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This is a spinoff thread from trs96's detailed build on the Dell 7020, The 4K Dell OptiMac - Core i7-4790 - AMD Radeon RX 570 - LG 4K 27" IPS Monitor, the difference being that this has has been written to setup a minimal machine with no external graphics.
Trs96's guide is comprehensive, explanatory and carries a lot of other information about these machines.
This guide is brief and only describes the build process. Some previous experience of building a hackintosh is likely needed to follow it.
This build is for a basic setup (see Prepare the Hardware below for details)- any additional hardware should be removed during install and replaced once the minimal system has been installed and tested.
USB/Sleep/Wake/Graphics/CPU Speed Stepping/Audio - seems to work as it should and is very stable.
Edit: This has been tested in use for about two months using 2 dp monitors there hasnt been one single hiccup.
4K Display
4K displays have been setup successfully by first building using this guide and then using the instructions in
Dell 7020 - 4K monitors on Intel 4600 Integrated GPU.
The Clover settings for 4k have been entered in the attached config.plist but are disabled, if you want 4k output you will need to enable in config.plist and possibly make other changes to UEFI firmware variables described in Dell 7020 - 4K monitors on Intel 4600 Integrated GPU. This includes a section on increasing video ram to 2GB which may also be carried out separately from the other changes.
Differences between main and this offshoot
There are small changes from the main thread - 14,3 sys defs and slight changes to BIOS and config.plist, see post 4 below for details.
Note: All the files, other than config.plist, are the same and go in the same places.
The attached zip file has the amended clover.plist, together with all the ssdt's and kexts needed - just add the files in the zip to a Unibeast created install USB together with the 3 programs shown below.
If you have already built from trs96's guide and want to run without an external GPU then the only things needing to be changed are the config.plist and BIOS settings.
Make an Installer on a USB drive using Unibeast
Add Install files and configure USB boot for 7020
a. Download the 2 programs;
b. extract them and copy the programs (not zips) to the USB installer - to be used later.
c. Download 'Dell 7020.zip' (attached at end of this post) and copy to the USB too - keep it as a zip.
d. Run the Clover installer you just downloaded and Install on the USB drive - overwriting whatever version of Clover is installed on the usb.
e. Mount the EFI partition of the Installation USB, and
f. Rename or delete config.plist in USB /EFI/Clover, and
g. Copy all the files and folders in Dell 7020.zip into USB /EFI/Clover merging the two sets of files.
Prepare the Hardware
MUST be a Dell 7020 or 9020, with an i3, i5 or i7 processor with HD4600 graphics, at least 4GB of RAM and a SATA drive (of whatever flavor) plugged into SATA Port 0 on motherboard (The darker blue one). Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor.
Your Monitor connected to the DP port which is furthers from the usb ports- digital sound only works thru this port but both DP's work for graphics.
Any other hardware can be added later unless you are building a 2 drive system where;
Drive 1 is the Sata-Boot and
Drive 2 is the NVMe with OSX on
- Where you can use these files but see PCI based NVMe drive below for the additional instructions.
Prepare The BIOS
I can only confirm these settings on BIOS's with Intel Management Engine Bios Extensions disabled.
For instructions on how to control Intel ME if it is enabled (and to find out how to tell) see trs96 7010 thread under 3. Password Protect MEBx
Set Boot Mode
Before making the other changes check the boot mode and if needed, set it.
Use F12 to get to the boot options screen and under
'Other Options:' select 'Change Boot Mode Settings'
If boot mode is NOT
'UEFI Boot, Secure Boot Off'
set it to that, confirm and exit, or
if it is already set to that press escape.
If the Bios wont allow you to make any of the changes described - please report back.
Start From Defaults
Set the BIOS back to defaults - click Apply, then insert Install USB and reboot back to bios to make sure you have booted with the default settings and the USB in place.
Then make ONLY the following changes;
BIOS settings
General
Date/Time - Check Date/Time are reasonably accurate and if not set them.
Boot Sequence - Untick anything on the left that isn’t your SATA or USB drive, and
set 'UEFI: SomeUSBdrive' at top of boot device list on right.
