[GUIDE] Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia on HP EliteDesk 800 G4/G5 Mini - The perfect MacMini8,1 Hackintosh

[pastrychef]

30 minutes ago, deeveedee said:

Hi, @pastrychef!  Long time, no talk!  Great to hear from you.  I do not own an EliteDesk with an RX560, but I have seen reports by others who had the RX560 working in earlier versions of macOS.  Does the card work for you with Monterey or Big Sur?

 

No.  I have only tried Ventura since I already had it installed before installing the RX 560...

 

I've tried all the "agdpmod" boot-args.

I've tried Macmini8,1, iMac18,x, iMac19,x, iMacPro1,1, MacPro7,1 system definitions.

I have even tried enabling Legacy Support in BIOS.

 

Nothing has worked to produce any video output from the RX 560.  The progress bar on the Apple boot screen goes about 1/3 of the way then stops and, eventually, the screen goes black.   I know it's fully booted because I am able to shutdown the system using keyboard shortcuts...

 

When using Macmini8,1, if I switch video cable from RX 560 to one of the IGPU ports, I get video...

 

I have searched and haven't found anyone who has posted about success with the RX 560.

 

Also, do you know if 65W CPUs will run on models of EliteDesk that shipped with 35W CPUs?  I already have 150W PSU.  How is the heat and noise from your i9-9900?

Edited May 14, 2023 by pastrychef

[deeveedee]

@pastrychef I think iMac19,1 is the best SMBIOS model for your configuration.  You might need to use a connectorless framebuffer.  I would suggest starting with a macOS earlier than Ventura, since I remember issues with Ventura and RX560.  Big Sur would probably be easiest.   If you post your config.plist, I'd be happy to take a look.

 

I do not know if the 35W models have the MOSFETs to drive a 65W CPU.  The 65W and 90W models have all-copper heatsinks and an additional cooling fan for the SATA drive caddy, so it's not as simple as upgrading the AC adapter.  The motherboard does have some intelligence to auto-detect components, so it's very possible that a 35W motherboard wouldn't even attempt to power up with a 65W CPU.

 

The i9-9900 is fantastic.  It is very fast and runs very cool.  HP has intentionally limited P1/P2 (see this long discussion here) to reduce heat dissipation, but the i9-9900 still does very well.  I love it.

[CloverLeaf]

I am pretty sure that with the Mini's you cannot install 65W CPU on 35W mobo no matter what PSU you will plug in. Also RX 560 will only work with the 35W versions. Again that's with the Mini's.

If I am not wrong any other non-mini models are shipped with 65W(+) CPUs. What is the exact model of your EliteDesk @pastrychef ? 

I also had the idea to get one of those 560s but since the price was high and the compatibility is questionable in Ventura, I gave up the idea very soon.

Edited May 15, 2023 by CloverLeaf

[pastrychef]

1 hour ago, deeveedee said:

@pastrychef I think iMac19,1 is the best SMBIOS model for your configuration.  You might need to use a connectorless framebuffer.  I would suggest starting with a macOS earlier than Ventura, since I remember issues with Ventura and RX560.  Big Sur would probably be easiest.   If you post your config.plist, I'd be happy to take a look.

 

I do not know if the 35W models have the MOSFETs to drive a 65W CPU.  The 65W and 90W models have all-copper heatsinks and an additional cooling fan for the SATA drive caddy, so it's not as simple as upgrading the AC adapter.  The motherboard does have some intelligence to auto-detect components, so it's very possible that a 35W motherboard wouldn't even attempt to power up with a 65W CPU.

 

The i9-9900 is fantastic.  It is very fast and runs very cool.  HP has intentionally limited P1/P2 (see this long discussion here) to reduce heat dissipation, but the i9-9900 still does very well.  I love it.

 

Yes, I deleted the DeviceProperties for the IGPU.  It made no difference.  (Btw, there's no real need to specifically define connectorless framebuffer.  Leave it blank and macOS does it automatically even if WhateverGreen is not installed.)

 

I tried with your config.plist from post #1 and it made no difference.  The monitor connected to the RX 560 just goes dark at the Apple Logo, about 1/3 of the way on the progress bar and won't light up again.

 

If I can't get Venura going, I'm not going to bother...  This little system is booted in to Batocera 99% of the time anyway.  macOS would have just been something nice to have but in no way essential.

