Acer Aspire 5737Z: installation and post installation steps

[Romandas]

Hi,

 

Here are tips for installing macOS High Sierra on Acer Aspire 5737Z:

 

1. Remove Atheros AR5007EG  802.11a/b/g wifi card otherwise macOS won't boot. You must buy Atheros AR5B91 802.11b/g/n for 5$ if you want wifi. I tested many other wifi cards, but only this  works out of box.

 

Now you must create bootable macOS High Sierra installation USB stick from either on:

1. Windows.

2. Real MacOS.

3. MacOS on virtual machine on Windows (VirtualBox or VMWare, etc., google on torrent sites for ready images).

 

*Don't use U.n.i.B.e.a.s.t or M.u.l.t.i.B.e.a.s.t for creating USB, it will not work for this PC.

 

1. If you have only working Windows, use Boot disk utility http://cvad-mac.narod.ru and download macOS image to use with it in torrent site http://nnm-club.me.

search for "OS X FOR BDU" and download image via magnet link. During torrent catch select only os version you want.

Then follow insructions using Boot disk utility in Windows.

 

 

Command for creating install USB:

sudo "/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume /Volumes/Untitled --nointeraction 

In case you do not want the installation USB to format you SSD to apfs during macOS installation, write this in terminal before selecting drive to install (here "/Volumes/macOS" - is drive I wanted to install):

/Volumes/"Image Volume/Install macOS High Sierra.app"/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --volume /Volumes/macOS --converttoapfs NO --agreetolicense

 

1. Attached Clover EFI folder with patched DSDT and required kexts for USB ports and keyboard to work (EFI.zip). I assume, that you can create a bootable USB with Clover and then overwrite your Clover EFI directory with downloaded. Keep in mind, that provided config.plist contains all required patches for sound, video, etc. to work.
2. Then you install Clover to installation USB or Laptop, it's very important, that you select "CloverEFI 64-bits BioSBlockIO" option or USB won't boot.

 

Some screenshots from config.plist loaded in CloverConfigurator:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    3. After installation, you have to install AppleHDA.kext for sound, CodecCommander.kext for sound to work after sleep, OSXRestart.MasterChief.kext is required for restart to work. You also have to search and install latest Nvidia Web driver to fully accelerate GPU.

 

   5. CPU Speedstep is already defined in config.plist, but there must must be no NullCPUPowerManagement.kext installed or speedstep won't work. Search for this HWMonitor.app as RehabMan-FakeSMC if you want.

 

Here I also provided info about required kexts:

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.13.1/Portables#Acer

 

*CPU has to support SSE4.1 in order to install Sierra. F.e. I had T4200 to throw and install P9600.

Ask any questions regarding macOS installation to this laptop. So I will provide more info.

CLOVER_necessary.zip

Kexts.zip