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Word to the wise: Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi mobo- DVI-I port not supported

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Sep 22, 2014
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Motherboard
GA-Z87N-Wifi
CPU
i7-4790K
Graphics
Intel HD 4600
Mac
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Classic Mac
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I thought I would make a nice PSA for people looking to make a build using the Gigabyte Z87N-wifi motherboard.

I am an artist, and use a Wacom Cintiq tablet display on a daily basis. The cintiq's standard output is DVI-I. The Z87N-Wifi's only non-HDMI display port is DVI-I. A match made in heaven, I thought.

I have spent an entire week trying to figure out why I couldn't get my intel HD 4600 graphics injection working. Turns out, the DVI-I input is putting an analog signal into the mix, which doesn't jive with OS X, interfere's with graphics and won't allow a proper boot. The noob that I am, I used flags willy nilly to solve my problem and landed on PCIRootUID=1 to get me into the installer and eventually OS X. This is the ONLY way to boot into OS X using a DVI-I monitor. Turns out PCIRootUID=1, from what I can tell, nulls graphics injection, instead forcing VESA graphics mode. Barebones, nothing to it graphics with somewhere between 3-7 MB VRAM.

Not knowing all the above kept me tinkering, researching, and asking fruitless questions for a week straight and upwards of 50 hrs wasted time. I used an HDTV early in the process to see if it would work, but I kept using the same flags. Obviously this comes from inexperience, and someone who knows how every flag works would know what to use and when. I eventually, by dumb luck booted without flags using HDMI and wouldn't you know it, I entered the installer with proper graphics, resolution detection and it was mostly smooth sailing from there. I am going to Fry's tomorrow to get an active DVI-I to HDMI converter so I may continue using my Cintiq on my new rig.

tl;dr - DVI-I input interferes with graphics detection on this board. DVI-D is unsupported. The only working display ports available on this board for use in OS X are 2x HDMI. Use converters for any DVI-I displays you need to use.

Please correct me if I'm wrong and you have a working DVI-I setup with this board (discrete graphics cards not included).
 
I thought I would make a nice PSA for people looking to make a build using the Gigabyte Z87N-wifi motherboard.

I am an artist, and use a Wacom Cintiq tablet display on a daily basis. The cintiq's standard output is DVI-I. The Z87N-Wifi's only non-HDMI display port is DVI-I. A match made in heaven, I thought.

I have spent an entire week trying to figure out why I couldn't get my intel HD 4600 graphics injection working. Turns out, the DVI-I input is putting an analog signal into the mix, which doesn't jive with OS X, interfere's with graphics and won't allow a proper boot. The noob that I am, I used flags willy nilly to solve my problem and landed on PCIRootUID=1 to get me into the installer and eventually OS X. This is the ONLY way to boot into OS X using a DVI-I monitor. Turns out PCIRootUID=1, from what I can tell, nulls graphics injection, instead forcing VESA graphics mode. Barebones, nothing to it graphics with somewhere between 3-7 MB VRAM.

Not knowing all the above kept me tinkering, researching, and asking fruitless questions for a week straight and upwards of 50 hrs wasted time. I used an HDTV early in the process to see if it would work, but I kept using the same flags. Obviously this comes from inexperience, and someone who knows how every flag works would know what to use and when. I eventually, by dumb luck booted without flags using HDMI and wouldn't you know it, I entered the installer with proper graphics, resolution detection and it was mostly smooth sailing from there. I am going to Fry's tomorrow to get an active DVI-I to HDMI converter so I may continue using my Cintiq on my new rig.

tl;dr - DVI-I input interferes with graphics detection on this board. DVI-D is unsupported. The only working display ports available on this board for use in OS X are 2x HDMI. Use converters for any DVI-I displays you need to use.

Please correct me if I'm wrong and you have a working DVI-I setup with this board (discrete graphics cards not included).
Try using clover with the HD4600 config.plist from the guide - http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-desktop-guides/144426-how-install-os-x-yosemite-using-clover.html

I have the Z87I Deluxe working using it.
 
Try using clover with the HD4600 config.plist from the guide - http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-desktop-guides/144426-how-install-os-x-yosemite-using-clover.html

I have the Z87I Deluxe working using it.

i actually did just that out of desperation, because I'm inexperienced and clover raises the bar a bit for how much know-how you need. It proved problematic because in order to mount the install dmg
as bootable with the terminal script you have to have a relatively recent OS X. I was working on a snow leopard MacBook Pro that couldn't be updated, so I had to track down a friend's 2011 MBP to prep the USB key. After all that effort I never could get the clover install on my SSD to show up as bootable media. Just wouldn't be recognized no matter what I did. But I did notice that in the installer the graphics were a-ok, so if that method works for folks, more power to ya. I however had to revert to chimera and use a converter as a workaround.
 
After many hours of searching and experimenting, I've come to the same conclusion as MartySMcFly88. I've only been able to get 1280x1024 resolution with the DVI output. Simply changing to a different monitor and using HDMI, I was able to achieve 1920x1080 resolution just by rebooting with a different monitor. Both of the monitors I used (DVI and HDMI) are capable of 1920x1200.

In both cases, however, the HD4600 is not recognized and I still have "No Kext Loaded" with 5MB VRAM.

Despite much time searching, I haven't come across any solutions - but then again I'm still somewhat of a noob and perhaps come across the answer without knowing it. :banghead:
 
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