 

I'll have to try and dig up some photos of the VRM online...  As for the copper heatsink, I don't know how much difference it will make...  All the CPUs I have in use have already been delidded and run pretty cool already. The system stays pretty quiet even with pushed hard.

 

I did notice a noticeable jump in my Geekbench scores when I upgraded to the 150W PSU.  The vented top case also helps a lot.

[pastrychef]

1 hour ago, CloverLeaf said:

I am pretty sure that with the Mini's you cannot install 65W CPU on 35W mobo no matter what PSU you will plug in. Also RX 560 will only work with the 35W versions. Again that's with the Mini's.

If I am not wrong any other non-mini models are shipped with 65W(+) CPUs. What is the exact model of your EliteDesk @pastrychef ? 

I also had the idea to get one of those 560s but since the price was high and the compatibility is questionable in Ventura, I gave up the idea very soon.

 

I have the EliteDesk 800 G4 35W.  I just installed the RX 560 and ran in to the black screen issue in Ventura.

 

Previously, I did not have the RX 560 and Ventura ran perfectly on the IGPU.

 

The RX 560 is still kinda expensive for what it is but I really wanted to boost performance a bit in Batocera for PS3 and Nintendo Switch emulation.  So far, I'm extremely happy with the boost in performance.

 

The reason why I'm asking about 65W CPU is because I have an i9-9900 (non-K) that's doing nothing right now.  As I mentioned above, I delid all my CPUs so the 9900 runs pretty cool and heat shouldn't be an issue in the EliteDesk.  I was just wondering if anyone else had tried before actually trying it myself...

[deeveedee]

8 hours ago, pastrychef said:

I did notice a noticeable jump in my Geekbench scores when I upgraded to the 150W PSU.  The vented top case also helps a lot.

 

When you read through this thread, you'll see that the G4 benefits from the increased PSU while the G5 does not.  For the G5, HP changed the way they program PL1/PL2.  I didn't experiment, but it made me wonder whether I'd get better performance with a G4/i7-8700 and a 150W PSU than a G5 with an i7-9700 (or maybe even an i9-9900).  The 150W PSU definitely makes a difference on the G4.

 

EDIT: I recall someone asking me to test an i7-9700 in a G4.  I don't think it booted.  If I remember correctly, the G4 would not boot with a 9th Gen CPU.

 

EDIT2:  I did not know about the connectorless framebuffer (being the same as no DeviceProperties with WEG).  Good to know.  In a Reddit thread, someone claims that their RX560 didn't work until they changed their framebuffer to 0300913E.

 

EDIT3: If you want a "mini" platform with a Radeon dGPU, I think this is the way to go.  @rafale77 did a great job.

 

EDIT4: @pastrychef On last thing that might help.  I believe there was a user Delek in your forum (whose account may have been suspended) who had the RX560 working in the G4 Mini.  They contributed to my EliteDesk mini threads a few times.  If you can dig up those old posts, that might help.

Edited May 15, 2023 by deeveedee

[pastrychef]

37 minutes ago, deeveedee said:

 

When you read through this thread, you'll see that the G4 benefits from the increased PSU while the G5 does not.  For the G5, HP changed the way they program PL1/PL2.  I didn't experiment, but it made me wonder whether I'd get better performance with a G4/i7-8700 and a 150W PSU than a G5 with an i7-9700 (or maybe even an i9-9900).  The 150W PSU definitely makes a difference on the G4.

 

EDIT: I recall someone asking me to test an i7-9700 in a G4.  I don't think it booted.  If I remember correctly, the G4 would not boot with a 9th Gen CPU.

 

EDIT2:  I did not know about the connectorless framebuffer (being the same as no DeviceProperties with WEG).  Good to know.  In a Reddit thread, someone claims that their RX560 didn't work until they changed their framebuffer to 0300913E.

 

EDIT3: If you want a "mini" platform with a Radeon dGPU, I think this is the way to go.  @rafale77 did a great job.

 

Thanks for all the info!!

 

Just for reference, this is what I got from my i7-8700T with 150W PSU before I installed the RX 560:

 

 

Thanks for confirming that G4 models don't boot with 9th gen CPU.  Saved me some time from swapping components.

 

Just for the sake of completeness, I'll try setting IGPU framebuffer later on today to see if it helps.

