Setup Guide for Gigabyte BRIX and BRIX Pro using Clover

[meTooAsWell]

Have a look at the AppleHDA.kext file in /System/Library/Extensions. If it's 2.6 MB it's the patched one and if it's 3.2 MB it's Apple's latest version.

It's strange because I had to patch mine to get all the audio ports working again. Do you have "Headphone port" and "Optical digital-out port" listed as well as "HDMI"?

Yes, I see all outputs selectable and I can use them. AppleHDA.kext is a bundle directory with many files and directories under AppleHDA.kext/Contents. But the size is as you told to be from Apple's files.

# du -hs /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
3.2M /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext
#

I would guess that this is because I did not use the binary patch but patched it as described in my 10.10.3 upgrade post. So maybe my changes are not reverted by Apple but yours.

 

[bhive01]

It turns out that I didn't pay enough attention. When i did the 10.10.4 update I did lose my optical and headphone audio. I have been using my USB audio card thing and didn't notice. I'll update that when I get a chance.

 

[headkaze]

Performed the same routine with 10.10.5. No problems here.

 

[Islapet]

Hi Headkaze,

Just wanted to thank you for your many good advices and very helpful config.plist.
I have a little annoyance remaining, since I got a 4K Samsung: how to put safely 3800 vid through mini DP out? that bios flash thing keeps me worried, given your own experience.

EDIT: updated to 10.10.5 too, repatched AppleHDA (only HDMI sound), and noticed pci14e4/43b1 is no more listed in IO80211Family.kext, but since WIFI and BT appear unchanged in system report, I am tempted to do nothing more.

 

[headkaze]

how to put safely 3800 vid through mini DP out? that bios flash thing keeps me worried, given your own experience.

Unfortunately, as you read, modifying the BIOS for me resulted in a bricked brix

Couple of things that may be worth trying (if you're game)

1. I never got to use the later AMIBCP 4.55.0070 tool.
2. Unplugging the battery never seemed to work for me but I never got to try the "AMI Aptio BIOS recovery" procedure after it failed to boot.

The "AMI Aptio BIOS recovery" procedure is as follows:

Rename the BIOS file to AMIBOOT.ROM, put it on a USB thumbdrive, insert into USB port.Wait at least 15-20 min, or reset the CMOS if at all possible.
Power up and press CTRL + HOME
The BIOS may reflash from the BIOS file on the USB thumbdrive.

It would be worth seeing if you can recover the original BIOS before attempting to flash the modified BIOS. At least then you will know you can recover your Brix without having to send it back to Gigabyte. If the recovery procedure doesn't work perhaps it's not worth the risk at all?

EDIT: updated to 10.10.5 too, repatched AppleHDA (only HDMI sound), and noticed pci14e4/43b1 is no more listed in IO80211Family.kext, but since WIFI and BT appear unchanged in system report, I am tempted to do nothing more.

The only two files I install after an update is the patched AppleHDA.kext and BrcmPatchRAM.kext but I have an Azurewave AW-CE123H card replacing the standard one.

 

[Islapet]

I must confess I'm fairly new to the whole stuff: two months ago, the last Apple Computer I touched was an Apple II , and I am by no means an expert.

I happen to already have the F6-BIOS, which comes with an embedded tool, Q-Flash, found on the Gigabyte website , I believe:

With Q-Flash you can update the system BIOS without having to enter operating systems like MS-DOS or Window first. Embedded in the BIOS, theQ-Flash tool frees you from the hassles of going through complicated BIOS flashing process.

. Wouldn't it be useful for "only" enhancing DVMT Pre-allocated?

My Brix is now a triple boot, with twox250gb SSDs, with WIN8.1 on SATA swapped from a no more used laptop, and I curiously get a 3820 resolution over HDMI (one of the many things I don't understand...yet).
How can I make sure that I don't already have DVMT Pre-allocated to 64M? On 10.10.4 I get max resolution 2500; I tryed booting from a modified USB stick integrating the pixel clock limit unlock, all I got was a flickering display. With BIOS set to optimal defaults I had no more the right startup disk on clover.

