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

[mcity]

Hi all
First attempt to install X299, MAC OS High Sierra.
Just got my Asrock TAICHI XE, i9 7940x, Nvidia 1080 TI FE, 32GB G.Skill Tridentz @3200
Samsung SSD 120GB x 2 One for WIN 10 64 Bit, HX 1000i, H115i Cooler.
Updated BIOS to Ver. 1.40, Installed Win 64_Everything Okay, Idle CPU Temp_35 to 40C_Base [email protected], Power between 26 to 30. Tested with Handbreak H.264 encode_CPU power Gone up to 140-150, Temp Hit 105C, CPU Freq hit 3.1 Ghz.
Overall system feels bit noisier even at idle. My case Thermaltake Core X71, same as KGP. There are total 5- 140mm fans 3 on cabinet and 2 on cooler.

So for MAC OS I am considering to Start with 10.13.4 since my Nvidia support on 10.13.6 may be problem.
But the current guide is updated to 10.13.6. So is it okay to install following the current guide.

@RuleBreaker01 Can you give some input on Asrock MB, may be I can use your EFI if you are willing to share.

Mcity

 

[izo1]

Just because you've been in post for 20 years doesn't mean I should do what you say. I've been doing this for almost 25 years. Again, I have Nvidia, as do many others, and I'm not having these issues you're describing. Look at my benchmarks and you'll see that Nvidia performs well in macOS and with FCPX. The 1080TI is just plainly a better GPU than anything AMD is offering. In a year or two the story might be different, but right now there's really no reason to dump a 1080TI to get an AMD GPU and not get any improved performance from it. The guide here for this X299 system has done a great job integrating Nvidia GPU's.

Ok big guy. Lol

 

[RuleBreaker01]

Hi all
First attempt to install X299, MAC OS High Sierra.
Just got my Asrock TAICHI XE, i9 7940x, Nvidia 1080 TI FE, 32GB G.Skill Tridentz @3200
Samsung SSD 120GB x 2 One for WIN 10 64 Bit, HX 1000i, H115i Cooler.
Updated BIOS to Ver. 1.40, Installed Win 64_Everything Okay, Idle CPU Temp_35 to 40C_Base [email protected], Power between 26 to 30. Tested with Handbreak H.264 encode_CPU power Gone up to 140-150, Temp Hit 105C, CPU Freq hit 3.1 Ghz.
Overall system feels bit noisier even at idle. My case Thermaltake Core X71, same as KGP. There are total 5- 140mm fans 3 on cabinet and 2 on cooler.

So for MAC OS I am considering to Start with 10.13.4 since my Nvidia support on 10.13.6 may be problem.
But the current guide is updated to 10.13.6. So is it okay to install following the current guide.

@Rulebreaker01 Can you give some input on Asrock MB, may be I can use your EFI if you are willing to share.

Mcity

This is what I recommend you do first...

To boot macos, you don't need anything else but the original EFI folder provided by @kgp.

No need for any custom SSDT, no need for any patches in clover. It can work just fine as-is.
The only requirement for the original EFI folder is to set the serial numbers and board serial.
And to check the npci=0x2000 in boot option
You do the step above with Clover Configurator

Then adapt the TSCAdjustReset kext as explained in the guide for your processor (for your 7940, it needs to be set to 27 (2x14-1)

The only requirement is in the BIOS to disable CSM (in boot settings), and in the USB settings enable XHCI Hand-off

Once you have that booting, up and running. Do the audio part. The steps to follow are E.3.1.) AppleALC Audio Implementation
the value to use is 11 in the audio settings (in clover configurator).

Once you done all that, you can start playing with SSDT to make your device show in the PCI section of about your mac ; but remember, this is purely cosmetic and adds no value.
The only reason you would want to play with the SSDT, is to enable Thunderbolt hotplug and audio with your nvidia card if you need audio over DP/HDMI

I'll wrap a minimal clover for you and will post it here...

 

[mcity]

This is what I recommend you do first...

To boot macos, you don't need anything else but the original EFI folder provided by @kgp.

No need for any custom SSDT, no need for any patches in clover. It can work just fine as-is.
The only requirement for the original EFI folder is to set the serial numbers and board serial.
And to check the npci=0x2000 in boot option
You do the step above with Clover Configurator

Then adapt the TSCAdjustReset kext as explained in the guide for your processor (for your 7940, it needs to be set to 27 (2x14-1)

The only requirement is in the BIOS to disable CSM (in boot settings), and in the USB settings enable XHCI Hand-off

Once you have that booting, up and running. Do the audio part. The steps to follow are E.3.1.) AppleALC Audio Implementation
the value to use is 11 in the audio settings (in clover configurator).

Once you done all that, you can start playing with SSDT to make your device show in the PCI section of about your mac ; but remember, this is purely cosmetic and adds no value.
The only reason you would want to play with the SSDT, is to enable Thunderbolt hotplug and audio with your nvidia card if you need audio over DP/HDMI

I'll wrap a minimal clover for you and will post it here...

Thanks for the quick reply. So it is safe to begin with 10.13.4.
One more thing is what about MSR Lock settings in Asrock BIOS.
Mcity

 

[tonyarnold]

@nmano I've just tried your latest changes, and MacIASL won't accept them if I try to merge them into a "combo" style SSDT, stating:

"79, 6086, Not a control method, cannot invoke (\_SB.PC03.BR3B.UPSB.DSB2.VDID is a RegionField)"

(My Alpine Ridge r2.0 card is in PCIEX16_4 on my ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe board, hence the changed ACPI path).

