<< Solved >> Multibeast 12.1.0 "Clover UEFI Boot Mode + Emulated VRAM" is broken - boot hangs on "Scan Entries"

[KapnKrunch]

Preface: My system (reference Cheese Grater II configuration in my signature) does not support native VRAM, thus Emulated VRAM is required.

Before upgrading to macOS 10.15.4, I used Multibeast 12.1.0 to install a new Clover bootloader with Emulated VRAM by doing the following:
1) Launch Multibeast 12.1.0
2) Selected "Bootloaders"
3) Checked "Clover UEFI Boot Mode + Emulated VRAM" option
4) Selected "Build"
5) Proceeded to install to macOS system volume.
6) Rebooted

System then hung at Clover with "Scan Entries". No disk activity.

I resolved the hang by restoring the folder EFI/Clover/drivers/UEFI from a backup volume. I've attached copies of the working folder, and the broken folder.

Unfortunately, NVRAM remains broken, and I've yet to find anything on this forum that specifies exactly what files and scripts are required to make NVRAM work. Therefore I must rely on Multibeast, which unfortunately appears to break the boot process.

Any ideas are welcome.

 

[MacMan]

Why don't you try Customize -> SSDT Options -> 300 Series NVRAM Support in MultiBeast instead of using EmuNVRAM?

 

[KapnKrunch]

Why don't you try Customize -> SSDT Options -> 300 Series NVRAM Support in MultiBeast instead of using EmuNVRAM?

I will definitely give that a try.
Will I need to remove the NVRAM RC scripts and files that were previously installed?

Thanks!

 

[MacMan]

You can use this to remove it, https://www.tonymacx86.com/resources/clover-emulated-nvram-uninstaller.368/

If it doesn't work let me know and I can fix it.

 

[KapnKrunch]

Ultimately, I resolved this issue be abandoning the Clover Emulated NVRAM option, and instead went with a new SSDT fix. Even through this fix is for "300 Series" motherboards, I used in on my Asus PRIME Z270-A, and it appears to work fine.

Ultimately, the old NVRAM function test, i.e.:

sudo nvram TestVar=HelloWorld
reboot
sudo nvram -p | grep 'TestVar'

Doesn't work. However, I do see a good amount of stuff in NVRAM when I issue the terminal command:

nvram -p

(and I have no idea what any of it means).


Ultimately, I've got iMessage working with this new SSDT fix. Here's the post that describes it:

NVRAM fix

There is a new SSDT to fix non-native NVRAM. It is listed for Opencore but should work in Clover as well. Previous Clover fixes must be removed first. It’s available here: https://github.com/acidanthera/OpenCorePkg/blob/master/Docs/AcpiSamples/SSDT-PMC.dsl

www.tonymacx86.com

Perhaps the moderator's suggestion to use "Customize -> SSDT Options -> 300 Series NVRAM Support in MultiBeast" would have resulted in the same thing, but now that I've got things working, I'm leaving well enough alone.

Thanks to @MacMan and @pastrychef for their wonderful assistance!