I've swapped my WiFi card for the very same Azurwave CE123H, thought it to be the neatest solution, given the limited USB ports, and it work(ed) great: I now have trouble with 10.10.5 reconnecting BT keyboard and Magic Mouse (wheel of death when trying to turn BT on), whereas WiFi remains OK.
I never patched BrcmPatchRam, but left it in the Kext sections of clover, along with FakeSMC and RealtekRTL8111.
This BT-instability annoys me, but I'm a little afraid of tweaking/breaking my working system because of my first installation of OS X 10.11 Developer Beta (still left idle on a small third partition). Everything worked great with the 10.10 elements (SSDTs, Kexts, 10.10.3 config.plist with matching RT-variables and SMBIOS), until the 10.11.4 update, where I got stuck at the "missing bluetooth controller transport", with no more command prompting. Manually removing the faulty IntelHD* kexts etc. files brought nothing, and what's really a p.i.t.a... is the disk utility debug command doesn't work any more on 10.11, so no more easy access to hidden partitions. Consequently, I dropped the 10.11 installation which at least allowed me to download 10.10.4 installer.

Anyway, I'm not far from completing my initial project of a perfectly stable and functional dual-boot Brix, coupled with a 4K Samsung. I started this project as a total n00b, and wouldn't have gotten so far without the invaluable help of you all guys, contributors and developers who bother to write and share their experience and work. Many thanks!

That said, any advice on my BT instability and 4k video resolution is welcome!

EDIT: Bluetooth problem solved: reinstalled modified IO820211Family.kext with the Azurwave Pci14e4 43b1 identity, installed directly BrcmPatchRam.kext and removed it from EFI/CLOVER/KEXTS.

Keyboard and mouse connected instantly when turning BT on.

Still searching for a simple and safe solution to enhance my video resolution...

 

[bhive01]

Thanks to HeadKaze for the 10.10.5 update news. I updated yesterday and things went fine. I need to redo the Audio again, but it's otherwise working fine.

I was looking at 4K screens recently too thinking that it would be awesome to have the increased resolution, but it sounds like that's still not working well, which is a shame.

Congrats on getting the Azurewave card working, I struggled with it too much and just bought something else that worked out of the box. Same goes for the BT, but it's a really cheap dongle that has hardly any range so it's not ideal. I typically use a wired mouse and keyboard so I'm not in a rush to get BT working.

 

[Islapet]

Just saw on the Gigabyte website:

	How much memory allocate to integrated graphics controller?
	System will allocate 64MB to internal graphics controller.
Products: GB-BXi7-4770R (rev. 1.0)

So I don't see the need to flash my F6 BIOS? I'll try to fumble around with clover again...

BTW:

Congrats on getting the Azurewave card working

Thank you, but I needed a whole week to reconnect Magic Mouse and Keyboard and have those "stupidly expensive peripherals" working again: WiFi, BT DUN & PAN removed in Network, and 3 PRAM resets!
Seems to have nothing to do with the hack, BT in preferences isn't working properly.
Dreading to reboot now, cross fingers

 

[bhive01]

BTW:

Congrats on getting the Azurewave card working

Thank you, but I needed a whole week to reconnect Magic Mouse and Keyboard and have those "stupidly expensive peripherals" working again: WiFi, BT DUN & PAN removed in Network, and 3 PRAM resets!
Seems to have nothing to do with the hack, BT in preferences isn't working properly.
Dreading to reboot now, cross fingers

Yeah, I just didn't want to deal with those issues. It would be nice to not have to give up a USB slot, but not having to deal with hacking a WIFI card and BT card was a nice thing for me. I even have a couple of USB audio cards that just work so I haven't even dealt with the whole audio thing for the last two updates. I use my Brix to process things so having all these things perfect is less of a priority for me. As long as I have OS X to run the software that I like, I'm mostly happy with it. Also, it being 4x more powerful than my 2011 mini is very nice. All those cores!

 

[bhive01]

Anyone had much luck with installing El Capitan?

I followed the instructions here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capita...rect-update-os-x-el-capitan-using-clover.html

But, when I boot into the installation from Clover, I get a big no symbol after a few seconds. I can reboot into Yosemite ok so nothing's lost, but I'm unsure how to proceed. Anyone else give it a go?