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

[CaseySJ]

Okayyy. So firstly, thankyou very much, extremely appreciated as always.

Secondly, my computer has for some mysterious reason decided that it wants to crash CONSTANTLY today, whether it being on boot into MacOS or shortly after getting to the desktop, so getting in there making those changes to the file was an incredibly irritating process. Booting into Windows is still fine (that is when it decides to show me the option to of course), so I'm typing this from there instead. Again, I have made NO changes to the normal boot EFI since updating Opencore a couple of days ago. I must have reset the NVRAM a dozen times or more so far today..I guess it's just in a mood.
If my MacOS keeps crashing like this, I'm going to have to prioritise that as a problem to be fixed first...

Ouch! Some suggestions:

• First try a cold boot. This means flipping power switch on PSU to OFF for 10-15 seconds, then powering the system back up
• If that does not work, perform a CMOS Reset. This may change BIOS parameters back to default values so we should enter BIOS Setup afterwards and configure it properly
• If that also fails to help, check all cable connections. Press down on each cable to verify full connection. If there are USB or Thunderbolt devices connected, disconnect all but keyboard and mouse
• If multiple monitors are connected, disconnect all but one

Thirdly, once I did manage to edit the config.plist file and put it onto the Sonoma USB's EFI, I managed to boot into it and start the process- I saw a progress bar start to fill up!- but It was another faliure.
When trying verbose boot, there was a LOT of text, filling up the screen multiple times, and when it failed it immediately cut power & reboot so I couldn't get any capture of what the last screen of text was. I assume there's a way of safely getting a boot log file somehow?

If you see a lot of text filling up the screen and scrolling by, that's exactly what we want to see! But of course it should not reboot.

I noticed you have an entry in DeviceProperties for a FireWire card. Was that card compatible with previous version of macOS? Which version of macOS was that?

 

[RetroRocker]

Some suggestions:

• First try a cold boot. This means flipping power switch on PSU to OFF for 10-15 seconds, then powering the system back up

This is indeed what I ended up doing eventually once I'd calmed down. A cold boot after shutting down from Windows and it's been running just fine since then (I'm booted into MacOS now, have been for over an hour with no crashes).

I noticed you have an entry in DeviceProperties for a FireWire card. Was that card compatible with previous version of macOS? Which version of macOS was that?

Wow, I'd forgotten about that card, I thought I'd taken it out of the case completely by now but nope, it's still there! It was working before I started this new build this year, I wish I could remember exactly which version of the OS it was on. I did a clean install of Monterey for this build, I know that, and that I was dragging my heels for some time before getting that build underway; I was probably on High Sierra rather than Big Sur.
Anyway, it's not really important either way because I've been using a PreSonus Studio24C as my audio interface via USB-C (which has worked just fine) so It's not like I need Firewire anymore.

 

[CaseySJ]

This is indeed what I ended up doing eventually once I'd calmed down. A cold boot after shutting down from Windows and it's been running just fine since then (I'm booted into MacOS now, have been for over an hour with no crashes).
...

Glad to hear it -- finally!

 

[RetroRocker]

Glad to hear it -- finally!

Yes, It's nice to be relieved knowing I don't have to look into another tricky issue in addition to struggling to update to Sonoma as well

 

[Cavid72]

Was trying to upgrade from latest Ventura to Sonoma but download from system settings would not go saying "This update cannot be installed on this computer". Solved by using RestrictEvents kext (it was anyway enabled) and added revpatch=sbvmm to boot-args

 

[m4rk0]

I am running 4x48GB with XMP enabled in z790 and did not face any issues. No changes in the OpenCore or BIOS.

What's the XMP like? Deffo not an extreme one

So now I have 4 sticks.

Which sticks?

All the four sticks are the same brand and model 6000mhz

...but you had two and then installed two more, right? So it's two sets, right ?

Maybe this is part of the problem. On windows didn't work as well.

As per my testings, 2703 is a good one. 2802 might not be better, but it really depends on individual config. I'd say, get to 2703, but let me know which stick you have. Also, try this:

• flash 2703
• AI Overclock Tuner -> manual
• BCLK : DRAM -> 100:100
• Memory controller : DRAM -> 1:2
• DRAM frequency -> 5200 (we will work our way up from here: start at 5200, if it boots go to 5600 then, maybe, 6000)
• (scroll) CPU System Agent -> manual -> 1.2V (lower will do, XMP sets it higher, so 1.2V is absolutely okay for now)
• DRAM VDD / DRAM VDDQ -> 1.4V each
• (enter advanced memory voltage) IVR Transmitter -> 1.4
• Memory controller voltage -> 1.375
• PMIC -> sync all PMICs

Save and report back

You are way more experienced than me please advise. I appreciate it.

