Catalina only boots in safe mode or with nv_disable=1

[bonana]

Hello everyone,

after updating from Mojave to Catalina my hack stopped working properly. More specifically, there seems to be a graphics related issue that I just cannot sort out, even after trying everything I could find on this forum and elsewhere for the past 2 months.

The problem:
Booting into MacOS I reach the screen with the Apple logo and the loading bar underneath. When the bar hits about 2/3 (usually the resolution would adjust at this point and the login screen appear shortly after) the logo and bar disappear and a spinning white circle shows up that after about two revolutions freezes and another circle is put on top, this repeats endlessly until I manually reset my computer. Booting in verbose mode reveals the following message that loops over and over again at the top left of the screen: "IOConsoleUsers: gIOScreenLockState 3, hs 0, bs 0, now 0, sn 0x0"
I can get the boot to succeed using the nv_disable=1 boot option as well as in safe boot (-x). Safe boot even makes the system load the correct resolution and detect both of my monitors. Unplugging the second monitor doesn't make a difference. What's interesting is that my GPU model is correctly identified in both boot configurations.
From my research I know that the issue I'm having isn't uncommon, however, I cannot for the life of me get it sorted out.

I'm running Clover in legacy mode and tried all versions from 4961 (the one I used with Mojave) until 5103.

The kexts I have installed in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other:
FakeSMC
Lilu
WhateverGreen (in my Mojave installation I used NvidiaGraphicsFixup instead but that doesn't seem to be supported anymore)
AppleALC (needed for my sound; works)
RealtekRTL8111 (needed for my ethernet; works)

I'm attaching my config.plist, I haven't touched it since Mojave assuming it would continue to work, so perhaps I would have needed to make some configuration adjustments?

If you need more details about my setup or the issue I'm observing please let me know.

I have a very strong feeling that what I'm experiencing is easily fixable by someone who properly knows what they're doing so I hope you can help me out here.

Thank you very much in advance and kind regards!

(Also if I posted into the wrong section let me know or feel free to move it, I wasn't sure where to put it)

 

[trs96]

You need a gfx card upgrade. I'd suggest an RX 570 or 580. Nvidia cards are a dead end with macOS. The next macOS will probably drop all support for even the Kepler cards.

GF110 is not supported by Mojave or Catalina.

 

[bonana]

Hi trs96,
Thanks for your reply!
I already feared as much... But then it's very curious that Mojave ran like charm and even now under Catalina the card is correctly identified and works perfectly fine in safe boot (even with a dual monitor setup).
Well, maybe someone else has an idea, otherwise I guess I'll have to buy a RX 580 soon, still cheaper than an actual Mac.
Can we be sure that Apple doesn't decide to drop AMD support as well in a few updates now that they want to build their own chips? Or are AMD cards guaranteed to work in the foreseeable future?

 

[trs96]

are AMD cards guaranteed to work in the foreseeable future?

They're in recent iMacs and Macbook Pros so yes, they will keep working. Apple and AMD have a good working relationship that should continue. Apple and Nvidia not so much. Apple won't be converting all their Macs to their A series chips. That's a rumor that's been circulating on the internet for about 8 years now. Have we seen any yet ? We may see a Macbook with one sometime soon but that's about it. How would they use a single ARM A series CPU in a Mac Pro and get any decent performance ?

 

[jaymonkey]

But then it's very curious that Mojave ran like charm and even now under Catalina the card is correctly identified and works perfectly fine in safe boot (even with a dual monitor setup).

@bonana,

When you run MacOS in Safe Mode it does not load the GPU driver, it just uses the VESA level driver that all GPU's have baked into their VBIOS. So whilst the GPU will output it will not be using any hardware acceleration, so the GUI will be sluggish with no effects such as transparency ... etc.

Cheers
Jay

 

[bonana]

I see. Thanks a lot for your insights guys!
Seems there is no way around investing into a new GPU then.

 

[sfroom]

Have you made any progress? It doesn't make sense that support has been dropped.

I'm experiencing the exact same issues. Contemplating a fresh install of Catalina or going back to Mojave.

 

[bonana]

Sadly no, even after a fresh install of Catalina the problem persists. I've ordered a RX 580 now, because even if I can make Catalina work properly on my current setup (which I highly doubt at this point) I'll probably have to face the same or a different problem with the next update. From what I've heard and read getting modern MacOSs to run with AMD cards is a breeze compared to Nvidia, so hopefully that proves true.