GUIDE: Z77MX-QUO-AOS Migrating from Ozmosis to OpenCore

[IronManJFF]

Z77MX-QUO-AOS Migrating from OZ to OpenCore (based on OpenCore 0.5.7-2020-03-08 and above )

Instructions below are for the most current version of the MigrationKit

 

0) Disclaimer : This a Guide for the QUO motherboard, 100% to fail on any other. I have not tested it with iGPU only so take note. I have not tested it with any other SMBIOS than iMac13,2. I have not tested 'FileVault' drives or Fusion drives.
1) Backup your current firmware and settings  use Q-Flash  Save BIOS to ROM... if you don't and end up with a brick you deserve what is happening to you

 

2) Backup your data, only fools don't take backups

 

Follow these steps ..don't come bitching if you don't do them in the correct order (and don't be creative, well you can be after you make it work with this recipe)

 

3) Retrieving info, you will need using HackinTool 

• Board Serial Number 
• ROM
• ModelIdentifier
• Serial Number
• System ID

 

4) Download the MigrationKit from GitHub

5) Now Open this file using XCode or your favorite Plist Editor

  

 

6) Fill in the info from Step 3 in the Generic Section (don't touch anything else)

 

 

7) Save the file and save it again as MyPlatformInfo.plist somewhere safe outside of the Migration Kit

 

 

😎 Open a Terminal Window at the Migration Kit location

 

 

9) Run the CreateConfig.sh script .. it will merge the config_template.plist with PlatformInfo.plist and create the config.plist file in the OC folder, you run the script by executing this command in the Terminal Window

./CreateConfig.sh

 

 

10 ) Open your EFI folder from your boot drive (the one that has the OZ folder), time to copy the stuff over

 

 

11) Time to flash the OC-friendly firmware, put the firmware on a USB stick and flash it

 

 

12) If all goes well when it reboots , you will see the original QUO Boot Logo and then it will greet you with a Bootpicker screen .. kinda like when you hold Option on a real Mac. something like (to see reset NVRAM, Recovery HD and access to UEFI Shell from this screen .. press Spacebar)

 

13) Choose which OS to Boot and enjoy!

 

 

Special Topics:

 

The OC-friendly firmware basically it is :

       The H20-XMASS firmware

• stripped of Ozmosis, FakeSMC, HFS, APFSDriverLoader,VoodooHDA and anything Oz specific while retaining the DSDT that made it special
• snapped back the QUO Boot Logo from the original firmware (F3A) was the only way I found to fix black screen on cold boot
• Optimized Defaults values to be OC-friendly     

 

 

To get into UEFI Shell before invoking OC ---> Hold F12 at startup (nothing new)

Setting Default Boot Drive ---> OC honors Startup Disk Control Panel

Windows (UEFI) ---> Two ways , pick one and stick with it

• From OC Boot Picker (that is what I do)
• From the mobo native boot picker (Holding F12 at startup and choosing Windows)

HD4000 headless ---> In firmware setting .. iGPU enabled, Init Display first PEG (that's it --will not work with SMBIOS MacMini), make sure you have a working setup before enabling this feature.

Parrallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, Virtual Box --> In firmware setttings, Intel Virtualization Technology  Enabled (i left it off by default because there might be people with Sandy Bridge or Pentium CPU)

 

To remove the BootPicker at startup (you can still make it show by holding Option at boot) --> Set ShowPicker key to false in config.plist

To disable the BootChime et startup --> Set AudioSupport key to false in config.plist

 

Troubleshooting:

 

 

To retrieve Debug log from Terminal

nvram 4D1FDA02-38C7-4A6A-9CC6-4BCCA8B30102:boot-log | awk '{gsub(/%0d%0a%00/,"");gsub(/%0d%0a/,"\n")}1'

 

Upgrading OpenCore with a new version a the Migration Kit

 

Backup your EFI folder (just in case) 

