[Success][Guide] Catalina Vanilla "Hackintosh Deluxe" Z370n WiFi / i5-8400 / RX-570 (FINAL)

[Raine]

Big thanks to this thread/build, everyone in it and the installation guide from hackintosher. Easier than I thought it would be. Everything's up and running except Airdrop as I didn't install a broadcom wifi/bt card.

Good to hear, enjoy

I have nearly identical parts to these (GA Z370N WiFi, i7 8700, UHD 630 onboard graphics) so i'm super grateful you made this guide! I'm going to follow it thoroughly tomorrow.

Quick question, if i were to install High Sierra instead of Mojave, would the process be exactly the same as described in the guide? Or would there be slight alterations? What alterations would need to be made?
Thanks!

Edit: Another question. Did you have to do anything fancy in particular for your 970 Evo NVMe M.2 SSD as primary boot disk? Hackintosher's Z370N 4K HTPC Guide used a regular SSD but i can't find the disperity between his BIOS settings and yours. Is there any?

Not sure why you'd want to install an older MacOS considering Mojave is up and running; you'd have to find an older High Sierra guide and see if it works.

As for the M.2 SSD, if it's the only hard drive installed then the BIOS should automatically put it as the primary boot drive (if not then just reorder the boot options in BIOS to have the M.2 SSD first).

 

[Barncore]

Not sure why you'd want to install an older MacOS considering Mojave is up and running; you'd have to find an older High Sierra guide and see if it works.

My audio interface doesn't have a driver for Mojave yet -- an essential element of my audio workstation.
And i can always upgrade to Mojave later, right? But I can't downgrade without a ton of work

As for the M.2 SSD, if it's the only hard drive installed then the BIOS should automatically put it as the primary boot drive (if not then just reorder the boot options in BIOS to have the M.2 SSD first).

Thanks, i will try tthat!

 

[Raine]

UPDATE TO 10.14.3: Updating to 10.14.3 was super easy coming from my 10.14.2 config:

STEP 1. Update to MacOS 10.14.3
To update to 10.14.3 all I did was go to "Apple>About This Mac" and clicked on the "Software Update" in the Overview tab. Followed the update directions as shown. During the update process my system only rebooted once, then back to desktop with the update finished.

Done!
Yup - that's basically it. After the update I have a working 10.14.3 system. I checked and confirmed that all USB 3.0 and USB-C ports were working again 100%, both LAN and WiFi working, everything was all systems normal.

As an extra step, I used ThemeEngine again to change my "About This Mac" image from the default Mojave mountain image to my own custom image, but this time I made two separate versions - a "Day" image when in Light Mode (with sunglasses) and a "Night" image when in Dark Mode (no sunglasses).

New "About This Mac" image for 10.14.3 in LIGHT mode....

... "About This Mac" image for 10.14.3 in DARK mode

 

[Raine]

UPDATE TO 10.14.3 (Supplemental Update): Apple released a supplemental update on February 7th, I went ahead and updated my system and all seems well. If you decide to install the supplemental update though, here's how to do it:

Update to MacOS 10.14.3 (Supplemental Update)
1. Go to the Apple website to get the standalone installer, then run the installer. The first thing it will do is ask for a restart, click "restart now.

The link is to the U.S. Apple website

2. After restarting, your system won't boot - instead you'll get a black screen with the message "Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device". DO NOT PANIC - this is fine.

3. Manually restart your system using the reset or power button, then hit DEL to get into the Gigabyte BIOS, then go to the BIOS tab. Under the "Boot Option Priorities" section, I had the following entries:

Boot Option #1: Samsung SSD 970 EVO 250GB
Boot Option #2: UEFI OS (Samsung SSD 970 EVO 250GB)

You'll notice that the UEFI OS selection (which is where MacOS is installed to) is in the option #2 spot, not option #1. I suspect this is due to the updater trying to start itself up before booting to the MacOS desktop. Anyhow, simply switch the boot options so that "UEFI OS" is positioned at #1. Then go to the "Save & Exit" tab to save and restart.

4. Upon the 2nd restart, the system will boot into the Clover Bootloader as usual, but there will now be an option to "Boot to Mojave Installer" or similar (I forgot the exact wording) - you'll need to select this option to continue the update. From here the updater will take over and install. For my system the actual installation took about 2 minutes. The system will restart again.

