Can't install on Catalina on Asus TUF Z390 w/ Intel UHD 630

[PhantomSlapESQ]

Hi,
I've done a lot of research on what's already posted before posting. And I've been able to get this far so far.

I was able to successfully install Mojave using MacMan's guide for my motherboard but was not able to install Catalina from scratch. Another user with the same mobo was able to install Catalina AFTER installing Mojave. I am wondering if the fact that I'm currently using just the default iGPU is causing the issue. This mentioned user has a discrete GPU As Catalina is installing, the computer hangs but doesn't reboot and the computer stops sending a signal to the monitor. I've tried to go to the recovery partition and get the same thing. Of course the error messages mention something about a HID device. So I don't know.

The picture I have here is the best I could get before the monitor cuts out. There are a few more lines and then it crashes. i'll see if I can catch them and post them as well but it's very difficult.

Any help you could provide would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Hi there.

First thing to check is if by chance you have upgraded the BIOS to the latest? This may cause problems and a patch was devised to cure it:

FIX for boot hangs after BIOS update (ACPI PATCH)

This is an ACPI Patch for the people who update to the last bios and can't boot. My board is the MSI B360A-Pro and has the latest bios 7B22v27. First add the patch (the blue line from the picture) to clover config, then apply the Bios update. To easily add the patch using terminal, read post #48

www.tonymacx86.com

Next, to boot Catalina's installer from USB you need the latest Lilu and Whatevergreen kexts in place. These are included in the Catalina version of UniBeast, if you are doing a completely fresh install. If you are just upgrading from Mojave then the kexts should be installed already.

There are a few ways to configure UHD630 graphics and a Site Search will bring them up. Usually though you should get a desktop even if the video memory is showing 7MB and is unaccelerated.

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

I have not actively updated the the mobo. I just got it a few days ago. It says the BIOS version is 2606 x64 and the build date and time was Oct-24-2019. So I don't know if that causes a problem or not? I'm guessing not since this mobo is nearly a year old from the build date.

The first thing I tried was to get the latest Catalina from the App store and I used UniBeast. I was unable to install it despite using MacMan's guide (which is originally based on Mojave). I connected with another user that had the same mobo, and they also could not install Catalina as a fresh install. They installed Mojave and then Catalina with success.

The UHD630 worked fine and showed all video RAM under Mojave.

Update: I think Catalina actually installed, I just can't see it. I don't see an Install macOS partition at the Clover screen.

Below is a screenshot of when I try to boot the installed Catalina but when booted, the HDMI monitor shuts off. This happens so fast, i actually had to take a video of it and then screenshot it. Note the numerous notifications regarding the iGPU.

Below is a screenshot I took when trying to do a fresh Catalina install via Unibeast a couple of days ago.

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

@UtterDisbelief Just to clarify the BIOS issue. I had already patched it using @MacMan 's guide for this board installing Mojave that implemented @mattystonnie's patch. I'm able to operate just fine in Mojave (save it be some small things but I'm using it now with Mojave).

Is anyone able to help get this to Catalina? Anyone? Pretty please with a cherry on top? I've got Mojave up and running, and I've tried multiple EFI configurations and Clover changes. I've double and quadruple checked everything. I think it has something to do with the iGPU. I made sure it's running on Whatever and Lilu, etc. Looks like a lot of people have Catalina running on my board or very similar boards.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

@UtterDisbelief Just to clarify the BIOS issue. I had already patched it using @MacMan 's guide for this board installing Mojave that implemented @mattystonnie's patch. I'm able to operate just fine in Mojave (save it be some small things but I'm using it now with Mojave).

Is anyone able to help get this to Catalina? Anyone? Pretty please with a cherry on top? I've got Mojave up and running, and I've tried multiple EFI configurations and Clover changes. I've double and quadruple checked everything. I think it has something to do with the iGPU. I made sure it's running on Whatever and Lilu, etc. Looks like a lot of people have Catalina running on my board or very similar boards.

