orkus

One addition: It may be random, but in my case using the Thunderbolt port next to the USB port seems to increase the chance of successful boots!

And here is a screenshot of the Performance Test of Assetto Corsa: http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/263846487436095582/4362CA876A3A056A911FE4E88247F6BE452D0F5E/

I reinstalled the NVIDIA driver, and made the 1060 work again. Several times. Surrounded by lot of unsuccessful boots. Since now I have two displays visible in the display settings, I was able to switch off the internal display, but that didn't seem to have any influence on the frame rate. I believe, Optimus works, as well, since I am able to select the GPUs both, manually and automatically. I don't know if or how I can switch off Optimus to avoid a possible performance decrease from it.

When Windows wakes up from sleep mode, the eGPU will not wake up and I will have to do reboots (completely switching off the computer every time) until it works again.. What a mediocre OS.

And here is what I believe is necessary for the late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina:

- Install rEFInd

- Install apple_set_os and run it every time before booting Windows 

- Install and run the switch GPU scripts for Windows to switch to the internal GPU (Intel Iris), reboot.

- In the Windows device manager uninstall (not just disable) the dGPU (Geforce 750m).

- Connect eGPU.

- Keep rebooting until successful, reinstall and update the NVIDIA driver

- In the Windows device manager AGAIN uninstall the eGPU

- Keep rebooting until successful.

- This is the point when I start to get output from the eGPU.

Hot (or "warm") plugging does not work for me, the eGPU has to be present at power-on time. It seems, this is the best I can get. If I find out anything more, I will post it here. As soon as NVIDIA adds support for the Pascal cards to their Mac drivers, I will test that as well.

Thank you all for the basic research and for helping me!

PS: I played "Assassin's Creed: Unity" on Ultra settings in Full HD and got around 30 fps. While the game looked absolutely gorgeous and was playable, this seems a little low.

Screenshots including fps in the top left:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/273978479675043496/E9EDAA852A639015290A69645A157C3B73455357/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/273978479675044028/33D33E2EEFB830327EE6595319519A7A75353C12/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/273978479675043777/96AAC4486BB08982966E42E06186E1AA601041C8/

Well, holiday is over, again tried to boot for two hours, then set the graphics to "low" and played using the dGPU. *sigh*

I believe, you would have had to Boot into Windows using the iGPU, then completely uninstall the Nvidia drivers and reboot, because the stupid NVIDIA installer only detects available cards at installation time.

6 hours ago, ibanez_bass said:

 

 

It looks like you got it working, but I will go ahead and elaborate. I'm using Windows 10 EFI/GPT. I have the OS X Spoofing turned on in rEFInd (I still want to call it rEFIt from back in the day). As for knowing the first Thunder2 was bad... I took a chance and bought another. I was getting lockups at the boot loader just like you with the first one, now I can boot with it plugged in to my MBP. Oddly enough, my XPS 13 will still not let me boot with it plugged in... I have to wait for the screen to light up.

 

As for the mirroring/optimus, Does the display setting show [1|2] in the Windows settings? Check the nVidia control panel as well. Today, I realized that my MBP would not display any output on DisplayPort but HDMI worked fine. On my iMac, DisplayPort worked fine. So, you might try different ports as well.

 

Do note that I observed a significant performance decrease using optimus. With a +200/+250 overclock, non-optimus FireStrike was 11500 on the Graphics (not bad considering I saw a 980 non-egpu with a score just over 12K). With optimus, the score dropped down below 10000. That equated to non-optimus Heaven 4.0 ~53 fps and optimus ~42-45 fps (can't remember exactly off the top of my head) at Custom Extreme 1080p, 8x MSAA, Extreme Tesselation. 

Hm. Since I played several games for a couple of hours without any crash or freeze, I think the Thunder2 works. The boot problems are annoying, but if I can make it work again, I think I will keep the box.

Both, Windows and nVidia settings show only one display!. I was looking for a "sync displays" switch to turn off, but couldn't find any. Maybe it's hidden in expert setting or so, I will have to look harder next time.

I do not connect my HDMI to the MBP, but directly to the 1060. Are you talking about different ports of the Geforce? I do not have any other cabling, so I can't try for now.

