Transitioning Hackintosh to Supermicro X9SRA/X9SRA-3: Advice Needed

[Steve Mosher]

Hi there,

I’ve been running a long-time Hackintosh setup on an Asus Extreme II motherboard with an Intel Xeon E5-2667 v2 CPU, paired with AMD R480 video cards. The system also uses an Intel 82574 network card and an Intel 540TX 10G card.

Now, I’m building a new system with nearly identical hardware but using a Supermicro board—specifically an X79, C600, or Ivy Bridge chipset. The board in question is the Supermicro X9SRA/X9SRA-3, which features the Intel C602 (Patsburg-A) chipset and Ivy Bridge-EP options.

This is our main audio production system, so stability and reliability are critical. The current Hackintosh system runs macOS Mojave with an unencrypted disk, but I’d like to upgrade to APFS and attempt a macOS update as part of this migration. My goal is to upgrade the Mojave install to the latest macOS Monterey, as I’m concerned the hardware won’t support anything beyond that. Admittedly, I have no idea how to proceed with this upgrade. The current system boots using an older flavor of Clover, but I’d be open to building a new EFI via OpenCore if that simplifies things.

I want to say this site is incredible and filled with tons of information. I’ve also noticed the massive number of HOWTO guides, which are amazing. However, sometimes my eyes glaze over because I don’t fully understand some of the terms used. That’s on me—I’m 56 years old and still learning, but I appreciate the knowledge shared here.

What I Need Help With:

Motherboard Compatibility:

Any tips for configuring the Supermicro X9SRA/X9SRA-3 for macOS?

Specific BIOS settings or tweaks for the Intel C602 chipset and Ivy Bridge CPUs?

Disk Encryption Upgrade:

Recommendations for transitioning the system from HFS+ to APFS without starting over?

General Upgrade Path:

Suggestions for the smoothest way to update from Mojave to Monterey, considering the current hardware and its limitations.

OpenCore Setup:

If transitioning to OpenCore makes things easier, I’m happy to build a new EFI. Any guidance or resources would be helpful.

Additional Notes:

I’ve contributed to the Hackintosh community and am happy to support further if needed. If there’s a way to link or identify my contributions to my profile, please let me know. I understand that this work takes time and effort, and I won’t take advantage of anyone’s services. Please let me know what information or assistance you need from me—I’m more than willing to contribute more if required.

Thanks in advance for any advice and support!

[MaLd0n]

My oppion is one about x79: avoid in new systems. Go to one x99 and u can go to sequoia with no problems.

[Steve Mosher]

Thank you for the response ...  At this time I do not have that option.

 

I'll try and figure something out.  Thank you again for your response.

Edited November 22, 2024 by Steve Mosher

[Steve Mosher]

Good morning,

I’ve been searching around for a working EFI for OpenCore to use with my older X79 SuperMicro board. I’ve managed to get it to start booting, but it keeps crashing partway through. I’ve been using some of the EFI files shared here on the site but haven’t had much luck so far.

I was told to come here because you guys are the best at this! Does anyone have any insight or experience with older X79 SuperMicro boards? I’d greatly appreciate any guidance or tips to get this setup running. Unfortunately, I don’t have the cash to go out and buy a new system right now—money is tight (as it often is in America these days).

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Best regards,
Steve

[Steve Mosher]

Good morning,

We’re taking the plunge and starting a new Hackintosh build using an X99 platform sourced from eBay. Here’s the hardware we’re planning to use:

a) Supermicro X10SRL-F - Intel-based motherboard
b) 64GB (2x32GB) PC4-19200R 2400MHz DDR4 ECC
c) Intel Xeon E5-1660 v4 - 8-core, 16-thread, 140W, 3.20GHz, LGA 2011-3

This setup looks promising for what we need.  Has anyone had experience with this motherboard or CPU combination?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[Steve Mosher]

Ok, motherboard, CPU, and RAM installed with an AMD RX580!

I grabbed Sequoia 15.1.1 from Olarila Vanilla Images macOS Installer. Then I downloaded the EFI for Desktop HEDT Broadwell-E from Hackintosh EFI Folders with OpenCore Mod.

