NVRAM Fossils from old build ruining fresh install (macOS High Sierra)

[HATCH]

First time poster/long time reader. I really appreciate this community and admire your knowledge and willingness to help each other out. I've read many other threads that seemed to relate to my issue but was never able to fully resolve anything. So here I am.

I had a successful first build that ran smoothly for about year. I made it through major OS updates and all sorts of graphics driver issues. I was running macOS High Sierra 10.12 with no issues until one day I tried to mess with 'themes' inside Clover Configurator. I adjusted a setting dealing with NVRAM. This caused me to be unable to fully boot. I would get to the Apple logo and eventually I'd see the circle with a cross through it. Luckily I had my trusty backup bootable USB with a copy of my workable config file. For reasons I never understood and that no longer matter now, I could not seem to restore a proper boot of macOS High Sierra using my backup USB. I know. It doesn't make sense and yes I must have done something wrong or had additional issues that I was unaware of and/or did not understand.

FAST FORWARD SIX MONTHS

I decided to start a fresh install of macOS High Sierra using the same equipment. I did a hard format of my m.2 boot drive and started fresh using the guides and information found on this site. Using all new and up to date files on a freshly minted bootable USB and a freshly formatted drive I ended up with the same exact issue. I recognize the issue because when the Clover boot screen appears it loads a random theme every time. This lead me to believe that I have an issue with my non volatile random access memory (NVRAM).

I have considered doing an NVRAM Reset (Holding Command+Option+P+R at boot) but wanted to reach out to you guys before I did that. I'm not even sure if that works on a hackintosh. I've been running Windows 10 on this system in the mean time while I try to get to the bottom of this. If I can't solve it I will likely just do a fresh build with all new everything.

It is important to note that I no longer have the old config.plist file or any backup of the old workable system.
Here is a screenshot of my BOOT LOG

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Sorry to hear about your persistent problems. I'm not the expert here but I think:

The NVRAM is only emulated so no boot keys will reset it as it isn't a "real" NVRAM system. I might be wrong, but I think you'll find NVRAM data in a file called nvram.plist in the EFI partition, beneath the EFI folder. It sounds like you already installed the correct drivers.

The Theme setting for Clover is in the config.plist in a section/key called "GUI", not sure it's in NVRAM.

A circle with a crossed-line usually means the chosen disk is not bootable. There are special considerations when installing macOS on an m.2 drive and maybe there is a problem there. Other links - Rehabman Here and by Stork Here

I haven't used an m.2 SSD myself so my research stops there.

As I say, I'm no expert, but hope that helps.

 

[vulgo]

I'm not even sure if that works on a hackintosh.

It doesn't. You can use Apple's nvram system command

sudo nvram -c

If you look on your EFI system partition(s) and 'Macintosh HD' partition(s) you may find file(s) named 'nvram.plist' used to store Apple related NVRAM variables between shutdown and the next Clover boot on systems using the EmuVariableUEFI driver - you may also need to remove these file(s) if you find them.

 

[HATCH]

Thank you both for the responses.

If you look on your EFI system partition(s) and 'Macintosh HD' partition(s) you may find file(s) named 'nvram.plist' used to store Apple related NVRAM variables between shutdown and the next Clover boot on systems using the EmuVariableUEFI driver - you may also need to remove these file(s) if you find them.

My drive has been completely wiped. I imagine that would mean there is no EFI system partition to dig into (correct me if I'm wrong). During my process of trouble shooting I was able to confirm that the bootable USB created with unibeast was properly created as I tested it on a macbook and was able to reach the installer. However on my main build that I am having trouble with I am unable to reach the installer. At the apple logo I get half way with the loading bar before I see a spinning loading wheel. Not the colorful pinwheel or the circle with a line through it but a grey circle made up of small dash marks. My usb is in a USB 2.0 port.

I've tried removing all drives and peripherals other than mouse and keyboard. I've even flashed my BIOS to confirm latest version. Incase it was overlooked, I included a screen shot of my boot log in my original post at the bottom.

 

[vulgo]

Incase it was overlooked, I included a screen shot of my boot log in my original post at the bottom.

The screenshot shows ACPI errors either due to buggy OEM tables or more likely incorrect patching/injecting.