 

I wish I'd seen the Lenovo thread earlier.  Lol.  I don't think I'll be throwing anymore money at this project other than maybe for storage...  My primary objective was to put together a small system powerful enough to run most of the emulated games up to PS3 and Nintendo Switch and I've accomplished this.  macOS on this system was always just a "nice to have" and not overly important.  I've moved to Apple Silicon in the form of a Mac Studio and I've been extremely happy with it.  I can still boot in to Ventura with the RX 560 installed, albeit with some video cable juggling at the end of the boot process, so all is not lost...

 

 

Thanks again for all the help and invaluable info!!

 

Btw, I also have a ProDesk 400 G3 DM with i7-7700T that runs Ventura 24/7 and acts as my Docker server.  Love these little form factor systems!

[deeveedee]

1 hour ago, pastrychef said:

 

Btw, I also have a ProDesk 400 G3 DM with i7-7700T that runs Ventura 24/7 and acts as my Docker server.  Love these little form factor systems!

 

Does your G3 sleep/wake?  Do you mind posting your G3 EFI?

 

EDIT: @pastrychef your GB benchmark for a "T" CPU are impressive.  Here are my GB5 scores for a G4/i5-8600 with 150W adapter.  Also see this for a comparison to i9-9900.

Edited May 15, 2023 by deeveedee

[pastrychef]

1 hour ago, deeveedee said:

 

Does your G3 sleep/wake?  Do you mind posting your G3 EFI?

 

EDIT: @pastrychef your GB benchmark for a "T" CPU are impressive.  Here are my GB5 scores for a G4/i5-8600 with 150W adapter.  Also see this for a comparison to i9-9900.

 

When I tried, sleep/wake was working on my G3.  But it's running 24/7 now...  I have it running over 20 Docker containers and it never gets a chance to sleep.  Lol

 

I'll post the EFI a little later when I can remote in to the system.

 

I think that's about what I was getting with my i9-9900 too and it was in a mini tower.  I'm tempted to use it for my Batocera box but I'm going to refrain.  My i7-8700T only has problems with the most difficult PS3 games to emulate and that's enough for now.  For those games, I can always fire up RPCS3 on the Mac Studio...

 

I tried setting AAPL, ig-platform-id to 0300913E and it made no difference.  The RX 560 just refuses to light up...  The "agdpmod" boot-args don't make any difference either...

[deeveedee]

@pastrychef I was never able to get sleep/wake to work on a 800 G3 Mini, so I'd be very interested in your EFI.  I'd also like to see your G4 EFI if you don't mind posting that as well.

 

@pastrychef There are a couple of interesting WEG boot-args: -wegnoigpu, -wegswitchgpu

 

EDIT: If you still want to debug this, I'd love to help.  Start a new thread dedicated to EliteDesk 800 Mini RX560.  If you haven't remotely logged into your G4 after booting to blank screen, you might want to try that to see if you can capture an IOReg dump.

Edited May 15, 2023 by deeveedee

[pastrychef]

3 hours ago, deeveedee said:

@pastrychef I was never able to get sleep/wake to work on a 800 G3 Mini, so I'd be very interested in your EFI.  I'd also like to see your G4 EFI if you don't mind posting that as well.

 

@pastrychef There are a couple of interesting WEG boot-args: -wegnoigpu, -wegswitchgpu

 

EDIT: If you still want to debug this, I'd love to help.  Start a new thread dedicated to EliteDesk 800 Mini RX560.  If you haven't remotely logged into your G4 after booting to blank screen, you might want to try that to see if you can capture an IOReg dump.

 

 

I already tried those boot-args when I first installed the RX 560.  Lol.  Neither of them helped...

 

Trying to VNC in to the system fails because there's no display...

[pastrychef]

Here's the EFI for my ProDesk 400 G3.

 

1113659522_EFIOpenCore0.9.0HPProDesk400G3.zip

Here's the EFI for my EliteDesk 800 G4.

2045922767_EFIOpenCore0.9.2HPEliteDesk800G4.zip

[deeveedee]

@pastrychef I'll take a look at your EFIs.  If you do want to continue debugging the RX560, please start a new thread for that since I expect it to be a bit involved.  When I was first looking for working iGPU patches for this hack, I was still able to remote in when booting to black screen.  I need to look at my notes (captured throughout this thread and in my TonyMac Catalina thread) to see if there was anything special that I did to remote in (aside from enabling remote).

