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OpenCore ASUS Maximus VII Hero Z97 4790K RX580

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Damn you did the transplant. Yea I'm pretty certain your gonna need nvram for increment updates too. i think it has to do with Apple's new snapshot features.

I got someone confirmed with your same board that flashed it fine through USB flashback on another forum.
Make sure you follow your motherboard's instructions for using USB Flashback, correct USB port, correct USB format, etc. You're doing something wrong there.
no worries mate it was a usb flash drive which wasn't working properly, i suspect it's corrupted. The new flash drive i bought worked perfectly, it flashed in back of my mobo. cheers mate.
 
So u/stiligFox informed that XMP was broken with modified bios. I confirmed my board had the same issue. Even properly set in BIOS, RAM speeds were showing up default 1333. I found the solution and confirmed it working here's the link for the work around https://hamac.pl/topic/14107-natywny-zapis-do-nvram-modyfikacje-bios/?do=findComment&comment=136471, they also discuss in the thread to replacing bytes but I don't believe that'll work for every board due to variations, so not recommended.

YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK and I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING

Tools used(newer versions may not work correctly):
UEFITool 0.28.0
MMTool Aptio 4.50.0.23
AFUWIN64 tool v3.05.04 can be downloaded from the guide linked below

Open the older BIOS that has the working nvram driver. In my case version 1104.
Search by text and enter nvramsmi, in the messages section at the bottom you can click where it says found in PE32 to go right there.
Select the PE32 image section that is under NvramSMI/Compressed section and Extract body, save the bin file.
Take note of the GUID 842A45A.... we will need this later. You can keep this open for reference and open another window.
1.jpg

Now open the latest BIOS in UEFITool in another window, in my case 3503.
Same as earlier search by text and enter nvramsmi. This time we will replace body.
Select the PE32 image section that is under NvramSMI/Compressed section and replace body with the bin you just saved.
After replacing it should look like below. Now save the new image.
2.jpg

Open up MMTool, Load Image and select your modified BIOS you just saved. Like I said this sounds redundant but just do it.
Go to the extract tab and scroll down to find the nvramsmi driver, the filename will be missing so using the GUID from UEFI tool you can confirm you selected the correct one.
They will also be in the same order as shown in UEFITool, so you can see NvramSMI is between NTFS and OpalSecurity. Match the GUID to be sure.

3.jpg
After you find and select the nvramsmi driver, click the browse and make a name like mmNvramsmi, then press extract, file will be saved
Now using MMTool load your *unmodified* latest bios file. This time go to the Replace tab.
Find the Nvramsmi driver again and select it.
Click browse and select the above mmNvramsmi, and then replace.
Save Image As, and name it how you like. I named mine mod.rom and then use AFUWIN to flash from Windows. USB Flashback won't work since we are saving the rom without the capsule headers.
You can find those instructions to use AFUWIN here Forum - [Guide] How to flash a modded AMI UEFI BIOS (win-raid.com)
 
So u/stiligFox informed that XMP was broken with modified bios. I confirmed my board had the same issue. Even properly set in BIOS, RAM speeds were showing up default 1333. I found the solution and confirmed it working here's the link for the work around https://hamac.pl/topic/14107-natywny-zapis-do-nvram-modyfikacje-bios/?do=findComment&comment=136471, they also discuss in the thread to replacing bytes but I don't believe that'll work for every board due to variations, so not recommended.

YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK and I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING

Tools used(newer versions may not work correctly):
UEFITool 0.28.0
MMTool Aptio 4.50.0.23
AFUWIN64 tool v3.05.04 can be downloaded from the guide linked below

Open the older BIOS that has the working nvram driver. In my case version 1104.
Search by text and enter nvramsmi, in the messages section at the bottom you can click where it says found in PE32 to go right there.
Select the PE32 image section that is under NvramSMI/Compressed section and Extract body, save the bin file.
Take note of the GUID 842A45A.... we will need this later. You can keep this open for reference and open another window.
View attachment 499331

Now open the latest BIOS in UEFITool in another window, in my case 3503.
Same as earlier search by text and enter nvramsmi. This time we will replace body.
Select the PE32 image section that is under NvramSMI/Compressed section and replace body with the bin you just saved.
After replacing it should look like below. Now save the new image.
View attachment 499332

Open up MMTool, Load Image and select your modified BIOS you just saved. Like I said this sounds redundant but just do it.
Go to the extract tab and scroll down to find the nvramsmi driver, the filename will be missing so using the GUID from UEFI tool you can confirm you selected the correct one.
They will also be in the same order as shown in UEFITool, so you can see NvramSMI is between NTFS and OpalSecurity. Match the GUID to be sure.