We want it to boot from the UEFI:USB every tboot until we setup Clover on the hard drive but the install process will change this selection to set it to boot from 'OSX', we dont want that, so will need to change back to our UEFI:USB as the only boot device until Clover is installed and BIOS is set to boot from the disk drive.
We never want to boot from OSX so be prepared to interrupt reboots with the F12 key to check and maybe set the USB as the only boot device during the OSX Install process. Some of the install 'Reboots' will not give the opportunity to press F12, and that's ok, just let it run thru.
Advanced Boot Options
[ x ] Enable Legacy Option Roms - Selected (May be set like this by default)
UEFI: BootPathSecurity
(.) Never
System Configuration
Integrated NIC
(.) Enabled
Serial Port
(.) Disabled
Sata Operation
(.) AHCI - (May be set like this by default)
Video
Primary Display
(.) Intel HD Graphics
Power Management
Deep Sleep Control
(.) Disabled
Post Behavior
MEBx Hotkey
[ ] Enable HK - Not ticked
Virtulisation Support
VT for Direct I/OL
[ ] Enable VT Direct IO - Not ticked
Click Apply
Do NOT make any other changes.
Boot USB Installer and install
Reboot with USB plugged in and at the Clover Screen select to boot from the USB OSX Installer. The install process should begin, and you should be prepared to format the SATA drive and begin the install. During the install make the first user without being connected to the internet and without that user having an Apple ID, ie, a local admin account, this account is used for the rest of this process.
Prepare the SATA drive for booting with Clover
Finalise Boot options
Reboot to BIOS and in
General-Boot Sequence -
Un-tick any boot entries that mention 'OSX', and
set the boot order to boot from the UEFI:SATA drive first,
apply, exit and leave to run through.
Setup serial numbers
Click on this paragraph heading and follow instructions.
Serial number checking will require an internet connection but it shouldn't be connected to a network until here.
Reboot.
Go Online.
Configure OSX
Log in and run the following commands to free space and configure the machine for use without hibernation;
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 - turns off hibernation
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage - may report an error - file does not exist until the machine has been to sleep
sudo mkdir /var/vm/sleepimage - creates a directory of the same name NOT a file, which stops it being written to
In System Preferences - Energy Settings - turn off Wake on LAN
Fin.
Other hardware
If you do want to add hardware like wifi or GPU card, I advise building without, keeping it as simple as possible as you build, before adding to it.
It is likely that you will need some changes for what ever hardware you add but GPU's will need particular settings to get sleep and displays working perfectly, trs96's guide which is titled for the RX570 but actually covers the right settings for just about all of the supported GPU's that can sensibly be used in these machines and in post 3 below is my list of the differences between the settings of the two
PCI based NVMe drive
The BIOS capabilities do not provide for booting from NVMe drives on these machines;
so to use a NVMe drive to run OSX;
we boot from a SATA or USB drive where we load a UEFI based NVMe driver ( NvmExpressDxe-64.efi ) and
Clover can then see and load OSX from the NVMe.
These same files will work for a PCI based NVMe drive if it is run with a SATA drive to boot from.
Same instructions except - at OSX install screen;
The BIOS should be set to boot from SATA and Clover should be set to boot the PCI_NVMe OSX drive by default.
If anyone is able to test - please feedback, I have tested them myself and it all works, but maybe this isnt a good test.
Edit: attached debug.zip is the output from Blackmagic's Problem Reporting Script - all working as described above (with 4k settings enabled). May be useful for comparisons.
Trs96's guide is comprehensive, explanatory and carries a lot of other information about these machines.
This guide is brief and only describes the build process. Some previous experience of building a hackintosh is likely needed to follow it.
This build is for a basic setup (see Prepare the Hardware below for details)- any additional hardware should be removed during install and replaced once the minimal system has been installed and tested.
USB/Sleep/Wake/Graphics/CPU Speed Stepping/Audio - seems to work as it should and is very stable.
Edit: This has been tested in use for about two months using 2 dp monitors there hasnt been one single hiccup.
