Can't boot Gigabyte Z97X-SOC 4770K w/o Install USB & Safe mode

[wrlee]

This is my first hack-build; I'm hoping someone can help guide me on what I can try next. After following the Maverick UniBeast install procedure, I am unable to boot to the install drive, normally. I must do both the following:

1. Boot to the UniBeast USB device and
2. When the Chimera boot selection appears, I can select the Mac OS SSD drive, but I must start in safe mode (-x)

I cannot boot without the USB and I cannot boot without going to safe mode (it hangs before entering graphics mode). Even though I select the SSD, after booting to the USB, I can see that booting installs some kexts from the USB. What is it about the USB set of kexts that lets me boot into safe mode? Why can I only boot into Safe Boot mode?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Configuration:

• Gigabyte Z97X-SOC
• i7-4770K
• OCZ 240GB SSD
• 16GB RAM
• UniBeast 4.02
• Chimera 3.0.1
• MultiBeast 6.5.0
• Mavericks 10.9.5

I have tried all sorts of BIOS and MultiBeast settings, slowly adding more and more entries; this is my last:

MultiBeast Configuration - 2014-09-29 07:06:02 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Quick Start > DSDT Free
Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > ALC1150
Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > Intel 9 Series Motherboard Support Drivers > Disk > 3rd Party eSATA
Drivers > Disk > Intel Generic AHCI SATA
Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.9.4+ TRIM Patch
Drivers > Graphics > Intel 9 Series HD 4600 Graphics Fix
Drivers > Misc > EvOreboot
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.9.1315
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.9.1315 Plugins
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.9.1315 HWMonitor Application
Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIGB v5.2.9.4
Drivers > System > Patched AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement > OS X 10.9.0 Drivers > System > AppleRTC Patch for CMOS Reset
Bootloaders > Chimera v3.0.1
Customize > Boot Options > Basic Boot Options
Customize > Boot Options > GraphicsEnabler=Yes
Customize > Boot Options > PCI Root ID Fix
Customize > Boot Options > Verbose Boot
Customize > System Definitions > iMac > iMac 14,2
Customize > Themes > tonymacx86 Black

 

[wrlee]

It has been a couple of weeks' of rebooting and blindly tweaking BIOS and occasionally erasing the partition and reinstalling from the USB. I am finally able to boot into Mac OS, but not without booting to the USB boot-loader and choosing the SSD to boot from (I no longer need to use -x). I also need to specify the -f flag and USBBusFix=Yes (in addition to the settings above. And I don't need to load the eSATA support.

The key advance that I made:

1. Requiring PCIRootUID=1
2. Reseting the BIOS and starting from scratch. I'll list the changes, here, once I figure out their final settings.

If anyone can describe what the USB boot loader does which is different from a boot straight from the SSD, it'd be greatly appreciated. I do notice that several files are loaded from the USB as well as the SSD during boot-time, in that case.