HP Microserver Gen8 - USB (now working) & Built-in BCM Ethernet non functioning

[VioletDragon]

I have applied USBFix1000 via Xcode, the attached zip file contains the latest ioreg file with this fix applied. I have also attached a couple of screenshots showing the two Intel USB 2.0 controllers in the ioreg.

In the ioreg IPT1, 1PT5, IPT7 and IPT8 appear to be related to the USB ports, see attached screenshots. These elements all have 8086:1c** listed as the device id and under the compatible heading. But they do not match completely with either of the USB 2.0 controllers 8086:1c26 or 8086:1c2d, match on first half of device id. I do not see how they call to the USB 2.0 controllers, maybe this is part of the problem?

Some of the other PRT elements appear to match with the Xeon PCI express root port (8086:0151 & 8086:015d).

I thought as much. You could try renaming them but not sure on this one who ever has coded the ACPI on this machine has made a right mess of it. Ive never seen this before.

 

[Edhawk]

@VioletDragon: Thanks for taking the time to look at the files/Screenshots and try to help me, it is appreciated.

To be honest it may be too much trouble and beyond my abilities (even with your help) getting the four Intel and two BCM ethernet ports working on the Microserver Gen8, especially given the state of the ACPI coding.

I now have access to the Microserver from my main rig, via screen sharing, using a TP-Link USB wifi module that is plugged in to one of the two USB 3.0 ports. So I have been thinking of swapping out the discrete Graphics Card and replacing it with a low profile StarTech 3 port PCI Express USB 3.0 card with Gigabit Ethernet (PEXUSB3S3GE). I purchased this combo card for another problematic machine but didn't end up needing to use it. So it has been sitting in a box waiting to be used and this may be a reasonable option given the issues encountered with the Microserver's built-in USB & Ethernet.

The Ethernet on the StarTech card has a Realtek - RTL8153 (LAN) chipset and a Renesas / NEC - µPD720201 (USB 3.0) controller.

I may be better off installing a straight low profile Ethernet Gigabit card, but I don't have one to hand at the moment, I may have a quick look at Amazon and see what they have on offer in the way of low profile LAN cards, which are known to work in macOS Sierra. I planned on running this Microserver headless once I had dealt with the USB and ethernet issues. I have the graphics card installed for the installation and configuration process, so swapping it out would be no real loss.

I will post and let you know if the StarTech card was a success or not!

 

[Edhawk]

I disabled the two Broadcom NIC's, swapped graphics priority from the discrete to the embedded video controller in the bios. I deleted the two Ethernet ports in System Preferences - Network, confirming I didn't want them to reappear after a reboot. I installed the relevant Realtek kext for the combo card to S/L/E, then shut down the Microserver. I removed the discrete graphics card and installed the StarTech combo USB & Ethernet card, with an ethernet cable attached to the LAN port. However, when it rebooted I couldn't connect to the Microserver, even though I still had a working wifi module installed! The Microserver failed to boot with the combo card installed and without the graphics card and monitor attached I could not see where it failed - probably something to do with the additional USB ports!

So I then decided to install a different low profile Realtek ethernet card, in place of the StarTech combo card. I found this in one of my computer 'spare parts' boxes when I was digging out the StarTech card. This Realtek Gigabit LAN card works just fine, the Microserver boots and I can access the files on the SSD. I have since removed the wifi module and can still access the Microserver from my main Hack. Copying a 1.5GB video from my main hack to the Microserver took approximately 15 seconds. Success of sorts....

Without the discrete graphics card I cannot screen share, so no way to monitor, manage and upgrade macOS on the Microserver, which defeats the object of this project. If this Microserver had two pic-e ports like the Gen7 AMD mahines, then this would not be an issue.

I will have to rethink my plans for this machine.

 

[Edhawk]

A year on and I have made some progress on revisiting this Hack.

