tranj10

I'll try the Windows 8.1 install later today.

Responses to @goalque

- I only tried Evo's script + automate-egpu.sh without -a mode (never tried Evo's script + [a] mode). It would freeze many time when I tried to connect the TB cable at EFI menu. The 100% success rate is for booting into OS X and having the NVIDIA eGPU being recognized. I only tried this for two days so small sample size.

- Yes I'm using an external DVI monitor right now, but I leave it disconnected from the eGPU while logging into OS X. This is because when you log in and leave the external monitor connected, the external monitor will try to activate mid-log in. This crashed on me once, so I never tried again with leaving external monitor plugged in.

- Yes, FileVault is enabled on everything I have reported in this thread so far. I can see what happens if I disable.

One thing to note about Either disabling FileVault or NVRAM clear though is that one of these processes messes with the recognition of the eGPU in OS X. I'm not sure which one it is because I did both before testing out the eGPU. This is something I was testing before resetting to factory conditions, so I don't have this problem anymore.

I honestly have no idea whats going on with my eGPU set up. It was working fine for the first week or so, playing games like Batman Arkham Knight, Dirty Bomb, Skyrim, all maxed out, flawlessly. Ever since I attempted the Optimus guide it's been going nuts. As soon as I launch the game, press "load game" in any game, not only witcher, after the loading screen, the external monitor just goes black, and my 970 Fans go nuts.They literally sound like a jet engine for 5 seconds than my whole PC crashes and reboots. I can't launch a game without that happening.

Edit: For clarity, i was trying to enable internal LCD via Evo's Optimus guide. It was clear to me it didn't work when my windows wouldn't even boot so I just wiped clean my whole hard drive hoping it would wipe the EFI partition as well but I don't think it did, because when I hold option and the boot screen shows up I still see EFI boot instead of Bootcamp partition.

I don't think you wiped the whole hard drive if the EFI boot with nvidia icon is still there. What I did to wipe everything was

1) Unencrypt internal drive in OS X by, System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault > Turn off filevault

2) Reboot and let filevault unecrypt

3) shut down and power back on with cmd + r

4) Go to disk utility and erase your internal drive (now you should just have one big partition formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

5) Reinstall OS X (I re-encypted my drive here)

@goalque: I really appreciate all the help you've given me. Thanks!

So I cleared my NVRAM and cleared my hard drive to reset to factory settings to test out the eGPU setup.

I try two methods of powering up with eGPU:

Method 1) Have eGPU TB cable disconnected, power up to EFI boot menu, connect eGPU

Method 2) Have eGPU TB cable connected, power up to EFI boot menu

1) Fresh OS X install: Both method 1 and 2 seem to have a 50% success rate, no eGPU recognition in OS X even if bootup is successful

2) With automate-egpu.sh: Both methods 1 and 2 seem to have 50% rate again, but eGPU is recognized at all successful bootups

3) With automate-egpu.sh -a: Method 1 had a 10/11 success rate. Method 2 had a 5/8 success rate.

It seems like Method 1 is the way to go and that the -a option within goalque's script is very helpful. All my sample sizes are small though, so I wouldn't put too much value into them yet.

Few other notes:

- I notice about a half second freeze (can't move cursor with trackpad) when I plug in the TB cable with Method 1

- I never got a restart to work from OS X (always end up at blank black screen)

- I failed at getting a successful OS X boot up only once (after successful power up/TB connection at EFI). It happened when I was logging in. I had the eGPU connected to an external monitor, and it tried to activate mid-log in but both internal and external screens just went black. Now I just log in without the external monitor connected, and I have not run into one OS X boot up failure.

- The eGPU fan seems to spin at max setting until I log in to OS X

- I am using only the TB port furthest away from the Magsafe port

Since it seems that the -a option is helpful do you have any suggestion on how to handle the Windows 8.1 boot camp install?

“Optimus enabled boot” means Evo*’s method? If you have done that, it may interfere with the [-a] mode. Factory settings -> sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -> sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -a -> shut down -> restart eGPU connected is what I suggested if you have freezing startup manager when Option key is kept down and eGPU connected. No need to uninstall Nvidia drivers.

Yes by "Optimus enabled boot" I mean Evo's method.

I will try the eGPU setup from factory setting sometime this week. I will go through these steps:

1) Restore MBP to Factory setting from cmd+r at boot up (I've never done this before, so I'm guessing this resets my EFI and Bootcamp partition also)

2) Set up OS X and do all OS X Yosemite updates

3) Run .sh script (should the eGPU be disconnected at this point?)

