Help needed to understand UEFI/Clover and reinstall OSX

[Almarma]

Hi,

I have experience with computers, both PCs and Macs, but not with Hackintosh. I've been researching about Clover, its options, and UEFI settings and options, and how it works, but I'm going nuts with a couple of things I cannot understand and cannot fix, so any help would be greatly appreciated . Here they go:

I have two hard disks (HDD0 and HADD1) in my computer (see my profile to see the model), and the idea is to keep Windows 10 in one of them (HDD0), and a second one with OSX (HDD1). Windows 10 was already working fine in HDD0, with UEFI boot loader. I've configured the BIOS as recommended for OSX, set the second HDD1 as the default one to boot from, and installed Clover into that one. The first try, booting from the USB, worked fine. The first impressions where very positives, but after messing around with clover options, iMessages, kexts to fix small problems, I think I have made some things wrong, and I would like to start from scratch, formatting all OSX and it's UEFI and everything from that disk, and start again with all I learned from the first try.

The problem is I can't:
If I try to boot from the USB, it says not boot media was found, insert the media and press a key to continue.
If I boot from Clover on HDD1 and the USB plugged, it appears as bootable. If I choose it, it boots but I get a gray screen with the beach ball, and nothing else happens.
If being on Windows I delete all the OSX partitions inside HDD1, same problem, and surprisingly, my BIOS setup program keeps showing "Mac OS X" as a boot option (which doesn't work).
Even with the HDD1 unplugged physically from the PC I keep having OSX as a boot option!

What's going on here? How can I get rid of Clover and everything OSX related and start from scratch with a clean harddisk, UEFI and boot again from the Unibeast USB installer?

By the way: I create the installer in UEFI mode. Should I use old legacy mode? Does it just affect to the installer or is the final installed OSX affected by how the Unibeast USB installer is created?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[kiiroaka]

What happens if you hit the Boot Selection "F" key upon boot? Can you boot into W10 and/or OS X?

Are you sure that Windows was installed in UEFI? If it was then installing OSX will likely cause the bootloader to stay with HD0. If it wasn't then you should be able to hit a keyboard "F" key upon power up to select what drive you want to boot from. If you installed OSX in UEFI and the bootloader is on HD0. Since installing OSX after Windows confuses the Window boot loader you will probably need to boot the Windows Recovery USB and issue the usual Windows command bootrec/fixboot and bootrec /RebuildBCD, and maybe bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy if you want to be able to boot into WINDOWS Safe Mode (F8). The commands may have changed between W8 and W10, though. I doubt that bootrec /fixmbr will have any affect.

If being on Windows I delete all the OSX partitions inside HDD1, same problem, and surprisingly, my BIOS setup program keeps showing "Mac OS X" as a boot option (which doesn't work).

You probably can't delete all the OSX partitions from within Windows just as you probably can't delete all the partitions in Windows from within Windows.

I would probably use a Linux LiveCD or Linux LiveUSB and I would boot into either USB/CD or UEFI-USB or UEFI-CD after getting into Clover's UEFI Shell and issuing a Reset command. After issuing the Reset command you may be able to exit the UEFI Shell but you will probably need to hold down the Power Button for more than 4 seconds to force a power down; then power up and hit the BIOS entry key (Del, F2, F10, F11, etc.) and select the Linux Live distro, either UEFI or non-UEFI. Onece you are in Linux then you can use the GParted and/or Disks programmes to compeltely wipe out the disks (make sure that you issue the Apply function after selecting the correct disc and telling it to delete the partitions.) Some partitions you won't be able to delete without first formatting them and after formatting them you should be able to delete them until you have one contiguous space. It's up to you to decide if you want to then format them, say in NTFS, FAT, FAT32, etc. (I can't remember if Linux allows the writing of HFS and HFS+, though.)

Once the partitions have been deleted, power down, power up, select the boot device, UEFI or non-UEFI.

