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DIY eGPU Macbook experiences


oripash

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Hello Nando

I am getting error code 43

How can I fix this

Check your PCIe power to your video card and all the plugs. Remove all existing dGPU and eGPU drivers. Use 'DDU' software to clear all registry entries of AMD and NVidia.

Then load new drivers. If running a AMD dGPU+eGPU or NVIdia dGPU+eGPU then need a unified driver for both. For NVidia, the latest desktop driver providing both.

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@Morv: Today I tested again and it works! :D

Earlier this week I tested it in Optimus mode without and external display -> doesn't work (crashs after wake up from hibernate).

Now, with an external monitor connected to the eGPU, it works!

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@Dschijn: That's cool but it should also work without an external display attached to the eGPU. I was using the setup over at a friend's place to play and I was gaming on the internal display with the same procedure. Maybe you'll get that working someday as well. Anyway it's good to have a second user that is able to prove right what I wrote.

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@Dschijn @Morv I got Optimus working last night, though a bit of a strange procedure required having done the EFI mod.

If I boot into windows 8.1 with the eGPU connected, I get a BSOD reboot loop during the windows loading screen. However, if I start windows without the eGPU connected, then hot plug it, after a few seconds everything is happy and I can run heaven benchmark across both internal and external screen at high FPS.

It seems though whenever my eGPU is loaded, the intel iris GPU gets loaded too (to around 60%), resulting in heat on the MBP. This happens even if I'm just using the external eGPU connected screen for graphics acceleration.

I've yet to try optimus without an external monitor, and in OSX I don't see any optimus behaviour. Is this possible to achieve in OSX?

For some strange reason, OSX eGPU accelerated graphics seems very sketchy, heaven runs at good FPS but stutters quite often and none of my steam games will start.

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If I boot into windows 8.1 with the eGPU connected, I get a BSOD reboot loop during the windows loading screen. However, if I start windows without the eGPU connected, then hot plug it, after a few seconds everything is happy and I can run heaven benchmark across both internal and external screen at high FPS.

What is your booting procedure?

It seems though whenever my eGPU is loaded, the intel iris GPU gets loaded too (to around 60%), resulting in heat on the MBP. This happens even if I'm just using the external eGPU connected screen for graphics acceleration.

What makes you think that? I doubt it...

I've yet to try optimus without an external monitor, and in OSX I don't see any optimus behaviour. Is this possible to achieve in OSX?

NO Optimus in OSX!!!!111111eleven :D

For some strange reason, OSX eGPU accelerated graphics seems very sketchy, heaven runs at good FPS but stutters quite often and none of my steam games will start.

External monitor connected to the eGPU (NOT the TB port of the eGPU!)?

External display as the main display in OSX? Staring games from that external main display?

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What is your booting procedure?

1) Power on eGPU

2) Plug in TB cable

3) Power on MBP

4) Hold Alt and select windows (NVidia logo)

What makes you think that? I doubt it...

GPU-Z shows me the NVidia card is fully loaded and intel iris is at 60% while I'm benchmarking. Internal display has no windows open, just the desktop

NO Optimus in OSX!!!!111111eleven :D

A straight forward answer I like!

External monitor connected to the eGPU (NOT the TB port of the eGPU!)?

External LG Ultrawide connected via HDMI to eGPU. For some reason, both in windows and OS X, I can only seem to set this monitor to run in 1920x1080 rather than the native 1920x2560

On my previous desktop build this ran at native res with the same card and same port. If I connect the HDMI to the MBP directly, then I can also run it at native res.

External display as the main display in OSX? Staring games from that external main display?

Not set to main display, but I try to start the games from that monitor yes.

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1) Power on eGPU

2) Plug in TB cable

3) Power on MBP

4) Hold Alt and select windows (NVidia logo)

Try:

1. Plug in TB cable(I've got mine plugged in all the time when my Macbook stays home) while Macbook is shut down

2. Power on Macbook

3. Hold ALT until boot menu appears

4. Power on eGPU

5. Wait a few seconds, then boot Windows

Which Macbook model do you have? Booting procedures tend to be different among the different models.

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Try:

1. Plug in TB cable(I've got mine plugged in all the time when my Macbook stays home) while Macbook is shut down

2. Power on Macbook

3. Hold ALT until boot menu appears

4. Power on eGPU

5. Wait a few seconds, then boot Windows

Which Macbook model do you have? Booting procedures tend to be different among the different models.

