OS X compatible motherboard -> QUO

[IronManJFF]

You are welcome to buy me a drink anytime
Working on a little something hopefully it will work ... keep you posted

[jjrecort]

On 1/26/2019 at 7:15 PM, ntsmkfob said:

10.14.3 update fairly smooth. For me, it needed flagsnv_disable=1 added to the kernel parameters in /macos Install Data/Locked Files/Boot Files/com.apple.boot.plist, followed by reboot and rerun the boot.efi in that directory from the shell (need to find the right filesystem fsx:) as detailed by IronmanJFF a few pages back. I did the edit from terminal after the first install failed using sudo nano ..... followed by sudo reboot and F12 to get the shell. For some reason I couldn't do the edit from the shell itself, as the Locked Files folder was locked.

Hello ntsmkfob, 

 

Before doing this, the behavior was: nothing happening after the 10.14.3 update, computer stuck on 10.14.2?

 

This is what is happening to me, all the update seems to run okay as it should be, computer reboots twice during the process, but it remains on 10.14.2.

 

Thanks!

[ntsmkfob]

45 minutes ago, jjrecort said:

Hello ntsmkfob, 

 

Before doing this, the behavior was: nothing happening after the 10.14.3 update, computer stuck on 10.14.2?

 

This is what is happening to me, all the update seems to run okay as it should be, computer reboots twice during the process, but it remains on 10.14.2.

 

Thanks!

Yes, that's what happens until the patch is applied to the file /macos Install Data/Locked Files/Boot Files/com.apple.boot.plist. If you look at your main HD root, you will see the macos Install Data folder. It should be possible to edit it from the UEFI Shell, but I couldn't so I used sudo nano to edit it before rebooting to the shell and executing the boot.efi in the same folder to restart the update. It's all in IronmanJFF's posts a few pages back.

Edited February 4, 2019 by ntsmkfob

[IronManJFF]

I have assembled a new firmware. I call it XMAX-E (E for Expandable).

I have based it on the XMAS firmware , built into the firmware is APFSDriverLoaded, KernextPatcher and DBounce.

Kernel patches up to 10.14.4 are built into the firmware but can be expended by placing KernextPatcher.plist in /Efi

 

By default DBounce is disabled until you place DBounce.plist in /Efi (you can use DBounce to Expand the firmware by loading more drivers such as DarBoot or BeepBeep )

 

Credits go to @cecekpawon for UEFTW, @PMheart for the kernel patches and @alberto21 who's RE-XMAX firmware sparked the idea for me to build this one.

 

 

 

Z77MXQUOAOS.H2O.167X-XMAX-E.ROM.zip

Edited February 14, 2019 by IronManJFF

[TypeThree]

Nice Job! Is this based on Ozmosis XMAX or on XMAS?

 

You may want to take a look at the latest posts over at the Ozmosis topic regarding HD4600 patches

[IronManJFF]

I replaced Oz from the XMAS version, with the XMAX version.

Concerning HD4600 .. you cannot use it on the QUO board .. Socket LGA 1155. HD4000 is the best you can get for Integrated Graphics

[TypeThree]

Sounds good 

 

I meant the latests post in general, they might concern the HD4600 but they are also about general topics like AF in Oz and DeviceProperty-Injection...

Edited February 15, 2019 by TypeThree

[jjrecort]

Hello,

 

I know this is totally dumb question, but never been on the windows side of life.

 

I have currently have Z77MXQUOAOS.H20.167X-XMAX.ROM installed (still didn't had time to try new JFF's BIOS)

Can I install a separate SDD and install Windows on it?

Do I need to have any consideration? (specially not to mess up with mac os)

 

Thank you!

(note: I need to use windows for some stupid goverment registry! only works on Windows 7/10 and Explorer!)

[IronManJFF]

Yes you can install Windows on a dedicated SSD/HD. Works very well.

 

Best way is to get the 64 bit version so it install in UEFI mode and not Legacy Mode. If you want to be sure it does not mess your MacOS Setup .. disconnect the Mac drive .. but plug the Windows drive in place of your Mac drive. Keep your Mac drive connected to SATA0,0.

[jjrecort]

12 hours ago, IronManJFF said:

Yes you can install Windows on a dedicated SSD/HD. Works very well.

 

Best way is to get the 64 bit version so it install in UEFI mode and not Legacy Mode. If you want to be sure it does not mess your MacOS Setup .. disconnect the Mac drive .. but plug the Windows drive in place of your Mac drive. Keep your Mac drive connected to SATA0,0.

