[Solved] Dell T5810(E5-1630v4, C610/X99) could NOT boot into installer

[Úll Mac]

Could you tell me how you configured the Bios I picked up an identical machine and can't get the usb to boot.

I've not managed to boot installer either.... Mojave or Catalina
Dell Bios A32
Load Defaults - uefi boot , allow legacy , sata to achi , serial port disabled , vt-d disabled , mem map i/o over 4gb disabled .
Lots of COULDN'T ALLOCATE RUN TIME ...... /
Had mojave working previously on A25 bios but different graphics. Hat Trick has it working with A32 .

 

[Hat-Trick]

I've not managed to boot installer either.... Mojave or Catalina
Dell Bios A32
Load Defaults - uefi boot , allow legacy , sata to achi , serial port disabled , vt-d disabled , mem map i/o over 4gb disabled .
Lots of COULDN'T ALLOCATE RUN TIME ...... /
Had mojave working previously on A25 bios but different graphics. Hat Trick has it working with A32 .

I'm at a loss why you can't boot the USB installer. Did you find 10.14.4? That's the only thing that is different.

 

[Úll Mac]

I'm at a loss why you can't boot the USB installer. Did you find 10.14.4? That's the only thing that is different.

downloading 10.14.4 at the moment..... don't understand it either .
i know i didn't use imac smbios last time but i'll stick with what worked for you
did you install to hdd or ssd - do anything with formatting before booting usb installer ?
use any maxmem flags ?which sata port are you booting ? do you remember which usb port you installed from?

10.14.4 not available - keeps failing - pulling from terminal
i'll have to look around and see if i can work with 10.14.6

 

[Hat-Trick]

downloading 10.14.4 at the moment..... don't understand it either .
i know i didn't use imac smbios last time but i'll stick with what worked for you
did you install to hdd or ssd - do anything with formatting before booting usb installer ?
use any maxmem flags ?which sata port are you booting ? do you remember which usb port you installed from?

10.14.4 not available - keeps failing - pulling from terminal
i'll have to look around and see if i can work with 10.14.6

I did the initial installation to a 2.5" SATA SSD. Once it was up and working, I cloned it using CCC to a NVMe SSD on a PCI-e adapter in SLOT#1.

The SSD was completely blank. Once booted into the installer, I ran Disk Utility and APFS-formatted the SSD, then did the install.

No maxmem flags. Not sure what SATA port I used. It was one of the two SATA cables that came with the system.

I booted the USB installer from the TOP FRONT USB 3.0 port.

I will be trying a 10.14.6 update either today or this weekend (after cloning my existing working drive). May also try creating a Catalina installer and see if I get lucky.

 

[Úll Mac]

I did the initial installation to a 2.5" SATA SSD. Once it was up and working, I cloned it using CCC to a NVMe SSD on a PCI-e adapter in SLOT#1...............

I will be trying a 10.14.6 update either today or this weekend (after cloning my existing working drive). May also try creating a Catalina installer and see if I get lucky.

I popped out the cmos battery last night , reset bios .
Still not reaching installer - must be 10.14.6 causing the issue.
hopefully you get a chance to test Catalina installer - I made usb installer with 10.15.1
Going to try again later today .... if I can reach installer I'll upload what works.
A big if the way this is going but been here before .

used this from terminal to create Catalina usb and same approach for Mojave........
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --nointeraction --volume /Volumes/USB/

nice on the nvme pci - was looking to maybe pick one up during black friday .
what adapter and card did to go with .

 

[Hat-Trick]

I'm using an HP EX920 512GB and this adapter (which was my favorite card for quality but now there are many cheaper ones).

I actually have both the HP EX920 (boot/OS) and a Micron 1100 512GB SATA m.2 on the adapter, fed by a SATA cable as the adapter holds 2 SSD's at the same time.

 

[Hat-Trick]

I popped out the cmos battery last night , reset bios .
Still not reaching installer - must be 10.14.6 causing the issue.
hopefully you get a chance to test Catalina installer - I made usb installer with 10.15.1
Going to try again later today .... if I can reach installer I'll upload what works.
A big if the way this is going but been here before .

used this from terminal to create Catalina usb and same approach for Mojave........
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --nointeraction --volume /Volumes/USB/

nice on the nvme pci - was looking to maybe pick one up during black friday .
what adapter and card did to go with .

Well, you're not going to like this, but I literally threw the CLOVER folder I used for Mojave onto my Catalina USB installer (10.15) and installed a working Catalina on the 5810! Same everything (kexts, Clover version, etc) as Mojave, but it installed without issue and after installing Clover on the SSD and copying the CLOVER folder over to the SSD, it booted perfectly.

 

[Úll Mac]

Well, you're not going to like this, but I literally threw the CLOVER folder I used for Mojave onto my Catalina USB installer (10.15) and installed a working Catalina on the 5810! Same everything (kexts, Clover version, etc) as Mojave, but it installed without issue and after installing Clover on the SSD and copying the CLOVER folder over to the SSD, it booted perfectly.

Great stuff , have been doing trial and error with every combination of aptio memory fix and best I can get is
reboot loop @ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
free2000 does nothing for me but I know I used it previously ?
get boot loop with osxaptiofixdrv and aptiofix or combinations with test2 ,test2-2016 - only thing left is start pulling ram but really don't think that's going to help.
Would you mind uploading from your efi folder -kexts-drivers-config.plist.
spent and afternoon at this so need a break.

 

[Hat-Trick]

Here's the EFI folder from my USB installer. SMBIOS section removed. Hope it helps.

Catalina is working great so far. I did have an issue when I switched Clover themes for some reason. I had many failed boots (got to Clover bootloader but would get circle with slash through it when I chose my Catalina install). Went back to "tonymacx86" theme and so far, so good. Cloned to NVMe from SATA and working great.

Note that I installed the basic 10.15 without updates.

 

[Úll Mac]

Here's the EFI folder from my USB installer. SMBIOS section removed. Hope it helps.

Catalina is working great so far. I did have an issue when I switched Clover themes for some reason. I had many failed boots (got to Clover bootloader but would get circle with slash through it when I chose my Catalina install). Went back to "tonymacx86" theme and so far, so good. Cloned to NVMe from SATA and working great.

Note that I installed the basic 10.15 without updates.

Still not working for me …..
I know previously - I didn't use 14,2 smbios but works for you so should be enough to reach the installer at least.
had a look thru your drivers and kexts - you have two memory fixes in there ,typically you shouldn't use both together but again if it works it works
conclusions so far.....
Mac OS Version matters
Ram brand might matter ? need to work with what I have , others will likely be of the same mind
Dell Bios A32 - matching and bios settings compare - mem I/O above 4gb - worth testing with and without
other x99 builds use with and without - one or other may work
Clover version - this does matter - I need to try another
Cpu v3 or v4 & no of cores - use appropriate kext to suit ( cpus=1 boot flag might help some if kext not installed )
Graphics - this matters , my wx7100 may be the problem for me .need to test further
Kexts to Patch - IOPCI patch required
Kernel to patch - i did use specific patches on my previous build so these should matter both pre and post install
config plist - what works for you doesn't for me so need to test further
clover drivers - bare minimum to allow install on any build ?
clover kexts - bare minimum to allow install on any build ?