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[GUIDE] ASRock Z97 Pro4 El capitan with Clover UEFI Installation


Burdien441
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This guide is intended to share my experience with the successful El Capitan installation on ASRock Z97 Pro4 using Clover UEFI boot.

 

Firstly, I want to thank all of the members of insanely Mac,  I spent countless hours reading through information and learning as much as I could.  Thanks to each of you for your time, dedication and efforts to further the goals of the community.  (I will definitely become an active member and post whatever findings I have, guides etc).

 

Secondly, I wanted to give credit to Rednous, I followed his guide located here. (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/302041-guide-asrock-h97-pro4-yosemite-with-clover-uefi-installation/)  Even though his board is not identical, it was similiar and i was able to follow some of his bios settings and use some of the information, it was definitely useful for my install.  I also followed the same format as his thread as I found it easy to read and understand. 

 

Lastly, I am no expert on this matter and I may have a mistake or two here or there.  I am still in the learning phase.  I will post what worked for me and attempt to answer any questions if there are any, hopefully this will help others who have this board.  (I still have a few issues to work out but I will keep reading and hopefully some of you out there will be able to assist me.  I ran out of time, so when I get home from work I will be back at it again and try to figure out the solution to the issues that I have.)

 

(NOTE: This write up is a work in progress, It is incomplete and as I get time I will add to it and eventually complete it.  It will take me a few days so bear with me and check back often.)

 

Guide contents:
 

1. Things you will need
2. Hardware specifications
3. Preparing Clover USB thumb with El Capitan
4. Installing El Capitan
5. Post installation

6. Files & links

7. Credits

8. Update to 11.3

 

 

 

1. Things you will need:

 

   a. A working mac or hackintosh to set up the installation thumb drive (or borrow a friend, family members or someone else who has one, or get them to make the installation thumb drive for you.)

   b. Install El Capitan.app

   c. Clover bootloader

   d. Clover Configurator (not absolutely necessary but it makes editing the config.plist much much easier!)

   e. Thumb drive at least 8GB

   f. Patience, and lots of it!

   g. willingness to read through the forums

  

 

 

2. Hardware specifications:

 

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Pro4 AMI UEFI BIOS v.2.20

CPU: Intel i5-4690K
SSD: Samsung EVO 850 250GB
Video: EVGA nVidia GT 740SC 4GB DDR5 RAM
Audio: Realtek ALC892
Ethernet: Intel I218-V
RAM: 2 x 4GB Kingston HyperX @ 1600MHz
 
ASRock Z97 Pro4 is a wonderful choice for building a working El Capitan Hackintosh. It worked well for me and other than a few hitches it was relatively easy.  (I still have some issues to work out and I will update this thread as I fix them).

 

 

 

3. Preparing Clover USB thumb with El Capitan
 

 

3.1 Preparing the USB thumb drive with El Capitan and Clover on a real Mac or Hackintosh:
 
You'll need an 8GB USB thumb drive, the "Install OS X El Capitan.app" (make sure it resides in the /Applications folder). Using Disk Utility format the thumb drive with GUID partition mapping and name it "Install" (without the quotes, the name Install is used by the below terminal command). Then open Terminal and paste the following command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Install --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El Capitan.app --nointeraction

You'll be asked to enter your password, type it and hit enter. The copying process will take up to max 10—15 minutes.
 

Install Clover r3346 Download Here to the USB thumb drive with checked Install for UEFI booting only option:

 

 

(Image to come soon)

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/310894-guide-asrock-z97-pro4-el-capitan-with-clover-uefi-installation/

 

 

Copy FakeSMC.kext (mandatory for booting OS X) to /EFI/Clover/kext/10.11 (Clover automatically creates a 10.11 Folder, if it does not exist create it or upgrade to a new version of clover):

 

(Image coming soon)

 

Copy HFSPlus.efi to /EFI/Clover/drivers64UEFI/ and delete VBoxHFS.efi from the same folder (example below):

 

(Image coming soon)

 

Don't remove the USB thumb, it will be used to boot Clover and to install El Capitan.
 

 

3.2. UEFI BIOS setup
 
Restart the system and hit F2 or delete to enter the UEFI BIOS setup.

         Make sure the below settings are setup as following:
 

Advanced / CPU Configuration:

 

 

Advanced / Chipset Configuration:

Primary Graphics Adapter = PCI Express

VT-d = Disabled

IGPU = Disabled

 

Advanced / Storage Configuration:

SATA Controller(s) = Enabled

SATA Mode Selection = AHCI

 

Advanced:

Intel Rapid Start Technology = Disabled

 

Advanced:

Intel Smart Connect = Disabled

 

Advanced:

Intel Thunderbolt = DIsabled (Enable if you have thunderbolt)

 

 

Advanced:

Super IO Configuration

 

 

 

Advanced / ACPI Configuration:

Suspend to RAM = Auto

Check Ready Bit = Enabled

ACPI HPET Table = Enabled

RTC Alarm Power On = By OS (this setting doesn't cause system waking on every 2 hours!)

