Sierra 10.12.3 Hackintosh | Asus z170-A, Intel i5 6500, MSI GTX 960 OC, GTX1070(Dormant)

sierra-hackintosh-z170-a.md

Sierra 10.12.3 Hackintosh

This is my build documentation for an ASUS Z170-A setup with an NVIDIA GTX960 and the Intel i5 6500, most of this came from Storks asus rog maximus build, his audio instructions didn't work for me so it differs substantially there. This build also doesn't have NVRAM. Nearest I can tell everything is running as expected, including all USB and audio ports.

Build

• Asus Z170-A
• Intel Core i5-6500
• Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
• MSI GeForce GTX 960 4GB Installed in slot 1!
• (DORMANT) EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming
• 2x Kingston HyperX Fury 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
• Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
• NZXT S340 (White)
• Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum
• 4x Phanteks PH-F140SP_BK 82.1 CFM 140mm Fan

Setup Guide

I. Setup USB Thumb drive

1. Creating the boot drive
   • Follow steps 1 & 2 of UniBeast Install Guide to setup the drive.
2. Download and drag to thumb drive
   • MultiBeast v9 for Sierra
   • SSDT for your processor
   • Clover Configurator
   • Latest NVIDIA Driver
   • audio_cloverALC120.command.zip

II. BIOS settings (make sure BIOS is up to date)

1. Ai Overclock
   • AI Overclocker Tuner > X.M.P.
2. Advanced Items
   • System Agent (SA) Configuration > VT-d > Disable
   • PCH Configuration > IOAPIC 24-119 > Disabled
   • XHCI Handoff > Enabled
   • USB Configuration > Legacy USB Support > Auto
   • USB Configuration > XHCI Hand Off > Enabled
   • APM Configuration > Power on by PCI - E/PCI > Disabled
3. Boot Menu
   • Fast Boot > Disabled
   • Boot Logo Display > Disabled
   • Secure Boot OS > Other OS
   • Boot Option 1 > USB Thumb Drive, UEFI Volume
4. Exit > Save Changes

III. Install OSX

1. At Clover boot screen, choose Boot Mac OS X from USB
2. Disk Utilty
   • Select Target Disk
   • Erase > Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
3. Don't bother to enable Network, Location, or Reporting nothing to be done now.
4. On reboot select MacOS on *Target Drive* on the Clover boot screen

IV. Setting up the Machine Part 1

1. Multibeast
   1. Drag and drop Multibeast to Application folder
   2. Run Multibeast and select the following settings:
      • Quick Start > UEFI Boot Mode
      • Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > 100 Series Audio Drivers > Disk > 3rd Party SATA
      • Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC
      • Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC HWMonitor
      • Drivers > Network > Intel > IntelMausiEthernet v2.2.0
      • Drivers > USB > Increase Max Port Limit
      • Bootloaders > Clover v2.3k r3766 UEFI Boot Mode
      • Customize > System Definitions > iMac > iMac 14,2
   3. Save your config
   4. Run and Close
2. Fixing Ethernet Device Name (needed for apple store etc.)
   • In Terminal run sudo rm /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist
3. Clover Configurator
   1. Mount EFI partition
   2. Load config file
   3. Change settings in config:
      • Boot > darkwake=0 prevent sleep problems
      • Rt Variables > CsrActiveConfig > 0x67 disable SIP temporarily
      • Devices > Audio > ResetHDA > ✓
      • System Parameters > Inject Kexts > Yes
      • System Parameters > Inject System ID > ✓
      • System Parameters > Nvidia Web > ✓
   4. Save
4. EFI Partition (Already mounted earlier in Clover)
   1. Navigate to `EFI(patition)/EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched in the Finder
   2. Copy in the SSDT file you downlaoded for your processor
   3. Rename to SSDT.aml
5. Reboot

V. Setting up the Machine Part 1

1. BIOS
   • Set startup partition to newly created OSX EFI partition
2. Audio setup (because it doesn't work yet)
   • Run the audio_cloverALC120.command file
   • enter password
   • Say yes (y) to all questions (for Asus Z170-A)
3. In Terminal
   • run ifconfig
   • Check that it returns en0 instead of en1, the line should look like:

     en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500`
     

4. Clover Configurator
   1. Load the Clover config file follow steps 1 and 2 from earlier
   2. Select/install EmuVariableUefi in Install Drivers. This creates an emulated NVRAM
   3. Reset Rt Variables > CsrActiveConfig > 0x3 to renable SIP
5. Run the NVIDIA driver
6. Reboot

Done!

Thank you for the guide, helped me a lot.

I have some comments:

• The second point in the IV.1.ii section need a line brake, there two points in the same line
• The third point in the II.2 section (XHCI Handoff > Enabled) is not in the current version of the BIOS, you can remove it and leave the other one (USB Configuration > XHCI Hand Off > Enabled) which is the correct one
• You should include a comment on where and how to find the config.plist file in the IV.3.ii section
• The steps listed in the IV.3.iii section are not clear enough, I had a hard time trying to find the options

I still can't make the sound work, I don't know if you aware of any workaround or if there's something additional I can do, or maybe an updated driver I can use.

Thank you again for your guide.

I can't get audio working either with similar hardware (Z170-A, 6600k, GTX970). I'm able to get the Audio Devices to show up but nothing comes out of them. It hasn't been a blocker for me as I have a 27" LED Cinema Display which works as a secondary audio device via the USB hub. I'd be interested to know if there was anything else specific you did to get audio working.

@davemo I'm updating this comment because I fall in the same issue we had before so I tried another thing and this time seems to be working correctly.

• I reinstalled the native AppleHDA.kext from the Unibeast installation media, I did this reinstalling macOS over my current installation (don't worry about the configurations, they won't disappear).
• Once re-installed I ran this script, choose the option [5] Realtek ALC 892 (0x10EC0892 / 283904146) and reboot.

Now the sound is working between reboots.

Did you managed to install 1070 driver ? I'm having trouble installing it. I have also a 970 and a 1070 and system sees 970 properly but it does not see 1070 with the pascal web drivers.

I can confirm it works perfectly with 10.12.5 and a GTX 980. If anyone is having audio problems just go to System Preferences > Audio > (Switch to the Output tab) > Select the internal speakers. My audio is working perfectly now.

You sir, are a god!

Just saw the comments, i'll make adjustments.

Still works great with 10.13.3