View attachment 499333
After you find and select the nvramsmi driver, click the browse and make a name like mmNvramsmi, then press extract, file will be saved
Now using MMTool load your *unmodified* latest bios file. This time go to the Replace tab.
Find the Nvramsmi driver again and select it.
Click browse and select the above mmNvramsmi, and then replace.
Save Image As, and name it how you like. I named mine mod.rom and then use AFUWIN to flash from Windows. USB Flashback won't work since we are saving the rom without the capsule headers.
You can find those instructions to use AFUWIN here Forum - [Guide] How to flash a modded AMI UEFI BIOS (win-raid.com)
I seen other weird things happening like since running a modified bios, Hard Drive Mechanical Disks on Big Sur no longer being detected.. Only SSD's show up.. In Windows both HDD and SSD's were detected np. To fix this problem, I had to use the CtlnaAHCIPort.kext.
 
Guide has been updated with modding UEFI woes. I hope this is it.

DISCLAIMER!!! Modding your UEFI can have weird things happen. So far we have 3 but all fixable. There are also multiple different ways to mod and flash if you look around you'll see. I cannot be responsible for all the methods and figuring out every issue that could arise.

READ ALL THE BULLETS BELOW BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANYTHING
  • Loss of ability to change RAM speeds either manually or with XMP
    • This method of modding and flashing will fix the XMP issue link here
  • Loss of Mac address
    • note your mac address before continuation or find it on the sticker on your mobo, it is easy to flash back
    • Stanwell Park left a link to a youtube video link here, the video is unnecessarily 20 minutes long, here's a quick shortcut if you're witty
      • Create a free dos bootable usb with rufus(tools folder), take the files from the youtube link
      • Copy over the batch files from the Copy All Files to USB folder to root of usb, no folder
      • Copy over the eeupdate.exe from the correct NIC folder to the root of usb, no folder
      • Enable CSM just for this
      • boot the USB at the command prompt, you'll enter "eeupdate /nic=1 /mac=xxxxxxxxxxxx"
      • reboot, reenable CSM, MAC address is flashed
  • Mechanical drives not working mentioned by raceyiii
 
Thanks for the excellent and detailed information in your OP!

After some trial&error it actually was kind of easy.

Got an Asus Z97-Pro (i7-4770 / ACL1150) and moved from an NVidia to a Vega56 (Asus Strix 8GB, as it was one of the suggested cards at https://dortania.github.io/GPU-Buyers-Guide/buyers-guide/what-gpu-to-get.html#fanless-gpus-0-db and it supported FanStop) so I could finaly upgrade my HighSierra.

Went for clean install. Just to specify my steps (although I'm not sure if it might help others):
  1. Started the download for BigSur on my MacMini
  2. Current bios was 3503 so I downloaded an older bios (to be precise 1304 which was previous to 2014/10/17)
  3. Renamed bios file to Z97P.CAP (found the correct file-name when downloading an "Asus ROG bios Update" which included "bios renamer" for windows, ran it and got the above filename)
  4. Followed the previously mentioned method, got the info, saved it, modified my current 3503 bios, saved it, and flashed it again. It went pretty flawlessly
  5. Used most Bios advised settings. I disabled some board-specific features (audio/wifi/bt) at first, but I'm fairly sure it wouldn't affect the installation.
  6. I followed the Installer Guide for open core, and used the provided OpenCore config from the opening post (only took the EFI directory of course)
  7. I took the Sanity checker (https://opencore.slowgeek.com) to look for issues
  8. Used ProperTree for plist editting:
    1. PickerMode to Builtin
    2. Timeout to 5
    3. AppleDebug to Yes
    4. ScanPolicy to 0
    5. Changed platform/SystemProductName to iMac15,1
    6. Changed timeout to 5
  9. Afterwards everything kind of booted correctly into the BigSur installer (Sidenote! When you have multiple displays connected to multiple devices, like, a monitor which is connected to both a MacMini and to a Hackintosh, it is quite possible that the installer is shown on a monitor which is NOT active. In my case I saw the booting on a primary display, but after a while only a dark-grey box displayed which sometimes displayed the mouse cursor. After a few reboots I remembered it was connected to another monitor as well. Switched the input of my second monitor and there the installer was.
  10. The installer and reboots went rather smoothly. It took a VERY long time to complete (I think back-to-back at least 90 minutes). Got some of the items mentioned in the troubleshooting pages of OpenCore. Like the 'ramrod' issue. It seemed it was in an endless loop, but after letting it run for a while, it just continued.
  11. After everything was complete and BigSur booted, it felt 'just like normal'. Once it ran for a few days I moved the EFI folder to my ssd and it fully booted stand-alone

I have some issues with which I can not put my finger on why/what is happening, maybe someone here recognises the issue and can point me in the right direction:

  • The embedded WiFi is not working, did I miss something? Or wil it never work?
  • The same goes voor the embedded BlueTooth, I currently use a USB dongle but rather use the embedded BT
  • Big Sur randomly seems to freeze. Spotify/Music keesps on playing and the cursor remains visible on connected DisplayPort monitors, but is not displayed on HDMI connected display. I can not click anything nor does it respond to anything. The only solution is to reboot the system (it also seems to reboot after waiting a long time, I'll check if there is a kerneldump and/or more detailed info on that)
    • When enabling VT-d in the Bios, I can use Docker again, which is nice, however it seems to make the BigSur installation even more unstable.
    • When doing stuff like screensharing via for example Teams, it seems to trigger a freeze more often
    • I'm not entirely sure if it is BigSur or maybe the GPU, I'll do a stresstest on Windows (although I almost never hear the fan of the GPU speeding up, so I dont think it is under a lot of stress)

Again thanks for sharing your setup and example files! They helped a lot!
 