USB Keyboard / Remote Power On = Enabled

USB Mouse Power On = Enabled

 

 

Advanced / USB Configuration:

USB Controller = Enabled

Intel USB3.0 Mode = Smart Auto

Legacy USB Support = Enabled

Legacy USB3.0 Support = Enabled

USB Compatibility Patch = Disabled

 

 

Boot:

CSM (Compatibility Support Module) = Disabled
 

Security:

Secure Boot = Disabled

 

 

Save these settings and exit the UEFI BIOS setup.

 

 

4. Installing El Capitan

 

 

    4.1. Booting from the Clover USB thumb with the El Capitan installation


Make sure the USB thumb is attached to a USB 2.0 port before booting the El Capitan installation!

 
4.1.1. Boot the USB thumb to Clover and select "Install OS X El Capitan", hit enter, the installation will begin. Initial installation will prepare the drive of your choice for approx. 5—8 min and then the system will be restarted.

 

4.1.2. Again boot the USB to Clover and select "Install OS X El Capitan". This time the final installation will take up to 10—15 mins and again will restart the system.

 

4.1.3. Boot for third time with the Clover USB thumb and boot to your freshly installed Yosemite SSD or HDD (The Hard Drive where you installed OS X El Capitan).

(Note: Before I could boot to the hard drive after installation I Had to use the following boot flags dart=0 nv_disable=1) enable these flags in clover prior to attempting to boot to your hard drive!)

 

 

5. Post installation

 
    5.1 Installing Clover On Your OSX Drive

 

5.1.1 Install Clover to your El Capitan boot drive (select Install for UEFI booting only), use the same settings as in section 2.1..

 

    5.2 Installing FakeSMC.kext to the clover kext folder (Important, you will not be able to boot from your hard drive without doing this)

 

5.2.1 Open clover configurator.  when clover configurator opens it will ask you about updating to the newest clover and it may give you a warning about not finding config.plist.  You can ignore both of these things and close them out.  On The left side of the Clover configurator window, you will see an area for section and an area for tools.  Under the tools section click on mount EFI Partition.  Next, at the bottom of the Clover Configurator screen a set of buttons should appear.  Click on the check partition button.  Clover will list your disk drives and the partitions.  Locate the one that has the apple EFI partition on it.  (if you only have the drive you installed OSX El Capitan on plugged in, it will be the only drive available.  It is probably easiest to just have the one hard drive plugged in.) The box in the middle of the configurator screen will open and list your hard drive partitions.  Next, once you have determined your OSX drive containing your Apple EFI partion (Where you installed clover) at the bottom of the clover Congifurator panel, click mount EFI Partition.  A window will appear showing you the selectable partitions.  Click on the partition containing your Apple EFI boot.  Next click open partition.  Your EFI partition will open, and you will see the EFI folder in a window.  Navigate to EFI/Clover/Kext 10.11.  Copy FakeSMC.kext (mandatory for booting OS X) to /EFI/Clover/kext/10.11.

 

 

    5.3 Additional preparation for Clover booting from OSX Drive

 

5.3.1Copy CLOVERX64.efi to the root of the EFI folder and rename it to SHELLX64.efi, and make sure now the Clover EFI folder looks like this:

 

24lk7px.png

 

 

 

    5.4  Setting up your config.plist on your OSX hard drive

 

5.4.1 since you have been navigating through your EFI folder on your OSX drive, it should still be open. 

         Navigate to EFI/Clover/Config.plist.  Click on config.plist.  Clover Configurator will automatically open a 

         window containing the current config.plist settings.  This is where you will do some of the work necessary

         to fine tune your system.  You will notice several tabs and options.  Familiarize yourself with each one and

         prepare to do a bit of work to get the config.plist set to your own taste.  I will provide you with the base

         settings I used to get my system up and going.  You should do some research and learning on the

         config.plist in order to fine tune the config.plist to suit your taste.

 

 

  

   5.5.  Getting Sound on your System

          

5.5.1 There is a great method for getting sound working on El Capitan located here!

 

5.5.2 Select your preferred method and follow through the instructions to get working sound.

 

 

 

   5.6. Installing the nVidia GT 740SC Web drivers (Optional, only if you have GT 740SC) For other video
          cards check the forums (Read and ask
questions if necessary)

 (Note, these web drivers work for other NVIDIA video cards as well, research your particular  

  model to see if web drivers are necessary or if there are other

  requirements.)

