[HELP] With Basic Clover Installation and Configuration

[greenfrog5]

I think this is 'basic' stuff, but for some reason(s) I am not able to successfully install a working Clover to a USB drive. I have a long history of problems that I am trying to work through - but I will try to spare the unnecessary details here.

I have two versions of a USB Clover v5127 (Call them USB 1 & 2) that successfully boot my Catalina system. I can boot a non-SSD version that runs ok, but poor performance (beachballs, hangs). I can boot a SSD version that runs great, but reboots about 30 mins in (typically). I am working on cleaning up what apparently is a terrible/sloppy configuration per this thread (https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ot-non-ssd-drives-work-catalina.320215/page-3). Clover USB 1 & 2 have the terribly sloppy configuration described in that thread (AFPS in drivers folders, BIOS and UEFI folders, tons of junk in config file, and unknown DSDT file) - but they mostly work. They show all of my HDDs, and they boot them all (even though the SSD reboots). They both have empty EFI partitions, and have an EFI folder within the root with clover file tree. I believe I created USB 2 by copying these root/EFI/ and boot files from USB 1. I am not sure how I formatted it prior to doing that, as I was doing a lot of trial-and-error/erasing/etc.

I have been trying to recreate a fresh Clover USB on a new drive I purchased so I can keep things cleaner. I feel like I have tried everything - without success. Is it possible this particular USB drive is simply incompatible?
I have tried:
- Format as Apple Journaled, with GPT.
- Tried v5127 and v5146
- Install clover not in ESP. This puts folders in the root, but the drive is not recognized as Clover by BIOS and it stops at "Loading Operating System..."
- Install clover in ESP (with boot0af, or without). This generally boots clover, but I am not able to boot the OS. I have added HFSplus, added SMBIOS to my config.
- Keep BIOS and UEFI drivers folders. Remove one, or the other. Generally, I need the BIOS folder in order to see all of my HDDs. With only the UEFI folder I only see one (and not the one I want to boot).
- Add DSDT file (I read this is needed for Legacy)?

Currently, when installing in ESP I can start to boot my Catalina and even with -v, it eventually almost boots, goes to a black screen, and seems to just pause/stop, without any messages on the screen.

In the past (with USB 1 & 2) I have been able to drag content to recycle bin and replace with a backup of boot file and EFI folder, and this works. With this new drive, that process does not work. The resulting drive is not recognized during boot.

I know I don't understand Clover, despite reading everything I can find for how to install it for systems similar to mine. I am confident that I am the problem, but I feel that I have tried everything and have spent a TON of time without making much progress. I have an AwardBIOS so I think I need Legacy installation. I don't understand how to install Clover Legacy on a USB.

As a side note, I have been able to install Clover in ESP on my SSD drive. I have a clean config, and only the required drivers/kexts. This configuration has only a UEFI folder (which is confusing to me). This boots Clover, which only sees the SSD (not my other bootable drives). This boots the SSD, which still experiences 30-min reboots. I'm not sure if this is a "UEFI" installation, or Legacy, or something inbetween?

Please help me understand what settings I should be using with my system. Also note that I used to have a typo in my motherboard/signature. It used to say UD3-B3, but I actually have a UD4-B3. I never thought there was much of a difference, but maybe there is.

I suspect that my USB is not being formatted correctly, which is why an /EFI/ folder in root is not recognized. I also don't understand if installing Clover causes other changes to the drive that are not included in the actual files on the drive? Do the clover install settings get saved (invisibly) onto the drive?

I haven't been able to find any Clover Legacy installation guides that are applicable to the newest versions of Clover. There is not longer a "legacy" version, but the readme says it should work for Legacy booting. I'm pretty sure that is what I need? (even though the UFEI-only folder setup on my SSD also works?) This is so confusing, I am bashing my head against the wall. Please help. Thanks!

 

[Edhawk]

Questions:

1. Which version of macOS are you trying to install?
2. Which SMBIOS are you using with your Sandy Bridge system?
3. Which Bios are you using with your GA-P67A-UD4-B3 board?
4. F8 is the latest bios dated 21st March 2012.
5. Is it a Legacy or UEFI bios?
   • it should say on the top of the first screen of the bios if it is UEFI, as shown below.
   • 
     
   • If you want to take a screenshot of the bios page, make sure you have a Fat32 formatted USB drive installed in one of the USB2 ports. Then use the F12 function key to take a screenshot while in the bios.
   • Posting a copy of the front page might help us understand how your system is set.

Troubleshooting:

• Remove all disks/HDD's from the system except the drive/disk you wish to install macOS on.
• Remove any ancillary devices, PCIe cards, PCI cards, which are unessential to your system booting macOS.
• Keep your RX560 in the top x16 PCIe slot.
• Provide a copy of the Clover EFI & boot file you think give you the best shot of installing macOS.
• Remember to remove the Serial Number from the config.plist before posting a copy here.

