Linzin]

I had this situation some time ago, i think I’ve solved it with another installer or something. Anyway, try without unibeast, just terminal.

Thank you for the reply.
So I made the bootable USB drive using terminal, added Clover bootloader with latest Clover, and replaced the EFI/CLOVER with this thread's attached file.
Will... Still got the same error.
Should the USB drive be the problem? Not sure if switching another USB stick will work or not.

 

[takki]

Thank you for the reply.
So I made the bootable USB drive using terminal, added Clover bootloader with latest Clover, and replaced the EFI/CLOVER with this thread's attached file.
Will... Still got the same error.
Should the USB drive be the problem? Not sure if switching another USB stick will work or not.

Are you trying to install macOS via internet recovery or did you download the macOS installer through the app store and made a USB with the full installer?

If you're using internet recovery you could try this:

Fixing "The recovery server could not be contacted" in MacOS High Sierra

Fixing "The recovery server could not be contacted" in MacOS High Sierra - macos-recovery-server.md

gist.github.com

Otherwise we need more info on what you did or what you are trying to do to help.

 

[Linzin]

Are you trying to install macOS via internet recovery or did you download the macOS installer through the app store and made a USB with the full installer?

If you're using internet recovery you could try this:

Fixing "The recovery server could not be contacted" in MacOS High Sierra

Fixing "The recovery server could not be contacted" in MacOS High Sierra - macos-recovery-server.md

gist.github.com

Otherwise we need more info on what you did or what you are trying to do to help.

I did a fresh install, not by the internet recovery.

Here's my step installing Hackintosh on my Blade 15:
I followed this thread's instructions to unlock the BIOS and change the settings.
Then I changed my network card to DW1560, SSD changed to WD black SN750 250G.
I made the macOS installer USB stick by formatting the 128GB drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map, and make the 32GB partition because Unibeast can't successfully installed on 128GB partition.
Then I used Unibeast 8.2 to make the installer stick.
(I download the High Sierra 17G2208 installer via another website, because my MacBook is too old to download the High Sierra installer from App Store.)
After success, I replaced the EFI/CLOVER folder with attachment file, and type "rm -f /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra/.IAPhysicalMedia" to solve the install macOS option not showing up in Clover.
After booting to the macOS installer in Blade 15, I created two partition on the WD SSD, one Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for macOS, and one exFAT for Windows.
After successfully partitioned, in macOS Utilities, the second option is "reinstall macOS", not "install macOS".
Then I clicked reinstall macOS, and met "the recovery server could not be contacted" error, that's how I stuck here.

 

[takki]

I did a fresh install, not by the internet recovery.

Here's my step installing Hackintosh on my Blade 15:
I followed this thread's instructions to unlock the BIOS and change the settings.
Then I changed my network card to DW1560, SSD changed to WD black SN750 250G.
I made the macOS installer USB stick by formatting the 128GB drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map, and make the 32GB partition because Unibeast can't successfully installed on 128GB partition.
Then I used Unibeast 8.2 to make the installer stick.
(I download the High Sierra 17G2208 installer via another website, because my MacBook is too old to download the High Sierra installer from App Store.)
After success, I replaced the EFI/CLOVER folder with attachment file, and type "rm -f /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra/.IAPhysicalMedia" to solve the install macOS option not showing up in Clover.
After booting to the macOS installer in Blade 15, I created two partition on the WD SSD, one Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for macOS, and one exFAT for Windows.
After successfully partitioned, in macOS Utilities, the second option is "reinstall macOS", not "install macOS".
Then I clicked reinstall macOS, and met "the recovery server could not be contacted" error, that's how I stuck here.

Hmm.. Are you sure you are booting from "Install macOS" and not the recovery partition?

You also shouldn't just download macOS from some random website. There is a command line tool that lets you download macOS, maybe that helps:

GitHub - munki/macadmin-scripts: Scripts of possible interest to macOS admins

Scripts of possible interest to macOS admins. Contribute to munki/macadmin-scripts development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Maybe you could snap a pic of where you get stuck. I don't know what you mean by second option in macOS utilities as the installation is not started by going to the utilities but should be completed through the wizard that pops up when you boot the installer.

