[Guide] Intel Kaby Lake NUC7 using Clover UEFI (NUC7i7BNH, NUC7i5BNK, NUC7i3BNH, etc)

[jukes]

Also, here is a few alternative patches. For these tests, disable the two patches: "0x59260002 0x59270004 2xDP, #1 of 2", "0x59260002 0x59270004 2xDP, #2 of 2"

alt#1 (this is the same as repo patches, but 0105 and 0204 reversed):
Comment: 0x59260002 0x59270004 2xDP, #1 of 2
Find: <01030303 00009003>
Replace: <01030202 00009003>

Comment: 0x59260002 0x59270004 2xDP, #2 of 2 (alt#1)
Find: <00000800 02000000 98040000 01050900 00040000 c7030000 02040a00 00040000 c7030000>
Replace: <02040a00 00040000 c7030000 01050900 00040000 c7030000 ff000000 01000000 20000000>

alt#2 (this keeps the connector counts same, but still moves 0105/0204 to @0, @1):
Comment: 0x59260002 0x59270004 2xDP, #1 of 1 (alt#2)
Find: <00000800 02000000 98040000 01050900 00040000 c7030000 02040a00 00040000 c7030000>
Replace: <01050900 00040000 c7030000 02040a00 00040000 c7030000 ff000000 01000000 20000000>

alt#3 (same as above, but reversed 0105/0204)
Comment: 0x59260002 0x59270004 2xDP, #1 of 1 (alt#3)
Find: <00000800 02000000 98040000 01050900 00040000 c7030000 02040a00 00040000 c7030000>
Replace: <02040a00 00040000 c7030000 01050900 00040000 c7030000 ff000000 01000000 20000000>

alt#4 (keeping 0105 in @1 @2, but nullify LVDS @0)
Comment: 0x59260002 0x59270004 2xDP, #1 of 1 (alt#4)
Find: <00000800 02000000 98040000 01050900 00040000 c7030000 02040a00 00040000 c7030000>
Replace: <ff000000 01000000 20000000 02040a00 00040000 c7030000 01050900 00040000 c7030000>

Okay, I have tested these configurations, along with alt#0 (the unmodified config.plist from the nuc repository).

For each configuration I captured 4 ioreg files (attached).

1. hdmi: boot with HDMI
2. hdmi_usb: boot with HDMI, hotplug USB-C
3. usb: boot with USB-C
4. usb_hdmi: boot with USB-C, hotplug HDMI

My system.

• NUC7i5
• Intel BIOS 0057
• 10.13.2
• APFS
• SMBIOS: iMac 18,1
• 2xNEC EA245WMi (1920 x 1200), one on HDMI and one on an amazonbasics USB-C/DP adapter.

General Observations

• When hot plug fails it tends to leave the system in an unstable state. It may require one or two reboots to get back to the login screen.
• Switching from a USB-C boot to an HDMI boot, without hotplugging and then uplugging (e.g., boot usb->usb+hdmi->hdmi shutdown) causes similar problems to failed hotplugging.
• HDMI hotplugging is detected based on the presence of the HDMI cable, independent of if the monitor is powered on.
• USB-C hotplugging is detected based on the power-on signal, the cable can be left connected.
• Hotplugging can cause intermittent flickering on the USB-C monitor, I've indicated configurations where I saw this.

Specific Results

• alt0

1. hdmi: OK
2. hdmi_usb: no USB-C response
   
3. usb: OK
4. usb_hdmi: no HDMI response, intermittent flicker on USB-C

• alt1

1. hdmi: OK
2. hdmi_usb: no USB-C response
   
3. usb: OK
4. usb_hdmi: no HDMI response

• alt2

1. hdmi: OK
2. hdmi_usb: no USB-C response
3. usb: OK
4. usb_hdmi: no HDMI response, intermittent flicker on USB-C

• alt3

1. hdmi: OK
2. hdmi_usb: no USB-C response
3. usb: OK
4. usb_hdmi: no HDMI response

• alt4

1. hdmi: OK
2. hdmi_usb: OK
3. usb: OK
4. usb_hdmi: OK, intermittent flicker on USB-C

I'm happily using alt4 hdmi_usb now.

Hopefully this helps someone.

Edits: updated system details.

 

[KaPee]

From time to time I recognised that the BT connection to mouse (Apple Magic Mouse 1) and keyboard (Apple Wireless Keyboard) gets lost and the movement/scrolling up and down in web brwoser of the BT mouse is not smooth any more. That behavior happens after a while of usage (hours). I tried two different USB-dongles (Targus ACB75EU Adapter and GMYLE Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter, found on Buyers Guide) but both show the same behavior

BT & WLAN are disabled in BIOS (v.54).

I assumed that it could have been a heat issue because the problem shows up only after a while of usage. So I bought a USB 3.0 extension cable to use my BT USB dongle to eliminate that.
>>> all of a sudden it works fine.

