[SUCCESS] Sierra on ASUS Z170 Premium

[dashingncool]

Specifications

• Asus Z170 Premium
• Skylake i-6600K
• Nvidia GTX 960
• Samsung 850 EVO 256 GB x 2
• Samsung NVMe 950 Pro 256 x 1
• G.Skill 32 GB 3000 MHz RAM 8 x 4
• Samsung UHD monitor 4K@60Hz x 2

Let me start by answering these questions first.

What is working?

• Graphics 4K @60 Hz
• Audio
• Bluetooth
• NVMe
• 1 Ethernet port
• WiFi including 5GHz (this was the best part)
• USB 3.1, 3.0, 2.0
• All the front ports Audio, USB 3.0 x 2
• AirPlay, AirDrop, iCloud, Continuity, Handoff, Facetime, iMessages, Appstore
• What else....

What is not working?

• There is only one small intermittent glitch with the 4K @ 60Hz. Sometimes, the computer boots into a black screen (no kernel panic). Just the monitors lose display port signal and they go to sleep mode. The fix: well, I just turn the settings to Display Port 1.1 in my monitor's settings before the system starts to boot. Once it boots, I just turn the setting back to DP version 1.2 in the monitor settings.
• I couldn't get iMac 17,1 SMBIOS to work . It gives me a black screen.
• 1 Ethernet port. AppleIGB was giving kernel panics. But I am using only one port anyways, so I don't care about this one.

Attached Files

1. Files to replace in EFI.zip : this contains the files from my EFI. It has a patched DSDT, patched kernel kexts for IOAPIC and USB, kexts, config and the 64BitUEFI drivers.

Steps

1. Follow the official guide for Sierra Public beta word to word step by step and get the USB ready with clover and the FakeSMC kext.
2. Mount the EFI of USB using EFI Mounter v3.
3. See the attached zip file "Files to replace in EFI.zip" and replace the files in USB's EFI with the ones in zip file. This will set up your SMBIOS to iMac 14,1.
4. This is all you need to get started with the installation.
5. Plug the USB in the USB 2.0 port (the green and red ports in the back).
6. Turn on the computer and go to BIOS.
7. Enter Advanced settings and load optimized defaults.
8. Change the Secure Boot to Other OS
9. Disable IOAPIC under PCH System Configuration.
10. Set the Boot device under Boot tab to your USB EFI. Don't change the boot device by pressing F8. It always gave me the low memory error. Set the USB as first boot device in the boot order.
11. This will get you started with installation.
12. Once the installation is finished, WiFi should be working out of the box.
13. Get the latest clover from sourceforge and install it like you did when creating the USB. I did not use any post installation utility because I wanted to understand how stuff works. 
14. Mount the EFI USB using EFI Mounter V3 and copy all the contents on your desktop. UNMOUNT IT AND REMOVE THE USB
15. Mount the EFI of your HDD and replace the contents with the ones you copied on your desktop.
16. This is all you need for a bare minimum setup of Sierra. Check if you can boot without the USB.

Now lets get other stuff fixed. Get the KCPM Utility 6 first to manage kexts.

Display-NVidia
Get the latest web driver from NVidia's website. Install it and reboot.

Audio
I tried to use ALC1150 from toleda for Sierra but it did not work. So I installed the good old VoodooHDA. Download, install and reboot and the audio should be up.

Ethernet
The motherboard has 2 ethernet ports. I tried to use AppleIGB.kext but it gave me kernel panics again and again. So I used AppleIntelE1000E.kext . Install using the KCPM and rebuild the cache. Reboot and you have 1 ethernet port without kernel panic. I didn't bother about the other port 

Bluetooth
Get the Bluetooth kext from here and install using KCPM. Rebuild the cache, reboot and voila you have bluetooth.

NVMe
I used Rehabman's NVMe patch from github. The instructions are very simple and available in the read me. Once you have the new kext created, install it using the KCMP. DON'T REBOOT. First delete the IONVMeFamily.kext (see the read me too) from /System/Library/Extensions. Rebuild cache and reboot.

Appstore Fix
This was a new problem. Appstore won't let me login. This was easy to fix.

1. Remove all the network cards from system preferences. Then go to /Library/Preferences/System Configuration and delete the network plist.
2. Reboot.
3. Add the Ethernet card first in the system preferences. Make sure you add the Ethernet card as En0.
4. Add WiFi and thats it.

Important: 
I spent nights trying to solve the low memory error. It sometimes worked and suddenly it would give me the error again. What fixed this was setting the boot device order and putting USB on top instead of changing the boot device on the fly as I mentioned in the steps above. This is weird, I know. But it worked. I tried atleast 10 times to make sure that this was the cause/fix and it worked.

Enjoy your Sierra!

Files to replace in EFI.zip

[xtddd]

GREAT

[febriyan1302]

Airdrop working ? What you are using wifi + bluetooth ? 

[Iwagz]

I have Sierra running very well except front case USB3. I've tried RehabMans port limit patch with no change. I wondering what kext you used for USB.

I have basically the same hardware except I have the Hero Rouge MB.

[plympton]

Your post says your config.plist uses an iMac 14,1, but I see a Mac Pro 5,1.  Am I missing something?  I have a Gigabyte board that I'm fighting the nVidia Black Screen after boot problem, and just checking.

 

Thanks!

-Dan

[davidm71]

So you installed onto an Nvme drive? You think it would work on a Z170-WS Workstation?