- Joined
- Feb 7, 2017
- Messages
- 29
- Motherboard
- Clevo N850HP6
- CPU
- i7-7700HQ
- Graphics
- HD 630 | GTX 1060, 1920x1080
- Mobile Phone
Introduction
As a first-time Hackintosh builder, I was challenged with the task of transitioning a relatively lesser-known laptop brand. However, thanks to the many guides and help threads on the forum (thanks @RehabMan), I was able to build and tweak to my desired level of functionality (~95%). For those with similar builds, I hope this thread will serve as a compilation of resources and tips to get High Sierra running smoothly.
My final configuration will be attached to this post, but as recommended, DO NOT COPY PATCHED DSDT/SSDT FILES UNLESS YOUR BUILD IS IDENTICAL TO MINE. Instead, you can use the configuration as a guide along the way.
Current Status
Happy to say that booting and installing is possible by following the vanilla guide with no additional custom work. The usual suspects after installation (power management, brightness, audio) are overcome with some guides. I'm currently still doing some tweaking on the build to confirm some quirks, so this section will change with time.
Working
- High Sierra Installation upgraded to latest patch (10.13.4)
- Dual boot with Windows 10
- Native QE/CI support for Intel HD 630
- Disabled GTX 1060 (optional)
- PS2 Keyboard and Trackpad with some gestures
- Power Management
- WiFi and Bluetooth with Dell DW1830
- Brightness control and keyboard bindings
- External display via 1 out of 2 Mini DisplayPorts
- USB ports
- Audio (onboard speakers and microphone, 3.5mm jack speakers and microphone)
- Webcam (onboard)
- HDMI-out (this is connected to the dGPU and thus will not work if you disable the dGPU)
- 1 MiniDP-out (this is connected to the dGPU and thus will not work if you disable the dGPU)
- Potential support for HDMI-out (via webdriver with dGPU)
- Mini-DP has some issues connecting on boot; disconnecting and reconnecting
- Mini-DP audio
- USB-C port
- SD Card Reader
Specs
- Motherboard: Clevo N850HP6 Board (Intel H87)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ Kaby Lake
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 2400mhz (2x8)
- iGPU: Intel HD Graphics 630
- dGPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5
- Ports (Video): 1 x HDMI | 2 x Mini DisplayPort
- Display 1: 15.6" FHD IPS (1920x1080)
- Display 2: Dell SE2417HG (1920x1080)
- SSD: 250GB Samsung EVO 860 EVO M.2 SSD
- HDD: 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive (Seagate FireCuda)
- WiFi: Dell DW1830 BCM943602BAED (replaces Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168)
- Ethernet: Realtek 8411B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
- Audio: Realtek ALC269 VC2 (0x100202) | 1 x 3.5mm Audio Combo Jack
- Ports (USB): 1 x USB 3.1 | 2 x USB 3.0 | 1 x USB 2.0
- Ports (SD): 1 x SD Card Slot
Guides
I followed a wealth of guides on this forum and I won't copy them in the entirety - instead I will link the ones I followed below and then walk through the process highlighting the things to look out for.
It is important that you click through all these guides and go through them step by step if you want to maximize your Hackintosh's functionality.
- Laptop Clover Guide by RehabMan
- Laptop FAQ by RehabMan
- Laptop Power Management by RehabMan
- Broadcom WiFi/Bluetooth Guide by toleda
- Laptop Backlight by Rehabman
- Patching DSDT and SSDT by RehabMan
- Battery Status by RehabMan
- Disabling Discrete Graphics by RehabMan
- AppleALC by vit9696
Hardware
Below are some hardware quirks of the laptop.
Wi-Fi
Unfortunately, you will have to replace the Wi-Fi card, which is likely to be an Intel. Guide 2 has some suggestions on WiFi cards, and I eventually went with the Dell DW1830 (BCM943602BAED). Replacement is quite simple, just open the back cover and remove the old card, slotting in your sweet new Broadcom.
HDMI
Here I have extracted schematics for the motherboard. As you can see, the dGPU is connected directly to the HDMI jack as well as 1 Mini DisplayPort. The iGPU is connected directly to the onboard monitor and 1 Mini DisplayPort.
The implications of this is that we can technically enable the GTX 1060 for output through HDMI or MiniDP, making this laptop essentially a dual-GPU setup. However, I personally made the decision to disable the dGPU as I do not need to run anything that the iGPU cannot handle, thus saving on power, heat, and noise. I may update this in the future if I decide to tinker with it, but it should theoretically be possible.
