Problems on X79 chipset with Monterey Opencore

[Bud420]

Hi everyone,
Hope this message finds you well.

 

I am writing this post in hope that the gods of InsanelyMac will be able to help me with some guidance

 

Hardware

Board: Supermicro X9SRi-F

CPU: Intel Xeon E5 2697 v2

GPU: Sapphire Radeon RX 570

 

Based on this hardware, i am following Dortania's Guide for Ivy Bridge E with a MacPro6,1 SMBIOS.

For the past few weeks i am fighting this computer to install Monterey on it but i can't get it sorted.

I have tried all different kexts variations, different config.plist changes, different SSDT.files, but nothing seems to do the trick, every time getting stuck before the installer starts on different points depending on the combination of kexts/config settings.

 

I decided to start from scratch and ask for help on this great forum maybe we can bring this bad boy to life, running Monterey.

The files i added in ACPI folder are all created with SSDTTime on the target machine running windows and the patches for them have also been added in config.plist.

 

Current EFI folder :

 

So, with this fresh USB install made according to this guide , i get this :

 

When i check the log created on EFI folder of the USB i have this : opencore-2024-03-10-095452.txt

 

Can someone please give me some guidance on what changes needs to be made in the EFI so it can get to macOS installer ?

 

Thank you

 

 

Edited March 10, 2024 by Bud420
Forgot to mention where the ACPI folder files are from

[Slice]

I have X79 computer with Monterey in my signature. And I will recommend to you also make a signature.

But I did this with Clover, not Opencore. If you want I can tell you my method in details.

There are several successes with such computers, for example

[SUCCESS] HUANANZHI X79-ZD3 + Xeon E5-2689 [Mojave 10.14.6] [Big Sur 11.2.3] [Monterey 12.0.1] [Sonoma beta 7] 

[Bud420]

Thanks for such a fast reply Slice,
I did had a look on those pages prior to posting this, but i was not convinced to follow that guide as i've seen that even after install, the guy still had some problems, as not all cores being used, or sleep not working or some other minor issues.
Were you able to use all CPU cores on your x79 with clover ?
If the clover way works with proper CPU management i would love to try your way if you don't mind giving me some tips.

Thank you

[Slice]

Yes, I am able to use all CPU cores.

1. Edit DSDT processor section.

2. Use VoodooTSCsync

3. TscSyncTimeout in Clover.

I have no working sleep/wake. One of possible reason is bad power supply of RAM in the sleeping state. The fault of the manufacture.

[Bud420]

I would love to give it a try with Clover, i am curious if having different hardware than yours could also get sleep/wake working.

If not, that's not a real dealbreaker for me.

If it's possible, could you please help me with some step by step guide for your method ?

[Bud420]

I feel i am getting closer.

 

I managed to find some russian guide on GitHub.
After hours of translating to have the steps in english more or less, i noticed the dude reffered to this post of yours @Slice.
I started all over again and i will try to follow this guide and see if it works for me.
At the moment i am trying to edit and correct the errors in my DSDT file.
Following the instructions i found from your posts, i managed to get rid of all the errors in the file, however, i still have a few warnings.

 

Can you please guide me to correctly finish editing my DSDT so i can continue giving this a try on opencore, according to this last guide i found ?

[J Lamp]

On any of my builds using an x79, x99 or x299 I've always had better luck with Clover as opposed to OpenCore. On everything else I have used OpenCore as the boot loader.

 

The quirk for "TscSyncTimeout" exists in the OpenCore config.plist under UEFI>Quirks. I've seen a bunch of suggested values for that (50,000; 500,000,) on my x79 rig with Monterey the value I needed was 1, otherwise it would stall while booting. Prior to Monterey I did not need that at all.

 

 

Definitely use the VoodooTSCsync.kext suggested by Slice. CpuTscSync.kext did not work for me either (that looks like it may the source of your panic.)

 

Judging from your opencore log you may want to have a look here as well,

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/config.plist/ivy-bridge.html#starting-point

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/troubleshooting/extended/kernel-issues.html

Edited March 11, 2024 by J Lamp

[Bud420]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your suggestions.
I started all over again using this guide, as his hardware is almost identical to mine and it contains @Slice's suggestions :

 

1. Edit DSDT

2. Use VoodooTSCsync

3. TscSyncTimeout

 

I am happy i did this, as it looks like we made some progress.
Using OpenCore and the steps from the guide, now i got here:

 

 

After a few seconds the installer crash and we get this:

 

 

 

Any suggestions what could cause this and what should i try next to get this to work ?

