[Guide] HP Pavilion 15-AB216TX Catalina using OpenCore

[bionicGravitar]

First of all, I can't thank you enough.Your help is super appreciated. And, I'm new to hackintoshes and somewhat experienced with macOS and linux.

Nothing to worry about, I have same dGPU. Inject disable-external-gpu property in Devices -> Properties section (IGPU) and WhateverGreen will disable it under macOS, no need to patch ACPI files.

Thanks, that was assuring, I'll definitely try this way. Just to be sure, this will keep the dGPU powered off and hidden from macOS, right?
Also, it seems like the OC patches will disable the dGPU for all of the OSes and Clover ones do it just for macOS. I think I might be wrong here; feel free to correct me on this.
And, I intend to dual boot macOS and Windows 10 on the same SSD or separate drives; so I'll be needing the dGPU to work in Windows 10 as usual. And if my previous concern is right, I guess there's a way in OC patches to disable the dGPU specifically for macOS and keep it as it is for the rest. So, I think I'll try that technique.

You can try USB Wi-Fi adapter (those are cheap), and even swap it with Intel Wi-Fi module most of recent ones are supported with itlwm. Ethernet works for most part, but it isn't great. I had issue including delays while removing and reconnecting Ethernet cable, It takes some time to obtain IP Address through DHCP. while it works fine if you have it plugged in at boot time (or after boot) and you don't remove the cable or turn the modem/router off.

Yeah, that works fine for me. TBH getting a new card is non issue but RN literally everything is being sold overpriced. Once, I am sure I'l be sticking with this (macOS) setup, I'll get this one thing done too.
Just one doubt, do I disable the WiFi card from the ACPI / DSDT stuff or remove it from the hw as I don't really use it much even with Windows or Linux; mostly prefer LAN.

My OpenCore 0.5.9 archive is attached in post #30.

Didn't expect but it helps .

You don't need VoodooI2C/VoodooI2CHID, I don't know why everybody think that they need VoodooI2C.
Try VoodooRMI instead, it supports 4-Fingers and gestures are better than VoodooPS2Controller, I have tested it myself and it works fine. VoodooSMBus is missing Device id so you have to manually add it to info.plist to load it.
i'm not sure about NoTouchID. You need RealtekRTL8100.kext (not RealtekRTL8111.kext). Other kexts seems fine, just make sure you are using latest version available.

Duly noted.

I do plan to update it, but little busy now a days. My OpenCore archive should work with everything, it's missing VoodooRMI though.

It's understandable brother; what you're giving already is a lot TBH; thanks for the time, seriously.

How do you have 3 storage devices installed at same time?

Oh, I have a similar setup as yours.
My bad for not mentioning I guess. I have two drives in the laptop and one in an external HDD mod sort.
So, right now my setup with Windows 10 is :
I've connected the SSD to the SATA port; where my laptop had the original 1 TB HDD boot drive.
The original 1 TB HDD, I put it in a caddy instead of the optical drive.
And I got a ext HDD casing for the spare 320 GB HDD I salvaged from an older laptop.
So, mostly I have a 120 GB partition on the SSD and Windows and its programs are in it rest of the SSD is untouched.
And I have all of my media and backups on the 1 TB HDD.
So, I plan to try macOS on the spare HDD and if everything runs fine maybe I'll fresh install macOS on the unused space on the SSD provided 100 120 GB will be enough for macOS as I only need it to have my macOS system and programming software XCode; VSCode, etc., no media or games or heavy stuff.

Also, I was following the Dortania OpenCore Vanilla Laptop Guide and building acc to it.
But, recently they combined it with the Desktop Guide and I am finding it difficult to reorient my understanding for the new stuff.

Should I stick with it for the OpenCore stuff or if you know of a better source; I can try that too; thanks.

 

[FormerUser-435514]

Just to be sure, this will keep the dGPU powered off and hidden from macOS, right?

Yes.

Also, it seems like the OC patches will disable the dGPU for all of the OSes and Clover ones do it just for macOS. I think I might be wrong here; feel free to correct me on this.

That is true for ACPI patches, like if you use the method from Post #1 that will possibly disable it under Windows/Linux. but WhateverGreen patch is different.

I intend to dual boot macOS and Windows 10 on the same SSD or separate drives; so I'll be needing the dGPU to work in Windows 10 as usual.

I currently have dual-boot setup on same SSD, with dGPU working fine under Windows (OpenCore)

Just one doubt, do I disable the WiFi card from the ACPI / DSDT stuff or remove it from the hw as I don't really use it much even with Windows or Linux; mostly prefer LAN.

