99benns

Thanks for the info @HiroCool. I'd be interested to know how you created the EFI boot sector with Win 8.1 as I tried this without sucess

@HiroCool did it just work straight away for you with Windows 8? I tried windows 8 with no luck.

@ShiftZ Yes I've killed weeks on it back in March. Did you get any closer to finding a fix?

@Codeweaver It appears to work fine at first, but after a few seconds the desktop starts flashing on and off every second and it's impossible to do anything other than open task manager. I'm not looking to solve this though as booting from a non-SSD USB3 drive is too slow anyway. It was just an experiment to see if the egpu worked which is it did.

@HiroCool I'm no further to finding a solution I'm afraid, but it's interesting to hear other people are experiencing the same problem, I hope we can figure this out at some point.

@Codeweaver No still no luck. However I did get it to work every time when booting windows from a USB3 hard disk (but then I encountered other Windows errors so this isn't really a solution). I'm hoping as more people buy the new Macbooks and realise they don't work, someone will find a solution.

So I thought I'd give it another go tonight with the suggestions from @wmjnottriell:

-uninstalled nvidia drivers from program list

-uninstalled intel drivers from program list

-uninstalled intel display adapter from device manager

-disabled internet

-restarted computer

-installed nvidia drivers

-restarted computer

-it worked

-restarted again

-it didn't work (spinning wheel on startup)

Tried above steps again, but disabled the built in adapter completely, again it worked first time, restarted and it stopped working again.

So..just tried on a second Macbook Pro 2015. Fresh El Capitan install and Win10. Exactly the same problem.

-2 TB enclosures

-2 macbooks

-3 versions of windows

-3 versions of OSx

The Zotac GTX970 simply does not work with a 2015 13" Macbook pro!

The graphics card is fine, it works on Windows 10 with the Mac Mini and with OSx on the macbook. So frustrating

A quick update: I remembered that my Mac Mini had a TB1 socket so I tried it with this. Everything worked straight away. (The eGPU actually crashes after about 10 minutes when I have Rise of the Tomb raider in full screen, but this is a different matter for a different thread).

So I think it's safe to say the Enclosure/Cable/GPU are all fine. The next step will be to try it on my friends 2015 macbook pro with the same spec just to be 100% sure there's nothing on my HD which I may have missed...

I've tried every boot procedure possible over the past few weeks. I'm 99% sure this will not solve anything.

3 hours ago, goalque said:

Please don’t force power off. Open task manager and end the installer process.

I killed the process with task manager, but I do eventually have to force power off as windows doesn't shut down or restart (infinite spinning wheel again!)

3 hours ago, goalque said:

Open event viewer->windows logs->system. Do you see any errors or event id 7045 row there when you hot plug the eGPU

No event logs appear when I hotplug the GPU, and there are no event ID 7045's, but the card appears in device manager when I hotplug it.

I do have a few of these errors however which seem to appear when I try to start with the eGPU connected or install the drivers (not 100% sure which)

ACPI event ID 13
: The embedded controller (EC) did not respond within the specified timeout period.....

3 hours ago, goalque said:

Can you try another GPU?

I don't have another to try unfortunately, that would be useful though

3 hours ago, goalque said:

We don’t know your BIOS version. The problem may be related to the card itself.

I was hopeful when you mentioned this, but I can see the BIOS ver when I boot into OSx and this is 84.04.36.00.6E (the UEFI version I suppose).

Thanks for the pointers. Still no joy.

8 hours ago, goalque said:

This will likely solve the freezing problem during the uninstallation when "perform a clean installation" is checked

Unfortunately it didn't

8 hours ago, goalque said:

For further troubleshooting, look into windows event logs and what GPU-Z says.

Any pointers as to where I could start with the logs? It's a big maze down there!

Here are the exact steps I just took:

start windows
hotplug eGPU
open GPU-Z and try to backup bios. GPU-Z freezes.
rename nvlddmkm.sys
run nvidia installer and select to perform clean install
installer freezes (dismal1.jpg)
wait 15 minutes
force power off
turn eGPU psu off and on again
windows boots
open nvidia installer
take screenshot (dismal2.jpg)
proceed with install
installer freezes (dismal3.jpg)

1 hour ago, goalque said:

What happens if you perform a clean installation in custom options of the Nvidia installer?

