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Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming build with working NVRAM

If you copied the EFI folder from the EFI partition of your USB flash drive to the EFI partition of your boot drive, BIOS should see it.

Make sure that, in BIOS, you have the system to boot in UEFI mode.

Yeah that's exactly what I did. I already disabled the legacy boot option. Here's what it looks like:
IMG_1680.jpg

Strange having a blank option that does nothing but refresh this screen when clicked.

I've had this build set up with Catalina stable for a long time before I decided to reinstall. Maybe it's the BIOS itself corrupted somehow. I did reset NVRAM some time ago and it screwed up my boot options then too, like having no option to boot Windows, however I'm not sure what I did to fix it or if it just started working again. Very strange, everything else works like a dream with Big Sur other than having to boot with a USB stick.
 
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Yeah that's exactly what I did. I already disabled the legacy boot option. Here's what it looks like:View attachment 525629
Strange having a blank option that does nothing but refresh this screen when clicked.

I've had this build set up with Catalina stable for a long time before I decided to reinstall. Maybe it's the BIOS itself corrupted somehow. I did reset NVRAM some time ago and it screwed up my boot options then too, like having no option to boot Windows, however I'm not sure what I did to fix it or if it just started working again. Very strange, everything else works like a dream with Big Sur other than having to boot with a USB stick.

Try clearing NVRAM at the OpenCore boot picker.
 
Yeah that's exactly what I did. I already disabled the legacy boot option. Here's what it looks like:View attachment 525629
Strange having a blank option that does nothing but refresh this screen when clicked.

I've had this build set up with Catalina stable for a long time before I decided to reinstall. Maybe it's the BIOS itself corrupted somehow. I did reset NVRAM some time ago and it screwed up my boot options then too, like having no option to boot Windows, however I'm not sure what I did to fix it or if it just started working again. Very strange, everything else works like a dream with Big Sur other than having to boot with a USB stick.

If resetting the NVRAM doesn't work, go into your BIOS and look at your boot options. Try to set your SSD as your primary boot device. If you don't see your Mac OS SSD as a separate device, you may have to clear the CMOS.

On a separate note, do you have Windows and Mac on the same SSD but on 2 partitions? I think it is difficult to set up this way because, as I understand it, a single SSD will have a single EFI partition. Windows wants its own EFI and Mac OS wants its own EFI, so I don't know how to set it up so that they will coexist peacefully on the same device. It's best to have physically separate drives for each OS you want to have in your rig.
 
If resetting the NVRAM doesn't work, go into your BIOS and look at your boot options. Try to set your SSD as your primary boot device. If you don't see your Mac OS SSD as a separate device, you may have to clear the CMOS.

On a separate note, do you have Windows and Mac on the same SSD but on 2 partitions? I think it is difficult to set up this way because, as I understand it, a single SSD will have a single EFI partition. Windows wants its own EFI and Mac OS wants its own EFI, so I don't know how to set it up so that they will coexist peacefully on the same device. It's best to have physically separate drives for each OS you want to have in your rig.
Thanks for your reply. Actually I have 2 identical SSDs 1 for Windows, 1 for Mac. I read about that too when building it over a year ago.
Try clearing NVRAM at the OpenCore boot picker.
Yeah I tried that a few times but had no success, same problem.

I've finally managed to fix it though!

I tried enabling CSM support with the intention of disabling it again, but that just locked it in legacy mode with no way of entering setup. The only way to fix this was resetting the CMOS by shorting the jumper on the board. That reset everything to defaults and I was able to enter setup again.

I thought my BIOS was corrupt. I tried multiple BIOS updates including the F9k in your original post, all failed with "OEMID mismatch" (only after all this did I find your reference to this error in your original post). Windows also failed with the @BIOS app. In the end I created a freedos boot USB with efiflash.exe and the F9M bios and it overrided the error and flashed it instantly. I set up the BIOS according to your guide. This fixed most of the weird behaviour but still wasn't reading the EFI. So I decided to upgrade OpenCore from 0.7.0 to 0.7.1 and that got it noticed by BIOS.

