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

[notthefirstryan]

If it is about changing the country code why not using the AirportBrcmFixup lilu plug in clover/kext/others?
https://github.com/acidanthera/AirportBrcmFixup/releases

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-ins

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-in's Last Update: 22nd Jan 2021 (Add note about OpenCore config.plist modifications) About this Guide Note: This guide was written when Clover was the boot loader of choice as such the config.plist examples in this guide are mostley Clover specific ... if...

www.tonymacx86.com

this coupled with the BrcmFixup-country=XX boot-arg (see picture) allows easy country code change (XX being the selected country code). I have added a screenshot for my Hackinotsh (I leave in France) equipped with a Fenvi T919 wifi/BT card.
Hope this helps

Thank you for this recommendation. I will give this a shot today. Long term I think the seller just needs to exchange me with a model meant for this country rather than having to hack a workaround. I bought the item in the US from a US seller and they have many more in stock so I think a replacement shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

If it is about changing the country code why not using the AirportBrcmFixup Lilu plug-in in clover/kext/others?
https://github.com/acidanthera/AirportBrcmFixup/releases

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-ins

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-in's Last Update: 22nd Jan 2021 (Add note about OpenCore config.plist modifications) About this Guide Note: This guide was written when Clover was the boot loader of choice as such the config.plist examples in this guide are mostley Clover specific ... if...

www.tonymacx86.com

this coupled with the BrcmFixup-country=XX boot-arg (see picture) allows easy country code change (XX being the selected country code). I have added a screenshot for my Hackinotsh (I leave in France) equipped with a Fenvi T919 wifi/BT card.
Hope this helps

Thank you for this recommendation. I will give this a shot today. Long term I think the seller just needs to exchange me with a model meant for this country rather than having to hack a workaround. I bought the item in the US from a US seller and they have many more in stock so I think a replacement shouldn't be a big deal.

Hi both.

@mmaira Excellent! Well found. This works nicely. Thank you for pointing it out . With a Broadcom card that works perfectly I have never needed this kext and config. Great to learn.

@notthefirstryan All you need to try is put the AirportBrcmFixup.kext in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other then add a boot argument to config.plist "brcmfx-country=US" . That should put you back home. See if wi-fi works now. If not we move on ...

There is a catch-all country-code "#a" as @mmaira shows. Because I wanted to spoof the US, I used "US" instead.

Always good to learn new stuff

 

[scottkendall]

I'm beginning to realize this...

Maybe that’s because it was given more love and the others were just kind of slopped!

 

[faithie999]

Haha oh most definitely, one of the great perks of Amazon. I will be returning the i3 one way or another eventually but I don't mind floating the cost for testing for a bit lol.

Either of you have any suggestions for an as similar as possible motherboard I can look for that maybe has delivery sooner than my May 8 replacement arrival date for this board? I guess anything in the Z390 chipset would fit the bill, not that macOS compatibility really matters with my current issue.

I have been perfectly happy with my Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro (not the wifi version). if you need/want thunderbolt you can add an alpine or titan ridge card from gigabyte. there is a thunderbolt header on the aorus pro. I have an alpine ridge in mine.

edit--I should have read a couple more posts before replying, but I believe you will be happy with the aorus pro.

 

[c0c0p0ps]

I think NVM33 on a titan ridge is the hot ticket.

I am also using the Titan Ridge AIC on a Z370 but flashed with the Elias NVM23. What benefits and improvements do you feel the Designare NVM33 give?

 

[CaseySJ]

Thanks again, I didn't see that post. I was wondering, in case I screw something up, what would be not to work? Just Thunderbolt or the whole board/system?

Also, do I have to repeat this after every BIOS update, and should I do the CFG lock patch before flashing the Titan Ridge?

In many cases an improperly flashed chip can be re-flashed back to the original firmware or one can try the modified version again. The worst case scenario is if the chip gets damaged either electrically through a short circuit or current overload, or physically through a broken pin or other nearby component. Then only Thunderbolt will fail to work, but the rest of the motherboard should be fine.

Note that the Thunderbolt firmware chip is on the back side of the motherboard. This chip is different from the BIOS chip, which is on the front side. CFG-Lock is a BIOS parameter, not a Thunderbolt parameter, so it has no bearing on the Thunderbolt flash. CFG-Lock has to be checked/unlocked only after a CMOS Reset and a BIOS update, but not after modifying the Thunderbolt firmware. Glad you asked the question -- I had wanted to clarify this earlier.

 

[faithie999]

• Only the Apple TB Display:

I removed the Displayport that was driving my LG Display from the RX-580. Disconnected power for 10+ seconds, and booted up. The Apple TB Display did not display the Gigabyte or Clover windows. I pressed the Return key and accepted the default Clover start selection and proceeded a "blind" boot to Catalina. At the point where the display drivers are loaded the Apple TB display showed the remaining portion of the boot progress bar and displayed the Catalina desktop.

On a Restart the Apple TB display will show the the Gibabyte and Clover screens. Sort of a workaround to get to the Gigabyte/Clover screens if needed. However, on a Shutdown and start the display does not display those screens.

A second display is useful if one needs to view both Gigabyte and Clover screens on startup.