I have upgraded the Microserver with the following:

• A Xeon E3-1265L 2.4GHz 4 core 8 thread CPU
• 16GB 1600MHz ECC RAM
• 250GB Samsung 850 SSD

I have installed macOS Sierra 10.12.6 with the latest updates, using the CreateInstallMedia USB process and Clover r4509 in Legacy mode, see screenshots:

USB installation - on Root of USB




SSD Installation to ESP:
This image is WRONG. You need to select Install Boot0AF not the one shown in this screenshot - sorry if this caused any problems.


I have discovered the Intel USB 2.0 ports not working correctly is caused by an issue with AppleHPET.kext.

Following an old hack from Mountain Lion - I copied AppleHPET.kext from System/Library/Extensions to my desktop, renamed the kext AppleWXYZ.kext, deleted the original from S/L/E and using Kext Utility installed the renamed kext (rebuilding cache etc.).

If you do this hack on the USB installer then there is no need to move/swap the installer drive or keyboard/mouse from the front USB ports during installation.

This means when you have Sierra installed that the two front and two rear Intel USB 2.0 ports work and are visible in System Information. All drives show up in Finder and Disk Utility. I can also confirm the single internal USB 2.0 ports works.

Unfortunately the two rear USB 3.0 ports (NEC Renesas chipset) do not work, but this is a problem with non-Intel chipsets post El Capitan, not just the Microserver. I have tried the latest NEC kext and while the ports show up in System Information, none of the usb drives attached show up in finder/storage or Disk Utility. The mXHCD.kext fails to load from S/L/E and/or be injected from EFI/Clover/Kexts/Other. I will have to see what I can do to get this kext to load as the two ports worked perfectly at USB 3.0 speeds in OSX Yosemite.

The two Broadcom NetXtreme Ethernet ports (BCM5720) also do not work (yet): I have tried Rehabman's FakePCIID_BCM57XX_as_BCM57765.kext (adding the Ven & Dev ID for the NetXtreme ports (pci14e4,165f) to the kext) the two ethernet ports show in System Preferences/Networking but do not provide Internet/network access; I have tried the latest version of BCM5722D.kext (v2.3.7) by Chris111, again ensuring the Ven & Dev ID's were added to the kext, but same result no network or Internet access. Both kexts have been installed to S/L/E using Kext Utility (separately) and also copied to the EFI/Clover/Kexts/Other folder.

With the four external USB 2.0 ports working I have connected an Anker USB 3.0 to Ethernet dongle to one of the rear ports. This works out of the Box in macOS Sierra. I now have reasonably good network and internet access/speeds with the Microserver. This dongle has a Realtek chipset, see Amazon site for details of dongle used - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NPJP33M/?tag=tonymacx86-21

I have attached a number or screenshots of various sections in System Information showing the various issues mentioned above.











I have patched the DSDT for the Microserver using Rehabman's guide and latest IASL. I have also added SSDT-XOSI to pair with the XOSI patch in my config.plist. A copy of the Clover folder excluding the themes folder is attached - SN's etc deleted but works perfectly with iMac 13.2 smbois.

I have attached a copy of the IOReg for my Gen8 Microserver.

Anyone with any suggestions on how to get the Ethernet or USB 3.0 ports working, please let me know.

 

[Edhawk]

Yes the Gen 8 is booting from an SSD in SATA port 1.

Ethernet is still a problem.

Yes I would be interested in hearing of your experience. Please share.

 

[Edhawk]

I have a pair of HP Gen 8 MicroServers running Sierra 10.12.6, one with OSX Server installed and not a lot else. I have not been able to get the built-in Broadcom Ethernet ports to work, but they are recognised, so this helps with getting the AppStore, iMessage and iCloud working.

I have been unable to get the machines to run without a dedicated AMD GPU, using just the built-in Matrox GPU, even tried using a VGA to HDMI converter cable, but not joy. If this had worked I would have installed an Intel low profile Ethernet card in the single pci-e slot.

The USB to Ethernet connector I am currently using works just fine for the network shares I have created and Time Machine backups for the Macs and Hacks on my network.

I noticed that I posted a screenshot above with the wrong Clover Bootloader selection. The image shows 'Install Boot0SS' when it should be 'Install Boot0AF' that is selected.

