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[GUIDE] Install macOS 10.15 on P55-USB3 board


miliuco
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Install macOS 10.15 Catalina on Gigabyte P55-USB3 with Radeon RX 580 graphics card using a USB device created with the createinstallmedia command and Clover as bootloader. Instructions to install macOS 10.14 Mojave on this computer are almost identical, replacing Catalina app with Mojave, so this article is suitable for both versions of macOS. The Gigabyte P55-USB3 motherboard (and some others from the same brand with the P55 / H55 chipset) have made it easy to build a hackintosh and install macOS since 10 years ago. Although it is an old motherboard, the behavior with Mojave or Catalina is very good after changing the classic hard drive (HDD) for a solid state drive (SSD).

Components of the hackintosh

  • Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 motherboard: P55 chipset, 1156 socket, ALC892 audio, Gigabit RTL8111D network, DDR3 RAM
  • Intel Core i5-750 processor for socket 1156: 4 cores, 8MB cache, clock rate 2.66 GHz
  • Fenvi FV-T919 wireless + Bluetooth card: PCI-Express, wifi is ac type, detected by macOS as Airport and Apple Bluetooth
  • Radeon RX 580 8 GB graphics card: works OOB but with a few details to be considered, it has its own article.

 

Previous requirements

  • Install macOS Catalina app in /Applications folder
  • USB flash drive with at least 16GB prepared from Disk Utility with MBR partition scheme and formatted as Mac Os Plus (on older Gigabyte boards like mine, USB sticks partitioned with GUID scheme instead of MBR usually hang the system when booting)
  • Recent version of Clover (I have used r5117)
  • Recent versions of Lilu (at least 1.4.4) and WhateverGreen (at least 1.3.9) to fine-tune the behavior of the graphics card
  • Recent version of RealtekRTL8111 (I have used 2.2.2)
  • FaceSMC version 6.26-322 (newer versions disable automatic mounting of USB devices on my system).

 

Create install USB
Run this command from Terminal (assuming the target device is called USB):

Bash:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app


Clover must be installed on the USB memory, I choose the following options:

  • Bootloader > Install boot0af on the MBR
  • CloverEFi > CloverEFI 64-bit SATA
  • BIOS Drivers, 64 bit > Recommended drivers > FSInject + SMCHelper + XhciDxe
  • BIOS Drivers, 64 bit > File System drivers > ApfsDriverLoader
  • Install RC scripts on selected volume
  • Optional RC scripts > Disable sleep proxy client.

 

You have to copy 4 kexts to the EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other folder of the USB device: FaceSMC 6.26-322, Lilu 1.4.4, WhateverGreen 1.3.9 and RealtekRTL8111 2.2.2. Regarding the config.plist file, the most significant is:

  • Boot > kext-dev-mode = 1 in Boot arguments
  • GUI > Theme embedded, EmbeddedThemeType Dark, Screen Resolution 1920x1080, Preboot in Hide Volume
  • Graphics > blank, nothing is checked except if foxbox solution is used to have more than 2 connectors enabled
  • RT Variables > 0x28 in BooterConfig and 0x67 in CsrActiveConfig
  • SMBios > iMac14,2
  • Sytem Parameters> Yes in Inject Kexts and check Inject System ID.

 

Install macOS Catalina

Boot from the USB device and choose Install macOS from Install macOS Catalina. The installation program runs until the PC restarts. Here choose Install macOS from HDD (the name of the volume you are installing macOS on). With RX 580 graphics card, the screen goes black in this second phase of the installation, it is a phase in which the user has nothing to do until the PC is restarted so you can let it work until the Clover menu again. You have to choose Boot macOS from HDDto boot the installed system from the hard disk, the screen is recovered and you can configure the account and the initial options. From this moment the screen works fine.

In summary:

  • Boot from USB > Clover menu > Install macOS from Install macOS Catalina > screen works fine
  • Boot from USB > Clover menu > Install macOS from HDD > black screen
  • Boot from USB > Clover menu > Boot macOS from HDD > screen works fine.

 

Install Clover and kexts on the hard drive

Clover needs to be installed on the disk where we just installed macOS. Options are the same as when installing it on the USB memory. You also have to copy the 4 kexts (FaceSMC 6.26-322, Lilu 1.4.4, WhateverGreen 1.3.9 and RealtekRTL8111 2.2.2) into the EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other folder on the EFI partition of the disk. And review the config.plist file remembering the comments for the USB.

If everything goes well, the computer starts from the hard disk with a running copy of macOS Catalina.

 

 

neofetch 10.15.5.png

Edited by miliuco
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Nice work!  I have Catalina 10.15.5 running on my Biostar TH55HD (Socket 1156 / H55 / 16GB DDR3) with overclocked Xeon X3460 and Sapphire Pulse RX580 (google "Catalina Biostar TH55HD").  I have found that CPU power management works much better when my SMBIOS MacModel is set to MacPro5,1 and I inject LPCB.IOName "3b09").

Edited by tonyx86
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Hi @tonyx86. Thanks for your comment. It's amazing how well these old boards go with 10.14 and 10.15, mine is 10 years old and I guess yours is too. I have not even changed the processor which is the original i5.
I am using iMac17,1 but I will also try MacPro5,1. I will comment on the changes.
How do you inject LPCB.IOName "3b09"?

I have been reading the topic about Catalina and Biostar TH55HD. Excellent!!! It is a very complete job. Congratulations.

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4 hours ago, miliuco said:

I have been reading the topic about Catalina and Biostar TH55HD. Excellent!!! It is a very complete job. Congratulations.

 

Thank you for your kind words!  Your guide is excellent, too!  Look at my DSDT in the EFI attached to post #1 in my installation thread and find the _DSM method in Device (LPCB).  You'll find that _DSM method defines "name" and "compatible" properties for LPCB.

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