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

[pieropontra]

No.. once more... don't use Uni- and MultiBeast with my guide. Either use X299 and my guide or opt for another board chipset that suits Uni- and MultiBeast. Also what for to use uni- and MultiBeast at all with X299? You have my EFI-Folder, which after likely adopting and adding TSCAdjustRest.kext as well as the ncpi=0x2000 boot flag works out of the box for installing the most recent OSX distribution on any X299 system.

It is now the 4th time that I tell you that I would never opt for a Gigabyte X299 Aorus Gaming board! If you want to opt for Gigabyte go for the Designare EX.

In any case, the EZ BIOS Flash Back procedure is save and straight. I really don't understand your concerns with respect to patching and flashing of any ASUS BIOS.

I still see you very insecure and undecided. I really don't know if my guide is something you would be really able to deal with.

Anyway, your decision my friend.

What's wrong with Aorus boards? Designare and Deluxe are really expensive, I'd like to save some bucks here and there that's why I overlooked Prime X299-A. How can I make a booting USB stick without UniBeast? Doable by just copying your EFI folder on the unhacked "Install Mac OS" USB drive?

TSCAdjustRest.kext is to manage my core CPU count right? I've to modify it for a 8 core CPU If I'm right. ncpi=0x2000 is a string in config.plist that I have to add (or modify... don't know!) if I choose a Gigabyte mobo, right?

Forgive me, I'm a total newbie!!! but yesterday I've done my first hack! Even iMessage works! Ahahah

 

[izo1]

And why I do not have any audio issue when using my XHC USB kext, the port limit patch, the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe and connecting my LG38UC99-W with the OSX WIFI via Bluetooth?

I can have a look to your XHC USB kext, but I cannot proof it's functionality... even if @jyavenard "had" the same issue once, I don't know what he did.. He also tried many different mainboards.. thus, I don't know when he faced the same issue and what he did as solution.

I know that you feel at the edge and exhausted with your problem, but the system is very complex and I really don't where could be the knot in your configuration.

If I find something special in your XHC USB kext I will report back in any case.

Cheers,

KGP

I am not sure about the BT on your monitor, but it most likely has much better range/power attributes than a battery/rechargeable operated Bluetooth headphone like a QC35II. And plus your case is directly next to it and is stationary. This is just a guess...

Yeah I tried pretty much everything as you know, this was my main focus point in this thread as I wanted BT to be "final" so it would "complete" this build like a real Mac...

This XHC USB kext looks a bit upside down and incomplete and might never provide full XHC USB port functionality for your mainboard... You just define 6 HS ports and 3 SS ports. All your HS ports are defined as 0! Thus USB2.0! Does the Designare EX really have such an USB configuration? No USB3.0 ports at all? What for do you use the 3 SS ports out of 6 SS-ports in this case?
You must implement all HS ports assigned with USB3.0 as "3", and you might define the USB2.0 HS port connected with your OSX WIFI as "255" (internal).

Also it must state iMacPro1,1-XHC and not iMacPro1,1-XHCI under IOKitPersonalities.

Please compare your XHC USB kext with my XHC USB kext for the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe (attached below)..

You can try to range the 6 SS-ports from 10 to 15 instead of 11 to 16.

In any case please verify your XHC USB port implementation with IOREG and verify the functionality and performanc of all USB ports by Black Magic benchmarks!

Last but not least you can adopt the port limit patch to your needs and to the real number of ports in use... it must not be 30!

I'll take a look again....the kext is a combination of RehabMan's work and from another German forum. Each port was removed/replugged with multiple types of devices (USB3.0/2.0) from IOReg written down the port and the speed as per device. SS= SuperSpeed so it's designated as "3" and the others are all HS (HighSpeed) USB 2.0 as designated to "0". If you read RehabMan's guide, all unnecessary ports must be removed. I do not use the 30 port limit patch, this is why you have to remove all unused HS/SS ports from the kext to make the system more stable. I have zero issues with USB and all ports work for me (without 30 port limit patch).

I use XHC instead of XHCI because I do not use any port limit patches and want to be as close as possible to the macOS port limit patch of under 15. I have tried XHC before, same issue.

The Designare EX actually has 2 real USB ports in the back and the other 4 ports next to the ethernet ports are on a USB3.0 hub. Front/Mobo port are real USB3.0 (non hub).

Also I have tried "255" for OSXwifi (which is on HS12) but no go.

It doesn't even matter anyway, if I remove this kext and just use the 30 limit port patch, I have the same issue. There is something inherently wrong with Bluetooth and macOS and this problem is amplified via a Hackintosh. Google around and see there's a ton of BT Audio issues with macOS (even on real Macs).

The funny part is a cheap USB adapter works pretty well. (longer range than the onboard bluetooth) and I connected it on the Mac wired keyboard onboard side hub and tucked it away. The downside is handoff doesn't work and Wifi Calling is all weird and doesn't work.

I've been experimenting a bit through terminal increasing "Negotiated Bitpool Min"/etc settings and also turned off Hand-off from General, and it has improved (on OSXWifi) ....it seems...

