[Solved] Failure Trying To Install High Sierra

[Texangeek]

I'd appreciate some help in diagnosing and fixing problems experienced in attempting to install High Sierra on an existing machines that was previously successfully running Sierra. The machine is equipped with an ASRock H170M-ITX motherboard and i5-6500 processor together with a 4 TB spinning drive.

I initially attempted to follow the 'Direct Update to Sierra' guide however this failed and from subsequent advice I decided to do a clean install of High Sierra rather than try to recover the corrupted Sierra/High Sierra installation.

I created a High Sierra USB drive using the steps provided in the "Install High Sierra" guide however I'm unable to successfully complete the initial install. I have attached pictures of the machine booting in verbose mode to help with diagnosis of the problem. Also attached is a zip file containing the /EFI/Clover folders from the USB stick.

Hopefully someone can help me understand what I'm doing wrong!

Many thanks!

 

[Texangeek]

I'd appreciate some help in diagnosing and fixing problems experienced in attempting to install High Sierra on an existing machines that was previously successfully running Sierra. The machine is equipped with an ASRock H170M-ITX motherboard and i5-6500 processor together with a 4 TB spinning drive.

I initially attempted to follow the 'Direct Update to Sierra' guide however this failed and from subsequent advice I decided to do a clean install of High Sierra rather than try to recover the corrupted Sierra/High Sierra installation.

I created a High Sierra USB drive using the steps provided in the "Install High Sierra" guide however I'm unable to successfully complete the initial install. I have attached pictures of the machine booting in verbose mode to help with diagnosis of the problem. Also attached is a zip file containing the /EFI/Clover folders from the USB stick.

Hopefully someone can help me understand what I'm doing wrong!

Many thanks!

Update, I realized last night that I probably shouldn't be booting using the clover boot loader that resides on the current hard drive (the give away was the "via_exlude" flag which is what I was using in the previous installation to get USB 3 working.

However, as I recall booting with the USB drive failed as well (see attached picture). I hope someone can provide some feedback regarding what to do next.

Thanks.

 

[cmn699]

Update, I realized last night that I probably shouldn't be booting using the clover boot loader that resides on the current hard drive (the give away was the "via_exlude" flag which is what I was using in the previous installation to get USB 3 working.

However, as I recall booting with the USB drive failed as well (see attached picture). I hope someone can provide some feedback regarding what to do next.

Thanks.

• Verbose boot shows USB port file transfer issue:
  • Check BIOS USB ports to make sure they are all enabled.
  • Upload CLOVER folder from USB as compressed file to the Forum .

 

[Texangeek]

• Verbose boot shows USB port file transfer issue:
  • Check BIOS USB ports to make sure they are all enabled.
  • Upload CLOVER folder from USB as compressed file to the Forum .

In the previous Sierra install I eliminated certain ports in order to stay under the port limit and have USB working correctly. Strangely it appears that the "uia_exclude" flag that I used to eliminate these ports was carried over when booting the installer (see attached picture).

However I'm pretty certain that the UniBeast USB was in one of the USB ports that were not eliminated.

I have attached the Clover folder from the UniBeast Installer as requested.

 

[cmn699]

In the previous Sierra install I eliminated certain ports in order to stay under the port limit and have USB working correctly. Strangely it appears that the "uia_exclude" flag that I used to eliminate these ports was carried over when booting the installer (see attached picture).

However I'm pretty certain that the UniBeast USB was in one of the USB ports that were not eliminated.

I have attached the Clover folder from the UniBeast Installer as requested.

• A quick check of CLOVER shows a lot of omissions and errors that would cause further boot crash if not corrected.
• I am going through the whole /CLOVER/kexts/Other and config.plist with a fine tooth comb.
• I will try to upload an edited version for you to try in the next 30-40 minutes.
• In the mean time, if you just want to cross the current USB hurdle , edit your config.plist as shown in the uploaded image of your /CLOVER/config.plist_Devices section opened and edited using CCV.
  • But be aware other errors might occur later in the boot, unless the whole CLOVER is edited with a lot more changes.
• I hope you had gone over the BIOS Setup once again , otherwise recheck.
  • Both BIOS and CLOVER are critical for booting.
• Verbose boot flag (-v) is a MUST until the macOS system is fully installed on the hard disk and that system disk is booting with its own boot loader and not needing USB installer to boot. Uploaded verbose boot screen image is an essential part of diagnosing boot errors and suggesting troubleshoot steps. Apple logo is an eye candy for normally booting MacOS Systems and is a useless finding people often mention in their posts asking for help. Apple logo just covers up errors on the screen!
• To aid the diagnosis, we often need CLOVER and BIOS options used for the failed boot.

