Hackintosh reset BIOS on restart

Started experiencing this after up[date on my ASUS Z390 Prime-P systems.

Key fixes until integrated into OpenCore boot loader

in config.plist enable  RTC checksum update on power off

put this terminal

Hackintosh upgrade

For those of you fallowing along, my main system started having issues and had become unstable. Crashing and rebooting, after many hours of diagnostic work I determined it was the mother board, the PCI slot for the video card is cause the issues. I use this system for work and research so I needed to get back online. I bought new hardware. here is what I upgraded too

ASUS Prime Z390-p motherboard
Intel I9 9900k
32 GB of 3000Mhz Ram
AMD RX 5700 XT

Windows 10 run awesome as expected but OS X 10.15.2 was a little work, turns out that the Z390 does not have native NVRAM so I had to add EmuVariableUefi.efi to get to the desktop.

Once that was done I am back up and running, faster and stable.

2011 Apple 27 iMac bad/dead video card fix - Baking fun

I got a free iMac 27 computer that had the dreaded black screen and reboot, the one I got looks like someone had a go on it and had no idea how to take it apart, causing damage to connectors. First thing I did was to fix those so I could see what the real issues are.

With the connectors fixed it's time to see if it will boot, I use a Kali USB thumb drive to do this, if I can get into the OS then I can do some further diagnostic analysis but not here, I got the GRUB boot loader but when the desktop tries to load... reboot...  this points to a bad video card and it's well documented that is a very common issues with these.

This picture shows the symptom, black screen and reboot..

Lets fix it

Take the display off, if you don't know how, check out YouTube, lots of video's on how to do this but if this is out of your comfort zone, best not to attempt it.

Mainboard removed and heat sync for the CPU and Video card removed, both will get new thermal past. the old past was dried out and probably not helping much

Clean off all the old thermal past and prepare the video card for baking, I set the oven for 390f and baked the card for 9 minutes.

Reassemble everything back and make sure you plugged everything back in, I take pictures of all the connection before disassembly to have a record of what was connected and where. good thing is that you really can't mess this up as each connection is unique for each end point. 

TOP TIP: Before starting the boot up process, reset the NVRAM, Command + Option + P + R, wait for the boot chime and hold them down until you hear the second boot chime. let it boot.

I had a new install of High Sierra from a working Mac, so this install started out fresh. everything seem to work and I was able to get to the desktop.

Post OS boot I had some fans running full up and high temps, a couple of issues, one was the HDD fan was full speed due to the SSD. iMac's from this area had the HDD temp sensor built in and when changed from the Apple HDD the loss of that sensor makes the fan spin a full speed creating noise and disrupting the intel air flow. I found a free program called SSD Fan Control that lets you override the fan and set it down to 1100 RPM, that solved that problem but I still had over heating issues. The glass cover was destroyed, I used some painters tape to seal the edges, I think this helped with the internal air flow and the temps are stable and fan noise is very low.

I let the system run overnight and it's still alive. This was a fun repair of an older iMac that can still be used for some tasks. 

Catalina OS

These are my notes on Catalina OS on my main machine

Less is more

It's about the EFI/CLOVER folder

drivers/UEFI

ApfsDriverLoader.efi
OsxAptioFix3Drv.efi

kexts/Other

AtherosE2200Ethernet.kext
VirtualSMC.kext
IntelMausi.kext
Lilu.kext
USBMap.kext <- I created this using the guide
WhateverGreen.kext

config.plist <- this is the most important but the most misunderstood

ACPI section
These options are important but if you don't know what options to use, it may not be helping.

Boot Section
same as above

Boot Graphics
leave it alone, blank

CPU
no settings needed

Devices
Nothing to see here

Disable Drivers
Nothing

Gui
Nothing here will fix anything once in the OS

Graphics
You may or may not need something here..

Kernal and Kext Patches
Play with these but if you are getting into the OS without settings leave it alone

Rt Variables 
Leave it alone

SMBIOS
This is important, choose wisely

System Parameters
Inject Kexts = Yes
Inject System ID = checked

New OS X Mojave on HP 800 G1

10.14.6 10/02/2019 using Intel onboard iGPU

BIOS (I am using v02.77 04/17/2019, but it should work with lower versions)

1. use bios defaults

2. Storage = SATA Emulation >AHCI

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1. Install Sierra from a real MAC to the hard drive going into the HP EliteDesk 800 G1

2. Install Clover v5058 from real MAC to hard disk with the below options checked

   * Clover for UEFI booting only

   * Install Clover in the ESP

   * Themes

   * drivers/UEFI

              ApfsDrvierLoader-64..efi

              OsxAptioFixDrv.efi

   * Install RC scripts on target volume

   * Optional RC Scripts - All

   * Install Clover Preference Pane

3 Use Clover Configurator to Edit config.plist but see below for the code or just use mine and rename to config.plist 

4 Added the following Kext's to \EFI\CLOVER\kexts\Other

   *** Versions are important, use these or higher ***

   FakeSMC_ACPISensors.kext version 6.25-333-g05e0f4be.1759

   FakeSMC_CPUSensors.kext version 6.25-333-g05e0f4be.1759

   FakeSMC_GPUSensors.kext version 6.25-333-g05e0f4be.1759

   FakeSMC_LPCSensors.kext version 6.25-333-g05e0f4be.1759

   FakeSMC.kext 6.26-357-gceb835ea.1800

   IntelMausiEthernet.kext 2.5.0d0

   USBInjectAll.kext 0.6.7

   VoodooHDA.kext 2.9.2

   Lulu.kext 1.3.8

   WhateverGreen.kext 1.32

5 Reboot and setup

6 Sleep working, wake up using keyboard  -- open terminal and type sudo pmset -a standby 0   to resolve issues with waking up

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NOTE: in my clover I am using USBMap.kext that I created, I recommenced that you remove this and use USBinjectAll.kext and create your own.

NOTE" VGA will not work, you will need to use the display port for your monitor, if you have a video card installed, check to make sure its compatible with OS X, top tip: install first without a video card, if all good, then install it.

Python base64 encode and decode

Mac OS X and Linux

import base64
base64.decodestring('QmFkU2VjdG9yIHdhcyBoZXJl')

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Base64.encodestring('Text to encode')


Windows 10 Python 3.7

import base64
base64.b64decode(b'QmFkU2VjdG9yIHdhcyBoZXJl')

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base64.b64encode(b'Text to encode')

I prefere Mac OS X or Linux but it does work in Windows 10

Free HEVC H.265 for Windows 10

Thanks to Barnacules Nerdgasm for posting this. Save a 1$ and get the codec free from Microsoft 

Link to download FREE HEVC H265 video codec from Microsoft Store 👇 http://bit.ly/freehevc - Free Codec from Device Manufacturers ^- Don't buy the codec "Movies & TV" redirects you to, it's not necessary!

If Microsoft wants you to log in with your account or you don't have on, just click the X and it will install.