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

[codeguru]

Thanks for the report. I will try this eventually. When you say "more stable" do you mean that you were having the same issues and they got partially resolved? If so, what is the current behaviour that is still problematic? Do you still get random failed wake from sleep?

I said 'more stable' because i am not sure and i don't want to mislead anyone. I disabled it 6 days ago and i have not had a problem yet. After 6 days, i restarted the pc to install the supplemental update today.

 

[shael]

@kgp you have no issues with imessage on build 17C2120 with imacpro 1,1? i cant seem to get it working.... however i did implement in my system the new osxaptio2 as well as no emuvariable or rcscripts (as these should be obsolete).... if you dont have issues then ill start to point fingers at something there.....

 

[kgp]

@kgp you have no issues with imessage on build 17C2120 with imacpro 1,1? i cant seem to get it working.... however i did implement in my system the new osxaptio2 as well as no emuvariable or rcscripts (as these should be obsolete).... if you dont have issues then ill start to point fingers at something there.....

1.) Do you have the special MacPro MacOS installer for macOS 10.13.2 SA (17C2205)?

2.) I indeed updated to macOS 10.13.2 SA (17C2205) but faced issues with the Appstore, Safari and Mail Tool (no internet connectivity), although Firefox and Chrome worked flawless -> immediate downgrade to 10.13.2 (17C2120)..

3.) There are first guesses that at least with the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe, Clover_v2.4k_r4369 and SMBIOS iMacPro1,1 we have native NVRAM implementation (many thanks to FABIOSUN on InsanelyMac for his immersive help and contributions to this discovery). It is also true that in this case RCScripts have to be removed from the System Disk. However, when removing EmuVariableUefi-64.efi, Facetime and iMessage fail and the SMBIOS credentials are not properly transmitted to Apple. Thus, I still have doubts that NVRAM is really native.

5.) There is also a patch by ErmaC (InsanelyMac) for apfs.efi without verbose boot that removes all apfs.efi messages before entering the Clover Boot Menu.

6.) I also removed CsmVideoDxe-64.efi, as it is only required for Clover Legacy with CSM enabled.

More things are currently investigated with experts like @interferenc, @macandrea and the Clover team. As soon everything is rock solid , there will be a major revision of my guide, which will not leave one stone unturned .

Please just be patient .. Everything needs it's time.. we don't want to make a mess and distribute or release something immature that will only cause further problems...

 

[shael]

So it's gotta be emuvariable... Thank you!

 

[xerox24]

Unfortunately the direct download of 10.13.2 special build 17C2120 (iMacPro) from the Appstore just works for a few users with special system configurations.

So far I found some intermediate solution to implement 10.13.2 special build 17C2120 (iMacPro) on our Skylake-X/X299 systems.

1.) Download http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/49/07/091-
33271/a0p216ukywyxia77i36ujq0bq91ghcyyaf/BaseSystem.dmg (public link)

This BaseSystem.dmg does have by default the iMacPro BoardID implemented in the respective PlatfromSupport.plist

View attachment 304518

Thus, the macOS 10.13.2 iMac Pro Build 17C2120 update process can be directly performed with SMBIOS iMacPro1,1.

2.) Install 10.13.2 iMac Pro Build 17C2120 with SMBIOS iMacPro1,1 from your 10.13 system disk by means of the downloaded and unmodified public 10.13.2 iMac Pro Build 17C2120 BaseSystem.dmg.

a.) Double click on the BaseSystem.dmg to mount the installer

b.) Double click on the "Install macOS High Sierra.app" to start the installation

c.) After reboot, boot the "Install MacOs ..." Partition created by the MacOS Installer

d.) After another reboot, boot the "MacOS High Sierra" partition.

e.) You are done..​

View attachment 304531

The above approach has already been approved by "Contact Us" and is in line with the board rules.

Special note for all Nvidia users:

Note that the currently distributed Nvidia Web Drivers for build 17C88 and 17C89 are not compatible with build 17C2120..

I already asked Nvidia to provide asap a Web Driver also compatible with special build 17C2120...

In the meanwhile perform the following approach with WebDriver-378.10.10.10.25.102 or WebDriver-378.10.10.10.25.103 already installed:

1.) Copy /L/E/ NVDAStartupWeb.kext to your Desktop.

2.) Right- click on NVDAStartupWeb.kext and select show package content.

3.) Change to Contents and edit the Info.plist with Xcode.

4.) Go to IOKitPersonalities -> NVDAStartup and change NVDARequiredOS from "17C88 " or "17C89" to "17C2120".

5.) Save Info.plist and copy the modified NVDAStartupWeb.kext to /L/E/ with root permission.

6.) Open a terminal and enter the following commands:

sudo chmod -R 755 /Library/Extensions/NVDAStartupWeb.kext

sudo chown -R root:wheel /Library/Extensions/NVDAStartupWeb.kext

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions && sudo kextcache -u /

sudo touch /Library/Extensions && sudo kextcache -u /

7.) Reboot

8.) If the Web Driver is not yet active, open the Nvidia Driver Manager and select "Nvidia Web Driver"

9.) Reboot and you are done

Enjoy and have fun

View attachment 304532

Work perfect for my system, but installer system change my hfs+ for APFS file system and boot is now more low .... there's a solution?

 

[kgp]

Work perfect for my system, but installer system change my hfs+ for APFS file system and boot is now more low .... there's a solution?

Reconvert to HFS+ as described in my guide if you are not able to live with the slower boot performance of APFS..

 

[shael]

MSR 0xE2 before patch 00000402
MSR 0xCE              00070C2C_F3011A00
MSR 0x1B0             00000000

Guess we have the first ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe with MSR unlocked

Brilliant work man

XCPM works now without any XCPM KernelToPatch entry! Just disabled "xcpm_core_scope_msrs © Pike R. Alpha" and successfully booted my system

View attachment 304936

However, he states that the BIOS patch by FABIOSUN seems to be sufficient to unlock the MSR on the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe, and his UEFIPatch distribution works without issues (see attachment)...

parseImageFile: Aptio capsule signature may become invalid after image modifications
parseVolume: unknown file system 5473C07A-3DCB-4DCA-BD6F-1E9689E7349A
parseFile: non-empty pad-file contents will be destroyed after volume modifications
parseFile: non-empty pad-file contents will be destroyed after volume modifications
patch: replaced 8 bytes at offset 4380h 81E10080000033C1 -> 9090909090909090
patch: replaced 8 bytes at offset 4380h 81E10080000033C1 -> 9090909090909090
Image patched

Can anybody else confirm that?

What is the advantage to this over the clover patch? Just update compatibility?

 

[kgp]

What is the advantage to this over the clover patch? Just update compatibility?

@shael , as @interferenc already told you, there is NO Clover patch to unlock the MSR of the ASUS mainboards! To see the advantages of a unlocked MSR see post #3255

Can you try to just patch your BIOS with the files provided by FABIOSUN and see if your MSR is unlocked??

 

[shael]

@shael , as @interferenc already told you, there is NO Clover patch to unlock the MSR of the ASUS mainboards! To see the advantages of a unlocked MSR see post #3255

Can you try to just patch your BIOS with the files provided by FABIOSUN and see if your MSR is unlocked??

Sorry I never saw his response . I see the results... But are the same results not achieved with the kernel patch in clover?


I can play with the patch tomorrow (it's 5am here lol)

 

[kgp]

Sorry I never saw his response . I see the results... But are the same results not achieved with the kernel patch in clover?

I can play with the patch tomorrow (it's 5am here lol)

Yup, but now we do not need this kernel patch anymore.. That's the advantage... XCPM works fully native and the system boots without any issues...