Black screen with blinking cursor after updating Clover

[Snowy]

Hi guys,

Well I’ve done it again. Instead of leaving my working build alone I had to update something and mess it all up again.
I was checking some apps I had installed to see if I still needed them. Hackintool came up and I thought I would check it. It showed an update for clover, 5149 I believe while I was probably on 5143. So I went ahead and updated. I know from past issues that I had to take care with kexts, so I didnt update those, only clover.
Lo and behold after rebooting I got the blinking cursor on black screen. Normally I have a clover on USB backup but not this time. So I tried creating one on my Windows laptop but I still get the blinking cursor no matter what. Changing boot device or boot order doesn't help. Does this require a SMOS reset perhaps? Could this be NVRAM related?
This is my (only) work rig so I would very much appreciate any help you can give me. I‘m not new to this but it’s been a while since I had to troubleshoot (except for trying to switch to Opencore but gave up)
Thanks in advance!

 

[Middleman]

Hi guys,

Well I’ve done it again. Instead of leaving my working build alone I had to update something and mess it all up again.
I was checking some apps I had installed to see if I still needed them. Hackintool came up and I thought I would check it. It showed an update for clover, 5149 I believe while I was probably on 5143. So I went ahead and updated. I know from past issues that I had to take care with kexts, so I didnt update those, only clover.
Lo and behold after rebooting I got the blinking cursor on black screen. Normally I have a clover on USB backup but not this time. So I tried creating one on my Windows laptop but I still get the blinking cursor no matter what. Changing boot device or boot order doesn't help. Does this require a SMOS reset perhaps? Could this be NVRAM related?
This is my (only) work rig so I would very much appreciate any help you can give me. I‘m not new to this but it’s been a while since I had to troubleshoot (except for trying to switch to Opencore but gave up)
Thanks in advance!

Hi @Snowy,

Okay if that is the case, the blinking cursor means nothing is loading or something is in conflict. It's likely that your updated version of Clover is not registering the kexts (it needs newer ones). So go to github.com/acidanthera and download the latest Lilu, Whatevergreen, VirtualSMC and AppleALC kexts (Release versions) and use them to update your Clover EFI under EFI/Clover/Kexts. Also don't forget to try to do a NVRAM reset beforehand before loading the new EFI (press F11 at Clover boot menu).

 

[Snowy]

Hi Middleman,

I’ve created the clover usb drive with the latest version of clover and kexts and get the same blinking cursor when trying to boot. Maybe it’s the latest clover that is messing with my install. Im still on Catalina btw. The clover usb is created within Windows though so I don’t know if this works well. I followed a guide to format USB as GPT, create an EFI partition and then copy/paste the latest clover (EFI folder) with latest kexts and move a few drivers from off to UEFI Folder. Then rename the config and edit for boot arguments and also use a dsdt for my haswell Rig.
NVRAM reset is impossible because it wont’t even load Clover. I think SMOS reset also resets NVRAM no?

ps. Forgot to mention that the main error is:

Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key_

 

[Middleman]

Hi Middleman,

I’ve created the clover usb drive with the latest version of clover and kexts and get the same blinking cursor when trying to boot. Maybe it’s the latest clover that is messing with my install. Im still on Catalina btw. The clover usb is created within Windows though so I don’t know if this works well. I followed a guide to format USB as GPT, create an EFI partition and then copy/paste the latest clover (EFI folder) with latest kexts and move a few drivers from off to UEFI Folder. Then rename the config and edit for boot arguments and also use a dsdt for my haswell Rig.
NVRAM reset is impossible because it wont’t even load Clover. I think SMOS reset also resets NVRAM no?

ps. Forgot to mention that the main error is:

Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key_

Hi @Snowy,

Okay, that means the system is still looking for a bootloader. Maybe they've been misplaced?
Just making sure that you have the right files placed into the correct folders, this should be how they look:

EFI
- EFI/Boot/Bootx64.efi
- EFI/Clover/ - APCI > patched > your SSDTs
- doc
- drivers > UEFI
- kexts > 10.15 > your kexts
- misc
- OEM
- ROM
- themes
- tools > bdmesg.efi, shell32.efi, shell64.efi & shell64U.efi
- CLOVERX64.efi

Check that the themes folders contain media files and folders and that these following drivers are installed in Clover/drivers/UEFI:

 

[Snowy]

Thanks a lot for your time Middleman. I will attach my EFI folder for convenience. I had to use the sample config file since I have no access to my drive. Ive copied the EFI folder from Windows to my ipad with an usb interface and usb drive and then zipped it via ios so hopefully it all transfered well. I did this as a test so I can continue using the ipad for troubleshooting (except creating the clover usb drive of course)

 

[Snowy]

So kexts are in other since Ive been instructed in the past to always use the other folder. The APCI is from the guide to create a clover usb install via windows. I picked the one for haswell.
All other files you mentioned seem to be in place. I don’t know about the reliability of the USB drive itself though since I had to use Windows to create the partition and EFI folder.
Its weird that my hard drive as well as the USB drive have the same issue. Ive tried Clover 5143 because as far as I can remember I was using that version but still no luck.
Sometimes I get the blinking cursor, other times the reboot error. Depends on what I try to use as boot drive I guess. It’s so easy to get lost when troubleshooting osx86.

 

[Feartech]

Thanks a lot for your time Middleman. I will attach my EFI folder for convenience. I had to use the sample config file since I have no access to my drive. Ive copied the EFI folder from Windows to my ipad with an usb interface and usb drive and then zipped it via ios so hopefully it all transfered well. I did this as a test so I can continue using the ipad for troubleshooting (except creating the clover usb drive of course)

why do you have questions marks (?) at the end, example:

<key>Properties?</key>
        <dict>
            <key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)</key>
            <dict>
                <key>AAPL,clock-id</key>
                <data>
                AA==
                </data>
                <key>AAPL,current-available</key>
                <data>
                sAQ=
                </data>
                <key>AAPL,current-extra</key>
                <data>
                vAI=
                </data>
                <key>AAPL,current-in-sleep</key>
                <data>
                6AM=
                </data>
                <key>Comment</key>
                <string>This is USB3.0</string>
                <key>built-in</key>
                <data>
                AA==
                </data>
...................................

 

[Feartech]

So kexts are in other since Ive been instructed in the past to always use the other folder. The APCI is from the guide to create a clover usb install via windows. I picked the one for haswell.
All other files you mentioned seem to be in place. I don’t know about the reliability of the USB drive itself though since I had to use Windows to create the partition and EFI folder.
Its weird that my hard drive as well as the USB drive have the same issue. Ive tried Clover 5143 because as far as I can remember I was using that version but still no luck.
Sometimes I get the blinking cursor, other times the reboot error. Depends on what I try to use as boot drive I guess. It’s so easy to get lost when troubleshooting osx86.

when you update clover, it keeps a backup on your main drive, maybe go back to using that?

 

[Snowy]

Hi Feartech, Im using the included sample config which I just renamed.
I know backups are created because I always have trouble removing them (only want last working version)
As far as I can remember though the last backup ended on 22 which is odd since hackintool and clover configurator told me latest version was 5149 and if I wanted to update my 5143. Maybe clover got installed on the wrong partition or something. But then why isnt USB clover working as well?

I cannot use the backup since I cannot access the drive mate.

 

[Feartech]

Hi Feartech, Im using the included sample config which I just renamed.
I know backups are created because I always have trouble removing them (only want last working version)
As far as I can remember though the last backup ended on 22 which is odd since hackintool and clover configurator told me latest version was 5149 and if I wanted to update my 5143. Maybe clover got installed on the wrong partition or something. But then why isnt USB clover working as well?

I cannot use the backup since I cannot access the drive mate.

still doesn't explain the other issue with ? in almost all your entries