Download new version of the Kit

Remember that MyPlatformInfo.plist that you saved somewhere safe earlier, copy it into the new Migration Kit folder

and redo step 8 thru 10 (the script will detect that MyPlatformInfo.plist is present and use it instead of PlatformInfo.plist to do the merge)

That's it

 

 

==========================================================================================

Old kits below will eventually remove them

 

Get the migration kit (0.5.8)

 

Updated Kit for 0.5.9

 

 

Updated for OpenCore 0.7.6

https://github.com/Kazbah/Z77MX-QUO-AOS-OpenCore-Migration-Kit

 

 

Please ignore the image below, I just can't delete it for some reason

Edited February 13, 2022 by IronManJFF
Updated for OpenCore 0.7.6 - Update How to

[elviejo]

I get invalid ROM on XCODE. My bad I delete the <> inadvertently.

Edited March 28, 2020 by elviejo

[elviejo]

Migration done, really good job IronManJFF, much more stable than OZ, until now everything works good, going play with it this weekend and let you know.

P.S. I stick to Mac mini 8,1

Edited March 29, 2020 by elviejo

[oSxFr33k]

Sorry if I am confused in hackentool there are some ambiguities for System UUID.   Which one do I need?  Under System Tab I see Hardware UUID and System ID and under Serial tab I see SmUUID.   I have to assume I need SmUUID?

 

Thanks!

[IronManJFF]

11 minutes ago, oSxFr33k said:

Sorry if I am confused in hackentool there are some ambiguities for System UUID.   Which one do I need?  Under System Tab I see Hardware UUID and System ID and under Serial tab I see SmUUID.   I have to assume I need SmUUID?
 
Thanks!

 

SystemID from Hackintool goes into config.plist SystemUUID

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by IronManJFF

[oSxFr33k]

Thanks, one more question the Audio folder in Resources makes it way over 171mb warning disk full, do I need to remove some of those audio files?

[IronManJFF]

3 minutes ago, oSxFr33k said:

Thanks, one more question the Audio folder in Resources makes it way over 171mb warning disk full, do I need to remove some of those audio files?

 

They come in multiple languages .. so you could remove unused langages.

[oSxFr33k]

Thanks again for sharing this masterful guide and hard work you put into this project.  This runs very smooth boots lightening fast.  I installed 10.15.2 and will install 10.15.3.  Should I wait on 10.15.4 heard some possible issues related to Dosude1 patcher for unsupported macs and unsure if this may also involve supported macs?

 

Edited:

 

10.15.4 Running Perfect thanks again!

Edited March 29, 2020 by oSxFr33k

[jraulc]

Hello folks, is possible to install from scratch, I mean OC firmware first and then the macOS or is mandatory to have the motherboard info for the config.plist file before to try anything? thank you in advance... 

[jraulc]

Hey folks, me again, it looks like if works smooth (still testing it),

Flashed and then copy the OC folders from migration kit and rename the sample plist file to config.plist to the Efi folder at fs0:, like the instructions but from the boot commands options like when you add the boot entry manually with Osmosis.

It boots very smooth, my video card Radeon RX 590 8 GB works much better and fully detected now, before with High Sierra only showed something like "polaris" as the model, the only issue I have found is the BT says "Bluetooth: Not Available", I have the BCM94331CD with this BCM94360CD/BCM94331CD to PCI-e 1X Adapter, it was working good before with High Sierra, now I moved to Mojave 10.14.6, any idea o suggestion what I shall try.? thank you again...

[shoxx1122]

I just follow your lead today, then it works perfectly now!

Very thanks to IronManJFF !

You are the hero of Z77MX-QUO-AOS!

 

Here is a tip that it may needs EFI MOUNTER or CLOVER CONFIGURATOR to access efi folder of OSX system drive. (my experience)

 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by shoxx1122

[IronManJFF]

17 hours ago, jraulc said:

the only issue I have found is the BT says "Bluetooth: Not Available", I have the BCM94331CD with this BCM94360CD/BCM94331CD to PCI-e 1X Adapter, it was working good before with High Sierra, now I moved to Mojave 10.14.6, any idea o suggestion what I shall try.? thank you again...

