LaunchOption in OC 0.6.6 and how to mess it up

[Deleted member 188658]

Running under OC 0.6.6, and when booted OSX 11.2 Big Sur.

In updating from OC 0.6.4 to 0.6.6 I used the slowgeek configuration checker to verify my config.plist. One of the discrepancies it detected was that I should change my PickerMode to BuiltIn. So I did that using CCC. I rebooted and my boot menu became a simple text menu of choice 1-5.

Not satisfied with that, on the next boot I changed the PickerMode back to External and rebooted.

Same simple text mode boot menu came up. I confirmed that the config.plist contained PickerMode == External and rebooted yet again. Simple text mode boot menu again.

At this point I decided to choose NVRAM reset, thinking maybe it is a left over option in the NVRAM. I rebooted.

NO BOOT disk, NVME/M.2 OSX disk found. I used F8 key on reset ( ASUS Bios latest) to get a boot menu, and there was no M.2 boot disk found in the BIOS menu. Gone. Only disk seen is my Windows SSD.

I put in my USB boot stick (OC 0.6.6). Came up with text mode boot picker, and saw my M.2 disk. I selected it and it gave me the Apple logo and NOTHING. No bar, no indication of progress.

On the next reboot I selected the SATA SSD with Windows on it. It booted from there into Windows no problem.

Returned to the BIOS still no boot option for my M.2 boot disk seen.
In trying to get a verbose boot from the USB stick I held down the CMD-v keys, and it booted from the M.2 disk fully back to Big Sur.

I have no idea what just happened, and I still have to try boot from the M.2 disk directly again. I just wanted to send this request to see if anyone can explain what happened when I selected the NVRAM reset option in the OC boot menu? What changed with the Command-V option?

UPDATE:

I can now boot from my USB stick by just choosing the M.2 disk from the OC boot picker menu (text mode). No Cmd-V required.

I can mount the M.2 disk EFI partition and see that the EFI folder is there, and verify that the config.plist is good, and all the folders etc of the EFI partition appear to be correct.

BUT: my BIOS boot menu does NOT see the M.2 disk, and I can't therefore boot from it's EFI partition.

What could have gone wrong by my NVRAM reset that the bios does not see the disk, as a boot disk.

 

[Deleted member 188658]

Anybody? Why would my M.2 boot disk disappear from BIOS selections, if the EFI partition is there and appears (?) to be okay?

 

[Edhawk]

To get the OC GUI back, you need to replace the /EFI/OC/Resources folder. As OC 0.6.6 uses a different setup to the previous versions and the old Resources folders don't work.

New version can be download from Acidanthera's GitHub page - https://github.com/acidanthera/OcBinaryData

Press the green 'CODE' button and download the OcBinaryData-master folder the Resources folder is within this download.

 

[Deleted member 188658]

@Edhawk

Thank you. Replacing the Resources folder, and then following the OC guide on setting the boot Picker Mode to external and picker attributes to 0x17 brought the disc picker back.

I created a new USB stick and copied the EFI folder to it. Boots fine from that USB.

But why, oh why did clearing the NVRAM yesterday cause my M.2 disk to disappear from the BIOS Boot Menu? I tried that on OC 0.6.6. Is it a bug? Why if I look at the EFI partition does it look normal, but still does not appear in the BIOS Boot Menu.

I'm worried that I will have to re-init the M.2 SSD that contains the OS to get it to boot again?

Update:

I ran a verifyVolume on the EFI partition:

% sudo diskutil verifyvolume /dev/disk0s1
Password:
Started file system verification on disk0s1 (EFI)
Verifying file system
Volume was successfully unmounted
Performing fsck_msdos -n /dev/rdisk0s1
** /dev/rdisk0s1
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters
Found orphan cluster(s)
Fix? no
Found 36256 orphaned clusters
1224 files, 67361 KiB free (134723 clusters)
File system check exit code is 8
Restoring the original state found as mounted
Error: -69845: File system verify or repair failed
Underlying error: 8


This doesn't look good, does it?

Update #2

Ran a repair on the volume:

% sudo diskutil repairvolume /dev/disk0s1
Started file system repair on disk0s1 (EFI)
Repairing file system
Volume was successfully unmounted
Performing fsck_msdos -y /dev/rdisk0s1
** /dev/rdisk0s1
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters
Found orphan cluster(s)
Fix? yes
Marked 36256 clusters as free
Free space in FSInfo block (254063) not correct (290319)
Fix? yes
620 files, 145159 KiB free (290319 clusters)

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
File system check exit code is 0
Restoring the original state found as mounted
Finished file system repair on disk0s1 (EFI)

Then removed the existing EFI folder, emptied the trash and replaced it with the successful USB stick EFI folder.