Yes, still looks like the iGPU setup.

There are quite a few threads with UHD630+Catalina problems and changing system-definition seems to help in some cases. I haven't spotted you mentioning which you are using.

In other cases specifying an iGPU to spoof can also help. For this I recommend Clover Configurator because all types are listed in a pull-down menu "ig-platform-id".

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

Yes, still looks like the iGPU setup.

@UtterDisbelief, I appreciate your attention and assistance to this. By system definition, are you saying the Model Identifier (as seen in Hackintool) or the "About this Mac". It says it's a iMac19,1 (iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019). But my processor says 3 Ghz Intel Core i9. When in fact its an i7-9700 which Hacktintool correctly identifies. I don't know if this is messing with it. I thought about it but seems that others with that CPU have had success.

Are you saying I should use the the GUI Clover Configurator to change the XML plist file and some determined values might be there for me to change to do the iGPU spoofing? Would this contradict with the WhateverGreen / Lilu plugins?

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

There are quite a few threads with UHD630+Catalina problems and changing system-definition seems to help in some cases. I haven't spotted you mentioning which you are using.

I've attached a censored System info file (since I got iMessage working on it). I'll try to change it to an older system and see if that helps.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I've attached a censored System info file (since I got iMessage working on it). I'll try to change it to an older system and see if that helps.

To quote the last-but-one post, yes, I was talking about the system-definition or model type, your PC is pretending to be.

It seems you are using iMac19,1.

Okay, here's a screengrab of the ig-platform-id I was talking about, and the data you provided:

So you can see the recommended one for your system-definition is marked in green.

This isn't guaranteed to magically work, but it illustrates all the different possible Coffee Lake iGPU IDs that can be 'spoofed'. You can try others if you like, and rather than editing your config.plist for each, you can spoof the ID from the Clover boot menu. Move the curor down to "Options" and the graphics area lets you enter a different, "Fake", ID to try.

As always on a build causing problems, you should test a safe system-definition like iMac14,2 because it is very reliable. It may not match your hardware, but hardware working is better than hardware not.

By the way, if you test different System-Definitions please remember to disconnect from the Internet and copy your SMBIOS somewhere safe so you can re-use it. It's common that Apple's servers can get confused with the changing serial-numbers attached to the same machine etc. Once you are back up and running you can re-enter your previous data and re-connect.

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

To quote the last-but-one post, yes, I was talking about the system-definition or model type, your PC is pretending to be.

@UtterDisbelief Thank you for your very detailed answer. So my current Mojave installation is using 3E9B0007 that you pointed out matches iMac19,2 though I'm using iMac19,1. I actually tried to make sure they matched to see what they would do in Mojave and the visual failed with some nice stripes. I switched it back and it booted fine.

For the Catalina Install USB, For some reason it was set to 19,2 (I didn't do that, it must have been Unibeast) and matched with 3E980003 (the one Clover Configurator says is 19,1). I also transferred my SMBios info I use for iMessage from Mojave to the Catalina installer.

I've compared other people's config.plist who are using the same/similar hardware, and perhaps it's not as consistent as I thought, but it does generally seem that the model number aligns with the Platform ID.

Interestingly, I watched my working Mojave partition in verbose mode, and it seems that the login screen comes immediately after "IOConsoleUsers: gIOScreenLockState 3, hs 0, bs 0, now 0, sn 0x8"
and in Catalina, that is EXACTLY where the screen goes black.

I've even tried to build a vanilla OpenCore boot based on the Z390 Coffee Lake guide (no small undertaking), but got another error.

I thought I'd give you an update, but I'll continue on and try the other 3 Platform IDs for Coffee Lake desktop, and try the system definition. Please let me know if I should go in another direction for troubleshooting.

First photo: Typical "gIOSScreenLock State 3 . . ." issue with Catalina
Second Photo: What happens when the Platform ID "matches" the model number.

 

[pastrychef]

If you are on Catalina 10.15.5 or 10.15.6, try ig-platform-id = 3E9B0000.