Head banging on attempts to update to Monterey (or Big Sur even)

[HackinMax]

I have been working for several days on the plist for OC 0.7.5 while running Catalina, for the specific intention of updating directly to Monterey. A few threads I started in the Boot Loader section have helped me to finally get OC 7.5 booting into Catalina 10.15.7.

However... I am still unable to install either Big Sur or Monterey. Both of these stop early in the first phase with Big Sur's 'Installer is Damaged' (It's NOT) or 'An error has occurred' (Monterey)

I've been reading and tweaking the plist based on the suggestions of others who have succeeded with this MB. I can boot into Catalina with it. But, have reached the point where I simply can't see how to move forward with updating. This Aorus Elite MB with 10700K CPU has been defeated by others. But, oddly, their EFIs won't boot the Catalina installation in order to perform the update.

Suggestions needed

EFI attached.

 

[Feartech]

I have been working for several days on the plist for OC 0.7.5 while running Catalina, for the specific intention of updating directly to Monterey. A few threads I started in the Boot Loader section have helped me to finally get OC 7.5 booting into Catalina 10.15.7.

However... I am still unable to install either Big Sur or Monterey. Both of these stop early in the first phase with Big Sur's 'Installer is Damaged' (It's NOT) or 'An error has occurred' (Monterey)

I've been reading and tweaking the plist based on the suggestions of others who have succeeded with this MB. I can boot into Catalina with it. But, have reached the point where I simply can't see how to move forward with updating. This Aorus Elite MB with 10700K CPU has been defeated by others. But, oddly, their EFIs won't boot the Catalina installation in order to perform the update.

Suggestions needed

EFI attached.

0.7.7 is the latest:

Release 0.7.7 · acidanthera/OpenCorePkg

v0.7.7 Fixed rare crash caused by register corruption in the entry point Added ProvideCurrentCpuInfo support for Intel Alder Lake Fixed typo in Cpuid1Data recommendations for Intel Rocket Lake and...

github.com

 

[HackinMax]

0.7.7 is the latest:

Release 0.7.7 · acidanthera/OpenCorePkg

v0.7.7 Fixed rare crash caused by register corruption in the entry point Added ProvideCurrentCpuInfo support for Intel Alder Lake Fixed typo in Cpuid1Data recommendations for Intel Rocket Lake and...

github.com

Yeah, I know about the newer versions. And, 7.8 will be released in a week. But do you really think it's an OC version issue?
I have read through several reports here, of Monterey success with versions as low as 6.8 and most recently with 7.3
So, I'm pretty sure it's just something I'm just not picking up in the reading.

7.5 was unlocked for me (Catalina) when @Ben42 pointed me to the MinDate and MinVersion entries. I hadn't considered that even though I had read the Dortania page.

What really has me stymied is that I can't even install Big Sur with this OC7.5 EFI. Yeah... I've missed something. I just cannot see what it is at the moment.

 

[esafeddie]

Hi - I am not familiar with your Platform but I had a look at your EFI Folder and found some errors solely based on your settings (see attached). I took the liberty to correct and update the files and kexts within the Folder (see 2nd attached pic) as well as the revised EFI Folder.

I suggest you clean the NVRAM and try the revised EFI Folder by placing it in the EFI Partition of a spare USB Drive and see the result. Good luck.

 

[HackinMax]

Hi - I am not familiar with your Platform but I had a look at your EFI Folder and found some errors solely based on your settings (see attached). I took the liberty to correct and update the files and kexts within the Folder (see 2nd attached pic) as well as the revised EFI Folder.

I suggest you clean the NVRAM and try the revised EFI Folder by placing it in the EFI Partition of a spare USB Drive and see the result. Good luck.

I'm not quite sure why my previous reply was deleted/lost. But, I will try again.

Thank you for the effort on my behalf. I am not sufficiently up to date on OC 7.8 to know why this EFI didn't work in my case. There were multiple issues that I documented in the original reply. I was able to work around some of them. But, ultimately unable to understand why the system would panic within a minute of logging in to Catalina.

