[GUIDE] RX 580 on Catalina and P55-USB3 board

[TheMop]

Radeon RX 580 8 GB graphics card on macOS High Sierra (as of 10.13.6), Mojave and Catalina on the P55-USB3 board: excellent performance with acceleration (Metal) OOB, no need for drivers (kexts), with 3 drawbacks, one has to do with the boot of the operating system (a solution is proposed), another with the number of rear connectors enabled (a solution is proposed) and another that only affects to one phase of the Mojave or Catalina installation (without clear solution for now).

I have placed the XFX AMD Radeon RX-580 P8DFD6 8GB Triple X Edition GDDR5, 256BIT, DVI + HDMI + 3DP graphics card on a 10 year old motherboard (Gigabyte P55-USB3) in order to update the hackintosh to 10.14 Mojave and 10.15 Catalina because the card that I have used in past years, Nvidia Geforce GTX 750 1GB, has stopped working after 10.13.6 High Sierra since this was the last version for which Nvidia published the alternate web drivers that were necessary for the card to work well with graphic acceleration.

The new RX 580 card needs considerably more space than the old one although it fits perfectly in an ATX case, and requires an additional power connector. It has 2 big fans that most of the time are stopped, at least in my case. In macOS it works perfectly, even with Metal acceleration, without additional drivers and without extra settings in Clover. But it has drawbacks that I comment below.

Alterations during startup

During the boot of the operating system, when the screen goes from the basic driver to the AMD driver, 2 artifacts appear randomly, they are very short in duration (from one to a few seconds):

• Very short flashing white screen that may or may not be accompanied by purple lines
• The fans runs for a few seconds (the noise is clearly audible).

This behavior is solved with the installation of 2 kexts, Lilu and WhateverGreen. Lilu is an extension created by acidanthera and vit9696 among others whose function is to help to patch kexts, processes and libraries during macOS boot. It is accompanied by specific plugins for the task required, for example WhateverGreen that injects necessary patches for certain AMD, Intel and Nvidia graphics cards. It is mandatory to have both extensions together, one of them separately does not correct the problem.

I have installed Lilu 1.4.4 and WhateverGreen 1.3.9 in the EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other folder of the EFI partition and artifacts have disappeared. Remember that these 2 extensions are not necessary for the card to work properly, if you tolerate those very brief distortions of the screen or the noise of the fans running for a few seconds, you can live without Lilu and WhateverGreen.

Note: authors recommend that when using Lilu and WhateverGreen with Radeon cards, NO graphic settings have to be added to Clover (Inject ATI, etc.).

Note: these alterations, especially the brief white screen and less frequently purple lines and fan noise, are also seen in Windows and some real Macs with the same card.

Alteration during macOS installation

Boot from USB > Clover menu > Install macOS from Install macOS Catalina > screen works fine
Boot from USB > Clover menu > Install macOS from MacintoshHD > black screen
Booting from USB > Clover menu > Boot macOS from MacintoshHD > screen works fine.

In the first and third stages, screen works fine. In the second stage the screen goes black although the installation continues. The user has nothing to do at this moment so you can leave the PC working until the Clover menu is shown again, the screen is recovered, the initial account options can be configured and you can enter into the newly installed system with correct resolution and acceleration.

This behavior is not corrected even by placing Lilu and WhateverGreen into the USB device. At least in my case I have not found a solution for it. Yo can install macOS perfectly with that drawback of not seeing how it progresses during the second phase of the installation.

Only 2 connectors of the 5 available work

This card has 3 Display Port (DP) ports, 1 HDMI port and 1 DVI port. In my case, only 2 DP work, those that are further from the HDMI connector. It is enough if you use a single monitor or 2 monitors that can be connected by DP. But if you want to have 3 or more connected devices or some of them only have HDMI, it is necessary to enable the 5 connectors or at least 4 of them since the DVI is obsolete and does not allow resolutions as high as DP and HDMI.

