[Solved] Mojave graphics problem when PCIe RAID card is plugged

[benbumben]

Hello everyone,
yesterday I installed Mojave and a Saphire Pulse Vega 56 in my setup. Everything went smooth until I replugged my Highpoint RocketRaid 2720 card into the second or third PCIe slot. When I do this the machine boots up to a black screen with cursor and some strange red dots. Sometimes it showing the desktop partly in the middle of the monitor. Please check attached image. When I unplug the card again it boots up normally.
My setup in the moment is:
Mainboard: Gigabyte Z170xp SLI
Graphics: Saphire Pulse Vega 56
CPU: 7700k
I use the Highpoint already since years with macOS 10.11, 10.12 and 10.13 and it always worked fine. Its normally recognized as a hard drive not influencing the booting up.
If anybody has an idea how to fix this I would be very happy. I want to upgrade to a 9900k that's why I want to run Mojave.
Best


[Solved]

For me it solved the Problem to disable "storage boot option control" in BIOS.

Ben

 

[jaymonkey]

Try enabling "Above 4G Decoding" in the BIOS ... it may help

 

[benbumben]

Cool i try when I’m back home. What has a pcie raid controller to do with gpu? I already thought it’s bandwidth or so but I had gtx 980ti before.

 

[jaymonkey]

Cool i try when I’m back home. What has a pcie raid controller to do with gpu? I already thought it’s bandwidth or so but I had gtx 980ti before.

@benbumben,


I doubt it will be anything to do with PCIe bandwidth (PCIe lanes). I suspect that your PCIe raid controller is a x4 device, since Intel desktop class CPU's only have 16 lanes your GPU will most likely switch to using x8 lanes which has very little effect on overall GPU performance (~ -10% Max).

The PCIe 3 standard defines that all devices have to map buffer memory in the first 4GB of system memory ...

Depending on how the system and MacOS assign mapped buffer memory during boot, it is possible the PCIe raid controller grabs the memory first leaving little left for the GPU (hence the cropped picture), enabling Above 4G Decoding allows devices (such as a GPU) to use memory above the 4 GB limit ...

Not saying this will 100% fix the issue, but there is a good chance that it might ...

Worth a shot either way ..

Cheers
Jay

 

[benbumben]

Wow thanks for the explanation! Can’t wait to try it

 

[benbumben]

Unfortunately I can't find this setting in my Bios. Should be in Peripherals right?

 

[benbumben]

ok now I did a BIOS update and the "above 4G" option was showing up. I enabled it but no changes. tried it on and off. Strange thing is I have another PCIe card which is not a problem. A Blackmagic Decklink card. Any other suggestions? I guess will have to go back to High Sierra otherwise.

 

[jaymonkey]

@benbumben,

Check that the correct Vega framebuffer is being used - should be "Kamarang"
Make sure you have the latest versions of Lilu + WhatEverGreen installed ?

I take it when the Highpoint is removed from the system the graphics/display is ok ?

Make sure that Mojave still supports that model of HighPoint Raid card, Apple do have a history of dropping support for 3rd party raid controllers over the years.

Cheers
Jay

 

[benbumben]

@benbumben,

Check that the correct Vega framebuffer is being used - should be "Kamarang"
Make sure you have the latest versions of Lilu + WhatEverGreen installed ?

I take it when the Highpoint is removed from the system the graphics/display is ok ?

Make sure that Mojave still supports that model of HighPoint Raid card, Apple do have a history of dropping support for 3rd party raid controllers over the years.

Cheers
Jay

I tried writing Kamarang in the Framebuffer field in Clover configurator and updated WEG and Lilu to the latest versions but no change. When I unplug the PCIe card it works 100% fine. I'm wondering if I should just upgrade to a Z390 motherboard and a 9900k. You think it would solve the problem? I will try to install Highsierra meanwhile and check if the RAID works. Maybe the Raid card is not working properly or its like you said not supported anymore but I think its fine. I can enter the bios of the controller and at Highpoint its listet as compatible to Mojave.

 

[jaymonkey]

I tried writing Kamarang in the Framebuffer field in Clover configurator and updated WEG and Lilu to the latest versions but no change.

@benbumben,

You should only explicitly define AMD framebuffer in config.plsit if WhatEverGreen fails to inject the correct one.

When I unplug the PCIe card it works 100% fine. I'm wondering if I should just upgrade to a Z390 motherboard and a 9900k. You think it would solve the problem?

No way I can really answer that as i don't have similar hardware .. best bet would be to search the forums and check that hardware combo works with your raid controller. Since MacOS Mojave works ok with the raid controller removed it would suggest that the issue is related to that and not the Vega.

About the only other thing I can suggest is to try moving things around in the PCIe slots ... normally we put AMD GPU in the top most PCIe slot (nearest CPU) but as your motherboard is a SIL model it may make a difference.

I will try to install Highsierra meanwhile and check if the RAID works. Maybe the Raid card is not working properly or its like you said not supported anymore but I think its fine. I can enter the bios of the controller and at Highpoint its listet as compatible to Mojave.

If Highpoint say Mojave is supported then clearly it should work .... maybe check in of the Highpoint support forums and see if anyone else is reporting issues on Mojave ... could be a driver issue.

I do remember seeing someone very recently (in the last week) post an almost identical image (small square in centre of display) ... unfortunately I can't recall which forum thread it was in or if it was to do with raid .... so might be worth searching to see if you can find that post and any solutions that where subsequently posted.

Good Luck
Cheers
Jay