4K Display
4K displays have been setup successfully by first building using this guide and then using the instructions in
Dell 7020 - 4K monitors on Intel 4600 Integrated GPU.
The Clover settings for 4k have been entered in the attached config.plist but are disabled, if you want 4k output you will need to enable in config.plist and possibly make other changes to UEFI firmware variables described in Dell 7020 - 4K monitors on Intel 4600 Integrated GPU. This includes a section on increasing video ram to 2GB which may also be carried out separately from the other changes.
Differences between main and this offshoot
There are small changes from the main thread - 14,3 sys defs and slight changes to BIOS and config.plist, see post 4 below for details.
Note: All the files, other than config.plist, are the same and go in the same places.
The attached zip file has the amended clover.plist, together with all the ssdt's and kexts needed - just add the files in the zip to a Unibeast created install USB together with the 3 programs shown below.
If you have already built from trs96's guide and want to run without an external GPU then the only things needing to be changed are the config.plist and BIOS settings.
Make an Installer on a USB drive using Unibeast
- Complete sections 1 and 2 from the Mojave Unibeast guide here.
(You can skip copying Multibeast over, it's not used here.)
NB. There are significant differences between versions of Clover 4xxx and 5xxx and these instructions will not work with 5xxx versions and you should almost certainly just go with the version linked to. - You can probably use a USB3 drive and USB3 port to install but only USB 2 fully tested.
Add Install files and configure USB boot for 7020
a. Download the 2 programs;
- Clover Installer - Use THIS version !! Or one that has the same default settings.
- Clover Configurator - Or something else to mount efi and set OSX serial numbers.
b. extract them and copy the programs (not zips) to the USB installer - to be used later.
c. Download 'Dell 7020.zip' (attached at end of this post) and copy to the USB too - keep it as a zip.
d. Run the Clover installer you just downloaded and Install on the USB drive - overwriting whatever version of Clover is installed on the usb.
e. Mount the EFI partition of the Installation USB, and
f. Rename or delete config.plist in USB /EFI/Clover, and
g. Copy all the files and folders in Dell 7020.zip into USB /EFI/Clover merging the two sets of files.
Prepare the Hardware
MUST be a Dell 7020 or 9020, with an i3, i5 or i7 processor with HD4600 graphics, at least 4GB of RAM and a SATA drive (of whatever flavor) plugged into SATA Port 0 on motherboard (The darker blue one). Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor.
Your Monitor connected to the DP port which is furthers from the usb ports- digital sound only works thru this port but both DP's work for graphics.
Any other hardware can be added later unless you are building a 2 drive system where;
Drive 1 is the Sata-Boot and
Drive 2 is the NVMe with OSX on
- Where you can use these files but see PCI based NVMe drive below for the additional instructions.
Prepare The BIOS
I can only confirm these settings on BIOS's with Intel Management Engine Bios Extensions disabled.
For instructions on how to control Intel ME if it is enabled (and to find out how to tell) see trs96 7010 thread under 3. Password Protect MEBx
Set Boot Mode
Before making the other changes check the boot mode and if needed, set it.
Use F12 to get to the boot options screen and under
'Other Options:' select 'Change Boot Mode Settings'
If boot mode is NOT
'UEFI Boot, Secure Boot Off'
set it to that, confirm and exit, or
if it is already set to that press escape.
If the Bios wont allow you to make any of the changes described - please report back.
Start From Defaults
Set the BIOS back to defaults - click Apply, then insert Install USB and reboot back to bios to make sure you have booted with the default settings and the USB in place.
Then make ONLY the following changes;
BIOS settings
General
Date/Time - Check Date/Time are reasonably accurate and if not set them.
Boot Sequence - Untick anything on the left that isn’t your SATA or USB drive, and
set 'UEFI: SomeUSBdrive' at top of boot device list on right.
We want it to boot from the UEFI:USB every tboot until we setup Clover on the hard drive but the install process will change this selection to set it to boot from 'OSX', we dont want that, so will need to change back to our UEFI:USB as the only boot device until Clover is installed and BIOS is set to boot from the disk drive.
