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

[trs96]

How to create an OpenCore Boot Manager GUI
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I haven't included this in the primary guide but some people may prefer the GUI instead of plain text. The following is the best video guide I've found. Take your time and perform the steps as shown. Make sure that OpenCanopy.efi driver matches the version of OpenCore you are booting with. Currently as of 02/06/21 that is OpenCore 0.6.6

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Even though the thumbnail says AMD Ryzen this works exactly the same way for Intel based hackintoshes. Very nice job by Sunny Nath who produced this content.

 

[trs96]

Revisiting Macs Fan Control App
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I've installed this and tried it on Big Sur and it still works the same way it did on Catalina. It gives you some manual control of your fans but only at the maximum (4473 rpm) and minimum (1010 rpm) fan speeds. I tested the CPU cooler fan, not the system fan. You won't get any case fans over 4000 RPM as you can the CPU fan. You'll need to have the SMCDellSensors kext installed in your kexts folder for this to work. I've included it in the guide now for those who want to be able to max out their fans when needed, to cool the system down quickly.

Macs Fan Control - control fans on Apple computers, also on Windows via Boot Camp

Control fans on Apple computers, also on Windows via Boot Camp. Monitoring of fan speed and temperature sensors. Solve fan noise and overheating problems, iMac HDD replacement

crystalidea.com

At the low settings of 1000 and 1200 the system is quiet enough that you don't have to replace the stock fans. Some people have installed a manual fan controller and quieter BeQuiet or Noctua fans. All depends on what level of fan noise you can live with.

 

[aristeidk]

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.

Sorry but not understand. I will clone the ssd to nvme with the efi. After opencore not show the nvme. What may i do to boot big sur from nvme?

 

[craighazan]

Just updated my 9020 to Big Sur 11.2. No need to select anything all is well in the land of 9020 macOC Big Sur.

 

[craighazan]

I have read that Big Sur 11.2 improves Bluetooth!, well almost at least switching it on or off doesn't brick my machine, I just get this message.

Update!, Bluetooth is now working!. YAY!.

 

[trs96]

Update!, Bluetooth is now working!. YAY!.

BT from your wifi dongle or the Wifi/BT Broadcom card ?

The BT problems in M1 Macs that were widely reported were supposed to be fixed in 11.2. Seems that most BT problems happened when using non-Apple made BT mice and keyboards. Frequent dropouts, loss of signal etc.

 

[craighazan]

BT from your wifi dongle or the Wifi/BT Broadcom card ?

The BT problems in M1 Macs that were widely reported were supposed to be fixed in 11.2. Seems that most BT problems happened when using non-Apple made BT mice and keyboards. Frequent dropouts, loss of signal etc.

Plugged in separately, both dongle and BCM.....CS2 card are working normally, I can connect my Mighty Mouse through either method.

Enabling USB3 in BIOS still bricks my machine, so I'll look into that. And I also want to enable my NVMe drive in the X4 slot, I've installed the driver but, haven't gone beyond that.

 

[trs96]

Enabling USB3 in BIOS still bricks my machine, so I'll look into that. And I also want to enable my NVMe drive in the X4 slot, I've installed the driver but, haven't gone beyond that.

Try this USB ports kext instead of what you're using and see if it makes a difference.

 

[craighazan]

Kext installed, interestingly when I enabled all 3 USB3 port options in Bios, it bricked at this screen.

When I disabled USB3 ports in BIOS, I arrived at the desktop and was able to charge my JBL4 speaker. I couldn’t access my iPhone from the finder but I could if it was plugged into, what I thought was USB2. A little confusing!.

 

[trs96]

When I disabled USB3 ports in BIOS, I arrived at the desktop and was able to charge my JBL4 speaker. I couldn’t access my iPhone from the finder but I could if it was plugged into, what I thought was USB2. A little confusing!.

Zip up your config.plist so I can have a look at it.