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

[HedgeHog2k]

Good to read of your progress. So a lot is working now but sleep is important and a real pain when it doesn't work as the only option is to shutdown or waste power both not good options.

Get rid of any usb stuff plugged in as it might be that but I'm guessing you tried that first.

Below is a copy of links and commands I got from the links to diagnose the sleep problem I and it worked and I worked out the problem for my NUC. You run the command in terminal and it tells you when it tries to sleep and then wakes right away so to you it seems it never sleeps but it does log the event.

It might help you and it might not if it is related to the BT dongle etc as that is hardware and might require config.plist changes etc which is beyond me sorry.

Below are MY notes so some might not be valid. The links are the main part. Also make sure your kexts are updated to the latest which I think you did recently using clover if I remember correctly.

Wake Reason from Sleep command Terminal

log show --style syslog | fgrep "Wake reason"

Kextupdater fixes sleep problem. Open then Tools and fix sleep pproblem.

Sleep and Wake history:

macOS: How to See Your Mac Wake History - The Mac Observer

If you've ever wanted to see your Mac wake history, check out this Terminal command. It lists all of the times your Mac has been woken up from sleep in chronological order.

www.macobserver.com

log show --style syslog | fgrep "[powerd:sleepWake]"

To save sleep and wake history to file:

log show --style syslog | fgrep "[powerd:sleepWake]" > MacBook-pro-sleepwake.txt

https://sysadminblogger.wordpress.com/tag/rtc-maintenance/

I ran above command an attached the result, doesn't mean much to me. Maybe you or Leesureone?

 

[Leesureone]

I tried to use Leesureone EFI, it works great with Catalina (had nothing to do). But when I try to use it with Mojave I had many troubles.
First of all I had to use the -no_compat_check to boot the installer. And when I'm in the graphic installer, my AFPS partition is greyed and I have the message "This version macos 10.14 could not be installed on your computer".
The certificate of my Installer were outdated so I had to change the date in the bios of my NUC is it related ? I doubt.
Anyone had the same issues ?

You need to redownload Mojave, the certificate date on your original one expired. Just happened to me last week.

 

[Leesureone]

would you be able to guide me to the right direction how I could check if it's related to "usb port limit patch" and how I can create a custom usb kext?
I'm still not quite sure what the difference is between a kext and a ssdt also..

I can't tell you how to check if it's related to the USB port limit patch without having your setup. IORegistryExplorer program you can download will show you the USB device tree but it won't tell you if the ports are set up correctly. The only way to really know is to do the work, you will learn something even if it doesn't work but sleep wake is almost always related to USB configuration issues. Google the Apple USB Port Limit for more information.

There are a bunch of guides available on this site for how to create a custom USB.SSDT. You can also find them on YouTube, Insanely Mac, etc, etc, etc. Just google it and then you are pretty much on your own, it's not that hard, and most of them walk you through it to some degree or another.



My take on kexts is that they are basically a driver that fools OSX to let PC Hardware act like a mac. Whatevergreen takes on the Video, AppleALC the sound etc. An SSDT is more like a specific coded hardware hack developed for different computers that need more persuasion than a kext can provide. Its also one of the most common ways to define and set the USB Port Limit patch needed for us to be able to have USB work correctly within the bounds of OSX.

The SSDT you create will replace the SSDT-NUC8-BC.aml loaded into Clover/ACPI/patched. Hopefully it will allow the internal USB headers to work and also allow the NUC to sleep and wake with bluetooth still functioning.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=How+to+Create+USB+SSDT&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[Leesureone]

I ran above command an attached the result, doesn't mean much to me. Maybe you or Leesureone?

Yikes

 

[spottsy]

I ran above command an attached the result, doesn't mean much to me. Maybe you or Leesureone?

that is a mess. Something is wrong. Mine was much more simple. Sorry cannot help in hosptial but I would say it is related to the bt modification sorry.

 

[remy666]

You need to redownload Mojave, the certificate date on your original one expired. Just happened to me last week.

I'll try it.

One thing that I didn't notice at first. But the bluetooth is functionnal ?? I thought wifi-bluetooth via Intel chipset didn't work. I have a usb bluetooth dongle that I use on my hackintosh. I unplugged it and forgot to plug it and then realized that without the dongle my NUC8I7BEH hackintosh on Catalina had the bluetooth active and functionnal.
Did I missed something ?

 

[Leesureone]

I'll try it.

One thing that I didn't notice at first. But the bluetooth is functionnal ?? I thought wifi-bluetooth via Intel chipset didn't work. I have a usb bluetooth dongle that I use on my hackintosh. I unplugged it and forgot to plug it and then realized that without the dongle my NUC8I7BEH hackintosh on Catalina had the bluetooth active and functionnal.
Did I missed something ?

It can work but drops out, very unreliable if it works at all.

 

[HedgeHog2k]

I can't tell you how to check if it's related to the USB port limit patch without having your setup. IORegistryExplorer program you can download will show you the USB device tree but it won't tell you if the ports are set up correctly. The only way to really know is to do the work, you will learn something even if it doesn't work but sleep wake is almost always related to USB configuration issues. Google the Apple USB Port Limit for more information.

