[Success] BoomR's 360/VR Production Build > GA-Z170X-DESIGNARE - i7 6700K - NVIDIA GTX 970

[baiste]

For those interested in getting wake-from-sleep to work here are my DSDT patches and config file. I'll post more details on my build but as I mentioned they're pretty similar to BoomR's. I'll also try and reference the tutorials for each of the following fixes.

NOTABLE ADDITIONS

1. I remapped the USB ports down to 14 by disabling the internal F_USB1 & F_USB2 USB headers since I don't use them (SSDT-USB.aml).
2. I have the NVMe patch for my Samsung 960 Evo (SSDT-NVMe-Pcc.aml).
3. I also have enabled speed stepping for my 6700K (SSDT-CPU.aml).
4. (SSDT-GFX1.aml, SSDT-GFX2.aml) are used to change the DSDT identifiers of my two graphics cards, a GTX 660Ti & GT 640. They're both Kepler cards so they work natively without having to use Nvidia's third party drivers. My biggest challenge has been getting the cards working in conjunction with the IGPU Intel 530. The cards work fine but enabling internal graphics is a no go.

WORKS IN PROCESS

1. Thunderbolt seems to be working but I don't have any devices to test it with.
2. The USB 3.1 USB-C ports work but there's a performance issue.
3. Getting the internal graphics working WITH the discrete cards. I have a feeling this may never work.
4. Then there's the boot on mouse/keyboard thing.

Thanks for sharing these!

Sorry for the noob questions coming up but I was trying to wrap my head around Beskone's comment (page 2 of this thread) about the risk of using the Increase Max USB Port Limit patch. As far as I understand your SSDT-USB limits the overall port count to 14 by disabling internal ports.

Does that mean that installing your SSDT-USB makes the system more secure (meaning avoiding USB data corruption) when the "Increase Max Port Limit" option was used in MultiBeast?

And could I use your SSDT on my system or would I have to make my own?

 

[kDawg]

Thanks for sharing these!

Sorry for the noob questions coming up but I was trying to wrap my head around Beskone's comment (page 2 of this thread) about the risk of using the Increase Max USB Port Limit patch. As far as I understand your SSDT-USB limits the overall port count to 14 by disabling internal ports.

Does that mean that installing your SSDT-USB makes the system more secure (meaning avoiding USB data corruption) when the "Increase Max Port Limit" option was used in MultiBeast?

And could I use your SSDT on my system or would I have to make my own?

I have my ports limited to 14 because I chose to disable the two internal USB 1.0 headers. The math simply ends up at 14. You can use my DSDT as long as you have the same board and version and can live with the disabled internal headers. Or you can simply choose which ports you'd like and configure them in your config file using Clover. I'll try and share my port mappings to make it easier to identify them.

One of the risks of having all your ports exposed would be file corruption. For instance, if you're actively using a port for an external hard drive and you plug in another USB device you run the risk of jeopardizing the connection to the USB hard drive. So there's a general stability problem. Beskone is correct, you should work to identify all your ports and limit the number to 15.

 

[baiste]

I have my ports limited to 14 because I chose to disable the two internal USB 1.0 headers. The math simply ends up at 14. You can use my DSDT as long as you have the same board and version and can live with the disabled internal headers. Or you can simply choose which ports you'd like and configure them in your config file using Clover. I'll try and share my port mappings to make it easier to identify them.

One of the risks of having all your ports exposed would be file corruption. For instance, if you're actively using a port for an external hard drive and you plug in another USB device you run the risk of jeopardizing the connection to the USB hard drive. So there's a general stability problem. Beskone is correct, you should work to identify all your ports and limit the number to 15.

Thank you very much for elaborating! I think I just found the source of the procedure of creating a DSDT-USB like yours:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/10-11-0-10-11-3-skylake-starter-guide.179221/#DetailedUSB

I think I'll give it a try - kind of looks like a good exercise.

 

[ThomasVJ]

I just finished a build to be used with an UAD Apollo Twin very similar to yours, BoomR. I used SSDs only and not NVME drives and everything seems to run smoothly. Only Issue I ran into was that the AppleIGB kext eventually created a kernel panic. It did work for the first 10-15 reboots. I removed the kext and now everything is good again. I was planning to use link aggregation, so I will need to test if another ethernet kext will work. Any ideas for this?

 

[zipb]

I'm using 802.3 ad/trunking/link aggregation on my Hack. I've combined the builtin ethernetport (with miese driver) of my Z170x-UD5-TH with a Startech TB3 -> TB2 adapter followed by the Apple TB2 to Ethernet thingie. Works in El Cap and in Sierra, if you have a compatible 802.3ad switch(I upgraded to a Netgear GS108T). Doesn't do anything for connection speed between Hack and switch and trunked NAS, nonetheless it was an interesting exercise.