User foxbox has proposed a solution in the thread titled [Solved] Sapphire RX 580 Nitro + SE | black screen on HDMI and DVI. Must inject from Clover a modification to the Orinoco framebuffer (which is used in the RX 580 card) so that the 5 connectors lack a fixedly assigned address and, instead, receive it dynamically. This change is made from the KextsToPatch section of Clover.

This has to be accompanied by 3 changes in the Graphics section of Clover: Orinoco in FB Name / Inject ATI / 5 in Video Ports. I have tested this solution in macOS Catalina and it effectively enables the 5 ports of the card but, since I only use 1 monitor, I have removed it and I am with Lilu and WhateverGreen.

View attachment 471843

Hi Miliuco, thanks for such a comprehensive report. Having bought this card for its ‘native compatibility’ (and affordability) you really have saved me from falling into the pits of despair! I just wanted to ask a follow up question - did you receive any video signal at all from the HDMI port in the initial stages? I am currently getting similar behaviour with HDMI out (screen goes black half way through install) but the first half of the install does show up and I’ve even got it to the promising purple lines stage before the video signal cuts out! I’ve ordered a DisplayPort adapter but am wondering whether it’s worth powering through the HDMI black screen in the mean time...!

Thanks!

 

[miliuco]

Hi Miliuco, thanks for such a comprehensive report. Having bought this card for its ‘native compatibility’ (and affordability) you really have saved me from falling into the pits of despair! I just wanted to ask a follow up question - did you receive any video signal at all from the HDMI port in the initial stages? I am currently getting similar behaviour with HDMI out (screen goes black half way through install) but the first half of the install does show up and I’ve even got it to the promising purple lines stage before the video signal cuts out! I’ve ordered a DisplayPort adapter but am wondering whether it’s worth powering through the HDMI black screen in the mean time...!

Thanks!

What model of RX 580 do you have? Mine is XFX which was the cheapest when I bought it. I know that XFX is known to be more problematic in macOS but in my case luckily it has worked well.
My card has 5 connectors: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, and 1 DVI. You have already read in the article that, without Lilu and WEG, it works fine although it shows purple lines and a white flash at boot but, with Lilu and WEG, they disappear.
However (with Lilu and WEG or without them) the screen is active from the beginning of the boot, I see the Clover or OpenCore menu and immediately the Apple logo with progress bar. It only changes to black screen for 1 or 2 seconds when switching to the graphics driver, when the bar is approximately 60%.
On my card, on Catalina, only the 2 DP ports furthest from the motherboard work. The 3rd DP port, HDMI and DVI show black screen. However, in Big Sur all 5 ports work well.
In short, answering your question. In Catalina if I connect it by HDMI I have a black screen from the beginning. In Big Sur it works well for HDMI and the screen is active during all the boot process.

 

[TheMop]

What model of RX 580 do you have? Mine is XFX which was the cheapest when I bought it. I know that XFX is known to be more problematic in macOS but in my case luckily it has worked well.
My card has 5 connectors: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, and 1 DVI. You have already read in the article that, without Lilu and WEG, it works fine although it shows purple lines and a white flash at boot but, with Lilu and WEG, they disappear.
However (with Lilu and WEG or without them) the screen is active from the beginning of the boot, I see the Clover or OpenCore menu and immediately the Apple logo with progress bar. It only changes to black screen for 1 or 2 seconds when switching to the graphics driver, when the bar is approximately 60%.
On my card, on Catalina, only the 2 DP ports furthest from the motherboard work. The 3rd DP port, HDMI and DVI show black screen. However, in Big Sur all 5 ports work well.
In short, answering your question. In Catalina if I connect it by HDMI I have a black screen from the beginning. In Big Sur it works well for HDMI and the screen is active during all the boot process.

