The Dell OptiMac Big Sur/OpenCore Thread - For 7020/9020 Optiplex Desktops

[trs96]

I downloaded my config file with OC Gen X + OC builder and compared my old and new config with propertree, and I assumed that I would be getting 0.6.5.

Just checked the latest OC Gen-X release and mine says it's 6.5. Maybe check with Pavo to see what's going on.

 

[neo.e92]

Hi!

I understand that this is an OpenCore + Big Sur thread on the Optiplex 7020/9020 and my install involves Catalina I'd like to ask something though re: booting on NVME drives.

I have been using a 9020 with Clover + Mojave that I previously built from 2019 using your Golden Build thread with great success. On this particular set-up I was able to use two NVME's (via pcie) in RAID0 as system drives by following the the STEP 6 of that thread. The other sata SSD was also partitioned for Windows dual boot (though rarely used).

For more than a year after using it under Clover, I recently reinstalled everything using this particular guide/ thread for OpenCore + Catalina using the sata SSD. Everything works with no problem.

My question is how do I make the NVME pcie as boot drive? OpenCore sees it during initial install (initial image copy), but won't show the drive at the next picker section to fully install the OS.
Thing's I tried:
1) Clone the sata SSD to the NVME (+ EFI copy): result - BIOS won't even see the NVME drive (of course).
2) Boot with sata SSD + cloned NVME (+ EFI copy): result- Picker doesn't show the NVME as boot option.
3) I tried adding NVMEfix kext on the config list: result- No dice.

I'm good enough to follow build threads, but obviously I'm not that good to troubleshoot stuff. Hoping for some guidance.

Thanks in advance.

[FIXED!]

Added back NVMExpress.efi as was stated in the manual for Haswell cpus and suggested to me in another forum.

Thanks anyway.

 

[trs96]

I'm good enough to follow build threads, but obviously I'm not that good to troubleshoot stuff. Hoping for some guidance.

I know that there is a way to enable NVMe support by performing a UEFI modification that I haven't done myself. I'm only using Sata SSDs in my 9020. I have no experience getting the NVMe drives working with OpenCore only with Clover. If you want to pursue the permanent UEFI mod fix I can't help you with that.

 

[neo.e92]

Yeah, I kinda saw few months back that it seems there was a way, but did not really pay attention as I was not yet converting to OpenCore.

I'd appreciate it if you can refer me to that someone/ link that might be able to help me.

Thanks a lot.

[FIXED]

See original post.

 

[mgrimace]

I've made some progress investigating 4k/60 via Haswell HD4600 IGPU on the Dell OptiPlex (SFF 7020) and posting my findings in hopes that it might give some leads to other more knowledgeable members of the community.

The main issue (as I understand it) moving from the working 4k setup on Catalina to Big Sur is the dependency on user space patches (specifically enable-hdmi20) which is presently broken in Lilu/WEG.

I'm testing on Catalina, but below are the values that I've been investigating/tweaking to remove the broken dependency. The values below are copied/tweaked from another user who has working 4k output on Big Sur on a mobile version of the HD4600 iGPU.

4k output is working on my main monitor with these settings (in Catalina) however:

Issues: potential unstable con0 values. con1 (second DP port, second monitor) wasn't working at all with this setup. When I power-cycled the second monitor my system crashed/rebooted.

I've added a column of my comments/findings for what I think the values do - I'm not at all an expert on this and many things might be incorrect.

!!!!!!! Folks are welcome to test/change/tweak values but please assume that this is highly unstable. All properties go in the config.plist under DeviceProperties/ PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0)

I hope this helps, and if anyone has any ideas/suggestions let me know!

Key	Type	Value	Comments/findings
AAPL,ig-platform-id	Data	0300220D	Needed
disable-external-gpu	Data	01000000
dpcd-max-link-rate	Data	14000000	Choose a DPCD maximum link rate for your display, where 4K=0x14 (default) or 1080p=0x0a. Related to driving 4k displays over display port (something to do with the link speed to the monitor?)
enable-lspcon-support	Data	01000000	Enables DisplayPort to HDMI 2.0 output on some platforms with Intel IGPU (not sure if necessary)
enable-max-pixel-clock-override	Data	01000000	Raises max pixel clock limit from 450 MHz (insufficient for 4k/60) to 675 MHz
framebuffer-con0-alldata	Data	00000800 02000000 30000000 01050900 00040000 07010000 02040A00 00040000 07010000	These patch con0 (my main display port connection for primary monitor). I copied these values over directly from working mobile version. On my early testing in Catalina they *do* work to enable 4k on my primary DP port on my main monitor (con0). Values specific to the desktop version need to be found verified but I don't know how to find them. Also, I haven't figured out how to enable second port/second monitor
framebuffer-con-enable	Data	01000000	enable con patching
framebuffer-fbmem	Data	00000003
framebuffer-patch-enable	Data	01000000
framebuffer-stolenmem	Data	00000004
framebuffer-unifiedmem	Data	00000080
hda-gfx	String	onboard-1

 

[trs96]

I've made some progress investigating 4k/60 via Haswell HD4600 IGPU on the Dell OptiPlex (SFF 7020) and posting my findings in hopes that it might give some leads to other more knowledgeable members of the community.

Nice work on this. Wondering why 4K/60 Hz was working in Catalina without raising the pixel clock limit to 675 ?

For those SFF or MT owners that need two or three 4K monitors right now there are new NVS 510s available at Amazon.com These work with no issues in Catalina or Big Sur. Not sure how well 4-4K monitors work with only 2GB of Vram, but it looks possible. Only the new ones give you both brackets and all the mini DP adapters shown in the picture. You'd need to use the mini DP to full size DP adapters of course, to get 4K/60.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UJK9CNC/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[mgrimace]

Nice work on this. Wondering why 4K/60 Hz was working in Catalina without raising the pixel clock limit to 675 ?

Interestingly, I discovered that the enable-hdmi20 also functions to raise the pixel clock limit to 675! The most obvious thing to do was to swap that 1:1 with the enable-max-pixel-clock-override property (or alternatively, the -igfxmpc boot-arg which also does the same thing), but neither of those worked as a 1:1 substitution for some reason that I still don't understand.

*edit*: I think that's why we needed the enable-hdmi20 in the first place (since we're not even using HDMI). Possibly something to do with enabling the right pixel clock and possibly other functions that make 4k work for HDMI has the side-effect of making it work on DP?

 

[craighazan]

Started my OC journey last night on my 9020 SFF, reached the OC boot menu but not much after that. Great guide trs96, easy to follow and understand, things get a bit sticky around snapshot time, but the video in #2 helps a lot, hopefully later today I can get to desktop.

 

[trs96]

Started my OC journey

It's always great to hear that someone is reading and following the guide. Makes me much happier than hearing "This is all too complicated, just give me your finished EFI, I don't want to learn anything." Doing that is like giving your child all the answers to his math problems to hand in to the teacher. When the exam in the classroom time comes, he'll sit there staring at the problems, not knowing what to do.

 

[craighazan]

I’m not exactly sure what this message is telling me, is this normal?.