@maxxmark
what wifi/bt chipset? if it's supported makes sure you look at the the GitHub for them, you might have to block/remove one of the injectors. I did this to for my laptop.
display issues, is intel igpu disabled? might want to disable and use SMBIOS iMac Pro 1,1
if vt-d is enabled you have to use disableiomapper or something
make sure you map your usb ports and set the power properly
try setting up cpufriend and dataprovider

good luck!
 
Got Bluetooth working! For future reference:
  1. Found the specifics for my BT: Broadcom 2070. Specifically the [0b05:17cf] Asus 4352_20702A1 combo)
  2. Went to https://github.com/acidanthera/BrcmPatchRAM and got the latest version
  3. Went for the 'injector' version
  4. Added the following kexts:
    1. BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext
    2. BrcmFirmwareData.kext
    3. BrcmPatchRAM3.kext
  5. Tested using the installer USB stick:
    1. Opened efi partition,
    2. Opende config.plist
    3. cmd-shift-r to reload data based on efi partition OC folder
    4. Double checked
    5. And saved
  6. Cleaned up unused kext and did some reboots
  7. Moved the EFI to the main disk and rebooted once more
Minor 'gotcha' was that the first times it didnt seem to work because boot-order was disk first instead of usb first, so nothing seemed to work.

I'll look into your other recommendations!
 
I Also fixed the WiFi using https://github.com/acidanthera/AirportBrcmFixup

  1. Downloaded the 2.1.2 version
  2. Added Kext to the folder
  3. Loaded the plist and did a refresh
  4. Important (As noted on github) I removed the "AirportBrcm4360_Injector.kext" after doing the refresh.

At first I also switched to the "iMac Pro1,1" but then my bluetooth stopped working (but wifi did). Switching back to "iMac15,1" made it work again. Now BT and WiFi are both working!

I checked my bios and the iGPU was already disabled there (I switched the bios setting which prioritizes PCIE/CPU from "Auto" to "PCIE" just to besure).

DisableIOMapper was already set to "True" (enabled)

And regarding the USB, I had followed your profile, which seems to work. I noticed that some USB-ports do not work (as was described). Is there a reason why I should tinker with it? I have, at this time, no problems with certain USB ports not working.

Setting to "iMac Pro1,1" did not improve stability or prevent the GPU issues.

I briefly (reaaaally briefly) looked at "cpufriend" and "dataprovider", how is it they could help with the issues I might have? It's a bit like with the USB profile, I get why it is useful, but I don't get how it affects the setup and how it might result in issues.
 
@maxxmark
You should map your own USB Ports b/c it will likely effect sleep and wake. It's not really hard to do and only takes a bit of time. Then there's always the plus of knowing your ports work as intended with the proper power output. My kext is also meant to be used with SMBIOS iMac pro 1,1 so if you are using 15,1 it isn't even being applied to your system. If you still want it applied you have to edit the info.plist in the kext accordingly.

cpufriend and creating your own data provider will give you better power management, this takes maybe 3 minutes to create and install with a script called cpufriendfriend. I've found in the past that doing can also alleviate issues with proper sleep.

Fixing these two things make your system more complete. In short, having a broken link between software and hardware can cause random issues. macOS expects x, y and z and while your computer has x, y and z, you are not letting macOS know about it. That possibly leaves macOS relying on failsafe type code to keep it running. Hope that was kind of insightful, not sure how to explain that properly.
 
Thanks for taking the time to elaborate.

Googled around a bit after I switched to "iMacPro1,1" because it went wrong with the "This version of Mac OS X is not supported on this platform". After correctly regenerating SMBios settings (and correcting the typo "MacPro1,1" to "iMacPro1,1" :banghead:) it correctly booted again. As the iMacPro1.1 would not use the iGPU according to the documentation, it indeed feels more logical to use that one instead of the iMac15,1.

As before I noticed the Bluetooth driver now stopped working. After tinkering around a lot (including going from injecting kext to /System/Library installed version) I decided to ignore it for the time being.

I did install CPUFriend and it was indeed a breeze when using CPUFriendFriend to generate the scripts. Found my LFM/TDP-Down to be 800Mhz and went for the 01 EPP setting. Generated the kext and added it.

Aside from the BlueTooth not yet working, it does seem to be more stable as I have not noticed the unresponsive second monitor and/or occasional freezes. But that could be wishfull thinking. I will monitor and do some stress tests.

I'm not sure what the exact differences are when using the iMacPro1,1 but one is of course that USBPorts is now correctly loaded. I will try not loading it at all, just to figure out if it will make my BT work again.

The USBPorts still seems logical, but am not yet sure on how to create my own. I wil however read through the topics referenced in the OP.

Edit: I removed the USBPorts kexts and afterwards the BT does work. So it's definitely something there. To be continued!
 
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