Gigabyte Z490 UD install HEADACHE!!

[blt2652]

Specs
Gigabyte Z490 UD
Intel i5 10400 2.9GHZ, 65W, UHD Graphics 630, 64GB Graphics
16GB DDR4-3200 memory
iGPU
Big Sur 11
OpenCore 0.6.8 Debug

I’ve been trying to install macos with OpenCore for about a week now with no luck.
I created a Big Sur install USB using terminal and created an OpenCore EFI by following Dortania’s OpenCore install guide.
The Big Sur installer will boot to the picker and allow me to choose the “Big Sur installer”. The verbose install ends at “IOConsoleUsers: gIOScreenLockState 3, hs 0, bs 0, now 0, sm 0x0” and then a black screen.

A check of the debug log shows that it ends with
[EB#LOG:EXITBS:START]

My config.plist and debug log are attached below.

I’ve followed all directions from Dortania’s trouble shooting page, but nothing has helped.

I’ve tried using “SetupVirtualMap” on both “True” and “False”.

I’ve even tried by using these different System definitions:
iMac17,1
iMac18,1
iMac19,1
iMac20,1
MacPro6,1

I’ve also tried changing “AAPL,ig-platform-id” from 07009B3E to 00009B3E.


Bios Settings
I haven’t found any bios settings instructions for the Z490 UD, so I configured it using a guide for the Z490 UD AC.
Please advise me if these settings are incorrect.
XMP: Profile1
CSM Support: Disabled
Secure Boot Mode: Custom
VT-d: Disabled
SATA Controllers: Enabled
SATA Mode Selection: AHCI
Internal Graphics: Enabled
DVMT Pre-Allocated: 64M
Above 4G Decoding: Enabled
Re-Size BAR Support: Disabled
IOAPIC 24-119 Entries: Enabled
Serial Port: Disabled
Legacy USB Support: Disabled
XHCI Hand-off: Enabled
Network Stack: Disabled
Intel Platform Trust Technology: Disabled
Software Guard Extension: Disabled
Security Device Support Disabled
CFG Lock: Disabled
Security Option: System
Fast Boot: Disable Link
Windows 10 Features: Other OS
CSM Support: Disabled
Secure Boot Enable: Disabled

I’m not sure about these bios settings or if they need to be messed with.
If anyone has input on what to do with these, please advise.
Intel Speed Shift Technology:Enabled
IOAPIC 24-119 Entries:Enabled

Any and all help/information would be greatly appreciated.
I am at my wits end.

 

[rustEswan]

Stupid question but are you sure that the installer usb actually works? As in have you tried recreating the installer at any point?

which USB port is your installer plugged into?

Big Sur version? 11.3?

 

[blt2652]

Thanks for your response.
I have created several installers on 3 different usb flash drives. I have lost track of how many times I have erased the usb drives and reinstalled the OS. I’ve also tried using Mojave and Catalina as well. Big Sur is the only one that will get very far in the install process. Mojave and Catalina only go as far as allowing me to choose their installer from the opencore picker and then they go to a black screen.
I have successfully installed Mojave on my old gigabyte GA-Z68 board using opencore 0.6.8. I just cant get my new setup going.
As far as usb ports, I’ve tried both 2.0 ports and both 3.2 gen 1 ports on the board.
I am currently using Big Sur 11.2.3.

 

[esafeddie]

Thanks for your response.
I have created several installers on 3 different usb flash drives. I have lost track of how many times I have erased the usb drives and reinstalled the OS. I’ve also tried using Mojave and Catalina as well. Big Sur is the only one that will get very far in the install process. Mojave and Catalina only go as far as allowing me to choose their installer from the opencore picker and then they go to a black screen.
I have successfully installed Mojave on my old gigabyte GA-Z68 board using opencore 0.6.8. I just cant get my new setup going.
As far as usb ports, I’ve tried both 2.0 ports and both 3.2 gen 1 ports on the board.
I am currently using Big Sur 11.2.3.

Hi - Try this link it has an extensive list of all kinds of working Hacks - https://github.com/topics/hackintosh?o=desc&s=updated - you should be able to find working examples of your board plus BIOS settings as well as working examples of EFI Folders with correct Mac Models. Good luck.

PS - At boot-up, remember to clean the NVRAM between EFI Trials and Tests Before loading to remove remnants of the last test/trial.

 

[blt2652]

Hi - Try this link it has an extensive list of all kinds of working Hacks - https://github.com/topics/hackintosh?o=desc&s=updated - you should be able to find working examples of your board plus BIOS settings as well as working examples of EFI Folders with correct Mac Models. Good luck.

PS - At boot-up, remember to clean the NVRAM between EFI Trials and Tests Before loading to remove remnants of the last test/trial.

Thanks for your response!
I will definitely go to that website. I am willing to take any and all advise.
As for clearing the NVRAM, yes, I do that at every boot.
Have you had the opportunity to look at my config plist? I really need someone else to go thru it. I’ve looked at it until my eyes have crossed.
Again, thanks for all of your help!

 

[esafeddie]

Thanks for your response!
I will definitely go to that website. I am willing to take any and all advise.
As for clearing the NVRAM, yes, I do that at every boot.
Have you had the opportunity to look at my config plist? I really need someone else to go thru it. I’ve looked at it until my eyes have crossed.
Again, thanks for all of your help!

Unfortunately I am not familiar with your Z490 so I wouldn't be able to give you advice on how to setup your BIOS or what entries should be made to the config.plist but the website I posted will have the info you need to a successful install.