 

Make sure the USB connector from the PCI-E adapter is connected to F_USB3.

Edited April 5, 2020 by IronManJFF

[jraulc]

2 hours ago, IronManJFF said:

 

Make sure the USB connector from the PCI-E adapter is connected to F_USB3.

Yeap, you're the man! first with High Sierra I was using F_USB2 for the adapter because I have a case fan close to F_USB3 and I was trying to keep this cable away from the fan blades and it was working good, so believe me or not, few minutes ago I tried to swap the adapter cable to F_USB1 but not working again so I gave up, now I tried to move it to F_USB3 like you pointed and is working like a charm! thank you and stay safe and healthy... 

[IronManJFF]

Unless I am mistaken F_USB2 & F_USB1 should work in Catalina (checked on 10.15.4) .. the kext Info.plist does not restrict ports.

[jraulc]

On 4/14/2020 at 8:58 AM, ntsmkfob said:

I wish I could join this party!

 

I damaged some pins while replacing the CPU in my QUO, so I shipped it off to someone in the US (from the UK) offering reballing and socket replacement - never to be heard of again.

 

Moved on to a Z390 M Gaming mobo now with OpenCore. If the QUO board ever comes back, I'll follow IronManJFF's install process.

 

Thanks for all the help from him and others in the QUO topic over the years. It's a great board (still).

First: I'm sorry is this is not the right place to do this, but I need to try...

Hey bud, sorry to hear that, I hope you could get it back soon, if not try to search at ebay and save the search with email notifications even if there is no results at the moment when you try, I had to wait a couple months to get mine last year, the first listing price it was 500 US$ because it was brand new, yeap, rare but I was so lucky, then the seller had to relisted 3 times, the last time the price it was 200 US$ so I bought it at the moment, then at December last year there was another listing but when I checked the biding was over, the biding price for this one it was 50 US$, it was open box condition, so if you are patience you can get another one...

My question, I have being playing some games with mine, 10.14.6, Xeon E3 1230 v2, 32gb 1600mz, 1tb SSD Samung Evo and AMD Radeon RX 590 8g, is more than enough for all the games I play, even with the settings to the highest graphics quality, but the thing is I'm having an issue playing RUST, no matter what I do or change settings I try, (at the game or BIOS) lowest graphics quality it only reduce the GPU stress and high quality the GPU stress goes to 50-60%/4.15 Ram but is always the same issue, everything is going smooth 50-60 FPS (full quality @ 1080p) until around each 15-16 minutes the processor stress go low (checked with XRG, without any other process using the resources, I already disabled the spotlight indexing, after boots open Steam only and then the game RUST) and then the FPS at the game drops too, it drops from 50-60 FPS to 1 FPS, is only during a few seconds and then gradually go back to smooth, 1 FPS, 3 FPS, 5 FPS, 10 FPS, 15 FPS, 20 FPS, 25 FPS (not those numbers exactly but that is the idea) and so on until reach the pick of 50-60 again, is not a CPU temperature issue because I have enough case fans and a nice heatsing, I keep the case front open and close to the AC flow so when it goes hot is around 60º C at the system sensors but from outside is pretty colder than that, the graphic card still cold most the times, without gaming the fans remains off, it only start to spin when I play any game, and last, is not a MB temperature issue because I checked everything with a laser thermometer, the chip-set, north-bridge, capacitors, everything, is not a network lag issue because I'm playing at my own LAN game server and my ping to the LAN game server is ave. 4.5 ms, actually I installed this LAN game server because before I thought it could be a network lag problem when I was playing at online servers, but is not, it not the server side performance because I monitor the game server performance and never reach the 10%-15% of the processor capacity or the ram, at the server side everything is smooth, kindly attach some pictures, the lowest CPU temperature when is not gaming, the screen with the low FPS and graphic from XGR showing the CPU and GPU stress during the issue, and last one is the CPU temperature when gaming...