There are a bunch of guides available on this site for how to create a custom USB.SSDT. You can also find them on YouTube, Insanely Mac, etc, etc, etc. Just google it and then you are pretty much on your own, it's not that hard, and most of them walk you through it to some degree or another.



My take on kexts is that they are basically a driver that fools OSX to let PC Hardware act like a mac. Whatevergreen takes on the Video, AppleALC the sound etc. An SSDT is more like a specific coded hardware hack developed for different computers that need more persuasion than a kext can provide. Its also one of the most common ways to define and set the USB Port Limit patch needed for us to be able to have USB work correctly within the bounds of OSX.

The SSDT you create will replace the SSDT-NUC8-BC.aml loaded into Clover/ACPI/patched. Hopefully it will allow the internal USB headers to work and also allow the NUC to sleep and wake with bluetooth still functioning.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=How+to+Create+USB+SSDT&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

View attachment 436568

So I took the time to make a custom USB SSDT for the NUC8. I was preparing myself for a long evening but wow was that an easy job! The reading took longer then executing. I did it a second time and it took me literly 5minutes... And best of all it seems to work work very well:
- first of all, all usb ports still seem to function with a USB2 and USB3 drive (for test I copied a 2gb file from an external drive to the hack and it took 10seconds, so full speed)
- the hack goes to sleep perfectly fine
- when I woke it up (I let it sleep for about 10mins) all my BT devices connected fine
- after reboot BT devices working fine

what still doesn't work:
- I still have audio stuttering with my Bose BT headset sometimes (but I believe this is more linked to the headset, because in all honestely I had issues before on windows
- Tapp my keyboard/mouse/trackpad to wake it up from sleep (so same behaviour as with dongle), that's a bummer. But I'll investigate!

Attached:
- The sleepwake file, but I don't understand any of it.
- I've also attached the SSDT (both the dsl and aml, both can be opened with Maciasl). I guess it should work for everybody with a NUC8i7BEH(2)? Basically it limits your USB ports to 9 (so well below the 15 port limit)
HS01 - usb2 front right
HS02 - usb2 front left
HS03 - usb2 bottom rear
HS04 - usb2 bottom top
HS05 - usb2 internal1 (BT), internal2 not mapped
SS01 - usb3 front right
SS02 - usb3 front left usb3
SS03 - usb3 bottom rear
SS04 - usb3 bottom top

I have not yet enabled again the sdcard reader kext, which most likely is another port I need to map.

Let's see how the hack handles a full night of sleep!

 

[Leesureone]

So I took the time to make a custom USB SSDT for the NUC8. I was preparing myself for a long evening but wow was that an easy job! The reading took longer then executing. I did it a second time and it took me literly 5minutes... And best of all it seems to work work very well:
- first of all, all usb ports still seem to function with a USB2 and USB3 drive (for test I copied a 2gb file from an external drive to the hack and it took 10seconds, so full speed)
- the hack goes to sleep perfectly fine
- when I woke it up (I let it sleep for about 10mins) all my BT devices connected fine
- after reboot BT devices working fine

what still doesn't work:
- I still have audio stuttering with my Bose BT headset sometimes (but I believe this is more linked to the headset, because in all honestely I had issues before on windows
- Tapp my keyboard/mouse/trackpad to wake it up from sleep (so same behaviour as with dongle), that's a bummer. But I'll investigate!

Attached:
- The sleepwake file, but I don't understand any of it.
- I've also attached the SSDT (both the dsl and aml, both can be opened with Maciasl). I guess it should work for everybody with a NUC8i7BEH(2)? Basically it limits your USB ports to 9 (so well below the 15 port limit)
HS01 - usb2 front right
HS02 - usb2 front left
HS03 - usb2 bottom rear
HS04 - usb2 bottom top
HS05 - usb2 internal1 (BT), internal2 not mapped
SS01 - usb3 front right
SS02 - usb3 front left usb3
SS03 - usb3 bottom rear
SS04 - usb3 bottom top

I have not yet enabled again the sdcard reader kext, which most likely is another port I need to map.

Let's see how the hack handles a full night of sleep!

Keep us posted!

 

[randomman0815]

It is compatible with Catalina acording to this. https://apogeedigital.com/home-feat...eature-news/macos-catalina-compatibility-info

Did you download the latest drivers and software for Catalina? Also download the lastest bios might help and update kexts at least the usb kext.

Hey, thanks for your suggestions!

I updated to Bios 75, the kexts where already up to date.
I don't want to update to Catalina yet, since it might give me some trouble with some of the audio software I use.

Don't upgrade to Catalina yet - here's an easy explanation why not - CDM Create Digital Music

I've done the deep dive. Here's the fast explanation of why it's too soon to upgrade to macOS Catalina - either if you're pressed for time, or to forward to your friends.

cdm.link

Not sure if it was the Bios update, but the interface does now work right after booting (without the need of a login/logout).
I still can't Hot-plug it though. Whenever I do that it goes back to the endless loop of turning off and on until I log out/login again or restart.

It is definitely a step into the right direction though!
Thank you!