[Solved] Need input on why my attempts to upgrade to High Sierra are failing

[nobodynose]

First, here's the hardware I'm working with (it's in my build profile also, but I'll put it here for convenience):

• Motherboard: ASRock Z270M Pro4
• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060
• Boot SSD: WD Black 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
• Secondary SSD (mounted as /Users): Crucial CT960M 500GB SATA SSD

Following the guide "Guide: Update Directly to macOS High Sierra (APFS)", I:

• updated to the latest Clover (r4243);
• put FakeSMC.kext in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other;
• put apfs.efi in /EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI;
• ran Install macOS High Sierra.app, which I downloaded from the App Store, choosing my M.2 NVMe boot SSD;
• chose the Boot macOS Install option in Clover after it rebooted;

And then after thinking for a while, it stopped booting, giving me the "Denied" icon in the middle of the screen.

I do have a couple of theories about what may have caused this failure:

1. I didn't put the HackrNVMeFamily kext in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other, since I've seen it mentioned in several places that you should only put FakeSMC.kext there for purposes of upgrading to High Sierra.
2. It's an Nvidia graphics driver problem.

Does anyone have any insights? Do either of my theories make sense? Thanks in advance for anything useful you can tell me.

 

[RehabMan]

First, here's the hardware I'm working with (it's in my build profile also, but I'll put it here for convenience):

• Motherboard: ASRock Z270M Pro4
• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060
• Boot SSD: WD Black 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
• Secondary SSD (mounted as /Users): Crucial CT960M 500GB SATA SSD

Following the guide "Guide: Update Directly to macOS High Sierra (APFS)", I:

• updated to the latest Clover (r4243);
• put FakeSMC.kext in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other;
• put apfs.efi in /EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI;
• ran Install macOS High Sierra.app, which I downloaded from the App Store, choosing my M.2 NVMe boot SSD;
• chose the Boot macOS Install option in Clover after it rebooted;

And then after thinking for a while, it stopped booting, giving me the "Denied" icon in the middle of the screen.

I do have a couple of theories about what may have caused this failure:

1. I didn't put the HackrNVMeFamily kext in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other, since I've seen it mentioned in several places that you should only put FakeSMC.kext there for purposes of upgrading to High Sierra.
2. It's an Nvidia graphics driver problem.

Does anyone have any insights? Do either of my theories make sense? Thanks in advance for anything useful you can tell me.

Booting verbose might help as you'll be able to see more details on what is happening.

But if you're doing the class-code spoof for HackrNVMeFamily, then you *must* have HackrNVMeFamily*.kext in EFI/Clover/kexts/Other. Without it, the system will not be able to access the NVMe drive.

Or you can disable the class-code spoof, since 10.13 is better with regard to native support for NVMe SSDs.

The Nvidia will also give you fits. Read here:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...-only-ran-for-0-seconds-with-dual-gpu.233092/

You should plan on using the IGPU to do the install (with spoofed class-code for the Nvidia as per my guide there). After the install/upgrade, you can then go about installing the Nvidia drivers.

 

[nobodynose]

I tried again with the -v boot flag, and the last message on the screen (under the "Denied" symbol) was "Waiting for root device". Which points to the lack of HackrNVMeFamily in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other as at least one source of the problem. Will it be an issue that the kext is named "HackrNVMeFamily-10_12_6.kext"? Or is there a 10.13 version available?

 

[RehabMan]

I tried again with the -v boot flag, and the last message on the screen (under the "Denied" symbol) was "Waiting for root device". Which points to the lack of HackrNVMeFamily in /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other as at least one source of the problem. Will it be an issue that the kext is named "HackrNVMeFamily-10_12_6.kext"? Or is there a 10.13 version available?

I could ask you 20 questions, or you could just post problem reporting files...

Read FAQ, "Problem Reporting". Attach all requested files/output (should be verbose boot image and EFI/Clover).
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/faq-read-first-laptop-frequent-questions.164990/

 

[nobodynose]

Sorry, I got sidetracked. The lack of HackrNVMeFamily on the EFI partition was indeed the problem. After putting it in place, I was able to complete the High Sierra installation. The only thing that isn't working is the audio, and I sort of expected that - I just haven't had the time to work on that yet.

My boot drive, which is an NVMe SSD, was converted to APFS as expected. However, my secondary drive, which is a SATA SSD (mounted as /Users via an /etc/fstab entry), was not. I assumed it would be converted - any idea why it wasn't? I'll probably just leave it alone for now, but I am curious.

One more question - will Apple's NVMe support now work with third-party SSDs (such as mine, which is a Western Digital model), and should I get rid of the class code spoof along with HackrNVMeFamily, or should I leave well enough alone and take the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" path?

 

[RehabMan]

However, my secondary drive, which is a SATA SSD (mounted as /Users via an /etc/fstab entry), was not.

Not expected.

One more question - will Apple's NVMe support now work with third-party SSDs (such as mine, which is a Western Digital model), and should I get rid of the class code spoof along with HackrNVMeFamily, or should I leave well enough alone and take the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" path?

You should be able to boot without the class-code spoof.
You can test it quite easily by dropping SSDT_NVMe-Pcc.aml via Clover options.

 

[nobodynose]

Not expected.

Not expected because it is a secondary drive rather than a boot drive, or not expected because it's SATA rather than NVMe?

You should be able to boot without the class-code spoof.
You can test it quite easily by dropping SSDT_NVMe-Pcc.aml via Clover options.

Thanks, I'll give it a try and report back once I do.

 

[RehabMan]

Not expected because it is a secondary drive rather than a boot drive, or not expected because it's SATA rather than NVMe?

Only the solid state system volume is expected to be converted.

 

[nobodynose]

I easily got the audio working using toleda's guide, and dropping SSDT_NVMe-Pcc.aml in Clover allowed my system to boot using Apple's NVMe drivers, so I removed it and HackrNVMeFamily and everything works perfectly. Thanks for all your help!

 

[ryanejohnson]

I easily got the audio working using toleda's guide, and dropping SSDT_NVMe-Pcc.aml in Clover allowed my system to boot using Apple's NVMe drivers, so I removed it and HackrNVMeFamily and everything works perfectly. Thanks for all your help!

Hey there. Were there any other kexts or patches that you needed for your WD Black PCIE SSD? I am on a H370M D3H mobo with an i5-8600 and I just cannot get the install to see the drive. The drive does show up in the bios and I can install windows on it, but macOS isn't seeing it.

Not sure if you can help, but any help is greatly appreciated!