[Guide] Lenovo ThinkPad T440P [OpenCore 0.5.9]

[Sniki]

Lenovo ThinkPad T440P using OpenCore (0.5.9)​

Considering i haven't finished the OpenCore Bootloader guide yet, due to the big number of request for a OpenCore guide, here is the Open Core guide which is much more stable and faster than Clover, i have been using the OpenCore Bootloader since v0.0.2 and it has been my GO 2 bootloader on all my hackintosh hardware since that time.

Special Note
​

Please beginners, refrain from touching things into config.plist if you don't have enough hackintosh skills as we don't have a public guide in our forum yet for OpenCore. Everything provided in the EFI is already baked for you.

RESET NVRAM: please do not use this option, there is an issue from Lenovo's side on the 2-3 recent versions of Bios which after NVRAM reset, the Laptop get's bricked and you will have to flash original bios back with a SPI Programmer.

Preparation
​

The OpenCore EFI that i have provided is completely baked for you, which means all the possibly necessary kexts that may be required, all the Drivers and all the ACPI Patches the config.plist etc are there and configured for use OOB.

So everyone that plans to use this guide, is required to complete these small tweaks to have everything working:

1. SMBIOS values

Note: MacbookPro11,1 or MacbookPro11,2 are the only SMBIOS options that you should use.

In order to have iMessages and other iCloud Services make sure to port the values from your Clover config.plist
Open Config.plist of OpenCore EFI with PlistEditPro
Go to config.plist / PlatformInfo / Generic and copy/paste the values from Clover to the OpenCore config.plist file.
Or in case you don't have any IDs from previous setup, you can generate new ones.

2. Wireless and Bluetooth

If you have a card like DW1560 / DW1830 / DW1820A the kexts:

• AirPortBrcmfixup.kext
• BrcmPatchRam3.kext
• BrcmFirmwareData.kext
• BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext
• BT4LEContinuityFixup.kext

Are enabled by default so you don't have to touch anything, except:
DW1820A - Users should go and enable the SSDT-DW1820A that contains the fake-id and aspm disabled into:
EFI > OC > Config.plist > ACPI > Add > 12 > Enabled = YES

If you have a card like BCM94360CS2 / BCM94360NG:
these cards are supported natively so you need to disable the kexts that i listed above.
You can do that by going into config.plist > Kernel > Add > and find each one and change Enabled=No

Installation
​

For installation there are 3 options that you can try but first make sure you are using latest Clover guide where you have no kext installed into /Library/Extensions or you will have big problems, on my latest Clover guide i have noted that kexts shouldn't be installed into system anymore but EFI/Clover/kexts/Other, so the same principles apply here, all latest kexts are already included into this OpenCore EFI but /Library/Extensions should have no hackintosh kexts there.

Option 1: OpenCore EFI USB
This is the safest way to test it, all you have to do is get a USB drive, format it as HFS+J GPT, mount the USB EFI and copy the EFI of the OpenCore that i attached and simply reboot and boot from USB, you will maintain your installation but instead of your current Clover EFI you boot from the OpenCore EFI from USB.

Option 2: Replace Clover EFI with OpenCore EFI (prefered after Option 1 tested successfully and no problems spotted).
Mount the EFI partition of your HDD/SSD, compress the old EFI (Clover), delete the EFI folder and add the OpenCore EFI, reboot

Option 3: OpenCore USB Installer Same as Option 1 but if you prefer to clean install simply create the USB Installer like you usually do but after USB Installation media has been completed from terminal, mount EFI and place the OpenCore EFI and reboot, boot from USB and start installation.

Keyboard​

Keyboard has been fully reworked, now the F4 (Mic Mute toggle) does work as mic mute with LED as well.
(F7) Projector key has been fixed, F8 now Disables/Enables WIFI and Shift+F8 does Disable/Enable Bluetooth.
(F9) opens System Preferences, (F10) Opens Spotlight Search, (F11) Mission Control, (F12) Launchpad
(Fn+Spacebar) now shows the Backlight HUD, there is also a CapsLock GUI indicator and a Fn+FnLock indicator.
All these keys require the ThinkPad Assistant in order to work, link to download:

Releases · MSzturc/ThinkpadAssistant

An Assistant Application that allows you to use all your Function Keys on a T-Series Thinkpad Laptop - MSzturc/ThinkpadAssistant

github.com

Audio
​

Unfortunately these laptops are plagued by the very problematic ALC3232 Audio Codec that Lenovo decided to go with from the thousands of better options that they had, however overtime we almost completely fix it on macOS.
Docking Station is now supported but two Inputs as LineIn are not supported so i had to ditch Docking Station Microphone support from the Dock Combo Jack so users who want to use Microphone from their headset should plug the Headsets into the Laptop Combo Jack.
Auto switch now works perfect with my CodecCommander.kext and latest ALCPlugFix.

In order to have perfect audio, we need to install ALCPlugFix, Download latest ALCPlugFix from my repository:

GitHub - Sniki/ALCPlugFix: An updated version of ALCPlugFix for Lenovo ThinkPad(s) with Realtek ALC3232 Audio Codec

An updated version of ALCPlugFix for Lenovo ThinkPad(s) with Realtek ALC3232 Audio Codec - Sniki/ALCPlugFix

github.com

place the extracted ALCPlugFix folder into desktop

Open Terminal and enter the following commands 1by1:

sudo spctl --master-disable
sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin/
cd desktop/ALCPlugFix
./install.sh

When the prompt appears to open/allow hda-verb and ALCPlugFix as third party Applications, press Open/Allow to enable them so they can load. Audio now should work perfect for you.