Thank you

[cankiulascmnfye]

@Bud420 Have a look at this: https://github.com/5T33Z0/OC-Little-Translated/tree/main/14_OCLP_Wintel

[Slice]

9 hours ago, Bud420 said:

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your suggestions.
I started all over again using this guide, as his hardware is almost identical to mine and it contains @Slice's suggestions :

 

1. Edit DSDT

2. Use VoodooTSCsync

3. TscSyncTimeout

 

I am happy i did this, as it looks like we made some progress.
Using OpenCore and the steps from the guide, now i got here:

 

 

After a few seconds the installer crash and we get this:

 

 

 

Any suggestions what could cause this and what should i try next to get this to work ?

Thank you

It look like graphics problems. I may recommend to exclude WhateverGreen.

[Bud420]

4 hours ago, Slice said:

It look like graphics problems. I may recommend to exclude WhateverGreen.

I would have never thought to even try without whatevergreen.

will give it a try when i get home from work and will keep you updated with the results.

 

@cankiulascmnfye, thank you, that looks like a great resource.

 

For the moment i will try  to continue using the guide from my previous post and slice’s suggestions as the end result would be closer to my desired result.

 

this whole computer was bulilt for the specific sole purpose of installing macOS Monterey.

i have no interest in any further or previous versions of os, neither windows. It will only run monterey.

 

when i purchased the hardware it was selected for the specific reason it’s more or less the same as genuine mac pro’s 6,1.

 

so the cpu is actually the exact same cpu as in real macpro6,1 and 

the gpu used is fully supported in latest versions of macOS, as i have successfully used it in my previous computer in multiple OS versions starting mojave up to ventura.

 

given this, technically it should work, even with sip enabled, full cpu power management and everything should work, i just don’t know how to make it work for now.

 

i am just hoping that with your help guys we’ll get this properly working

[BillDH2k]

@Bud420Here are my two comments, which may help for your case:

 

1. X9SRi has a built-in VGA which should be disabled.

Try add an entry to DeviceProperties -> Add -> PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1E,0x0)/Pci(0x4,0x0) -> disable-gpu -> True

The path above was from my old note when I briefly owned X9SRI-L board. It could be different from your board.

 

2. Try not use any TSCSync kext (CpuTSCsync.kext or VoodooTSCsync.kext). SuperMicro boards normally boot up fine (i.e. CPUs properly in sync after power on). You will lose Sleep/Wake function (it does not work anyway, in most cases).

Edited March 15, 2024 by BillDH2k

[Bud420]

Hi everyone and thank you for all your help.

 

On 3/14/2024 at 6:42 AM, Slice said:

It look like graphics problems. I may recommend to exclude WhateverGreen.

@Slice Did not worked with WhateverGreen removed.

 

18 hours ago, BillDH2k said:

@Bud420Here are my two comments, which may help for your case:

 

1. X9SRi has a built-in VGA which should be disabled.

Try add an entry to DeviceProperties -> Add -> PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1E,0x0)/Pci(0x4,0x0) -> disable-gpu -> True

The path above was from my old note when I briefly owned X9SRI-L board. It could be different from your board.

 

2. Try not use any TSCSync kext (CpuTSCsync.kext or VoodooTSCsync.kext). SuperMicro boards normally boot up fine (i.e. CPUs properly in sync after power on). You will lose Sleep/Wake function (it does not work anyway, in most cases).

@BillDH2kYou are right, Supermicro X9SRi-F has a built-in VGA, but i don't think there is a problem with the WhateverGreen.kext anymore.

 

I did some more changes and it looks like i get a bit further with no WhateverGreen issue.

Now the installer is getting stuck here:

 

After about a minute or less it crashes and i get this:

 

 

The USB installer that gets up until this point is made using Dortania's guide, and then some changes made following other guides and your suggestions.

On the EFI of the installer i am using OC 0.8.7 Debug with the following files:

 

 

This is the log created on EFI: opencore-2024-03-14-210938.txt

 

This is the current config.plist: config.plist (i just removed the serials i'm using with a MacPro6,1 SMBIOS)

 

Any suggestions what to try next in order to get past this "PCI configuration end" ?

 

Thanks guys

 

Edited March 15, 2024 by Bud420

[J Lamp]

Bit of a shot in the dark, but you could try enabling config.plist>Kernel>Quirks>XHCIPortLimit. Also make sure you are using a USB2 device for the install. I've seen issues where the installer gets so far, loads some USB stuff, then suddenly can't find the USB drive you just booted off of.

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/troubleshooting/extended/kernel-issues.html#stuck-on-eb-log-exitbs-start

Look under "Waiting for Root Device" - USB issues.

 

Also if you can, simply disable the on board VGA in the bios. 

