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Boot without eGPU monitor fixes error 12 on Lenovo X230+T430s


louiek

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Hi,

I am reporting back with my 750Ti I mentioned about on post #4626

I ran into an error code 12 with my X230. However, I did find a way around it; although someone more experienced can tell me the underlying mechanisms.

If I plug in my egpu system with the external monitor attached to the gpu (1080p via VGA to DVI) prior to boot, I will not get past the bios password screen, where I just end up with a sustained black screen.

If I plug in the egpu setup after I have booted into windows, I get an error 12 in device manager.

Now, if I plug in the egpu setup without my monitor attached prior to boot, the entire system boots up and I get no errors in device manager (below is a screen shot of my memory allocation). Further, if I plug in the monitor at this point, I get video on the monitor (but not on the laptop).

Overall, I am unsure how this works and whether there are lost benefits. Furthermore, I am unsure if I have optimus working at all as I only installed Nvidia drivers for the 750 ti and not any optimus driver. Nevertheless, I am pleased I have gotten this far.

Thus, the following is my setup and benchmark results:

Lenovo Thinkpad X230 2306-CTO i5-3230m BIOS 2.62

2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 ram

Smasung 840 EVO SSD

PE4L v 2.1 to expresscard adapter (set to 1 on both settings)

EVGA NVIDIA 750 Ti (non-superclocked) 2 GB (347.88 Nvidia Drivers)

EVGA Corsair 600w 80+ Bronze

Windows 7 64 bit

3DMark06 (1280x800; PhysX NOT set to CPU; no HDMI audio): 18862 (8 gb ram); 19177 (16 gb ram)

I also have a T430S so I ran the same setup as well. The same problem and workaround also occurred with the T430S.

Lenovo Thinkpad T430S 2353-9VU i7-3520m BIOS 2.62

2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 ram

320 GB HDD

PE4L v 2.1 to expresscard adapter (set to 1 on both settings)

EVGA Nvidia 750 Ti (non superclocked) 2 GB (347.52 Nvidia Drivers)

EVGA Corsair 600w 80+ Bronze

Windows 8.1 Pro

3DMark06 (1280x800; PhysX set to CPU; no HDMI audio); 21359

3DMark Demo Firestrike 1.1 (1920 x 1080): 3649

Cinebench R15: 78.68 FPS

Edit:

I have uploaded images of my T430S memory allocation for both good and bad scenarios as well as system information

Cheers,

Louiek

Update 1:

I just wanted to update my post as it seems like many people have been struggling with their T420/T430/X220/X230 with a GTX 750 Ti setup with 16GB of ram.

So I tried to replicate this workaround with a fresh install on my T430S (unfortunately I no longer have the X230 but I believe the results here should be directly applicable)

My setup:

Lenovo Thinkpad T430S i7-3520m 2353-9VU (no dgpu)

2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 DDR3L

Samsung 850 Pro 256 GB

BIOS: 2.62

USB 3.0 mode set to automatic

PCI express management set to enabled

Expresscard speed set to automatic

Startup password set, Supervisor password set, Hard disk password set (personal preference; not sure if it does anything)

EVGA Nvidia GTX 750 Ti (non superclocked) 2GB

EVGA 600W 80+ Bronze

PE4L v2.1 Adapter to expresscard (all settings on 1)

Windows 8.1 Pro with all the latest windows updates

Lenovo’s intel chipset support (9.4.0.1027)

Intel HD graphics driver for HD4000 (15.33.35.64.4176)

Intel management engine components (10.0.38.1036)

Nvidia Geforce drivers (347.88)

Advanced power settings PCI express link state management set to off

If I plug in the egpu with external monitor plugged into the gpu (DVI cable) prior to laptop boot, the setup will startup but will hang with a black screen just after BIOS password screen. However, if I plug in the egpu without the external monitor plugged into the egpu prior to boot, the setup will boot and successfully make it all the way to the desktop.

