[GUIDE]El Capitan 10.11.2 On MSI Z170A Gaming M7, I7 6700K, GTX970

[gerunks]

Thank you so much man I have the same motherboard and my processor is the I7 6700, i have a GTX970 too and i install El Capitain 10.11.3 and it works like a charm


For the Audio, i just installed the VoodaHDA you recommend in the guide, and all work fine

Really cool man ! Thank again !

Hi, I'm thinking in getting the M7 and a GTX970 but with an i5 6600K.

As of this time do you have any issues with this MB? I'm also considering getting an Asus but I can't decide yet.

I'll appreciate it any input, thanks!

 

[minege]

Hi, I'm thinking in getting the M7 and a GTX970 but with an i5 6600K.

As of this time do you have any issues with this MB? I'm also considering getting an Asus but I can't decide yet.

I'll appreciate it any input, thanks!

Hi man

For normal use, and gaming, or for exemple Final Cut Pro, etc, all is working great

I have just *1* issue, is the sound:

The sound is working, but at every reboot, i need go into VoodaHDA Controler and set the PCM to Full, and sound to 11 O Clock.
After doing this, the sound is OOOOOKKKK, really.
Next, my mic:

The first time, my mic work magically.
Next, my mic isn't working, but there is maybe a solution. I don't have searched !

 

[gerunks]

Hi man

For normal use, and gaming, or for exemple Final Cut Pro, etc, all is working great

I have just *1* issue, is the sound:

The sound is working, but at every reboot, i need go into VoodaHDA Controler and set the PCM to Full, and sound to 11 O Clock.
After doing this, the sound is OOOOOKKKK, really.
Next, my mic:

The first time, my mic work magically.
Next, my mic isn't working, but there is maybe a solution. I don't have searched !

That's great! Ok one more point for the MSI MB.

I can work with the sound that way as soon as it works and I'm not too worried for the mic, I'm planning to dual boot anyway since I've been using Windows forever , I've practiced installing OS X on some VM's and a couple of laptops (guinea pigs) but never a desktop. I mainly want a hackintosh to learn more about OS X and learn to code . Windows will still be my OS to go until I'm confident with OS X.

I'm close to start getting the parts, I just need a nice good looking case.

Thanks for your input!

 

[minege]

That's great! Ok one more point for the MSI MB.

I can work with the sound that way as soon as it works and I'm not too worried for the mic, I'm planning to dual boot anyway since I've been using Windows forever , I've practiced installing OS X on some VM's and a couple of laptops (guinea pigs) but never a desktop. I mainly want a hackintosh to learn more about OS X and learn to code . Windows will still be my OS to go until I'm confident with OS X.

I'm close to start getting the parts, I just need a nice good looking case.

Thanks for your input!

Hi ! No problem !

For the DualBoots with Windows because you don't know how to use OS X, don't worry, you gonna to be "ok" with os x in not so long time.
And, a good news :

MY MIC IS WOOOORKING !!
And the sound is working great too !

To resolve this, i've used a usb-adaptator(Jack + Jack Micro -> USB 2.0) from Logitech and i put my "Jack Microphone" of my other headset and all work nice ! For the sound, i've put the Jack directly in the computer, without the adaptator(if i put with the adaptator, i got bad sound).

So, that's nice, and Good luck for your hackintosh: D

 

[minege]

El Capitan 10.11.2 On
MSI Z170A Gaming M7, I7 6700K, GTX970, 16 GB DDR4, 256GB SSD
Unibeast & Multibeast

​

*Note - I'm doing the text write up first, I will add pictures after I've finished the text portion.

This guide will walk you through the steps required to get an working El Capitan Customac running on a Skylake Z170A Gaming M7 board.

For the installation I used a blank 256GB Sandisk Ultra Plus SSD plugged into the IRST controller and set to AHCI mode in UEFI.

Prerequisites

​

A working Mac OS Machine to create the install USB
A blank or unused HDD to install onto

Utilities
Unibeast 6.1.1
Multibeast 8.0.1
EFI Mounter V3
A kext Installer of your choice

Files, Drivers and kexts
OsxAptioFixDrv-64.efi
The preconfigured config.plist for Skylake
USBInjectAll.kext
AtherosE2200.kext v2.0.1 (Updated to add support for E2400)
Nvidias Alternate Driver for El Capitan


Finally a fair few hours of your time.

Whats Working and Whats Not?

​

Honestly the only thing not working 100% is Audio. I have not encountered any other issues as of yet. I will keep this updated as I discover issues but almost everything, including power management appears to be working OOTB.

Obviously it does suffer from the same USB issues that all Skylake builds currently suffer from. I'm working for the rest of the week so don't have time but am hoping to spend some of my Saturday looking into the USB drives with the intention of creating a working SSDT for my board. I will keep this guide updated with the results.

I haven't tested the Onboard Video or HDMI as I have nothing to test them with

Pre Install Setup And Configuration
​

These steps should be carried out on your existing Mac.


1) Follow this amazing guide up to the end of step 2

You should now have a working El Capitan USB Installer.

2) Run EFI Mounter V3
3) Select the USB Drive and click OK then click Mount
4) The EFI folder should auto launch, navigate into /EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/
5) Delete OsxAptioFix2Drv-64.efi (or make a new folder and copy the file into it)
6) Replace it with OsxAptioFixDrv-64.efi
7) Go back a folder
Delete config.plist and replace it with The preconfigured config.plist for Skylake
9) Open Kexts and copy USBInjectAll.kext into the 10.10 folder and the 10.11 folder

WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED DO NOT DELETE THESE FILES AS YOU WILL NEED THEM AFTER THE INSTALL IS DONE, I RECOMMEND COPYING THEM ONTO ANOTHER FLASH DRIVE SO YOU HAVE THEM ALL AVAILABLE TO YOU ONCE EL CAPITAN IS INSTALLED ONTO YOUR MACHINE. REMEMBER YOU WILL HAVE NO INTERNET ACCESS UNTIL YOU INSTALL ATHEROSE2200.KEXT!