We never want to boot from OSX so be prepared to interrupt reboots with the F12 key to check and maybe set the USB as the only boot device during the OSX Install process. Some of the install 'Reboots' will not give the opportunity to press F12, and that's ok, just let it run thru.
Advanced Boot Options
[ x ] Enable Legacy Option Roms - Selected (May be set like this by default)
UEFI: BootPathSecurity
(.) Never
System Configuration
Integrated NIC
(.) Enabled
Serial Port
(.) Disabled
Sata Operation
(.) AHCI - (May be set like this by default)
Video
Primary Display
(.) Intel HD Graphics
Power Management
Deep Sleep Control
(.) Disabled
Post Behavior
MEBx Hotkey
[ ] Enable HK - Not ticked
Virtulisation Support
VT for Direct I/OL
[ ] Enable VT Direct IO - Not ticked
Click Apply
Do NOT make any other changes.
Boot USB Installer and install
Reboot with USB plugged in and at the Clover Screen select to boot from the USB OSX Installer. The install process should begin, and you should be prepared to format the SATA drive and begin the install. During the install make the first user without being connected to the internet and without that user having an Apple ID, ie, a local admin account, this account is used for the rest of this process.
Prepare the SATA drive for booting with Clover
a. From the install USB - Copy - Clover Install, Clover Configurator and Kextbeast to the logged in users Desktop.
b. Run the Clover Install Program to install Clover onto the SATA drive - this version will install Clover with the correct options preset
c. Use Clover Configurator to Mount the SATA drive EFI partition, and
d. Rename or delete config.plist in SATA /EFI/Clover, and
e. Copy all the files and folders in the attached Dell 7020.zip files 'Dell 7020 Clover' folder into the SATA \EFI\Clover folder structure of the drive, merging the two.
f. Remove USB.
Finalise Boot options
Reboot to BIOS and in
General-Boot Sequence -
Un-tick any boot entries that mention 'OSX', and
set the boot order to boot from the UEFI:SATA drive first,
apply, exit and leave to run through.
Setup serial numbers
Click on this paragraph heading and follow instructions.
Serial number checking will require an internet connection but it shouldn't be connected to a network until here.
Reboot.
Go Online.
Configure OSX
Log in and run the following commands to free space and configure the machine for use without hibernation;
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 - turns off hibernation
sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage - may report an error - file does not exist until the machine has been to sleep
sudo mkdir /var/vm/sleepimage - creates a directory of the same name NOT a file, which stops it being written to
In System Preferences - Energy Settings - turn off Wake on LAN
Fin.
Other hardware
If you do want to add hardware like wifi or GPU card, I advise building without, keeping it as simple as possible as you build, before adding to it.
It is likely that you will need some changes for what ever hardware you add but GPU's will need particular settings to get sleep and displays working perfectly, trs96's guide which is titled for the RX570 but actually covers the right settings for just about all of the supported GPU's that can sensibly be used in these machines and in post 3 below is my list of the differences between the settings of the two
PCI based NVMe drive
The BIOS capabilities do not provide for booting from NVMe drives on these machines;
so to use a NVMe drive to run OSX;
we boot from a SATA or USB drive where we load a UEFI based NVMe driver ( NvmExpressDxe-64.efi ) and
Clover can then see and load OSX from the NVMe.
These same files will work for a PCI based NVMe drive if it is run with a SATA drive to boot from.
Same instructions except - at OSX install screen;
Select Disk Utility and format both SATA and NVMe drives (Same settings), and
Select the NVMe drive to install OSX to.
When logged in to OSX for the first time, ensure you install Clover and its files to the SATA not NVMe drive.The BIOS should be set to boot from SATA and Clover should be set to boot the PCI_NVMe OSX drive by default.
If anyone is able to test - please feedback, I have tested them myself and it all works, but maybe this isnt a good test.
Edit: attached debug.zip is the output from Blackmagic's Problem Reporting Script - all working as described above (with 4k settings enabled). May be useful for comparisons.
Attachments
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