Lenovo ThinkPad T420 with UEFI Only

[Mezmaron]

I'm about at my wits end with an issue, and I'm hoping I can get some help.

I have a T420 and a T520. I installed Sierra a little over a year ago on both, and overall have never had any major issues.

I upgraded both to High Sierra several months ago. The T520 was a success. The T420 failed for whatever reason, and I had to install from USB. This was when 10.13.2 was around. When 10.13.3 came out, the T520 upgraded without issue. The T420, however, did not. It boots, but when the time comes for the login screen, it is a blank screen. Before doing these upgrades, I decided to make my installations as clean as possible, keeping all extra kexts in the Clover EFI, and putting nothing extra in /System/Library/Extensions or /Library/Extensions.

On the T420, the OS seems to be loading, since on the blank screen, pressing the Enter key makes the default ding sound. I cannot for the life of me figure out why I'm not getting video. The only alteration I originally made was the edit to the Intel kext to make use of the DVI port on the dock, which worked before. However, I was also not getting video by booting from the USB with a non-altered non-HD config.plist. I do get video in recovery mode, so I also tried putting this unaltered config.plist on the hard drive's EFI partition, with the same results- nothing.

I haven't messed with it in a while, and I decided to take another crack at things tonight and was ready to do a completely fresh install on the T420. I tried re-doing the USB installer with the 10.13.4 installer, and for whatever reason, after following the instructions to a T, I cannot make the install partition on the USB bootable now. I erased it with Disk Utility, ran the command line in the guide to copy the installer to the USB, then copied the latest Clover to the EFI partition, but the "Install macOS High Sierra" refuses to appear on the boot screen when I hit F12 and choose the USB for booting.

So, you could say I have 2 issues here. I either need help with figuring out why the present install of 10.13.3 won't display video on the T420, or why I cannot get the new installer to show as a bootable option.

Some notes that may help: The T420 only has the Intel HD3000 video, no nVidia. Also, it is running the 1.49 whitelisted BIOS, which never gave me a problem with Sierra.

My apologies in advance if this is a known issue that has been covered in recent posts.

 

 

[jboeren]

There are issues with high sierra on the/some T420’s. You can read the last posts on this thread! My T420 had issues too and I switched back to Sierra until there is a solution.

[Somez]

52 minutes ago, jboeren said:

There are issues with high sierra on the/some T420’s. You can read the last posts on this thread! My T420 had issues too and I switched back to Sierra until there is a solution.

You can now switch back to High Sierra. Latest update has solved the freezing problem we’ve both had.

[copperspeed2]

I have been trying to install high sierra after imaging with clover and dropping the files in for EFI from GITHUB. When booting up on the t420 the usb option with sierra on it does not appear. I have tried several times. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Here are my boot logs :

33:223  0:907  === [ ScanVolumes ] =======================================
36:779  3:556  Found 5 volumes with blockIO
36:862  0:082  - [00]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\Sata(0x0,0x0,0x0)
37:027  0:164          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
37:132  0:105  - [01]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)
37:292  0:159          Found optical drive
37:423  0:130  - [02]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1D,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)
37:615  0:192          USB volume
37:698  0:083          USB volume
37:781  0:083  - [03]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1D,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\HD(1,GPT,3F7F2896-1357-428B-8666-044EEB8A61C8,0x28,0x64000)
37:949  0:167          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
38:057  0:108          USB volume
38:140  0:082          USB volume
38:222  0:082          This is SelfVolume !!
38:304  0:082  - [04]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1D,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\HD(2,GPT,3DA720B9-EDCE-41AC-8490-B3DCF6C1619D,0x64028,0x1D2D7B0)
38:592  0:288          USB volume
38:675  0:082          USB volume
38:757  0:082  === [ InitTheme ] =========================================
42:479  3:721  Using theme 'tonymacx86' (EFI\CLOVER\themes\tonymacx86)
42:559  0:080  Loading font from ThemeDir: Error
42:640  0:081  Choosing theme tonymacx86
42:721  0:080  after NVRAM boot-args=dart=0
42:825  0:104  Scanning legacy ...
43:008  0:182  === [ Dump SMC keys from NVRAM ] ==========================
45:406  2:398  found AppleSMC protocol
45:515  0:108  Registered 4 SMC keys
45:598  0:083  === [ ScanLoader ] ========================================
49:229  3:630  - [03]: 'EFI'
49:470  0:240  - [04]: 'Install macOS High Sierra'
49:699  0:229  === [ AddCustomTool ] =====================================
53:080  3:380  found tool \EFI\CLOVER\tools\Shell64U.efi
53:162  0:082  Checking EFI partition Volume 3 for Clover
53:345  0:182   Found Clover
53:426  0:081  === [ GetEfiBootDeviceFromNvram ] =========================
55:771  2:344  Default boot entry not found
55:877  0:106  DefaultIndex=-1 and MainMenu.EntryCount=6
56:142  0:264  GUI ready
111:348  55:206  ReinitSelfLib after theme change
111:428  0:079  reinit: self device path=PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1D,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\HD(1,GPT,3F7F2896-1357-428B-8666-044EEB8A61C8,0x28,0x64000)
111:508  0:080  === [ ScanVolumes ] =======================================
115:306  3:798  Found 5 volumes with blockIO
115:392  0:085  - [00]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\Sata(0x0,0x0,0x0)
115:565  0:173          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
115:679  0:113  - [01]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1F,0x2)\Sata(0x1,0x0,0x0)
115:854  0:175          Found optical drive
115:939  0:084  - [02]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1D,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)
116:141  0:202          USB volume
116:227  0:085          USB volume
116:358  0:131  - [03]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1D,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\HD(1,GPT,3F7F2896-1357-428B-8666-044EEB8A61C8,0x28,0x64000)
116:532  0:173          Result of bootcode detection: bootable unknown (legacy)
116:645  0:112          USB volume
116:732  0:087          USB volume
116:816  0:083          This is SelfVolume !!
116:896  0:080  - [04]: Volume: PciRoot(0x0)\Pci(0x1D,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\USB(0x0,0x0)\HD(2,GPT,3DA720B9-EDCE-41AC-8490-B3DCF6C1619D,0x64028,0x1D2D7B0)
117:094  0:197          USB volume
117:225  0:131          USB volume
117:309  0:083  Choosing theme tonymacx86
117:393  0:084  after NVRAM boot-args=dart=0
117:474  0:080  Scanning legacy ...
117:578  0:104  === [ ScanLoader ] ========================================
121:199  3:621  - [03]: 'EFI'
121:431  0:231  - [04]: 'Install macOS High Sierra'
121:643  0:212  === [ AddCustomTool ] =====================================
125:077  3:434  found tool \EFI\CLOVER\tools\Shell64U.efi
125:157  0:080  Checking EFI partition Volume 3 for Clover
125:306  0:149   Found Clover
125:389  0:082  === [ GetEfiBootDeviceFromNvram ] =========================
127:798  2:409  Default boot entry not found
127:882  0:083  DefaultIndex=-1 and MainMenu.EntryCount=6