 

As usual, thank you a lot!

Very clear and wise advice, will do this way!

 

Merci beaucoup!

[jjrecort]

On 2/19/2019 at 8:44 PM, IronManJFF said:

Yes you can install Windows on a dedicated SSD/HD. Works very well.

 

Best way is to get the 64 bit version so it install in UEFI mode and not Legacy Mode. If you want to be sure it does not mess your MacOS Setup .. disconnect the Mac drive .. but plug the Windows drive in place of your Mac drive. Keep your Mac drive connected to SATA0,0.

Hi Again,

 

One question the USB drive has to be formated xFat, right?

I'm saying because I have a USB with the windows setup image on it, but the computer is not even seeing the USB drive.

I check going to the Q-Flash utility, and looking if the USB mass device was appearing on the list.

 

Sorry1, I know this is too basic, but the last time I installed a windows system was a NT 3.1 back in 1995!

 

 

[IronManJFF]

I use Rufus (http://rufus.ie )to create the USB stick ... you want GPT for UEFI install

[jjrecort]

14 minutes ago, jjrecort said:

Hi Again,

 

One question the USB drive has to be formated xFat, right?

I'm saying because I have a USB with the windows setup image on it, but the computer is not even seeing the USB drive.

I check going to the Q-Flash utility, and looking if the USB mass device was appearing on the list.

 

Sorry1, I know this is too basic, but the last time I installed a windows system was a NT 3.1 back in 1995!

 

 

answering myself, I found a tutorial where it says FAT32 .

The previous info I found said xFAt..

 

Keep going! sorry for the noise!

 

[jjrecort]

2 hours ago, IronManJFF said:

I use Rufus (http://rufus.ie )to create the USB stick ... you want GPT for UEFI install

Thanks, I will look for a Windows computer somewere and try with rufus,

 

I have followed this

https://www.passfab.com/mac/how-to-create-a-bootable-windows-10-8-7-usb-on-mac-with-without-bootcamp.html

Part 2, and I have theorically succeed, but I'm not still seeing the USB drive at all on the QUO...

I have realized this method has created a UDF partition.. so probably the motherboard is not reading UDF media.

 

Thanks!

[jjrecort]

Okay, I'm stuck again.

 

Here is my experience..

I have found a similar app to rufus for mac, called unedbootin is open source

https://unetbootin.github.io

 

With this app all is fine, it does the job, so I can boot my QUO and get the windows installer to work.. but I have an error (error reading install.wim).

Where is the problem?, since unedbootin and bootcamp format the USB drives as FAT32, this file install.wim is giving errors because it's over 4GB FAT32 limit.

Addendum1: I managed to create a USB drive formated in ExFAT,  and then the computer is not booting, it does not recognize the exFAT fileformat.

Addendum2: I managed to create a USB drive formated in NTSF... now untbootin does not recognize NTFS.. what a pain in the ass!

 

So I need to find a Windows install ISO file with all it's files under 4GB or:

 

Which other formats will boot on QUO?

 

 

JFF, does rufus format the bootable USB drive in other format rather than FAT32-exFAT-NTFS?

 

 

With the terminal I have been able to copy the entire ISO image, but I don't know if is because is UDF file format or because is just the data and not boot files, I can't see the USB Drive.

 

Thank you!

 

Edited February 22, 2019 by jjrecort

[ammoune78]

7 hours ago, jjrecort said:

Okay, I'm stuck again.

 

Here is my experience..

I have found a similar app to rufus for mac, called unedbootin is open source

https://unetbootin.github.io

 

With this app all is fine, it does the job, so I can boot my QUO and get the windows installer to work.. but I have an error (error reading install.wim).

Where is the problem?, since unedbootin and bootcamp format the USB drives as FAT32, this file install.wim is giving errors because it's over 4GB FAT32 limit.

Addendum1: I managed to create a USB drive formated in ExFAT,  and then the computer is not booting, it does not recognize the exFAT fileformat.

Addendum2: I managed to create a USB drive formated in NTSF... now untbootin does not recognize NTFS.. what a pain in the ass!

 

So I need to find a Windows install ISO file with all it's files under 4GB or:

 

Which other formats will boot on QUO?

 

 

JFF, does rufus format the bootable USB drive in other format rather than FAT32-exFAT-NTFS?

