[SOLVED] The Dreaded Asus Z10PE-D8 WS

[TpwUK]

After my success with the Z9PE-D8 WS I thought I would have a go with the Z10. Oh boy, is this motherboard very different from the Z9, but I also think that there might be a massive potential opportunity with the Z10 as it now comes with a firmware image. However I have not looked into that properly. I just want to see if it's possible to get to the OS X install screen through normal means before having to resort to extreme measures.

Basic Hardware List:

Z10PE-D8 WS Motherboard
2 x Kingston KVR21R15S8/4 ECC/Reg C15 4Gb RDIMMS
1 x Samsung PM951 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
2 x Xeon E5-2603v4 Broadwell-EP processors 1.7Ghz None Turbo, Non HyperThreading fixed 6 Cores ES
1 x WD SATA II 320Gb HDD
1 x Sony DVD/RW 24x
​

I have already tried Clover with Sierra public beta 6 no success, got close once but since then get AICPM Panics. NullCPM does not get much further either before it KP's also with Unsupported CPU.

Now trying with iBoot Broadwell and Snow Leopard 10.6.3 it's almost there again. Using the Z10's onboard VGA I can get to the white screen with Apple logo and the spinning wheel progress indicator. The screen will then proceed to what should be the installation screen proper and then leaves me with just a dark grey screen and a mouse pointer. If i press a key or click a mouse button then it will change to the spinning beachball and hang there for ever if i let it.

The only boot argument that works so far is "arch=x86_64"

Others tried are npci=0x2000 and 0x3000 GraphicsEnabler=On/Off -Force64 IGPEnabler=Yes PciRoot=1/0 PciRootUID=1/0 -x -v -F -f and combinations thereof with none of them making the start-up progress any further.

I am open to suggestions other than go at it with a sled hammer

 

[Going Bald]

You really need a GPU as SL does not support the ASpeed VGA graphics. This is the cause of the grey/black screen and the spinning beachball.

npci boot-args are only needed if you are getting a boot hang at PCI Configuration begins
IGP enabler is only for CPU graphics and will not work with the board chip.
PCIRootUID only works if you have a discrete GPU and the system is not picking up on it at boot.
arch=x86_64 is about the only boot-arg that makes sense, as the default SL install is 32 bit and your hardware is all 64 bit.

Suggest a discrete cpu to begin with and boot-args:

-v arch=x86_64 cpus=1

In Clover under kernels and kexts to patch set the kernel patches to true - all except the LAPIC patch (I doubt you need that one)

 

[TpwUK]

You really need a GPU as SL does not support the ASpeed VGA graphics. This is the cause of the grey/black screen and the spinning beachball.

Yeah i guessed that was what the issue was, the Z9 VGA was supported by SL, or at least could be seen as available.
Thanks for the added info regarding boot args, they will come in handy

Suggest a discrete cpu to begin with and boot-args:

Just put my ATI/AMD R9 285 in to try with your new Clover advice. The boot process gets to where it says Patching Kernel for Injected Kexts and informs me that Yosemite/El-Cap/Sierra 2 patches applied, and that i need to wait for 5 seconds. At this point the system stops responding and the board is reporting error B7 or 87 - The B7 says it has reset NVRam and at that point the system freezes. According to the book there is no 87 error.

Time to go digging again :/

Martin

 

[TpwUK]

The B7 error was fixed here by disabling Trusted Computing/Security Device Support = Disabled in the BIOS

Now back to AICPM panic .... grrrr

Martin

 

[TpwUK]

For those that like looking at such things, this little baby arrives tomorrow for the Z10 to consider as its permanent home ...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-enthoo-primo-full-tower-case-ca-000-pt.html

Martin

 

[TpwUK]

@Going Bald - Do you know of a simple out of the box discreet graphics card that will work with Snow Leopard. Don't want to spend a fortune just need it to see if I can install SL 10.6.3 so that I have a working system to build from, and roll back to when needed.

Martin

** Edit **

Just got an old Quadro FX580 card that supposedly works with GraphicsEnabler=Yes (we shall see)

 

[Going Bald]

@Going Bald - Do you know of a simple out of the box discreet graphics card that will work with Snow Leopard. Don't want to spend a fortune just need it to see if I can install SL 10.6.3 so that I have a working system to build from, and roll back to when needed.

Martin

** Edit **

Just got an old Quadro FX580 card that supposedly works with GraphicsEnabler=Yes (we shall see)

GT210 should work OOB and be under USD$50 at most etailers. GeForce 8800GT/GS would also work if you can find one.

 

[TpwUK]

GT210 should work OOB and be under USD$50 at most etailers. GeForce 8800GT/GS would also work if you can find one.

I could find GT210's that were still fetching £30 touch, didn't find any 8800's but got that FX580 Quadro card for just under 13 quid including postage, as long as it gets me to the install screen

 

[TpwUK]

Yikes - The link to the case being used for this build doesn't really show just how massive this chassis really is .... It's HUGE!

 

[TpwUK]

First motherboard RMA'd with socket 1 errors. What was strange with this board and OS X never triggered the light, however after trying a few graphics cards I decided to try installing Mint Linux, and as soon as the live DVD was at the point to enter the logon screen/desktop the computer would freeze and the socket 1 light would activate. Tried each graphics card again, and tried different PCIe slots thinking that this board might be like the Z9PE-D8 and could be snotty on the port it wants but always the same result, so swapped the cpu's around to check for a dodgy chip, nope same result again! So this board is on it's way back to Amazon and my replacement will be here Mon/Tue.

So it's back to the reading articles for me