I am prone to stick with .7.5 at this time, since that is as far as my reading/understanding has taken me. I am still working with it. But, currently am strapped for time due to other work. Will keep you posted.

 

[HackinMax]

Final Update::
Stayed up all night long and finally found answer(s) to the problem of updating to Monterey with the Z490/i7 10700K/RX 5700XT combination. Clean install on a fresh WD SN750 SSD and many, many edits of the plist based on various sources' advice.

Parts List
GA Z490 Aorus ELITE
i7 10700K
Corsair VENGEANCE DDR 3600 (4x16Gb)
Kraken X63 RGB
WD BLACK SN 750SE 500Gb (System)
Samsung EVO 970 1Tb (Backup and Data Volumes)
Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700XT
PCIe Broadcom BCM94360CD
Cooler master V1000 PSU

iServices seem to be working as expected.I can AirDrop, Handoff, and iMessage with no apparent issues.

Not Working Correctly:
Automatic Sleep
Bluetooth must be manually reconnected after sleep

Many of the entries in config.plist that work are counter-intuitive for me. But, I finally found a combination that worked for this one... Not bad for two weeks work.

Now, I am ready for the RX 6600XT to show up later today.

Was getting some random reboots without panic logs until I realized that I inadvertently left XhciPortLimit = TRUE. After turning that off and cleaning up the plist a bit, everything seems to be working. except the USB on the front panel, which I could swear I configured correctly. But, I do not know how to fix that now that Catalina is no longer available on this system.

The Chromium-based browsers still do not play nice with this build. They freeze randomly and eventually take the whole system down with it. But, Firefox is just fine with me, considering the benefits of running the current OS.

I am posting my working EFI for the community to use as a reference and to review. If you find anything that could be done better, please hoist a flag and let me know. Remember to add your own unique Platform information to the plist before using it.

Cheers to everyone for all the great work and effort in getting the more recent tech working.

The only issues still present are auto-sleep and my Bluetooth will not reconnect after sleep. I have to toggle BT off and back on after connecting my trackpad via USB. I've tried all the PM settings available. But, so far I can't see what the problem is.

 

[HackinMax]

Well, it looks like 'Murphy' and his 'law' have visited this build, yet again.

Somehow, the entire install got borked. I briefly saw an error that some disk image had been damaged. "Please re-install macOS"... WTH?!? And, then the EFI was suddenly unrecognized and unbootable. I had the same (un-altered) installation USB that I used before. But, now it doesn't work for some unknown reason.

Seeing as how we can no longer create reliable boot drive backups with CCC, I am back to square one with Monterey... with the same installation problems as before. Apple has really made it tough this go around.

 

[esafeddie]

USB that I used before. But, now it doesn't work for some unknown reason.

Hi - Try resetting the BIOS to Default and save now reboot then set it up again for OS X, save the settings and reboot, now try to boot off the main drive again. If that doesn't work try the USB drive. Good luck.

 

[HackinMax]

Hi - Try resetting the BIOS to Default and save now reboot then set it up again for OS X, save the settings and reboot, now try to boot off the main drive again. If that doesn't work try the USB drive. Good luck.

Yeah... I actually updated the BIOS to F21 and tried everything possible. The EFI was just toast. Booting from the original boot USB gave the image damaged errors and panicked out before I could try anything.

Trying to reinstall Monterey, I came back and downloaded the SAME EFI that I had been using... I keep getting that 'There was an error...' with 12-15 minutes remaining on the progress bar.

I'm back to Catalina. Just gonna stay here until better minds sort out the butcher's bill for this one.

 

[HackinMax]

Here's what the installer log has to say. Don't know if it will be helpful to anyone. But, I just CAN NOT get Monterey to cooperate with this machine.
I have also updated a brand new installer USB Stick to OC 7.8 with all of the little quirks and bells. I can boot into Catalina with the 7.8 EFI. But, the log below shows what happens when attempting to install Monterey.

Can someone take a look to see if there is anything in the EFI that is causing this? It's bugging the heck out of me.