Appreciate the help as always

 

[semtecs]

What did I miss or do wrong if I get the "stop sign" when trying to do a fresh install?
I did all the steps on creating a bootable high sierra

EDIT: This is of course AFTER the clover bootloader screen and after I have chosen "install mac OS high sierra"

 

[Loloflatsix]

What's wrong with Aorus boards? Designare and Deluxe are really expensive, I'd like to save some bucks here and there that's why I overlooked Prime X299-A. How can I make a booting USB stick without Unibeast? Doable by just copying your efi folder on the unhacked "Install Mac OS" usb drive?

TSCAdjustRest.kext is to manage my core cpu count right? I've to modify it for a 8 core CPU If I'm right. ncpi=0x2000 is a string in config.plist that I have to add (or modify... don't know!) if I choose a Gigabyte mobo, right?

Forgive me, I'm a total newbie!!! but yesterday I've done my first hack! Even iMessage works! Ahahah

Nothing wrong with other mobos.

This guide is easier for Asus Prime Deluxe ( just buying advice )and everyone has the choice to adapt the guide for other mobos: they are 858 pages and a lot of advice to achieve a complete functional installation.

Be patient and read carefully!

 

[poshook]

BIOS patch does not work for ASRock X299 Extreme4 mobo. Using Instant flash within BIOS cancels the BIOS update process with the error message Secure Flash Check fail!. Patching has been done properly with the result ImagePatched.
I have no XCode on sisters macbook, can anyone send here the default 8-Core TSCAdjustRest.kext file as I have i7-7820x so I can use the default one. Thank you in advance

 

[Loloflatsix]

BIOS patch does not work for ASRock X299 Extreme4 mobo. Using Instant flash within BIOS cancels the BIOS update process with the error message Secure Flash Check fail!. Patching has been done properly with the result ImagePatched.
I have no XCode on sisters macbook, can anyone send here the default 8-Core TSCAdjustRest.kext file as I have i7-7820x so I can use the default one. Thank you in advance

Here you have.

 

[poshook]

Here you have.

thank you man

 

[kgp]

I am not sure about the BT on your monitor, but it most likely has much better range/power attributes than a battery/rechargeable operated Bluetooth headphone like a QC35II. And plus your case is directly next to it and is stationary. This is just a guess...

Yeah I tried pretty much everything as you know, this was my main focus point in this thread as I wanted BT to be "final" so it would "complete" this build like a real Mac...



I'll take a look again....the kext is a combination of RehabMan's work and from another German forum. Each port was removed/replugged with multiple types of devices (USB3.0/2.0) from IOReg written down the port and the speed as per device. SS= SuperSpeed so it's designated as "3" and the others are all HS (HighSpeed) USB 2.0 as designated to "0". If you read RehabMan's guide, all unnecessary ports must be removed. I do not use the 30 port limit patch, this is why you have to remove all unused HS/SS ports from the kext to make the system more stable. I have zero issues with USB and all ports work for me (without 30 port limit patch).

I use XHC instead of XHCI because I do not use any port limit patches and want to be as close as possible to the macOS port limit patch of under 15. I have tried XHC before, same issue.

The Designare EX actually has 2 real USB ports in the back and the other 4 ports next to the ethernet ports are on a USB3.0 hub. Front/Mobo port are real USB3.0 (non hub).

Also I have tried "255" for OSXwifi (which is on HS12) but no go.

It doesn't even matter anyway, if I remove this kext and just use the 30 limit port patch, I have the same issue. There is something inherently wrong with Bluetooth and macOS and this problem is amplified via a Hackintosh. Google around and see there's a ton of BT Audio issues with macOS (even on real Macs).

The funny part is a cheap USB adapter works pretty well. (longer range than the onboard bluetooth) and I connected it on the Mac wired keyboard onboard side hub and tucked it away. The downside is handoff doesn't work and Wifi Calling is all weird and doesn't work.

I've been experimenting a bit through terminal increasing "Negotiated Bitpool Min"/etc settings and also turned off Hand-off from General, and it has improved (on OSXWifi) ....it seems...

Appreciate the help as always

How can I help you if you know anyway everything better than me? I am not the one you have to explain something. I use my approach detailed in my different guides and everything works 100% on my systems. If you want to use different approaches or a mixture of different approaches, please go ahead, but please don't complain subsequently here along this thread, moreover if it is obvious that your deviating approaches are not properly implemented at your side.

USB3.0 ports need an HS (3) port and SS (3) port assigned to work! It is not sufficient to implement the SS-port only. Your XHC USB kext is wrong and will never work and please don't explain me how to create an USB XHC kext. I am definitely not the one having issues..

Don't take it bad but I rather prefer to be out of this unfruitful discussion, my friend.

Cheers,

KGP

 

[lukeslater]

Has anyone had problems changing the Thunderbolt setting to SL0- no security on Asus Prime Deluxe? I can change to that variable, then save, upon reboot its back to SL1 - user security.

 

[poshook]

BIOS patch does not work for ASRock X299 Extreme4 mobo. Using Instant flash within BIOS cancels the BIOS update process with the error message Secure Flash Check fail!. Patching has been done properly with the result ImagePatched.
I have no XCode on sisters macbook, can anyone send here the default 8-Core TSCAdjustRest.kext file as I have i7-7820x so I can use the default one. Thank you in advance

High Sierra is working. Without bios patch is still perform cca 2-3% worse than windows 10 so it is amazing. However, I am very interesting in some1 who has successfully patched ASRock X299 board using the method from the guide. To me some tweaks are necessary to patch the bios properly on ASRock mobos.