Weird booting problem after upgrading to Clover 5099 (and then back down)

[rwillett]

Hi,

I was preparing my Mohave system for an upgrade to Catalina. My first thing to do was upgrade Clover to a more recent version.

so I

1. Made a full backup of the boot disk (a 1TB Samsung SSD) with Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Downloaded Clover 5099 as Clover Configurator stated the 5100 wasn't available.
3. Installed Clover to my hard disk and rebooted.
4. I could not get it to boot.
5. Struggled to get any USB to boot from my system, as the system froze at the Gigabyte splash screen. Couldn't get into BIOS.
6. Pulled the 1TB disk, put it in a enclosure, then connected that to my Macbook, loaded up the EFI and copied over the last working Clover installation to the EFI partition.
7. Put the SSD back in the Hack, powered up.
8. Didn't work. Couldn't get past the logon screen.
9. Unplugged the data cable from the disk, powered up and managed to get the Gigabyte to complain that there was no boot disk present.
9. Plugged the SATA data cable back in, powered up.
10 . Machine now boots.

Ok, slight glitch, but then when I powered the machine down again and tried to power on, it fails at the Gigabyte splash screen.

To get the machine to boot, I have to unplug the SATA SSD, power up so that the "no operating system error" occurs, power down, put the SSD in and then it works. Clearly there is something not quite right. Repeatable over 5 attempts.

Clover is working at the same version as before. I removed all files in the EFI and copied over the working EFI backup directory and Clover when rebooting reports the right version.

I have checked every BIOS parameter against the pictures I took a year ago and posted here and they are identical.

Something must be triggering a change by booting with no disk in and so it only works the next time.

This is on an existing Hack thats been running for 3 or more years and nothing has changed (as far as I know).

Any suggestions or ideas welcomed.

Thanks

Rob

 

[Big-W]

You should have put which Clover version you were updating from. If it was an older version have a look at this thread;
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/update-clover-from-4813-to-5045.282591/

 

[rwillett]

Yep, you're right. It was Clover 4769 I started with.

I'm writing this on my Hack now and once it's booted, its fine. It's just this weird issue where you have to get it to state there is no boot disk present, then power up, then reattach the disk and it works.

 

[Big-W]

Is your SSD a 970 evo disk by any chance? If it is check you have newest firmware installed. The easiest way to do this is to use samsung magician software in windows.

 

[rwillett]

@Big-W (?)

Thanks for the reply. The SSD is an Samsung 960 Evo. I also have the same issue with a Crucial 512GB M4 SSD, so it's not SSD related.

What I think is happening is that something on the install is changing a hidden flag/value in the BIOS and that rebooting with no bootable disk is then resetting this flag, then when I actually connect the SSD it works.

I suspect I'm going to have to reset the MB manually and then reenter every value (again!).

 

[Big-W]

I suspect I'm going to have to reset the MB manually and then reenter every value (again!).

Sounds like it, but worth checking the SSD firmware

 

[rwillett]

I'll check but since it happens on three disks now, I suspect its the MB.

 

[rwillett]

After a week of messing around and trying all sorts of combinations of SSD's, USB's Mojave and Clover, I've finally managed to get my very first SSD working again without the MB refusing to boot.

There appears to be some sort of interaction with my Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H motherboard and a recent version of Clover and the USB key that stops the MB BIOS from working. There may also be some sort of link to the days of the week, the phases of the moon and whether or not I combed my hair to the right or left for all I know.

After resetting the MB bios to the default values and working my way through the settings (thankfully I have pictures of every screen), I got Clover 5099 working with Mojave and it booting reliably on the 960EVO disk. I notice that 5100 is now available on Clover Configurator, but as this is working at the moment it's staying there.

I can honestly say I have no idea how I it working again, but thankfully it is.

The whole intention here was to check that Catalina would work properly on a spare SSD before I touched my main Mojave SSD. Thankfully I still have my main SSD (plus the spare CCC copy).

I can't see me adding any value to this thread now so I'm considering it closed. Thanks for the help.

Rob