HP Z420 first attempt

[slavetothesound]

I'm trying to hackintosh an HP z420 workstation (E5 2670) and I've made a Sierra install USB using Unibeast. I am freezing at the white apple loading screen with just a sliver in the progress bar. I just updated my BIOS to the most recent version. I see that some people have successfully installed MacOS on these machines, but I can't find any good instructions on what it's going to take to get it done.

I've looked at the recommended BIOS settings and followed them, but I cannot find any XHCI (or eXtensible Host Controller) options. I haven't found IO SerialPort or CFG-Lock either and believe they are not there.

1. To access BIOS/UEFI Setup, press and hold Delete on a USB Keyboard while the system is booting up
2. Load Optimized Defaults
3. If your CPU supports VT-d, disable it
4. If your system has CFG-Lock, disable it
5. If your system has Secure Boot Mode, disable it
6. Set OS Type to Other OS
7. If your system has IO SerialPort, disable it
8. Set XHCI Handoff to Enabled
9. If you have a 6 series or x58 system with AWARD BIOS, disable USB 3.0
10. Save and exit.

I'm hoping someone has some ideas I can try to help me get into the installer, or some links to help me understand what's going on.

Here's where it locks up with npci=0x3000 or 2000, shortly after which the text becomes garbled and shows a circle with a slash in it.

I've found the following quoted older post, but I'm having difficulty interpreting what exactly it all means. I've added npci=0x3000 and 2000 to "Boot Args", tried changing "SMBIOS->Product Name:" and "SMBIOS ->Board Version:" to MacPro3,1 (but then it just tells me that this version of OSX is incompatible) I am really not sure what I'm doing or why here.. I haven't found the kernelPMpatching or ASUSCPUPatch options, yet, and I'm not really sure what to do with that USB kext that he links to. I'm not sure thats the right direction or not, but I suppose those will be the next things I'm going to look into.

Any guidance/suggestions/knowledge would be welcome! Thanks!

It's a tricky part with the usb ports of this workstation, at least if you have the same firmware as me. So, for booting el capital, you will need a working mac or hackintosh to make the usb installer. Get the latest version of Clover and install it in the ESP of the usb installer, then make sure to add Rehabman' OS-X-Generic-USB3
https://bitbucket.org/RehabMan/os-x-generic-usb3/downloads

add the kernel flag npci=0x2000 or 0x3000, set the smbios to Mac Pro 3,1 and use kernelPMpatching + ASUSCPUPatch. boot verbose

Set the data controller to ache mode in bios.

Boot the Z420 with the installer inserted in a usb 3 port, if it doesn't boot try putting in usb2 first and switch it to usb 3 if the boot messages are stalling.
Good luck!

EDIT: It seems that kernel PM patching and ASUSAICPU patch are both included by default in the installer I created with UniBeast. The USB patch mentioned is included in MultiBeast, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I've gotten a couple lines further, but it appears random, haven't been able to reproduce it. And then it still hangs after a line or three about the Intel Pro 1000 adapters anyway.

 

[slavetothesound]

Apparently the USB ports are causing the trouble. I've deduced this because I can boot to the the installer by using an SSD (connected by SATA) instead of a thumb drive. (Using a USB-SATA adapter, I created a small 16gb partition on the drive, unplugged it, then plugged it back in so that Unibeast would recognize it). So I don't know how to fix it, but at least there is an easy workaround if you have one of these $10 adapters laying around.

The only boot flags I used were:
npci=0x3000 -v

Also I had to remove the 7970 (2nd video card) and the Intel Pro 1000 (extra NIC) from the PCI slots or it would reboot, leaving just an HD5450 inserted for video output.

My issue now (is still the usb ports?) is that the keyboard and mouse aren't responding when I reach the installer... I'll update when I figure it out since there are a lot of posts about the HP Z series around the internet and not a lot of documented solutions.

I'm still very open to suggestions

EDIT: I've found some good resources mostly in English (except the "prerequisite"), but I could use a little bit of simplification if someone wouldn't mind taking a look:
http://sixflow.net/osx86/System/83674

 

[slavetothesound]

Will a .kext file be loaded if I just drop it into /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/other/
Is there any further configuration required? I'm not really sure how it works. I tried adding a couple of rehabman's USB kexts there but there wasn't any change.

It's getting dark now, so maybe I'll learn how to install Arch or something tonight instead so the entire day doesn't feel so wasted.

 

[klyneshouse]

Will a .kext file be loaded if I just drop it into /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/other/
Is there any further configuration required? I'm not really sure how it works. I tried adding a couple of rehabman's USB kexts there but there wasn't any change.

It's getting dark now, so maybe I'll learn how to install Arch or something tonight instead so the entire day doesn't feel so wasted.

No clue how it works either but apparently so. I was able to install via USB 3.0 port by dropping genericusbxhci.kext into clover/kexts/other on the unibeast USB. Make sure keyboard/mouse is on a 3.0 port also.
My Z420 is a E5-2660 (8 core) and I added a R9 280X video.

So, using a straight forward unibeast UEFI sierra.
flags are : npci=0x3000 -v dart=0

Bios
v3.91 set to defaults:
Set Storage to AHCI (not AHCI+RAID)
(I would use only the two 6.0 SATA ports.)

optional bios changes:
num lock on
mass storage option roms- EFI
network boot - disable

MultiBeast Configuration
Quick Start > UEFI Boot Mode
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC v6.21-311-g2958f55.1723
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC HWMonitor Application v6.21-311-g2958f55.1723
Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIntelE1000e v3.3.3
Drivers > USB > 3rd Party USB 3.0
Bootloaders > Clover v2.3k r3766 UEFI Boot Mode
Customize > System Definitions > iMac > iMac 14,2

Not working still -
CPU stuck at flat 2.2 Ghz, 3.0 port works with a keyboard/mouse dongle but others are flakey, and no sound, so a little more learning to do.

 

[slavetothesound]

Thanks for this success story! I'm going to give this another try this weekend! It is quite possible that I had my keyboard/mouse plugged into usb 2.0 ports.

 

[nwera]

I have z420 and I installed Sierra on it
work is good
sound by MultiBeast Alc269 & Voodoo 2.8.9
USB3 Work
Not Work
USB2
CPU Still appearance Unknown at About this Mac
DVD Driver Not working & not Appearance disc burning device

 

[GokouHonami]

I also succeed with Z420 build. Everything works perfectly, except sleep because of this LGA2011 platform, USB3.0 does not work (Texas Instruments solutions).
Sierra 10.12.1
Xeon E5 2670
4*4G=16G RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX570 1280MB (WebDriver 367.15.10.15f03)
ALC262 Audio by Voodoo 2.89
A Boardcom BCM94322HMBL WiFi card installed.
I uploaded my Clover folder, you can still install macOS via usable USB ports with the DSDT included.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4qTz-oY5WCKSGpaM01NcF9IYzQ?usp=sharing
View media item 188787

 

[hidinmask]

Z420 is single CPU machine right?

 

[durchik]

GokouHonami, where can i get you config or maybe dsdt?
Maybe you can upload somewhere image of installed osx on z420?

 

[troysentamessage]

Did anyone ever figure this out? Or a good up to date guide?