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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/13/21 in all areas

  1. In case you own a Lenovo Y410p or Y510p laptop, you might be interested in upgrading its performance by installing an external graphics card. Ultrabay eGPU adapter designed by @gerald was proven to be a convenient plug-and-play option to do exactly that. However, for a long time only an AMD-branded GPUs could be used due to limitations in the Lenovo's stock BIOS. The purpose of the modified firmware presented here is to expand the range of available GPUs by enabling Nvidia support on Gerald's Ultrabay eGPU adapter. Huge thanks to: @MWichni - For efficiently assisting me during the development of this mod. By flashing dozens of BIOS builds over the course of several weeks and thoroughly describing the effects observed (or the lack thereof), he enabled me to fully understand necessary parts in BIOS structure and come up with a final solution. @svl7 - Whose unlocked BIOS / Whitelist mod has served as a basis for this modification. His discovery of a security hole in V2.07 BIOS has provided us with a convenient BIOS flashing method that does not require a physical programmer. The Unlocked BIOS and WLAN whitelist mods originally designed by him are also implemented in this BIOS mod. @gerald - For designing the aforementioned adapter. Without it, all this work would make very little sense. Key features: Resolves the "40-second reboot" issue normally encountered while using Nvidia graphics cards with Ultrabay eGPU adapter, thus allowing all Nvidia cards to be used. Based on the latest V3.08 BIOS. Includes Svl7's WLAN whitelist removal mod - for the convenience of aftermarket WLAN card users. Includes Svl7's BIOS debug menu mod - for the ease of experimentation with newly available features, e.g. attempting to use Nvidia Optimus to pass eGPU video back to laptop's display. NB! Svl7's Debug Menu is not a toy! It contains a lot of options that are either not supported or partially supported by the hardware platform and/or can disturb its normal operation or prevent the PC from booting up at all. Any of the entries not originally present in the stock BIOS should be modified at your own risk! DISCLAIMER: ANY MODIFICATIONS YOU ARE APPLYING TO YOUR HARDWARE ARE PERFORMED AT YOUR OWN RISK! AUTHOR OF THIS MOD DOES NOT HOLD ANY LIABILITY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE RELATED TO USING THIS SOFTWARE. Screenshots: Installation instructions: If things don't go right: Error 43: If you intend using the GTX10XX-series Nvidia card as the eGPU (which you probably do), you are very likely to encounter the infamous Error 43 in Windows Device Manager. This is a widely known issue in the eGPU community and is not related to this particular mod in any way. Following this guide thoroughly will in most cases resolve the Error 43 issue. Download: Get your copy here! P.S.: Version of this mod for Lenovo Y400/Y500 models is coming soon!
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  2. Hi, @kingdew11! First of all, I'm glad to hear everything's been working well for you so far, and you're enjoying the mod and the adapter! Yes, it should be totally safe for you to do a CMOS reset, and it should in theory return the setting you've changed into default state which will fix your issue. In case this doesn't work for whatever reason (and it really should work!), don't panic as there's always the recovery flash option. Also, if I remember correctly how the system works, you might get an image on the internal monitor if you insert the original ultrabay GPU (in case you still have it). The system will enter SLI mode which will connect the screen to the internal Nvidia GPU rather than Intel graphics. This laptop has a very complicated screen switching system. Both the internal screen and the HDMI/VGA ports are connected through multiplexers which can select either Intel or Nvidia chip as video source. In non-SLI mode (when Ultrabay is empty or when a desktop eGPU is installed via adapter), the screen and the outputs are connected to Intel's chip in order to enable Optimus technology. In Optimus, frames processed by Nvidia GPU are sent back through PCIe to Intel's graphics in order to be displayed. This by the way is also what allows people to get eGPU-accelerated graphics looped back to their laptop's internal screen (only works with Nvidia). Now, when the original Ultrabay GPU is installed, the multiplexers are both switched to source from internal Nvidia chip, as SLI isn't compatible with Optimus. Intel's graphics gets completely disabled, and the two GPUs get linked into SLI. What I think you've got happening right now is that you've switched your primary display to internal Nvidia chip, while multiplexers are connecting all screens to Intel's one. As for your second question, I'm not sure if there's an easy way to do this, or whether it's possible at all. Some laptops will start showing boot process on an external screen by default if their main screen is physically disconnected, but from my experience with y510p, this platform doesn't do that. It could be because of this multiplexed system that the signal actually tries to appear on some HDMI or somewhere but is getting lost because of incorrect configuration... Or could be that the thing just doesn't do it at all. If what you want is to get the BIOS to appear on eGPU outputs, one thing to try would be to physically disable both the Intel graphics and the internal Nvidia chip, but even then it's not at all guaranteed to work.
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