<< Solved >> Recovery partition boot loses video

[farok]

In my build (running since 2017, thanks to the posts here!), I installed a second hard drive that I use to store a cloned copy (using Disk Utility) of my boot drive so that if I mess something up royally, I can simply boot the recovery partition (or a boot USB) and use Disk Utility to "recover" to my latest "backup". I'm running 10.12.6, upgraded from 10.11. About a month ago, my GTX 1050 went bad, and so I switched back to HD530 integrated graphics. This worked fine after a few clover tweaks. However, when I boot off the recovery partition or a boot USB, then at the graphics initialization, I end up with a blank screen - the monitor stops receiving a video signal and goes into power save mode. I can see that the boot seems to continue, and the machine isn't frozen, but it just isn't outputting a video signal. I tried with and without InjectIntel on boot, verbose or not, and it doesn't seem to allow it to boot properly. I made sure Inject ATI and Inject NVidia are both turned off. Thoughts? config.plist attached if that helps. If I can get this fixed, I hope to upgrade to a later version of the OS, since I no longer have the limitation of 10.13.x with the NVidia card.

This is my first post. I couldn't find anything like this in searching the forums, but if I missed a relevant thread, please point me in the right direction. Also, if you need more info about my system, kexts, etc., please let me know. I didn't see anything in the rules about what to include in a new thread (or missed it).

Thanks!!

 

[farok]

Bump! Any thoughts? Not sure why booting from the recovery partition wouldn't allow using the built-in video on the motherboard...

 

[farok]

Bump.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Bump.

Hi there.

So, are you saying that your PC boots fine into High Sierra, but if you try booting the Recoverey partition instead you get the black screen?

 

[farok]

Hi there.

So, are you saying that your PC boots fine into High Sierra, but if you try booting the Recoverey partition instead you get the black screen?

Correct. Thanks for the interest! I'm running Sierra, not High Sierra, but same difference in this case, I suppose. The screen isn't receiving "black", but rather is not receiving any signal and goes into power save mode. This happens about 3/4 of the way through the Apple logo portion of the boot process, roughly when the graphics card initializes. I can see that the machine is still running, based on hard drive activity and the ability to use the caps lock, etc., but just no video signal. This happens with USB stick boot as well as the recovery partition boot. Thoughts?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Correct. Thanks for the interest! I'm running Sierra, not High Sierra, but same difference in this case, I suppose. The screen isn't receiving "black", but rather is not receiving any signal and goes into power save mode. This happens about 3/4 of the way through the Apple logo portion of the boot process, roughly when the graphics card initializes. I can see that the machine is still running, based on hard drive activity and the ability to use the caps lock, etc., but just no video signal. This happens with USB stick boot as well as the recovery partition boot. Thoughts?

Chris

I think for this problem you will need to try one thing then, if that doesn't help, move on to the next idea - carefully and piecemeal.

First thing, read this post:

Skylake Intel HD 530 Integrated Graphics Working as of 10.11.4

As of 10.11.4 Skylake Intel HD 530 integrated graphics are working correctly in OS X- full acceleration without any of the previous graphical artifacts. Use Inject Intel=No or Inject Intel=Yes with ig-platform-id=0x19120000. Graphics Inject ATI...

www.tonymacx86.com

Other things to try:

Use Clover Configurator if you aren't already, to make any mods. Load your config.plist into it and:

1) Go to the 'Graphics' tab. Look across the pane until you see "ig-platform-id". Open the menu. Scroll up to 0x19120000 and you will see it needs System-Definition iMac17,1. There are other options to try for HD530 or change the Sys-Def. (If you do, disconnect Internet so Apple doesn't get confused).

2) In the "Boot" tab right-click on the boot-arguments pane for a list of options. "-disablegfxfirmware" is worth trying.

There's a lot more and if you search the forums you will find a lot of help. Recommend "HD530 Black Screen". Usually what is happening is that your system is running but at some point redirects the video-out to the wrong stream or port.
The Framebuffer etc.

 

[farok]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll try these, report back, and if they don't work, will search for others with the similar issue. Your description is exactly what I'm facing.

 

[farok]

So far, after reading the thread you posted and several others, I've tried the following, and none seem to work with my recovery partition or boot USB stick. It seems odd that my boot partition would work with zero issues, but not the recovery partition or USB stick. What could possibly be different on these? Note that both of these were built when I had the PCIE graphics card installed. Could that have anything to do with it?

iMac14,2:

• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000 -- No video signal
  • NOTE: my actual boot volume works fine with this setting, and all acceleration works fine
• InjectIntel = false; ig-platform-id = <empty> -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x191b0000 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x191e0003 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19020001 -- Kernel panic
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120001 -- Kernel panic
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19170001 -- Kernel panic
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19320001 -- Kernel panic
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; BootDisplay = 0 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; BootDisplay = 1 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; BootDisplay = 2 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; BootDisplay = 3 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; BootDisplay = 4 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; BootDisplay = 5 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; BootDisplay = 6 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = false; ig-platform-id = <empty>; BootDisplay = 0 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = false; ig-platform-id = <empty>; BootDisplay = 1 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x191b0000; BootDisplay = 0 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x191b0000; BootDisplay = 1 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; Find: SEVDSQ== Replace: SU1FSQ== -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000; Find: 4d45495f Replace: 494d4549 -- No video signal

iMac17,1:

• InjectIntel = true; ig-platform-id = 0x19120000 -- No video signal
• InjectIntel = false; ig-platform-id = <empty> -- No video signal

Other ideas? Is it easy to rebuild the recovery partition from my working boot partition? I think my next step is to try to recreate a USB stick to see if there's a way to get that working. As long as I can find a means of booting with DiskUtility so I can copy my boot partition, I'll be happy.