 

[takki]

@vettz500 @Mr.Crab I'm doing the USB mapping at the moment but I have a couple of issues. I'm using USBmap.

- Boot arguments "-uia_exclude_hs uia_include=HS03,HS05,HS08,HS11,SS03" have no effect at all. Ports HS01, HS02 etc still show up in USBmap.

- The USB-C port is not recognized as a USB port. This could be because it is over the 15 port limit but I set XhciPortLimit to true (so there shouldn't be a limit). Is it because it is a thunderbolt port?

This is the output I get from USBmap:

Ports 01, 02 and 03 (both HS and SS) are the external type a ports. HS05, HS07, HS08 and HS 11 are the internal ports.

This is the output from the main menu, which leads me to believe it *should* be working:

 

[Mr.Crab]

I did a fresh install, not by the internet recovery.

Here's my step installing Hackintosh on my Blade 15:
I followed this thread's instructions to unlock the BIOS and change the settings.
Then I changed my network card to DW1560, SSD changed to WD black SN750 250G.
I made the macOS installer USB stick by formatting the 128GB drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map, and make the 32GB partition because Unibeast can't successfully installed on 128GB partition.
Then I used Unibeast 8.2 to make the installer stick.
(I download the High Sierra 17G2208 installer via another website, because my MacBook is too old to download the High Sierra installer from App Store.)
After success, I replaced the EFI/CLOVER folder with attachment file, and type "rm -f /Volumes/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra/.IAPhysicalMedia" to solve the install macOS option not showing up in Clover.
After booting to the macOS installer in Blade 15, I created two partition on the WD SSD, one Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for macOS, and one exFAT for Windows.
After successfully partitioned, in macOS Utilities, the second option is "reinstall macOS", not "install macOS".
Then I clicked reinstall macOS, and met "the recovery server could not be contacted" error, that's how I stuck here.

A wild guess could be that is because flash disk is so large, also please use this tool to download macOS https://github.com/corpnewt/gibMacOS

 

[Linzin]

Hmm.. Are you sure you are booting from "Install macOS" and not the recovery partition?

You also shouldn't just download macOS from some random website. There is a command line tool that lets you download macOS, maybe that helps:

GitHub - munki/macadmin-scripts: Scripts of possible interest to macOS admins

Scripts of possible interest to macOS admins. Contribute to munki/macadmin-scripts development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Maybe you could snap a pic of where you get stuck. I don't know what you mean by second option in macOS utilities as the installation is not started by going to the utilities but should be completed through the wizard that pops up when you boot the installer.

A wild guess could be that is because flash disk is so large, also please use this tool to download macOS https://github.com/corpnewt/gibMacOS

Thanks for the reply, I'll give it a try!

 

[takki]

I did the USB mapping with hackintool and it worked out I think. External drives are now finally external.

I also took a stab at HibernationFixup. I've got it to save the IOHibernateRTCVariables to nvram and I think the sleepimage is being created but I can't boot after Hibernation. It seems like it enters hibernation fine, then shuts off, I start the computer and when I choose macOS in Opencore it immediately black screens and reboots. The only log I could find was this:

Opencore Logs:

OC: Translated HibernateMode None to 0
OC: Hibernation detection status is Not Found

Boot Log:

PMRD: Sleep failure code 0xffffffff 0x0000001f
Sleep failure code 0xffffffff 0x0000001f

Regular sleep works fine.

Edit: Okay I've come a little further but I don't know how to proceed and this is probably where my hibernation attempt ends. If anyone wants to pick up from where I left, here it goes:

1. If you did anything to prevent hibernation, reverse it. For example delete /var/vm/sleepimage so it can be created. You may need to temporarily disable SIP to it.
2. Delete your powermanagement settings in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.PowerManagement.*
3. Download and install HibernationFixup.kext
4. In your OC config set HibernateMode to Auto
5. NVRAM: Set hibernationmode to 25 so it uses proper hibernation (saves ram contents to disk) -> sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25
6. Reboot, clear nvram for good measure
7. Put your hack to sleep. It will turn off completely which is expected.
8. Start it up, choose your macOS startup disk in OC and enjoy the vast emptiness of a black screen
9. Reboot, watch it reset immediately after choosing your boot drive
10. Start up again normally.
11. ???????????????????????