You don't need to disable it (might save some power/battery), but it can be done with ACPI patch or may be with Devices -> Properties section. Never tried disabling it myself though.

I have a similar setup as yours

I checked the Specs earlier, it's exactly same but mine came with 4GB RAM.

 

[bionicGravitar]

That is true for ACPI patches, like if you use the method from Post #1 that will possibly disable it under Windows/Linux. but WhateverGreen patch is different.

Cool, mostly I'm kind of acquainted with the basics just confused with ACPI, SSDT & DSDT; will probably read up on those again to clear my head a bit.

I currently have dual-boot setup on same SSD, with dGPU working fine under Windows (OpenCore)

Yeah, I'm trying the same, mostly need windows for non mac stuff like games and few other softwares.
Also, if you have some tips to share which you feel I should be looking towards, hit me up.

You don't need to disable it (might save some power/battery), but it can be done with ACPI patch or may be with Devices -> Properties section. Never tried disabling it myself though.

I'll try to understand this again after a while, kinda learning the ACPI and plist parts.
Mostly my concern is if I just leave it as it is macOS; will it just not work (I'm ok with this) or it'll cause other issues too?
Also, I have the option to just remove the WiFi card from the laptop and keep it aside or replace it later.

I checked the Specs earlier, it's exactly same but mine came with 4GB RAM.

Yeah, even mine came with 8 GB RAM out of the box; added spare 2 GB more from an older laptop as both were DDR3 and same frequency ones. I think that will be a non issue in macOS.

I'm forgetting to mention something I read on some guide that I wanted to get your opinion on; will probably add it to this post or add a new post with that query.

Thanks again brother.

 

[Mr.boo]

Thanks you!
after following your instruction I have installed Catalina on my laptop successfully but I have some issues:
-trackpad works not correctly
-patching dsdt for battery status, I don't know how to deal with it.
may you help me please, thanks in advance

 

[FormerUser-435514]

Also, if you have some tips to share which you feel I should be looking towards, hit me up.

Try it first on External disk, because installation on internal SSD might not be the easiest thing. Disk Utility on macOS expects at least 200MB EFI Partition (first partition), but Windows installer creates 100MB EFI partition (2nd partition, 1st is Windows Recovery. I heard Windows 10 (ver. 2004) fixed partition order, but EFI is still 100MB). and Disk Utility doesn't work/format partition on Disk that doesn't have EFI partition with at least 200MB of storage.

So, you might have to re-format your SSD with Disk Utility and install macOS, and then reinstall Windows afterwards.

will it just not work (I'm ok with this) or it'll cause other issues too?

I won't work, no serious issues or anything. it might draw some power from battery if you are concerned. but for power you might be able to disable it with Devices->Properties section and if you disable it with ACPI patch then with OpenCore it won't work in Windows either (it's equivalent to completely removing, as it'll stop working everywhere)

Yeah, even mine came with 8 GB RAM out of the box; added spare 2 GB more from an older laptop as both were DDR3 and same frequency ones. I think that will be a non issue in macOS.

Mine was 4 GB originally, installed 8GB stick later on. Again no need to worry, if it boots fine with extra RAM stick installed then it's supported by motherboard.

-trackpad works not correctly

What do you mean by not correctly?
There are total of 4 Touchpad Drivers that work with Synaptics Touchpad :
- VoodooPS2Controller (RehabMan)
- VoodooPS2Controller (Acidanthera)
- VoodooRMI
- ApplePS2SmartTouchPad

-patching dsdt for battery status, I don't know how to deal with it.

Attach Problem Reporting Archive.

 

[bionicGravitar]

Try it first on External disk, because installation on internal SSD might not be the easiest thing.

Yeah, did this yesterday.

Disk Utility on macOS expects at least 200MB EFI Partition (first partition), but Windows installer creates 100MB EFI partition (2nd partition, 1st is Windows Recovery. I heard Windows 10 (ver. 2004) fixed partition order, but EFI is still 100MB). and Disk Utility doesn't work/format partition on Disk that doesn't have EFI partition with at least 200MB of storage.

So, you might have to re-format your SSD with Disk Utility and install macOS, and then reinstall Windows afterwards.

Yeah, I was somewhat aware of this just figuring out the best partition scheme.

