Can someone check my Bootlog and CLOVER?

[Edhawk]

You can usually remove the built-in WiFi card, you may even be able to replace it with a compatible Broadcom WiFi/BT card. As the WiFi card doesn't appear to be installed in a CNVi slot, which were known to cause issues with macOS.

I am surprised it is such an old Atheros WiFi card, I would have expected it to be an Intel WiFi/BT card.

 

[Corma77]

Hi Edhawk

I implemented most of your suggestions with the exception of:
1) Moving kext to /CLOVER/kexts/Other --> I need some time for this in case something goes wrong
2) custom SSDT's --> which advantages would this bring?
3) XHCI-Unsupported.kext --> my (wired) mouse does not work with this change

I also disabled the integrated WiFi in the BIOS and disabled something related to ROM Messages (not sure why I did that, maybe not needed): after these 2 changes finally the system recognises the default boot drive. No idea how these things are related, but it works now... I also renamed the Sierra drive removing spaces but that alone did not solve the problem. Or maybe it was a combination of multiple things. I cannot say...

Boot log attached.

Anyway I think I will call it the day for now. AirDrop is the only thing that does not work and could be useful, but I have to buy a different card for this.

Thanks a lot for the HUGE help. I would gladly buy you a coffee...

 

[Edhawk]

OK, that all bar the ROM messages bit sounds reasonable.

The bootlog looks really good, fast and clean. It has gone from a 13.912 second boot process to a 1.385 second boot process.

You are welcome. I can almost taste the virtual coffee...

 

[Corma77]

Yes, there was definitely a lot of non sense in my first config. The 13” vs 1” comparison is not really fair because the 13” also include me moving the mouse and clicking the right boot drive. Now all that happens automatically... which is also a big benefit as I only have 1 OS installed and that machine!

next project will be upgrading the Os to a newer version. Which one would you recommend to keep the process as smooth as possible?

 

[Edhawk]

With your Nvidia GPU the newest version you can install is High Sierra. As Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur don't support your discrete GPU, as there are no NVIDIA Web Drivers available for the three newest version of macOS.

If you want to use a newer version of macOS you would need to replace the Nvidia card with a compatible AMD GPU.

I would suggest you make a Clone copy of your current macOS drive using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, on a spare SSD or HDD. Then you can safely upgrade your current setup to High Sierra 10.13.6 without fear of messing up your working setup.

You may need to use the nv_disable=1 boot argument and disable the NvidiaWeb=true option when booting into High Sierra, as you will need to remove the current NVIDIA Web Drivers and install a new set, once you have High Sierra installed.

Actually you might be better served waiting till you have finished installing all the Security and Supplemental updates for High Sierra 10.13.6, before you reinstall the NVIDIA Web Drivers. As the drivers are version specific and you would end up upgrading the drivers numerous times till High Sierra was fully updated. This would mean your Nvidia GPU would work without full acceleration, while you were updating the system.

Alternative is to temporarily remove the Nvidia GPU. Use your Intel iGPU for the High Sierra updates, once they are finalised reinstall the Nvidia GPU and the version of the NVIDIA Web Drivers your system needs. If you have a look at the Downloads > Nvidia Drivers section on this site you will see what I mean about the 17 different versions of High Sierra 10.13.6 and the corresponding driver versions available - https://www.tonymacx86.com/nvidia-drivers/

 

[Corma77]

Another unbelievably useful series of hints! Thanks a lot!