[Solved] macOS Mojave installation issues (Drive formats to FAT32)

[FeedThePiano]

Hi guys,
I'm new to the Hackintosh scene.
My build:
Mainboard: Gigabyte Z370XP SLI
CPU: IntelCore I5 8600k
GPU: Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8Gb
RAM: 32GB Ballistix Elite DDR4
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 120Gb (for macOS) && Samsung 970 Evo M.2 500Gb (for Windows)
HDD: 2x3TB Seagate Barracuda (1 for Windows and 1 for macOS)

I've tried installing macOS Mojave on a FusionDrive. I once got macOS Mojave running on the Drive, sadly I forgot the post-installation and had to redo the whole process.
Now my problem is after I started the installation on the stick and the system finished the installation at the FusionDrive it reboots again and stucks in Clover at "Scan entries".
I've read that it is caused by FAT32 partitions. I looked all my drive up in Windows and saw that the installation formats my FusionDrive drives in FAT32.
I think that it is not normal, because the first time when it worked I had no problem like that.
Has anyone an idea what I can do and what the problem is?
If you need more files or specs let me know.

 

[cmn699]

Hi guys,
I'm new to the Hackintosh scene.
My build:
Mainboard: Gigabyte Z370XP SLI
CPU: IntelCore I5 8600k
GPU: Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8Gb
RAM: 32GB Ballistix Elite DDR4
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 120Gb (for macOS) && Samsung 970 Evo M.2 500Gb (for Windows)
HDD: 2x3TB Seagate Barracuda (1 for Windows and 1 for macOS)

I've tried installing macOS Mojave on a FusionDrive. I once got macOS Mojave running on the Drive, sadly I forgot the post-installation and had to redo the whole process.
Now my problem is after I started the installation on the stick and the system finished the installation at the FusionDrive it reboots again and stucks in Clover at "Scan entries".
I've read that it is caused by FAT32 partitions. I looked all my drive up in Windows and saw that the installation formats my FusionDrive drives in FAT32.
I think that it is not normal, because the first time when it worked I had no problem like that.
Has anyone an idea what I can do and what the problem is?
If you need more files or specs let me know.

• First a gentle reminder about Forum rules we all have to follow to post here to get help or help others.
  • The Personal Details should list the Hardware Specs you have in the body of your post.
  • Otherwise after 2-3 threads back and forth, readers have to come back to this page to find them to properly provide answers and many won't bother to do that and you can't get timely help.
• In Mojave the System disk Must have APFS format on GUID partition. Without that installation will fail. In High Sierra this was not strictly enforced.
• There could be some complicated methods to circumvent this described by a few, but not advisable; often they are problem prone.
• If during install with macOS Mojave 10.14.x USB Installer at the macOS Utilities screen, using Disk Utility, if you don't Partition the Disk in GUID and Format it in APFS , Mojave installer will try to do the conversion on its own dragging the installation to hours instead of the usual 35-45 minutes and test your patience. You will have to constantly watch the verbose screen message "Installation is in progress. Calculating time remaining…” or "16 minutes remaining " or "15 Minutes remaining " or "6 Minutes remaining" and intermittently displaying the annoying "Calculating time remaining" interposed between the hopeful progress over hours not Minutes.
• A properly selected BIOS option+ Properly installed Clover EFI with all required files in "/EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI" and "/EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other" along with a correctly set config.plist to use those folder contents properly, are needed to reach the Disk Utility Screen and to install the System on to the Properly Formatted Target Hard disk.
• If you have problems during any of the stages of installation, to get help, you have to provide CLOVER as zipped file, your BIOS options chosen for the boot ( both the ones you have actually changed and the Default option you had left as is) and Verbose Boot screen image to show where you think is the problem.
• Transcribing what you think is the error may miss the real issue. What appears to be errors on the Verbose boot screen may not be anything serious while what escapes you from spotting may be the real culprit.
• Uploading Photos of Verbose screen shots are vital for diagnosing problems.

 

[BreBo]

@FeedThePiano, please update your profile (personal details) with your Motherboard, CPU and iGPU or Graphics Card(s).

Profiles are mandatory so that others can assist you.

Now my problem is after I started the installation on the stick and the system finished the installation at the FusionDrive it reboots again and stucks in Clover at "Scan entries".

