Poor Integrated Graphics Performance and Now No Ethernet

[MacAddict4Life]

My first Hackintosh. Brought my iPad and used the site buyer's guide here to pick components from what is available locally (guided by the place I was buying from). In Taiwan when you pick out parts in a custom build, they put it together for you for free, which was nice. Obviously I'm using the integrated graphics, as there's no 1060 support yet. But really, since I'm not gaming Mac side, I don't mind using IG there anyway. No bluetooth or wifi yet (I want to wait and get continuity compatible hardware). Currently using the ethernet port on the motherboard, and in macOS connecting to my monitor through the HDMI port on the motherboard and an HDMI-to-DVI cable.

Tried to go straight to Sierra, but ran into problems. Switched to El Cap to use Unibeast and Multibeast. Figured out some BIOS settings were still wrong. Fixed it, got El Cap installed, but wanted to go to Sierra (because I could not restore anything from Time Machine on El Cap, as my laptop is already on Sierra).

Got the Sierra installer booted. Erased the SSD. Got Sierra installed, and running. Did the post-installation. Ethernet working, internet connection fine, things look good... except for graphics issues. Poor graphics performance, no translucency effects on menus, etc. In About This Mac, it said this:

I have no idea what SKL CRB is! But, based on some reading on here, I figured it was because I didn't set the inject intel flag. Pulled open Clover Configurator, and set the flag. Then restarted.

Still the same graphics issues. About This Mac said this:

Properly identified Intel HD 530 graphics, but identified as only 7 MB VRAM available (if I understand what I am seeing, which may not be the case). And suddenly a new issue: no network connectivity. Network preference pane indicated no ethernet cable connected.

So here are my questions I hope someone can help with:

1) What Mac model should I be going with? I think I chose 14,2, though that uses a different processor than I have. I chose it only because it was one of the defaults offered by one of the tools.

2) Any ideas what's up with graphics performance? Inject intel should be on, yes? I do remember seeing a BIOS setting that lets me define how much RAM should go to integrated graphics, but I think the description says the OS normally overrides the setting. Should I be using that setting to ensure there's enough RAM for graphics performance? Or is there something else I need to do?

3) Any guessing what could have gone wrong Ethernet-wise? I mean through several reboots everything was great... then suddenly poof, gone. The only thing I changed (as far as I recall) was setting the Intel Inject, though turning it off did not fix the problem. Any fixes I should try?

 

[Going Bald]

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-inch-aluminum-retina-5k-late-2015-specs.html

is probably the closest to your actual hardware

 

[Gigamaxx]

Skull Crabs are good use that definition. Its the better of the two graphics options especially if you're running a graphics card as well. It draws extra RAM memory to perform better graphics.
Another thing I noticed is your iMac def is missing a screen and date. do you have 2 bootloaders, or 2 different config plists running? Get EFIMounter (free on this site) and mount your EFI partition, you may have clover from the original boot and another from multi beast. Check your EFI backup folder as well on main partition. If you have different config.plists running it can issues with system recognition.

Ethernet, did you run multi beast and assign two different internet options. For example, intel Mausi, and Atheros as well? you may have 2 conflicting drivers going, which may be related to your plist (x2) like above.

 

[AryM10]

How memory have the Integrated Graphics in the UEFI?
I'm using with 128MB and works great excepts the glitches on my Intel Graphics HD 530 on 10.12 Sierra.

 

[MacAddict4Life]

Gigamaxx, I am inferring that Skull Crabs is another integrated graphics system, but from what I've read it is not the one built into the i5-6500.

I don't know what was up with the missing information. A far as I know, I did not have 2 bootloaders running, and I have only found one Config.plist. I did not use MultiBeast, as it does not support Sierra yet.

Since this post, I have tried a few things. I will try to list them. First, I went ahead and updated to the 17,1 system definition, because it does appear to be the only Skylake definition available. Using TextWrangler, I opened Config.plist and I copied and pasted the settings out of this thread http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/10-11-0-10-11-3-skylake-starter-guide.179221/#SMBIOS. I also added (incorrectly I suspect) the KextsToPatch from that thread.

I then went to El Capitan MultiBeast on my laptop, right-clicked, selected Show Package Contents, and found the Atheros 2.2.0 driver package (the default installed was 2.1.0 I think). I copied that to a flash drive, as well as the Intel 530 HD installer packages (I wasn't sure if I need them but I figured it was worth a shot). I installed those from my flash drive, and then restarted.

Upon restart, Ethernet was working again. I determined that, with Inject Intel off, I was still showing as an SKL CRB card (which at the time I did not know would be as good or better). At this point I learned 2 things. 1) If I turned Inject Intel on, I would show up as a 530 HD, and it was showing up with about 1.5 GB ram (same as the SKL CRB). 2) If I edited my Config.plist with Clover Configurator after my changes in TextWrangler, it reset to empty default.

Because of that, I had to set up Config.plist again. I set up Inject Intel and nv_disable using Clover Configurator, then I opened Config.plist in TextWrangler and added the iMac 17,1 SMBIOS, the KextToPatch (correctly this time), and then other setting related to sound all from the thread I liked in the third paragraph. Saved, verified that the changes stuck, backed up Config.plist this time, restarted.

After restart, Ethernet is still working fine. The system seems to be running fine. Graphics performance (saw when opening and closing folders, which was laggy before) seems smooth and normal. I am getting small amounts of artifacting in the top left corner of the screen (confined to about 4 cm of the menu bar, though usually it's closer to 1-2 cm), which the dark menubar setting helps hide. As far as I know, this is a known issue with no current solution. I am also, it appears, unable to wake from display sleep. But this is also a known issue I think (I read that one person no longer has this problem in Sierra, but I still do). I will probably just customize Energy Saver to never sleep the display, and just use the power button on the screen.

I do plan to try changing from an HDMI-to-DVI cable to a regular DVI cable. I don't expect this to actually make a difference, but since I've read mention of HDMI issues with IG 530 HD, I figure it can't hurt to try. I also actually haven't tried the sound, because I don't currently have any speakers sitting around in there. Sound is fine on my USB gaming headset, as is to be expected. Honestly, though, if the sound didn't just work I would probably pick up a USB sound output and be done with it.

 

[In-N-Out]

In my tests regarding the HD 530 display issues I even tried switching from HDMI to Display Port but the issue remained.