With both the Apple and LG displays connected via Displayport one or the other will always display the Gigabyte and Clover screens.

• I just received the Apple TB3 to TB adapter and so far it acts just like the Cable Matters adapter in all respects.

This is great!! I have an Alpine ridge card (flashed) in my Aorus Pro. My GPU is a PowerColor RX590. Would you think that combo would drive the Apple TB display?
There are several Apple TB displays on eBay for 200-300 incl shipping. I'm inclined to take a gamble and buy one. Thanks for checking to see what the behavior is with only the TB display connected. If I ever needed to access the Clover screen at boot, I can rig up a second (probably DVI) display.

Is this the Apple adapter you are now using?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQ26QIY/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Is this the Cable Matters adapter you referred to?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D0D7QU0/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Any preference?

Finally, is it the A1407/MC914LL/A display?

Thanks again!

 

[notthefirstryan]

Hi both.

@mmaira Excellent! Well found. This works nicely. Thank you for pointing it out . With a Broadcom card that works perfectly I have never needed this kext and config. Great to learn.

@notthefirstryan All you need to try is put the AirportBrcmFixup.kext in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other then add a boot argument to config.plist "brcmfx-country=US" . That should put you back home. See if wi-fi works now. If not we move on ...

There is a catch-all country-code "#a" as @mmaira shows. Because I wanted to spoof the US, I used "US" instead.

Always good to learn new stuff

Yeah definitely agree. I installed the kext as instructed in the link and updated by boot args with "brcmfx-country=US" (and "-v" for now for good measure). Also changed Inject Kexts from Detect to Yes per that same linked guide. System Information no longer shows locale or country code at all, I did however create an ad-hoc network and I can see country code as US there. I still can only see my two 5GHz networks (there is well over a dozen 2.4GHz networks around me I should be seeing) and I still can't connect to either one. My S/O did however get a popup on her iPhone asking to share the WiFi password so I guess that means BT handoff or something is working lol.

Also, just for giggles I tried to install both wireless cards at once and I managed to make the system go back to it's state of refusing to power on at all. See video below. This is with the iMac WiFi card in PCIEX4 (bottom slot) and the Fenvi in the PCIEX1_2 (second to the bottom). Once I took the Fenvi card back out of the 1x slot it booted again fine. Really starting to think I have a lemon of a motherboard here.

No boot with PCIEX4 & PCIEX1_2 populated. That is me pressing the power button each time it does not try and reboot on its own here.

I swapped the Fenvi back in the bottom slot (PCIEX4) and booted the system back up (still using AirportBrcmFixup with custom US boot args). I am still seeing the same results with this card. It does actually see most of the surrounding WiFi networks as one would expect but the card appears to essentially power cycle before it can even get an IP via DHCP. See video below.

WiFi resetting on any connection attempt.

All this said, I am pretty sure this motherboard has some problems.

 

[jlr]

Hey there, I'm having some trouble installing this 10.15.4 Supplemental Update. When I click Update Now, I see the Apple logo and a loading bar, and then my computer restarts and boots up like normal without installing anything.

I'm using the latest version of Clover and WhateverGreen, Lilu and AppleALC.

My Clover boot screen has the following entries:

Boot FileVault prebooter from preboot
Boot MacOS install prebooter from preboot
Boot MacOS from Sunbow (This is my backup SSD)
Boot recovery from recovery
Boot FileVault prebooter from preboot
Boot recovery from recovery
Boot MacOS from Samsung (This is my main SSD)

I've tried a few times and have had the same result, although sometimes I boot to my backup SSD and I'm not sure how that setting keeps getting changed. I can tell this happens because I'll end up with a slightly older version of Clover.

I've been poking around this thread for a while, does this have to with the error mentioned here or am I mixed up? I have not unlocked MSR 0xE2, just updating Clover fixed my problem a while ago updating from Mojave to 10.15.4

 

[iRamon]

@CaseySJ

****Apple Thunderbolt display fully functional with Designare with flashed TB3****​

For those like me that had relegated their Apple Thunderbolt display to the dust bin, I have found a way to use that display with the Gigabyte Designare.
...
The Apple TB display is fully functional. The camera and speakers work. The ethernet port and USB ports on the back work. The display can be run as the primary or secondary display. Mirroring works. Sleep works. Restarting and shutting down work, and the display setup resumes as set. So far everything works like a charm.
...
I hope this information is useful to others that have an unused Apple TB display sitting in a closet.

Whoohoooo! You just made my day @NCMacGuy !

I'm one of those that have an Apple Thunderbolt Display collecting dust. Earlier this week I found that I could still use my Apple display with a GC-Alpine Rigde AIC, but they're all sold out here in the Netherlands.

Who would have thought that I could make it work on my Designare? I'm super happy!
So thank you @NCMacGuy for testing and reporting your succes with the Apple Thunderbolt Display and flashed TB3 firmware!

And @CaseySJ, I can't thank you enough for your incredible Designare build, your excellent guides, and your perseverence in cracking the mysteries of the thunderbolt firmware!

So, now I'm off shopping for a Raspberry Pi and other items to flash my Designare, read up on the TB flashing and DROM guides, and wipe the dust off of my Apple display