Clover boot on Legacy mode

[siliconbeaver]

Finally I made it.
That's surprising. I almost gave up right before that time as my previous tests all failed.

CloverISO-4411 to 5070 worked on my ASUS M2A-VM motherboard, AMD CPU; ECS 7100PVT motherboard, Intel CPU.
I have tested install of Windows 7/10/11. either is working, boot via Clover to the OS. my disk is GPT one. It's ok to run an NVMe SSD with pre-installed OS (by ghost, or pullout from a working PC).
Windows 7 seems better for old hardware. compact and quick. Windows 11 can save install of old PC drivers. but start time still long. Of course, much faster than IDE HDD or SATA SSD.

[siliconbeaver]

my progress was slow even with various intense tests because of the limited/out-of-dated information.
I tested all CLOVER versions, what I learned

1. Clover version. previous version, if too old, then NVMe driver missing, or NOT developed; new version, possibly latest versions have removed support for very old hardware.
   my project focused on ASUS M2A-VM/ECS 7100PVT (Windows XP machine with DDR2, 2007). This requests Cloverboot, legacy mode. Google search showed the related posts were published around yeas of 2014-15. (tonymacx86.com)
   during my previous screen, CloverISO-1022 to CloverISO-5154 were tested (the XP machines got really abused :D), with default format 200MB on USB drive.
   but none bootable. only saw a blinking cursor on black screen. failed to see digital "6", nor Clover boot menu. it's found that very old versions hadn't included NVMe driver.
   then I studied config.plist awhile. what I learned,
   a. hardware setup matters.
   b. Clover bootloader default is fine. NOT much to change.
   c. DefaultVolume and GUID. my NVMe SSD GUID (Upper case) was obtained in debug.log when turned it on. It's needed in Clover config.plist.

2. USB drive of Clover bootloader. may NOT working, depending on various factors.
   a. depending on computer. During my 1st screen, any versions with NVMe driver worked for HP EliteDesk 800 G1 (y2013). but none worked for XP (y2007).
   b. depending on USB size when formatting. a key point. I learned this by chance. 4-5 old computers were used in my test. per guide, USB drive needed being made on the target PC. It's noticed that newer PC, could work on a smaller-size USB drive. as low as 128MB (USB drive size, not format size). default format size 200MB.

[siliconbeaver]

my last screen got successful by setting format size 1GB on USB drive. my present version is CloverISO-5070.

On a 2GB USB drive, I have tested format size 200MB/500MB/1GB/2GB. interesting, It's found that 1GB size bootable. but other sizes failed. I repeated this test several times to re-confirm. then I re-tested all versions of Clover bootloader. Working versions are from v4411 to v5070 (latest version) on my ASUS M2A-VM/ECS 7100PVT motherboards when setting format size 1GB.
1GB only. 2GB no go (strange). below 1GB no go (reasonable). BDU default setting is 200MB. That can be misleading.

the Clover boot on ASUS M2A-VM/ECS 7100PVT motherboards was very slow. 1st blinking cursor, a while later (six seconds) changed to digit "6", eventually (20-30 seconds later) Clover boot menu pop up.
now, I upgraded the config.plist. changed DefaultVolume to use my NVMe SSD GUID. Clover bootloader will boot from the NVMe SSD since then.
For NVMe boot in legacy mode, copy NVMe driver onto BIOS folder. no change onto UEFI folder.
For NVMe boot in both UEFI/Legacy modes, copy NVMe driver onto BIOS/UEFI folders.
Old CPU and motherboard, PCIe bus is very slow (2.0). my read/write 850/720. much lower than NVMe SSD specs (some 3200). new CPU/motherboard PCIe can be 3.0 or 4.0. Likely it naturally supports NVMe boot. No need of Clover any more.