[GUIDE] RX 580 on Catalina and P55-USB3 board

[miliuco]

... I'm attaching EFI from USB if that helps...

I see the SSDT is for your Sandy Bridge processor.

I see the Kexts folder fine but I make a comment: you have FakeSMC.kext and in Drivers / UEFI you have SMCHelper.efi, I think this driver is used with VirtualSMC.kext and not with FakeSMC.kext. You already know that we need one of these 2 kext, FakeSMC or VirtualSMC, to be able to start a hackintosh. Never both at same time. VirtualSMC seems to be more up to date than FakeSMC, you can remove SMCHelper.efi by leaving FakeSMC or switch to VirtualSMC by leaving SMCHelper.efi and removing FakeSMC, try to see which of 2 ways seems to work better. But this is apart from the problem with the SSD.

You have 3 drivers folders: drivers, drivers64 and drivers64UEFI. And in all of them you have some version of the APFS loader: ApfsDriverLoader.efi or apfs.efi. You must have a single drivers folder and a single APFS loader (there can be 2 when within the drivers folder there are 2 folders, BIOS and UEFI). Depending on the version of Clover you use, the correct folder will be one of them. You have to install Clover on the SSD with an empty EFI partition (delete the EFI folder before installing Clover) to see how drivers folder is called in your version of Clover, and use only that folder, I think the valid folder is drivers / BIOS - UEFI but you have to check it. When you've installed Clover on the SSD, check the EFI folder for your SSDT, kexts, and config.plist file.

I see the config.plist file fine, if it boots from USB it has to also boot from SSD:

Note: Remember to clean NVRAM (F11 in Clover menu) when you boot from SSD the first time or every time you switch from SSD boot to USB and vice versa.

 

[svantevid]

I see the SSDT is for your Sandy Bridge processor.

I see the Kexts folder fine but I make a comment: you have FakeSMC.kext and in Drivers / UEFI you have SMCHelper.efi, I think this driver is used with VirtualSMC.kext and not with FakeSMC.kext. You already know that we need one of these 2 kext, FakeSMC or VirtualSMC, to be able to start a hackintosh. Never both at same time. VirtualSMC seems to be more up to date than FakeSMC, you can remove SMCHelper.efi by leaving FakeSMC or switch to VirtualSMC by leaving SMCHelper.efi and removing FakeSMC, try to see which of 2 ways seems to work better. But this is apart from the problem with the SSD.

You have 3 drivers folders: drivers, drivers64 and drivers64UEFI. And in all of them you have some version of the APFS loader: ApfsDriverLoader.efi or apfs.efi. You must have a single drivers folder and a single APFS loader (there can be 2 when within the drivers folder there are 2 folders, BIOS and UEFI). Depending on the version of Clover you use, the correct folder will be one of them. You have to install Clover on the SSD with an empty EFI partition (delete the EFI folder before installing Clover) to see how drivers folder is called in your version of Clover, and use only that folder, I think the valid folder is drivers / BIOS - UEFI but you have to check it. When you've installed Clover on the SSD, check the EFI folder for your SSDT, kexts, and config.plist file.

I see the config.plist file fine, if it boots from USB it has to also boot from SSD:

Note: Remember to clean NVRAM (F11 in Clover menu) when you boot from SSD the first time or every time you switch from SSD boot to USB and vice versa.

Thanks for the detailed instructions regarding my Clover folder. Those extra files are copies from USB Efi, like I said I don't really know what I should and should not copy from USB, so thanks for clearing that out.
I did install fresh Clover on SSD, drivers were in drivers/BIOS, and the rest of files I copied from USB trying to get it to work.
Also I tried switching either VirtualSMC and FakeSMC, but I thought SMChelper is working with FakeSMC, so I'll try what you suggested, and I'll try and reinstall clover on SSD again.

The frustrating thing is, like you said, if it works on USB it should work on SSD... But I tried copying EFI from usb to an empty EFI partition on SSD multiple times... and nope, black screen, I really don't get that because there really isn't much to do wrong here, just copy paste a working EFI folder.

