Asus Z690 ProArt Creator WiFi (Thunderbolt 4) + i7-12700K + AMD RX 6800 XT

[Azimuth1]

I believe I experienced the same issue. Here’s a quick suggestion that may or may not help:

• Add boot argument ixgbe=0
• Shutdown and flip power switch on PSU to off for 10 seconds (yes this is necessary)
• Then power up and check sleep behavior again with cable connected

Thanks @CaseySJ !
sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

But I guess there is something else that can randomly prevent the system go to sleep correctly:

2022-11-29 17:48:48 +0100
Assertion status system-wide:
   BackgroundTask                 0
   ApplePushServiceTask           0
   UserIsActive                   1
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep    0
   PreventSystemSleep             0
   ExternalMedia                  0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     1
   NetworkClientActive            0
Listed by owning process:
   pid 503(sharingd): [0x000064fa000180f0] 00:00:53 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "Handoff"
   pid 170(WindowServer): [0x000063ea00098032] 00:00:00 UserIsActive named: "com.apple.iohideventsystem.queue.tickle serviceID:1000058f6 name:AppleHIDKeyboardEve product:Apple Keyboard eventType:3"
    Timeout will fire in 600 secs Action=TimeoutActionRelease
Kernel Assertions: 0xc=USB,BT-HID
   id=622  level=255 0x4=USB creat=29/11/22, 17:54 description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14600000 owner=USB2.0 Hub
   id=624  level=255 0x4=USB creat=29/11/22, 17:58 description=com.apple.usb.externaldevice.14620000 owner=Keyboard Hub
   id=626  level=255 0x8=BT-HID creat=29/11/22, 17:46 description=com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver owner=BNBMouseDevice
Idle sleep preventers: IODisplayWrangler

and also:

log show --style syslog | fgrep "Wake reason"
2022-11-29 17:41:21.485303+0100  localhost kernel[0]: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: ?
2022-11-29 17:41:21.485303+0100  localhost kernel[0]: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: ?
2022-11-29 17:42:31.500198+0100  localhost kernel[0]: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XDCI CNVW
2022-11-29 17:42:31.500198+0100  localhost kernel[0]: (AppleACPIPlatform) AppleACPIPlatformPower Wake reason: XDCI CNVW

what do you think?

 

[CaseySJ]

...

@rolotrealanis mentioned in post #1,762 that they were able to easily remove the I/O shield. I’m looking at it and a little confused on how to remove the fancy plastic cover and the backplate. I see some little black screws on the back of the motherboard that seem to line up with the I/O shield. Did you unscrew those or did you just pop off the plastic cover and backplate?

Hello @jmjak

Just to follow-up: Were you able to remove the I/O shield?

 

[CaseySJ]

Hi all, I have the build with Z690 ProArt and 12700K up and running since March.

Since I upgraded to Ventura few weeks ago, I have a strange issue with my Magic Trackpad. At every login, I need to first connect the Trackpad with cable in order to use it. After, if I disconnect the cable, it works well. If I don't connect the cable at login the trackpad doesn't connect automatically, and, if I user another mouse to connect manually, it works. I use a Trust BT dongle, and I have the configuration like this post. How can I solve?

Hello @fabiol76

Do you have a link to the "Trust BT dongle"?

We generally recommend a Broadcom WiFi/BT module such as the ones by Fenvi.

 

[CaseySJ]

Hi CaseySJ, I'm using Z690 ProArt with 13700K (macOS 12.6.1). The motherboard BIOS Version is 2103 2022/10/19, which support 13th Gen CPU. My problem is all the USB Ports may accidentally failed to response (including USB 2.0 Device), I have to force shutdown. The USB recovered after boot. Do you know what could cause this happen(almost once a week)?

Hello @dmdacc

Some questions:

• It this a fresh install of Monterey 12.6.1?
• Is the motherboard brand new or were you using 12th Gen Alder Lake on it before?
• If you were using Alder Lake, were USB ports working well?

 

[CatBus]

Many many thanks to @CaseySJ for this incredibly thorough build tread. I’ve made it through all 223 pages and have a lot of notes! Thanks also to @dehjomz and @gandem for their contributions. I’ve certainly learned a lot about Thunderbolt in general and this board in particular.

