X99 High Sierra not able to boot, but booted initially

[RutgerG]

Hello everyone!

After using El Capitan for a few years I thought it was time to update. But unfortunately I can't get things to work properly.
I've been busy with this for the past few days but can't find a solution. Hopefully you guys can help me out.

After successfully installing high Sierra on my system following this guide, it works for the first few reboots. But unfortunately it stops booting to MacOs for no reason after attempting to reboot for the 3rd of 4th time or so. It enters an endless loop of: starting computer>showing gigabyte logo(with some code overlay?)>clover counting down to boot MacOs>apple logo and bar for a few seconds> all over again.
In verbose mode things go really quick and there isn't a moment it hangs and shows a readable line of text that is of any use.

Even when using the bootable unibeast thumdrive, I can't get it to boot the right way. Tried combinations of -x -v -s, nv_disable=1, but to no avail.

At the moment I repeated the entire process of clean installing for 6 times now, thinking that I might did something wrong, but it just won't work.

You guys have any idea?

My system is as follows:

Gigabyte X99-ud5
Intel 5930k
8 x 4gb crucial ballistix RAM
Plextor 256gb m.2
2x 6 tb HGST (raid 0)
2x 3 tb HGST

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hello everyone!

After using El Capitan for a few years I thought it was time to update. But unfortunately I can't get things to work properly.
I've been busy with this for the past few days but can't find a solution. Hopefully you guys can help me out.

After successfully installing high Sierra on my system following this guide, it works for the first few reboots. But unfortunately it stops booting to MacOs for no reason after attempting to reboot for the 3rd of 4th time or so. It enters an endless loop of: starting computer>showing gigabyte logo(with some code overlay?)>clover counting down to boot MacOs>apple logo and bar for a few seconds> all over again.
In verbose mode things go really quick and there isn't a moment it hangs and shows a readable line of text that is of any use.

Even when using the bootable unibeast thumbdrive, I can't get it to boot the right way. Tried combinations of -x -v -s, nv_disable=1, but to no avail.

At the moment I repeated the entire process of clean installing for 6 times now, thinking that I might have done something wrong, but it just won't work.

You guys have any idea?

My system is as follows:

Gigabyte X99-ud5
Intel 5930k
8 x 4gb crucial ballistix RAM
Plextor 256gb m.2
2x 6 tb HGST (raid 0)
2x 3 tb HGST

Thanks in advance!

It seems to me that you were able to reach the High Sierra Installer using the Unibeast USB stick you made, correct? Because otherwise I don't see how you can reinstall High Sierra so many times.

Perhaps you might post the output when booting in verbose mode (-v) to let others with more knowledge see what happened?

 

[Jamesbond007]

I actually took your EFI folder, removed the APPLE folder inside it (I don't know its purpose but my configurations don't have it so I removed it.), changed the Nvidiaweb key in config.plist from <true/> to <false/> (since my GTX760 don't need the web drivers), copied it to a High Sierra Unibeast USB stick I made, and attempted to use the stick to boot High Sierra 10.13.6 on my X99 build.

It works on my system and I am able to reach the High Sierra desktop.

Have you checked your BIOS settings to be sure they are correct?

 

[RutgerG]

It seems to me that you were able to reach the High Sierra Installer using the Unibeast USB stick you made, correct? Because otherwise I don't see how you can reinstall High Sierra so many times.

Perhaps you might post the output when booting in verbose mode (-v) to let others with more knowledge see what happened?

Hi mr Bond, thanks for replying! Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I installed High Sierra, booted through the unibeast stick and did all necessary post-installation through multibeast, and also installed the webdrivers (without them my gtx 980 won't work correct). Afterwards I was able to boot just from the internal ssd without any issues and MacOs was running smoothly. But after some reboots, for no reason it stops working. From that moment it turns in a reboot loop as soon as it shows the Apple logo.
Even with the unibeast stick, I cannot boot into MacOs anymore. Therefore I installed it all over again, but the same happens over and over again after some reboots.
When booting in verbose mode, the text scrolls really fast but I managed to sort of read it when shooting a video in 240fps with my iPhone. Here's a youtube link to what is going on in verbose...

 

[RutgerG]

I actually took your EFI folder, removed the APPLE folder inside it (I don't know its purpose but my configurations don't have it so I removed it.), changed the Nvidiaweb key in config.plist from <true/> to <false/> (since my GTX760 don't need the web drivers), copied it to an High Sierra Unibeast USB stick I made, and attempted to use the stick to boot High Sierra 10.13.6 on my X99 build.

It works on my system and I am able to reach the High Sierra desktop.

Have you checked your BIOS settings to be sure they are correct?

Thanks for taking the effort to do so! I also don't know what the apple folder is meant for, but it's probably created for a reason, don't you think? I'm not sure.
Do you have the right resolution without the Web Drivers? I'm only able to see a very low res image until I install the web drivers, with the GTX 980.

In regards to the BIOS settings; I flashed the BIOS to the latest version, and loaded optimised settings as advised.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Thanks for taking the effort to do so! I also don't know what the apple folder is meant for, but it's probably created for a reason, don't you think? I'm not sure.

Do you have the right resolution without the Web Drivers? I'm only able to see a very low res image until I install the web drivers, with the GTX 980.

In regards to the BIOS settings; I flashed the BIOS to the latest version, and loaded optimized settings as advised.

The APPLE folder is already there when you created the Unibeast USB stick? That is strange, for I have never seen it myself when I created my sticks using Unibeast.

Yes, I have the right resolution without using the web drivers, since the GTX760 in my X99 system is natively supported. Your GTX980 is not natively supported and requires the web drivers for full support.

After you loaded optimized settings in the BIOS, the BIOS settings were restored to default. Did you change it back to the settings as required in the Installation Guide? If not this may be the cause of your problems.

 

[RutgerG]

Yes, it creates this folder automatically while installing through unibeast, every time.

I didn't know that the GTX760 was natively supported in MacOs, but off course it makes sense since this one is also compatible with the older Mac Pro

About the BIOS, I loaded optimized settings and configured it as suggested afterwards. Everything is set the way it should be I think.

I closely looked at the verbose mode in the video I made and saw some error lines concerning apfs. I'm wondering, is it possible that it has something to do with the new filesystem, maybe in combination with the plextor m.2 ssd?

 

[RutgerG]

I tried installing it on a traditional hard drive: no luck. Same behaviour from the third failed reboot (after 2 successful reboots prior to it)

 

[Jamesbond007]

I tried installing it on a traditional hard drive: no luck. Same behaviour from the third failed reboot (after 2 successful reboots prior to it)

What did you do to the system just before the failed reboot? Run MultiBeast?

 

[RutgerG]

I used multibeast and made all necessary settings. After that it just boots for a few times, but then every time it suddenly stops booting. I tried not to use multibeast and to boot from the unibeast stick. That gives no issues at all, but then off course the system won't perform very well, and Nvidia web drivers also won't work this way.