Thanks again for any other suggestions!!

 

[farok]

OK - I was able to borrow another video card and boot the recovery partition using that card. While doing so, I backed up my primary hard drive Mac OS (let's call it Partition A) to my spare hard drive (let's call it Partition B). I then confirmed I could boot successfully from the Partitions A and B. Interestingly both partitions crash when they boot with the spare video card installed, so out it goes - I'm not looking to troubleshoot another video card I'm not keeping.

Starting with a throw-away copy of my system (Partition B), I tried to start isolating the issue. My assumption at this point is that there's a kext that's loading properly from my Mac OS partition, but which doesn't load when I boot the recovery partition. Also, the current state of my kexts is as follows (yes I know they're somewhat out of date, and not sorted or installed well, but I'm not in a position yet to upgrade them given the inability to change nearly anything without getting a black screen - I've been reading a lot about where these SHOULD live):

• /S/L/E:
  • AppleALC.kext
  • FacePCIID_Broadcom_WIFI.kext
  • FakePCIID.kext
  • FakeSMC.kext
  • IntelGraphicsFixup.kext
  • Lilu.kext
  • USBInjectAll.kext
• /L/E:
  • FacePCIID_XHCIMux.kext
  • FakePCIID.kext
  • FakeSMC.kext
  • IntelMausiEthernet.kext
  • RealtekALC.kext
  • USBInjectAll.kext
• /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other
  • AppleALC.kext
  • FacePCIID_Broadcom_WIFI.kext
  • FakePCIID.kext
  • FakeSMC.kext
  • IntelGraphicsFixup.kext
  • Lilu.kext
  • USBInjectAll.kext
  • WhateverGreen.kext

Given that, I used Clover to clone my EFI partition and confirmed the cloned EFI partition works fine, so I can make EFI changes there without impacting the primary hard drive in any way. Then I... tried the following with Partition B:

• I tried removing kexts from SLE to see if the machine boots - works, but without things like Wifi, etc.
• I put all the removed kexts into /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other, but even then the machine didn't load them. I tried with the config.plist InjectKexts option set to Yes as well as Detect.
  • NOTE: So far, I've checked System Report --> Extensions after each boot to see where things are loading from, and I never see anything loading from EFI, regardless of whether I use InjectKexts Yes or Detect. I never see WhateverGreen trying to load, ever (which only lives on EFI).
• I put the kexts back into SLE using KextBeast and rebooted - everything is working again.
• I try removing all kexts from /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other and reboot - everything is working - seems nothing there was necessary.
• I remove all kexts from SLE and LE and put them into /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other and reboot. Regardless of whether I use InjectKexts Yes or Detect, I get the blank screen issue. I tried with iMac14,2 as well as iMac17,1.
• I boot Partition A (which is untouched and still works) and use KextBeast to reinstall the kexts on Partition B to SLE and LE respectively, and reset /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other to the kexts it had in the original working state - this is basically returned to the same config I started with. Rebooting results in the blank screen no matter what I try.
• I think maybe EFI is busted since Clover doesn't seem to ever pull kexts from /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other, so I install Clover cleanly on my backup partition (replaced v4411 with v5116), copy config.plist from my working EFI partition, and reboot using Clover 5116 and Partition B - blank screen still.
• I boot with Clover 5116 and Partition A, and it still works without issue. Since Partition A works with old Clover and new Clover, I surmise Clover isn't the issue.

Where do I go now, though? My spare partition is hosed again, even though I believe I've restored it to the same state as my primary partition. What could possibly be causing this issue?

I think my next step is to clone Partition A to Partition B so I have a clean slate to work with again, clean up my kexts, and then see why I can't inject kexts from EFI. Has anyone seen that before? I still suspect there's a kext that doesn't load from EFI that needs to when booting the recovery partition or install USB. Any other thoughts on things I can try? How could I troubleshoot the EFI kext issue?

Thanks again!!

 

[farok]

I took the time to fix all my kexts, and when all was said and done, I ended up with nothing in SLE, and the following in LE (a long-needed kext refresh, I'm sure):

• AppleALC
• AirportBrcmFixup
• FakeSMC
• IntelMausiEthernet (v2.2)
• Lilu
• USBInjectAll
• WhateverGreen

To get wireless working, I had to pass the boot argument brcmfx-driver=1 as well, though everything else seemed to work fine with the updated/replaced kexts.

I then tried booting the recovery partition with the working kext block (trying with and without IntelMausiEthernet, AppleALC, and AirportBrcmFixup), but still the recovery partition wouldn't boot and lose video at the graphics card initialization portion of the boot (no crash). So, it's not a kext issue, and replacing FacePCIID and IntelGraphicsFixup with Lilu and WhateverGreen didn't help either.

From there, now that I have WhateverGreen, I found a number of articles on framebuffer patching, and tried tons of options, but nothing seemed to change anything. My primary partition would boot with no issues, but recovery partitions and USB sticks would still lose video.

What I did learn while trying to patch the framebuffer is that an HDMI monitor does work fine, just not DisplayPort. It doesn't help me permanently, but at least I had that fall-back option in an emergency.

What finally fixed the issue is to change ig-platform-id=0x193b0005, which while it's a 4-port mobile graphics adapter, seems to work just fine. I can't find all the posts, but evidently the screen mirror adapter used for laptops is simply disabled if the machine is a desktop. Also, there are other options that can be added in to "clean it up", as per https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...tching-framebuffer.269179/page-3#post-1891355, but I didn't seem to need any of these (at least I can't see any difference with or without these additions).

Hopefully this will help someone else with the Asus Z170i Pro Gaming with HD530 and an i6700K processor...