Both of my flashed GB-TitanR-PCIe cards work just fine on the X299 mobo, but don't appear at all on another mobo. Meanwhile, a flashed GB-AlpineR-PCIe card appears and works on either mobo. So the GB-TitanR-PCIe cards are not dead, yet don't appear. I'm puzzled.
As an aside, one thing I noticed with the GB-TitanR-PCIe cards in the X299, was more consistent presence of DSB4 when the USB2 connection was made with the card.
@CaseySJ Dude, your thread has now reached a level of comprehensiveness, where you really should start to worry about clarity and a (probable) summary (maybe another thread with all guides? After all, this is the build guide)
Would someone please determine the correct CRC32_C value for the ThunderboltDROM entry in the spoiler below? (My system never generates a DROM error code.) Thanks!
*** Thunderbolt DROM Micro-Guide for Asus ThunderboltEX 3 ***
Thanks to @NorthAmTransAm for doing the actual work.
Please do not quote this micro-guide in its entirety. Post a link instead.
Target Audience for this Procedure:
Asus ThunderboltEX 3 owners with activated Thunderbolt Bus.
To activate Thunderbolt Bus, it's necessary to flash a modified firmware onto the ThunderboltEX 3.
Become thoroughly familiar with the following posts:
If System Information --> Thunderbolt says No drivers are loaded, then this does not apply to you.
Benefits / Purpose:
Just as your Mac's serial number is unique and your Ethernet card's MAC address is unique, we need to assign a unique ID to the Thunderbolt controller.
Thunderbolt Ethernet Bridge and Target Disk Mode require this procedure.
Most eGPUs require this procedure.
QNAP Thunderbolt-based NAS units require this procedure.
Other Thunderbolt-based storage and NAS systems may require this procedure as well.
This procedure may improve overall compatibility with a wider set of Thunderbolt devices.
Procedure:
There are two options for configuring Thunderbolt DROM. Choose one of the two methods.
Option 1: Web GUI Method (credit: @Inqnuam)
This method is the easiest to use.
Thunderbolt DROM will be customized for you using a randomly generated Unique ID (UID) and all checksums will be auto-computed.
A complete Thunderbolt SSDT (with the new DROM) will be presented on screen and it will also be copied to the clipboard for you.
Download and run MaciASL, create new file (File --> New) and paste the clipboard.
Then save the file in ACPI Machine Language (AML) format: File --> Save As... and choose ACPI Machine Language from the pop-up menu.
Give the file an appropriate name such as: SSDT-TB3-DROM-HOTPLUG.aml.
Any name is okay as long as it begins with SSDT-
However, download SSDT-DTPG.aml from the bottom of this guide.
Both SSDT files must be copied to the CLOVER/ACPI/patched folder (for CLOVER users) or OC/ACPI folder (for OpenCore users).
Option 2: Superuser Method (credit: @joevt)
Please see this guide for advanced users.
Option 3: Manual Method
Specify a new Unique ID (UID) in the 5 green bytes below (0x11).
Replace the 5 green numbers below with 5 randomly selected hex numbers.
Now click here to visit an online CRC calculator and configure it as shown:
Copy the boldfaced bytes below (bytes 2-9 after replacing the green bytes with your own values) to clipboard and paste them into the Bytes field as shown and click CRC button:
Enter the CRC-8 checksum into the 1st byte of Thunderbolt DROM as shown in red below.
Save this into your Thunderbolt SSDT, in the NHI0._DSM method.
The attached SSDTs (try SSDT-TBOLT3-RP21-ASUS-TB-EX3-V2.aml first) may be used, but they are configured for PCI0.RP21. Adapt the SSDT for the actual PCIe path for your system. If you have questions about this, just ask.
Both SSDTs should be copied to CLOVER/ACPI/patched or for OpenCore users, OC/ACPI
Optional but Highly Recommended for Add-in-Cards: Byte #2 below (between 0x88 and 0x11) represents the Thunderbolt Bus ID. If you have multiple Thunderbolt controllers, assign a different bus to each one. If you change this byte, please re-compute the CRC-8 checksum.
The first byte of ThunderboltConfig should then be changed to the same Bus ID.
"ThunderboltDROM",
Buffer (0x72)
{
0x88, 0x00, 0x11, 0x11, 0x11, 0x11, 0x11, 0x00,
0x00, 0xBA, 0x65, 0x6A, 0xDB, 0x01, 0x58, 0x00,
0x01, 0x00, 0x0D, 0x00, 0x01, 0x00, 0x08, 0x81,
0x80, 0x02, 0x80, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x08, 0x82,
0x90, 0x01, 0x80, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x08, 0x83,
0x80, 0x04, 0x80, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x08, 0x84,
0x90, 0x03, 0x80, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x02, 0x85,
0x0B, 0x86, 0x20, 0x01, 0x00, 0x64, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x03, 0x87, 0x80, 0x05, 0x88,
0x50, 0x40, 0x00, 0x05, 0x89, 0x50, 0x00, 0x00,
0x05, 0x8A, 0x50, 0x00, 0x00, 0x05, 0x8B, 0x50,
0x40, 0x00, 0x07, 0x01, 0x41, 0x53, 0x55, 0x53,
0x00, 0x11, 0x02, 0x54, 0x48, 0x55, 0x4E, 0x44,
0x45, 0x52, 0x42, 0x4F, 0x4C, 0x54, 0x45, 0x58,
0x33, 0x00
},
CRITICAL WARNING:
Do not copy and paste the text above into MaciASL. Instead, copy-and-paste from the spoiler below. Failure to do so will be catastrophic.
Whenever we install or remove a PCIe card or any other component on the motherboard, we must shutdown the system and flip power switch to OFF (or unplug power cable).
After the modified card is installed, flip PSU switch back on and boot the system (i.e. Cold Start).
When you say "nothing populates in IOReg or SysInfo, we should be more specific:
If no child node appears under RP05 or RP21 (or wherever the card is supposed to appear), then Thunderbolt is dead.
But if we see a small set of child nodes under RP05 or RP21, etc. then Thunderbolt may be fine, but it's operating in ICM Mode (Internal Connection Management Mode).
But if we see the entire set of child nodes -- including ThunderboltSwitch and ThunderboltPort -- then we know that Thunderbolt is operating in full Mac-compatible mode.
- Using all of the modified Z170X Designare firmwares from cold boot, Motherboard Onboard Alpine Ridge never showed anything populated under RP05 when a thunderbolt device was plugged in. That most likely means the mobo TB3 was dead. This is with NO TR card installed.
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(maybe another thread with all guides? After all, this is the build guide)
But it may be a good idea to consolidate all of the mini-guides into their own Table of Contents.
