BIOS Questions - Updating to Sierra from stable Mavericks build

[adambarry]

Hi,

I currently have the following Mavericks setup (chimera) which has served me well for a number of years without any hiccups, however I am beginning to miss updates on a number of programs I need to use so I think it's time to update. Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz Quad Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 rev1.0 F8 BIOS
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 3.5" 1TB SATA Hard Disk Drive
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6870 GPU 1GB

I have bought a new SSD and intend to do a fresh install of Sierra and from there upgrade to High Sierra directly (if possible using APFS) (I can only get the stub installer at present and it would probably be easier to have Sierra stable first). Before taking the plunge I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with, or advice on the following:

1) Updating the BIOS on this motherboard to U1J UEFI BIOS
2) I've never updated the BIOS before - provided I replicated the current settings would this affect my Mavericks install before going ahead with the fresh install?
3) Could I do what I intend without needing to update the BIOS and remain using the F8 award BIOS (choosing the legacy install option)?

Apologies if these questions seem obvious or they have been answered elsewhere - I have looked around and want to be sure I'm doing the correct thing with my specific hardware.

Many thanks

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hi,

I currently have the following Mavericks setup (chimera) which has served me well for a number of years without any hiccups, however I am beginning to miss updates on a number of programs I need to use so I think it's time to update. Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz Quad Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 rev1.0 F8 BIOS
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 3.5" 1TB SATA Hard Disk Drive
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6870 GPU 1GB

I have bought a new SSD and intend to do a fresh install of Sierra and from there upgrade to High Sierra directly (if possible using APFS) (I can only get the stub installer at present and it would probably be easier to have Sierra stable first). Before taking the plunge I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with, or advice on the following:

1) Updating the BIOS on this motherboard to U1J UEFI BIOS
2) I've never updated the BIOS before - provided I replicated the current settings would this affect my Mavericks install before going ahead with the fresh install?
3) Could I do what I intend without needing to update the BIOS and remain using the F8 award BIOS (choosing the legacy install option)?

Apologies if these questions seem obvious or they have been answered elsewhere - I have looked around and want to be sure I'm doing the correct thing with my specific hardware.

Many thanks

(1) I don't have your motherboard, but I worked with GA-Z68XP-UD3R, GA-Z68X-UD3R-B3 and GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 before, on Legacy and UEFI, and Mavericks / Yosemite can work in either mode. So I believe your motherboard should also work after upgrading to UEFI.
(2) It should not affect the Mavericks install. On the Legacy BIOS you can continue to use Chimera to boot, after upgrading to UEFI you can use Clover to boot. I tested on those two motherboards before and the same Mavericks system worked either way.
(3) You can choose to stay with the Legacy BIOS if you want. Sierra can boot in Legacy mode using Clover on a motherboard using the old traditional BIOS.

 

[adambarry]

Thank you. So regarding 2) - I know I would have to change the BIOS settings again but would chimera continue to work as is after upgrading to UEFI or would I need to repatch it? Basically will my existing install boot after UEFI upgrade.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Thank you. So regarding 2) - I know I would have to change the BIOS settings again but would chimera continue to work as is after upgrading to UEFI or would I need to repatch it? Basically will my existing install boot after UEFI upgrade.

I just tried to use a Unibeast stick created back when Chimera was used as the bootloader (to install Mavericks) to try to boot on my older build (Z77) with UEFI, and the stick was not detected at all during the boot process. Apparently Chimera was not able to load at all. Clover loads with no problems and can boot all systems from Mavericks to High Sierra on that system.

So if your version of Chimera is old (back when Mavericks / Yosemite was in use), then I am not optimistic it will work on a UEFI motherboard.