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The Perfect Customac-Pro: X99-A II, i7-6950X, 128GB G.Skill TridentZ, Aorus GTX 1080 TI Xtreme

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You know that hotplugging doesn't work, you have to have your TB device connected on boot.
I know, sure!
All those steps with Windows, drivers and etc was successfully passed.
My Blackmagicdesign Ultrastudio Thunderbolt device was recognized in Windows and was tested without any problems.
I use adapter StarTech TB3 -> TB2/1
In Sierra, I have no device in Blackmagic Utility and NO Thunderbolt entries in IORegistryExplorer as well.
BR2A@2 - is my PCIe_2 slot. Something is there, but OS X does to load Thunderbolt driver.
There are a lot of option in BIOS in Thunderbolt section. May be there are some small tweaks?
 

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My Z170x is not the same at all as your setup, so I can't give you any tips. I would try different BIOS settings. Wake from TB off, for example.
I have the same Startech adapter.
It wasn't easy to get TB working back when I built my Z170 rig, it's unfortunate that nothing/very little will show up related to TB in OSX or Windows for that matter. Suddenly, peripherals will magically appear.
User joevt helped me a lot.
 
My Z170x is not the same at all as your setup, so I can't give you any tips. I would try different BIOS settings. Wake from TB off, for example.
I have the same Startech adapter.
It wasn't easy to get TB working back when I built my Z170 rig, it's unfortunate that nothing/very little will show up related to TB in OSX or Windows for that matter. Suddenly, peripherals will magically appear.
User joevt helped me a lot.

[Update]
I messed up with BIOS settings in TB section and my Mobo refuses to power-up to even to BIOS. Hard reset CMOS.
I reconfigured BIOS for general OS X and XPCM once again. TB was OFF in BIOS. Then a boot to Sierra and checked XPCM and general stuff. Reboot and switch TB ON in BIOS. Boot to Sierra and..... my device shows up with DEFAULT TB BIOS settings. No tweaks at all. But we all know that even if it shows up, it does not guaranteed reliable functionality.
A bit confused with that mess. I will test device and will test my Promise 2 Thunderbolt2 Raid Disk Array as well.
 

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Sounds like typical TB behaviour on a hack... At some point, I tried a Lynx Aurora/LT-TB. Didn't work. Rebooted a couple of times, tried different BIOS settings, no go. Went to bed. Next morning, boot, it suddenly shows up. And has been showing without fail ever since....
Immediately after, my ULN-8 (startecht -tb-> fw adapter) showed up and worked fine. Before, it would show up but not work properly/crash.
Unfortunately, the people who really know how all this works have no/not much interest in getting Thunderbolt 100% working. Maybe at some point, when TB is more widespread a tech savvy hacker will really fix it.
 
Sounds like typical TB behaviour on a hack... At some point, I tried a Lynx Aurora/LT-TB. Didn't work. Rebooted a couple of times, tried different BIOS settings, no go. Went to bed. Next morning, boot, it suddenly shows up. And has been showing without fail ever since....
Immediately after, my ULN-8 (startecht -tb-> fw adapter) showed up and worked fine. Before, it would show up but not work properly/crash.
Unfortunately, the people who really know how all this works have no/not much interest in getting Thunderbolt 100% working. Maybe at some point, when TB is more widespread a tech savvy hacker will really fix it.
I saw a topic on
Code:
insanelymac.com
some guys was able to make hot plug using DSDT patching. But really too complex stuff for me.
 
You've written a great guide for the x99 system. thanks a lot.

I use "OsxAptioFix2Drv-free2000.efi", the system unstable, and boot failed with about 20-30%. I made a *free3000 which looks
better , boot failure is less the 10%. but all of them seems unstable after boot up, system crash and reboot occasionally.
I read the through thread at sourceforge and compile my clover without any luck. I even thought it's my hardware issues.