It'll often freeze during the uninstallation process. It has successfully uninstalled a couple of times and the result appeared to be the same as when I uninstalled it via the 'programs and features' window

1 hour ago, goalque said:

Or just select the graphics driver component?

I've tried uninstalling everything except just the driver component, no luck there

1 hour ago, goalque said:

2015 Macs support TB hot plug in Windows, so did you try hot plugging the eGPU after you have Nvidia drivers installed, the computer is restarted, and you have logged in?

Yes. In this case, the eGPU is detected in device manager without any warnings, but not by anything else (e.g. NVidia control panel, Windows display manager). There's no activity on the display and I also get some strange behaviour from windows: the explorer file browser will sometimes freeze, and if I try to restart the computer the restart screen will sometimes hang. 

1 hour ago, goalque said:

Sometimes nvlddmkm.sys causes problems, try renaming it or delete the file before installing Nvidia drivers.

I'll try this tonight

1 hour ago, goalque said:

If the GPU appears as a GTX970 “without drivers installed”, Windows has already downloaded them automatically, otherwise it would show as “basic display adapter”.

Sorry my mistake, if I uninstall the NVIDIA drivers via programmes/features, it still appears as GTX970, but then if I right click here and select 'uninstall', it then appears as "Microsoft basic display adapter"

1 hour ago, goalque said:

You have connected the eGPU to the second TB port in your picture. Connect the eGPU to the first TB port

I've tried most tests with both. I normally use the TB port closest to the MagSafe

1 hour ago, goalque said:

If you didn’t try the -a mode and TB1 port combination, try it.

Yep I've tried this

1 hour ago, goalque said:

So you first resized the partition 100% for OS X, selected the root item “Apple SSD” and clicked “erase” in disk utility? 

Yes. Here are the exact steps I took:

-removed bootcamp with the bootcamp wizard and resized partition 100% for OSx

-booted into internet recovery with command+option+r 

-selected the SSD and formatted it by clicking erase in disk utility

-opened terminal, unmounted the SSD, then removed the EFI partition (it's not possible to remove it using disk utility)

-opened disk utility and formatted the disk again (just to be sure!), then repaired and verified it to restore the factory EFI partition

-re-installed OSx

-re-installed bootcamp

1 hour ago, goalque said:

Can you boot into Windows without the eGPU?

Yes. I can also boot into windows with the GPU connected and the drivers uninstalled. The GPU appears in device manager as a GTX970 without drivers installed. As soon as I install the drivers and restart I can't boot.

1 hour ago, goalque said:

When you installed Nvidia drivers on Win10, did you have the eGPU monitor plugged?

Yes, but no activity

I'm using the latest driver from NVIDIA, 361.91 15th Feb with Windows 10 (yesterday I tried 8.1, same problem)

Thanks @goalque for your suggestions. I don't have a riser anymore as the card fits directly into my Atikio. I have the power routed through the barrel connector

So last night I did:

-a complete format from internet recovery (factory fresh, no time machine restore)

-just to be 100% sure the EFI was reset, I completely removed the EFI partition and recreated it with disk utility

-reinstalled OSx, latest bootcamp, win10

-ran windows update

-latest nvidia drivers

-no other custom software or drivers loaded at this point

-followed all instructions at the link below again to the letter including the NVRAM clear and all other things to try if Windows doesn't boot

-just tried sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -m

-just tried alternative TB cable and socket

-just tried hotplugging

..but I still get the same problem, it's driving me a bit crazy now! Not sure where to go from here..

3 hours ago, Tech Inferno Fan said:

 

Did you re-do the steps I posted previously? If done and problem persists then consider doing a Bootcamp 4.0 installation of Windows. Difference there it installs in MBR/BIOS rather than UEFI mode. That affects the initialization of the eGPU and may aid your Windows hang on boot.