UEFI Configuration

​

UEFI Configuration is identical to MSI Z97 systems, see this excellent guide for detailed instructions.

For reference:
Windows 8/10 Support - Disabled
Windows 7 Support - Disabled
VT-D - Disabled
CFG Lock - Disabled
XHCI Handoff - Enabled

Installation
​

Now we move onto the interesting part. The UEFI should be configured and the USB Drive should be inserted into your Computer before you begin these steps. Remember that until you run Multibeast you'll need to boot via USB through the boot menu everytime.

1) Boot up your machine and mash F11 to bring up the boot menu
2) Select the (UEFI) entry for your flash drive in the boot menu
3) Click on Options, navigate to Boot Args, press Enter and add the argument

nv_disable=1

4) Go back to the boot menu and select External - Boot Mac Os X
5) Install Mac OS as normal
6) Once rebooted add the boot arguments again and boot from the HFS drive
7) Run through the initial configuration wizard making sure to select My Device Does Not Connect To The Internet for Internet Options
Setup tour User Account and El Capitans Desktop will load
9) Run Multibeast
10) Select
Quick Start - UEFI Boot Mode
Drivers > Disk - Intel Generic AHCI
Drivers > Misc - Leave Default
Drivers > Network - None
Customise > System Definitions - Mac Pro 3.1
11) Click Build > Install
12) Run EFI Mounter V3
13) Select the Hard Disk and click OK then click Mount
14) The EFI folder should auto launch, navigate into /EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/
15) Delete OsxAptioFix2Drv-64.efi (or make a new folder and copy the file into it)
16) Replace it with OsxAptioFixDrv-64.efi
17) Go back a folder
1 Delete config.plist and replace it with The preconfigured config.plist for Skylake
19) Open Kexts and copy USBInjectAll.kext into the 10.10 folder and the 10.11 folder
20) Close the EFI folder
21) Run your Kext Installer and install AtherosE2200.kext
22) Remove the USB drive and Reboot, add the boot arguments and boot from the HFS drive
23) Install the Nvidia Alternative Driver

Now you should be ready to reboot into a working Mac OS El Capitan install with no boot arguments required.

Sound Not Working

​

The first thing you will notice is that you have no sound. Its a problem I am still working on and hoping to get a solution in the near future but for now there is a partially working workaround.


1) Download the latest VoodooHDA Package
2) Install and then reboot
3) Plug your speakers into the Line Out (RED) connector
4) Open System Preferences > Audio
5) Select Line Out as the Output device
6) Open Preferences > VooDooHDA
7) Change the second drop down option to the HDEF device
Set the Volume to the 11 O Clock position
9) Set PCM to Full and iMix nd Input Gain to minimum

You should now have working sound, albeit very quiet.

USB Issues

​

Thats a Skylake thing, for now it appears the USB 3 ports are working at USB 2 speeds and the USB 2 ports don't work at all.

I'm hoping to spend some of my Saturday looking into this issue and coming up with a working SSDT to resolve this. Stay tuned for updates as I have them.

As I said at the start, I don't have time today but I will update this guide with some screenshots in the near future.

Thank You.
​

Hey man !
The link for config.plist skylake isn't working anymore

 

[indaqub]

Big Problem here! Same Mainboard and Processor.
Followed your guide really carefully and used unibeast 6.2 as 6.1.1 is no more available on tonymacx. The Link to the preconfigured config.plist for skylake is also no more online. Therefore i used the config.plist from http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/10-11-0-10-11-3-skylake-starter-guide.179221/
Booting from USB in verbose mode shows me:

osxaptiofixdrv-64.efi: starting overrides for System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
using reloc block: yes, hibernate wake: no
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thats it! And then it reboots...
I read a lot about this issue and tried a lot of approaches but had no success.

My current Clover Folder is attached.

Thank you so far!

UPDATE: The Problem was in the BIOS Settings! Set from 64MB to 128MB solved my Problem.

 

[julian200601]

Big Problem here! Same Mainboard and Processor.
Followed your guide really carefully and used unibeast 6.2 as 6.1.1 is no more available on tonymacx. The Link to the preconfigured config.plist for skylake is also no more online. Therefore i used the config.plist from http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/10-11-0-10-11-3-skylake-starter-guide.179221/
Booting from USB in verbose mode shows me:

osxaptiofixdrv-64.efi: starting overrides for System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
using reloc block: yes, hibernate wake: no
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thats it! And then it reboots...
I read a lot about this issue and tried a lot of approaches but had no success.

My current Clover Folder is attached.

Thank you so far!

UPDATE: The Problem was in the BIOS Settings! Set from 64MB to 128MB solved my Problem.

Where is that setting?

 

[indaqub]

If you didn't find it already, you should discover your bios more precisely. You can find it in the integrated graphic section. Somewhere you can see 64M (Standard). There you have to set it up to 128M

 

[vFxMz]

Low audio problems for me, any ideas?
Thanks in advance

 

[ryespurs]

Is this still the best/only way of making audio work with this setup?

I have the MSI Gaming M5 Z170 but I assume it's all but identical to the M7 with drivers etc.