5. Upon the 3rd restart, once again your system won't boot - again you'll see the familiar black screen with the message "Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device". Repeat step #3 above to switch the first Boot Option to "UEFI OS". Then go to the "Save & Exit" tab again to save and restart.

6. Upon the 4th restart, the system will boot into the Clover Bootloader. Select "MacOS Mojave" and it's back to desktop with the 10.14.3 Supplemental Update finished.

Done!
After the update there is no indication that the Supplemental portion was installed, however you can verify that it was successful by going to APPLE>"About This Mac" and clicking on "Software Update." If it says "Your Mac is up to date" and the "Last Checked" date is after February 7th 2019, then you're good to go.

After the install I checked and confirmed that everything was all systems normal.

 

[mille1j]

Used this guide to updated from HS to Mojave 10.14.3. Working great so far.

Only issue I've found is that the stupid boot entries for "Boot macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot" are back again. I can't figure out how to delete them. Previously, I did this:

1. Do Command-Shift-. to show all your hidden files.
2. Goto Volumes/Preboot
3. Throw com.installer.apple into the trash.

But I can't find an entry for Preboot under Volumes

 

[mille1j]

Woot! fixed that!

terminal

diskutil list
Find the reboot volumes
Mount them
for example: diskutil mount /dev/disk1s2

Look in their subfolders for folders com.apple.installer
Delete them

 

[Raine]

Used this guide to updated from HS to Mojave 10.14.3. Working great so far.

Only issue I've found is that the stupid boot entries for "Boot macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot" are back again. I can't figure out how to delete them. Previously, I did this:

1. Do Command-Shift-. to show all your hidden files.
2. Goto Volumes/Preboot
3. Throw com.installer.apple into the trash.

But I can't find an entry for Preboot under Volumes

Woot! fixed that!

terminal

diskutil list
Find the reboot volumes
Mount them
for example: diskutil mount /dev/disk1s2

Look in their subfolders for folders com.apple.installer
Delete them

Did you mean the entries in the Clover Bootloader during startup? Mine are hidden by doing the following in config.plist (as shown in the first post):

Gui -> Hide Volume = Preboot
Gui -> Hide Volume = Recovery

 

[mille1j]

true, that will work, but if you encrypt with filevault you can't hide the preboot. so, i have an entry that hides recovery. but to get rid of the stupid Boot macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot, I went to terminal as described.

 

[Raine]

true, that will work, but if you encrypt with filevault you can't hide the preboot. so, i have an entry that hides recovery. but to get rid of the stupid Boot macOS Install Prebooter from Preboot, I went to terminal as described.

Right - so Filevault is what's causing your issue, not the guide =)

 

[mille1j]

for sure. Your guide is great!

 

[inarush]

Anyone updated to BIOS version F11c? It completely breaks my Hackintosh.

Does anyone know how to fix it? As a temporary solution I went back to F5, but at some point we'll need to update.

 

[Raine]

Anyone updated to BIOS version F11c? It completely breaks my Hackintosh.

Does anyone know how to fix it? As a temporary solution I went back to F5, but at some point we'll need to update.

Out of curiosity I tried F11c when it came out and my system would no longer boot up to the Apple logo. No worries - I just downgraded back to F5.

Gigabyte themselves on their website does state:
"If you do not encounter any system instability or bugs with the current BIOS version, we suggest that you keep it" so I don't feel the "need" to update BIOS with this setup.

 

[inarush]

Out of curiosity I tried F11c when it came out and my system would no longer boot up to the Apple logo. No worries - I just downgraded back to F5.

Gigabyte themselves on their website does state:
"If you do not encounter any system instability or bugs with the current BIOS version, we suggest that you keep it" so I don't feel the "need" to update BIOS with this setup.

And the crazy thing is: one of the features for the F11c version is "Improved system performance and stability". Perhaps that's really the case for Windows. I can't blame Gigabyte though, I think they don't even know what a Hackintosh is...

Do you get right motherboard temperature readings (proximity, etc) with F5?

 

[Raine]

Temp readings match what my infrared thermometer shows me.

 

[inarush]

Temp readings match what my infrared thermometer shows me.

What I really meant was: do you have realistic temperature in all readings?

I ask this because my "Thermal Zones" are always stuck in weird temperatures. Take a look at the image below:

I suspect these Thermal Zones are temperature measurements in different locations on the motherboard. I would definitely be interested in those measurements, but it sucks that they are not being correctly reported.

