Troubleshooting Asus ThunderboltEX 3-TR with Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI)

[Kentsoon]

I am trying to get a Asus ThunderboltEX 3-TR Card working on my Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI) to connect a UA Apollo Twin x TB Audio Interface.

The TB 3-TR Card is original and NOT flashed.

So far I got this:
TB Card shows up under Thunderbolt

under PCI it shows ExpressCard ???

This is what I get in Hackintool PCI:

So far I have NOT implemented any TB-SSDT from Hackindrome. I tried, but nothing worked, so i took it out again.

I will also upload an IORegExplorer reading and a MaciASL Tableset and the opencore config.plist

So far I had no luck getting the Audio Interface working. I also reached the end of my knowledge here.

I think the TB 3-TR Card is still not correct installed in the DSDT. Next step would be to include an TB SSDT in the opencore EFI.

Anyone out there willing to troubleshoot with me - for me.

Thanks

 

[Kentsoon]

I did install Windows on my machine to verify that the Asus ThunderboltEX 3-TR is working.
I want to use it to connect an UAD Apollo Twin X Audio Interface.

The results:
The card shows up under windows device manager.
The Thunderbolt Control App shows "Port1" and "Port2"

In WIN10 and Big SUR:

1. I can connect a USB-C Drive to the TB3-ports and it will mount up after rebooting.
2. In WIN10 this drive has even Hot-Plug, in BigSur no Hot-Plug, so once disconneted it will not re-mount once connected again
3. I was not able to successfully connect the UAD Apollo Twin X Audio Interface. (not under Win10 and not under Bigsur)

So, tomorrow I try to find someone with a MacBook to connect the UAD Apollo Twin X Audio Interface.- just to make sure, that the TB-cable and the interface are working.

 

[etorix]

I looked at your files.

Please note that you should remove serial numbers before posting your config.plist. Edit your post as soon as possible to remove the config.plist, and replace it with an edited version.

Your DSDT already defines _SB.PCI0.RP21.UPSB and its _PRW method. Thunderbolt-USB3 stuff is in SSDT-7.
I downloaded a Thunderbolt hotplug SSDT from HackinDROM and tried to edit it to fit the existing DSDT entities. I also deleted reserved regions in DMAR.
The DSDT should not be in the ACPI section of an OpenCore config.plist, it is loaded automatically.

Please add the attached set of SSDTs (DMAC, DMAR2, DTPG and TB3EXTR) to EFI/OC/ACPI, delete the native DMAR table and disable quirk Booter>DevirtualiseMmio. Enable Vt-d in BIOS.
There is an edited config.plist with the changes, it only needs your serial numbers back.

If all goes well, you should see "AppleVTD" in IORegistryExplorer and a slightly different tree under RP21—and have working Thunderbolt under OS X (DTPG, TB3-TR), including the Apollo (Vt-d), with no adverse consequences on networking (DMAC, DMAR2).
If not, you may need help from @CaseySJ or @Elias64Fr to adjust the Thunderbolt SSDT.

May I ask why you use iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS with a fully patched iGPU? An iMac20 SMBIOS looks more appropriate.

 

[Elias64Fr]

I am trying to get a Asus ThunderboltEX 3-TR Card working on my Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI) to connect a UA Apollo Twin x TB Audio Interface.

The TB 3-TR Card is original and NOT flashed.

So far I got this:
TB Card shows up under Thunderbolt

View attachment 534102

under PCI it shows ExpressCard ???

View attachment 534103

This is what I get in Hackintool PCI:

View attachment 534104

So far I have NOT implemented any TB-SSDT from Hackindrome. I tried, but nothing worked, so i took it out again.

I will also upload an IORegExplorer reading and a MaciASL Tableset and the opencore config.plist

So far I had no luck getting the Audio Interface working. I also reached the end of my knowledge here.

I think the TB 3-TR Card is still not correct installed in the DSDT. Next step would be to include an TB SSDT in the opencore EFI.

Anyone out there willing to troubleshoot with me - for me.

Thanks

@Kentsoon

Unfortunaly, Thunderbolt device is on locked state with error 0xe00002eb and 0Gb/s

This result has been viewed last year on the beginning of experiment for Z390 Designare onboard Thunderbolt with SSDT only method (untouched firmware). During 20s after macOS booting to desktop, you should not have this error. It should appear after around 20sec.

For a full operating Thunderbolt device, we should patch your firmware. For this, you should dump and post this firmware with a CH341 programmer or Rpi4 like defined on @CaseySJ Z390 Designare tread.