 

[BoomR]

I just finished a build to be used with an UAD Apollo Twin very similar to yours, BoomR. I used SSDs only and not NVME drives and everything seems to run smoothly. Only Issue I ran into was that the AppleIGB kext eventually created a kernel panic. It did work for the first 10-15 reboots. I removed the kext and now everything is good again. I was planning to use link aggregation, so I will need to test if another ethernet kext will work. Any ideas for this?

Before you try that, you might want to check to see if the board supports link aggregation with both Ethernet ports. I don't really have a need for this use case, so I may not have a lot of tips or suggestions. You might want to reach out to @QkY to see if he has any experience with this or maybe some suggestions for you. It was his build that was the inspiration for mine...

 

[Blerticus]

1. After a week or so, I started having that issue randomly, too. I think I may have found a fix, though. Make sure to boot -v (verbose) so you can see all the messages that lead up to the KP. Try & take some pics & share. For me, it'll happen a couple 2-3 times in a row after I add or remove new devices. Sometimes booting with -f (I think that's "forget kernel cache") seems to fix. BTW, If I use a standard SSD, I **never** have any KPs on boot. I am suspecting it may be something with the M.2...?? More research...Let's tag-team this one.
2. Make sure that your speakers are connected to the correct audio port. You need to be connected to the middle one in the row closest to the PCIe slots. Since none of your audio options are grayed out, they should be working. If it wasn't working, there wouldn't be anything showing up on either inputs or outputs.
3. HDMI audio is a bit of a different beast. Check out Toleda's posts & detailed instructions on how to get this working.
4. In Clover Configurator > ACPI page, there is a checkbox for a "FixShutdown". That's worked for me & should take care of it.
5. You will not see anything in the system info about any of the TB hardware if nothing is plugged in & working. This has been a known issue all along. Nothing to worry about.

--B

Hi BoomR,

I'm back. My motherboard stopped working ... and I ended up sending it in to Gigabyte. It took them a while, and it seems to be fixed now. (Not sure what they did, but the BIOS has been updated to F22 ... overall, it was a fairly painless experience -- the painful part was: it took just over a week to get my mobo back! )

1. If I don't make sure my bluetooth keyboard and trackpad are "on" before booting, I still see the KPs. (I have not captured a screenshot yet -- it flies by pretty quickly!)
2. It's working! (But, it still show other outputs in addition to "internal speakers"
   Line Out
   Line Out
   Digital Out
   I'm guessing the Digital Out is the "toslink" port (maybe?)
   What are the others?
3. Ok. Will do.
4. Fixed
5. Ok. I'll have to hunt down some TB hardware to try this out.
6. Have you upgraded to 10.12.4?
   What do I have to watch out for before doing that?
   (Remember: complete n00b here! LOL)

Thanks, again, for all your help!

-- Mark

 

[chorl]

Hi,

I'm interested in this build (mainly because of its mobo, with ThunderBolt3 support), but before pulling the trigger, I have two main concerns:

- The main one is regarding sleep/wake, does it work consistently?
- The other one is regarding PowerManagement, do X86PlatformPlugin and LPC load properly?

I'm thinking about using i7 7700K instead 6700K, any advice about this?

Thanks.

 

[akg]

Hi,

I'm interested in this build (mainly because of its mobo, with ThunderBolt3 support), but before pulling the trigger, I have two main concerns:

- The main one is regarding sleep/wake, does it work consistently?
- The other one is regarding PowerManagement, do X86PlatformPlugin and LPC load properly?

I'm thinking about using i7 7700K instead 6700K, any advice about this?

Thanks.

Hi, I'm working on it . I have same motherboard (F22 BIOS) with 7700K CPU..... see my profile.

No sleep/wake, and no Power Management for me OOB. I'm trying to do Power Management but no results :/
Randomly some artifacts with video.
Randomly need to boot with -v (boot loop).

Still working on it.

 

[123ab123]

Very frustrated - followed this guide to a T (except the GFX part because I'm using o-nboard; followed Qky for that) - and my system won't even get past the select language screen. I CAN get to Terminal and Disk Utility, but Disk Utility just hangs on "loading disks". I've used multiple USB keys, ports, re-downloaded Sierra (on 12.4), reset CMOS and re-did the recommended BIOS settings multiple times. Windows 10 installed perfectly. I even decided to pull the M2 and see if I could install on a mechanical disk, but same problem.

I'm using the GA-Z170X-Designare (rev. 1.0) mobo, F21, 2x16 Corsair Dominator Platinum. Seriously pulling my hair out.