[Guide] Intel NUC7/NUC8 using Clover UEFI (NUC7i7Bxx,NUC8i7Bxx,etc)

[svandive]

Howdy folks, I wanted to jump in and add to the conversation. This thread was recommended to me from another thread for the Gigabyte z390 Designare.

I am just starting to dig in on a brand new NUC10i7FNH (Intel i7-10710u). It's a great little box, but doesn't seem like it will bend to having OS X running on it without some work. If anybody has any experience with these 10th Gen NUC / CPUs I'd love any pointers I'd also love any recommendations to documents about how to tackle a new platform / architecture. Thanks, I look forward to learning a lot.

Current install status is I get stuck at the following on both OC and Clover
I believe this is the APTIO memory section:

[EB|#LOG:EXITBS:START] 2020-04-21T17:34:19
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Leesureone]

Problem in short: High packet loss and slow ping response on Intel NUC8i7BEH with both built-in Ethernet and Bluetooth on Catalina using Opencore 0.5.7


Has anyone here experienced networking issues with the built-in Ethernet or Bluetooth on a NUC8i7BEH on Catalina?

I have done a fresh install of Catalina following the OpenCore guide and using the most recent NUC8 EFI OC5.7 from Leesureone. Updated the serial as needed, first tried with an otherwise unchanged config.plist, and again with a slightly modified one (following the OpenCore guide/sanity check web tool) as attached to this post.

Either way, I am seeing a lot of packet loss and extremely slow ping response times both with the built-in ethernet, or alternatively when setting up a Bluetooth network to my MacBook, which makes me think this might be caused by the same problem.

My NUC8i7BEH is on the latest BIOS (0078), I have double checked all BIOS settings as recommended in the thread here and particularly also disabled "PCIe ASPM Support" in the BIOS, but to no avail.

Alas, networking via LAN or Bluetooth is completely unusable like this. I am waiting for some USB WiFi dongle to arrive but was hoping to get networking to run with what's available in the NUC in the meantime.

Any advice what I should check or could try to fix this?

Update: I now tried the exact same EFI with Mojave, and everything is working fine, so this only applies to Catalina.

This has been reported occasionally and fixed by doing this: #2,406
The changes you made to config.plist apply more to the Z390 Chipset than the 300 series but if it works great. Do not know what you have SetupVirtualMap enabled though.

 

[Leesureone]

Hi found the updated version but how do you install it? Sorry for the noob question but I really what to free a USB port. Do we put it in the EFI folder?

If you are using Clover it goes in the hidden EFI folder on your boot drive (you mount with Clover Configurator to edit). Copy and paste the kext to EFI/Clover/kexts/other and reboot, either that or download one of my EFI folders that already have it included.

 

[Leesureone]

Howdy folks, I wanted to jump in and add to the conversation. This thread was recommended to me from another thread for the Gigabyte z390 Designare.

I am just starting to dig in on a brand new NUC10i7FNH (Intel i7-10710u). It's a great little box, but doesn't seem like it will bend to having OS X running on it without some work. If anybody has any experience with these 10th Gen NUC / CPUs I'd love any pointers I'd also love any recommendations to documents about how to tackle a new platform / architecture. Thanks, I look forward to learning a lot.

Current install status is I get stuck at the following on both OC and Clover
I believe this is the APTIO memory section:

[EB|#LOG:EXITBS:START] 2020-04-21T17:34:19
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Unfortunately the NUC10 10th generation CPUs are not supported by OS X yet. The hope is the upcoming MacBook Pros will get a 10th Gen CPU.

 

[Leesureone]

Speaking of internal BT and stuff, which of the antennas (one has a white cable and one has a black one) amplifies the BT signal? I have a fully working Apple WBT module, connected both antennas to it, WiFi works just fine, BT however seems to lack signal strength, only detecting my iPhone when brought very close to the NUC. Apple Watch unlock doesn't even appear in system preferences, but that's fine, I disabled password anyway. Thinking of using Intel's BT instead but not sure which antenna to connect back to the original (soldered) WiFi/BT card.