Any idea what it could be the issue or which one is the best CPU for gaming with this MB, I'm wondering if is better to get another CPU in my case? any suggestion from any one who wants to share own experience is welcome, thank you.

Edited April 17, 2020 by jraulc
I said "Fist" instead "First"

[ntsmkfob]

Hi,

 

you could use hwmonitor to get internal temps from the cpu and maybe the gpu as well. I moved from an overclocked i5-3570k to the Xeon 1230 v4 and noticed a big improvement in some places. The upgrade to the i7-3770k was where it all went wrong. A piece of fluff must have fallen onto the cpu as I put the water block on and that was enough to bend some pins.

 

I've always had water cooling for the cpu, and it works great. I don't game so the graphics card rarely gets exercised.

 

Hope someone can shed some light for you.

[IronManJFF]

Time Machine enabled in System Preferences ?

[jraulc]

Hey Folks, me again, I reply late because I have being making some test/error tries...

 

@IronManJFF I never have used Time Machine for my use, at the settings are like the attached picture shows, I hope that means "Disabled"...

 

@ntsmkfob I thought you could be a gamer because you mentioned this "Z390 M Gaming mobo" so I assumed your could have some experience related to gaming with the Z77mx-quo-aos, but thank you for your reply, any experience matters for me, but I will go with the Xeon E3 1290 v2 because it has a little bit higher freq. than i7-3770k and may be this could give better results (reason below), I will try that and once there I'll share my results here...

So this is what I found, the issue I mentioned before it only happens playing Rust no matter the graphics quality I pick, is always the same result, all the rest the games goes smooth all the time, CSGO up to 80 FPS, HurtWorld up to 40 FPS (Funny because it suppose to be for those who don't have enough requirements to play Rust so it should be the highest FPS), Stranded Deep up to 56 FPS, so I guess is kind of bug with the game Rust in self, the best result I could get it is tweaking the BIOS settings at Advanced/Frequency Settings/CPU-PCI Base Clock:104.90Mhz, CPU Clock Ratio:35 this makes Memory Frequency:1678MHz (if I try more than that still can boot and runs Rust but it freezes after few minutes) with this settings I can boot and play Rust and reduce the FPS drops to 8 instead of 1 or 2, but still happening every 15-16 minutes, is a little bit better but not the enough yet.

 

Right now I have 32gb(4x8) Crucial DDR3-1600Mhz 240-pin PC3-12800 and I was expecting to be able to tweak a little bit higher with the frequencies but I couldn't, I don't know if the limitation is at the MB, the CPU or Ram Memory, any experience or guide related to that.? 

 

Should I report this issue like a possible bug to the game company, I mean since I'm not running an official mac hardware...?

 

So here comes my next question:

 

Have someone tried to use DDR3-1866MHz 240-Pin PC3-14900 instead of DDR3-1600Mhz 240-pin PC3-12800...?

 

I mean, if there is nothing else to try for me right now ,then maybe that upgrade could allow me to tweak the CPU/Memory frequencies higher, may be not the full memory freq to 1866MHz but something closer and better than now, I know there is physical/hardware limitations from the MB, but if no one had try I can do that and once then share the results...

[IronManJFF]

2 hours ago, jraulc said:

Should I report this issue like a possible bug to the game company, I mean since I'm not running an official mac hardware...?

 

Yes I would since it only happens on this game.. they might not look much into it if they figure it to be related to Xeon CPU. 

 

You did apply the thermal paste underneath that cooler ? 

No matter what you do the system will throttle down if temperature reaches 65,8 C at the CPU integrated heat spreaders

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/65732/intel-xeon-processor-e3-1230-v2-8m-cache-3-30-ghz.html

 

I will ask the mods to move your post outside of the GUIDE thread and into https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/285920-os-x-compatible-motherboard-quo

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by IronManJFF

[jraulc]

On 4/19/2020 at 3:02 PM, IronManJFF said:

 

Yes I would since it only happens on this game.. they might not look much into it if they figure it to be related to Xeon CPU. 

 

You did apply the thermal paste underneath that cooler ? 