So, currently this is my partition scheme. This was a clean install of Windows ver. 2004. The first 100 MB partition was an EFI partition which weirdly and unexpectedly got deleted yesterday when I booted into Windows from OC by mistake. Which is why there's an oddly placed 500 MB EFI partition I created yesterday for temporary use.

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Primary             99 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Reserved            16 MB   101 MB
  Partition 3    Primary            120 GB   117 MB
  Partition 4    Recovery           505 MB   120 GB
  Partition 5    System             500 MB   120 GB

So, the partition scheme that I plan to have is:

  Partition ###  Size      Comments
  -------------  --------  -------
  Partition 1    200 MB    EFI
  Partition 2    120 GB    macOS
  Partition 3    Leftover   Windows

I won't work, no serious issues or anything. it might draw some power from battery if you are concerned. but for power you might be able to disable it with Devices->Properties section and if you disable it with ACPI patch then with OpenCore it won't work in Windows either (it's equivalent to completely removing, as it'll stop working everywhere)

Yeah, so did something similar with the dGPU yesterday. This was the result.

Basically, let's say I just wanna leave it as it is and not disable the dGPU and/or WiFi Card; in that case it'll just show up in macOS with no drivers, unusable and consuming power; no other side effects, right?

What do you mean by not correctly?
There are total of 4 Touchpad Drivers that work with Synaptics Touchpad :

So, something similar and minor happened to mine today. I had my system connected to a 4K TV (3840*2160 30fps).
1. I could not find any resolutions above FHD (1920*1080 60fps) in the options while display output set to only the TV. I think I came across a solution to this some days ago. But, if you happen to know something helpful, I'd be glad.
2. The mouse cursor kept sort of vibrating about on the screen. Basically had everything connected to the system (OpenCore USB; USB HDD; and receiver for wireless mouse keyboard combo). It did go away after I opened the laptop monitor a bit and made sure it's not touching the laptop touchpad just in case. I'm guessing either an issue with the touchpad/mouse stuff or maybe USB configs. Aso, was basically using your OC setup as is just for trial and to check thing out.

 

[bionicGravitar]

So, I tried installing macOS onto my internal SSD after trying out on the external HDD.
I basically used your OC setup as is, since it mostly worked except for a few minor issues wihich I planed to test and fix later one by one.
So, I used GenSMBios and just updated the SMBios info and the related fields (4 total as mentioned in Dortania's Guide) in the config.plist file.
Was able to install maOS quickly enough around 25 mins for the install and 10 mins for the setup and first boot.
I booted in, did the setup (logged int with Apple ID etc and selected all options including Keychain etc).
After that, did a few changes in settings (mainly wallpaper and mouse options); nothing new that hasn't been tested on this system in this area.
So, after that I shut down the system after using it for about 5 mins or so.
Now, I tried booting into it by booting into OC USB and into macOS as usual.
But after selecting the options it boots back to the OC boot selection menu.
I am able to boot into the recovery.
Also, I formatted the partition with APFS since it's an SSD and later I guess macOS encrypted the the APFS partition after I logged in with the Apple ID.
Advice required, thanks.

 

[brett12]

got it to boot but can't get battery patched

 

[bionicGravitar]

WhateverGreen supports "enable-hdmi20" property, I'm not sure if it's supported with HD 5500 (never tried myself)

I'll look into that as I haven't really found other working solutions for the issue yet.
The external display I have is a 40" 4K TV (3840*2160). And I mostly use that for watching movies from the laptop. I was able to get the OS to display at 3840*2160 (used hackintool for that, let me know if that's not a good thing ) but usually the TV shows what resolution it's being fed and on Windows it does show 3840*2160 (I use this info as a secondary confirmation). in macOS it did look like it was displaying in 4K (all the stuff was shrunk down as expected at the resolution).

I'm not sure about this one, may be it's the external mouse.

It mostly happened when i was connected to my external display and closed the laptop screen, also the external mouse was working fine rest of the time. Just hppened a few times then I opened the laptop display somewhat. I think something was causing the touchpad to glitch maybe some debris.
If that happens in the future I'll look into it thoroughly.

Any logs? OpenCore supports debugging, enable debugging that might help understanding the cause.

Yeah, so this was an issue with FileVault encryption. After I disabled that, it boots okay now.
I'm okay with not having the encryption. But if you know of some decent solution, let me know.
Also, thanks for al your help brother.

I'm mostly satisfied with the build. These three issues are something I can live with.

 

[brett12]

My Battery still does not work applied the patches from #42
attached my EFI Folder
battery is stuck at 1%