HP 8300 i5-3470 GT710 - Clean Build

[nicksoph]

Hi, this is a description of the easiest build that I have done so far, it is a revamped version of a previous build with some lessons learned and a different graphics card.

It’s a clean build, with a couple of exceptions, it makes use of very few selections and uses defaults to produce a stable machine well suited for running OSX. The only significant difference to other builds for these machines, is this build does not install USB fixes from Multibeast, the USB system seems properly recognised as soon as Apples Port Injection is turned off.

It's not complete in that it doesn't include instructions for sound or iMessage fix but it may be useful to someone with a similar machine that wants to get up and working quickly.

Not working - Sound - FaceTime - iMessage - Bluetooth - Wifi.
Working - Everything else.

Specs
HP 8300 Elite using BIOS 3.04 with
i5 3470,
4 x 2GB 1600Mhz RAM,
500GB Baracuda HD,
Nvidia GT710 MSI graphics.

Physical setup
UniBeast USB in bottom rear USB 2 port, with
Keyboard and Mouse above in same usb block.
Hard disk on SATA 0 - all other SATA empty.
GT710 in PCI slot furthest from power supply.
Monitor connected to DVI on GT710 graphics card.

Tools
Latest UniBeast created bootable USB with copies of MultiBeast 9.1 for Sierra, Clover Config

BIOS setup
Check your BIOS version - These instructions will only work with V3.04 - and be sure you wish to upgrade before you do, as it may be a one way only process and you may not be able to revert to your initial BIOS.

Power on and use Escape key to get into BIOS (Computer Setup),
From File menu - Reset BIOS to Factory defaults,
From Advanced menu - Disable Serial Port.

In Advanced - Option ROMS - Video BIOS ROM Option, set it to ‘UEFI only’
NB. this is likely to stop the display from working on GPU cards that don’t have a UEFI BIOS (The GT 710 has) and even if your card does have a UEFI BIOS there is a chance your display will stop completely and rebooting results in seeing no display at all, including no sign of a BIOS screen, if this happens, WAIT - it may be that after the machine gets to the log in screen the display will come on so you can then shut down gracefully but to get the display back to normal you will need to reset the BIOS by removing the motherboard battery and main power lead for a few minutes (or use the BIOS reset switch (on some MB’s). How does this switch work?). If you do reset the BIOS like this, redo the changes from the default shown above and ensure the Video BIOS option ROM is, this time, set to - Legacy Only.

Save BIOS settings and Reboot.

Boot from USB and Install
Use Escape key to get into Boot Options.
Boot from UniBeast built USB stick using UEFI.
At Clover menu, select Options and then in PCI Devices, put tick in USB - FixOwnership.
Return to Clover Main Menu and continue boot from the UEFI UniBeast USB.

Prepare Hard Drive For Install
Continue till you see menu at top that includes "Utilities".
Select Utilities/Disk Utility and Erase the hard disk - Give it a name and select
OS Extended (Journaled) and
GUID Partition Map.
Erase Disk, Close Disk Utility and Continue install.

Await reboot.

Boot from USB then Hard disk
After Mac install reboots, it should automatically boot from the USB and to the main Clover screen.
From the Main Clover Menu, select Options and in PCI Devices put tick in USB - FixOwnership.
Return to Clover's Main Menu, and this time select to boot from the Hard Disk.

If you have a Nvidia OOB type card the screen probably looks right; else... ?

Go thru the Welcome/Sign Up/Setup - but don't sign in with your Apple ID, skip signing in with an Apple ID until after you have followed IMessage and Apple Web Services etc. link at bottom of these instructions where you will be instructed on how to configure System variables etc. for now, create a local Admin account and create your user later.

Once you're at the desktop, copy over MultiBeast and Clover Configurator. The network should now work, so these may also be downloaded.

