Unable to finish Catalina install - ASUS z490 & i5 10400 with iGPU

[szalayfilm]

Can someone give me some advice on this current install? I'm using "EFI for Catalina" from @Middleman and I can't seem to finish. The install gets to about 2 minutes left and then restarts. I attached an image below of the message that flashes before restarting. After it reboots, if I select my Samsung SSD I am installing to, it will throw up what I'm guessing is an error (2nd image attached). I keep getting that same error if I continue selecting my SSD drive at boot.

I'm installing from a 16GB Corsair USB drive that has been reliable with several other installs. Both the USB and SSD I am installing to are GUID partition & Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I created the USB on a 2017 Intel MacBook Air using Terminal with a copy of Catalina 10.15.7. I've turned off a majority of kernels to keep it simple. I've used iMac 18,3 and iMac 20,1 for definitions. I'm lost on DP. I know there are things I probably don't need in there, but I was apprehensive to remove anything without knowing. I'm using OpenCore 0.6.8 editing with OCAuxiliaryTools set to OC 0.6.8. I don't have a dGPU at the moment so I'm using the iGPU.

I've set the BIOS as follows (some things I couldn't find for my ASUS board)
DISABLED = Fast boot, Serial port, VT-d, CSM, Thunderbolt, Intel SGX (I also cleared security keys)
ENABLED = VT-x, Above 4G, Hyper-Threading, EHCI/XHCI, DVMT is 64MB, AHCI, and OS type is "other" as I've seen recommended by Feartech since it is an ASUS board.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Middleman]

Okay @szalayfilm,

I've had a look at your build, and having found an EFI build for your ASUS here, have matched the settings and made a number of corrections using Opencore Configurator & OCAT for Catalina+ use.

First of all you must understand the reason why it didn't seem to boot properly was because my EFI was meant for the Gigabyte Z490 series. As yours was an ASUS there is a chance that things may not work the same way. A good example of this is the Thunderbolt feature of the Gigabyte board which I believe yours do not have. It uses SSDTs such as the SSDT-DTPG and SSDT-TB3-HP so these must be removed.

Anyways I've removed and replaced most of the ACPIs and unneeded drivers to ones appropriate for your board setup and also updated the OC and kexts to OC 0.9.3 and removed all AMD settings. I've also transferred your SMBIOS serials from your old EFI over to the new EFI build so give it a try.

 

[szalayfilm]

Okay @szalayfilm,

I've had a look at your build, and having found an EFI build for your ASUS here, have matched the settings and made a number of corrections using Opencore Configurator & OCAT for Catalina+ use.

First of all you must understand the reason why it didn't seem to boot properly was because my EFI was meant for the Gigabyte Z490 series. As yours was an ASUS there is a chance that things may not work the same way. A good example of this is the Thunderbolt feature of the Gigabyte board which I believe yours do not have. It uses SSDTs such as the SSDT-DTPG and SSDT-TB3-HP so these must be removed.

Anyways I've removed and replaced most of the ACPIs and unneeded drivers to ones appropriate for your board setup and also updated the OC and kexts to OC 0.9.3 and removed all AMD settings. I've also transferred your SMBIOS serials from your old EFI over to the new EFI build so give it a try.

Thank you for your help and for taking the time to explain what was wrong. While troubleshooting can be frustrating at times, I really enjoy learning about the process. I'll give these settings a try today and update how it goes.

 

[Middleman]

Thank you for your help and for taking the time to explain what was wrong. While troubleshooting can be frustrating at times, I really enjoy learning about the process. I'll give these settings a try today and update how it goes.

Sure! And you're welcome.

 

[szalayfilm]

I loaded your EFI and wasn't able to get past seeing two options for OC tools (image below). I tried resetting NVRAM from another USB from which I had originally attempted a Ventura install, but it does sort of the same thing, except it shows all of the OC tools. Last, I recreated the USB installer and added the EFI but I got the same results.

 

[Middleman]

@szalayfilm

I must beg for your forgiveness - apologies at my end, I believe I'd made a minor mistake earlier with the drivers and tools section especially with the OpenHFSPlus.efi (HFS format driver) not being loaded because it hadn't been enabled. It has now been corrected, give it a try.

 

[szalayfilm]

No apologies needed! I can't thank you enough for your time and help. Unfortunately the quest for installation continues . Your updated files allowed me to select to install Catalina, but I got a different error. Then after reboot it comes up with the error in the second image.

 

[Middleman]

So it actually installed! Okay great! So for the next bit here’s something you could try. When you press your F key for the boot menu, select your Catalina boot USB key but when the menu appears select ResetNVRAM in the menu. This will clear and reset the NVRAM cache and whatever might be causing the non-boot issue. Then you try and reboot from the USB stick again before selecting your Catalina installed drive.

 

[szalayfilm]

Sorry if I wasn't clear in my previous post. I haven't been able to boot to the macOS install menu yet. I am able to reset the NVRAM, but when I choose Install macOS Catalina, it gives me the error in the image below and reboots back to the BIOS. With everything I've attempted so far in this journey, I have been able to get the furthest with your original EFI for Catalina. Something in that Config lets me at least load the Catalina install menu to format the SSD and begin installation to it.

 

[Middleman]

Okay. I think I know the reasons why. So I have used my own EFI for Catalina and updated it to OC 0.9.3, also taking into account your lack of Thunderbolt 3 (removed the relevant SSDTs, including the HPET and RHUB). Otherwise everything should else should be the same. Differing from the last EFI I decided to keep the SMBIOS iMac18,3 as I think that could work.