How to build your own iMac Pro [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[taylorsyn]

On YOUR machine it might not work... on the one of @Loloflatsix it works flawless including hotplug.

No further discussions...

Cheers,

KGP

@kgp SSDT-TB3-X299-Lolo.aml works but SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigabyte.aml causes the system not to even boot unless I remove the Thunderbolt drive.

Have you seen lolo's PATCHED folder you do not really know what AML he is using. He could easily be using the SSDT-TB3-X299-Lolo.aml

REGARDLESS I am telling you it does not work that enough is a reason not to be rude and dismissive.

I am also telling you the earlier AML you provided worked. So why would you feel the need to have such a rude attitude, what is the point of a discussion forum if you cant discuss? Do you see where it says I have been a member here since 2011? I have been building these things since 2007, over on the OG forum. I come from a place of working to improve something.

Attached is the aml you provided which is working on my board without issues, including hotswap. (header cable removed)

 

[kgp]

@kgp SSDT-TB3-X299-Lolo.aml works but SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigabyte.aml causes the system not to even boot unless I remove the Thunderbolt drive.

Have you seen lolo's PATCHED folder you do not really know what AML he is using. He could easily be using the SSDT-TB3-X299-Lolo.aml

REGARDLESS I am telling you it does not work that enough is a reason not to be rude and dismissive.

I am also telling you the earlier AML you provided worked. So why would you feel the need to have such a rude attitude, what is the point of a discussion forum if you cant discuss? Do you see where it says I have been a member here since 2011? I have been building these things since 2007, over on the OG forum. I come from a place of working to improve something.

Attached is the aml you provided which is working on my board without issues, including hotswap. (header cable removed)

1.) I would not know what in my replies so far was rude or dismissive. In my personal opinion, it is rather you who brings this discussion to a personal and offensive level.

2.) Please read the related posts I exchanged with @Loloflatsix instead of spreading weird conspiracies and wrong or misleading assumptions. I analysed his TB-SSDT in detail and I know what he merged from former and present approaches. Based on these studies, I distributed both SSDT-TB3-X299-Lolo.aml and SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigabyte.aml. @Loloflatsix confirmed the flawless function of SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigabyte.aml on his system, including hot plug (which is btw totally at odd with your current statements and conclusion). That's also why I included the latter in my guide, as it is closer to SSDT-9.aml of the original iMac Pro dump.

3.) It might well be that you are a member in this forum since 2011. However, this does not testify that you are sufficiently able to deal with all actually related problems. BTW.. I am nobody to judge your abilities or disabilities given the fact that I don't know you at all!

4.) I repetitively told you that you are free to use SSDT-TB3-X299-Lolo.aml, if you feel more comfortable... Why SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigabyte.aml does not work on your system I don't know... and your weird prose of "...does not work", "... does absolutely not work ", ".. does not work" is not of any help in your issue either. Instead of just requesting, demanding and complaining, please try to be productive and provide at least facts one could build on (e.g. IOREG.save, EFI-Folder, BIOS Settings, PCI snapshot of Apple's system report, etc.), when apparently you seem not willing to improve, fix or further develop things by yourself based on your long standing experience and extensive skills. SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigabyte.aml is not a dogma to remain untouched by others...

5.) I guess I already mentioned repetitively that this thread is not only a place of taking and demanding, it should also be a place of giving and valuably contributing. I am open to constructive and fruitful discussions as well as productive ideas and helpful contributions that bring things steps further. However, I don't see any place of your just destructive prose of "...does not work", "... does absolutely not work ", ".. does not work" in this challenging endeavour.

Neither SSDT-TB3-X299-Lolo.aml, SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigabyte.aml nor SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-KGP.aml might be yet optimal solution for all TB-Adaptors and mainboard implementations, moreover as the TB BUS driver implementation is still missing independently from the selected approach. TB Hot plug on gigabyte boards can be reached without any AML just by introducing some additional config.plist patches.

Thus, if you my friend can come up with a globally working TB solution, everybody in this thread will be extremely grateful for your significant and outstanding contributions! In contrary, nobody here contributing freely and voluntarily to improve things, should ever feel like a slave or servant, or should be exposed to harsh critics for his intentions of providing valuable onsets and possible solutions.

I really hope that by this we can close this awkward discussion.

Have a great day,

KGP

 

[Azimuth1]

HI all,

@kgp I've read your guide and I'm trying to adapt your Thunderbolt SSDT to my rig.

I was able to adapt to my ACPI tables a simple SSDT that provided me to have the Asus EX3 TH card correctly listed in System report. you can view here in attach.



Unfortunately even if all the TH drives or other devices are working properly, that SSDT brokes up completely my sleep/wakeup of the system. The machine reset every time tries to wake.

I tried even a DSDT but without any success. I so read your guide and I paid particular attention to your post #48xx (!) where you made an example, beginning with your WIFI card, on how to properly create a taylor-made SSDT.

Unfortunately my ASUS TH3 is under PXSX tree which - as you said - much more complicated to fix.

that's why I ask you to help adapt your SSDT SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-KGP.aml to my rig. Can you? Or better... can you explain to fix the PXSX (I believe its a multiplexer) and insert it in your aml file.

