Dell Precision 5820 - Xeon w2125

[Sylvain83]

It's rare my computer boot well. Most of cases I have a frozen underscore. USB or not, cold or hot boot this problem happen randomly. Even if I wait 1 or 20seconds

I haven't test my RX560 on Windows since 3 or 4 months. But she's in good condition I think.

 

[yapan4]

I don't even know how to diagnose this problem. There was something similar on ASUS motherboards with USB 3.1 Asmedia controller. If your machine has Asmedia USB, try kext

 

[etorix]

So you have a random bug which gives no meaningful output…
I'm clueless as well.

Dell provides little details as to what is on the motherboard (i219, ALC3234). There is no USB 3 Gen 2; the 10 Gen 1 ports could well come all from the C422 PCH. I tried looking at your USB map to confirm this, but did not find one in the EFI from post #31.

 

[Sylvain83]

Since I install Catalina I don't have USB on my workstation. It was not awkward at all.

 

[etorix]

No USB map, or no working USB?

While browsing this folder I noticed you have both AppleALC and VoodooHDA (one too much; this could explain issues with sound), a kext against memory configuration issues on MacPro7,1 (any reason not to use iMacPro1,1 any longer? it's the real Mac SMBIOS for C422) but nothing to fix TSCSync (this seems to be a common or universal issue on C422 and C621, have you even seen error messages about TSC during verbose boot?).

Would you be willing to try OpenCore?

 

[Sylvain83]

No working USB.

I make some search about opencore. It's a bit difficult to understand for me.

 

[etorix]

Take your time to read the documentation… Introduction of course, Adding base files + Gathering files for the basics of how the OpenCore EFI folder is setup, and then thoroughly proceed with the appropriate Config file — here that would be HEDT/Skylake-X

Skylake-X/W and Cascade Lake-X/W | OpenCore Install Guide

The screenshots date from older versions and do not match exactly the entries you'll see. Trust the text.

Here is an almost ready EFI folder with OpenCore 0.7.2 DEBUG (not the latest release, but the one that is still featured in the guide if you want to check). Edit Sample.plist in your favourite plist editor (ProperTree is well suited), scroll to the Platform Info section and fill in a set of motherboard number (MLB), serial number and UUID corresponding to the SMBIOS (SystemProductName). I have pre-filled iMacPro1,1 because it most closely matches C422 but you may change to MacPro7,1 if you prefer. Reusing a set of serials used with Clover is fine.
Then rename Sample.plist to config.plist (still in EFI/OC directory) and you have a valid OC EFI.

This is configured to defaults, excepts it uses EnableWriteUnprotector in Booter>Quirks and adds Kernel>Quirks>AppleXcpmExtraMsrs, mandatory with Xeon-W if you have not patched your BIOS.

But the most important settings are Misc>Debug>SysReport:true and Target:67. After a boot attempt (any OS X version), it will leave a log file and SysReport folder in the EFI folder. Please post back the log file and SysReport folder, along with any relevant shot of the verbose OS X boot.
I do not expect that the boot will succeed on this first attempt, but from the results it will be possible to adjust quirks and write custom SSDTs for this system.

Edit: Corrected "Sample.plist".

 

[Sylvain83]

Thanks for your help @etorix I try tomorrow ;-)

 

[Sylvain83]

I boot two times without problems with OC ! Thanks a lot @etorix !
I have USB and still no sound. I will search for that and I post my EFI folder

 

[etorix]

Amazing! This is the easiest C422 system I've seen yet. You may then change to OpenCore release, and add the OpenCanopy GUI if you like.
If you do post the boot log and SysReport folder I may still see if one could further optimise the EFI folder.

For USB you have to do the mapping yourself. Running "in production" with the port limit quirk is dangerous because it can cause buffer overflows. Follow here with CorpNewt' USBMap (read the introductory pages first)

USB Mapping | OpenCore Post-Install

If possible use a USB3 hub—this plugs to both USB2 and USB3 personalities, and does not need to be ejected. Else use both a USB2 and a USB3 device to find out everything. Test USB-C ports in both orientations (this is important!). Make a sketch or a table of everything with the USB personalities (HS## for USB2, SS# for USB3) and the hexadecimal port number 0x## for each (important!). Don't forget the SD reader!
If all ports come from the chipset, which is likely, you'll need to make choices to remain within the 15 ports limit. Tough choices if Dell went for the cheap solution and made type 10 USB-C ports rather than type 9.

As for sound, you again have to do the mapping.

Fixing audio with AppleALC | OpenCore Post-Install

ALC3234 is ALC255, so layout 1 does not even exist. (I could have checked that beforehand.) Edit the config.plist, change boot argument "alcid=1" to "alcid=3", reboot and test all sound inputs and outputs. Repeat with each possible layout: 3, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 66, 71, 82, 86, 96, 99, 100. It's tedious but it doubles down as a good test that reboot is stable.
When you have tested all, make the best layout permanent, as boot-arg or in the DeviceProperties section.