<< Solved >> NVIDIA Driver fails... and starting fresh.

[HarryMcGinty]

Okay, so I'm super rusty. I have been loving life with my current build since 2016. I have basically updated nothing. Had one minor issue at the end of last year, but otherwise it has been flawless. That is, until now. I finally decided to get Windows 10 installed on another internal drive so that I could set up Thunderbolt 3. SUCCESS! I got Windows 10 working after flashing the BiOS to latest version and installing the Thunderbolt drivers. ... but after plugging my Mac drives back in and booting up, my NVIDIA Web Driver does not work. The applet tells me that it will be on after I restart, but when I restart it continues using the built in OS X drivers. Any ideas?

While I'm at it, I figure I should also re-visit my Clover settings. I have no idea what I'm doing though. I've completely forgotten all of my Hackintosh setup lingo. Do I have any use for Multibeast or was that just for initial setup? Where should I start? I was checking out u/iLikeHackintosh's setup, and I'm keen on that especially the USB setup as I have issues with some of my USB ports. But I don't even remember how to install a kext. Can someone point me in the right direction for a refresher?

I attached my latest config.plist from December 2018. What am I doing wrong?!

Thank you kindly
- Harry

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Okay, so I'm super rusty. I have been loving life with my current build since 2016. I have basically updated nothing. Had one minor issue at the end of last year, but otherwise it has been flawless. That is, until now. I finally decided to get Windows 10 installed on another internal drive so that I could set up Thunderbolt 3. SUCCESS! I got Windows 10 working after flashing the BiOS to latest version and installing the Thunderbolt drivers. ... but after plugging my Mac drives back in and booting up, my NVIDIA Web Driver does not work. The applet tells me that it will be on after I restart, but when I restart it continues using the built in OS X drivers. Any ideas?

While I'm at it, I figure I should also re-visit my Clover settings. I have no idea what I'm doing though. I've completely forgotten all of my Hackintosh setup lingo. Do I have any use for Multibeast or was that just for initial setup? Where should I start? I was checking out u/iLikeHackintosh's setup, and I'm keen on that especially the USB setup as I have issues with some of my USB ports. But I don't even remember how to install a kext. Can someone point me in the right direction for a refresher?

I attached my latest config.plist from December 2018. What am I doing wrong?!

Thank you kindly
- Harry

Hello there.

1) Your Nvidia web-driver issue sounds like it's related to NVRAM. You might remember from way back that NVRAM is an area of "non-volatile" RAM where certain semi-permanent settings can be saved. Some of the PC motherboards we use have this built-in while others need it "emulating" to give it the functionality.

2) Your config.plist is pretty straight-forward. Nothing glaringly awry - but not much to it either. I'm guessing you are on macOS Sierra?

3) MultiBeast is a post-install utility that lets you add specific 'drivers' to macOS for your PC hardware. In most cases you would use it to add:

a) a Clover bootloader and in your case perhaps with the Emulated NVRAM option too - also the necessary FakeSMC key injector (fools macOS into thinking your hardware is a genuine Mac).
b) Ethernet LAN driver
c) Audio codec driver
d) Graphics card optimisation
e) USB port-limit removal
f) which Apple Mac System-Defintion to pretend your PC hardware is.
g) supply all the serial-numbers and Unique Identifiers the operating-system needs.

So in other words MultiBeast gets as much of your PC hardware working as a Mac as it can, after the initial installation with UniBeast.

To install a kext just use a utility like KextBeast available in the Downloads section. It's self-explanatory. Modern thinking is to never install a 3rd-party kext in the System/Library/Extensions folder any more, and only in either (drive) Library/Extensions or the EFI/CLOVER/kexts folders. There is a full guide here.

For USB set-up there are now three guides: here, here and here. The shortest/easiest but with little explanation is the Hackintool method (the second one).

Finally, the boot problem might be caused by Windows modifying the BIOS Boot code. It will often install a Windows Boot Manager into the BIOS boot selector, which conflicts with Clover. You say you flashed the BIOS to refresh it and then installed Windows ... As to why your previously working NVRAM stopped working and no-longer stores the Nvidia Web-Driver option, is a bit of a mystery with the information you've given us so far.