[pastrychef]

1 hour ago, deeveedee said:

@pastrychef I'll take a look at your EFIs.  If you do want to continue debugging the RX560, please start a new thread for that since I expect it to be a bit involved.  When I was first looking for working iGPU patches for this hack, I was still able to remote in when booting to black screen.  I need to look at my notes (captured throughout this thread and in my TonyMac Catalina thread) to see if there was anything special that I did to remote in (aside from enabling remote).

 

Yes, although not essential, it would be nice to get it working with the RX 560.  On all the other hacks I've put together, supported dGPUs just worked after being plugged in...

[CloverLeaf]

 
Yes, although not essential, it would be nice to get it working with the RX 560.  On all the other hacks I've put together, supported dGPUs just worked after being plugged in...

Is it working on Windows ? This is really strange to me. RX 560 is supposed to work OOB.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[pastrychef]

19 minutes ago, CloverLeaf said:

Is it working on Windows ? This is really strange to me. RX 560 is supposed to work OOB.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 

 

I don't have Windows installed.  Lol

 

But it works great in Linux.

 

In the past, there were some models of RX 560-580s that had issues with macOS because of incompatible firmware...

Edited May 15, 2023 by pastrychef

[deeveedee]

I didn't spend any time debugging this (I'm sure there's a simple explanation), but the EFI that I attached to Post #1 does not permit booting from a USB flash drive (e.g., the EFI is not suitable for booting from a macOS USB installer).  In order to use my currently posted EFI for a bootable USB macOS installer, I changed "Misc > Boot > HideAuxiliary" to False and "Misc > Security > ScanPolicy" to 0 to restore the USB "Install macOS" option in OC's bootpicker.

 

EDIT: Again, I haven't spent time debugging, but there is an OC Scan Policy bit 'OC_SCAN_ALLOW_DEVICE_USB' that might have something to do with it.

 

EDIT2: I am finally catching up to the rest of you and have installed Ventura 13.3.1 + 13.3.1a RSR.  All working perfectly.

 

EDIT3: This issue with MS Remote Desktop and DP->DVI adapters is also present in Ventura.  The fix is the same.

Edited May 16, 2023 by deeveedee

[pastrychef]

I still can't figure out the RX 560 issue...  I've tried every WhateverGreen boot-arg with and without Legacy Support enabled in BIOS.  It just boots to black screen.

 

I even tried booting a Mojave installer and it also goes to black screen.

[theroadw]

5 hours ago, pastrychef said:

I still can't figure out the RX 560 issue...  I've tried every WhateverGreen boot-arg with and without Legacy Support enabled in BIOS.  It just boots to black screen.

 

I even tried booting a Mojave installer and it also goes to black screen.

 

Have you tried flashing a different ROM (VBIOS) for your card from techpowerup?

make sure you backup yours first!!

[deeveedee]

Using the EFI attached to Post #1, the Ventura 13.4 upgrade completed without any issues. I started the upgrade and left my hack unattended.  The upgrade was finished when I returned.

 

About This Hack

Spoiler

 

[Peckamal]

Hi, Can anyone share a working EFI for Monterey or Ventura HP EliteDesk 600 G2? Thank you

[deeveedee]

@Peckamal Different architecture than being discussed in this thread. You will find EliteDesk G2 solutions by searching the web.  Adapt an 800 G2 solution to your 600 G2 if necessary (shouldn't be hard). Others have claimed that this 800 G4 Mini solution works with 600 G4 Mini, so I would guess that an 800 G2 DM solution should work for you (or at least will be very close). Good luck!  You can start your own 600 G2 Mini thread here at InsanelyMac if you don't find another one already started in this forum.

Edited May 21, 2023 by deeveedee

[luky35]

Please help!

I want to install macOS Ventura and I can't see anything but Reset NVRAM in the start menu.
I'm currently on Windows 11 and going back to macOS.
Thank you and best regards,

 

 

[CloverLeaf]

Seems like our hack mini's are supported for the freshly released MacOS Sonoma I will give it a try as soon as possible.

[hiphopboy]

To install the macos 14, must update to lastest opencore and lilu kext beta then add -lilubetaall on the nvram option, then install or upgrade it

Edited June 6, 2023 by hiphopboy