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Warning/Report: Booting Clover on a real Mac can be dangerous

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Oct 16, 2016
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Motherboard
MSI Z170A Gaming M3
CPU
Intel i7 6700K
Graphics
ASUS STRIX GTX 1080 Ti
TL;DR Clover messed up my Mac's firmware, had to remove logic board, reprogram a really tiny chip with a Raspberry Pi, countless hours wasted.

Also, I LOVE Clover...on real PC hardware. But don't boot it just for fun on your Mac, you'll maybe regret it.

I just wanted to report my experience here as I'm sure someone will try this, just like I did and really mess up their Mac.
I have read on multiple occasions that nothing will happen, even by RehabMan.

So I decided to boot Clover on my MacBook Pro 13" early 2015. I did not boot an OS and also didn't modify the settings, but decided to turn the Mac off after playing around for a bit.
After powering the Mac down, it would not boot again.

When it is powered on, you hear the chime one time and the backlight turns on. After that you will hear the second half of the chime looped infinitely. Nothing except for the SMC reset will work, every action that requires powering the Mac on will result in the loop.

To fix it, I had to fully disassemble it, remove the Logic Board and access a tiny SOIC8 chip (the chip containing the UEFI firmware) on the BACK of the LB using the POMONA 5250 clip and then dump the corrupted firmware (will explain why), then reprogram the EEPROM with a Raspberry Pi and 8 cables with a dumped original firmware I had downloaded. You cannot download every original dump for every Mac model, every dump came from forum users and I got lucky to even find one for my machine.

Then, I had to open the corrupted dump with a Hex Editor and find the Intel ME region and how long it is, copy it to the new downloaded dump (without a clean or original ME region your Mac will be unbearably slow) and also find the serial number and replace it with my own. Then I had to reprogram the chip with the new, modified ROM.

Also, the chip is so damn tiny the clip could not make proper contact and I had to physically remove plastic from the clip to further expose the contacts and hold it in place by a contraption of lego bricks and elastic bands. I had to try over an hour just to make stable contact.

All in all I spent countless hours researching and waited over a week for the damn clip ($25 btw + $4 for cables) to arrive.
8/10 experience cannot complain but wouldn't recommend.
 
I did the same "Clover into real Mac" operation. Could you help me, please? My Skype ID: Thank you so much! Thank you so much!

Please read the rules before posting:

  • Members may not solicit nor provide assistance via private communications. This forum was created to provide help by posting questions and getting answers. By not publicly discussing you are depriving others of solutions to problems they may encounter.
 
Please read the rules before posting:

  • Members may not solicit nor provide assistance via private communications. This forum was created to provide help by posting questions and getting answers. By not publicly discussing you are depriving others of solutions to problems they may encounter.
Thanks for your reminder. Sorry. I won't.
 
I'm in the same position actually,
I need to reprogram my chip.

Could you give me a link to a dumped original firmware to spare some time ?

Indeed I already spent many hours to find those explanations ...

Thanks in advance
 
Thanks for the answer :) Did that work out for you ?
 
If anyone is wondering, I followed the instructions from the site GhostlyHaks how to reflash the EFI chip.

GhostlyHaks also provides clean firmware files, but be careful as the one for this machine was not cleaned, so you have to replace the serial AND the Intel ME Region on your own. The latter is quite hard to get right. (And almost impossible to get right without the corrupted dump)

I also tried to do the same on another 2015 13" MacBook Pro, but it had a different chip on which the POMONA clip won't work, so the only alternative was the EasyFlash 4.0.3 adapter (also from GH) BUT it COULD destroy the 2015 13" MacBook Pro which is stated clearly on the site. As it was the only option apart from buying a new Logic Board, I bought one and tried it. It did however destroy the Logic Board (no charger light, completely dead) and now I have to buy a new one.
Don't blame GH for the dead Logic Board, I was fully aware of the risk.

Also why does writing a reply lock up the site every 30 seconds for about 10 seconds? Really annoying. (Android 7.1.1, OnePlus 3, Chrome 60.0)
 
Last edited:
If anyone is wondering, I followed the instructions from the site GhostlyHaks how to reflash the EFI chip.

GhostlyHaks also provides clean firmware files, but be careful as the one for this machine was not cleaned, so you have to replace the serial AND the Intel ME Region on your own. The latter is quite hard to get right. (And almost impossible to get right without the corrupted dump)

I also tried to do the same on another 2015 13" MacBook Pro, but it had a different chip on which the POMONA clip won't work, so the only alternative was the EasyFlash 4.0.3 adapter (also from GH) BUT it COULD destroy the 2015 13" MacBook Pro which is stated clearly on the site. As it was the only option apart from buying a new Logic Board, I bought one and tried it. It did however destroy the Logic Board (no charger light, completely dead) and now I have to buy a new one.
Don't blame GH for the dead Logic Board, I was fully aware of the risk.

Also why does writing a reply lock up the site every 30 seconds for about 10 seconds? Really annoying. (Android 7.1.1, OnePlus 3, Chrome 60.0)


I cannot use the clean GhostlyHaks EFI Bumps? I don't understand this part. I Having same problem!
 
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