Lenovo Thinkstation D20, dual Xeon 5650, 96 GB RAM, Radeon 570 doesn't boot

[Corkonian]

So yesterday this Thinkstation D20 fell into my lap. With 96 GB of RAM and dual Xeons it should be a nice Hackintosh. Should. Because it won't boot. I've switched off most BIOS options, the only remaining options are NIC and Virtualization (not IO Virtualization) but it still won't boot. I am using the standard Unibeast Catalina in Legacy as UEFI won't boot at all.
The boot stops after the five second delay and the system freezes.
Any ideas?

 

[P1LGRIM]

I have three Lenovo builds and they are pretty easy to hack although the dual processor one is a tad trickier than the others. Your Thinkstation D20 equates to about a MacPro4,1 from 2009 so Catalina may be a bit ambitious.
I would try El Capitan and if that works out OK then try updating to Sierra etc.

 

[Corkonian]

I have three Lenovo builds and they are pretty easy to hack although the dual processor one is a tad trickier than the others. Your Thinkstation D20 equates to about a MacPro4,1 from 2009 so Catalina may be a bit ambitious.
I would try El Capitan and if that works out OK then try updating to Sierra etc.

Thanks, I will give it a try.
I have done another dual Xeon build with a similar ASUS board. Went well enough with Mojave, but had regular hiccups during operation that I couldn't get rid of. This thing refuses to boot. Just stops at the 5 second break.

 

[Corkonian]

Thanks, I will give it a try.
I have done another dual Xeon build with a similar ASUS board. Went well enough with Mojave, but had regular hiccups during operation that I couldn't get rid of. This thing refuses to boot. Just stops at the 5 second break.

So I played around and in the end I swapped hardware and flipped BIOS settings until - by magic, I assume - I got the installation going.
Now I am stuck at the second reboot. I have the Preboot and the MacOS in Clover and when I start the second stage of the installation, it says it will need 15 minutes'ish. It works for 15 minutes'ish, the bar progresses, it reboots and - nothing has changed. Booting from USB into preboot or MacOS restarts the 15 minute install.

What the beep?

Oh, and it is Catalina with Clover 5119

 

[Corkonian]

Bump
THe system finishes the first step - it copies the installation media to the SSD, but then the second step of the installer never happens. Just repeats the copy process.
I have swapped the GPU for a GT1030 - same thing.
I have disabld eberything but SATA, NX and Virtualisation in the BIOS - same thing.
Standard Unibeast.

 

[P1LGRIM]

I have swapped the GPU for a GT1030

Never going to work in Catalina = No drivers.

Will my Nvidia Graphics Card work with macOS ? List of Desktop Cards with Native Support

Preamble for those new to Nvidia graphics card choices for a Hackintosh 1. You will only have success choosing macOS compatible graphics if you remember that: macOS is not Windows 2. Apple incorporates all their graphics drivers into the Mac Operating System. There are only drivers in macOS...

www.tonymacx86.com

You are probably going to need some kernel patches, I think that there is quite a useful thread about it on insanelymac.

 

[Corkonian]

Never going to work in Catalina = No drivers.

Will my Nvidia Graphics Card work with macOS ? List of Desktop Cards with Native Support

Preamble for those new to Nvidia graphics card choices for a Hackintosh 1. You will only have success choosing macOS compatible graphics if you remember that: macOS is not Windows 2. Apple incorporates all their graphics drivers into the Mac Operating System. There are only drivers in macOS...

www.tonymacx86.com

You are probably going to need some kernel patches, I think that there is quite a useful thread about it on insanelymac.

Well, frankly I have been through a lot of my random GPU stuff. I can always fit something that will make it work, but I think we are a little bit removed from the problem. If it helps, I repeat:

I have run the installer, I have copied the image content to the ssd. The next step of the install process would be to run the installer and configure the new MacOS. But I never get there, regardless of the GPU connected. I have tried with a Radeon 570, same thing. The second reboot gets me to the copy stage of the installer, regardless of GPU.
I am not getting the configuration stage.

 

[P1LGRIM]

If it helps, I repeat:

You are probably going to need some kernel patches, I think that there is quite a useful thread about it on insanelymac.