Replace VBoxHfs-64.efi with HFSPlus.efi in EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/

 

[FeedThePiano]

Thank you for your fast reply

@FeedThePiano, please update your profile (personal details) with your Motherboard, CPU and iGPU or Graphics Card(s).

I updated my profile. Sorry for that!

Replace VBoxHfs-64.efi with HFSPlus.efi in EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/[/USER]

I replaced the file, but Clover still stucks at "Scan entries".

Any more ideas ?

 

[FeedThePiano]

• First a gentle reminder about Forum rules we all have to follow to post here to get help or help others.
  • The Personal Details should list the Hardware Specs you have in the body of your post.
  • Otherwise after 2-3 threads back and forth, readers have to come back to this page to find them to properly provide answers and many won't bother to do that and you can't get timely help.
• In Mojave the System disk Must have APFS format on GUID partition. Without that installation will fail. In High Sierra this was not strictly enforced.
• There could be some complicated methods to circumvent this described by a few, but not advisable; often they are problem prone.
• If during install with macOS Mojave 10.14.x USB Installer at the macOS Utilities screen, using Disk Utility, if you don't Partition the Disk in GUID and Format it in APFS , Mojave installer will try to do the conversion on its own dragging the installation to hours instead of the usual 35-45 minutes and test your patience. You will have to constantly watch the verbose screen message "Installation is in progress. Calculating time remaining…” or "16 minutes remaining " or "15 Minutes remaining " or "6 Minutes remaining" and intermittently displaying the annoying "Calculating time remaining" interposed between the hopeful progress over hours not Minutes.
• A properly selected BIOS option+ Properly installed Clover EFI with all required files in "/EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI" and "/EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other" along with a correctly set config.plist to use those folder contents properly, are needed to reach the Disk Utility Screen and to install the System on to the Properly Formatted Target Hard disk.
• If you have problems during any of the stages of installation, to get help, you have to provide CLOVER as zipped file, your BIOS options chosen for the boot ( both the ones you have actually changed and the Default option you had left as is) and Verbose Boot screen image to show where you think is the problem.
• Transcribing what you think is the error may miss the real issue. What appears to be errors on the Verbose boot screen may not be anything serious while what escapes you from spotting may be the real culprit.
• Uploading Photos of Verbose screen shots are vital for diagnosing problems.

Thanks for your reply

Im sorry for that. I updated my profile.

Now I retried the whole process but before I converted my FusionDrive into APFS. Now my problem still is the "Scan entries" problem altougth it appers already on the first reboot after copying the installation files onto my hard drive.
I already tried what @BreBo wrote. Replacing the VBoxHfs-64.efi with HFSPlus.efi in EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/ din't help.

I will attach my BIOS settings in a few minutes. But how do I get the Clover settings ? should I just zip the EFI/CLOVER folder ?

 

[FeedThePiano]

I will attach my BIOS settings in a few minutes. But how do I get the Clover settings ? should I just zip the EFI/CLOVER folder ?

1. Save & Exit → Load Optimized Defaults
2. M.I.T. → Advanced Memory Settings Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.) : Profile1
3. BIOS → Fast Boot : Disabled
4. BIOS → LAN PXE Boot Option ROM : Disabled
5. BIOS → Storage Boot Option Control : UEFI
6. Peripherals → Trusted Computing → Security Device Support : Disable
7. Peripherals → Network Stack Configuration → Network Stack : Disabled
8. Peripherals → USB Configuration → Legacy USB Support : Auto
9. Peripherals → USB Configuration → XHCI Hand-off : Enabled
10. Chipset → Vt-d : Disabled
11. Chipset → Wake on LAN Enable : Disabled
12. Chipset → IOAPIC 24-119 Entries : Enabled

 

[cmn699]

Thanks for your reply

Im sorry for that. I updated my profile.

Now I retried the whole process but before I converted my FusionDrive into APFS. Now my problem still is the "Scan entries" problem altougth it appers already on the first reboot after copying the installation files onto my hard drive.
I already tried what @BreBo wrote. Replacing the VBoxHfs-64.efi with HFSPlus.efi in EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/ din't help.

I will attach my BIOS settings in a few minutes. But how do I get the Clover settings ? should I just zip the EFI/CLOVER folder ?