Installer Setup
Prepare the Clover bootloader according to Guide 1. Download config_HD615_620_630_640_650.plist from the GitHub repo, and setup the following kexts (only CLOVER/kexts/Other, delete all other folders in CLOVER/kexts):
- FakeSMC.kext
- Lilu.kext
- RealtekRTL8111.kext
- VoodooPS2Controller.kext
- AppleALC.kext (for audio)
- /Devices/Audio/Inject: 29 (for AppleALC.kext)
- /Graphics/Inject/Intel: NO
- /Graphics/ig-platform-id: 0x591b0000
- /FakeID: delete node and all children
- Disable "VT-d"
- Disable "Secure Boot "
- Set boot type to UEFI
- Disable "Fast Boot"
- Set the Boot device to your Clover stick
Note that it is discouraged to format your drive as AFPS, so we will choose to format in HFS+ Journaled.
Post-Install - Power Management
If everything went well, you should be booting into macOS with no major issues. Any kexts to be installed from now on will be placed in /Library/Extensions, unless stated otherwise.
The first priority, as suggested by @RehabMan, will be to set up Power Management (Guide 3). There should not be a need to patch your SSDTs for that. This is nothing complicated, just some terminal commands and you should be good to go.
Following that, follow Guide 6 to download ACPIBatteryManagement.kext and install that via Terminal or your chosen Kext installer. The battery indicator should function without any DSDT patches, but do reply below if a patch is required.
Post-Install - WiFi and Bluetooth
I got lucky, and the DW1830 worked natively with no trouble.
Bluetooth, however, needs some kexts. Following Guide 4, we install BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext and BrcmPatchRAM2.kext. Simply install the kexts and reboot, and Bluetooth will work just fine.
Post-Install - Backlight & Discrete Graphics
Follow Guide 5 to get your backlight and brightness controls working. Again, the guide is pretty straightforward and the default fix should work (check System Preferences > Display for the brightness slider).
For keyboard bindings, things get slightly more complicated. You will need to patch your DSDT. This is good time to follow Guide 6 to extract and patch your DSDT. You will then need to patch the keybinds to brightness, which I've found to be Q11 (down) and Q12 (up). .
Patch the DSDT for keybinds according to the steps below:
Step 0: Implement the recommended @RehabMan patches except for audio layout-id
Step 1: Search the DST for "Q11", you should see the function _Q11
Step 2: Replace the Methods _Q11 and _Q12 (just below) with the following code
Code:
Method (_Q11, 0, NotSerialized) // _Qxx: EC Query
{
Notify (PS2K, 0x0405)
}
Method (_Q12, 0, NotSerialized) // _Qxx: EC Query
{
Notify (PS2K, 0x0406)
}Step 4: Save DSDT as .aml
Also, patch the SSDT with Guide 8 to disable the discrete graphics card only if you want to do so (see the Hardware section for more info):
Step 0: Implement @RehbMan patch "Rename IGPU to all files that contain GFX0" and "Rename _DSM to all files that contain XDSM"
Step 1: Find the SSDT files with the _OFF method. Mine were found in SSDT-2 and SSDT-11
Step 2: Find the _INI method for the discrete device. Mine was found in SSDT-2
Step 3: Patch the _INI method in the relevant SSDT with _OFF, importing the _OFF method (because it's external)
Code:
...
External (_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._OFF, MethodObj) // 0 Arguments (from opcode)
...
Method (_INI, 0, NotSerialized) // _INI: Initialize
{
Store (LTRX, LTRS)
Store (OBFX, OBFS)
\_SB.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._OFF ()
}Step 5: Save SSDT as .aml
Note: I also found syntax errors in SSDT-7, so I decided to patch those (mostly around removing variables before the ends of block quotes).
Lastly, upload your patches to /CLOVER/ACPI/patched, and modify your config.plist with a SortedOrder. Check Guide 6 and Guide 8 for more details.
Post-Install - Audio
Audio was the other time-consuming, trial-and-error component for me to fix. There are many different workarounds for audio, but the one that worked out the box for me was AppleALC.kext (check Guide 9). There's not a lot of information on the Reatek card in the computer, but I've identified it as Realtek ALC269 VC2, and it is on a layout-id of 29.
If you followed the above section for setup, audio should actually be working out of the box. If not, first check the layout-id of your device (search "HDEF" and check the layout-id value of the only HDEF device). If it's not 29, check your config.plist, or perform a DSDT patch to set the Audio layout-id to 29.
Post-Install - Misc
Some other post-install settings to make your experience even more seamless:
- Bind keys in Keyboard > Shortcuts > Mission Control using trackpad gestures (e.g. 3-finger swipe).
- Set your SMBIOS to "MacBook Pro 14,1"
- You may need USBInjectAll.kext to get certain USB components working
- If you dual-boot into Windows, you can find the DW1830 driver here (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth)
Conclusion
Once again, being a first-timer, I don't think I pulled everything off perfectly. That being said, I will try to update this thread as my configuration improves and I discover new quirks/solutions.
Thanks for reading!