However, then it wouldn't read the Windows partition as bootable when pressing F12. I tried resetting NVRAM again but no success. I had to use my old USB with OC 0.7.0 and it then showed as bootable through OC with an orange drive icon and a bootcamp drive option. I assume the orange one boots Windows without the OC SSDT? That would be ideal. Finally I copied the Microsoft folder from the USB EFI and now Windows shows up in OC but only as a bootcamp option. I can also see Windows Boot Manager when I press F12 at startup now. Is there any way to get an option to boot Windows without the OC SSDT with this version of OC (0.7.1)?

Thanks!
 
However, then it wouldn't read the Windows partition as bootable when pressing F12. I tried resetting NVRAM again but no success. I had to use my old USB with OC 0.7.0 and it then showed as bootable through OC with an orange drive icon and a bootcamp drive option. I assume the orange one boots Windows without the OC SSDT? That would be ideal. Finally I copied the Microsoft folder from the USB EFI and now Windows shows up in OC but only as a bootcamp option. I can also see Windows Boot Manager when I press F12 at startup now. Is there any way to get an option to boot Windows without the OC SSDT with this version of OC (0.7.1)?

Hmm... Weird... Orange icon should mean external drive...

None of the SSDTs have changed in a very long time. The ones used in the OpenCore 0.7.0 are exactly the same as the ones used in 0.7.1. In fact, they are the same going back many, many versions.
 
@pastrychef...

Many months ago I asked about advancing from Catalina to Big Sur and this was your reply:

If you are using the latest OpenCore EFI, just update macOS as you would on a real Mac.

I'm running OpenCore 0.6.5 and as I understand the latest is 0.7.2. Your latest in this thread is 0.7.1.

  • Should I use your posted one or go in search of the .2 version?
  • So, the 0.7.x.efi file just replaces the 0.6.5.efi file?
  • Do I need to see if the kexts are current?
  • Big Sur 11.5.1 is the version offered from the App Store. Are there any watch-outs associated with it that would be a problem?
By the way, the machine has been running very well. I often let it run overnight for several days in a row with no problems. Since the end of January I think I've only had 3 lockups and it seems to always happen with a funky keyboard entry. Also, exhaust air is always cool.

Thanks!
 
@pastrychef...

Many months ago I asked about advancing from Catalina to Big Sur and this was your reply:

If you are using the latest OpenCore EFI, just update macOS as you would on a real Mac.

I'm running OpenCore 0.6.5 and as I understand the latest is 0.7.2. Your latest in this thread is 0.7.1.

  • Should I use your posted one or go in search of the .2 version?
  • So, the 0.7.x.efi file just replaces the 0.6.5.efi file?
  • Do I need to see if the kexts are current?
  • Big Sur 11.5.1 is the version offered from the App Store. Are there any watch-outs associated with it that would be a problem?
By the way, the machine has been running very well. I often let it run overnight for several days in a row with no problems. Since the end of January I think I've only had 3 lockups and it seems to always happen with a funky keyboard entry. Also, exhaust air is always cool.

Thanks!

Acidanthera just updated OpenCore from 0.7.1 to 0.7.2 about 7 hours ago. Lol. I didn't update yet.

Download the latest EFI and put it on the EFI partition of a USB flash drive. Boot from it and make sure all is working before you delete your old EFI.

If all is working, copy your old Serial, Board Serial, UUID, and System Definition to the new EFI and replace your old EFI.

So far, none of the versions of Big Sur have presented any problems.
 
Acidanthera just updated OpenCore from 0.7.1 to 0.7.2 about 7 hours ago. Lol. I didn't update yet.

Download the latest EFI and put it on the EFI partition of a USB flash drive. Boot from it and make sure all is working before you delete your old EFI.

If all is working, copy your old Serial, Board Serial, UUID, and System Definition to the new EFI and replace your old EFI.

So far, none of the versions of Big Sur have presented any problems.

Very Good!

Thanks!
 
OpenCore EFI updated to version 0.7.2.

All kexts updated to latest release versions.

As always, I suggest testing the EFI with a USB flash drive before deleting your working EFI.


Update:
If you need to boot in to macOS versions older than Big Sur, stick with OpenCore 0.7.1.
 
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Currently have a MacBook Pro 2011 and trying to use Target Disk mode on it (Thunderbolt port (up to 10 Gbps) while connecting a Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter and Apple Thunderbolt Cable (2.0 m). So far, nothing is detecting on this build even though the Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter is working fine. Any ideas?
 
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