UPDATE: This firmware v56 seem to have been patched, you can find it here

 

[Kentsoon]

Please note that you should remove serial numbers before posting your config.plist. Edit your post as soon as possible to remove the config.plist, and replace it with an edited version.

Of course, this is a fake serial not mine. I changed it before upload....I think?

May I ask why you use iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS with a fully patched iGPU? An iMac20 SMBIOS looks more appropriate.

Half a year ago, when I first started with OpenCore, I ended up with this configuration. It allowed me to have Audio over HDMI and DisplayPort on the i9-10850K Comet Lake iGPU. I do not have a dGPU. However, Audio works only if HDMI and DisplayPort are wired to Monitors. I works for me, but I am sure, there are better solutions. Back then, WhatEverGreen didn't handle Comet Lake iGPUs too well because they were pretty new. Maybe that has changed in the meantime.

Thanks for the SSDT and your effort, I really appreciate it. I will try it tomorrow and post here.

 

[Kentsoon]

For a full operating Thunderbolt device, we should patch your firmware. For this, you should dump and post this firmware with a CH341 programmer or Rpi4 like defined on @CaseySJ Z390 Designare tread.

@Elias64Fr
thanks for your post. Flashing for me is last resort. I first want to look into other solutions, but it's good to know, that flashing is possible for this Controller. I didn't know that.

 

[Kentsoon]

Update:

The Apollo Twin X Audio Interface works fine, when I connect it to a iMAC.

There is definitely something wrong with this controller

Summary:
This brand new Asus ThunderboltEX 3-TR Card only does USB-C, no Thunderbolt, no Displayport.

 

[Buttky]

Hello.

I just built my first Hackintosh one week ago.

Everything is working like a charm, except the Asus Thunderbolt EX 3 card. Like you @Kentsoon I used an Asus TUF gaming Z490-Plus Wifi Motherboard, and like you I would like to run a Thunderbolt Audio interface, in my case a Focusrite Clarett 8 pre. I followed the steps described on this guide:

[Success] Catalina 10.15 * EASY GUIDE * ASUS PRIME Z390-A * Intel i9 9900K * Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 56 Pulse * Asus ThunderboltEX 3 * WORKING TB

Hello, I thought that it would be time that I give something back to the community for helping me build my own hackintosh builds. This is my second build. When I started I thought it would be really easy because I tried to choose hardware with as few as possible installing problems. But when I...

www.tonymacx86.com

I couldn't follow all the steps of the BIOS configuration described on the guide, cause some options are not available on my Mobo Bios settings.

My system report "Thunderbolt" shows drivers not loaded, and I can't go forward. I tried to find information and other guides, but no one didn't work for me.

It's very frustrating, I even thought about selling the interface and go for a USB3 one, but I would definitely don't give up yet...

Any information about how to jump the "Drivers not loaded" wall would be very appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[Kentsoon]

@Buttky
I do not know a lot about hackintoshing Thunderbolt, otherwise I wouldn't be here.

I read the Thunderbolt section of the Catalina guide you mentioned. There it says:

install ClarettThunderboltDriver .... it installs SSDT-PMC.aml into EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched) (Download Thunderbolt Driver from HERE (Focusrite Website (Driver for Focusrite Clarett 4 Pre))

There is no way, that Focusrite provides an installer, that installs into Clover EFI !!! IMHO that would be illegal.

Anyway.
The choice is to flash the thunderbolt controller, which gives you an almost flawless experience or to tweak with SSDTs to get at least Thunderbolt audio working.

y system report "Thunderbolt" shows drivers not loaded

This is normal. As long as you do not flash the Thunderbolt Controller, it will always show this.

I just built my first Hackintosh one week ago.

One week is "no time". Just keep reading and learning and by christmas you will be thunderbolting...

You should get a second harddrive and install Windows10 on your Hackintosh. Then get Thunderbolt working in Windows first. Then extract the SSDTs in Windows as described here: (only takes five minutes).

Then install Opencore EFI for your Hackintosh with your own SSDTs and get the machine up and running.

Then post the results (EFI Folder) here. This is a good start to find someone who looks at your SSDTs and modifies them, so that thunderbolt will be working.

The BIOS settings are usually not so important. Basically all you need to know is here

Good luck.

 

[CaseySJ]

@Kentsoon,

If this card has flashed firmware, that would be very surprising.

• When you opened the package, did it look like the card had been removed and re-packaged?
• Does the online retailer sell "speciality" items (including flashing cards by themselves)?