Setup Clover Bootloader on Hard disk and Install Network
Run MultiBeast
Select;
1. Quickstart - UEFI,
2. Drivers/Network - Intel Mausi 2.2.0,
3. System Definitions - iMac 13,2 - this seems important - see PastryChefs build for more info

Check Build list;

Quick Start > UEFI Boot Mode
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC
Drivers > Network > Intel > IntelMausiEthernet v2.2.0
Customize > System Definitions > IMac > IMac 13,2​

Install Multibeast selections but don't reboot.

Run Clover Configurator
mount and open the /EFI/CLOVER/config.plist on the EFI partition on the Hard disk;

1. Select ACPI in the left column and in the drop down “List of Patches” select and add the two renaming patches “EHC1 to EH01” and “EHC2 to EH02”. This change stops Apples USB injection system, Once those changes are listed in the table above the dropdown -

2. Select Graphics, remove the tick in Inject Intel and make sure there is no tick in Inject Nvidia

Save the /EFI/CLOVER/config.plist back to the hard drives EFI partition.

Quit Clover Configurator.

Remove USB drive.

Reboot.

Create a DSDT to manage CPU power states
Log in and follow these https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/quick-guide-to-generate-a-ssdt-for-cpu-power-management.177456/ to create and copy over SSDT.aml which will be used to better manage your CPU power states.

For a view of the “before using a DSDT”, follow the instructions on how to test the power states BEFORE you reboot: After rebooting running the same test should give you an improved set of power configs.

Here are the before and afters using an i5 3470
Before
CPU Ratio Info:
------------------------------------
CPU Low Frequency Mode.............: 1600 MHz
CPU Maximum non-Turbo Frequency....: 3200 MHz
CPU Maximum Frequency..............: 3200 MHz
CPU P-States [ (16) 31 32 ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 1 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 1 3 ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 1 3 ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 1 2 3 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 1 2 3 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 26 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 25 26 31 32 ]

After
CPU Ratio Info:
------------------------------------
CPU Low Frequency Mode.............: 1600 MHz
CPU Maximum non-Turbo Frequency....: 3200 MHz
CPU Maximum Frequency..............: 3200 MHz
CPU P-States [ (16) 30 32 ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 0 3 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 0 2 3 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 23 30 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 23 30 31 32 ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 0 1 2 3 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 0 1 2 3 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 23 26 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 23 26 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ 16 23 26 28 29 30 31 (32) ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 23 24 26 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 21 23 24 26 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 19 21 23 24 26 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 19 21 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 17 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 ]
CPU P-States [ (16) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 ]

Sound - after looking at other threads and with no sound facilities on monitor - plugged in a £1.50 USB sound card, works fine.

IMessage and Apple Web Services etc. - https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/

Attached
SSDT for an i5 3470 - 3470.SSDT.aml
config.plist - following instructions above.

Should I be concerned about having FakeSMC and the Network kext in /Library/Extensions and not on the EFI partition?

 

[trs96]

Nice guide @nicksoph As to your questions:

In Advanced - Option ROMS - Video BIOS ROM Option, set it to ‘UEFI only’ BUT NB. this is likely to stop the display from working on GPU cards that don’t have a UEFI BIOS (The GT 710 has) and even if your card does have a UEFI BIOS there is a chance your display will stop completely and rebooting results in seeing no display at all, including no sign of a BIOS screen, if this happens, reset the BIOS by removing the motherboard battery and main power lead for a few minutes (or use the BIOS reset switch (on some MB’s). How does this switch work?)

I have a yellow Clear CMOS button on my HP 6300 board. It does the same thing as removing the battery for a few minutes. Just saves you the hassle of taking the battery out and does it more quickly. HP designed these so the PC techs in large corporations could do everything quickly and easily, without any tools. So there are a lot of very nice features like this we get to use. You can also swap out a PSU, DVD drive and the Graphics card with no tools. The only thing you absolutely need a screwdriver for is removing and replacing the heatsink.