 

[blt2652]

Ok, I really appreciate it!

 

[bmoag]

I have a different Z490 with a Comet Lake i7 but I think the problems are common to the chipset. I found it much harder to get BigS running on that platform than earlier Intel chipsets.

My pearls:

Initially I had stops about where you describe; there are vague references to it in the Dortania troubleshooting guide. In my case it was related to UEFI settings, "above 4g decoding." I recently had to reset the BIOS and re-enter the settings, yours appear correct but I would triple check. I am using an MSI board and I find the UEFI chaotically disorganized and illogical compared to Gigabyte but they all are created by people to whom human languages are alien.

I hope you realize that formatting the USB key can't be done in Catalina without turning off system protection-had to create a new one today and forgot about that. If I were you, assuming your are using a USB 2 key (3 should work but 2 will be less problematic) I would use diskpart/clear on the USB key (or the terminal equivalent) and then reformat in Mojave or correctly in Catalina, remake the installation key and go from there. Just finished doing that.

Alternately if you have access to a working Apple (or Open Core hack) Catalina installation you can install BigSur from there on to a USB adapted SSD or M2 drive and then only have to worry about the EFI. That is what I did and have done for several new versions of MacOS including the BigS in which I type. Installing from an Apple machine with Catalina will be less problematic than a hack. You can clone an existing BigS installation, from an Apple or Hack, you will just have to later delete the programs you don't own--have done that too.

I assume you are using Open Core 6.7 or later and the most recent version of kexts, drivers et al--I could not really get BigS running stably until 6.7 but others succeeded with earlier OC versions. I would use the premade everything and be sure you have the right and latest ones. You can come back later and make custom versions if so inclined. For the Z490 chipset you should not need the debug version of OpenCore because that chipset will work with existing drivers, kexts et al.

If trying to install 11.3 you are likely to have a nasty surprise regarding USB ports--stopped me for the last couple of days after what seemed like a problem free update.

It may seem that no USB ports work but likely at least one USB 2 port should work for keyboard/mouse (use a USB 2 hub if needed). Search and you should find--in my situation is was the front USB 2 case slots that worked, not the ports on the backplate.

If there really are no working USB ports all is not lost if you have a way to modify the EFI on your installation key.

The Dortania guide tells you to use USBInjectAll kext with the UXHCI quirk set to off. They should change the guide in the next version to make that standard because of changes in 11.3 and be less opaque about the need for USB mapping going forward (if there is any forward given Apple's plan to dump X86 as soon as legally possible).

I found that alone activated the USB 2 ports and maybe one USB 3 port, which may be good enough. Although the Dortania guide is its usual opaque self using the USBMap tool you should be able to create a USBMap kext that will activate whatever the max is for your motherboard. I'm not sure I did it right but the USB ports seem to work now.

Good luck.

 

[blt2652]

Thank you so much for all of your input!

The best I can tell from your description, it sounds like I have everything is setup correctly.
The only difference is that I am creating my Catalina and Big Sur USB keys on an Mojave, opencore 0.6.8 system.
Do I need to upgrade that system to Catalina?

I know that my Catalina and Big Sur USB installers work because I’ve used them to install on an SSD using my old Gigabyte GA-Z68 board with a Sandy Bridge cpu. The installer works perfectly on that setup. Once I change all the settings back to install on the Z490 setup, the installer just craps out.

Another question I have is about your comment on “above 4g decoding” in the bios. Is that supposed to be enabled or disabled? I currently have it enabled.

I have tested the USB ports on the Z490, and the 2.0 ports (the top two red ports) on the board are recognized. As are the two front ports on my case.

If you have any more ideas, please pass them along!

 

[Middleman]

Thank you so much for all of your input!

The best I can tell from your description, it sounds like I have everything is setup correctly.
The only difference is that I am creating my Catalina and Big Sur USB keys on an Mojave, opencore 0.6.8 system.
Do I need to upgrade that system to Catalina?

I know that my Catalina and Big Sur USB installers work because I’ve used them to install on an SSD using my old Gigabyte GA-Z68 board with a Sandy Bridge cpu. The installer works perfectly on that setup. Once I change all the settings back to install on the Z490 setup, the installer just craps out.

Another question I have is about your comment on “above 4g decoding” in the bios. Is that supposed to be enabled or disabled? I currently have it enabled.

I have tested the USB ports on the Z490, and the 2.0 ports (the top two red ports) on the board are recognized. As are the two front ports on my case.

If you have any more ideas, please pass them along!

I have an EFI build here if you wish for my Z490 Aorus Xtreme with Nvidia GTX 1060. It is Big Sur 11.3 ready (USBPorts all done). All you have to do is populate the board serial number and ROM settings, add in the Realtek 1GBe ethernet kext in /EFI/OC/Kexts and you should be good to go. You will also have to remove the Intel I-255-V Ethernet driver, Intel AX201 WiFi6 as well as Aquantia 10GBe driver from the Device Properties list in Opencore Configurator for the network to work properly.

My suggestion would be that you should try installing 11.2 first and see how that goes before trying to upgrade to 11.3 or 11.4.1 because they are still being tested at present (some with serious issues such as inability to complete the installation on some systems).

I’m not sure about these bios settings or if they need to be messed with.
If anyone has input on what to do with these, please advise.
Intel Speed Shift Technology:Enabled
IOAPIC 24-119 Entries:Enabled

Yes they're fine, both are enabled in BIOS. But you can set Resizable Bar to Auto if you wish for Windows use.