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Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming build with working NVRAM

Not really. Most of the time, that sort of stuff shouldn't affect performance. Performance is more dependent on your hardware and BIOS settings.
Super. Another question, why is the NVRAM important? I will update my BIOS, but am curious.
 
Super. Another question, why is the NVRAM important? I will update my BIOS, but am curious.

Without real working NVRAM, things were never stable for me. I kept my motherboard in a closet for close to a year because of the instability and only took it out and started using it when NVRAM was fixed. Trust me. It's definitely something you want and will be well worth it.
 
Super. Another question, why is the NVRAM important? I will update my BIOS, but am curious.

This is a great description of the CFG Lock and the MSR register. The CFG needs to be unlocked and that will allow the OS to write to that register:


A working NVRAM is just one component that gets enabled after unlocking the CFG

miliuco describes how to use a workaround called CFGLock.efi. Because Gigabyte enabled the ability to lock/unlock the CFG Lock in later BIOS updates, I would use that option directly. I would only resort to the workaround in systems that do not allow unlocking in the BIOS.
 
Without real working NVRAM, things were never stable for me. I kept my motherboard in a closet for close to a year because of the instability and only took it out and started using it when NVRAM was fixed. Trust me. It's definitely something you want and will be well worth it.
I'll definitely look into it. Does that mean I have to change my Bootloader to OpenCore? What is your opinion on that, I'm very happy with my setup at the moment, is there any added value to that vs Clover?

sorry for asking so many questions, I have put all my nerdiness / geekiness into video and cinematography lately and have missed a lot so it seems.. ;-)
 
Another question, why is the NVRAM important ?
The M in NVRAM stands for memory. Non-volatile (NV) means it stays the same until you do something to erase it. Unlike DRAM or regular system memory, the data in it doesn't go away when you shut down or reboot your computer. Think if every time after you went to sleep at night, you woke up the next day and forgot where everything in your house was located ? How would your day go ? You'd have to relearn where everything was again. The next morning you'd wake up and it would happen all over again. I'm using some hyperbole here, but it helps you get the idea. macOS writes important info to NVRAM that helps the OS remember where things are and how they are set. It's really important so that a Mac or Hack can function well.

On Macs the NVRAM used to be called PRAM or Parameter Ram. That's why you press these keys at boot up to reset it. P and R keys refer to Parameter. Now with Opencore we can easily reset NVRAM at the OC GUI / boot menu.

Screen Shot 1.jpg


Being non-volatile, the PRAM/NVRAM will remember any settings that are saved. Problems can crop up where your Mac/Hack starts to behave strangely. To quote @pastrychef "things were never stable for me."

These problems don’t always happen because the settings are lost or not saved. They also happen because the information saved in the NVRAM gets corrupted. This is why in olden days, Mac gurus would suggest a PRAM reset as a cure all for strange behavior from your Mac.

During the course of normal operation, a Mac's configuration will change constantly. Volume changes, display brightness changes, going in and out of sleep mode, and many other things that you do as you use a Mac mean the NVRAM information is being updated and overwritten all the time. Then think of how much we are storing in NVRAM for our hacks to function properly. All the settings in our Clover or OC config.plist that make our PC hardware function well as a hackintosh.

When that information becomes corrupted or isn't saved after a reboot, it leads to a Mac/hack acting erratically. In many cases a NVRAM reset will restore normal operation if the data is corrupt. More often than that, we make changes to our config.plist that require an NVRAM reset so that the new info is now written to and stored on the NVRAM chip, replacing what was there before for a different config.
 
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The M in NVRAM stands for memory. Non-volatile (NV) means it stays the same until you do something to erase it. Unlike DRAM or regular memory, the data in it doesn't go away when you shut down your computer. Think if every time after you went to sleep at night, you woke up the next day and forgot where everything in your house was located ? How would your day go ? You'd have to relearn where everything was again. The next morning you'd wake up and it would happen all over again. I'm using some hyperbole here, but it helps you get the idea. macOS writes important info to NVRAM that helps the OS remember where things are and how they are set. It's really important so that a Mac or Hack can function well.

On Macs the NVRAM used to be called PRAM or Parameter Ram. That's why you press these keys at boot up to reset it. P and R keys refer to Parameter. Now with Opencore we can easily reset NVRAM at the OC gui / boot menu.

View attachment 548592

Great explanation, that. :thumbup:
 
Great community this is. Still is. I have been using hackintoshes since 2007 I think and always got great info and help here. Cheers.
 
OpenCore EFI updated to version 0.8.1.

AppleALC and WhateverGreen also updated.

Remember, I no longer own this motherboard so could not test...
 
Open the 0.8.0 config.plist with TextEdit and use Find to search for "SerialInit". Then delete the follow that's highlighted in blue.

View attachment 548511
But that will not change anything that matters.
Thanks Pastrychef,

I deleted this line and saved the config file as you suggested. It did remove the line in the Gigabyte loading screen, but Big Sur still crashed on boot, at the same point as before (that is, before Apple logo and progress bar change from the higher res version to lower res version (which is about a 1/3-1/2 of the way along the progress bar).

I have now also tried OC 0.8.1, but it does exactly the same. For some reason OC 0.7.9 works fine...I am writing this reply on that build. I tried to read through both the config file for 0.7.9 and 0.8.0. They looked identical to me, so I'm not sure what the problem is. I have also tried running your downloaded 0.8.0 file without any mods whatsoever, still get the error from before.

I even updated the BIOS to F9l, which is working fine on 0.7.4 (the build on my SSD) and 0.7.9 (running from the flash drive) but not 0.8.0 or 0.8.1.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks.
 
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