Thanks in advance,
my best

PS: if you need my config or other files, please feel free to ask.

 

[lukeslater]

Can someone please help me with the TB bios settings?
Every time i change to sl0- no authentication in my Asus x299 Prime Bios Settings (1301) it is set back to sl1 - user authentication after reboot. The card is installed under windows. Has anyone had the same problem?

 

[kgp]

HI all,

@kgp I've read your guide and I'm trying to adapt your Thunderbolt SSDT to my rig.

I was able to adapt to my ACPI tables a simple SSDT that provided me to have the Asus EX3 TH card correctly listed in System report. you can view here in attach.

View attachment 338267

Unfortunately even if all the TH drives or other devices are working properly, that SSDT brokes up completely my sleep/wakeup of the system. The machine reset every time tries to wake.

I tried even a DSDT but without any success. I so read your guide and I paid particular attention to your post #48xx (!) where you made an example, beginning with your WIFI card, on how to properly create a taylor-made SSDT.

Unfortunately my ASUS TH3 is under PXSX tree which - as you said - much more complicated to fix.
View attachment 338265
that's why I ask you to help adapt your SSDT SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-KGP.aml to my rig. Can you? Or better... can you explain to fix the PXSX (I believe its a multiplexer) and insert it in your aml file.

Thanks in advance,
my best

PS: if you need my config or other files, please feel free to ask.

I guess, after inspecting your IOREG screenshot I guess you can directly use SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Lolo.aml or SSDT-X299-TB3-iMacPro-Gigbyte.aml without any further adaptations.

 

[kgp]

Can someone please help me with the TB bios settings?
Every time i change to sl0- no authentication in my Asus x299 Prime Bios Settings (1301) it is set back to sl1 - user authentication after reboot. The card is installed under windows. Has anyone had the same problem?

I guess you are using a TBEX 3? Unplug and replug the adaptor until it is properly recognised by your system. Once properly implemented, you will also be able to maintain the "sl0- no authentication" in your BIOS.

 

[taylorsyn]

Can someone please help me with the TB bios settings?
Every time i change to sl0- no authentication in my Asus x299 Prime Bios Settings (1301) it is set back to sl1 - user authentication after reboot. The card is installed under windows. Has anyone had the same problem?

In order to "initialize" the card, I had to turn CSM on and boot into windows and connect a Thunderbolt device. Then turn off CSM and boot into MacOS. Only once did I do this did my TB3 card work under MacOS. (I found the info in another thread on here, but we should add this to the guide here as its imperative to getting it working.)

Also to note, thunderbolt wont work if I leave it plugged in on reboot/startup. Must plug it in on the clover screen.

 

[pieropontra]

Hey @kgp !

I've finally bought the system below, I should set it up next week:

Board: Asus Prime X299-A
CPU: Intel Core i7 7820x
Cooler: Corsair H150i Pro 360mm
GPU: Sapphire AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB Liquid Cooled
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 32GB 4x8 3200MHz
SSD: Samsung 970 PRO 512 GB
Case: Corsair 570x
PSU: Corsair 1000W Platinum
WiFi: Apple Broadcom WiFi + BT Module + PCIE adapter (European OSXWiFi, the one on Amazon you linked on guide)
Fans: 6x Corsair LL120 + 3x Corsair ML120 (Push/Pull on CPU and GPU rads)

Is everything good? Hope everything will work

I've copied your downloadable EFI on High Sierra usb stick using clover config and added TSCAdjustRest for 8 core

I know I will also use the SMBIOS functionalities and configurations of Clover Config.

I'm a bit nervous, I spent € 3K hoping this will work... thanks and regards!

 

[lukeslater]

I guess you are using a TBEX 3? Unplug and replug the adaptor until it is properly recognised by your system. Once properly implemented, you will also be able to maintain the "sl0- no authentication" in your BIOS.

Thanks, will try that

 

[kgp]

In order to "initialize" the card, I had to turn CSM on and boot into windows and connect a Thunderbolt device. Then turn off CSM and boot into MacOS. Only once did I do this did my TB3 card work under MacOS. (I found the info in another thread on here, but we should add this to the guide here as its imperative to getting it working.)

Also to note, thunderbolt wont work if I leave it plugged in on reboot/startup. Must plug it in on the clover screen.

@lukeslater ,

CSM is not required as long one uses a Windows UEFI installation.

Due to permanent TBEX 3 initialisation errors on X299 without using any TB-SSDT (despite the initial Windows implementation), I simply changed to the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge subsequently.

Just once more, if you already did the Windows initialization as recommended and fully described in my guide, but you continue facing detection issues of your TBEX 3 from time to time, just unplug and replug the adopter until it get's again properly recognized and initialized at system boot. Your problem with "sl0- no authentication" sounds more than familiar to me.

I cannot confirm that thunderbolt does not work with a TB device plugged at reboot/startup. The latter in many cases is even absolutely mandatory without working hot plug.. Never in my entire life I plugged a TB device during the clover screen.. Imagine your TB device is a monitor..

Cheers,

KGP