Yes same edition as yours! That’s interesting. I can get to around 60% of the installation with HDMI before I get the black screen, but it stays as a black screen for a long time. By the sounds of it that’s when the GFX driver must kick in?!
Sadly I can’t get Big Sur yet as I don’t think any of my music or video plug ins are supported yet....! But I’m deffo aiming for Catalina.
thanks again for your advice on this. I’ll give it another whirl with the installation but now in the knowledge that it hasn’t necessarily completed conked out....! (Or just be patient and wait until 7pm for the DP adapter to arrive...)

 

[svantevid]

Hey I was wondering if someone more knowledgable can take a look if I'm doing something obviously wrong regarding me trying to get past the black screen with Asus rx580.

I got it working really well on Mojave with Inject ATI, Orinoco Framebuffer, video ports 5, RadeonDelnit and this kextpatch: com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy BA050000 00 to BA000000 00
Also Lilu and Whatevergreen.

I upgraded to Catalina (got USB installer to boot without black screen by copy/paste EFI from my Mojave install, in the end). Now I boot from USB and it works great, even the clover in the beginning and apple logo is not stretched like it usually is... but booting from SSD results in black screen no matter what I do.

What I tried:
Latest Lilu and WEG
Checking bios settings, everything is how it should be
Using inject ATI and other before mentioned graphic settings
adding agdpmod=pikera in boot arg
mentioned kextpatch kextpatch: com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy
various combinations of disabling inject ATI, disable WEG and/or Lilu and that kext patch
Removing any graphics settings and WEG and/or Lilu
change PEGP to GFX0
changing smbios to 14.2, 17.1, 19.1, iMac Pro 1.1 (This SMBIOS fixed Preview on Mojave)
Enabling/disabling igpu
Tried stabbing in the dark and using some Framebuffer I found while searching

Set custom Connectors for AMD GPU (RX 580) · Issue #578 · acidanthera/bugtracker

Specifications : GPU : MSI RX 580 4GB Armor Edition Port : HDMI, HDMI, DP, DP and DVI-D Monitor Asus VN248H Conditions : With default RadeonFramebuffer, my HDMI Port is in con3 / Framebuffer3. With...

github.com

I Don't have any DP monitors, so I'm connecting over HDMI. I bought an adapter, but it looks like something is wrong with it because even booting into windows disk with driver and everything I'm not getting anything from any of the DP's on my monitor or tv.

I have an old setup as you can see, and I'm using legacy mode.
Using WEG screen turns off, with inject ATI it stays on but black.

This may be a silly question but I don't know anything, for years I fixed my Hackintosh problems by searching and trying suggested solutions... But anyway If I can boot so well from USB, metal support and everything... why can't I just apply whatever happens when booting from USB to SSD.

tried copying EFI but that doesn't work either.

Here is my EFI. If There is something more I need to post I would really appreciate if you could mention what tool to use to obtain that info, because after years of using Hackintosh I'm still noob.
Really hope I'm missing something obvious, I have ben trying stuff for days now.

 

[miliuco]

Yes same edition as yours! That’s interesting. I can get to around 60% of the installation with HDMI before I get the black screen, but it stays as a black screen for a long time. By the sounds of it that’s when the GFX driver must kick in?!
Sadly I can’t get Big Sur yet as I don’t think any of my music or video plug ins are supported yet....! But I’m deffo aiming for Catalina.
thanks again for your advice on this. I’ll give it another whirl with the installation but now in the knowledge that it hasn’t necessarily completed conked out....! (Or just be patient and wait until 7pm for the DP adapter to arrive...)

Tell me if I have understood you correctly.
When you install Catalina from HDMI, the screen goes black (after 2 reboots?) and stays like that for a long time but ... do you arrive, after spending a while with the black screen, at the final install screen to enter macOS? During that black screen time, is there any reboot where you see the Clover or OC menu and then it goes black?
And when you start Catalina, does the Apple logo and the progress bar appear from the beginning or when it has already advanced a percentage?
If your monitor has DP connector, use DP to DP cable, it is the best option, macOS likes DisplayPort better than HDMI.
Tell me if it is solved with the DP to HDMI adapter.

