[SUCCESS] Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Thunderbolt 3) + i7-9700K + AMD RX 580

[zipb]

Mojave. I've been doing some reading on Open Core for a few days now. Thinking about switching. Stability is paramount. Using for Audio Production work and Thunderbolt and good CPU power management are non-negotiables. Don't want to rush into something I don't yet understand.

I made the switch form Clover to OC a month ago. It was easy, although USB is a bit different. Didn't do any OS upgrades, still on Mojave, Cubase & Logic work fine. My system worked OK with Clover too, BTW.

 

[luckyal]

I made the switch form Clover to OC a month ago. It was easy, although USB is a bit different. Didn't do any OS upgrades, still on Mojave, Cubase & Logic work fine. My system worked OK with Clover too, BTW.

Did you have to start over or is there a way to transition from Clover to OC without disrupting the current set-up? What is the real benefit of OC over Clover? Easier to apply macOS updates from Apple?

 

[Ploddles]

I hear ya': The only reason I'm still running Mojave now is to run CS6 and LR4. Big Sur is working well for Logic, Pro Tools, UAD, Slate Drums, Waves, and VSL. -BS is my secondary system. When Adobe brings back "Auto Advance" to Lightroom, I may upgrade.

'Auto Advance' (with P and X) has always worked for me and does so in the current version (Lightroom Classic 10.2). You won't see a menu option to turn it on and off - the trick is to just have your CAPS lock ON. To turn 'Auto Advance' off just turn your CAPS lock OFF.

 

[zipb]

Did you have to start over or is there a way to transition from Clover to OC without disrupting the current set-up? What is the real benefit of OC over Clover? Easier to apply macOS updates from Apple?

Start over? I first made a test SSD with an OC EFI. Copied my SystemID, etc., over with a tool (can't remember the name), tested this, adapted it a bit with OC configurator. I then replaced the Clover EFI on my daily driver Mojave SSD by the OC one, adapted some more stuff, done. Nothing was disrupted.

I made a backup of the Clover EFI (tiny) just in case I would hit a snag. But I haven't.

I understand Clover is deprecated, so I decided to make the jump.

 

[trs96]

Start over? I first made a test SSD with an OC EFI. Copied my SystemID, etc., over with a tool (can't remember the name), tested this, adapted it a bit with OC configurator. I then replaced the Clover EFI on my daily driver Mojave SSD by the OC one, adapted some more stuff, done. Nothing was disrupted.

I made a backup of the Clover EFI (tiny) just in case I would hit a snag. But I haven't.

I understand Clover is deprecated, so I decided to make the jump.

Don't forget that now it's possible for Z390 Designare owners to use HackinDROM to create a new EFI based on Casey's custom Z390 EFI. It doesn't get much easier than that.

 

[luckyal]

Don't forget that now it's possible for Z390 Designare owners to use HackinDROM to create a new EFI based on Casey's custom Z390 EFI. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Yes I read that post but I think there are a few differences between my set up and his. I had a RocketRaid2720 card that I use, my case is a Fractal Define R5 (I think USB Port mapping is different for R5) and last but not least, I wanted to use the existing CNVi 9560 Wifi/BT module instead of disabling that port.

P.S. On that last point about CNVi, I really only use the BT and it's been a bit of a hit and miss. With Rehabman's drivers, I got a great connection but it killed my Apple Magic Mouse batteries every couple of days. With the new OpenIntelWireless driver that I've transitioned to in the last 3 months, I get great battery life but inconsistent connection especially after bringing it out of sleep.

 

[manofscience]

The Gigabyte GC-Titan Ridge kinda works on the Designare Z390 but not as well as the onboard TB.

What make you think your onboard Thunderbolt chip is "hosed up"' ?
The chip to flash is just a very basic 1MB flash ROM, it's replaceable (with some tricky SMD soldering-fu). But it's very hard to brick unless you physically damage it. (But it's also possible you damaged something else on the board if not careful.)

If it doesn't boot, it may just have a corrupted firmware.
If you can't read it anymore you may just have a bad connection to it.
If you manage to have a good and stable connection to the chip, you may be able to rewrite a correct firmware and solve your issue.

What method did you use to flash the chip ?
The most reliable way is to disconnect everything on the board, take it out on the flat surface :

• Use a 3.3V CH341A programmer or a Raspberry PI with a SOIC8 clip
• Stabilize the Vcc rail with additional capacitance, some recommend one 47µF capacitor for the Designare, I had better results with three 10µF.
• If it doesn't work, add two pull-up resistors (1kΩ-2kΩ) connected to /WP (to force disable write protection) and /HOLD (to force the chip in a resume state).

Here is a picture of my setup :

View attachment 518163​

I used to be able to read the chip on my Raspberry Pi.

I got a ch341a reader from the links above. I get a red light to show on the ch341a reader and a red light comes on on the motherboard, but I still can't read the chip.

Here's my error:

///////////////

sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r firmware-1.bin
Password:

flashrom v1.2 on Darwin 20.4.0 (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org
Calibrating delay loop... OK.
No EEPROM/flash device found.
Note: flashrom can never write if the flash chip isn't found automatically.


//////////////

I've also got this:

//////////////

libusb: info [darwin_claim_interface] no interface found; setting configuration: 1
libusb: error [darwin_claim_interface] interface not found
Failed to claim interface 0: 'LIBUSB_ERROR_NOT_FOUND'
Error: Programmer initialization failed.

//////////////

 

[jiffyslot]

Yes I read that post but I think there are a few differences between my set up and his. I had a RocketRaid2720 card that I use, my case is a Fractal Define R5 (I think USB Port mapping is different for R5) and last but not least, I wanted to use the existing CNVi 9560 Wifi/BT module instead of disabling that port.

P.S. On that last point about CNVi, I really only use the BT and it's been a bit of a hit and miss. With Rehabman's drivers, I got a great connection but it killed my Apple Magic Mouse batteries every couple of days. With the new OpenIntelWireless driver that I've transitioned to in the last 3 months, I get great battery life but inconsistent connection especially after bringing it out of sleep.

Here is the USB InjectAll USB patch that I was using when I had an R6. It was written by @jb007, and it was a life saver for me and my Z370 setup.

 

[CaseySJ]

I used to be able to read the chip on my Raspberry Pi.

I got a ch341a reader from the links above. I get a red light to show on the ch341a reader and a red light comes on on the motherboard, but I still can't read the chip.

Here's my error:

///////////////

sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r firmware-1.bin
Password:

flashrom v1.2 on Darwin 20.4.0 (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org
Calibrating delay loop... OK.
No EEPROM/flash device found.
Note: flashrom can never write if the flash chip isn't found automatically.


//////////////

I've also got this:

//////////////

libusb: info [darwin_claim_interface] no interface found; setting configuration: 1
libusb: error [darwin_claim_interface] interface not found
Failed to claim interface 0: 'LIBUSB_ERROR_NOT_FOUND'
Error: Programmer initialization failed.

//////////////

View attachment 518804

Try repeating the command one or two times. This particular error should go away on a retry.

 

[brousseau6933]

I made the switch form Clover to OC a month ago. It was easy, although USB is a bit different. Didn't do any OS upgrades, still on Mojave, Cubase & Logic work fine. My system worked OK with Clover too, BTW.

Still on Clover 5099 and Mojave… and this machine is frozen for the near future: not even any kext updates, stability is my motto!