 

[Texangeek]

• A quick check of CLOVER shows a lot of omissions and errors that would cause further boot crash if not corrected.
• I am going through the whole /CLOVER/kexts/Other and config.plist with a fine tooth comb.
• I will try to upload an edited version for you to try in the next 30-40 minutes.
• In the mean time, if you just want to cross the current USB hurdle , edit your config.plist as shown in the uploaded image of your /CLOVER/config.plist_Devices section opened and edited using CCV.
  • But be aware other errors might occur later in the boot, unless the whole CLOVER is edited with a lot more changes.
• I hope you had gone over the BIOS Setup once again , otherwise recheck.
  • Both BIOS and CLOVER are critical for booting.
• Verbose boot flag (-v) is a MUST until the macOS system is fully installed on the hard disk and that system disk is booting with its own boot loader and not needing USB installer to boot. Uploaded verbose boot screen image is an essential part of diagnosing boot errors and suggesting troubleshoot steps. Apple logo is an eye candy for normally booting MacOS Systems and is a useless finding people often mention in their posts asking for help. Apple logo just covers up errors on the screen!
• To aid the diagnosis, we often need CLOVER and BIOS options used for the failed boot.

Your assistance is deeply appreciated cmn699.

I am pretty certain that the clover zip file that I updated is the one taken from the High Sierra USB drive. However I also saved a backup copy of the /EFI folder on the original Sierra hard drive. Unfortunately I think I took this back up after my first attempt to direct upgrade Sierra to High Sierra. I tell you this in case I inadvertently provided you with this file rather than the generic clover from the USB drive. I wouldn't want to be wasting your time having you look at files that are not really relevant.

With regard to the errors that you have identified - are these due to problems with UniBeast or associate with the way in which I created the install drive?

Also I'll check the BIOS options once more. Are there any particular settings that need to be configured as compared with those used for Sierra?

Thanks much!

 

[cmn699]

Your assistance is deeply appreciated cmn699.

I am pretty certain that the clover zip file that I updated is the one taken from the High Sierra USB drive. However I also saved a backup copy of the /EFI folder on the original Sierra hard drive. Unfortunately I think I took this back up after my first attempt to direct upgrade Sierra to High Sierra. I tell you this in case I inadvertently provided you with this file rather than the generic clover from the USB drive. I wouldn't want to be wasting your time having you look at files that are not really relevant.

With regard to the errors that you have identified - are these due to problems with UniBeast or associate with the way in which I created the install drive?

Also I'll check the BIOS options once more. Are there any particular settings that need to be configured as compared with those used for Sierra?

Thanks much!

With regard to the errors that you have identified - are these due to problems with UniBeast or associate with the way in which I created the install drive?

The problem is with CLOVER.
If you used Unibeast to create your USB installer disk , the CLOVER is installed in the USB's EFI partition by Unibeast automatically after copying the system files from the Downloaded High Sierra Installer file in the Applications folder. Even so, we need to check CLOVER , specifically the contents of kexts/Other and drivers64UEFI folders and the config.pist that makes use of these two folder contents to provide the bootloader the required support and guidance during the boot along with BIOS options for our specific Motherboard.

Unibeast is is a general tool useful for most of the hardware but not for all.

AsRock boards are not like GigaByte ; The latter is more friendly in hackintosh build.

If you had made the USB installer manually using Terminal Command and then installed CLOVER separately by downloading it from Sourceforge.next, then you have more responsibility to check every step.

