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

I've been dual booting Monterey and Windows 11 on the same SSD with no issues for months now.
Good to know. I've just a couple of questions. Did you change your SMBIOS for Monterey ? iMac15,1 has worked up till now but I'm doubting that it will after the public release version today. Have you installed any updates to either Monterey or Win11 ? Via the App Store or Windows update ? If using iMac15,1 your OptiMac won't be eligible for the regular Monterey updates, it would require a temporary SMBIOS change to get them.
 
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Did you change your SMBIOS for Monterey?
Yep, I'm using MacMini7,1.

Have you installed any updates to either Monterey or Win11? Via the App Store or Windows update?
I've been updating with system update on both Monterey and Windows with no issues with the exception of I think two Monterey dev betas that didn't want to install. I just skipped them and waited for the next which installed successfully. Currently on the first Monterey GM though, I haven't attempted updating to the second one yet. Not anticipating issues, just haven't had the time as I always backup first just in case.
 
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It's the exact same process. Boot into modGRUBShell and change the last number of the offset. Change 2 back to what it was originally.

Why change it back ? If you change any of the EHCx and XHCI related offsets from the defaults you should change all of those together not just some of them.

For anyone that wants to revert all the changes, reflash the BIOS and they all go back to defaults.

Quoting the above post because I have a related question. Working on getting OC/Big Sur on my Dell Precision T1700 MT. After making the EHCx and XHCI BIOS changes, my machine loses all USB functionality. It will boot a SATA SSD but none of my USB ports work after making the changes. To regain USB, I have to remove the CMOS battery. Wondering if anyone might have some thoughts on this...

I understand this is not a T1700 support thread, but I think it would be great if we could add another related machine to the 'success' list.

My troubleshooting:
1. Extracted T1700 bios file attached below to verify setup_var names
2. Replace CMOS battery
3. Reflash BIOS using Windows, to latest which for T1700 is A28 (7/15/2019)
4. Make all recommended changes in the UEFI bios
5. Use modgrubshell and check all setup_var values. The interesting thing is that the CFG and DVMT values seemed to persist after the reflash. At this point, set the 5 recommended EHCx XHCI variables.
-- After rebooting from the grub shell, USB functionality is lost.

So, any ideas where I might be missing something or what to troubleshoot next? Should I try not disabling EHCI1 and EHCI2? If I do not make any of these changes, will I just have intermittent USB issues?
 

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So, any ideas where I might be missing something or what to troubleshoot next? Should I try not disabling EHCI1 and EHCI2? If I do not make any of these changes, will I just have intermittent USB issues?
These two machines Optiplex 7020/9020 and the Precision T1700 have the exact same motherboard yet they use a different BIOS. I've never looked at the BIOS of the T1700 so I can't tell you if the BIOS mods work on the T1700. It certainly looks like they don't for the EHCI and XHCI controllers. Try only one change at a time, verify that it works, then go on to the next. The only one that is mandatory for Big Sur to boot is the CFG unlock mod, that's it.
 
I understand this is not a T1700 support thread, but I think it would be great if we could add another related machine to the 'success' list.
Correct, it would be best if you start a new thread in Big Sur Desktop Support for further help. I'll certainly post a link to it from the original post if you can make it work. I don't want to have all the T1700 info in this thread as it would likely confuse others with a 7020/9020 system.
 
So, any ideas where I might be missing something or what to troubleshoot next?
One last comment here. Not sure if everyone knows this. The Xeons that work in the T1700 will also work in the 7020/9020 Dell motherboards. The Xeon iGPU P4600 (in some Xeons) does not work with macOS. That's why I suggest that people use the non-Xeon, i5/i7 CPUs with HD4600. So in theory you can put a 7020 or 9020 mobo in the T1700 case and use the existing Xeon CPU. Everything will work but you'll either have no iGPU or a P4600 iGPU that doesn't work at all due to lack of support in macOS. I've never tried this so if anyone wants to experiement please report back. Not sure if the ECC ram is a factor when using it in a 7020 or 9020 motherboard.

All the Haswell V3 Xeons that end in "5" have the P4600 iGPU included. E3-1225 V3 is one example. E3-1245 V3 too.
 
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I followed this guide for my Optiplex 9020 MT step by step, all were smooth as expected until I stumbled at the attached "Remote Management" screen that I can't bypass.
Until now I had Catalina, using Clover, without any problem.
Has anyone else seen anything like this?
 

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I followed this guide step by step, all were smooth as expected until I stumbled at the attached "Remote Management" screen that I can't bypass.
Until now I had Catalina, using Clover, without any problem.
Has anyone else seen anything like this?
Strange. Do you have any association with the Albuquerque Public shool system, Board of Education ?
Are you connected to their wifi network ?
 
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I've installed big sur successfully but my dual monitor setup not working... I'm able to use only one of them at a time... both are working fine individually.. but when I connect both of them then Screen goes black...
 

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