I’ve been able to acquire all the hardware for reasonable prices (actually pretty close to what I just paid for an M2 MacBook Air) and am ready to start the build. First thing is to remove existing wifi card and insert the BCM94360NG module on the motherboard.

@rolotrealanis mentioned in post #1,762 that they were able to easily remove the I/O shield. I’m looking at it and a little confused on how to remove the fancy plastic cover and the backplate. I see some little black screws on the back of the motherboard that seem to line up with the I/O shield. Did you unscrew those or did you just pop off the plastic cover and backplate?

Hi jmjak,

I just finished a new build yesterday and ended up replacing the Intel M.2 NGFF WIFI/BT card with a Broadcom one. Getting the IO shield off was a bit of a hit and miss process, but I managed to do it without borking anything. If you're still trying to figure it out, here's what I did:

- Remove the small black Philips head screws that hold the plastic housing on - the screws are located on the undersurface of the motherboard along the edge just under the shield. As I recall, these are Philips #0 or #1 maybe - you'll need to remove all four

- Once the screws are removed, the two plastic housing pieces should come right off

- The IO shield has hinged retainer clips on both ends that attach to the closest IO port housing - carefully pry these open and the IO shield should come loose - I used a plastic spudger so as not to damage anything

- That should give you an open view of the IO area - you can locate the housing for the M.2 card by matching it up with the two antenna screws - turn the motherboard over and you'll see two small silver Philips head screws - remove these and the WIFI/BT housing with the card should come loose - just lift it carefully straight upwards - the card is seated in the M.2 slot

- There's a single small, broad headed Philips head screw that needs to be removed in order to open the housing and access the M.2 card. Gently remove the antenna wires by prying them up, move the wires to one side, unscrew the retaining screw that holds the M.2 card in place, and you should should be all set.

Installation is just a matter of reversing these steps. Personally, I found detaching and reattaching the antenna clips to be the most challenging - they are VERY small and delicate. Take your time and you should be fine.

Good luck!
J

 

[fabiol76]

Hello @fabiol76

Do you have a link to the "Trust BT dongle"?

We generally recommend a Broadcom WiFi/BT module such as the ones by Fenvi.

Hello, this is the link: Trust

 

[jmjak]

Hello @jmjak

Just to follow-up: Were you able to remove the I/O shield?

No, haven't had time to yet, but the directions from @CatBus are much appreciated! I do suspect those little antenna attachment points will be tricky.

 

[dmdacc]

Hello @dmdacc

Some questions:

• It this a fresh install of Monterey 12.6.1?
• Is the motherboard brand new or were you using 12th Gen Alder Lake on it before?
• If you were using Alder Lake, were USB ports working well?

Thank you for your reply! Should I make a fresh install of 12.6.1?
·It was a fresh install of Monterey 12.5, updated to 12.6.1.
·It's a new build with 13700K, never used 13th Gen Raptor Lake before.

 

[CaseySJ]

Thank you for your reply! Should I make a fresh install of 12.6.1?
·It was a fresh install of Monterey 12.5, updated to 12.6.1.
·It's a new build with 13700K, never used 13th Gen Raptor Lake before.

I believe the USB issue is likely due to BIOS. Others have reported similar problem when using 13th CPU on Z690.

Which version of BIOS is installed?

 

[CatBus]

---

Update #1 - HackinDROM and Bluetooth-on-Wake Fix

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Just a quick update to report on two things:

• HackinDROM: Followed @CaseySJ's mini tutorial and smoothly and effortless updated OpenCore from the initial install (0.7.8) to 0.8.3. This went completely without a hitch. I'm seriously impressed. A couple years ago I used MountEFI and ProperTree for config.plist editing - EFIAgent, HackinDROM, and OpenCore Configurator are just some much nicer and more robust to use. BTW... to edit the O.C. 0.8.3 config.plist, use OpenCore Configurator version 2.61.2.0
  
  
• Bluetooth on Wake - FIXED: Bluetooth on macOS Monterey has been a bit of a painful issue, but it seems to be working now. For the initial installation, I used an old USB wired Mac keyboard and a Logitech USB mouse. Once I got the system installed, I switched over to an Apple BT Magic Keyboard, mouse, and trackpad. With the first system sleep, I was able to wake the system by tapping the trackpad, but the keyboard, mouse and trackpad were completely unresponsive. I did a bit of reading on the forums and tried the following, which seems to have fixed the problem:
  • Disabled FastBoot in BIOS
  • Enabled the set of Broadcom kernel Kexts:

I also used pmset to adjust a few things per the 'Fixing Sleep | OpenCore Post-Install' guide:

sudo pmset autopoweroff 0
sudo pmset powernap 0
sudo pmset standby 0
sudo pmset proximitywake 0
sudo pmset tcpkeepalive 0

So far, I've been really happy with this build and can't recommend it highly enough. I've finished the tedious, watching-paint-dry, software installation process and, so far, everything seems to be working well on macOS Monterey. Time will tell if issues come but.

So far, so good.
J

---

Initial Post

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Cracking New Build: Successes, Hiccups, and Some Lessons Learned

TL;DR Summary:
I used @CaseySJ's comprehensive hardware shopping and build guide for build out and excellent installation guide and had a mostly event-free installation with O.C. 0.7.8 and macOS Montgomery. There were a couple small hiccups along the way, which is to be expected: I'll share the lessons learned.

30 Second Executive Summary:
If you're planning to attempt this build, start ordering the components now, before they disappear off the shelves of Amazon and NewEgg. OpenCore 0.7.8 + macOS Monterey has been a huge success so far and I can heartily recommend them. Read @CaseySJ's excellent installation guide (several times) and do exactly what he tells you to do - you should be good. Post to the forum if you get stuck.

Long Summary:
First, I can't say thanks enough to @CaseySJ for the huge amount of time and effort into putting this build guide together! It represents a tremendous amount of work and I wanted to start by calling him out and thanking him for it.

Huge Kudos, buddy!

Next, here's the parts list for this build (all sourced from Amazon US):

• MB: ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI
• CPU: Intel Core i7-13700 (socket LGA 1700)
• GPU: Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
• RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5 32GB x4 (128GB total)
• SSD (primary): Western Digital Black SN850X Gen4 2TB
• SSD (secondary): Western Digital Black SN770 1TB
• CPU Cooler: Lian Li Galahad AIO 360 RGB
• WIFI/BT: Fenvi T919 PCIe card (see discussion below)
• CASE: Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic EVO Snow White ATX Full Tower (love this thing!)
• PS: NZXT C1000 80+ Gold 1000 watt power supply
• FANS: Lian Li SL-Infinity 120mm RGB and 2x NZXT 120 fans

I repurposed a set of Apple Magic Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad from a prior build. Once I move this to its final resting place, it will drive a BenQ 4K monitor.

The Build:
This mostly went very smoothly. It took a while to source all of the parts. One thing I've learned from building systems over the years is that many components have a pretty short shelf life - if you wait more than 6-12 months, they can become increasingly difficult to find or end up in the hands of scalpers. A few of these components were already in short supply when I ordered them.

I ended up spending the better part of a day with the build. I took my time. I did run into a couple issues, which I eventually resolved:

• WIFI/BT: I had planned to use the BCM94360NG M.2 WIFI/BT card for WIFI and Bluetooth connectivity in order to save a PCIe slot - installation went pretty smoothly (see prior post), but for some reason I could not get Bluetooth to work. I'm sure it's My Bad. In the end, I stole a Fenvi T919 PCIe card from a prior build and installed in and Everything Just Worked. These Fenvi cards are the best.
  
  
• RAM: I ran into two issues with the G.Skill Trident memory: (1) the system refused to boot when XMP Profile 1 was enabled - it just hung (disabling XMP solved that problem), and (2) it takes a very long time during POST for memory checking - probably on the order of 60-70 seconds - not sure why, but it just does. I'll live with it.

Things about the build I really loved:

• CASE: I am totally enthralled with the Lian Li 001 Dynamic EVO case. I was really surprised by this. I'm a pretty huge NZXT fanboy and just finished Windows 10 builds with NZXT i510 and i710 cases - both of these are great cases and both in basic black. For this build, I decided to try something different - I wasn't sure I'd like a pure white case, but in the end, I'm really loving it. More importantly, the Lian Li case is a work of art - everything is nicely laid out, build materials are top notch, cable routing is quite good, there's easy access to nearly everything with thumb screws, no sharp points, and its just a gorgeous case to look at.