I am pretty certain that the clover zip file that I updated is the one taken from the High Sierra USB drive. However I also saved a backup copy of the /EFI folder on the original Sierra hard drive. Unfortunately I think I took this back up after my first attempt to direct upgrade Sierra to High Sierra. I tell you this in case I inadvertently provided you with this file rather than the generic clover from the USB drive

The Verbose boot screen error shown can be caused by the lack of FixOwnership in USB device properties of your config.plist.

I have also noted omissions related to Graphics but your Verbose boot has not progressed to that stage to show those problems. That is what I was alluding to in my previous post about further problems even when you can boot from this stage once you edit the Config.plist>Devices as suggested, provided your BIOS USB options also are OK.

Since you have raised a slight doubt that the CLOVER can be from a different source,I will edit the rest and upload only if you have further problem after using the suggested change.

Are there any particular settings that need to be configured as compared with those used for Sierra?

Each motherboard may differ in the BIOS menu display . I am more familiar with Gigabyte and I have never owned an AsRock and don't know how its BIOS menu options are arranged or manipulated. I suggest the following:

• USB controllers must be enabled in the BIOS .
• To use Integrated Graphics, Primary Display must be IGFX and DVMT-Pre-Allocated Memory must be set at 64M or preferably at 128M.
• Your UEFI USB installer must be First boot device. DISABLE any other devices in Boot Option Priorities list.
• Select UEFI options for the drive not Legacy.

Both Sierra and High Sierra use identical BIOS options. Having said that , anytime boot problem occurs or repeated attempts are made to Force reboot a PC, BIOS CMOS corruptions can occur and we need to check BIOS before rebooting.

 

[Texangeek]

The problem is with CLOVER.
If you used Unibeast to create your USB installer disk , the CLOVER is installed in the USB's EFI partition by Unibeast automatically after copying the system files from the Downloaded High Sierra Installer file in the Applications folder. Even so, we need to check CLOVER , specifically the contents of kexts/Other and drivers64UEFI folders and the config.pist that makes use of these two folder contents to provide the bootloader the required support and guidance during the boot along with BIOS options for our specific Motherboard.

Unibeast is is a general tool useful for most of the hardware but not for all.

AsRock boards are not like GigaByte ; The latter is more friendly in hackintosh build.

If you had made the USB installer manually using Terminal Command and then installed CLOVER separately by downloading it from Sourceforge.next, then you have more responsibility to check every step.



The Verbose boot screen error shown can be caused by the lack of FixOwnership in USB device properties of your config.plist.

I have also noted omissions related to Graphics but your Verbose boot has not progressed to that stage to show those problems. That is what I was alluding to in my previous post about further problems even when you can boot from this stage once you edit the Config.plist>Devices as suggested, provided your BIOS USB options also are OK.

Since you have raised a slight doubt that the CLOVER can be from a different source,I will edit the rest and upload only if you have further problem after using the suggested change.

One follow up question.

In one of my earlier posts I provided a picture of the Clover boot loader screen and noted that the "uia_exclude" parameters that I had set for my Sierra install seemed to be being invoked. Do these need to be removed for the initial boot with the UniBeast stick and if so how do I go about that.

 

[cmn699]

One follow up question.

In one of my earlier posts I provided a picture of the Clover boot loader screen and noted that the "uia_exclude" parameters that I had set for my Sierra install seemed to be being invoked. Do these need to be removed for the initial boot with the UniBeast stick and if so how do I go about that.

I am not familiar with that. Was that done because you had any specific boot error when you booted the installer without that boot flag? Did the error go away by adding those boot flags?

 

[Texangeek]

I am not familiar with that. Was that done because you had any specific boot error when you booted the installer without that boot flag? Did the error go away by adding those boot flags?

I didn't specifically set the boot flags when booting with the installer. Rather they seem to be a holdover from the boot flags that I had set when booting Sierra from the original hard drive (using "uia_exclude" to stay within the USB port limit).

I've attached a picture of the Clover screen again. It may have something to do with the weird way that the ASRock motherboard handles its boot entries. In the past I had to go to the shell from the boot loader and execute a bcfg command to specify the specific UEFI file to boot (see this link, post #4)

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/anyone-with-asrock-z77-pro3-motherboard.176172/#post1130914

I'm a little confused as to where the boot flags are coming from.View attachment 310256