<< Solved >> Updated Catalina 10.15.3, asus rog strix z390-i, rx 5700 xt, EFI and Config

[piano08man]

Hi everyone! I hope you're well. Pinging @pastrychef @nch107 @iDrakus @ModMike @Gigamaxx

I wanted to say thank you for the help you all gave me back in November. I was the guy with the bummer CPU that ended up costing us days of troubleshooting. I'm starting the process of bumping my build up to 10.15.3 and was hoping to get your advice on that.

I never did get to the point where I was confident enough in my EFI to share it.

To jog your memory: I started with modmike's EFI - spoiler - everything should've worked there, but didn't because of my bad CPU. We spent the next several days working on a fresh EFI for my build. Here's a link to the thread with the last EFI we built:

[Solved] 10.15.1, updated kexts, pastrychef-verified EFI, 5700XT freezes in OS

I had to leave mine as iMacPro for it to keep the decoder supported - as soon as i switched to imac19,1 - which is my processor equivalent, it said decoder failed. Ok thanks.

www.tonymacx86.com

This was right before iDrakus chimed in saying that Modmike's EFI worked with his build after updating a couple kexts. That's when I went down the hardware rabbit hole and found out that it was my 9700k - it was the very first production run and a year old last November. I don't know this to be factual, but I've read early 9700k have had issues.

Here's iDrakus' updated version of modmike's EFI:

The everything works Asus Z390-I Gaming * i7-8700K * SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX Vega 64 Build

Taking a break now isn't a bad idea. It's not a lost cause and when you decide to get back to it then double check your graphic bios settings. Advanced Items > System Agent (SA) Graphics Configuration > DVMT Pre-Allocated > 128 I have also tried: Primary Display: PEG iGPU Multi Monitor...

www.tonymacx86.com

I think I ended up using that because we swapped it out during testing. When I swapped the CPU and had things working, I walked away. Ha! I don't think I'm running the EFI we built, but I'd like to change that.

Quick recap of pertinent info:

9900k
asus rog strix z390-e
RX 5700 XT

We had decided to set it up as iMac 19,1 with the iGPU enabled based on iDrakus' feedback.

I added an unnecessary layer of complexity by trying to have an Nvidia card in the computer at the same time - it didn't see to cause any problems, but I put together a different PC for gaming. This is just going to be a dedicated Mac without the need for dual boot. I snagged an external drive and did a carbon copy cloner backup... so I'm ready to break things.

1 - Are you aware of a working EFI for macOS 10.15.3 and my hardware yet? I don't have to start fresh, but I like clean and stable stuff.
2 - Would you be willing to work with me on the EFI again to get everything as up-to-date as possible?
3 - I'm always an advocate for starting clean, or even with the EFI that we worked on (because it started clean), and going from there, yes?
4 - I assume there's been significant changes since November, but I could be wrong. Where should I start to update my EFI?
5 - Any stability issues with 10.15.3? Does it seem like it's worth putting in the effort to get there right now?
6 - I'm currently on 10.15.1. Can I go straight to 10.15.3 with the updated EFI, or are there other steps?

I would really like to do an updated post with my build and this EFI. I'm sorry I didn't get to that point last time. I plan to eventually do a YouTube video showing off the build - and I'd like to link back here because this community is awesome.

On a related note: can we change my username to @burlimonster? That's the name of my YouTube stuff, so I'd love for it to match.

Thank you again, pastrychef et al. I appreciate all of you and the kindness you show to the community!!!

Burlimonster (piano08man)

 

[pastrychef]

The most significant change since that time is that NVRAM has been made to work on Z390.

macOS 10.15.3 has been solid for me. I'm one of the rare ones who never seem to have issues with macOS updates...

Do you use Sidecar or plan on using it in the future?

Please post your current EFI.

 

[piano08man]

That sounds great! I haven't ever messed with sidecar. I haven't installed the wireless card that works natively in this build yet, so sidecar isn't necessary. I may get to that at some point, but not today. So, future? Maybe. Soon? No.

You don't have issues because you do it correctly. ha!

I've attached the EFI from iDrakus (that I'm using) and the EFI we (pastrychef) built. I'm not sure which one you'd prefer to start with. I am currently using iDrakus' update from modmike.

 

[pastrychef]

That sounds great! I haven't ever messed with sidecar. I haven't installed the wireless card that works natively in this build yet, so sidecar isn't necessary. I may get to that at some point, but not today. So, future? Maybe. Soon? No.

You don't have issues because you do it correctly. ha!

I've attached the EFI from iDrakus (that I'm using) and the EFI we (pastrychef) built. I'm not sure which one you'd prefer to start with. I am currently using iDrakus' update from modmike.

Please try this from a USB flash drive to see if you can boot from it.

 

[nch107]

Hey @piano08man,

Yes I actually am up to date with the current 10.15.3 and I have made some upgrades due to hardware and software needs. I still have the dual Radeon 5700XT's installed and they work perfectly on the mac side. I do have a Nvidia Titan RTX installed as well and it is recognized but not picture obviously on the mac side. Wifi works with the PCie card recommended for our mobo and I have functional airdop, bluetooth and optical audio output from the onboard mobo. So far the only kext I have are the updated whatevergreen, lilu, ALC, Sata-100 and 200, usbinjectall, intelmausethernet, fakesmc.

I would advise waiting for a more official update from apple for the 10.15.4, dont mess with the betas, I made the mistake of updating, which worked pretty well with only two restarts, but once loaded my third monitor (wacom Cintiq24 4k) was magenta and everything I tried didnt work, so I ended up just loading my system into my iMAc and restoring a backup through timemachine.

 

[donw35]

my system is close to this as well, I have no problem with updates, everything is working as it should, sleep

I am using an Apple BMC49360 for WiFi and bluetooth. Sidecar does not work for me

@pastrychef , I am using EmuVariableUefi.efi for NVRAM, how did you enable it ?

 

[pastrychef]

@pastrychef , I am using EmuVariableUefi.efi for NVRAM, how did you enable it ?

1. Unlock MSR if you are using a Gigabyte motherboard. (Asus and ASRock motherboards should have it unlocked from the factory.)
2. Install SSDT-PMC to /EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/.
3. Add "slide=0" boot argument to config.plist.
4. Delete EmuVariableUefi.efi.
5. Change Aptio fix to AptioMemoryFix.efi if you aren't already using it.

 

[piano08man]

Hi all, I'm back with an update. @pastrychef, the EFI you made for me seems to be working just fine. I assume I'm safe to copy it to the boot drive and do the rest of the steps with clover?

 

[piano08man]

I also noticed that having HDMI and DP plugged in seems to cause a severe stutter in visuals on the screen. Is that known behavior? It was doing it with 10.15.2 and 10.15.3. I've since removed the HDMI cable and am just using DP.

I'm also getting a GPT error from the mobo on boot. I tried the "auto recover" thing the ASUS BIOS recommended. I didn't notice the visual stuttering until then switching this. I switched it back to "local" and noticed no difference; still stuttering.

The drive was originally in a different PC with the windows boot partition too... same mobo, just the ATX vs the mini ITX. However, I've had the EFI on this drive since day one. So, I'm not really sure if what I have done is causing problems -- or if HMDI and DP just can't be used simultaneously. I don't remember testing that previously.

I'll look into the GPT error more if the HDMI issue is known.

 

[pastrychef]

Hi all, I'm back with an update. @pastrychef, the EFI you made for me seems to be working just fine. I assume I'm safe to copy it to the boot drive and do the rest of the steps with clover?

If it works, just replace the EFI that you currently have on your main system drive and you are done.

There are no "rest of the steps with clover".