The Installation:
This went mostly smoothly, although I did run into a problem with my first choice of OpenCore and macOS versions:

• First attempt: The Problem: OpenCore 0.8.3 and macOS Big Sur- I chose Big Sur because I plan to use this build for a combination of digital photography, video editing, and a bit of digital music production. I checked compatibility lists for the big ticket apps that I use and most of them recommended Big Sur with a proviso that Monterey support was still a bit sketchy. So, I figured I'd go conservative.
  • Here's the problem: I could not get macOS Big Sur to recognize the Marvell Aquantia AQC113 10 GbE LAN adapter. I spent a couple hours reading through Tonymacx86 forums and doing some Google searches and reading. There were a handful of on topic posts in another forum. I tried a couple SSDT's and tinkered with kernel patches, but... No Love.
    
    I'm too old to keep banging my head against the wall...
• Second attempt: The solution: OpenCore 0.7.8 and macOS Monterey - I started from scratch, rebuilt the install USB drive with the O.C. 0.7.8 EFI and a fresh download of macOS Monterey and everything installed and worked!

Aside: I configured this as MacPro 7,1 in config.plist. BIOS settings were as outlined in the installation guide, except as noted above.

What's working:
Pretty much everything, at least so far. The system has been up and running for only about 24 hours, so it's a bit too early to declare victory. Still, everything has been stable so far.

Here's what I've tested and found working:

• iCloud
• iMessage
• WIFI
• Bluetooth
• USB ports
• Audio (front and rear panel connectors)
• AirDrop
• Sleep/wake (no issues with USB on wake)

Here's what the system has detected, but I haven't had time yet to test:

• Ethernet ports: the system correctly identifies both the Intel i225 and Marvell Aquantia AQC113 10 GbE adapters
• Thunderbolt 4

Benchmarks:
I was pleasantly surprised by how this thing hums along. Here's a quick rundown:

• WD BLACK XN850X
  • WRITE: 5864 MB/s
  • READ: 5805 MB/s
• WD BLACK SN770
  • WRITE: 4209 MB/s
  • READ: 4286 MB/s
• Cinebench R23:
  • Single Core: 1801
  • Multi Core: 28987

N.B. - I decided to configure the BIOS with all P-cores and E-cores enabled.

Plans and Final Thoughts:
With the proviso that this system is still in its infancy, I am already enjoying it and have high hopes. I'm anticipating a duty cycle of 3-4 years and will be using this primarily for digital photo editing (Adobe CC, ON1 Photo RAW, DxO NiK Plugins, and BorisFX primarily) with some video editing (Final Cut Pro X and/or DaVinci Resolve Studio 18) and digital music production (Logic Pro X, MainStage, FL Studio 20, Ableton Live Studio 10, Bitwig 4). It will likely share day-to-day computing responsibilities (email, web, and some office work) with a Windows 10 Home build.

I'm already sourcing parts for a NAS server (TrueNAS Core, more than likely) - content will live on the NAS server for both archiving and file sharing between the macOS and Win10 computers. I still need Win10 for a couple things, including Microsoft ICE, which is still my absolute favorite image composite editor. I'm hoping to set up a small 10 GbE LAN - the ASUS board has built-in 10 GbE support and the Win10 MB (ASUS ROG Strix X570-E WIFI) has 2.5 GbE support. I'll probably add a 10 GbE PCIe card to it in the future. If I can get anything close to 400-500 MB/s transfer speeds, I'll plan to download images from the camera directly to the NAS server and simply work off of SMB shares. Video editing... probably not. I hate latency. I'll probably work off a scratch drive (WD SN770) and use the NAS server for archiving and sharing.

I'll plan to check back in and post from time to time as I get more experience with this system, particularly if I run into issues.

Screenshots:

Final Build

Case internals (I'll spare you a look at the rat's nest of cabling hidden on the back side...)

Both LAN adapters correctly identified

WD BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD drive - Speed test

WD SN770 NVMe SSD drive - Speed test

Cinebench Multi Core: Score: 28987

Cinebench R23 Single Core: Score: 1801

Successful Install!

Once again, huge thanks to @CaseySJ for sharing his hard work and being available to help with builds and answering the myriad questions and issues that come up.

Cheers!
JMF (@CatBus)