BIOS settings:

These are the bios settings you should be using to boot macOS.

1. Virtualisation : Enabled
2. VT-d : Disabled
3. XHCI Hand-Off : Enabled
4. Legacy USB Support: Auto/Enabled
5. IO SerialPort : Disabled
6. Network Stack : Disabled
7. XMP Profile : Auto / Profile 1/Enabled
8. UEFI Booting set to Enabled and set Priority over Legacy
9. Secure Boot : Disabled
10. Fast Boot : Disabled
11. OS Type: Other OS
12. Wake on LAN : Disabled
13. Integrated Graphics : Enabled
14. Graphics: PEG/PCIe Slot 1
15. Initial Display Output : PCIe 1 Slot
16. DVMT Pre-Allocated : 128M or higher

If you are using a SMBIOS that doesn't expect an Integrated GPU to be present/active, disable item 13.

If your bios is Legacy item 8 will not be available.

Some of these items may not be present in your system Bios, that is fine. Just make sure you set the ones that are present correctly. Also make sure you look within each sub-menu in the bios, to make sure an element isn't hidden within another sub-menu.

Installation:

• When installing macOS remember to use a USB2 drive for Clover and the macOS installer and and to plug the drive in to a USB2 port. The USB2 ports on the rear I/O and motherboard headers are all served by the Intel chipset.
• The USB3 ports on the Rear I/O are served by the Renesas D720200 chip. These are not natively supported in macOS. Haven't worked well since GenericUSBXHCI.kext became dysfunctional.

These are the specifications for the USB ports on your motherboard:



You may have a pair of USB3 ports at the front of your case, which are served from the USB3 header. Do not use these ports when installing macOS.

Any USB2 ports on the front of the case will most likely be served from one or more of the USB2 headers, these use the Intel chipset, so these are fine to use.

 

[Edhawk]

Here is a walk through for installing Clover in legacy mode. It is not using Clover_r5127 but the steps would be the same.

1. Plug a 8GB or larger USB2 pen drive in to a USB2 port.
   1. Open Disk Utility and select the USB drive from the list of devices in the left hand column.
   2. Select 'Erase' from the top menu.
   3. Set the Erase options as shown below:
      • 
      • Select the Erase button and in the example above the USB would named 'Clover'. You can use whichever name you want, the default is 'Untitled'.
      • Disk Utility will then format your USB pen drive with a main HFS+ and a smaller 200MB FAT32 EFI partition, which will be hidden in macOS.
      • 
      • 
        
      • Close Disk Utility once the USB has been successfully formatted. Leave it plugged in.
   4. Now Open your Clover installer, the image below shows Clover_r5119, which I used when creating these screenshots and walk through.
      1. 
         
      2. You will be asked to confirm the software can run on your system, select continue.
      3. 
         
      4. You will then be asked to select Continue to proceed with the Clover installation.
      5. 
         
      6. Your will then be asked to select Continue to proceed with the Clover installation.
      7. 
         
      8. The installation wizard will automatically select your current macOS drive as the installation location. We don't want to do that, so need to select the 'Change Install Location' button.
      9. 
         
      10. We are then presented with a number of drive options, we need to select the USB pen drive, named Clover in the image below. Then we need to select the Continue button to proceed with the Clover installation.
      11. 
          
      12. Upon returning to the Install page the Installation location should say your USB pen drives name. If it doesn't go back to the Change Install Location options and select the USB.
      13. Assuming the USB pen drive has been selected correctly you now need to select the 'Customise' button, to open the Clover configuration options.
      14. 
          
      15. When you arrive at this page and assuming you need to create a Legacy installation, you need to make sure the top option in the list is not selected. You need to make sure the two options highlighted in the red rectangles are selected.
      16. 
          
      17. You can then go through the other option menu's to select the drivers etc. required for your system. If you don't know what an option does, assume you don't need it. Do not add unnecessary drivers just because you can. Ask if you don't know.
      18. When you have selected the drivers Under the Clover for Bios sub-menu, select the Install button.
      19. 
          
      20. You will be asked to provide your password and select Install Software button.
      21. 
          
      22. Hopefully Clover installation will complete and you can close the Clover wizard.
   5. You should now have two partition icons on your desktop, if you named the USB Clover then they would look like the two shown below.
      1. 
         
      2. If you double-click on the EFI Partition, the contents should look like the image below.
      3. 
         
      4. If you double -click on the EFI folder, the contents should look like the image below.
      5. 
         
      6. If you double-click on the CLOVER folder, the contents should look like the image below.
      7. 
      8. This current Clover folder won't boot your system, it is a generic placeholder containing a lot of rubbish, which you need to edit to work with your system.

