Odd behaviors on prior successful hardware. Help?!

[EpicNUFO]

Alright guys, if I wasn't already bald, I'd be pulling my hair out.

I've built over a dozen clones of this exact system for friends and fellow audio engineers. I use the same in my own studio, have had literally zero issues with any of these machines I've built. I know that the config and EFI is bulletproof, I've not had a single issue with any of the builds- it's very important to understand that I know this is not a config issue. Configured as follows:

Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (bios f7)
i7 8700k
32-64gb vendor approved DDR4 XMP1 3200mhz memory
Samsung 970 evo m.2 NVME boot drive
AMD RX or Vega GPU
Optional:
Natively supported wifi/bluetooth
Alpine Ridge Rev 2.0 TB3 card with a windows install/ssd for activation
Additional storage

I have a friend overseas who asked for my help in replicating my system and so I explained how I use this configuration of specific parts and sent him my EFI and guided him through any help he'd need on the config. Except, we never got that far. Here is the specifics of his build:

Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (bios f7)
i7 8700k
16GB Team THWD48G3200HC16CBK (vendor approved) RAM
970 evo m.2 NVME 500gb boot drive
Saffire Nitro+ RX560

Using the NVME in either the middle or top slots of the mobo (both have worked for me), the install gets to the point of rebooting and the next step is using the usb clover to select boot install from Mac HD, it then starts to do it's thing with the progress bar then suddenly reboots itself. If you then select to try it again from Clover, you get the boot error message or the stop sign. Have tried pulling the RX GPU and doing the install with config for igpu instead, same behavior. Tried reducing to a single stick of ram, same behavior. Tried installing Windows on the NVME with everything installed (all Ram and GPU), Windows installs fine. WTF, right?

Next tried installing Mac on an old school HDD; works fine...but we know the 970 evo is not defective, because Windows installed fine.

Next we tried installing to a Sata SSD, also fails.

Next we do an install to the SSD by putting the drive into another machine and installing to the drive from there. Then we put the drive back into the hackintosh and it boots, but it's exhibiting odd behavior with multiple random crashes; have never had these machines randomly crashing. We go in and assign a serial and UUID, then enable Trim on the SSD. Now the comp won't boot, giving error message again.

So I'm totally stumped.

What in the world could be causing this sort of behavior with a hardware setup and config I've used countless times without even a hint of issues like these? I'd say hardware defect, but then how did Windows install fine?

So confused. Please help!

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Alright guys, if I wasn't already bald, I'd be pulling my hair out.

I've built over a dozen clones of this exact system for friends and fellow audio engineers. I use the same in my own studio, have had literally zero issues with any of these machines I've built. I know that the config and EFI is bulletproof, I've not had a single issue with any of the builds- it's very important to understand that I know this is not a config issue. Configured as follows:

Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (bios f7)
i7 8700k
32-64gb vendor approved DDR4 XMP1 3200mhz memory
Samsung 970 evo m.2 NVME boot drive
AMD RX or Vega GPU
Optional:
Natively supported wifi/bluetooth
Alpine Ridge Rev 2.0 TB3 card with a windows install/ssd for activation
Additional storage

I have a friend overseas who asked for my help in replicating my system and so I explained how I use this configuration of specific parts and sent him my EFI and guided him through any help he'd need on the config. Except, we never got that far. Here is the specifics of his build:

Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 (bios f7)
i7 8700k
16GB Team THWD48G3200HC16CBK (vendor approved) RAM
970 evo m.2 NVME 500gb boot drive
Saffire Nitro+ RX560

Using the NVME in either the middle or top slots of the mobo (both have worked for me), the install gets to the point of rebooting and the next step is using the usb clover to select boot install from Mac HD, it then starts to do it's thing with the progress bar then suddenly reboots itself. If you then select to try it again from Clover, you get the boot error message or the stop sign. Have tried pulling the RX GPU and doing the install with config for igpu instead, same behavior. Tried reducing to a single stick of ram, same behavior. Tried installing Windows on the NVME with everything installed (all Ram and GPU), Windows installs fine. WTF, right?

Next tried installing Mac on an old school HDD; works fine...but we know the 970 evo is not defective, because Windows installed fine.

Next we tried installing to a Sata SSD, also fails.

Next we do an install to the SSD by putting the drive into another machine and installing to the drive from there. Then we put the drive back into the hackintosh and it boots, but it's exhibiting odd behavior with multiple random crashes; have never had these machines randomly crashing. We go in and assign a serial and UUID, then enable Trim on the SSD. Now the comp won't boot, giving error message again.

So I'm totally stumped.

What in the world could be causing this sort of behavior with a hardware setup and config I've used countless times without even a hint of issues like these? I'd say hardware defect, but then how did Windows install fine?

So confused. Please help!

Hmmm...

Sounds a difficult one!

Clearly you know your set-up and how to build and use it, so it's difficult, remotely, to figure out what's going on.

My first thoughts though are these:

1) There *is* a difference between the machines. Has to be or the problems wouldn't occur.

2) BIOS settings. They might both be F7. but are the menu choices identical?

3) 970 Evo NVMe SSDs - some problems known with the Plus and Pro versions. Could one have crept in?

(Not sure why a standard SATA SSD would not work either).

4) Odd that Trim seemed to be at the point of a failure. Personally I no-longer use the macOS Trim because my own SSDs have this and Garbage Collection built in to firmware. Something not there in older models and hence the need for a software version.

5) Memory profile. Is your own DIMM also 'Team' brand? Is the profile a default one?

6) Sorry, just noticed the GPU. Are your own builds RX560 too?

 

[P1LGRIM]

So confused. Please help!

Perhaps his Evo is an Evo Plus :
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...rives-work-spoiler-alert-no-they-dont.270757/

 

[EpicNUFO]

Hmmm...

Sounds a difficult one!

Clearly you know your set-up and how to build and use it, so it's difficult, remotely, to figure out what's going on.

My first thoughts though are these:

1) There *is* a difference between the machines. Has to be or the problems wouldn't occur.

2) BIOS settings. They might both be F7. but are the menu choices identical?

3) 970 Evo NVMe SSDs - some problems known with the Plus and Pro versions. Could one have crept in?

(Not sure why a standard SATA SSD would not work either).

4) Odd that Trim seemed to be at the point of a failure. Personally I no-longer use the macOS Trim because my own SSDs have this and Garbage Collection built in to firmware. Something not there in older models and hence the need for a software version.

5) Memory profile. Is your own DIMM also 'Team' brand? Is the profile a default one?

6) Sorry, just noticed the GPU. Are your own builds RX560 too?

1: I agree, but all is approved. Only difference is RAM and GPU but also pulled GPU and tried with iGPU which is the same on all 8700k's.

2: Bios settings are identical.

3: I know that the plus and pro do not work, this is an evo, same as I have used countless times without issue.

4: Whether or not to activate it, I activate and use the software trim on all my builds without issue; have never triggered crashes or non-boot as a result. I can't figure out what could be wrong to result in such off behavior.

5: I've personally used Corsair and GSkill. Never used Team, but is on the approved vendor list for the mobo.

6: I have only used RX580 or Vega 56 personally, but checked beforehand and saw countless success with native RX560 so should not be an issue. As mentioned, tried pulling GPU and using iGPU with no change in behavior. Does not seem GPU related.

This is definitely a difficult one!