 

[mille1j]

Working well so far, even got wifi working on a broadcom card now!

Couple of questions and observations

SMBIOS:
Which product model are you using? I've left mine as iMac18,1, but wonder if Macmini8,1 would be better?

======
Boot Arguments:
I noticed in boot arguments you have:
shikigva=1

BUT are not using the shiki.kext

So:
1. should we be using shiki.kext?
2. should this boot argument be removed?

FWIW: these are the boot args that i'm seeing from the EFI folder you recommended
shikigva=1
dart=0
-disablegfxfirmware
-lilubetaall
-igfxbeta

Correct?
=======
Sleep/Wake/Powernap
I also found wakeup problems if i had powernap enabled. Turned it off and it seems better. It will sleep and wake, that's all I care about. Powernap is not essential.

 

[Edhawk]

Shiki.kext along with NvidiaGraphicsFixup.kext and IntelGraphicsFixup.kext have been merged with WhateverGreen.kext by the developer.

The boot arguments for the merged kexts should work with WhaterverGreen.kext (WEG). The manual page for WEG.kext explains what the developer (acidanthera) has changed - https://github.com/acidanthera/WhateverGreen/tree/master/Manual

 

[Raine]

I suspect these Thermal Zones are temperature measurements in different locations on the motherboard. I would definitely be interested in those measurements, but it sucks that they are not being correctly reported.

The Z370n Wifi webpage and manual references that the mobo has on-board temp sensors in multiple "thermal zones" but it's not specific enough to tell us exactly where on the mobo these thermal zones are. There's an image on the website which oddly shows 4 sensors:

https://www.gigabyte.com/FileUpload/Global/KeyFeature/822/images/smart-fan5.png

I'll have to install HW monitor just to see what numbers I'm getting for comparison.

Working well so far, even got wifi working on a broadcom card now!

Couple of questions and observations

SMBIOS:
Which product model are you using? I've left mine as iMac18,1, but wonder if Macmini8,1 would be better?

======
Boot Arguments:
I noticed in boot arguments you have:
shikigva=1

BUT are not using the shiki.kext

So:
1. should we be using shiki.kext?
2. should this boot argument be removed?

FWIW: these are the boot args that i'm seeing from the EFI folder you recommended
shikigva=1
dart=0
-disablegfxfirmware
-lilubetaall
-igfxbeta

Correct?
=======
Sleep/Wake/Powernap
I also found wakeup problems if i had powernap enabled. Turned it off and it seems better. It will sleep and wake, that's all I care about. Powernap is not essential.

Good to hear you're up and running.

RE: SMBIOS
I'm using 18,1. I've tried Macmini8,1 but right from boot I was getting weird graphic colors/issues, so I switched back to 18,1.

RE: Boot Arguements
As stated in the build, I started with Hackintosher's preconfigured Mojave EFI folder, which has "shikigva=1" as a default setting; even after upgrading to Whatevergreen.kext I left the boot arguement as-is and it didn't seem to affect my system.

RE: Powernap
I think I still have Powernap on (I'm at work so I can't check), but I don't think it was causing any problems for me, otherwise I'd have noticed by now... but yeah, especially if you are running with a wired connection, I don't see Powernap as a "needed" thing really, you'll get all the notifications/ updates within seconds of awakening the machine anyways

 

[inarush]

The Z370n Wifi webpage and manual references that the mobo has on-board temp sensors in multiple "thermal zones" but it's not specific enough to tell us exactly where on the mobo these thermal zones are. There's an image on the website which oddly shows 4 sensors:

https://www.gigabyte.com/FileUpload/Global/KeyFeature/822/images/smart-fan5.png

I'll have to install HW monitor just to see what numbers I'm getting for comparison.

I knew that picture!

And I'd appreciate your response whether your "thermal zone" readings are reporting the correct values!

 

[Raine]

I knew that picture!

And I'd appreciate your response whether your "thermal zone" readings are reporting the correct values!

I temporarily installed Rehabman's HWMonitor (and associated kexts) just to see what you're referring to (I normally don't use this app).

Here's a screenshot:

I noticed that the temperatures for the "Thermal Zones" do not change at all. I ran some heavy load programs just to test, and all of the other numbers change accordingly... but the three "Thermal Zone" temperatures seem to just be static at 28C/17C/30C, so I don't know where HWMonitor is pulling these numbers from.