My first build (Z170MX-Gaming 5) questions

[OneInfinteLoop]

Hey all, taking my first swing at a Hackintosh. Thanks to everyone on this forum who has contributed to this amazing resource of information.

I ordered all my parts this past weekend (based on the excellent buyers guide here) and a few were delayed due to weather in my area so I should be good to go by Wednesday. That said here is my parts list:

Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Corsair H60 74.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Corsair CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
BitFenix Phenom M Arctic White MicroATX Mini Tower Case
​

The only thing not shown on that list is the Fenvi FV-T919A that a few around here claim works great with handoff and continuity.

A few questions:

1) I did a forum search, and I *THINK* most issues (sound, sleep etc) are now solve for this type of Motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1151) but I wanted to see if that is in fact the case.

2) I have the EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card - which should be fine for the light multimedia production I'll do on this machine - but: If I decide to upgrade the video card later on, what is the process for getting a new one set up?

Do I need to flatten and reinstall or can I just run Clover Configurator and choose the new video card type and shut it down, install and boot back up?

3) Will the USB C work on this MoBo?

4) What options to I need to check off on the Clover Configurator when I do the install or will the Clover Configurator recognize my motherboard and have the proper options checked for install?

Thanks in advance.

 

[OneInfinteLoop]

Happy to report that USB C is working on this board.

Otherwise, I am having a helluva time getting Networking, Audio and Graphics to properly work.

Every item I bought was on the recommended list. Disappointed that it's this difficult.

Nope, it's not as easy setting up a Hackintosh as I thought.

 

[nobodynose]

Happy to report that USB C is working on this board.

Otherwise, I am having a helluva time getting Networking, Audio and Graphics to properly work.

Every item I bought was on the recommended list. Disappointed that it's this difficult.

Nope, it's not as easy setting up a Hackintosh as I thought.

What kinds of problems are you having getting networking, audio, and graphics working? It should be fairly simple if you're following the basic Installation Guide and using Multibeast for the post-installation steps.

In general, here's what you need to do (you can install all the Multibeast drivers you need at once, no need to run it multiple times):

Networking (ethernet): install Drivers -> Network -> Atheros -> AtherosE2200Ethernet v2.2.0
Audio: install Drivers -> Audio -> Realtek ALCxxx -> ALC1150 and Drivers -> Audio -> Realtek ALCxxx -> 100 Series Audio (both are required)
Graphics: install the Nvidia web drivers (the version that works with Sierra 10.2.3 can be found here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...for-macos-sierra-10-12-3-367-15-10-35.213122/), which are needed for full resolution and acceleration on your GTX 750Ti. This is a separate step from Multibeast.

 

[OneInfinteLoop]

I solved most of my problems by reading a through everything once. There is such a treasure trove of information here, but you need to read through a LOT of posts to collect what you need to be successful.

Unfortunately my audio is no longer working. In my quest to get iMessage working, whatever I did there nuked my audio settings. While I HAVE an HDMI out option in sound preferences....no audio is actually being heard.

Is there a way to manually add the audio drivers you mention above without running Multibeast?

Also: My Clover Boot manager does not seem default boot...I need to manually hit enter on my install (I am not doing a multi boot...OSX is all that is installed on this SSD) I saw a thread on that so trying to tackle that since I am stumped with the audio issues.

 

[nobodynose]

Is there a way to manually add the audio drivers you mention above without running Multibeast?

There's no harm in running Multibeast again to reinstall the audio drivers; that's the best and easiest way to do it. Just select those driver options and nothing else, and that's all Multibeast will do.

Also: My Clover Boot manager does not seem default boot...I need to manually hit enter on my install (I am not doing a multi boot...OSX is all that is installed on this SSD) I saw a thread on that so trying to tackle that since I am stumped with the audio issues.

Sounds like you need to add

<key>Timeout</key>
<integer>3</integer>

to the <dict> in the Boot section of your Clover config.plist. I believe you also need (in the same section)

<key>DefaultVolume</key>
<string>boot_volume</string>

where boot_volume is the name (e.g. "Macintosh HD") of your root partition.

 

[OneInfinteLoop]

Thanks. I think I need to start 100% over.
While the instructions are great, I am an idiot. I now have two different versions of Clover floating around on my SSD and my USB - Classic and Vibrant. When I open Clover and mount my EFI to edit my plist, I think I edited it with the wrong version of clover so now I can't boot at all. I am stuck in a reboot loop.

You can have the best tools and instructions in the world, but there is always some idiot (that's me!) that will screw it up

I don't know why I have the classic version of Clover, but it looks like I should do 100% of my work in the vibrant edition.

That's where things forked. I started in the classic version and then somewhere along the way, started working in the vibrant edition.

Edit: Ok, so here is the problem. When I used Unibeast it has one version of Clover on it and installs that one my EFI but when I go in to try and fix my Nvidia driver issues (where I can't get my card to properly use the Nvidia Web upon boot - problem 6 in this post - I get a NEWER version of Clover and then that gets installed as my boot manager and all hell starts to break loose and things start sliding into a slow death spin of problems. And due to my newbness and inability too unscrew what I screw up, I start ALL OVER AGAIN.

Edit 2: Yea, this is a huge issue I am having with Clover and my understanding of what to use when and more importantly what NOT to use and when. I'll make a separate post on that.

 

[nobodynose]

Thanks. I think I need to start 100% over.
While the instructions are great, I am an idiot. I now have two different versions of Clover floating around on my SSD and my USB - Classic and Vibrant. When I open Clover and mount my EFI to edit my plist, I think I edited it with the wrong version of clover so now I can't boot at all. I am stuck in a reboot loop.