Hope that helps.

 

[HarryMcGinty]

Thank you kindly for the thoughtful and thorough response. Yes, I believe I am on Sierra.

Now some updated, bad news. I just got back from a long work trip. I haven't done anything since I posted this thread.

Now when I try to boot up, it doesn't even get to the Clover screen. It cycles endlessly and mercilessly. BIOS shows but then it goes to black, then restarts. I'm guessing I messed up some BIOS settings. I've tried to recreate my previous settings by re-loading my last working profile but no dice. I also tried booting on my Windows 10 drive and it does the same thing.

I'm almost tempted to just start over again and re-install MacOS. What should I do? Sorry, I'm a bit panicked now as I can't use either my new Windows 10 install or my old Sierra install.

Thank you again for your help.

- H.A.M.

Hello there.

1) Your Nvidia web-driver issue sounds like it's related to NVRAM. You might remember from way back that NVRAM is an area of "non-volatile" RAM where certain semi-permanent settings can be saved. Some of the PC motherboards we use have this built-in while others need it "emulating" to give it the functionality.

2) Your config.plist is pretty straight-forward. Nothing glaringly awry - but not much to it either. I'm guessing you are on macOS Sierra?

3) MultiBeast is a post-install utility that lets you add specific 'drivers' to macOS for your PC hardware. In most cases you would use it to add:

a) a Clover bootloader and in your case perhaps with the Emulated NVRAM option too - also the necessary FakeSMC key injector (fools macOS into thinking your hardware is a genuine Mac).
b) Ethernet LAN driver
c) Audio codec driver
d) Graphics card optimisation
e) USB port-limit removal
f) which Apple Mac System-Defintion to pretend your PC hardware is.
g) supply all the serial-numbers and Unique Identifiers the operating-system needs.

So in other words MultiBeast gets as much of your PC hardware working as a Mac as it can, after the initial installation with UniBeast.

To install a kext just use a utility like KextBeast available in the Downloads section. It's self-explanatory. Modern thinking is to never install a 3rd-party kext in the System/Library/Extensions folder any more, and only in either (drive) Library/Extensions or the EFI/CLOVER/kexts folders. There is a full guide here.

For USB set-up there are now three guides: here, here and here. The shortest/easiest but with little explanation is the Hackintool method (the second one).

Finally, the boot problem might be caused by Windows modifying the BIOS Boot code. It will often install a Windows Boot Manager into the BIOS boot selector, which conflicts with Clover. You say you flashed the BIOS to refresh it and then installed Windows ... As to why your previously working NVRAM stopped working and no-longer stores the Nvidia Web-Driver option, is a bit of a mystery with the information you've given us so far.

Hope that helps.

 

[P1LGRIM]

What should I do?

Before you do anything else try a CMOS reset.

 

[HarryMcGinty]

Okay, I tried doing this by doing "Load Optimized Defaults". It has the same behavior and starts the vicious cycle. Do you mean to do a manual CMOS reset on the motherboard itself?

Before you do anything else try a CMOS reset.

 

[P1LGRIM]

Do you mean to do a manual CMOS reset on the motherboard itself?

No need for that if you are able to enter the BIOS setup screen.

 

[HarryMcGinty]

No need for that if you are able to enter the BIOS setup screen.

Copy that. Yeah, able to enter BIOS setup. Loaded optimized defaults. Saved and exited. No dice. So what do I do now?

 

[P1LGRIM]

No dice

How many were you expecting ?

So what do I do now?

Reduce to minimum configuration to isolate the problem component.

 

[HarryMcGinty]

How many were you expecting ?


Reduce to minimum configuration to isolate the problem component.

Hah. I'm not really sure where to begin. I restored BiOS settings to default. Clover won't even show up. I tried using the settings I originally had when I first built this puppy in '16, but that didn't work either.

Would it make sense to just do a fresh install (or even update to High Sierra)?

 

[P1LGRIM]

I'm not really sure where to begin

Reduce to minimum configuration to isolate the problem component.

Would it make sense to just do a fresh install

Not really until you know what is preventing you from booting.

or even update to High Sierra

Update what ? You don't appear to have anything to update.