Asus ProArt Z490 Creator Discussion

[Stork]

Hi, I want to update you on the progress made.
I managed to install MacOSX Catalina, I have some problems.
When the boot loader starts, OC asks me which OS to start with, I enter the number of the partition concerned, many writings appear, the apple with the progress bar does not appear and Catalina loads.
Everything works except the thunderbolt ports and HDMI audio.
What should I do?
Ho attaccato il config.plist cosi puoi controllarlo, grazie

I've never seen that with the OC Boot Picker screen. Did you check the OC guide? Maybe @CaseySJ can help.

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ After further testing
1. power from programmer and try to read firmware (fail)
2. power from motherboard disconnect vcc on programmer and try to read firmware (fail)
3. buy empty "MX25L8006E M2I-12G" chip and try to read empty chip (success)

After above test, and some reading on google where people say some chip might have to be desolder inorder to read correctly, I can assume this it the case I'm facing now, but as desoldering will violate the warranty of the MB I'll just have to stop here.

Thanks for all your help, sorry at last I still can't provide the firmware of this MB.

@mike878,

Seems like a good effort was made. Some comments:

• Which CH341a programmer are you using? Do you have link for it?
• Desoldering the chip is not recommended. Some have tried, but it fails after being re-soldered.
• It ispossible to read the chip in-situ, but it does take some experimentation:
  • Wiggling the SOIC clip can help
  • Using shorter breadboard cables can help (shorter cables have less impedance and have less antenna effects)
  • Doing this after dark can help (yup)
• Removing all components from the motherboard can also help:
  • Disconnect memory
  • Remove all PCIe cards
  • Remove all NVMe SSDs
  • Disconnect all USB/TB3 devices

Having said all this, we should not force this. If, after a reasonable effort, the chip refuses to cooperate, then it's best to give up at least for the time being.

Update:
I just realized you have an MXIC (Macronix) chip instead of Winbond. Ouch. MXIC chips are much more difficult. It might be best to stop. One can always purchase a GC-Titan Ridge card, flash its firmware (easy to do) and install that if Thunderbolt Bus is necessary.

 

[CaseySJ]

Hi, I want to update you on the progress made.
I managed to install MacOSX Catalina, I have some problems.
When the boot loader starts, OC asks me which OS to start with, I enter the number of the partition concerned, many writings appear, the apple with the progress bar does not appear and Catalina loads.
Everything works except the thunderbolt ports and HDMI audio.
What should I do?
Ho attaccato il config.plist cosi puoi controllarlo, grazie

Please try the attached config.plist (it is for OpenCore 0.7.7 so if you see any OCS: Schema messages/warning, you can ignore them). Copy serial numbers into PlatformInfo --> DataHub section before using.

Thunderbolt hot-plug SSDT is not included, but please test the other issues you reported.

 

[mike878]

@mike878,

Seems like a good effort was made. Some comments:

• Which CH341a programmer are you using? Do you have link for it?
• Desoldering the chip is not recommended. Some have tried, but it fails after being re-soldered.
• It ispossible to read the chip in-situ, but it does take some experimentation:
  • Wiggling the SOIC clip can help
  • Using shorter breadboard cables can help (shorter cables have less impedance and have less antenna effects)
  • Doing this after dark can help (yup)
• Removing all components from the motherboard can also help:
  • Disconnect memory
  • Remove all PCIe cards
  • Remove all NVMe SSDs
  • Disconnect all USB/TB3 devices

Having said all this, we should not force this. If, after a reasonable effort, the chip refuses to cooperate, then it's best to give up at least for the time being.

Update:
I just realized you have an MXIC (Macronix) chip instead of Winbond. Ouch. MXIC chips are much more difficult. It might be best to stop. One can always purchase a GC-Titan Ridge card, flash its firmware (easy to do) and install that if Thunderbolt Bus is necessary.

Hi Casey, Thanks for replying

• I tried 3 programmer
  • Other brand but same as Noyito CH341 one's as I don't live in the state.
  • The gold and yellow CH341 which outputs 5v, but modified to 3v output.
  • GZUt OnePro which is arm based.

I've also searched on google again and it seems that the `AsRock-Z490-Phantom-ITX-TB3` also have the same MXIC as mine did, which needs to be soldered. So I'm just going to buy a GC-Titan Ridge card and have some fun with it.

And once more thanks for you help.

 

[mike878]

Hi, I've enabled VT-d for better support for thunderbolt and followed the bios setting in the thread, but after enabling VT-d my build will just restart after it enter sleep, it seems like something has crash and causing a reboot. Anyone have the same issue? Will it be related to I'm not having the SSDT-DMAR file in my EFI? Thanks

 

[CaseySJ]

Hi, I've enabled VT-d for better support for thunderbolt and followed the bios setting in the thread, but after enabling VT-d my build will just restart after it enter sleep, it seems like something has crash and causing a reboot. Anyone have the same issue? Will it be related to I'm not having the SSDT-DMAR file in my EFI? Thanks

If you are not deleting the standard DMAR table and replacing it with a modified version, then please post the original DMAR table. On some motherboards we need to replace the table, but not on others.