- Place .sh script on desktop

- chmod +x ~/Desktop/automate-eGPU.sh

- cd ~/Desktop

- sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh

- sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -a

- shut down

4) Power up holding option key

5) Connect and power up eGPU at EFI boot menu

6) Do testing if eGPU works well with OS X and boots consistently

Testing with Windows 8.1

7) Install Windows 8.1 via Boot Camp assistant on a 35 GB partition on internal SSD

8) Setup Windows, install default boot camp drivers, perform Windows updates (ignoring any driver updates from Windows update), shut down

9) Power up holding option key

10) Connect and power up eGPU at EFI boot menu

11) Install latest NVIDIA drivers with all the options within install (Geforce experience, physx ...), shut down

12) Power up holding option key

13) Connect and power up eGPU at EFI boot menu

14) Do testing if eGPU works well within Windows and boots consistently

I wonder if installing Windows 8.1 will interfere with the settings that automate-eGPU.sh will put in place? Any suggestions on what I should add or take out from my procedure list?

@goalque: I'll try rerunning your script with the -a option. Do you recommend uninstalling any of the NVIDIA drivers before I rerun the script with the new command?

I'll try to run Windows 8.1 without the optimus enabled boot.

@TheGrreatGatsby : I turn the power strip connected to the Dell DA-2 off, but I leave everything else connected.

Just a small update on my 2015 13" MBP. I used goalque's .sh script to enable eGPU recognition in OSX and installed NVIDIA CUDA drivers. OSX seems to have a much better successful bootup rate then Windows 8. I have not run into any bootup hangs and the eGPU is recognized each time I have used OSX and eGPU. I still have issues with the blank black screen at power up though.

@tranj10: What happens if you boot while holding ALT so the boot menu appears, wait a few seconds and you power your eGPU then? After this boot Windows through the boot menu.

I have tried this a few times, but it seemed to never be successful for me. I have done it with two methods: 1) Have eGPU on and then plug in thunderbolt to macbook 2) Have thunderbolt plugged in and then turn eGPU on. The result is that the screen is still on but it appears the keyboard and trackpad get disabled. I also had a USB mouse plugged in one of my attempts and I could move the mouse around the screen, but it wouldn't let me click to get into the windows EFI boot.

I wonder why people have issues with the 2015 13" MBPs.

I have seen that the basic display adapter pops up with the 2015 15" rMBP (Iris Pro), install drivers, restart, and then it's plug-and-play. Just install Boot Camp with pre-downloaded support software.

Also 2014 Mac mini supports "hot pluggable" feature.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204154

I boot into Win8.1 without eGPU plugged, attach the TB cable and in a second "GTX 980" shows up under the display adapters in device manager. You hear the familiar sound, the same when connecting or disconnecting a USB device. Connect the external monitor and you have full eGPU acceleration. Unigine Valley gives score 2224, FPS: 53.2, Max FPS: 108.3.

Reboot, wait ~30 seconds (internal HDD is slow) and you have the login screen. I can repeat this many times, and it's nice to see when the reference GTX 980 blinks the green color. No hassling with the TB cable. Maybe it's the GPU model that makes the difference.

Do you happen to be using an EVGA GPU? I read somewhere that their models are powered differently and are better for eGPU setup, but the author didn't go into much detail.

I have mixed results when plugging in the eGPU while Windows is on. Sometimes I'll get a BSOD. Sometimes GTX 970 will pop up, but when I look in Device Manager > GTX 970 Properties > Resources, I see it complaining about no resources being allocated.

My way of getting a successful boot with eGPU with optimus for internal lcd is:

1) Have everything connected (no external monitor though)

2) Power on eGPU and akitio

3) Power on MacBook --- If blank screen here, disconnect and power off, wait 1 minute, and go back to step 1

4) Go through optimus enabled Windows 8.1 boot --- if bootup hangs, disconnect and power off, wait 1 minute, and go back to step 1

5) If Windows is successful to here, go to Device Manager, usually I see Error 12 on GTX 970

6) Wait ~30 seconds, Windows will tell me to reboot after it detected a hardware change

7) Reboot and hope for no blank screen at power up and windows hang at boot up --- if failure disconnect and power off, wait 1 minute, and go back to step 1

8) If Windows is successful then everything is good here now

Steps 3, 4, and 7 are the reason for my low success rate in booting up.

My total hardware setup is:

ASUS Mini GTX 970

Akitio Thunder 2 PCIe

2015 13" rMBP

Dell DA-2

and these two cables:

Two PCI E 6 Pin to One PCI E 8 Pin 90 Degree Bend Right Low Profile USA Made | eBay

Akitio Egpu 8 Pin to 2 x PCI E 6 Pin Super Low Profile No Latch 1 x Barrel | eBay

My software is:

Windows 8.1 with optimus boot files, boot camp drivers, and all windows updates

Latest NVIDIA drivers

Do you have an update on your situation? I am also running the same 2015 MBP 13" as you and am having issues consistently booting with eGPU working. I was wondering if you found a solution to make bootup consistent.

So i have read the 2015 macbook pro 13 won't work with an egpu set up ? is this correct as i see the 2015 15 inch model works ? i bought a new macbook 2015 for this reason.

I am semi-sucessfully using the 2015 rMBP 13 with the Akitio hub and ASUS Mini GTX 970 on Windows 8.1. I say semi-successful because I have issues consistently booting with the eGPU. The issues are black screen at power up and Windows 8.1 hangs during boot up. When it does boot up successfully the eGPU setup works really well.