 

[miliuco]

Hey I was wondering if someone more knowledgable can take a look if I'm doing something obviously wrong regarding me trying to get past the black screen with Asus rx580.

I got it working really well on Mojave with Inject ATI, Orinoco Framebuffer, video ports 5, RadeonDelnit and this kextpatch: com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy BA050000 00 to BA000000 00
Also Lilu and Whatevergreen.

I upgraded to Catalina (got USB installer to boot without black screen by copy/paste EFI from my Mojave install, in the end). Now I boot from USB and it works great, even the clover in the beginning and apple logo is not stretched like it usually is... but booting from SSD results in black screen no matter what I do...

Later I will study your EFI and tell you something.
For now I tell you this: if there is an EFI folder that boots fine from USB, that same EFi folder has to boot fine from SSD.

When you boot from SSD with the EFI that works well from USB, in the Clover menu press F11 (better 2 times) to clean the NVRAM, after pressing F11 turn off the PC from the button, remove the electrical power for a few seconds, return to turn on and start. Tell me if the problem is fixed.

If this doesn't work out, do something else. Boot the SSD with macOS SSD from the USB and install Clover into the SSD EFI, select the options you selected when you installed Clover on the USB stick, then go through the EFI to match the one from the USB and reboot.

 

[svantevid]

Later I will study your EFI and tell you something.
For now I tell you this: if there is an EFI folder that boots fine from USB, that same EFi folder has to boot fine from SSD.

When you boot from SSD with the EFI that works well from USB, in the Clover menu press F11 (better 2 times) to clean the NVRAM, after pressing F11 turn off the PC from the button, remove the electrical power for a few seconds, return to turn on and start. Tell me if the problem is fixed.

If this doesn't work out, do something else. Boot the SSD with macOS SSD from the USB and install Clover into the SSD EFI, select the options you selected when you installed Clover on the USB stick, then go through the EFI to match the one from the USB and reboot.

Thanks for suggestions. My logic was also to try copying EFI from USB to SSD, so that was the first thing I tried.
I tried again following what you said and cleaning NVRAM, but again the screen doesn't respond.

I also tried modifying EFI after installing Clover on SSD. I copied missing kexts, some drivers in BIOS and UEFI folder, and config, and I don't know if I should touch anything else. Sadly the result is the same.

I'm attaching EFI from USB if that helps.
Thanks again.

 

[TheMop]

Tell me if I have understood you correctly.
When you install Catalina from HDMI, the screen goes black (after 2 reboots?) and stays like that for a long time but ... do you arrive, after spending a while with the black screen, at the final install screen to enter macOS? During that black screen time, is there any reboot where you see the Clover or OC menu and then it goes black?
And when you start Catalina, does the Apple logo and the progress bar appear from the beginning or when it has already advanced a percentage?
If your monitor has DP connector, use DP to DP cable, it is the best option, macOS likes DisplayPort better than HDMI.
Tell me if it is solved with the DP to HDMI adapter.

Hi miliuco, quick update - got HS working smoothly with the new card - DP adapter was all it needed! I am now getting stuck in to a new OS install having just got things working

thanks for your help

 

[miliuco]

Hi miliuco, quick update - got HS working smoothly with the new card - DP adapter was all it needed! I am now getting stuck in to a new OS install having just got things working

thanks for your help

Glad to read you. Enjoy!

 

[miliuco]

Thanks for suggestions. My logic was also to try copying EFI from USB to SSD, so that was the first thing I tried.
I tried again following what you said and cleaning NVRAM, but again the screen doesn't respond.

I also tried modifying EFI after installing Clover on SSD. I copied missing kexts, some drivers in BIOS and UEFI folder, and config, and I don't know if I should touch anything else. Sadly the result is the same.

I'm attaching EFI from USB if that helps.
Thanks again.

Have you installed Clover on the macOS disk and then have you watched through the EFI folder on the EFI partition to make it look like the one on the USB stick?