No matter what you do the system will throttle down if temperature reaches 65,8 C at the CPU integrated heat spreaders

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/65732/intel-xeon-processor-e3-1230-v2-8m-cache-3-30-ghz.html

 

I will ask the mods to move your post outside of the GUIDE thread and into https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/285920-os-x-compatible-motherboard-quo

 

Hey folks, me again, sorry I don't like to reply to say "I will try that and then post my result with another post, so after few days trying some different options here is my results:
Yes, I used a decent thermal compound, not the best quality but decent, after read your post I checked the CPU temperature just before the issue and some times it was showing 61º up to 65º but during the issue it was going down to 59º again, so I moved the case exactly at front the A/C flow and tried again, the same result with the temperature and issue, then I recall I have another heat-sink, bigger and better, titan fenrir evo, I removed the previous one, clean the CPU, applied a new and better thermal compound, tried again, the same results with temperature and lags, then I was trying different heat-sink position/air flow, left to righ, right to left, bottom to up, and the one that gave me better temperature results it was with the heat sink facing the case top and the heat-sink fan on top of it blowing to up, with this I could get very good temperatures around 55º during the game but still the same result, lags every 15-16 minutes, so after that I decided to try with windows, so I started to move my old virtualbox windows 7 setup to the macOS desktop ruining at this one at quos to create the windows installer, then resize the macos partition and create free space for the windows install, and so on, the final conclusion, is a problem with the Rust game at macOS (Unity Player Version: 2019.3.5f1(d691e07d38ef)) and nothing else, I get event lower temperatures and highest FPS playing on windows with the same configuration, so I reported it like a bug, hopefully they will fix it eventually.
The thing a this point I make the decision to stop playing Rust or those games that require entire days of preparation, since I have a full macOS system running smooth (I was missing the mbp trackpad gestures so I bought a magic trackpad 2 and it works like a charm) I want to use it for something productive, trying to make the case quiet as possible I'm getting a lower specs GPU (Radeon RX 550 4gb) to gain another slot and reduce the heat to be able to use a smaller CPU heat-sink, even I'm planing to buy a Gigabyte Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Card to have full access to thunderbolt devices, so here come my next two questions, first, why the integrated thunderbolt is not detected, and second, the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt it will work fine with the Quo right..?

[IronManJFF]

, why the integrated thunderbolt is not detected, and second, the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt it will work fine with the Quo right..?

Integrated : No idea why it is not reported in System Profiler but it works. Just plug your device before powering up.

Gigabyte Alpine : No idea if it will or not.

 

Now lets get this thread back on topic

Migration from OZ to OC is what it is about.

And make a build signature.

[CiTroNaK]

Hi,
thank you very much for this guide.

 

Unfortunately, I did not have any running macOS (disk with it died) so I installed the latest macOS to an external drive using my MacBook Pro. Then I used Clover Configurator to generate needed information and created config.plist from the template (you can find it attached here) and uploaded it to EFI partition.

 

Unfortunately, I was not able to boot it. I was able to select the disk from the correct Bootpicker screen and got an error (see attached image).

Could someone please help me?

 

Is there anything I can do to provide more information?

 

Thank you.

config.plist

Edited May 3, 2020 by CiTroNaK

[IronManJFF]

MLB should be equal to SystemSerialNumber+5 digits

 

Only Platforminfo needs to be edited, everything else should remain as it is in the template

 

No Graphics card, you might wanna try MacMini6,2 SMBIOS

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by IronManJFF

[CiTroNaK]

10 minutes ago, IronManJFF said:

MLB should be equal to SystemSerialNumber+5 digits

 

Only Platforminfo needs to be edited, everything else should remain as it is in the template

 

No Graphics card, you might wanna try MacMini6,2 SMBIOS

 

 

 

Thank you for your answer.

 

Looks like I was unable to generate correct keys (like System Serial Number). Please, is there any better app for it or some article where I can read how to do it properly?

[IronManJFF]

There is no app.

If you still have your Defaults.plist from Ozmosis you can take the info from there