Since CLOVER is in EFI Partition of the disk and EFI is hidden , to unhide and mount the EFI, use the following steps using Clover Configurator Global (CCG):

• Attach your macOS USB Installer to the Mac/Hack it was created
• Click "Finder" on Dock and from Top menubar click "Finder>Preferences" and click and place[√] Hard disks [√] External Disks so that your Hard disks and USB disks attached to your System will be displayed with their icons on the Right side of Desktop for easy navigation. (see image)
• Download and launch Clover Configurator from Clover Configurator (Global Edition)
• From its Left Panel "TOOLS" bar click on "Mount EFI" and then "Mount Partition" on the desktop ( see composite image of accessing CLOVER)
• Navigate EFI>EFI>CLOVER and Right Click CLOVER>Compress CLOVER > Upload to the Forum

 

[cmn699]

1. Save & Exit → Load Optimized Defaults
2. M.I.T. → Advanced Memory Settings Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.) : Profile1
3. BIOS → Fast Boot : Disabled
4. BIOS → LAN PXE Boot Option ROM : Disabled
5. BIOS → Storage Boot Option Control : UEFI
6. Peripherals → Trusted Computing → Security Device Support : Disable
7. Peripherals → Network Stack Configuration → Network Stack : Disabled
8. Peripherals → USB Configuration → Legacy USB Support : Auto
9. Peripherals → USB Configuration → XHCI Hand-off : Enabled
10. Chipset → Vt-d : Disabled
11. Chipset → Wake on LAN Enable : Disabled
12. Chipset → IOAPIC 24-119 Entries : Enabled

• What are your Graphics- related options in BIOS_Peripherals and BIOS_Chipset?
• You have two Graphics in your Profile.
• Which one is connected to the Monitor and How? and
  • how have you setup the BIOS to choose the one connected to the Monitor in your Peripherals & Chipset?

Edited to add One more thing:

• If you have any other Internal disks other than the Target for Mojave, Disconnect them from the Motherboard. ( Either Power or SATA cable disconnection will do depending up on what is easier for you to do)
• Disconnect any other devices from USB ports other than the Mojave UEFI USB Installer Flash disk.

The above reduces chances for any scanning errors during installation .
Make sure your Target Mojave is on SATA-0 Port if that is a usual SSD or HDD.

Make sure your BIOS _Boot Option Priorities List has USB Installer as First Boot and until the System Disk gets its own CLOVER to make it bootable after installation, keep only USB Installer in that List.
Once you have a bootable System Disk , then that must be in Boot Option Priority #1 and everything else in that list must be DISABLED.

 

[FeedThePiano]

Since CLOVER is in EFI Partition of the disk and EFI is hidden , to unhide and mount the EFI, use the following steps using Clover Configurator Global (CCG):

• Attach your macOS USB Installer to the Mac/Hack it was created
• Click "Finder" on Dock and from Top menubar click "Finder>Preferences" and click and place[√] Hard disks [√] External Disks so that your Hard disks and USB disks attached to your System will be displayed with their icons on the Right side of Desktop for easy navigation. (see image)
• Download and launch Clover Configurator from Clover Configurator (Global Edition)
• From its Left Panel "TOOLS" bar click on "Mount EFI" and then "Mount Partition" on the desktop ( see composite image of accessing CLOVER)
• Navigate EFI>EFI>CLOVER and Right Click CLOVER>Compress CLOVER > Upload to the Forum

 

[FeedThePiano]

• What are your Graphics- related options in BIOS_Peripherals and BIOS_Chipset?
• You have two Graphics in your Profile.
• Which one is connected to the Monitor and How? and
  • how have you setup the BIOS to choose the one connected to the Monitor in your Peripherals & Chipset?

In my BIOS_Chipset options my Internal Graphics are disabled. In my Peripherals I've set my Initial Display Output to PCIe 1 Slot where my RX580 is connected to the Mainboard.
Im using my Radeon RX580 which is connected via DisplayPort to my Monitor.

EDIT

I did unplug all other drives on my PC. Just the USB Installer on the 2 Drives for my FusionDrive are connected.
I did accidentally disconnected my HDD of my FusionDrive from my PC and the "Scan entries" problem was gone. And since I reconnected the Drive I'm stuck at the Clover screen again.

In my eyes it doesn't make any sense, because the SSD is formatted in APFS but the HDD seems to be formatted in FAT32 although they build 1 Fusion Drive.