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

[jiffyslot]

looks like in my earlier tinkering i reverted my efi folder to a previous version where the display was working, i copied the files back into the patched folder, now this is what im getting, everything shows up now but i cant hot plug, not sure if thats just an apollo thing

Which exact Apollo are you using and which exact Thunderbolt card is in the back of the Apollo? Is the Apollo connected directly to the computer, or are you using a hub?

 

[genzai]

We would welcome your involvement and any insight you can provide from the similar work you've been doing. Perhaps you can give us a quick summary of your status? How far have you gotten? Has the Thunderbolt Bus and Thunderbolt Local Node appeared for you? When you say "older" systems, are you referring to older Thunderbolt controllers? Thunderbolt 2?

As you can tell from this thread, we've disabled GPIO3 Force Power because we can enable it via SSDT. Some motherboards do not have an explicit BIOS option for this (e.g. ASRock) so a software/SSDT-based solution becomes valuable when applying this to other systems.

Let me also alert @Elias64Fr to this post.

Our tests so far have been primarily with the GC-AR and GC-Titan Ridge add-in cards, flashing the firmware and installing them in x299 and x99 systems. I think one of our guys also has it working in a z390 designare. I don't think they have made much progress yet on the built-in controllers. Very interesting RE force GPIO power via SSDT. i do agree that is probably the better way to go long term but it might be easier for now to set that up in the BIOS since it is an available option on this board, until everything else is working and then work on getting the SSDT enabler to work reliably. Its just that some of the issues you report are very reminiscent of the controller either being in legacy mode or the force GPIO power being set to off.

g\

 

[Badf1sh]

Which exact Apollo are you using and which exact Thunderbolt card is in the back of the Apollo? Is the Apollo connected directly to the computer, or are you using a hub?

apollo 8 mkii blackface, thunderbolt 2 card installed, running thunderbolt 2 cable then going to an apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter into the tb3 port on the motherboard

 

[CaseySJ]

Our tests so far have been primarily with the GC-AR and GC-Titan Ridge add-in cards, flashing the firmware and installing them in x299 and x99 systems. I think one of our guys also has it working in a z390 designare. I don't think they have made much progress yet on the built-in controllers.
...

This is exciting! If you folks have been using GC-AR (with X99/299), GC-TR (with X99/299), and Z390 Designare we would be really interested to know:

• Are you modifying SSDT as well? Or only firmware?
• Which firmware version (NVM) was originally on the GC-TR?
• And which version of Apple's Thunderbolt firmware did they "borrow" from for patching?
• You said most of the progress so far has been with Add-in-Cards.
  • What is the current status on GC-AR and GC-TR?
• Which firmware version was originally on the Designare Z390?
  • My Designare Z390 has firmware 33, which is a relatively old version. Thunderbolt firmware from the Winbond W25Q80 chip has been posted here.
• Because we've experienced some hopeful progress with SSDT alone (thanks to @Elias64Fr), we've put firmware patching on hold.
  • But if a successful solution depends on both ACPI and NVM, then we'll need to look into patching NVM.

Very interesting RE force GPIO power via SSDT. i do agree that is probably the better way to go long term but it might be easier for now to set that up in the BIOS since it is an available option on this board, until everything else is working and then work on getting the SSDT enabler to work reliably. Its just that some of the issues you report are very reminiscent of the controller either being in legacy mode or the force GPIO power being set to off.

I will certainly enable GPIO3 Force Power this evening and run my tests again.

 

[CaseySJ]

Used this guide to select MultiBeast options right after finishing installation, but I’m stuck on “Currently Installing” screen (while installing Bootloaders > Clover UEFI Boot Mode + Emulated NVRAM. Couldn’t google this issue, any ideas?

Hello @Spail,

Because this is your first post, welcome to the forum! Some questions:

• Are you installing on MSI MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE?
• Are you installing Mojave or Catalina?
• When you formatted the macOS SSD in Disk Utility, did you select Scheme = GUID Partition Map?

 

[CaseySJ]

-So, macOS welcome screen, the screen where you can input your username, iCloud , etc. - I think that's the screen that it's trying to show - because I already went to the installation process (i think)
-I'm using the HDMI port. If I try to use the DisplayPort, only the 4th port works, and it shows a grey screen - but, oddly enough, the sound works. (I can hear a chime when I press any key on the keyboard.)
-I installed two times, one with the GPU, and this last one with the iGPU. (The GPU was always installed but I disabled the GPU in the BIOS.)
-The version of Clover is 4934.

And thanks for giving feedback so fast!

Thanks for answering all of the questions. It really helps. Some follow-ups:

• Because you mentioned ASUS RX 5700 XT, please confirm that you're installing Catalina.
• Are you following the Catalina Mini-Guide provided here? Because that guide uses Clover 5xxx (not 4934).

 

[Badf1sh]

@CaseySJ seriously, thank you for your help. I've worked with payed techs who don't respond or fix the problem that quick. Least I can do is buy you a beer or coffee.

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ seriously, thank you for your help. I've worked with payed techs who don't respond or fix the problem that quick. Least I can do is buy you a beer or coffee.

Glad to be of help. Anyone is always welcome to contribute to the website (Contribute button at top left of webpage). Moderators such as myself are volunteers -- we do this purely on a pro bono basis! (Some things in life are free.)

 

[jiffyslot]

apollo 8 mkii blackface, thunderbolt 2 card installed, running thunderbolt 2 cable then going to an apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter into the tb3 port on the motherboard

Okay, great! I've had this issue before even when attaching Thunderbolt items to different machines: Macs, Hacks, Windows, etc. –It's a Thunderbolt memory problem. I'm assuming that you're not dual-booting your setup between Windows 10 and OS X. When your system/EFI is working, but the Apollo won't behave, do all of the following in sequence:

1. Shut down the Apollo and then everything else.
2. Shut down the computer all the way and flip off the power supply switch at the back of the PC.
3. Disconnect the AC adapter from the back of the Mk II or unplug the adapter from the wall, etc.
4. Flip the computer's power supply switch to Off to drain the power supply. It takes ~1 minute.
5. Press the On switch on the PC to make sure it's really dead.
6. Unplug all Thunderbolt cables from the Apollo.
7. Unplug the Thunderbolt cables from the Z390 Designare.
8. Let everything sit dead for 10 minutes. Do not repower anything yet.
9. Reconnect the Thunderbolt cable to the computer first.
10. Reconnect the Thunderbolt cable to the Apollo second.
11. Reconnect the Thunderbolt cables and devices as needed.
12. Flip the computer's power supply switch to On. But do not power it up yet.
13. Reconnect the AC adapter to the Apollo and flip the power switch to On.
14. Flip on everything else for your setup that's not the computer. Count to five.
15. Press the power switch on the computer to power it up: F12 as needed.

You may have to press F12 to get the right boot device loading. This should do it if you've solved that earlier EFI issue. Please share your EFI w/o serials if you're really getting hotplug to work. I have the same setup, but mine is the Apollo 8 Quad, Thunderbolt 2. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Badf1sh]

Glad to be of help. Anyone is always welcome to contribute to the website (Contribute button at top left of webpage). Moderators such as myself are volunteers -- we do this purely on a pro bono basis! (Some things in life are free.)

Donated to the site. Huge help. This seems stable. Everything I need is working, and this system should serve my studio well. Thank you, all!