[solved] No boot entries in Clover UEFI mode

[el_charlie]

First a little background,

I have macOS on my laptop Asus U46E for a while, since Sierra and now High Sierra. My laptop has an UEFI BIOS, is just text based but I have UEFI mode. At first, creating the USB with UEFI mode didn't work and I couldn't boot to the installer. I gave up and installed Clover and then macOS in legacy mode.

Now, I was testing with Clover UEFI and it boots. I used the same config.plist as my current working config but that's it. Of course I have the same kexts that I use on my installation and carefully set the Drivers64UEFI folder with APFS.efi, OSXaptio.efi (whatever is called) and others.

It can boot to clover just fine but I don't see any boot option (no hard drive to boot to). I saved the preboot.log for you guys to see.

Attached is the EFI/Clover folder compressed without themes. On EFI/Clover/misc is the preboot.log and I see that it finds the SSD and the entries but dismisses them saying that are unknown legacy.

2:222  0:716  === [ ScanVolumes ] =======================================
2:222  0:000  Found 7 volumes with blockIO
2:222  0:000  - [00]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)
2:222  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:222  0:000  - [01]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\USB(0x81,0x83)
2:223  0:001          USB volume
2:223  0:000  - [02]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,F2)
2:223  0:000          Found optical drive
2:223  0:000  - [03]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)\HD(1,GPT,279710B4-8634-45AD-9300-E6D78D1B6AA8,0x28,0x64000)
2:224  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:225  0:001  - [04]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)\HD(2,GPT,00B91DF4-FCA7-4CD3-A7A1-F8344747234E,0x64028,0x1DC8F260)
2:225  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:225  0:000  - [05]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\USB(0x81,0x83)\HD(1,GPT,91229B36-EF6A-49F8-AFA4-12B43C7AE335,0x28,0x64000)
2:226  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:226  0:000          USB volume
2:232  0:006          This is SelfVolume !!
2:232  0:000  - [06]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\USB(0x81,0x83)\HD(2,GPT,34C7A847-C693-4F2E-A711-D37A7737E5F4,0x64028,0x1D537B0)
2:233  0:001          USB volume
2:236  0:002  Loading nvram.plist from Vol 'EFI' - loaded, size=3797

Thanks in advance.

 

[RehabMan]

First a little background,

I have macOS on my laptop Asus U46E for a while, since Sierra and now High Sierra. My laptop has an UEFI BIOS, is just text based but I have UEFI mode. At first, creating the USB with UEFI mode didn't work and I couldn't boot to the installer. I gave up and installed Clover and then macOS in legacy mode.

Now, I was testing with Clover UEFI and it boots. I used the same config.plist as my current working config but that's it. Of course I have the same kexts that I use on my installation and carefully set the Drivers64UEFI folder with APFS.efi, OSXaptio.efi (whatever is called) and others.

It can boot to clover just fine but I don't see any boot option (no hard drive to boot to). I saved the preboot.log for you guys to see.

Attached is the EFI/Clover folder compressed without themes. On EFI/Clover/misc is the preboot.log and I see that it finds the SSD and the entries but dismisses them saying that are unknown legacy.

2:222  0:716  === [ ScanVolumes ] =======================================
2:222  0:000  Found 7 volumes with blockIO
2:222  0:000  - [00]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)
2:222  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:222  0:000  - [01]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\USB(0x81,0x83)
2:223  0:001          USB volume
2:223  0:000  - [02]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,F2)
2:223  0:000          Found optical drive
2:223  0:000  - [03]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)\HD(1,GPT,279710B4-8634-45AD-9300-E6D78D1B6AA8,0x28,0x64000)
2:224  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:225  0:001  - [04]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)\HD(2,GPT,00B91DF4-FCA7-4CD3-A7A1-F8344747234E,0x64028,0x1DC8F260)
2:225  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:225  0:000  - [05]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\USB(0x81,0x83)\HD(1,GPT,91229B36-EF6A-49F8-AFA4-12B43C7AE335,0x28,0x64000)
2:226  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:226  0:000          USB volume
2:232  0:006          This is SelfVolume !!
2:232  0:000  - [06]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\USB(0x81,0x83)\HD(2,GPT,34C7A847-C693-4F2E-A711-D37A7737E5F4,0x64028,0x1D537B0)
2:233  0:001          USB volume
2:236  0:002  Loading nvram.plist from Vol 'EFI' - loaded, size=3797

Thanks in advance.

Make sure you didn't make the mistake of enabling "fast boot" in BIOS.