 

I'd also ditch the SSDT-UNC and SSDT-PMC, both are likely not needed on your rig (I never needed them on my x79.) I see you also have a DSDT file listed in your config.plist. I would disable that as well.  DSDT's are often VERY specific to certain hardware, OpenCore is very good at filling in a lot of that stuff on its own. make sure you are using the generic "catch all" versions of SSDT-EC and SSDT-Plug.

 

Last tip, I would actually disable anything in the board's bios that is not immediately needed to get the rig booted. You may as well eliminate as many possible problem spots as you can to help troubleshoot.

Edited March 15, 2024 by J Lamp

[Bud420]

Thanks @J Lamp,

 

Enabling config.plist>Kernel>Quirks>XHCIPortLimit doesn't change anything, just tried.
I can only use USB2 as this motherboard doesn't have USB3.

VGA is disabled in bios.

 

The DSDT.aml file i have in ACPI folder is the one modified by removing the extra CPU's and Cores, without it i get kernel panic just when it starts loading, not even getting to the point that it got now.

 

Removing SSDT-UNC seems to have removed the last line (PCI Configuration ends....) when trying to install, but still nothing else has changed.

The process stops there for about 30s - 1 min and then gets to the same crash

 

After removing SSDT-UNC, i also removed SSDT-PMC, and having both removed brings back the last line (PCI Configuration ends....) when trying to install, but still has no effect, ending up after about 30s to the same crash where text is broken.

 

Having only generic versions of SSDT-EC and SSDT-Plug in ACPI folder gets the computer to restart after selecting "Install macOS Monterery".

After the restart i left it proceed again, and it got to this error:

 

 

Looks like using only SSDT-EC and SSDT-Plug, the generic versions, creates a CPU Panic.

 

Please believe me that i read and tried to follow dortania's guides multiple times without any succes.

 

In regards to BIOS settings, i already tried disabling everything i could think of, but here are some pictures with the main settings currently used:

 

 

I think the best option would be to keep using the ACPI folder that got me most far in the process, and keep changing things around and trying different config.plist settings.
I don't know where to start looking further to get this working.

So please, any suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

 

[Bud420]

I am also thinking to ditch OpenCore and give it a try with Clover.

The only reason i don't really feel tempted to do that is because i have never used Clover before.
Insead i used OpenCore with great success on multiple computers over the years.

 

On a different thought, it's been over a month now since i put this built together and i'm trying to get Monterey with OC working on it without succes.

During this time, i obviously did a lot of research on this matter and i've seen people have managed to do it one way or another but i also noticed that even when people got it to work, there are still some issues like sleep/wake not working. For me, the complete functionality with maximum performance is a must.

 

Considering this, if i don't get it working properly soon, i might think about changing the hardware completely.

I am thinking to get a HP Z440 workstation or a Dell T5810, any of them running Xeon E5-xxxx V4 and just hope to not run into same issues like this x79 platform with E5-xxxx V2.

 

Thoughts or suggestions about this ?

Edited March 16, 2024 by Bud420

[Bud420]

Ok guys, i made it to installer

About 19 mins remaining until it completes, hopefully.

However, the image looks f%ked up, there is a pink tint all over.

Could it be due to the fact that i'm using the DVI out of the GPU to connect to monitor ?

 

 

[Slice]

I also use DVI and all is good. No whatevergreen. Great to see your movements.

[Bud420]

I can confirm the problem with pink tint was due to using DVI.
Plugged the monitor via displayport and everything looks great.

 

 

Now begins the fun part, post install fixes

 

Any hints where should i start looking if i want to boot without "npci=0x2000" boot arg ?

[Slice]

Impossible

[Bud420]

31 minutes ago, Slice said:

Impossible

 

Why ?

[Slice]

Because of tens users experience.

[Bud420]

19 minutes ago, Slice said:

Because of tens users experience.

I was being serious mate, would appreciate if you would have a better, less arrogant reply.

 

i tried booting without it and the boot stopped at ACPI section.

So i am wondering, if the acpi part has been sorted in the DSDT, why would it not be possible to boot without the npci=0x2000 boot arg ?

[RobertX]

"0x2000 is the kIOPCIConfiguratorPFM64 flag, as seen in the IOPCIFamily source code.

npci=0x2000 turns off this flag, as npci negates whatever flag bits you specify.

You need npci=0x2000 to avoid losing console output during boot after the "PCI Configuration begin" message appears."  

from the other place compliments to bcc9

@Slice is not really arrogant, or even british, just succinct

Edited March 18, 2024 by RobertX

[J Lamp]

Glad to see you got it to boot!

 

It might be helpful to everyone else if you posted what was finally the fix that got you to the desktop.