I also tested out that Option ROM BIOS setting on my GT640 and got the black screen pre-Sierra Desktop. It still booted to the desktop ok but I'd rather not have that happen. It seems to slow down boot up time. What removing the CMOS battery does is reset the BIOS settings to the factory defaults and change the Video BIOS option rom back to legacy. Then older cards like a 640 will work again. Setting video Option ROM to UEFI works perfectly with my GTX 1050 card. It should work for any new Pascal based card.

From Tom's hardware:
The CMOS memory is where the BIOS stores its settings. Clearing the CMOS memory sets all the CMOS memory locations to FFH this is detected by the BIOS which then loads its default values. Clearing the CMOS does not affect the BIOS program in any way. You should always clear the CMOS after you upgrade the BIOS as the updated BIOS can use different memory locations in the CMOS memory and the different (wrong) data can cause unpredictable operation or even no operation at all.

It's actually preferred to keep Fakesmc and the Ethernet kext in L/E. Nothing wrong with that. My audio approach is to get HDMI audio via the Voodoo 2.9.0 kext and then plug my Creative PC speakers into the headphone out jack of the TV. Sound is really good. They're only dual channel speakers, but that is fine with me.

One question: Did you try an install with BIOS ver. 02.99 ? Did the USB ports work normally with 7,8,9 USB support kexts ? Or was the result the same for you with both BIOS versions ?

 

[nicksoph]

Hi trs96,
thanks for your detailed reply-

Re UEFI graphics - amended build comment to include that the log in screen might appear

Re the CMOS switch I was wondering what we needed to do with the switch to reset the BIOS - eg hold downas you turn on or hold down for 10 secs.

Re Library/Extensions - might the FakeSMC/Network kext files need refreshing after OS updates? If so, Might it be possible run a shutdown script that checks their presence and copies over the files if they have been removed after such an update?

Re USB test with BIOS v2.99 - No - updated in Windows via an intermediary BIOS (I think 2.99) but then upgraded immediately to 3.04 without installing OSX first.

Should have a 6300 with a i5-3570 later this week and together with a new monitor I will be trying out HD 4000 sound on that, then Ill come back to this build and look at the sound setup.
Might I ask;
Do you think that the Sound setup for the GT710 is the same as your GT640?
Do you know if anyone has the on-board sound working?

 

[trs96]

Some have reported an older V.HDA kext that works for analog audio. It didn't work for me.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...3470-quad-core-at-newegg.191143/#post-1246982
From what the author says, it's likely been edited/modified in some way from the original 2.7.3.

I'm happy with HDMI audio which should work with most any supported Nvidia gfx card. It works perfectly with the GT640 and GTX1050 so there's no reason it won't with a GT710.

Re Library/Extensions - might the FakeSMC/Network kext files need refreshing after OS updates? If so, Might it be possible run a shutdown script that checks their presence and copies over the files if they have been removed after such an update?

We used to install our hackintosh kexts to /S/L/E. Since El Capitan we've changed that to /L/E. This is what Apple recommends for 3rd party kexts. If we were to continue installing to /S/L/E they would likely get removed with an update. Shouldn't happen if they are placed in /L/E.

 

[nicksoph]

Thanks trs96, I'll give the HDMI audio a go - will take details from your build instructions. I need a mic input and that the on-board sound sometimes doesn't work is sign enough for me to avoid, these are a popular machine and if smarter peeps than me have tried I'll just stick to a USB soundcard (I bought 4 from China for £5 a couple of years back and they have worked without hiccup whenever needed).

 

[trs96]

There has been some progress in audio for the Elite 8300. Would be great if you could test out the V.HDA 2.8.8 kext with your system. I'd like to know if it works with the GT710. See: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...gigabyte-gtx-1050.224812/page-18#post-1549874 You can also try this with the 6300 but it should work for either model.

 

[nicksoph]

Thanks for update - will try and then feedback soon.