You may indeed have two different versions of the Clover bootloader installed; it's likely, in fact - you usually have an older version on your Unibeast installer USB (because Unibeast is only updated every so often while Clover itself is updated frequently). Then you may have a different version of Clover that actually gets installed on your SSD by Multibeast during the "post-install" steps; this is the version that you're actually using on your system once you get it booting on its own without the Unibeast installer. Then of course later you may replace the version of Clover installed on your SSD by running a standalone Clover installer, just to keep it up to date or install some new feature.

But let me clear something up - it's the Clover configuration tool "Clover Configurator" that comes in "Classic" and "Vibrant" varieties, not the bootloader itself. Clover Configurator is just a tool to make it easier to modify Clover's configuration file (/EFI/CLOVER/config.plist); "Classic" and "Vibrant" are variants on the Clover Configurator user interface.

Edit: Ok, so here is the problem. When I used Unibeast it has one version of Clover on it and installs that one my EFI but when I go in to try and fix my Nvidia driver issues (where I can't get my card to properly use the Nvidia Web upon boot - problem 6 in this post - I get a NEWER version of Clover and then that gets installed as my boot manager and all hell starts to break loose and things start sliding into a slow death spin of problems. And due to my newbness and inability too unscrew what I screw up, I start ALL OVER AGAIN.

Here's an overview of the process - try starting over one more time (so we know exactly where you're starting from). Follow the instructions in the standard Installation Guide, step by step even if you think you can skip something because you've done it before. First, you boot from your Unibeast installer and do the actual OS installation to your SSD. Second, you boot again from the Unibeast installer (because you don't yet have the Clover bootloader installed to your SSD). Third, you run Multibeast, selecting the appropriate configuration options for your hardware (see below) to complete the installation (this includes installing Clover - the version that comes with Multibeast - to your SSD as part of the process).

The appropriate configuration options for Multibeast 9.0.1 (the current version) for your motherboard - select these options, no more, no less:

Quick Start -> UEFI Boot Mode
Drivers -> Audio -> Realtek ALCxxx -> ALC1150
Drivers -> Audio -> Realtek ALCxxx -> 100 Series Audio
Drivers -> Misc -> FakeSMC v6.21-311-g2958f55.1723 (required, should be preselected)
Drivers -> Misc -> FakeSMC Plugins v6.21-311-g2958f55.1723 (optional, highly recommended)
Drivers -> Misc -> FakeSMC HWMonitor Application v6.21-311-g2958f55.1723 (optional, highly recommended)
Drivers -> Network -> AtherosE2200Ethernet v2.2.0
Drivers -> USB -> Increase Max Port Limit
Bootloaders -> Clover v2.3k r3766 UEFI Boot Mode
Customize -> System Definitions -> iMac -> iMac14,2 (this is currently the favored system definition for Skylake and Sierra)​

When the Clover installer runs from within Multibeast, click "Customize" (button at the lower left of the window) and keep everything at the defaults, except add "EmuVariableUefi-64" under "Drivers64UEFI" (as mentioned in problem 6 in this post).

After Multibeast finishes and your system has rebooted, then you can install the Nvidia web drivers for your GTX 750Ti graphics card; see this thread for the drivers and this thread if you need help enabling them.

I hope this clears some things up for you and helps you get your installation completed.

 

[OneInfinteLoop]

Thanks. This is helpful. Right now, I am back in business with full display graphics, audio and networking (both wired and wireless) and USB. As a bonus, the USB C port on this board was recognized and I tested it w/ a few USB C devices and it works. Except for the USB -> Thunderbolt adapter (see attached) but I think that may require me enabling something on the hardware side? Either way, that's no big deal right now and may be in fact a bridge too far.

Still left to do: Activate iMessage. I think that's another risky area, as I got the system pretty close to this state last time and when I tried to get iMessage working last time things broke ...and bad. Pretty sure it's related to the system definition and when I changed that.

Question:Can I sign in and use iCloud services like handoff ? Or is that tied to properly setting iMessage up ?

Again, thanks for your help @nobodynose and everyone else around here for your patience and guidance.

 

[nobodynose]

Thanks. This is helpful. Right now, I am back in business with full display graphics, audio and networking (both wired and wireless) and USB. As a bonus, the USB C port on this board was recognized and I tested it w/ a few USB C devices and it works. Except for the USB -> Thunderbolt adapter (see attached) but I think that may require me enabling something on the hardware side? Either way, that's no big deal right now and may be in fact a bridge too far.

Attaching Thunderbolt accessories will require you to add the Thunderbolt card to your motherboard (http://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GC-ALPINE-RIDGE-rev-10#ov).

Still left to do: Activate iMessage. I think that's another risky area, as I got the system pretty close to this state last time and when I tried to get iMessage working last time things broke ...and bad. Pretty sure it's related to the system definition and when I changed that.

Changing the system definition can definitely cause things to go wrong. My advice is to make a backup clone of your boot drive to another drive using Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper, or some other software before you change anything else. Then here are a couple of resources (which you may already know about) for fixing iMessage:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/how-to-fix-imessage.110471/

Question:Can I sign in and use iCloud services like handoff ? Or is that tied to properly setting iMessage up ?

I do not know the answer to that, as I don't use any of those services. But someone will have an answer.

Again, thanks for your help @nobodynose and everyone else around here for your patience and guidance.

You're welcome!

 

[OneInfinteLoop]

Re: Thunderbolt Would this board work? I think so...it appears to be very similar to the one you link to above. I assume that once I drop the board in I need to do enable it somehow via another setting/config/KEXT?