How to Boot macOS on an ASUS Z370 and Core i7-8700 with Radeon RX 570

How to Boot macOS on an ASUS Z370 and Core i7-8700 with Radeon RX 570

This original troubleshooting guide addresses a recent community report where the USB installer does not start. It uses a controlled workflow: identify the hardware, protect the current boot path, test one layer at a time and keep a rollback option.

1. Prerequisites

• Record the hardware: ASUS TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING, Intel Core i7-8700 and AMD Radeon RX 570 8 GB.
• Target system: macOS Sequoia or the newest version explicitly supported by the selected OpenCore release.
• Prepare a 16 GB USB installer, a second USB containing the previous working EFI, ProperTree, MountEFI and a full backup.
• Do not reuse serial, MLB, ROM or UUID values from an online EFI.

2. Compatibility Snapshot

Confirm the CPU, GPU, storage controller and wireless chipset against the current Dortania OpenCore guide or OCLP documentation. OpenCore is the modern baseline; Clover is only legacy migration context. Unsupported graphics, Intel Iris Xe paths and unverified wireless chipsets must be treated as limits, not configuration mistakes.

3. Installation Preparation

1. Set SATA to AHCI, boot in UEFI-only mode, disable CSM, Fast Boot and Secure Boot, and enable XHCI Hand-off. Leave CFG Lock unchanged unless you have verified the correct method for this board.
2. Recreate the USB from an authorised macOS source and use GUID partitioning. Do not use modified distributions.
3. Disconnect non-essential USB devices and use a reliable USB 2.0 port or hub if the installer loses input.
4. Write down the macOS build, OpenCore version and kext versions before every boot test.

4. EFI and config.plist Review

Use a Coffee Lake desktop SMBIOS appropriate to the final configuration, add only the required SSDTs, and use Lilu, VirtualSMC, WhateverGreen, AppleALC and the correct Ethernet kext. Run a ProperTree clean snapshot and ocvalidate.

• Review ACPI, Booter, DeviceProperties, Kernel, Misc, NVRAM, PlatformInfo and UEFI rather than changing random settings.
• Use -v keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 during diagnosis and photograph the last useful line.
• Confirm the EFI layout contains BOOT, OC/ACPI, OC/Drivers, OC/Kexts and OC/Tools.

5. Post-Installation

1. Once macOS boots, move only the tested EFI to the internal disk.
2. Test graphics acceleration, audio, Ethernet/Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sleep/wake, USB ports and NVRAM separately.
3. Map USB ports with USBToolBox or a hardware-specific map; do not copy a map from another machine.
4. For Apple services, verify a unique SMBIOS and stable NVRAM before troubleshooting accounts.

6. Troubleshooting the Reported Issue

For the RX 570, remove NVIDIA-oriented boot arguments and start with a clean WhateverGreen configuration. If the installer restarts or returns to Windows, verify that the USB entry was chosen from the OpenCore picker rather than the firmware boot menu.

1. Return to the last known-good EFI and reset NVRAM from the OpenCore picker.
2. Make one change, run ocvalidate, reboot twice and record the result.
3. If the disk or installer is involved, check SMART health, cable/slot seating and the installer checksum before erasing data again.

Common checks

• Boot stall: distinguish LOG:EXITBS:START, ACPI, storage and graphics hand-off rather than applying every quirk.
• Graphics: check Metal support before browser or CEF troubleshooting.
• Network: identify the PCI/USB IDs and macOS version before selecting Wi-Fi or Bluetooth kexts.

7. Dual Boot and Advanced Configuration

Keep Windows/Linux and macOS on separate disks when possible. Do not let Windows replace the EFI without keeping a bootable OpenCore USB. Leave SecureBootModel, FileVault, SIP, custom ACPI and firmware-variable changes until the base installation is stable.

8. Verification, Maintenance and Rollback

• Boot twice without the installer USB and reproduce the original symptom.
• Archive the working EFI with the macOS build, OpenCore version and kext versions.
• Update OpenCore/OCLP and kexts first, verify a reboot, then update macOS.
• If an update fails, boot from USB and restore the archived EFI or a Time Machine/APFS snapshot.

9. References and Glossary

• Dortania OpenCore Install Guide
• Acidanthera projects
• Related iATKOS OpenCore guides

Glossary: EFI is the boot partition; ACPI and SSDTs describe hardware; a kext is a macOS kernel extension; SMBIOS identifies the model; APFS is the modern macOS file system; verbose boot shows diagnostic output.