Hopefully this has provided you with a base Clover Legacy Mode USB, ready for editing.

You need to provide some additional information, as requested above before any editing of the CLOVER folder contents can occur.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Here is a walk through for installing Clover in legacy mode. It is not using Clover_r5127 but the steps would be the same.

1. Plug a 8GB or larger USB2 pen drive in to a USB2 port.
   1. Open Disk Utility and select the USB drive from the list of devices in the left hand column.
   2. Select 'Erase' from the top menu.
   3. Set the Erase options as shown below:
      • View attachment 548036
      • Select the Erase button and in the example above the USB would named 'Clover'. You can use whichever name you want, the default is 'Untitled'.
      • Disk Utility will then format your USB pen drive with a main HFS+ and a smaller 200MB FAT32 EFI partition, which will be hidden in macOS.
      • View attachment 548037
      • View attachment 548038
        
      • Close Disk Utility once the USB has been successfully formatted. Leave it plugged in.
   4. Now Open your Clover installer, the image below shows Clover_r5119, which I used when creating these screenshots and walk through.
      1. View attachment 548039
         
      2. You will be asked to confirm the software can run on your system, select continue.
      3. View attachment 548040
         
      4. You will then be asked to select Continue to proceed with the Clover installation.
      5. View attachment 548041
         
      6. Your will then be asked to select Continue to proceed with the Clover installation.
      7. View attachment 548042
         
      8. The installation wizard will automatically select your current macOS drive as the installation location. We don't want to do that, so need to select the 'Change Install Location' button.
      9. View attachment 548043
         
      10. We are then presented with a number of drive options, we need to select the USB pen drive, named Clover in the image below. Then we need to select the Continue button to proceed with the Clover installation.
      11. View attachment 548044
          
      12. Upon returning to the Install page the Installation location should say your USB pen drives name. If it doesn't go back to the Change Install Location options and select the USB.
      13. Assuming the USB pen drive has been selected correctly you now need to select the 'Customise' button, to open the Clover configuration options.
      14. View attachment 548045
          
      15. When you arrive at this page and assuming you need to create a Legacy installation, you need to make sure the top option in the list is not selected. You need to make sure the two options highlighted in the red rectangles are selected.
      16. View attachment 548046
          
      17. You can then go through the other option menu's to select the drivers etc. required for your system. If you don't know what an option does, assume you don't need it. Do not add unnecessary drivers just because you can. Ask if you don't know.
      18. When you have selected the drivers Under the Clover for Bios sub-menu, select the Install button.
      19. View attachment 548047
          
      20. You will be asked to provide your password and select Install Software button.
      21. View attachment 548048
          
      22. Hopefully Clover installation will complete and you can close the Clover wizard.
   5. You should now have two partition icons on your desktop, if you named the USB Clover then they would look like the two shown below.
      1. View attachment 548049
         
      2. If you double-click on the EFI Partition, the contents should look like the image below.
      3. View attachment 548050
         
      4. If you double -click on the EFI folder, the contents should look like the image below.
      5. View attachment 548051
         
      6. If you double-click on the CLOVER folder, the contents should look like the image below.
      7. View attachment 548052
      8. This current Clover folder won't boot your system, it is a generic placeholder containing a lot of rubbish, which you need to edit to work with your system.

Hopefully this has provided you with a base Clover Legacy Mode USB, ready for editing.

You need to provide some additional information, as requested above before any editing of the CLOVER folder contents can occur.

I think that should be pinned as a Guide somewhere. Legacy gets overlooked too often these days.

 

[trs96]

I think that should be pinned as a Guide somewhere.

How bout here ? https://www.tonymacx86.com/forums/bootloaders.158/

 

[UtterDisbelief]

How bout here ? https://www.tonymacx86.com/forums/bootloaders.158/

Yes, that forum is getting swamped with all the OC updates.

 

[Edhawk]

I think the Clover and OpenCore bootloaders should be split in to separate sub-menus in the Bootloader forum. That way the relevant elements of each won't be overshadowed by the OC monthly updates.

Creating a Legacy OC guide would be even easier, as all that is required is for the user to run the iA32 or X64 LegacyBoot terminal script, point to the EFI folder's location and the script adds a Boot file to the requisite partition.

 

[Edhawk]

Done, post copied to new thread in Bootloader forum. Do we make it a sticky?

 

[greenfrog5]

EFI and log

 

[greenfrog5]

This post seems to be related to my own issues/confusion regarding my MB and Clover installations. I also have the double-boot screens, and don't see all my HDDs on the first screen. Same motherboard: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/gigabyte-p67a-ud3p-b3.300788/page-2