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

[excelon]

If a USB drive is too big you can always partition it to 16GB and a second another partition of whatever size is left. I have a bunch of 32 GB drives I use that way all the time, the partition without the OS X installation files I use to store other versions of EFI folders, Clover Configurator, and whatever else. I have an M2 Sata Hard Drive that's 128GB I partitioned the same way. I put in a hard drive type case/ adapter and connect to it using a SATA to USB3 cable and it is 10 times faster loading it and installing.....I'm just saying drive size bigger than 16GB isn't a problem.

Meanwhile I have no idea why an identical box and configuration would be acting so differently. Bad install? Seems wired though.

This guy said he had the same problem:

Catalina Install Problem

Hey guys. Trying to do a clean install of the latest Catalina build on my NUC5i5RYH. I'm currently running 10.15.1 and can't update to 10.15.2 for some reason. The update never takes. Because of that, and a couple other strange issues I've been having lately, I wanted to do a clean install...

www.tonymacx86.com

Alright then.... So last I left off I was receiving errors during boot and continuously through the OS after install....

TLDR Version: Hardware issue with the NUC system board, now I await a replacement.

Long Version: I was able to remove the Power issues by creating a SSDT for this actual system by running @RehabMan's actual commands for the NUC8 and then replacing all the Kext's with the ones provided from your EFI folder, however no matter what I did the system would freeze and lock up after about 5-6 min of use.

I then took one of my Identical NUC's with Bios 71 that is already running your previous Clover 5100 version and shoved its already working M.2 Drive into the suspected bad system. The known good M.2 drive immediately booted and ran for about the same 5-6 min before screeching to a halt.

I once again verified by taking the newer M.2 drive with Clover 5107 from the freezing Nuc and ran it for about 2 hours in the other system with Bios 71. It worked great no issues. So I do have a working installation, just need a new good Nuc to run it on.

Thanks again for all your work and assistance on this! Super helpful!

 

[Drfrag]

sudo nvram TestVar=HelloWorld; once you reboot, run sudo nvram -p | grep TestVar

 

[Leesureone]

View attachment 459411View attachment 459412View attachment 459413

Thanks, it’s very similar too how OpenCore is configured so I’m not surprised it works. Users can make the changes you outlined or stay with EmuVariableUEFI-64.efi. One or the other is needed for iMessage

 

[Drfrag]

Thanks, it’s very similar too how OpenCore is configured so I’m not surprised it works. Users can make the changes you outlined or stay with EmuVariableUEFI-64.efi. One or the other is needed for iMessage

Yes. Reading files for opencore I learned that Coffeelake nvram needs PMC and that needs AWAC ( a new kind of hardware Clock) to be disabled in favor of RTC. Without enabling PMC, NVRAM, that is on mmio on Coffeelake, does not work and AptioFix3Drv.efi cannot be loaded breaking the boot process..
SSDT-RTC0 and EmuVariableUEFI-64.efi are optional can be removed on opencore EFI.

 

[nane30]

still using clover, but ...

is it possible to test oc via a bootable recovery stick with the files from NUC8EFIOC5.6.zip in EFI (just changing serials the with Opencore Configurator) or is there any drawback? Would like to continue with clover if its not working

Thanks!

 

[Leesureone]

still using clover, but ...

is it possible to test oc via a bootable recovery stick with the files from NUC8EFIOC5.6.zip in EFI (just changing serials the with Opencore Configurator) or is there any drawback? Would like to continue with clover if its not working

Thanks!

Yes, same as Clover

 

[Leesureone]

Yes. Reading files for opencore I learned that Coffeelake nvram needs PMC and that needs AWAC ( a new kind of hardware Clock) to be disabled in favor of RTC. Without enabling PMC, NVRAM, that is on mmio on Coffeelake, does not work and AptioFix3Drv.efi cannot be loaded breaking the boot process..
SSDT-RTC0 and EmuVariableUEFI-64.efi are optional can be removed on opencore EFI.

Nice work, I updated my Clover EFI file on page 90 following your post. Downloaded both SSDTs, compiled them with latest MACiasl just in case, saved then as .aml files and then copied them into the ACPI/ patched folder. Nulled the ACPI/ patch for RTC in the config.plist, deleted EmuVariableUEFI-64.efi in the drivers and replaced the memory driver with OSXAptioFix3Drv.efi. Tested the NVRAM in terminal and checked that iMessage was working. Boom

 

[Leesureone]

I agree about 1. Facetime & iMessage don't work.
I made a clean install on my Nuc and I cannot active Facetime & iMessage.
for example here is the error on Facetime:
View attachment 459032
I've checked with Apple and I'm not blacklisted.
I changed the serial number with GenSMBIOS (including board serial and SMUUID)
Tried even several serials but no luck
Time is on Auto in the settings

Don't know what else to try
I'm guessing that if you'll try to sign out and then sign in you'll face the same problem.

Thanks

It turns out this happened to you because I removed EmuVAriable-64.efi driver that allowed for NVRAM emulation. I've fixed that in th latest EFi folder on page 90 if you decide to go back to Clover.

 

[TheWiggler]

I have a NUC8i5BEH and NUC8i5BEK and both are running great. I haven't tested Thunderbolt yet- is there any tricks to getting it to work?

 

[Leesureone]

I have a NUC8i5BEH and NUC8i5BEK and both are running great. I haven't tested Thunderbolt yet- is there any tricks to getting it to work?

In the bios change thunderbolt to legacy and have whatever device plugged in at boot up.