 

 

With the terminal I have been able to copy the entire ISO image, but I don't know if is because is UDF file format or because is just the data and not boot files, I can't see the USB Drive.

 

Thank you!

 

 

If i understands what you said, the install.win got corrupted. And therefore, the installation cannot continue, since the file isn't 100% clean.
My answer for you, is:
Download a clean windows ISO
Format the USB as GUID and (MS-DOS) FAT from Disk Utility
Open the downloaded windows ISO and paste its content over the USB formatted partition
Use Diskpart to clean the windows drive and to convert it as GPT
Reboot and select the UEFI Windows USB, to boot from
You should be ready to go for installation at 100% clean!
Good luck 

[jjrecort]

7 hours ago, ammoune78 said:

 

If i understands what you said, the install.win got corrupted. And therefore, the installation cannot continue, since the file isn't 100% clean.
My answer for you, is:
Download a clean windows ISO
Format the USB as GUID and (MS-DOS) FAT from Disk Utility
Open the downloaded windows ISO and paste its content over the USB formatted partition
Use Diskpart to clean the windows drive and to convert it as GPT
Reboot and select the UEFI Windows USB, to boot from
You should be ready to go for installation at 100% clean!
Good luck 

Thank you Ammoune,

 

well the file is not corrupted, the problem is too large for the FAT filesystem as is 4.4GB.

 

 I tried what you said and when copying the files from the ISO image to the USB gives an error:

 

”file is too large for volume’s fileformat”

 

maybe If I can download an older ISO image file where the install.win is smaller than 4 GB.

 

There is any repository of older ISO windows 10 images? From Microsoft I only can download this image with 4.4GB file

 

thank you!!!

[IronManJFF]

It is Windows, format it as NTFS

It is Windows, format it as NTFS

[ammoune78]

16 hours ago, jjrecort said:

Thank you Ammoune,

 

well the file is not corrupted, the problem is too large for the FAT filesystem as is 4.4GB.

 

 I tried what you said and when copying the files from the ISO image to the USB gives an error:

 

”file is too large for volume’s fileformat”

 

maybe If I can download an older ISO image file where the install.win is smaller than 4 GB.

 

There is any repository of older ISO windows 10 images? From Microsoft I only can download this image with 4.4GB file

 

thank you!!!

 

I use parallels desktop, and run Rufus to make a bootable Win 10 usb drive. Now if installing using GPT, the usb drive should be also GPT, and formatted using FAT32 FS. Rufus does this, without any error even if the Install.wim is too large for FAT32 supported file size, i've just installed windows 10, week ago, and it's already done.
I also used the method listed earlier, from macOS, formatting as GPT and MS-DOS from DiskUtility, and i'm able to install windows 10. But however, the Rufus method is my preferred one.  

[jjrecort]

10 hours ago, ammoune78 said:

 

I use parallels desktop, and run Rufus to make a bootable Win 10 usb drive. Now if installing using GPT, the usb drive should be also GPT, and formatted using FAT32 FS. Rufus does this, without any error even if the Install.wim is too large for FAT32 supported file size, i've just installed windows 10, week ago, and it's already done.
I also used the method listed earlier, from macOS, formatting as GPT and MS-DOS from DiskUtility, and i'm able to install windows 10. But however, the Rufus method is my preferred one.  

 

Thanks for the feedback

 

I have tried rufus with Codeweaver's Crossover (paid version of former Vine) and I can open Rufus and select the ISO image, but all other functions are disabled.

 

I will try Parallels, actually I used Parallels in the past to be able to file taxes, (now is possible on mac only with Firefox)

 

Thanks!

 

11 hours ago, IronManJFF said:

It is Windows, format it as NTFS

It is Windows, format it as NTFS

I tried!!!

but both unedbootin and Bootcamp don't support NTSF formated USB Drives!

I will try to run Rufus on Parallels or go to some friend with Windows to run rufus

 

Thanks!

[ammoune78]

1 hour ago, jjrecort said:

 

Thanks for the feedback

 

I have tried rufus with Codeweaver's Crossover (paid version of former Vine) and I can open Rufus and select the ISO image, but all other functions are disabled.

 

I will try Parallels, actually I used Parallels in the past to be able to file taxes, (now is possible on mac only with Firefox)

 

Thanks!

 

I tried!!!

but both unedbootin and Bootcamp don't support NTSF formated USB Drives!

I will try to run Rufus on Parallels or go to some friend with Windows to run rufus

 

Thanks!