Ran the verify volume on the partition again:

% sudo diskutil verifyvolume /dev/disk0s1
Started file system verification on disk0s1 (EFI)
Verifying file system
Volume was successfully unmounted
Performing fsck_msdos -n /dev/rdisk0s1
** /dev/rdisk0s1
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters
608 files, 145221 KiB free (290442 clusters)
File system check exit code is 0
Restoring the original state found as mounted
Finished file system verification on disk0s1 (EFI)
tonyo@Tonys-Z390-iMac Desktop % sudo diskutil verifyvolume /dev/disk0s1
Started file system verification on disk0s1 (EFI)
Verifying file system
Volume was successfully unmounted
Performing fsck_msdos -n /dev/rdisk0s1
** /dev/rdisk0s1
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters
96 files, 199470 KiB free (398940 clusters)
File system check exit code is 0
Restoring the original state found as mounted
Finished file system verification on disk0s1 (EFI)

The M.2 disk is STILL not seen by the BIOS Boot manager.

Yes I've dropped into the ASUS BIOS, and I believe it sees that a disk exists there, but it won't recognize it as a boot disk. Yes it is no AHCI mode, Fast Boot is turned off.

Ideas?

 

[Edhawk]

The first thing I would do is to enter the bios and reset the bios to defaults.

See if that changes the way the bios sees the drive.

If that works reset the bios to run macOS, using these settings:

1. Virtualization : Enabled
2. VT-d : Disabled
3. XHCI Hand-Off : Enabled
4. Legacy USB Support: Auto/Enabled
5. IO SerialPort : Disabled
6. Network Stack : Disabled
7. XMP Profile : Auto / Profile 1/Enabled
8. UEFI Booting set to Enabled and set Priority over Legacy
9. Secure Boot : Disabled
10. Fast Boot : Disabled
11. OS Type: Other OS
12. Wake on LAN : Disabled

Dedicated Graphics + Integrated graphics card:

1. Integrated Graphics : Enabled
2. Graphics: PEG/PCIe Slot 1
3. Initial Display Output : PCIe 1 Slot
4. DVMT Pre-Allocated : 128M or higher

OverWrite Bios:
If the first option doesn't work, download the exact same version of your current bios and either 'update' the bios using the built-in bios Flash option, or install the downloaded bios on a HP MS-DOS USB, and then boot your system to update the bios.

Both of these bios options will overwrite your current setup, hopefully clearing any changes made by the OC Clear Nvram process.

You don't need to have any drives connected when your run the bios update/overwrite.

You would need to reset the bios after the overwrite, as listed above.

 

[Deleted member 188658]

The first thing I would do is to enter the bios and reset the bios to defaults.

See if that changes the way the bios sees the drive.

I did reset the bios to defaults. Then I realized I've been reading the BIOS boot menu wrong. It is seeing the EFI partition on my M.2 Samsung SSD 970 drive. BUT it is only seeing the Windows Boot manager - not the OC boot manager. The fact that it sees only the Windows Boot manager, has been throwing me off.

There is a second SATA Samsung SSD which contains my Windows image. If I simply select that BIOS boot option I go straight into the Windows boot and OS. I don't ever see the OC boot manager.

See attached photo from BIOS.

The second attached folder is the contents of the EFI folder on the EFI partition of the M.2 Samsung.

The is the SAME folder contents as what boots up OC from the USB stick.



What gives? - thanks for your responses.

 

[Edhawk]

No idea! Resetting the bios should allow you to choose either drive as the first boot drive.

Why is the UEFI drive ‘disabled’?

 

[Deleted member 188658]

Why is the UEFI drive ‘disabled’?

That's just the USB stick. It is disabled in this case to try force the boot from one choice: M.2 Samsung.

 

[shuhung]

try force the boot from one choice: M.2 Samsung.

On OC 0.66, new LauncherOption is added, default setting is Disabled, if want OC add boot entry to UEFI after clear NVRam, set value to Full.

Boot from Windows, use EasyUEFI add entry to UEFI, and move new OC boot entry to top as boot default, if OC entry not show after reboot, from BIOS select OC as default, should work with OC 0.66.

 

[Deleted member 188658]

On OC 0.66, new LauncherOption is added, default setting is Disabled, if want OC add boot entry to UEFI after clear NVRam, set value to Full.

Thanks for the reply!

I made the change you suggested to LaucherOption. Made it full. It was set to Default.

I can boot into OSX using the USB stick. So making the changes in Opencore Configurator.

I don't follow what you are saying about :

use EasyUEFI add entry to UEFI, and move new OC boot entry to top as boot default, if OC entry not show after reboot, from BIOS select OC as default,

This is what my config looks like in the UEFI section. There is no specific entry for the UEFI boot. Or am I not understanding your advice?

Anyway the change did not affect my BIOS boot options. They look like this, still only an option for Windows Boot Manager. The second option below is my USB stick. The third option is a Clover EFI partition on yet another disk.

Are you recommending that I clear the NVRAM again? Or just hit the clear CMOS switch on the motherboard?