Just trial and error. and reading lots. I get frustrated as well, no worries lol

Key takeaway: the point is not much enabling XMP or not, rather which profile XMP sets (and on which config). Because a XMP which sets speed at 5600MT is not really that heavy on the system. But the higher you go, the more difficult it is. Also, 32GBx2 is more intensive stress wise than 16GBx2. All being the same, 4 sticks are a hell lot more difficult than 2 sticks provided matched sets (possibly from the manufacturer, not “purchasing two identical sets”). Z690 is almost always worse than Z790. 13th gen is “always” better than 12th. 14th might not be better than 13th gen.
Then… there’s tweaking to mitigate the situation.

 

[racermaster]

@CaseySJ

Hi, can I ask your opinion on a matter please (it's a weird one lol).

Got a Z790 Creator to test/use besides my Z690 Creator. But every now and then my hack is stuck at the Apple logo, both when loading macOS installer (Ventura) and when trying to boot an internal SSD with a working macOS.

For the first few attempts after installing the board, it happened continuously. Then, at some point, it let me install macOS. Now it happens every now and then. No overclock. It happened using stock BIOS settings (except for the few modifications which are necessary: disable serial port and so on). It happened when trying to boot Sonoma installed on the Z690 as well as a fresh installation on this machine.

• do you think it has anything to do with CFG Lock? Yes, both the tested BIOSes, 1501 & 1402, have CFG Lock in place
• or, maybe, you think it might have something to do with the board itself? ...which would be odd as it always booted Windows and seems to be stable as well (did some heavy stress tests for CPU / IMC / RAM)

This is the verbose output I took once, when trying to boot a working macOS installation off of my Z690 Creator:

Spoiler: pic

View attachment 575681

The verbose output I got when trying to boot a Ventura installer is different, but I guess they are related to the same root cause.

Thank you.

I suspect it has to do with the memory map in newer BIOS versions: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...-i7-12700k-amd-rx-6800-xt.318311/post-2386003

The random KASLR slide is responsible for the nondeterministic behavior.

 

[m4rk0]

I suspect it has to do with the memory map in newer BIOS versions: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...-i7-12700k-amd-rx-6800-xt.318311/post-2386003

The random KASLR slide is responsible for the nondeterministic behavior.

Thank you so much for chiming in.

You wrote:

I was only able to boot macOS with slide=0 starting with BIOS version 1402 (even though OC thinks 14 slides are usable). AirportItlwm and cxgb were also broken after boot.

So boot-arg slide=0 would be necessary to fix the random boot issues?
Have you tried any other BIOS? I tried 14xx and 1501.
At the moment:

• Z790 Creator, BIOS 1501
• Sonoma 14.1.2
• Opencore 0.9.7
• slide=0 boot-arg
• AirportItlwm works

By the way, I came across this post, where MrTrip wrote “turn off the password protection of EFI variables in the BIOS too so you can switch off cfg lock” but it doesn’t seem to be working, unless I am doing it wrong.

 

[knowwhatimsayin]

has anyone noticed a massive speed reduction in the 2.5Gbps port after upgrading to Ventura (currently using 13.6)? I followed the latest i225-V modifications in OC (as shown below). It's only getting about 90 MB/s transfer speeds instead of 200MB/s with the exact same physical network and drives in BigSur. The only thing that changed was upgrading to Ventura and following this guide:

Update 4 Dec 2023:

• AppleIGC.kext can cause system crashes
• Ventura and Sonoma have native support for i225-V so AppleIGC.kext is not needed
• However, native macOS driver requires AppleVTD to be enabled, which means:
  • Do not use boot argument e1000=0
  • Enable VT-d in BIOS
  • Disable kernel quirk DisableIOMapper
  • Enable kernel quirk DisableIOMapperMapping

 

[CaseySJ]

** UPDATE **

EFIClone.sh in my GitHub repository is now compatible with SuperDuper! 3.8. Please read the entire post below before using.

This script is used by both Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! to automatically clone source EFI partition to destination EFI partition. Its use is optional.

EFIClone - automatic backup of the EFI partition

Okay, sorry to hear that -- I wouldn't mind helping refine your script so that it DOES work with SuperDuper but I'll jump to CCC -- I only have to make that copy once anyway right? And all future backups are just the hard drive part and the EFI will always be there (unless there's a new version...

www.tonymacx86.com