There are zero logs that give any information. The only thing I could see is that OC just seems to stop the booting process without any errors. It doesn't even really start macOS. The logs just stop right before all the kexts should be loaded. It seems to find everything and then nothing:

OC: Translated HibernateMode Auto to 3
OCB: boot-image pre-fix - PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1D,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/SasEx(0x010000000025385C,0x81B181717074616C,0x0,NoTopology,0,0,0)/2304805000
OCB: boot-image post-fix - PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1D,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,71-81-B1-81-5C-38-25-00)/2304805000
OCB: boot-image post-fix remainder - 2304805000
OCB: boot-image is 70 bytes - Success
OCB: RTC hibernation is 1
OCB: NVRAM hibernation is 1 / Success / 44
OC: Hibernation detection status is Success

And then there is a sleep error in the macOS log, but that is generated AFTER step 10:

PMRD: Sleep failure code 0x01150f00 0x0000001f
Sleep failure code 0x01150f00 0x0000001f

 

[xcrusher0]

Don't know if anyone has ran into this problem before but when trying to unlock bios, I'm only able to do so when I have the original name drive installed. When I go into bios with the new one installed no unlocked options show up. Weird right?

 

[vettz500]

I did the USB mapping with hackintool and it worked out I think. External drives are now finally external.

I also took a stab at HibernationFixup. I've got it to save the IOHibernateRTCVariables to nvram and I think the sleepimage is being created but I can't boot after Hibernation. It seems like it enters hibernation fine, then shuts off, I start the computer and when I choose macOS in Opencore it immediately black screens and reboots. The only log I could find was this:

Opencore Logs:

OC: Translated HibernateMode None to 0
OC: Hibernation detection status is Not Found

Boot Log:

PMRD: Sleep failure code 0xffffffff 0x0000001f
Sleep failure code 0xffffffff 0x0000001f

Regular sleep works fine.

Edit: Okay I've come a little further but I don't know how to proceed and this is probably where my hibernation attempt ends. If anyone wants to pick up from where I left, here it goes:

1. If you did anything to prevent hibernation, reverse it. For example delete /var/vm/sleepimage so it can be created. You may need to temporarily disable SIP to it.
2. Delete your powermanagement settings in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.PowerManagement.*
3. Download and install HibernationFixup.kext
4. In your OC config set HibernateMode to Auto
5. NVRAM: Set hibernationmode to 25 so it uses proper hibernation (saves ram contents to disk) -> sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25
6. Reboot, clear nvram for good measure
7. Put your hack to sleep. It will turn off completely which is expected.
8. Start it up, choose your macOS startup disk in OC and enjoy the vast emptiness of a black screen
9. Reboot, watch it reset immediately after choosing your boot drive
10. Start up again normally.
11. ???????????????????????

There are zero logs that give any information. The only thing I could see is that OC just seems to stop the booting process without any errors. It doesn't even really start macOS. The logs just stop right before all the kexts should be loaded. It seems to find everything and then nothing:

OC: Translated HibernateMode Auto to 3
OCB: boot-image pre-fix - PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1D,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/SasEx(0x010000000025385C,0x81B181717074616C,0x0,NoTopology,0,0,0)/2304805000
OCB: boot-image post-fix - PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1D,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,71-81-B1-81-5C-38-25-00)/2304805000
OCB: boot-image post-fix remainder - 2304805000
OCB: boot-image is 70 bytes - Success
OCB: RTC hibernation is 1
OCB: NVRAM hibernation is 1 / Success / 44
OC: Hibernation detection status is Success

And then there is a sleep error in the macOS log, but that is generated AFTER step 10:

PMRD: Sleep failure code 0x01150f00 0x0000001f
Sleep failure code 0x01150f00 0x0000001f

I was going to mention to use hackintool for the USB configuration. The thing you were using before isn't really a wildly used or supported tool as far as I'm aware.

As far as Hibernation goes. I've never been successful at making it work. It's a very difficult thing to do on laptops.