Can't install HS, please help if you have similar setup?

[chicago_mike]

System Spec:
Gigabyte GA-170-Gaming 7
Intel 6700K
Default intel HD530 Graphics.

I cannot install HS for crap. Nothing Black screen. -V only makes the install freeze, -x only crashes the boot.

system is a new Sierra install with only minimal install from MultiBeast, UEFI, Intel Fixup, SMBIOS 14,2 That's it.

I enable or disable Intel, I enable verbose or disable verbose, I enable or disable safemode, I try everything I can think of...

High Sierra just won't do ****. Here is what happens"

No options..black screen OR....Garbled up apple logo
Verbose - Apple Logo but progress bar won't move
safemode - just crashes the system


What specifically did you guys with a Z170 do to get HS going? Please help!

 

[dfritchie]

HDD or SDD?

 

[aol]

Do I understand you have a working Sierra, and now you're trying to install High Sierra over Sierra? If you have a working Sierra, then you should have good BIOS settings and a working clover EFI folder.

You're booting a High Sierra USB stick with it's own Clover installed? It's a recent clover? You followed TonyMac's guide on this site? You should have an EFI partition on the stick with Clover, and no Clover stuff in the root partition (the partition with the macOS installer). You should have a recent FakeSMC.kext, kext for your ethernet, and any other kexts you know you need for your board in /kexts, and you shouldn't have EmuVariables64_uefi.kext in drivers64UEFI; you could add apfs.efi to drivers64UEFI. I think you want OsxAptioFix2Drv.efi in there too. There'll be other stuff but those are the main optional ones for the USB stick.

I don't know where support for the 530 stands as far as what config.plist should look like. I don't know if the issue you're having is because the GPU driver isn't loading right. I know you want to use a DVI port. Maybe look in the other success guides and see what people with IGPU are doing as far as config.plist for High Sierra.

Some folks report that dropping MATS in config.plist gets them to the installer UI when they couldn't otherwise. I didn't personally need to do that. -v is verbose, that displays console log messages as the boot progresses, if you don't get to the installer then you're crashing and the -v output can be helpful to figure out why the boot is failing. -x is safe mode, generally on an install you don't want to have to revert to that. I guess consider removing anything from the usb stick's drivers64uefi or kexts/other _THAT YOU INSTALLED MANUALLY_ that you're not sure you need for the install step. You can always install with sub-optimal (e.g. no USB fixes, no power state fixes, etc.) and then worry about optimizing.

 

[chicago_mike]

UGH.

Okay so I did get it to install, after my Sierra clean install, and some multibeast tweaks. I did add APFS.efi manually, and did not install other kexts into CLOVER. NO fakeSMC, nothing. Even in Sierra, I don't have any kexts in my Clover/10.12 folder..thats empty and I boot fine.

Here's whats happened since my downloaded update to HS ( Developers account, legit ), HS did install fine. And even did a couple reboots fine. After I installed Xcode 9 ( non beta ), I restarted and got " FAIL TO LOAD KERNEL CACHE 0xe " on the screen.

Now, I try to look at the drive but HS formatted it to APFS and I don't have other Sierra systems around.

TODAY: I re-re-re-install Sierra, MultiBeast, ( 17,1 iMac, Network Kexts, Intel HD530-fix up, Audio100 ) Sierra booted fine. I manually install APFS.efi file. And thinking I needed to, I updated CLOVER to the newest 4200.

CLOVER I did the usual for my Z170.

UPDATE: Sierra BOOTS fine. No issues. Now if I try to install my HS download, After the initial boot, I get the garbled up apple logo again. So, whats the most common issue there? Thanks!

Other info:
1. SSD not HDD ( Kingston 240 GB )
2. Intel GPU for now, Nvidia 770GTX after it boots and installs and reboots without issues.
3. SHOULD there really be ANY kexts in CLOVER/Kexts/10.12 or /Other folder? IS fakeSMC truly required there, EVEN IF in Sierra, I boot fine without it?

 

[aol]

I feel your pain. I'm on HS GM with clover 4200, seems fine.

I think Sierra+ can see APFS formatted drive. Sierra I think at some point could create apfs formatted disks (but not boot off one).

Honestly I can't imagine returning to the days of having a single physical disk in my system. I have an HDD, an SSD and an NVME SSD. That's overkill.. but each physical disk has clover and can independently boot clover and macOS. In fact the first thing I do is "whole boot" to the HDD and install patches, and make sure it works before changing my NVME (home disk). I have HS GM on the SSD. Bottom line I don't know how anyone does hackintoshes without a backup fully bootable OS. Strongly encourage you to spend $50 and get an HDD that you set up bootable. That way you can make changes incrementally and recover if something goes wrong. And HS won't convert the HDD to APFS, if that's a plus for you.

Any chance you can upgrade your el cap Mac to Sierra? Then (I think?) it can see the apfs disk at least.

 

[chicago_mike]

I retyped my reply to provide better info. I was too hangry , lol!

As far as recover, I do have a 2TB NAS. But I only have that setup as Time Machine right now.

Here are my CLOVER Folders and plist , do these look kosher?

Oh, the EL Cap is on a Mac Pro 3,1 and it can't get updated to 10.12 unless I update the firmware...not my Mac though.

 

[vulgo]

I did add APFS.efi manually, and did not install other kexts into CLOVER. NO fakeSMC, nothing

You should install FakeSMC to /efi/clover/kexts/other and keep it up to date. You won't be able to boot if FakeSMC is not in the cache for any reason. Using Clover boot time options you can fully disable SIP if it isn't already. Do a safe boot, see if the cache can be rebuilt.

 

[chicago_mike]

Here is my Clover Config, in piccies!!!!

Should I add or change anything? Sierra is okay, and NO no cpu optimizing yet, like an ssdt or anything.

 

[vulgo]

Image 8 of 9 change you might CSR active config from 0x3 to 0x1FF to disable additional SIP flags. Also, RehabMan has posted info on avoiding the APFS conversion here

Edit: SMBIOS, you could uncheck 'Mobile' and clear all text entries except 'Product Name' and 'Serial Number'

 

[chicago_mike]

Thanks! Yeah for serial number I have a couple legit numbers I can use later if all goes well.