I'll give that a go, in general I've not noticed any difference in the order of which I start the eGPU or plug in the TB cable. Even if I power/plug during the boot menu, it'll still work in Windows and OS.. until now

I have the 15" 2015 MacBook pro retina

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I removed the iris pro 5200 driver and installed Microsoft basic display driver, gone system interrupts for now and only powering display through egpu, suggestion to hybernate only worked once, than afterwards bluescreens at login after hybernate so no solution/workaround.

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Hi,

Any thoughts on continued kernel panics with this setup:

2012 Mac Mini running Mac OS 10.11.1 (El Capitan)

Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Enclosure

12V 10A 120W power supply connected directly to Akitio via barrel connector

EVGA GeForce GTX 750TiSC

I restored the kexts and removed all the drivers from my Time Machine backup, then performed a clean install using goalque's script. The install went smoothly and the eGPU was recognized immediately after rebooting, but I'm still am having problems with kernel panics.

Also, despite reports to the contrary, when I re-enabled SIP, the kexts for the eGPU did not load. The eGPU was detected by the machine, but was just listed as "Display" in the System Report." Once I disabled SIP, the eGPU was again fully recognized and sent signal to the display.

Anyway, I'm still experiencing kernel panics despite my hardware being similar to many other who seem to be running without issue. That being said, I am using the eGPU to drive a 4K monitor (LG 31MU97) via the display port connector, so maybe even with the supposed 75W from the PCIe port it is not sufficient?

The following kernel panic occurred while I was running the Valley Unigine benchmarking app. Prior to this I watched several 4K videos on Youtube which were displayed smoothly and without any OS freezes.

Fri Nov 6 20:49:12 2015

*** Panic Report ***

panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff7fa9035b50): NVRM[0/193:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000200: CFG 0xffffffff 0x138010de 0x00100000, BAR0 0xa1000000 0xffffff9223d83000 0x117000a2, D0, P1/2

Backtrace (CPU 4), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff820e6f3ad0 : 0xffffff80262e5307

0xffffff820e6f3b50 : 0xffffff7fa9035b50

0xffffff820e6f3c10 : 0xffffff7fa9111553

0xffffff820e6f3c70 : 0xffffff7fa93beaa3

0xffffff820e6f3d00 : 0xffffff7fa93e7941

0xffffff820e6f3d40 : 0xffffff7fa91ec7b2

0xffffff820e6f3d60 : 0xffffff7fa91ecc20

0xffffff820e6f3db0 : 0xffffff7fa93bc793

0xffffff820e6f3e20 : 0xffffff7fa913e083

0xffffff820e6f3e40 : 0xffffff7fa903c18d

0xffffff820e6f3ef0 : 0xffffff80268b7536

0xffffff820e6f3f40 : 0xffffff80268b53a1

0xffffff820e6f3f80 : 0xffffff80268b559c

0xffffff820e6f3fb0 : 0xffffff80263d15d7

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.nvidia.web.NVDAResmanWeb(10.0.7)[53A7D683-CD5C-3EDD-A58E-5BB7FF28BDE9]@0xffffff7fa8fd1000->0xffffff7fa92a6fff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[8E5F549E-0055-3C0E-93F8-E872A048E31B]@0xffffff7fa6b2d000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.4.1)[814A7F4B-03EF-384A-B205-9840F0594421]@0xffffff7fa7713000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[48AC8EA9-BD3C-3FDC-908D-09850215AA32]@0xffffff7fa76cc000

dependency: com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl(3.11.33b1)[2BA0BB49-9DFD-3851-984F-8816AE3A1964]@0xffffff7fa8b1b000

com.nvidia.web.NVDAGM100HalWeb(10.0.7)[1C1114D7-6B7D-370C-BDDC-DBFA42222D6A]@0xffffff7fa92a7000->0xffffff7fa94a3fff

dependency: com.nvidia.web.NVDAResmanWeb(10.0.7)[53A7D683-CD5C-3EDD-A58E-5BB7FF28BDE9]@0xffffff7fa8fd1000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[8E5F549E-0055-3C0E-93F8-E872A048E31B]@0xffffff7fa6b2d000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Boot args: nvda_drv=1

Mac OS version:

15B42

Any input would really be appreciated!!

