MacOS Monterey sometimes boots for no reason

[yopknopixx]

So, after a grueling few weeks trying to get Monterey installed, I was successful and was able to get it to boot up... ONCE!
After that without any config changes at all, it stopped booting. After tweaking a few things I was able to get it to boot again, ONCE, and with the same config, it stopped booting again. This has happened a few times (5-6) and when it does boot up, it works great. But usually, it gets stuck around BuildActDeviceEntry exit or HID: Legacy shim 2 and results in a panic after a while.


Here is what I've tried:

1. Remapping USB ports (twice).
2. Tweaking DummyPowerManagement, AppleCpuPmCfgLock, AppleXcpmCfgLock.
3. Trying different versions of VoodooPS2Controller and removing it.
4. Adding/removing NVMEFix.kext (the panic is IONVMeController).
5. Booting with USB 2.0/3.0 and no USB.

At this point, I am unable to debug it or find any valuable information online. I'm attaching my config, EFI, a screenshot and the panic log from /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Edhawk]

You need to tell us what components are present in the system you are using, if you expect a sensible response.

 

[yopknopixx]

My laptop is ThinkPad T14 Gen1 (AMD)

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U with Radeon Graphics, 1700 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
• SSD: SAMSUNG MZVLB512HBJQ-000L7
• Ethernet: Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
• WiFi: Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz
• USB:
  • AMD USB 3.10 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.10 (Microsoft) PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_1639&SUBSYS_508117AA&REV_00\4&2034EBC9&0&0341
  • AMD USB 3.10 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.10 (Microsoft) PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_1639&SUBSYS_508117AA&REV_00\4&2034EBC9&0&0441
  • Renesas USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.0 (Microsoft) PCI\VEN_1912&DEV_0015&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_02\4&E9D5D1B&0&0017
  • Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_816D&SUBSYS_508117AA&REV_0E\4&13684C17&0&0412

That's all I can think of. Please let me know if there's something more I should include.

 

[Edhawk]

Your EFI contains a few errors & omissions:

1. Mismatched versions of VirtualSMC & SMCBatteryManager kexts.
2. No audio kext (not essential at this point).
3. You may need to add VoodooI2c.kext and VoodooI2CHID.kext from the VoodooI2C Github repository in order for your Keyboard, Click Pad etc to work.
   1. https://github.com/VoodooI2C/VoodooI2C
   2. Possibly another kext as well, depending on the driver used for the Click Pad.
   3. You would need to look at the Click Pad's Device Properties & the driver used in Windows Device Manager, to clarify if another kext is required.
   4. There are 4 x specific kexts that can be used Synaptics, Elan, AtmelMXT and FTE.
   5. Adding VoodooI2C.kext to your setup will duplicate a plugin that is present in this kext and VoodooPS2Controller.kext - VoodooInput.kext, so one of the two kexts will need to be manually deleted or disabled in the config.plist. This is normal when using these two kexts together.
4. A couple of the SSDT's in your /EFI/OC/ACPI folder have me a little concerned, the Ambient Light Sensor (ALSO) and SSDT-EC.aml.
   1. The SSDT-EC.aml, SSDT-HPET.aml, SSDT-PLUG-ALT.aml and SSDT-USBX.aml tables were created using Corpnewt's SSDTTime python script.
   2. That being the case I am surprised that the SSDT-PNLF and SSDT-OSXI tables weren't created with the same script.
   3. If you provide a copy of your laptop's system DSDT.aml I would like to have a look to see if these SSDT's are correct or if they are going to cause issues when you boot the system.
5. ResetNvramEntry.efi was missing from the /EFI/OC/Drivers folder,.
   1. This is a very useful option to have when booting macOS, as it allows you to remove any old/obsolete NVRAM settings that may cause issues when booting.
   2. It will be hidden when you boot to the OC boot screen, pressing the Spacebar while on the OC boot screen will unhide the Driver and make it available for use.
6. For the AMD Integrated GPU I believe you need to add AMDRadeonX6000Framebuffer.kext to the /EFI/OC/Kexts folder and config.plist, as Apple have removed/altered this kext in macOS Monterey.
   1. This kext is required to work along side NootedRed.kext for the AMD IGPU.
7. You may have issues with the Renesas USB controller/port(s), as macOS dropped support for Renesas USB ports some time ago. You may be able to get the port(s) working but it can be a bit hit and miss.

Try the revised EFI attached below and see if it gets you any further along the installation process.

 

[yopknopixx]

Okay, I just tried the new EFI, but unfortunately, it presented the same error.
A few points:

• Trackpad and Keyboard work (not well, but that will be fixed when I move to VoodoI2C)
• The installation is completed and I have been able to boot successfully a few times out of nowhere (working graphics, etc)
• Could this be an SSD issue?

I have attached my DSDT.aml.
Also, Resetting NVRAM did not have any effect.

 

[Edhawk]

Don't ever rename an AML table as a .txt file. It can corrupt the ACPI table.

• If the EFI failed as the same point, how have you managed to install macOS Monterey?
  • What have you changed to allow the OS to install?
• No I don't think your system rebooting will be an SSD issue.
• Resetting Nvram will have had an effect, you just weren't able to see it.
  • Using the driver will have cleared any old/obsolete Nvram settings as a minimum.

 

[yopknopixx]

• Did not know about the corruption thing, but it didn't allow .aml files.
• Regarding the installation:
  • Recovery works every time without a problem. (Why I was concerned about it being an SSD issue)
  • I did have problems installing (it kept getting stuck during post-install "About 25 minutes remaining" at the Apple logo), so I used a Linux LiveCD and KVM to install it to disk.
• Another thing that has me worried about the SSD is the kernel panic that is caused after being stuck is

  3rd party NVMe controller. Command timeout. Write. fBuiltIn=1 MODEL=SAMSUNG MZVLB512HBJQ-000L7 FW=5M2QEXF7 CSTS=0x1 US[1]=0x0 US[0]=0x2a1 VID=0x144d DID=0xa808 CRITICAL_WARNING=0x0

• Yeah, resetting NVRAM did have an effect, what I meant was no effect on the current problem.

What should I try next?

 

[Edhawk]

If you think the SSD is causing the issue then swap it for another drive, just to eliminate the SSD as being the problem, i.e. if the same issue arises then it isn’t the original SSD causing the issue.

 

[yopknopixx]

Hey Edhawk, I'd ordered a different SSD yesterday (WD Blue SN570) and it got here this morning. I did an installation from scratch and it worked without the slightest hint of an issue. Turns out the SSD was indeed the problem. Thank you so much for your help and guidance!