Edited April 1, 2018 by copperspeed2

[jboeren]

3 hours ago, Somez said:

You can now switch back to High Sierra. Latest update has solved the freezing problem we’ve both had.

I can't mis my Hackbook at the moment. So HS has to wait....

 

[datagr]

I am having boot loop after updating from App Store to 10.13.4!
I have triple boot with Windows Mac OS and Linux.
I see the bar loading, then screen goes off then reboot.
I can boot in safe mode normally.
I am having T520 but since now I had no problem following the updates from the App Store and all the guides of this post.
Any ideas on how to fix this?



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[Somez]

2 minutes ago, datagr said:

I am having boot loop after updating from App Store to 10.13.4!
I have triple boot with Windows Mac OS and Linux.
I see the bar loading, then screen goes off then reboot.
I can boot in safe mode normally.
I am having T520 but since now I had no problem following the updates from the App Store and all the guides of this post.
Any ideas on how to fix this?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would start by booting using verbose mode.

how to do this? On the clover boot screen press space on the item you want to boot into and then chikae the verbose option.

[jboeren]

@copperspeed2 Did you follow the instructions from @tluck? Where do you get stuck?

[datagr]

I would start by booting using verbose mode.
how to do this? On the clover boot screen press space on the item you want to boot into and then chikae the verbose option.

Thank you for the reply!
Here is my screen.
After that point the screen turns black and then reboots.




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[Somez]

Hope the others in the forum can help you. I’m unfortunately not good enough to help on this issue

[jboeren]

The T520 is different. Can't help you with that.

[datagr]

The T520 is different. Can't help you with that.

Thank you for the reply!
Could you please guide me as if I had a T420?
I really want to avoid reinstalling everything from the beginning.
I have this laptop perfectly working for 2 years and I was always following the guides from this great topic.


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[tluck]

I posted a release on GitHub today that should fix the 10.13.4 USB installer issues. 

bad news is that due to me and this really lousy new site editor tool I nuked the User Guide. 

I put back one from like 2 years ago. but does any one have a more recent copy they can post and i will redo it.

thanks.

 

[jboeren]

Did you try Google archives? 

[Somez]

8 minutes ago, tluck said:

I posted a release on GitHub today that should fix the 10.13.4 USB installer issues. 

bad news is that due to me and this really lousy new site editor tool I nuked the User Guide. 

I put back one from like 2 years ago. but does any one have a more recent copy they can post and i will redo it.

thanks.

 

I had it opened in my browser. Still have it. Tried to save it into PDF. Can you check the attachment.

t420 guide.pdf

[tluck]

nice! thanks

 

[Tetonne]

archived guide: 

T420 howto.rtfd.zip

[tluck]

Ok phew got most of it back. thanks. glad to hear that 10.13.4 is working out better!

[copperspeed]

I followed the directions but I am still not seeing the usb external drive. It's kinda hard to screw up these directions. 

What would cause to not show up?

If plug it in a running machine I do see the image. I have also tried two different USBs also with the same issue.

[tluck]

Well not sure.  

does your bios allow it?

what version is your bios?

what size is the usb?

[copperspeed]

Bios is 1.46, should work.

I tried with 2 usbs one is an 8 gb and the other 16gb.

Are all t420s made with the same hardware?

[tluck]

@copperspeedare you using the USB2 port - not the the USB3 (wont work without extra kexts)

[copperspeed]

Yes, I am using the USB2 port (yellow) on the back of the laptop. Mine does not have a 3.0 port I believe that would be blue. The rest are black ports. I just went and bought a USB 2.0 flash drive. I believe the others were 3.0 flash drives. I want to see if that makes a difference.

[copperspeed]

Nope, that didn't work either.

[Mezmaron]

I used the updated t420 package and was able to boot from the USB.

On the T420, I installed over my old installation, and still have the issue of no display. If there was something in my old System folder causing this, wouldn't the installer have wiped out my old System folder? 

I guess the next step would be to wipe the drive clean and do a completely fresh install. Is there any way to access Finder from the booted installation USB, so that I can save any files I have on the system drive that I might want to keep? I am aware I can copy files around via the command line, but I'd rather not. My HD is an mSATA SSD, and I have no adapters for it, so I can't just pull it out and put it in an external. If not, would a live Linux distro be able to read the macOS drive?