If you created UniBeast as UEFI then the BIOS should see it as UEFI-USB or as USB. If you created UniBeast as Legacy then you may only be able to see it as "regular" USB and will probably won't see an UEFI-USB entry in the boot selection. It may depend on the mobo or the Mobo UEFI settings and where it's pulling them from. For example, If you see "MAC OSX" in the BIOS but don't see it in the UEFI Shell then chances are good that you created 'it' in non-UEFI boot. You will need to boot the USB as USB (and not UEFI-USB) to be able to remove the MAC OSX entry. And probably vice-a-versa. [Happened to me because I took the instructions literally. It was only aftwerwards that I re-did the OSX install in Legacy to match my Legacy Windows and Linux Legacy boot orders. I use my BIOS boot selection to select Windows, Linux or OSX. I didn't want one boot loader controlling everything, preferring three separate boot loaders. Issuing su grub-update doesn't add the OSX boot entry into the GRUB bootloader list.]

If I try to boot from the USB, it says not boot media was found, insert the media and press a key to continue.

Probably because the UEFI/NVRAM settings were saved to the USB drive and not the HDD drive. Because they have been saved to USB the HDD probably won't boot unless the USB stick is installed (probably when the UEFI/NVRAM settings have not been saved to USB. When you run MultiBeast afterwards you have to make sure that it is writing it out to the disc and not the stick. When working with Clover plists it's best to use the EFI Mounter program, navigate to the HDD and double click the plist file - that should ensure that when you write it out it will write it out to the HDD.

Otherwise, just follow the known fixes, copying USB files to the HDD, etc.

I would probably start with inserting the USB stick, getting into the Clover UEFI shell and issuing a Reset command, powering down and then seeing if I could delete any EFI partitions, and if you do so then know that you can't just run MultiBeast over the old MultiBeast - you have to comepletely re-install OSX from the very beginning, erasing the discs in Disk Utility, and then installing OSX. When you run MultiBeast afterwards make sure you select the disc drive before writing it out.

 

[Almarma]

Hi! Thanks for your suggestions. Let's see:

Are you sure that Windows was installed in UEFI? If it was then installing OSX will likely cause the bootloader to stay with HD0.

Yes, I'm sure. I was very careful when doing it. I changed the default boot order before installing and ensured to choose the "Mackintosh HD" to install on it (beside it, to be precise )

You probably can't delete all the OSX partitions from within Windows just as you probably can't delete all the partitions in Windows from within Windows.

I have a Windows Utility (Paragon Partition manager) which I used to delete all partitions, including the hidden ones, but no luck

Probably because the UEFI/NVRAM settings were saved to the USB drive and not the HDD drive.

I would probably start with inserting the USB stick, getting into the Clover UEFI shell and issuing a Reset command

I think you missunderstood me here, or maybe I didn't explain it right, sorry. But without the USB it boots properly, is when the USB is plugged when I can't boot from the USB directly, so I can't format, or delete, or reinstall El Capitan. I'll try with a different USB stick to see if there's the problem

 

[kiiroaka]

without the USB it boots properly; [it] is when the USB is plugged [that] I can't boot from the USB directly, so I can't format, or delete, or reinstall El Capitan. I'll try with a different USB stick to see if there's the problem

Yes, definitely try with a newly created UniBeast USB stick. Or try your present stick in both UEFI-USB and USB. But, I suspect that the USB was written with new NVRAM/EFI files when you ran MultiBeast.

Did you try holding down the Space Bar when booting from Clover/OSX and trying to boot from the USB stick? (Safe Mode).

 

[jfg57]

Hi! Thanks for your suggestions. Let's see:



Yes, I'm sure. I was very careful when doing it. I changed the default boot order before installing and ensured to choose the "Mackintosh HD" to install on it (beside it, to be precise )



I have a Windows Utility (Paragon Partition manager) which I used to delete all partitions, including the hidden ones, but no luck





I think you missunderstood me here, or maybe I didn't explain it right, sorry. But without the USB it boots properly, is when the USB is plugged when I can't boot from the USB directly, so I can't format, or delete, or reinstall El Capitan. I'll try with a different USB stick to see if there's the problem

Hi,

I have a similar problem. I posted a thread "cannot re-install OSX" but had no reply yet.
Basically I created a USB key with unibeast, installed OSX, then finished the configuration with Multibeast.
Everything works as expected (sleep issue, but I dont care).

