Stopped working after a year of solid use! 2015 15" rMBP iGPU + GTX 1080 + Akitio T2 + Win 10

[seggybop]

Hi!

My eGPU setup has failed after about a year of working well and nothing I've tried so far has gotten it working again. I get either nothing, black screens, blue screens (BAD_POOL_CALLER), or codes 43/12.

 

Here's what I've got / been doing so far:

 

Mid-2015 15" rMBP with iGPU

ASUS reference GTX 1080 w/ Akitio Thunder2, both powered by Thermaltake 850w PSU

Windows 10 Enterprise build 1511 (Windows only, no OSX installed internally)

 

I was originally using this setup with a GTX 980 and Windows 10 build 1507 (10240). The system worked consistently both with internal and external monitors. The Thunderbolt cable needed to be plugged in at the right time while the spinning Windows loading dots were up, but it worked well otherwise.

 

I upgraded to the 1080 when it came out and had to update Windows to build 1511 to get it to work. The 1080 also worked well, but I had to power it up and then plug it in after Windows was already running, and it worked about a third of the time without needing to reboot and try again. Still good enough. 

 

At some point within the last few months, Windows updated itself to a newer build (1607 / "Anniversary Edition"). I couldn't get the eGPU to work at all with this and had similar problems to what I've got now. However, after rolling back the update, everything was working again.

 

Last week, I used the computer's built-in internet recovery feature to install Mac OS Sierra to an external drive. I needed to use Mac OS get the latest Boot Camp drivers in order to fix a sound driver problem in Windows. This worked fine. eGPU was continuing to work properly.

 

However, a few days later, I disconnected from the eGPU and used the laptop outside for a bit. When I tried to reconnect the eGPU, it wouldn't work at all. I try plugging in the powered eGPU, and usually get code 43 or 12 in the device manager. Sometimes I get nothing. Less frequently, it will appear correctly in the device manager, input will freeze for a few seconds, the display on the laptop will brighten for a second (so far this is what used to happen when it was about to initialize normally) and then it crashes to a BSOD with BAD_POOL_CALLER. Plugging in during boot/spinner usually gives code 43 or nothing. Booting with it plugged in already usually gives no video output, but connecting via Remote Desktop while in this state shows a code 12 or 43 on the eGPU with the iGPU absent.

 

I've tried reinstalling Windows, updating Windows to the build that failed before, and switching between nVidia drivers 375.63, 372.70, and 368.81 (last two were both working before) with no difference. I've also tried a different power supply and tested the Akitio unit with a different PCI-E card (a video capture card) which worked with no issues, and tested the GTX 1080 in a desktop.

 

I'm not sure what else to try at this point, so I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks for any help!