Hi again @Tech Inferno Fan

-I've re-tried 'automate-egpu.sh -a'. I got a message which says : /Library/LaunchDaemons/automate-eGPU-daemon.plist: Operation already in progress, automate-eGPU-daemon launched. Background services enabled. (So I suppose that was successful)

-I've not re-installed the EFI mod as several users say it will only cause further problems with 2015 Macbooks (and it didn't help before).  

-I tried reinstalling bootcamp with Windows 8.1

-I tried reinstalling bootcamp again with windows 10 and the bootcamp 4 drivers instead of bootcamp 6

The outcome is still the same. Boots fine into windows without driver installed (listed in device manager as detected but not installed). As soon as I install the driver - infinite startup wheel 

I'm back, this time with an Akitio enclosure, and the problem is exactly the same. Infinite loading wheel on windows, working fine on mac.

To recap what I've tried:

-every bootup order under the sun

-full bootcamp reinstall

-full laptop re-format from time machine

-nvram clear

Any other thoughts?

Thanks for the tips, I've found it at a couple of stores but need to see if I can get a refund on my sonnet first. I'm not hopeful it's going to solve the problem though as everything seems to be fine in OSx 

Im struggling to find one, all the stores say 'end of life'. (Unless you know somewhere?) I could get one from the US but returns would be costly and difficult. By the way, since taking that photo I'm now using the same psu.

Well the joy was short-lived. Yesterday I had stripped down the Nvidia software setup to just the driver alone. I've just re-run the install with all the other pieces (physx etc...) and I have the problem again. 

Regarding the riser, I was aware of this, but I can't find another way to get from x8 to x16 (I suppose I could try a fixed riser and modify the case). I'm going to try this one first:

http://www.moddiy.com/products/PCI%252dExpress-PCI%252dE-x8-to-x16-Extension-Cable-Riser-%2819cm%29.html

@Dschijn you got me thinking about the riser, so I disconnected it, gave it a blow, reconnected it and it's worked twice in a row!!! I need to make some more tests, but I think I may have a solution

Edit:

After a driver reinstallation the same problem came back and I once again can't start up the computer

This is the only riser I have so I guess not. Do you think it's worth buying another to try?

This is how I got it working on Mac OSx, no change to the Windows boot problem though!

Hi @Tech Inferno Fan I've read through this whole thread and have tried everything mentioned already. I got the EFI mod working but it had no affect on my startup problem.

It's worth noting that that some of the comments say not to do this with a 2015 MacBook Pro as its not necessary and may cause further issues. Uninstalling the mod took me a while as the steps mentioned don't clear out the extra files. I actually ended up doing a full system format (OS X and Windows).

Any other ideas? The only difference I can see with my setup and a lot of others is the pcie enclosure, however you can't get the akitio in the UK anymore and I need to be able to easily return it if I can't get it working. I tested on OS X last night and still working fine there - pretty frustrating!

@Dschijn thanks for the tips. I've tried all of the above this morning with no luck. I downloaded and installed all the latest bootcamp drivers from Apple and just installed the latest Nvidia 361.82 (I was running the latest from the website before- 361.75).  I have to hotplug the thunderbolt or egpu power after Windows bootup so that the installer will detect the card. I've got an external display connected which is working fine on the latest OSx, but still the same loading circle graphic loop when Windows is booting (this is the white circles on the black background, before the blue welcome screen).

Hello,

I've spent the past few days reading almost every thread here, but I cannot get Windows 10 to get past the spinning bootup wheel!

My Setup

-2015 Macbook Pro 13" with intel iris

-Sonnet Echo Express SEL

-Zotac NVIDIA GFORCE 970

-650 watt ext power supply

I think I've tried every setup combination such as:

-powering the eGPU up at the bootup screen

-powering the eGPU before booting up

-powering the eGPU after Windows has started and hotplugging the thunderbolt - (in this case it's detected in device manager, but nowhere else)

I've also tried:

-installing on OSX (it works)

-reinstalling bootcamp and windows from scratch

-formatting my entire hard disk and re-installing mac from time machine, then windows

..but as long as the drivers are installed and the eGPU is powered before the spinning loading wheel, Windows won't boot!

any other suggestions would really be appreciated, as I'm ready to send the whole lot back