 

[RehabMan]

alt4

1. hdmi: OK
2. hdmi_usb: OK
3. usb: OK
4. usb_hdmi: OK, intermittent flicker on USB-C

I'm happily using alt4 hdmi_usb now.

Note that in 1/2/3 the connector-type for the 0105 connector stays the same (as patched, 00 08 00 00), and those are the scenarios where everything is ok.
But in the 4/usb_hdmi, the connector-type for the 0105 connector changes from the patched value to 00 04 00 00, and then the problems. Apple seems to have some strange code here (perhaps some crazy special cases), or we just don't understand it well enough (probably 50/50 either way).

I'm sure I could dream up a few more combos, but I think I'll test myself with that alt4 scenario and see what happens here.

 

[llatsni]

Good news:

I removed the Skylake spoof (again) and updated to the latest repositories and config plist. Without making any changes to those defaults I can confirm that 4k 60hz works every way I can try. That includes:

1. Belkin USB-C to HDMI adapter + HDMI 2 cable
2. Choetech USB-C to DP cable
3. HDMI 2 cable!

Number 3 is the big win for me as it frees up the USB-C port! Amazing. Thanks @RehabMan!

 

[APAX]

Good news:

I removed the Skylake spoof (again) and updated to the latest repositories and config plist. Without making any changes to those defaults I can confirm that 4k 60hz works every way I can try. That includes:

1. Belkin USB-C to HDMI adapter + HDMI 2 cable
2. Choetech USB-C to DP cable
3. HDMI 2 cable!

Number 3 is the big win for me as it frees up the USB-C port! Amazing. Thanks @RehabMan!

What version of High Sierra?

 

[KaPee]

You will need to provide the error messages/failure details.
I cannot guess.
And I'm not clairvoyant.
./mount_efi.sh and 'make install_nuc7' is working just fine here.

Note: "make install_nuc7" does NOT copy the final config.plist. That is a separate step, as per post #1 guide.

Follow up of post #106:

Sorry for the dealy, I recently did a complete new install with new USB-stick, updated Clover, kexts and apfs.efi and osx_install of 10.13.2. Instead of 960EVO I used a 850EVO SSD. I didn't save the Terminal logs last time so I was not able to provide error messages. This time I did. You can find the two Terminal Save Output files to see the results of following the guide by 100%.

The 850 EVO SSD was recognised by Disk Util app w/o a problem and I was able to format to HFS+. (With 960EVO the SSD has not been recognised as mentioned before). OSX installation went fine like last time.

Post Install: Everything went fine until the last time when in the last step "make install_nuc7" produced an error (see attached "Terminal Saved Output 1"). Which was the only error in the post install procedure.

Given the EFI folder on HD was empty I just copied the content of the Clover-folder of the USB-stick to EFI/CLOVER on the HD using the Finder. After that I started the last step "make install_nuc7" again which now copied the files w/o an error message (see attached "Terminal Saved Output 2"). I replaced the final config.plist as by guide using terminal command "cp config_nuc7.plist /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Clover/config.plist".

I hope that just copying the Clover-folder from USB to HD didn't generate mistakes I don't see up to now.

My Hackintosh on HS 10.13.2 works fine. But I was able to reproduce the same error like last week even with the updated/latest files.

 

[RehabMan]

With 960EVO the SSD has not been recognised as mentioned before

The 960 EVO is NVMe.
It should be recognized, provided it is initialized (use Terminal/diskutil to partition it).

Post Install: Everything went fine until the last time when in the last step "make install_nuc7" produced an error (see attached "Terminal Saved Output 1"). Which was the only error in the post install procedure.

The error is due to not following the guide.
You forgot to install Clover to the SSD before continuing post-install instructions.
Installing Clover is part of the main Clover laptop guide:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-booting-the-os-x-installer-on-laptops-with-clover.148093/

 

[KaPee]

ok, now I see what you meant with the words "don't stop reading ...". ;-)

 

[llatsni]

@APAX I'm still on the original release: 10.13

 

[star-affinity]

This happened to me as well. Try disabling the onboard Intel bluetooth in the system's BIOS, that should let your dongle work again. I have no idea why this wasn't necessary in Sierra.

Thanks for that! Works fine now. Makes me wonder if the built-in Bluetooth works if the USB dongle is removed? Probably not.

I have no problem using "kextcache -i /"... ever.

Yes, it's strange – it has been working for me previously too. Not sure what has changed, but seems it's not only me since @jukes also got problems using ”kextcache”.

Anyway, problem report files attached. Everything looks okay? I currently don't have audio working via HDMI (the NUC is connected to a TV via HDMI) but I guess that's only a kext caches clean and one or two restarts away?

Oh, and doing sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions && sudo kextcache -u / simply gives me a KextCache ID, so no warnings or anything.

Edit:
All is good now (audio too) so just forget the above.