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[SUCCESS] Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Thunderbolt 3) + i7-9700K + AMD RX 580

Happy Holidays everyone! I've got a little bit of downtime over the holidays which has me wondering if I should scratch that tinkering itch and spend the time converting my super solid Clover Mojave system to an OpenCore system and possibly upgrade to Catalina. I've read through the OpenCore to Clover guides by @CaseySJ and it all seems doable. I'm just wondering if it's worth it to make the jump.
Hello @NoiseCoalition!

Fun fact -- you were the first to build a Z390 Designare Hackintosh based on my earliest guide (if you could call it a 'guide' back then). Numero uno. :)

If you could do that back then, you can definitely make the jump to Catalina or even Big Sur today.
Is OpenCore the way forward and will clover support eventually be phased out?
Yes OpenCore has become the preeminent boot loader for Hackintosh. Clover will continue to coexist and that's a good thing because it gives us a choice. But Clover is already integrating parts of OpenCore into itself, which means it trails OpenCore.

Is OpenCore equally as stable as clover these days? My system has been incredibly stable which is why I hesitate to mess with it at all.
OpenCore is not only stable, it works flawlessly even on Z490 and AMD motherboards (for Ryzen-based Hackintosh). There is a learning curve involved, but we've tried to make the transition as painless as possible by providing pre-configured EFI folders.

We must make a full bootable backup first, and test the backup before switching from Clover to OpenCore. In fact, I would even go so far as to recommend the following:
  • Obtain a new (low cost) SATA SSD and mount it inside an external USB 3.0 enclosure. These enclosures are about US$10.
  • Clone the Mojave system to this new SATA SSD (and also copy the EFI folder to it).
  • Confirm that the system boots through the SATA SSD (press F12 at BIOS Splash Screen and select the external SSD).
  • Then install BIOS F9g or newer (F9i is available on Gigabyte website).
  • Configure all BIOS parameters again, including a new one in the Boot section called CFG-Lock. Set this to Disabled.
  • Then try these steps (but skip the steps related to manually unlocking MSR 0xE2, which is the same as CFG-Lock):
Screen Shot 2020-12-24 at 10.07.04 AM.png
 
Here is the original firmware and your SSDT, USB-C still does not work :crazy:

View attachment 502280View attachment 502281View attachment 502282View attachment 502283
Thanks for flashing the original firmware back. To check if the USB-C ports are working, please do the following:
  • Remove or disable the Thunderbolt SSDT. This forces macOS to probe the PCI bus and auto-detect Thunderbolt and USB-C devices on the GC-Titan Ridge card.
  • Shutdown the system and flip power switch to OFF for 10 seconds.
  • Then power the system up and login to macOS.
  • Post screenshot of IORegistryExplorer (Thunderbolt section).
 

Attachments

  • SSDT-TbtOnPch-Gigabyte-Z390-GAMING-M.aml
    4.9 KB · Views: 44
Hello @NoiseCoalition!

Fun fact -- you were the first to build a Z390 Designare Hackintosh based on my earliest guide (if you could call it a 'guide' back then). Numero uno. :)

If you could do that back then, you can definitely make the jump to Catalina or even Big Sur today.

Ha yes! I remember that. I believe that you were experimenting with your build in another thread and I asked you to document your journey. So glad you did!

I'm definitely going to hold off on Big Sur because of software compatibility issues. I may upgrade to Catalina but also might just stay on Mojave. The current OpenCore set up works with Mojave, correct?

We must make a full bootable backup first, and test the backup before switching from Clover to OpenCore. In fact, I would even go so far as to recommend the following:
  • Obtain a new (low cost) SATA SSD and mount it inside an external USB 3.0 enclosure. These enclosures are about US$10.
  • Clone the Mojave system to this new SATA SSD (and also copy the EFI folder to it).
  • Confirm that the system boots through the SATA SSD (press F12 at BIOS Splash Screen and select the external SSD).

Yeah I have two SSD's in USB3.0 enclosures for Hackintosh backups. I may have to take the plunge into OpenCore!
 
...
The current OpenCore set up works with Mojave, correct?
...
Yes it does, but we must still use BIOS F9g or F9i with CFG-Lock set to Disabled because the OpenCore EFI is using native NVRAM and will not boot without this.

It's definitely a good idea to get acquainted with OpenCore and its companion, OpenCore Configurator.
 
Thanks for flashing the original firmware back. To check if the USB-C ports are working, please do the following:
  • Remove or disable the Thunderbolt SSDT. This forces macOS to probe the PCI bus and auto-detect Thunderbolt and USB-C devices on the GC-Titan Ridge card.
  • Shutdown the system and flip power switch to OFF for 10 seconds.
  • Then power the system up and login to macOS.
  • Post screenshot of IORegistryExplorer (Thunderbolt section).
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 19.58.25.png
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 19.57.03.png
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 19.55.15.png
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 19.55.41.png
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 19.55.04.png
 
Unfortunately macOS is not detecting any USB ports. It is detecting the USB hub, but no USB 2 or USB 3 ports. This is very odd and may indicate:
  • GC-Titan Ridge might not be compatible with your motherboard/CPU
  • GC-Titan Ridge might not be plugged into a X4 or larger PCIe slot
  • GC-Titan Ridge might be defective
Because GC-Titan Ridge has two flash ROM chips -- one with blue dot and one with green dot -- please let me know if any changes were made to the 'green dot' chip? All changes should be made only to blue dot chip.
 
Unfortunately macOS is not detecting any USB ports. It is detecting the USB hub, but no USB 2 or USB 3 ports. This is very odd and may indicate:
  • GC-Titan Ridge might not be compatible with your motherboard/CPU
  • GC-Titan Ridge might not be plugged into a X4 or larger PCIe slot
  • GC-Titan Ridge might be defective
Because GC-Titan Ridge has two flash ROM chips -- one with blue dot and one with green dot -- please let me know if any changes were made to the 'green dot' chip? All changes should be made only to blue dot chip.

It's strange in MacPro5.1 it works, but not in Hackintosh, I didn't touch the green chip, now I'll check it in MacPro 5.1 with a non-flashed rom
 
Yes it does, but we must still use BIOS F9g or F9i with CFG-Lock set to Disabled because the OpenCore EFI is using native NVRAM and will not boot without this.

It's definitely a good idea to get acquainted with OpenCore and its companion, OpenCore Configurator.

Great, I'm thinking that I'll just try to switch to OpenCore for now and skip step 2 below! Thinking ahead, is it better to update OS's incrementally (Mojave to Catalina to Big Sur) or in the future would it be okay to go from Mojave straight to Big Sur?

457184-d9288092e40d2938091dfc1ae424399a.png
 
Unfortunately macOS is not detecting any USB ports. It is detecting the USB hub, but no USB 2 or USB 3 ports. This is very odd and may indicate:
  • GC-Titan Ridge might not be compatible with your motherboard/CPU
  • GC-Titan Ridge might not be plugged into a X4 or larger PCIe slot
  • GC-Titan Ridge might be defective
Because GC-Titan Ridge has two flash ROM chips -- one with blue dot and one with green dot -- please let me know if any changes were made to the 'green dot' chip? All changes should be made only to blue dot chip.
Screenshots from MacPro 5.1 no firmware and SSDT, USB-C works. Know the problem in the Motherboard / CPU. Hackintosh Thunderbolt 3 works but USB-C doesn't work
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 20.31.09.png
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 20.34.15.png
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 20.35.08.png
Screenshot 2020-12-24 at 20.37.51.png
 
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