 

5.6.1 First, go to the top left corner of your screen and click on the apple symbol.  Select about this Mac.  When

         the system profiler box appears, click the system report button.  (Under system  report you will notice

         three tabs: Hardware, Network, and Software.  click on the software tab.  In the box on the right, a system

         software overview will appear.  Check under system Version.  This will show your particular install of OSX

         as well as the build version. example OSX 10.10 (14C109).  This build version is important as the

         NVIDIA WEB drivers are specific to your build and version.

 

5.6.2 Download NVIDIA web drivers for your version and build here!

 

5.6.3.  Install the NVIDIA web drivers.  Just click on the file and follow the onscreen instructions.  After you

           install the drivers, the system will prompt you to reboot.  (Note, please keeep your thumb drive in as you

           will need it to boot.  Clover will not appear as a bootable option in your bios just yet.  We will make that

           happen soon.) 

 

5.6.4  A strange issues occurs that I have not been able to figure out.  It is easy to fix but this is the problem. 

          After installing the NVIDIA web drivers, your system version will change. I had mine set at 14,1 but for

          some odd reason it changes it to 8.1.  This causes the web driver not to function properly as the version

          of OSX will have changed.  In order to work around this, when your system restarts, when you get to the

          clover boot screen go to options.  add the boot flag Nv_disable=1.  Look for the Nvda_drv=1 flag and

          remove it.  Boot into the system.

 

5.6.5.  Start clover configurator.  mount and open the EFI partition (As per previous examples) Go to the tab

           and set your system back to 14,1 or whichever version you had set prior to it being changed.  save the

           settings to your boot.plist  restart the system, and log back in.  Your graphics will be working properly.

           working properly and things will look much nicer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

   5.7 Adding Clover to BIOS UEFI boot menu:

 

The goal of this procedure is to add Clover as a boot item in the BIOS UEFI Boot menu and to get rid of the Clover USB thumb as a boot option. 

 
5.7.1. Restart the system and boot again with the Clover USB thumb drive. You'll see a screen similar to the below (depends on the chosen theme during Clover installation):

 

29z6iaa.jpg

 

 

5.7.2. Go to Start UEFI Shell 64 (the highlighted icon) and hit enter. Shortly after you'll get the below screen: 

 

2rro5j7.jpg
 

Find bootx64.efi on HDD EFI partition with the combination of the following commands:


Shell> map fs* ➝ Show all partitions
Shell> fs0: (or fs1: or fs2: ...)Switch to fs0, fs1, fs2,... partitions
Shell> ls List the contents of current partition / directory
Shell> cd \efi\boot  Change the directory to \efi\boot

Shell> ls

Then:


Shell> help bcfg -b -v ➝ Get help on bcfg command 

Shell> bcfg boot dump  List current boot options

Shell> bcfg boot add N bootx64.efi "Clover" ➝ Add bootx64.efi from the current dir (\efi\boot) as a boot option labeled "Clover" (You will see this name also in the UEFI BIOS Boot menu boot items). N is the boot option number: 0 if you want it to be the first, 1 to be the second, etc.

Shell> bcfg boot dump ➝ Check if Clover is added

Shell> reset ➝ Restart the system

Edited by Burdien441
Codebox added.
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5.7 Adding Clover to BIOS UEFI boot menu:

 

The goal of this procedure is to add Clover as a boot item in the BIOS UEFI Boot menu and to get rid of the Clover USB thumb as a boot option. 

 

5.7.1. Restart the system and boot again with the Clover USB thumb drive. You'll see a screen similar to the below (depends on the chosen theme during Clover installation):

 

29z6iaa.jpg

 

 

5.7.2. Go to Start UEFI Shell 64 (the highlighted icon) and hit enter. Shortly after you'll get the below screen: 

 

2rro5j7.jpg

 

Find bootx64.efi on HDD EFI partition with the combination of the following commands:

Shell> map fs* ➝ Show all partitions

Shell> fs0: (or fs1: or fs2: ...)Switch to fs0, fs1, fs2,... partitions

Shell> ls List the contents of current partition / directory

Shell> cd \efi\boot  Change the directory to \efi\boot

Shell> ls

 

Then:

Shell> help bcfg -b -v ➝ Get help on bcfg command 

Shell> bcfg boot dump  List current boot options

Shell> bcfg boot add N bootx64.efi "Clover" ➝ Add bootx64.efi from the current dir (\efi\boot) as a boot option labeled "Clover" (You will see this name also in the UEFI BIOS Boot menu boot items). N is the boot option number: 0 if you want it to be the first, 1 to be the second, etc.

Shell> bcfg boot dump ➝ Check if Clover is added

Shell> reset ➝ Restart the system

 

Thanks for the guide.

Update BIOS to Version 2.50 from Asrock, no necessary that procedure.

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