Interestingly, if I plug in the external monitor to the gpu at this point, only about 30% of the time will the gpu be activated. It turns out that by booting the system with the egpu setup (without the external monitor), the gpu is not detected to be running by HWINFO (i.e. no temperature nor clock speed readings), although it is detected to be a second gpu on the system (HWINFO and device manager). By plugging in the external monitor, 70% of time there will be no image output to the external monitor nor does HWINFO sensors detect anything.

However, I found that the gpu needs to be activated prior to plugging in the external monitor. By simply opening the NVIDIA geforce experience application, the gpu gets activated and at that point (i.e. HWINFO sensors detect temperature, clock speed, etc.), and becomes a 100% success rate for the external monitor to receive data.

Benchmarks:

Resident Evil 5 DirectX 9 benchmark 1280 x 800-Variable with default settings

External monitor (750 Ti) 179.9 FPS

Internal monitor (750 Ti) 105.0 FPS

Internal monitor (Intel HD 4000) 54.6 FPS

I am not technical enough to understand what is going on. If anyone has any ideas, it would be appreciated. If not, this I think is the best workaround for myself as DSDT and setup 1.x seems intimidating to me. I previously could not get my DSDT error fixed, thus I could not compile. Since this workaround does not involve coding, I am quite pleased.

Cheers,

Louiek

Update 2:

3Dmark11 test version 1.0.5 - 1280 x 720 default settings - PhysX set to CPU - no audio

P4868

Graphics score - 4967

Overclocked 750Ti score

P5419

Graphics score - 5763

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post-34657-14494999755717_thumb.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

I know it's a bit late but I have a Thinkpad T430 with i7-3610QM , 16GB RAM and only Intel HD 4000. 

My eGPU setup is made of EXP GDC V8 Expresscard version, a GTX 760 2GB and a Dell DA-2 220W adapter. 

 

Some months ago I had a Rdeon 6850 which was workin like a charm. I just had to plug the EC in T430 with Radeon 6850 but without the external display attached. I worked without any errors.

 

Now...

 

...with Geforce GTX 760 the thing is more complicated. Started the same with the Radeon card and I get the Error 12. I tried so many possibilities to make the Error 12 dissapear but with no luck.

 

Any ideas you can help?

 

My frustration is so high.....

 

Thank you.

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  • 1 month later...
On 2016-07-28 at 5:34 AM, andrei.tuduran said:

I know it's a bit late but I have a Thinkpad T430 with i7-3610QM , 16GB RAM and only Intel HD 4000. 

My eGPU setup is made of EXP GDC V8 Expresscard version, a GTX 760 2GB and a Dell DA-2 220W adapter. 

 

Some months ago I had a Rdeon 6850 which was workin like a charm. I just had to plug the EC in T430 with Radeon 6850 but without the external display attached. I worked without any errors.

 

Now...

 

...with Geforce GTX 760 the thing is more complicated. Started the same with the Radeon card and I get the Error 12. I tried so many possibilities to make the Error 12 dissapear but with no luck.

 

Any ideas you can help?

 

My frustration is so high.....

 

Thank you.

 

Not sure if you already resolved your issue, but from my experience (granted I have never used a radeon 6850 nor a gtx 760 with the EXP GDC V8) using 16 gb of ram was the problem. I have tested the x230 with 16 gb of ram with a gtx 770, and the only way I had it working was to go down to 8 gb of ram (but not for a lower end card e.g. 750ti). You may have to look into nando's setup.

 

Hope this helps,

Louiek

Edited by louiek
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  • 2 years later...

Hi Louiek, your solution worked like a charm with one problem. I have x230, testing with many RAM configurations. gtx 970. I plug in the monitor in windows and all is great but games with full HD (skyrim / lords of the fallen) crash when entering game. interestingly these games as well as games with low requirement run fine. Also skyrim and lords of the fallen run greate on laptop internal screen with good fps (it has lover resolution than full HD). not sure what to do now - maybe time to fix error 12 anyhow... guess this is a problem when graphics card needs to use more memory? If I wanted to play on laptop internal screen the solution would be great. 

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