The recommendation is to add aftermarket antennas, this is a quote from someone who has a similar set up.

IPEX1 Antennas
The original antennas on NUC are using IPEX4 connector while the BCM943602CDP is using IPEX1. Thus, I completely removed the original ones and replaced them with four IPEX1. However, it's worth mentioning that the quality of the signal drops after the replacement (for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth).

 

[ziggy0]

This has been reported occasionally and fixed by doing this: #2,406
The changes you made to config.plist apply more to the Z390 Chipset than the 300 series but if it works great. Do not know what you have SetupVirtualMap enabled though.

I read through all posts of this thread actually. I already had PCIe ASPM disabled as suggested in post #2,406, but didn't help. I'll test a few more settings.

Re changes: I just took the config.plist from your NUC8EFIOC5.7.zip – SetupVirtualMap was enabled there.

I first tried with unchanged config.plist settings (besides a new serial number), and then just a second time with what the OpenCore sanity check website suggested for Coffee Lake (also consulted the OpenCore guide).

So that basically meant changes only DevirtualiseMmio, EnableSafeModeSlide, LegacyEnable, LegacyOverwrite, SystemProductName, PointerSupportMode, and I removed the tools I didn't think I needed … rest was as I found it.

Maybe I was too quick assuming these were all already set to the optimal values for this NUC8 model, sorry if I misunderstood that. Are there other settings you'd rather adjust for a NUC8i7BEH?

 

[Leesureone]

I read through all posts of this thread actually. I already had PCIe ASPM disabled as suggested in post #2,406, but didn't help. I'll test a few more settings.

Re changes: I just took the config.plist from your NUC8EFIOC5.7.zip – SetupVirtualMap was enabled there.

I first tried with unchanged config.plist settings (besides a new serial number), and then just a second time with what the OpenCore sanity check website suggested for Coffee Lake (also consulted the OpenCore guide).

So that basically meant changes only DevirtualiseMmio, EnableSafeModeSlide, LegacyEnable, LegacyOverwrite, SystemProductName, PointerSupportMode, and I removed the tools I didn't think I needed … rest was as I found it.

Maybe I was to quick assuming these were all already set to the optimal values for this NUC8 model, sorry if I misunderstood that. Are there other settings you'd rather adjust for a NUC8i7BEH?

Sorry, missed you had tried that bios setting, change it back and try to manually configure ethernet in System Preferences, Network and then in the advanced button and finally the hardware tab. See below for what to set:

None of the changes you made to the config.plist will effect ethernet, you can read what they do under the summary and yes I think I had it configured optimally for the chipset

 

[ziggy0]

None of the changes you made to the config.plist will effect ethernet, you can read what they do under the summary and yes I think I had it configured optimally for the chipset

Right, that's what I thought, thanks for clarifying, and more so thank you for the quick reply!

I will try those ethernet hardware settings tomorrow. Isn't it kinda weird though I am seeing a high packet loss and slow pings for Bluetooth PAN as well?

 

[Amalkatrazz]

The recommendation is to add aftermarket antennas, this is a quote from someone who has a similar set up.

IPEX1 Antennas
The original antennas on NUC are using IPEX4 connector while the BCM943602CDP is using IPEX1. Thus, I completely removed the original ones and replaced them with four IPEX1. However, it's worth mentioning that the quality of the signal drops after the replacement (for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth).

My Wifi/BT module uses same connectors as the NUC's built-in antennas. Your quote is from Sarkrui and he mentions different Broadcom wifi cards that use different antenna connectors. I don't want to do complete disassembly (which is necessary to attach antenna cables to the plate above the fan), so I decided to disconnect NUC's antennas from the Intel WLAN/BT card and connect them to my own.

 

[Leesureone]

Right, that's what I thought, thanks for clarifying, and more so thank you for the quick reply!

I will try those ethernet hardware settings tomorrow. Isn't it kinda weird though I am seeing a high packet loss and slow pings for Bluetooth PAN as well?

I really can't tell you why that is or whether the two are related, we just recently got the intel bluetooth working so reports of issues have been nonexistent.