But finally I use CLOVER legacy boot to get rid of the unstable problem . check the post for detail: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/10-12-4-random-crash-with-msi-x99a-raider-i7-6800k.222041/


I think maybe it's helpful for other guys who come across the unstable problem like me with OsxAptioXX and UEFI booting, so maybe you can mention it in your guide. the legacy boot just overcome the memory allocation problem, because it dose not a UEFI booting. It cost me months to get it.

View attachment 255556
5.) When Clover Installation completes, download and copy the "config.plist" file and "/kexts/10.12/" directory of ptzulu
(attached to this post) into the "CLOVER" directory of the EFI partition of your USB installation medium. Note that there is a later version of @RehabMan 's IntelmausiEthernet.kext (also attached to my post), which however does change the Ethernet-throughput (thanks to @musikprylar for his advice). Furthermore, download and copy nickwoodham's "OsxAptioFix2Drv-free2000.efi" file (attached to this post) into the /EFI/CLOVER/Drivers64UEFI/ directory of your USB installation medium (thanks to @BoomR, @P1LGRIM and @Thireus for the info). Delete any other "OsxAptioFix*Drv**.efi" files if previously installed. OS X 10.11.4 and greater allocates memory above the memory space which is covered by the AptioFixDrv memory relocation, while OS X 10.11.3 and earlier tries to allocate memory in the low memory range that is already occupied. "OsxAptioFix2Drv-xx.efi" frees the first 512MB of fragmented memory which gives ample room for the MacOS kernel and kernel cache and applies memory map fixes which allow MacOS to communicate with your installed hardware. Without the "OsxAptioFix2Drv-xx.efi" fix, your system might become unstable (random reboots). Finally, download the latest Version of the Clover Configurator and open ptzulu's "config.plist" file in the /EFI/CLOVER/ directory on the EFI-Paritition of your USB installation medium. Verify that in "Kernel and Kext Patches" you use FakeCPUID 0x040674 (Broadwell-E). In case you try my guide with a Haswell-E CPU, use FakeCPUID 0x0306F0.​
 
I saw a topic on
Code:
insanelymac.com
some guys was able to make hot plug using DSDT patching. But really too complex stuff for me.

I messed around with my Thunderbolt EX3 Card for awhile until it became stable too. Definitely Legacy option is best setting over unique ID in bios. A bios flash helped my device to be found everytime (in my case UAD Apollo soundcard). Before the bios reflash often clover wouldnt boot my OS system everytime and I would have to retry a few times.
 
I messed around with my Thunderbolt EX3 Card for awhile until it became stable too. Definitely Legacy option is best setting over unique ID in bios. A bios flash helped my device to be found everytime (in my case UAD Apollo soundcard). Before the bios reflash often clover wouldnt boot my OS system everytime and I would have to retry a few times.
My system report still doesnt show thunderbolt active but my TH audio card works fine and audio drivers are accepted by all my software so I think as long as your Blackmagic software recognises the device then you should be fine and your connected screen should output video assuming your hdmi cable is connected to the thunderbolt card. Hope that helps.
 
You should be able to accees it from any other working OS Sierra disk! You just have to implement the proper aml and kexts for NVME in the EFI-folder there!!!

Cheers,

KGP
Thanks KGP. I believe ive implemented everything correctly, thats the confusion. Anyway will try it all again. Cheers
 
The Perfect Customac Pro - macOS High Sierra 10.13 on X99 - Full Success

View attachment 266385

The logical continuation of my successful macOS Sierra 10.12 Desktop Guide and its extension to macOS High Sierra 10.13 has been published today (13 July 2017). Anybody, interested can follow THIS LINK.

Note that macOS High Sierra 10.13 is still in an early beta stage. Use this guide only for test purposes. Do not directly upgrade your macOS Sierra 10.12 System Drive!

How does it work kgp? Do you feel any performance difference? I will wait until 10.13.1 because I can't risk my workstation, I use for video editing and grading for every day... but I hope this new OP will bring some performance for us! :)
 
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