 

[Edhawk]

I have created some new screenshots showing the correct Clover process I used when installing to my SSD (port 1 in the HP Gen8 MicroServer).



I have also attached a revised config.plist, copies of my kext/other, drivers64, drivers64UEFI and ACPI/Patched folders. These contain the drivers and patched DSDT & SSDT-XOSI I am using. I have added the HFSPlus-64.efi driver to both driver folders, this may not be necessary but it worked for me.

The config.plist has been changed and is different to the one posted above. I no longer have to hack the AppleHPET.kext with this config and the four USB 2.0 ports work without any other kexts. The serial number, board serial, ROM and MLB numbers have been removed from the config, so you will need to generate your own for a iMac 13.2 smbios.

 

[Edhawk]

Just for clarity this is what the About this Mac and the various System Information reports show for the HP Gen8 MicroServer:



The last screenshot shows that the only 'Not Signed' kexts installed to /Library/Extensions are the Broadcom Ethernet kext, FakeSMC.kext and its associated sensor kexts.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[Edhawk]

Just for clarify I would confirm that the Microserver running Sierra and OSX Server has the following configuration:

• Xeon E3-1265L CPU (Sandy Bridge CPU)
• 8GB 1333MHz Ram (2 x 4GB ECC memory)
• Samsung 840 Evo 120GB SSD (port 1)
• Slim HP DVD in front slot (works OOB)
• 3 x 2TB Western Digital Green Hard Drives (ports 2-4)
• Radeon HD 6450 2GB Graphics Card (passive/Silent/fanless) runs at 1080p
• USB 3.0 to Ethernet connector
• USB Bluetooth Dongle

This is on 24/7 providing Time Machine backups for the network, caching for iOS, OSX and macOS units on the network, plus working as the main Mac File Server (music, Pictures, videos and separate storage spaces for each user on the network.

My other Microserver is a plaything, it currently has 6 OS's installed -

• Disk 1 contains Sierra 10.12.6, El Capitan 10.11.6 and Yosemite 10.10.5 on a Samsung 830 128GB SSD (port 1),
• Disk 2 contains Mavericks 10.9.5 and Mountain Lion 10.8.5 with a 40GB Data partition on another Samsung 830 128 GB SSD,
• Disk 3 contains Mojave Beta 10 on a Samsung Evo 840 120GB SSD.

All of the OS installations were undertaken from USB install disks, created using the 'createinstallmedia' process, Clover has been updated to r4658.

This second Gen8 Microserver has the following configuration:

• Xeon E3-1265L CPU (Sandy Bridge CPU)
• 16GB 1600MHz Ram (2 x 8GB ECC memory)
• 2 x Samsung 830 128GB SSD's (ports 1 & 2)
• Samsung 840 Evo 120GB SSD (port 3)
• Slim HP DVD in front slot (works OOB)
• Radeon HD 5450 1GB Graphics Card (passive/Silent/fanless) runs at 1080p with HDMI sound.
• USB 3.0 to Ethernet connector
• USB Bluetooth Dongle

I have Clover installed to the EFI on Disk 1, this config works for all OS's installed. When I had Lion installed it needed a different config, which included a smbios for a 12.1 iMac.

The Mojave beta installation was created in a different Hack. I removed the EFI folder and installed it to see what would happen. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it works just fine but the AMD drivers for the older graphics cards have been removed and so there is no CE/QI with the HD 5450 or HD 6450 card.

 

[Edhawk]

Since my last post I have copied the following AMD drivers for the HD5000 series GPU from my main Hack (iMac1 in my signature), which runs High Sierra 10.13.6.

• AMD5000Controller.kext
• AMDLegacyFramebuffer.kext
• AMDLegacySupport.kext
• AMDRadeonX3000.kext
• AMDRadeonX3000GLDriver.bundle

These were installed to /S/L/E using Kext Utility on the drive containing the Mojave Beta installation, with the result that I now have full graphics acceleration with the HD 5450 installed.