Problem Reporting and Troubleshooting
​

Please provide proper Problem Reporting (archive) which includes the EFI and a copy of IOREG.
IOREG should be saved with the correct working version of IOregistryExplorer that can be found here:

[Guide] How to Make a Copy of IOReg

IORegistryExplorer aka IOReg Apple Developer Tool Xcode How to Make a Copy of IOReg (Note 1) 1. IORegistryExplorer/File/Save a Copy As…. (no extension required) 2. Open file to verify (Note 2) 3. Attach to post (Note 3) Where To Get IOReg 1. Download Interim, link below Installation 1, Open...

www.tonymacx86.com

Also like i said above i recommend only more advanced users and even them to do proper problem reporting with well documented problem reporting with clear description or solution.

Before posting, please read the official Acidanthera Open Core Configuration.pdf file which includes all the informations on how to create a config.plist and all the quirks and patches with all their descriptions provided (attached at the end of this post)

 

[Sniki]

Changelog (13.07.2020)

• Added missing BrcmFirmwareData.kext to fix Bluetooth problems on DW1560 and DW1820A (tested both cards using my AirPods and they work perfect now)
• Added new SSDT-DW1820A build from scratch which is more optimized and includes user customizable options like brcmfx-country , brcmfx-driver, pcie-aspm-default and only works under macOS without affecting other OS
• Changed BlacklistAppleUpdate to No and replaced with run-efi-updater = No NVRAM variable (this should fix the random system variable corrupted message)
• Added Keyboard Fn+FnLock and Caps lock into SSDT-KBD for ThinkPadAssistant to have GUI feedback for these Buttons.
• Reverted layout-id from 15 to 28 to use the new patched AppleALC.kext with Docking Station Support and auto switch
• Added CodecCommander.kext and ALCPlugFix to fix audio problems with static/high pitch noise
• Fixed Low volume on Speakers compared to Windows, would like some feedback on this.
• Added Framebuffer patches for MiniDisplayPort and VGA to fix Video Output on these ports
• Added -rtsx_mimic-linux boot-arg to fix SD Card Detection and initialization after wake from sleep
• Disabled ResetNVRAM boot option as there is an issue on 2-3 latest lenovo bios versions that after resetting NVRAM the laptop will get bricked and will need to flash stock bios with SPI Programmer to fix it.

 

[Sniki]

Known Issues

• Docking Station Audio Jack has no input support, only output because we can't use two inputs as LineIn.
• SD Card Reader after wake from sleep can't eject normally, you have to Force Eject.
• Kernel Panic into an Instant Reboot when attempting sleep, restart or Shutdown while External Display connected on one of the Docking Station Video Ports (DisplayPort, DVI, VGA)
• No DisplayPort Audio when using the Docking Station DisplayPort

 

[swatchie-1]

I will be trying it now!

 

[swatchie-1]

Put yours in a USB and copied over your EFI while changing the platform IDs. Got stuck few times at the apple logo loading halfway through the bar. AFter a few tried, got to this screen but could not type password and the text indicator is not blinking. Already reset NVRAM few times too.

2) Tried installing from scratch with the USB but could not load the installer too because it was stuck halfway as above.

Anything else to try?

Clover still working fine.

 

[Sniki]

while changing the platform IDs

Why are you changing platform ID(s) ?

Also do you have the DW1820A card ?

 

[swatchie-1]

Why are you changing platform ID(s) ?

Also do you have the DW1820A card ?

@Sniki Changing it to match my own motherboard ID

Yes I also have DW1820A. Should I remove it first?

 

[Sniki]

@Sniki Changing it to match my own motherboard ID

Yes I also have DW1820A. Should I remove it first?

You are refering to SMBIOS ID(s) for iMessage.

DW1820A is the problem, that card is the problem, it is freezing system and causing kernel panics and freezes the system after wake from sleep (can't type login password or click anything).

Disable it on bios or remove it from laptop and see how it works for you.

 

[swatchie-1]

You are refering to SMBIOS ID(s) for iMessage.

DW1820A is the problem, that card is the problem, it is freezing system and causing kernel panics and freezes the system after wake from sleep (can't type login password or click anything).

Disable it on bios or remove it from laptop and see how it works for you.

Yes, i removed it, i can now boot. HOwever it has sleep issues where it will kernel panic when you wake up from sleep and it will reboot..
Solved it using the No-hda-gfx under PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1b,0x0) in Device Properties. Hope this helps anyone else facing this issue.

Sniki regarding the DW1820A, i installed it back and it boots. I also added the following to my devices in the config.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1C,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
<dict>
<key>AAPL,slot-name</key>
<string>WLAN</string>
<key>compatible</key>
<string>pci14e4,4331</string>
<key>device_type</key>
<string>Airport Extreme</string>
<key>model</key>
<string>DW1820A (BCM4350) 802.11ac Wireless</string>
<key>name</key>
<string>Airport</string>
<key>pci-aspm-default</key>
<integer>0</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>


Now there's wifi but no bluetooth so I reset the NVRAM again and still do not have bluetooth. Will keep trying and appreciate if you have any experience in this.

 

[karnadi]

Thanks for the t440p version.

I got this error in opencore startup before entering the gui picker. But I still can boot to macos without problem. And I can't boot to windows (crash on blue screen).