 

[el_charlie]

Make sure you didn't make the mistake of enabling "fast boot" in BIOS.

Does that has to do with no boot entries appearing in Clover?

As far as I know, there's no fast boot option on my BIOS. I'll check again.

I'd like to switch to clover UEFI mode but I need to be sure it works on the USB first.

My system is working fine on Legacy but I see some lines and artifacts with my HD3000. I read somewhere that using UEFI solves it (besides 8GB of RAM that I already have).

Please take a look on my preboot.log.

Cheers!

 

[RehabMan]

Does that has to do with no boot entries appearing in Clover?

Yes.
It is also possible your UEFI implementation is buggy/broken. It would not be surprising with an old laptop.
Maybe you should check for a BIOS update.

As far as I know, there's no fast boot option on my BIOS. I'll check again.

If it is enabled by default with no option to change it, it may help if you boot from an EFI that is on the disk you intend to boot macOS from (eg. boot from EFI on SSD/HDD, not USB).

 

[el_charlie]

Yes.
It is also possible your UEFI implementation is buggy/broken. It would not be surprising with an old laptop.
Maybe you should check for a BIOS update.

There's no BIOS update. Maybe it's broken. But at least I can reach Clover GUI in UEFI.

If it is enabled by default with no option to change it, it may help if you boot from an EFI that is on the disk you intend to boot macOS from (eg. boot from EFI on SSD/HDD, not USB).

So, do you recommend to install in UEFI mode directly on the Mac SSD?? The weird part is that the preboot.log says that the entries are found, but then it says bootable unknown (legacy). That's what puzzles me.

It's risky but I'll do it. I will, however, create a USB with Clover Legacy (the one I'm using) as a precaution.

Does that plan sound ok to you??

Thanks for taking your time to help me.

 

[RehabMan]

So, do you recommend to install in UEFI mode directly on the Mac SSD??

Copy USB EFI to SSD USB if that's what you want to test.

The weird part is that the preboot.log says that the entries are found, but then it says bootable unknown (legacy). That's what puzzles me.

I didn't see any entries that correspond to SSD. Just USB. It is typical when fast boot is enabled.
You should expect to see some entries for SATA devices.

 

[el_charlie]

So, those entries are not the SATA SSD (except the 01 which is clearly USB)???

2:222  0:000  - [00]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)
2:222  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:222  0:000  - [01]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\USB(0x81,0x83)
2:223  0:001          USB volume
2:223  0:000  - [02]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,F2)
2:223  0:000          Found optical drive
2:223  0:000  - [03]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)\HD(1,GPT,279710B4-8634-45AD-9300-E6D78D1B6AA8,0x28,0x64000)
2:224  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
2:225  0:001  - [04]: Volume: PcieRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\VenHw(CF31FAC5-C24E-11D2-85F3-00A0C93EC93B,80)\HD(2,GPT,00B91DF4-FCA7-4CD3-A7A1-F8344747234E,0x64028,0x1DC8F260)
2:225  0:000          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)

 

[el_charlie]

Well,

I installed Clover in UEFI mode in the SSD, but no UEFI option is detected on my BIOS.

I read somewhere that you could add a manual path in the BIOS for clover, so I even created a boot option to EFI\BOOT\Cloverx64.efi with no luck.

If I use that boot entry the screen stays with a blinking cursor, the same if I select the legacy entry for the SSD.

Can you help me, RehabMan??? Please??

Thanks in advance.

 

[el_charlie]

Please Help!!!!

I finally gave up and reinstalled Clover in Legacy Mode on my SSD (in the ESP) and now I can't boot from the SSD. It stays on a blinking cursor.

What can I do???

From the USB I created it boots just fine. Help please!

 

[el_charlie]

SUCCESS!!!

I managed to make the SSD bootable again by wiping the EFI partition and reinstalling the bootloader from scratch.

However, I wasn't satisfied to use Legacy anymore.

I found out that my laptop detected FAT32 USBs for UEFI just fine but not my internal SSD. So I kept digging and found out that I could add my UEFI entry on my bios from the EFI Shell. Unfortunately, the Clover EFI Shell doesnt work on my laptop.

I even found out older versions of the EFI shell but they lacked the required bcfg command.

So, I went back to square 1.

Then, using the old EFI shell, I saw that the files in clover uses the old 8+3 file names, so finally I made an entry on my BIOS to the path "efi\clover\clover˜1.efi" and it worked!!!

So, in the end, I had to add a manual entry on my BIOS to point to the internal SSD. I still have the EFI in legacy mode installed, so I can even boot in that mode if I choose.

Cheers!