Thanks for checking out my EFI folder, I'm off to another battle with your suggestions.

 

[miliuco]

Thanks for the detailed instructions regarding my Clover folder. Those extra files are copies from USB Efi, like I said I don't really know what I should and should not copy from USB, so thanks for clearing that out.
I did install fresh Clover on SSD, drivers were in drivers/BIOS, and the rest of files I copied from USB trying to get it to work.
Also I tried switching either VirtualSMC and FakeSMC, but I thought SMChelper is working with FakeSMC, so I'll try what you suggested, and I'll try and reinstall clover on SSD again.

The frustrating thing is, like you said, if it works on USB it should work on SSD... But I tried copying EFI from usb to an empty EFI partition on SSD multiple times... and nope, black screen, I really don't get that because there really isn't much to do wrong here, just copy paste a working EFI folder.

Thanks for checking out my EFI folder, I'm off to another battle with your suggestions.

There are times when computing is desperate. It seems incredible that what works from USB does not work from SSD.
When you boot from SSD (without USB) does Clover menu come out after BIOS or does that menu come out?

 

[svantevid]

There are times when computing is desperate. It seems incredible that what works from USB does not work from SSD.
When you boot from SSD (without USB) does Clover menu come out after BIOS or does that menu come out?

Not sure what you're asking, when I power on the machine I have several seconds to press delete or F12 for BIOS settings or Boot drives options, after choosing to boot from SSD i briefly see "Loading OS" at the top left corner, than few seconds of black screen, and than I'm in the Clover menu.

I tried what you suggested earlier, with fresh Clover, still black screen. When booting from USB both my HDMI ports work, and dual screen works as predicted as well.
I use only one display while setting this up of corse, I only tried switching ports to see if any of the two gets anything, but none of them work.

 

[miliuco]

... I briefly see "Loading OS" at the top left corner, then few seconds of black screen, and than I'm in the Clover menu...

When yo see the Clover menu and select the SSD icon, do you see the Apple logo and the progress bar or do you see black screen?

 

[svantevid]

When yo see the Clover menu and select the SSD icon, do you see the Apple logo and the progress bar or do you see black screen?

Yes, I see the apple logo and the progress bar gets to about half or 2/3, and then I guess it loads the graphics driver and goes black, but I can hear the OS booted up fine.

Without WEG i get some purple glitches across apple logo screen for a second, and than the screen goes black but turned on. With WEG the glitching is gone, but the screen turns off.

 

[svantevid]

When yo see the Clover menu and select the SSD icon, do you see the Apple logo and the progress bar or do you see black screen?

Any other possible solutions come to mind knowing I do get to apple logo and progress bar?
Or if you know a better thread where I can jump in, so I don't create another for this common problem.

Thanks

 

[miliuco]

Any other possible solutions come to mind knowing I do get to apple logo and progress bar?
Or if you know a better thread where I can jump in, so I don't create another for this common problem.

Thanks

I can't think of anything else to tell you, we've gone through the EFI folder, the kexts, the NVRAM reset reminder when switching from USB to SSD, etc. I still don't understand why the EFI that is valid for USB does not work for SSD.
Your display has HDMI, right? And your dGPU has DP and HDMI. The only thing I can propose is to try a full cable from Radeon DisplayPort to monitor's HDMI or at least a DP - HDMI adapter.

 

[svantevid]

I can't think of anything else to tell you, we've gone through the EFI folder, the kexts, the NVRAM reset reminder when switching from USB to SSD, etc. I still don't understand why the EFI that is valid for USB does not work for SSD.
Your display has HDMI, right? And your dGPU has DP and HDMI. The only thing I can propose of is to try a full cable from Radeon DisplayPort to monitor's HDMI or at least a DP - HDMI adapter.

Thanks for taking time to look into this. I'll try with another DP to hdmi cable or adapter and see how it goes.

 

[miliuco]

Thanks for taking time to look into this. I'll try with another DP to hdmi cable or adapter and see how it goes.