I wanted to REINSTALL OSX using the same USB key. IMPOSSIBLE.
When booting from USB key, it takes forever, and I give up.

It looks like I cannot re-install OSX using that key.
Which is a shame because it's not a "rescue key" as I thought.

DId you manage to solve your problem ?
May I have some feedback ?

Thanks.

Jeff

 

[Almarma]

Hi,

I have a similar problem. I posted a thread "cannot re-install OSX" but had no reply yet.
Basically I created a USB key with unibeast, installed OSX, then finished the configuration with Multibeast.
Everything works as expected (sleep issue, but I dont care).

I wanted to REINSTALL OSX using the same USB key. IMPOSSIBLE.
When booting from USB key, it takes forever, and I give up.

It looks like I cannot re-install OSX using that key.
Which is a shame because it's not a "rescue key" as I thought.

DId you manage to solve your problem ?
May I have some feedback ?

Thanks.

Jeff

Yes, I managed to fix it (sorry for answering late, I hope it can help you). I'll try to explain it:

UEFI boot partitions are normally automatically generated by the OS (in Windows) or by a 3rd party tool (Multibeast or Clover within MacOS), and saved on the first boot HDD chosen previously in the BIOS settings (with some tools like Multibeast or Clover you can choose specifically the drive).

The best solution I could find to have a clean install and operation is, within the Gigabyte BIOS settings, to choose as the 1st boot device, the one called: [UEFI: (name of the HDD where MacOS is or will be)]. And delete all the other boot options, because if you choose one of the others, sometimes they get permanent. At least, it is what happened to me. Then, using F12 I can boot from USB if necessary, and from a normal Clover boot I can yet choose to boot Windows if I want.

I found also a tool for Windows to recreate the Windows UEFI partition. It's very useful too because sometimes, as Windows don't like to play with other OS's installed in the same PC, can make a mess if there's more than one UEFI partitions. It's called EasyUEFI, and it's very easy to use (just click "rebuild EFI system partition" ON THE WINDOWS HDD, and it will fix any strange Windows behavior related to boot)

 

[ejmaroney]

Thanks! This finally worked for me, been driving me crazy!

From the BIOS I "disabled," not "deleted," booted up with F12 down, it brought up the Clover boot interface, I chose "Boot from USB," and for the first time I got to the Sierra installation screen, really quick.

 

[Almarma]

Thanks! This finally worked for me, been driving me crazy!

From the BIOS I "disabled," not "deleted," booted up with F12 down, it brought up the Clover boot interface, I chose "Boot from USB," and for the first time I got to the Sierra installation screen, really quick.

Nice to read it! . Yes, by delete I meant "disable", sorry. I found out that some OS, mainly Windows, maybe because of some self-healing boot feature, can manipulate UEFI settings to adapt them to the new BIOS settings, so it can block booting from USB or other devices, because it sets itself at the front as the first priority. I found it annoying, confusing and also dangerous: I don't want to give ideas but, what if a virus get access to the UEFI partition and modify boot options impeding any kind of boot but the virus itself asking for money to get the system back?

 

[ejmaroney]

As far as dangerous, I think the entire Hackintosh endeavor is a little dangerous

I'm brand new to this, but I plan to hold to it very loosely. Not keep any work items on it, keep it off the Internet, just use it for audio production... and backup very often.

 

[Almarma]

As far as dangerous, I think the entire Hackintosh endeavor is a little dangerous

I'm brand new to this, but I plan to hold to it very loosely. Not keep any work items on it, keep it off the Internet, just use it for audio production... and backup very often.

I don't think it's too dangerous. There're some root things like UEFI which are unofficial, but other than that, it's as safe as a normal Mac. All the OS safety features are on as in any normal Mac, and I've used some antivirus software for a while, and everything was ok. I use it for work after some months testing it. Pretty solid right now . The only thing that reminds me it's a Hackintosh and not a regular Mac is the noise, which I tried to improve using some silent fans, but even with them, I can hear a humming noise, while on a regular Mac it's difficult to say if it's on or off, specially with an SSD