@StefanAM,
@Romanychev Thanks! I've seen the ghosts!
Throughout the P-cores and their hyperthreads, all is fine. First E-core (from 12900K):
'processor-id' and 'processor-number are in sync. Then the next E-core:
'processor-id' keeps with the sequence (as defined in SSDT) but 'processor-number', which should be an OS X-generated alternate index, has jumped by
two units! 'Processor-number' 0x11 is nowhere to be found.
This goes on with the remaining cores, and eventually the last processors are not initialised.
There are no such jumps or loss of synchronicity in a previous IOReg with P+E cores (no HT).
Mad Scientist proposal: What happens if the "effective" numbers are raised in the kernel patch?
Replace: B8 28 00 14 00 31 D2
for i9-12900K
Replace: B8 1C 00 0E 00 31 D2
for i7-12700K
Replace: B8 18 00 0C 00 31 D2
for i5-12600K
(Most likely the hack no longer boots because the patch does not match the actual CPU, or the limiting counter is not there—or is only
one of the two patched instances.)