Thanks!

Pani

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Aren't they all made in China :) .

I was concerned about getting a quality PSU, so I bought one from Amazon for $50. It seems to be of reasonable quality. It is 17.5 x 7.5 x 5cm.

post-40310-14495001110691_thumb.jpg

When I measured the output at the barrel connector with my very simple multimeter, it read 12.35V without fluctuation. So I'm not sure what else to do.

Do you think the issue could be between the EVGA GTX 750Ti SC vs GTX 750?

The total power draw on the 750Ti is 60W vs 55W for the base 750, so I would not expect the extra 5W to make a difference if the Akitio is indeed delivering 75W from the PCIe port.

Also, I do have access to a DA-2, but don't have the skills to put together a wiring harness otherwise that may be a better solution. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

Pani

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Can you measure the 12V when the eGPU is running a benchmark? In Idle or low load all PSUs are "stable".

If you are in Germany or EU I could make you a cable for the DA-2, but not 100% sure if that would solve your problem (but should…)

But it is rather simple, if you get a barrel plug with screw terminal (2.5x5.5mm) like this: 5.5mm x 2.5mm DC Power Plug to Screw Terminal Adapter

Additionally a 8-pin pcie extension: Kenable Strom Verlängerungs Kabel Männlich Zu Weiblich 30cm 8 Pin 006233 | eBay

You simply cut down the male plug of the extension and put 3 yellow and 3 black wires into the screw terminals (dont mix colours!). One black wire of the remote port has to go with the black wires into the screw terminal. ;)

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So I tried another external PSU (12V 10A) and still had problems. Kernel panics with web browsing and even simple OS tasks, so I'm starting to think that PSU power isn't the issue. Either there is a driver problem or the power output from the Akitio's PCI-e slot is insufficient.

I wonder if others have had problems like this? Or is it because I'm running a 4K monitor and identifying a limitation of this setup?

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Another update...

I hacked up a wiring harness and powered the Akitio box with a Dell DA-2 PSU, but unfortunately I'm still experiencing freezes/kernel panics. After going through 3 PSUs, I don't think the problem is related to external power.

I don't really know what else I can try at this point, but I'm open to suggestions! :)

Thanks,

Pani

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Apologies for my windows ignorance; until now I only used my EGPU with OSX but yesterday I decided to install windows 10 in UFI mode which is now done.

Could someone point me to the right guide or thing to do please; Im almost there; just need to get rid of this code 12 horror

Here is a screen of my system devices

post-31956-14495001112678_thumb.png

Thanks in advance. any help is appreciated.

ps: I also have this black screen boot issue if I restart and always have to restart a second time to boot into windows otherwise black screen of death haha

the joys of windows lol

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What is the best option to do the override to fix the code 12 issue on windows 10 UEFI installed on a macbook pro 2012 with 10.10 ? is egpu setup 1.3 needed for UEFI installations or can I modify a file somewhere ?

Edit: I don't know if this is because of the UEFI or because the code 12 but the entire installation is not booting 90%of the time. It keeps black screen and restarting endlessly until it creates more errors and bring up a recovery screen. When I manage to boot I have noticed that the 970 is now not showing up in the device manager anymore..

Should I go to a MBR installation ? I really would like to keep UEFI..

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That's correct. The card is an EVGA Geforce GTX 750Ti SC with TDP of 60W.

I just set up the same exact hardware config and am also experiencing the same issues. Both with the stock power supply and a 120W power adapter (12V, 10A).

I'm also using the EVGA GTX 750 Ti card that is supposed to draw power directly from the PCIe slot.

My guess is it has something to do with the driver, as more than one of us are experiencing the same issues. I can dig up any of my Kernel Panic dumps if that would help.

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That's good information! I agree that if we both are experiencing this it must be the driver or possibly the Akitio box, but that's less likely as it sounds like others have used it to power cards requiring >25W.

Anyway, I got tired of dealing with this and since I have the DA-2 already, I bit the bullet and bought a Zotac GTX970. So far so good ...

post-40310-14495001113586_thumb.png

I'm running it in HiDPI mode obviously.

We'll see how things go. I also have to figure out how to route the cabling into a closed box. A 6pin PCI-e splitter with low profile connectors would probably do the trick. I've been in contact with the manufacturer who made the harness that others purchased off of eBay, so maybe they'll be generous and make me one!

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