 

Use only free Parallels desktop version to make your USB, NTFS will not install on GPT for windows 10. So better use UEFI from Rufus, and let it do it's job 

[jjrecort]

Hello!

 

I would like to share some experiences,

 

1. I finally got a windows laptop and did the Windows image with rufus in a snap.

Computer installed and worked fine at 1st start no problems at all.

 

2. I had a weird experience this evening and these my findings

The issue came when tried to install the drivers for a EDIMAX WIFI dongle, upon restart my screen went to black, no verbose, no splash screen. Damn!

 

To check it was a system issue (as it looked like) i just replaced the non booting Angel Bird  SSD with the SSD of my other QUO (Samsung 860 PRO), all worked fine.

 

So then I used this SSD (Samsung with Mojave) to install Mojave on my spare Crucial SDD (it still had El Capitan from my previous setup)

All the install went fine until the time of reboot, where in the middle of the white splash screen, the computer rebooted and UEFI shell appeared.

 

So then I tried what JFF posted on page 155

On 11/11/2018 at 5:19 PM, IronManJFF said:

ReplaceKernel Flags-rootdmg-ramdisk auth-root-dmg=file:///macOS%20Install%20Data/Locked%20Files/BaseSystem.dmgByKernel Flagsnv_disable=1 -rootdmg-ramdisk auth-root-dmg=file:///macOS%20Install%20Data/Locked%20Files/BaseSystem.dmg

 

 

But I wasn't able to save the modification, looks like the volume or folder has writting permisions disabled.

 

So I booted MacOS again from Samsung SSD and manually changed the com.apple.boot.plist file

I tried again to boot from the Crucial SSD and no luck, back to UEFI (but with high resolution text - like the unix verbose)

I also tried manually to execute the boot.efi from macOS Install Data/locked Files/Boot Files and got the same result.

 

Then I took out the Crucial SSD and plugged in it on my wife's iMac and finished the install with no further problems.

 

After that I plugged the Crucial SSD back to my QUO and voilà, it booted fine and in version 10.14.3, so I didn't had the problem with the update from 10.14.2 to 10.14.3.

 

Now I was able to see my original Mojave SSD (Angel Bird) and guess what I found:  a macOS install data folder on it, (no I didn't tried to install the new system on the wrong SSD, I triple checked) I erased that folder, rebooted from Angel Bird SSD and all was back to normal, but now with a spare Mojave SSD (Crucial) for future troubleshooting.

 

Cheers!

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by jjrecort

[Casm101]

Hello everyone, I need some help again 

 

This time at least it's not a life and death situation at least.

 

Ive had the chance to slightly upgrade my RAM with an extra pair of 8GB sticks, but now they are not recognised correctly by macOS so it seams, as it should be 3 sticks of 8GB and one of 4.... 

 

 

Even though they are detected correctly in the BIOS: 

 

 

And here they are on the board: Socket one and two have 8GB Crucial RAM, socket 3 has 8GB Kingston hyperX fury and socket 4 has 4GB Kingston hyperX fury:

 

 

Has anyone had this problem before? At first I thought it might be damaged memory channels on the processor, or bad RAM, but as all of it is showing in the BIOS, I'm not too sure.

 

It's not Crucial (see what I did there?? ) for me to get it running all the RAM, but it would definitely be nice...

 

As always, thanks in advanced, and any help would be much appreciated.

 

Live long and prosper friends! 

[IronManJFF]

Try putting the matched pair in Bank 1 instead of Bank 2

 

And check Memory Settings in BIOS

[Casm101]

Ok, so I swapped the RAM around, but the problem persists, I also reset the BIOS to defaults, and simply enabled the virtulization setting because I need it for my virtual machines.

 

So at the moment everything is running as stock.

 

This is the current layout, and as you can see, everything is being detected...

 

 

Which is equal to this: (from left to right) Crucial 8GB, Kingston 4GB, Crucial 8GB, and Kingston 8GB.

 

 

I have no idea why this isn't working, could it be due to damaged memory channels ?

 

UPDATE: it seems to be something with MacOS as Ive plugged-in a windows 10 drive ad it has detected the full 28GB of RAM, this is slightly getting on my nerves now XD.

 

 

UPDATE 2: ok, sorted it, it was kind of a stupid fix really. The solution came from the official apple support site, where someone's Mac had a problem registering new RAM, so they suggested resetting the PRAM, so I reset the NVRAM, and it seems to have worked. 

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Casm101