I’m following the instructions from Easy, Fast, and Perfect Vanilla Hackintosh.

Here’s the hardware being used:
a) Supermicro X10SRL-F - Intel-based motherboard
b) 64GB (2x32GB) PC4-19200R 2400MHz DDR4 ECC
c) Intel Xeon E5-1660 v4 - 8-core, 16-thread, 140W, 3.20GHz, LGA 2011-3

I’m diving in! Let’s see how far I get. 🤞

Edited December 3, 2024 by Steve Mosher

[Steve Mosher]

Its alive!  Sequoia 15.1.1 installed.  Now I need to work on the nics.  Intel i210 things.  

Still reading the boards.  

[Steve Mosher]

It works but cannot get the nics to work.  Tried using an intel 520 and an intel 540TX but after you login the machine hangs.  

Anyone else have this issue?  I did remove the e1000 items from boot-args but that didnt help at all.

 

[MaLd0n]

https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/359009-intellucy-for-the-intel-x500-family/

[Steve Mosher]

Thank you!  

I'll give that a shot today.  I never used Opencore before and still going thru the installation items.

[Steve Mosher]

4 hours ago, MaLd0n said:

https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/359009-intellucy-for-the-intel-x500-family/

That did work to see the 540 card and the onboard i210 card.  However once you plug in a eth cable it seems to hang yet again as before.  Because Im hackintosh stupid I have no idea where to go from here.  Currently the system is networked using an old 10/100 Apple USB dongle.

Let me know what you need from me even if it takes sending in another donation I'll do it.

[Steve Mosher]

I dont think I injected the kext correctly.  After using the system on the Apple USB 10/100 dongle after a bit the system just hangs.

I think some of the network drivers that are loading should not be there.  Im lost at this point.

Do I just start removing unwanted stuff from the EFI partition ?  Should I create a new post in Sequoia?

Current EFI Im using is the default EFI.Opencore.Desktop.HEDT.Broadwell-E.

Edited December 5, 2024 by Steve Mosher

[MaLd0n]

U can post all here. No problems.

[Steve Mosher]

So for today I am going over all the kext files and pulling out what I do not need.

Let me know if I need to provide anything to assist you in assisting me.  Im dumb at this.

I'll buy diner. 

[Steve Mosher]

Booting from usb as I build the efi folder.  I did add the Lucy Kext for 10G Intel nics.  I have a couple here at the studio.

The onboard intel i210 nics are seen with the default builds which is nice but once I plug a network cable into either of the ports the thing hangs trying to get an IP.  So I disabled those and gave up trying to use those. 

Now I put in either a intel x520,x540 or 85xxxx in any of the PCI slots.  Go to network settings and the device is seen.  Again once I put a network cable on it the system hangs.  I even have other 1G intel cards here too and those as well are doing the same thing.  Im starting to believe this issues is going to be related to BIOS settings.

The video cards I have a a couple RX480s and a couple of RX580s here.  I tried to disable CSM via With AMD GPU disable CSM and it wont boot with the video card.

I think Im down to BIOS settings again Im stuck here.

 

[Steve Mosher]

Not sure what to do at this point MaLd0n 

It runs but after awhile it hangs.  Is this where Id request a DSDT file ?

[MaLd0n]

Save Ioreg
https://olarila.com/files/Utils/IORegistryExplorer.app.zip
Save Acpi
https://olarila.com/files/Utils/ACPI Extractor.zip

[Steve Mosher]

I did create a runme file from runme.app.  Nice tool !  I'll grab the others in a bit.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2qpgc4qwex1ke00d9x5t6/Send-me-Steves-Mac-Pro.zip?rlkey=l1le8z0su6yldj6quvszo07lv&dl=0

 

 

 

[Steve Mosher]

ACPI and IOReg attached.

ACPI .zip Steve’s Mac Pro.zip

[MaLd0n]

EFI Steve Mosher.zip

-Delete old EFI folder and paste new then empty trash. Don't use merge files.
-Don't use Drag and Drop into EFI partition. Use Copy/Paste instead.
-Reset NVRAM one time - with OpenCore use entry "Reset Nvram" / with Clover use F11 key on boot screen.