This appears to be in response to the new _L69 Method that you posted, in combination with the changes to DSB2.

It's also worth noting that the latest round of TB3 SSDT changes have resolved the kernel panic I was seeing on waking from sleep, so thank you for the work you're doing!

 

[RuleBreaker01]

Thanks for the quick reply. So it is safe to begin with 10.13.4.
One more thing is what about MSR Lock settings in Asrock BIOS.
Mcity

In my post above, I posted the EFI folder. While it's designed for the ASRock Professional, it should allow you to boot on the Taichei just fine.

Don't worry about MSR Lock, it's not locked by default on ASRock board (and Gigabyte, and EVGA etc...).
Do the BIOS settings I posted above and that should help you going.

I've split some SSDT configuration from the main X299-iMacPro SSDT, so that it's easy for people to adjust (just delete it from the acpi\patched folder) , in your case that would be the AQ10 SSDT that the Taichei doesn't have.

Also, remember to change the board serial number and the UUID , I've put one in there, but if more people copy this config, you'll get into trouble.

Edit: Forgot to add. There's a X299USB.kext in the kext\Other folder: this is designed for the Professional, but that may be the same on the Taichei , otherwise the Clover config has two pre-set patch in there to remove the USB limit: one for 10.13.4 and one for 10.13.6, check the one you need.

 

[taskforce21]

Yep just download ioregistry explorer in the first post and open the app and save the file. And yes the whole efi folder. If you put in a serial number like in step d.1 of the guide make sure to remove that using clover configurater before uploading.

Will do as soon as i get home from work.

 

[pieropontra]

I suggest you reinstall again by wiping your SSD from Windows (if you have it installed).

Start command line as admin, then:

1) diskpart
2) list disk
3) Look for your macOS SSD (you can tell by the size and position of the sata ports) and if you need help identifying it more, start Disk Management and look at the Disk #
4) select disk #2 (example #2)
NOTE #1: DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK YOU SELECTED THE CORRECT ONE.
NOTE #2: DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK YOU SELECTED THE CORRECT ONE.
NOTE #3: DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CHECK YOU SELECTED THE CORRECT ONE.
5) clean (WARNING, THIS IS IRREVERSIBLE)

This will COMPLETELY wipe all partitions including EFI so be warned that you need to select the correct disk or else you will wipe the wrong disk.

You can do the same from Terminal when you boot from your macOS USB stick via "gpt destroy" command, but it's better to do it in Windows if you're not familiar with Terminal. At least you have a UI to work with.

Once you clean your SSD we can start from scratch.

Follow this guide we're on completely anew, then when you get to audio, post here we'll help you.

Do not mess with the serial # stuff yet or UUID for iMessage, that one is a bit of trial and error. Leave them empty for now.

Keep in mind since it seems that you are new to Hackintoshing, don't rush through the process, because you want it to be as stable as possible and avoid reinstalling anything in the future.

My current system is very stable and I rarely even mount the EFI partition or mess with anything and system updates work perfectly fine.

I keep a CLONED SSD (1TB) every time before I do a major system update just in case. And I also run Time Machine (with a 2TB internal enterprise HDD) just for safety purposes.

My friend... I cleaned my internal drive and the usb drive I use for installing macOS: totally wiped them off following your disk part guide. Then i recreated my usb install drive, using create install media terminal command and used KGP EFI without adding anything but TSCAdjustRest.kext then I copied EFI folder using clover. You believe it or not, I still get that "couldn't allocate runtime area" problem. This thing is gettin me crazy... I don't know what the hell is goin on.

 

[franksanderdo]

My friend... I cleaned my internal drive and the usb drive I use for installing macOS: totally wiped them off following your disk part guide. Then i recreated my usb install drive, using create install media terminal command and used KGP EFI without adding anything but TSCAdjustRest.kext then I copied EFI folder using clover. You believe it or not, I still get that "couldn't allocate runtime area" problem. This thing is gettin me crazy... I don't know what the hell is goin on.

Hi @pieropontra

Let us try to sort things together. No worries, calm down, it can be sorted I am sure.
Just to make sure that I understand correctly:
You created a new USB Stick to install macOS. After you created that, you copied EFI folder, using clover.
Here is were you lost me first time:
Is this to copy the EFI Folder to the USB stick?
After this you get the error during boot, again you lost me:
Is this booting from the USB stick?

With those questions answered I hope we get a starting point and can get you moving.
Please stay away from unibeast and multicast as those would disturb the process. All that is needed is to get a working installation USB Stick and (if possible) later on a second HD or SSD to make sure you always have a working copy of the installed system.

All the Best
Frank

 

[pieropontra]

Hi @pieropontra

Let us try to sort things together. No worries, calm down, it can be sorted I am sure.
Just to make sure that I understand correctly:
You created a new USB Stick to install macOS. After you created that, you copied EFI folder, using clover.
Here is were you lost me first time:
Is this to copy the EFI Folder to the USB stick?
After this you get the error during boot, again you lost me:
Is this booting from the USB stick?

With those questions answered I hope we get a starting point and can get you moving.
Please stay away from unibeast and multicast as those would disturb the process. All that is needed is to get a working installation USB Stick and (if possible) later on a second HD or SSD to make sure you always have a working copy of the installed system.

All the Best
Frank

Yes, i I copied KGP EFI folder to USB stick EFI partition, I've only added TSCAdjustRest.kext and nothing else.