You observed a performance decrease using Optimus?! That sounds strange. I thought, Optimus would just switch GPUs on the fly. I will have to read a little more about this.

Until then I will try to enjoy my holidays. Dreaming about this wonderful gaming night (see screenshots of Assassin's Creed Syndicate)...

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/1621679306981925479/869722C8A5D9C2DAAB22E7FB5A04C996B2F02A28/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/1621679306981925292/340AE493FE28253EC61425DBE81900629D2BE132/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/1621679306981925680/ECF8D4A8210242550E6F1C7EA64B3C782BB57F6E/

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/1621679306981924808/CD88220B8C5283947F0B2A54544B84840AE1CEA0/

It worked!!

Finally!

Downloading and using GPU-Switch to activate the iGPU was the key. Though I had to boot a couple of times, it finally worked. I played a couple of games using Ultra settings. Wow! The internal screen mirrors the external one, and that lowers the frame rate. I don't know how to avoid this, since ther is only one screen visible in the settings.

And I am afraid to shut down the computer, but hey! If it worked once, it may work again!

15 hours ago, ibanez_bass said:

I was having very similar issues to you. No boot when thunderbolt was connected, GPU wasn't detected most of the time, all kinds of issues. Sadly it turned out to be the Thunder2 itself, which I could not return because I had already modified the chassis. So I had to order another one, which I will be keeping the unmodified chassis in a closet just in case.

Hm. How did you know? I already had to return one Akitio, because the first one blew up on the first try. That was before even modifying anything. I believe it was a hardware error, a bad soldering point.

Remember, I had it running twice (just for a couple of seconds, but still...)!

Quote

But all is good now. I have the same 750m/Iris Pro 5200/GTX 1060 setup

This, my friend, is a very hopeful (and helpful) answer! I was close to return the damn things. Are you using Windows 10? EFI boot? GPT or MBR?

Quote

Just make sure you run GPU switch integrated, disable the 750m, and reboot.

Whenever I do this, I end up with a black screen, circular animation freezes, HD LED still flickering. It feels like the Iris and the OS are both working, but the screen output just goes nowhere. Today I have been told to turn up the brightness to max, otherwise Windows may choose to switch the output off altogether. *sigh*

Quote

Connect the thunderbolt cable at the boot loader.

Then everything halts. rEFInd not responsive anymore. Even if I do it early in the boot process, the startup immediately halts. If I do it after login, or "late" in the boot process, it has no effect.

2 hours ago, WBJ said:

Which Thunderbolt port  you are using? When I was setting up R9 Nano eGPU I met the same issue. But when I use the TB port close to the MagSafe rather than close to USB one, everything works fine!

Good hint, but I switched them a couple of times. That does not seem to matter. But I will stick to the one near the MagSafe, just to be sure.

Thank you both for your hints! Time is running out. In two days, I will travel to the Mediterranean Sea and stay there for 2 weeks. Maybe tonight I will give it a last try before my holydays.

I got it working again! I always try to boot without the Iris, 750m uninstalled, 1060 connected from the beginning. Whenever Windows shows the recovery screen, I select the log file option. And I believe, it was one of those logging boots, when suddenly, after logging in, the external screen flickered to life, extending the desktop. I started Nvidia Experience, but the external screen kept flickering and finally went black. Device Manager said, the 1060 was shut down after reporting error 43.

Now I can't get it to boot again. As usually...

Finally! It appeared! Hallelujah! I saw the Windows Login-Screen on my external display, which is connected to the 1060 via HDMI!

I had booted without revealing the Intel Iris and with the 750m deinstalled.

But then Windows decided, this would be enough joy and hope and disabled the 1060 in favor of the 750m. Yes. That's right. This f**** system decides, the user (me) is obviously stupid and it knows better. 3 seconds. A short glamorous moment.

Then the login screen switched to the internal display and the device manager showed error 12 for the 1060.

After AGAIN disabling the 750m Windows several times refused to boot again.

How can I tell Windows that I really mean it, when disabling and deinstalling the dGPU?!

Update and Summary:

1. Connect and turn on eGPU, then turn on MacBook and wait for rEFInd: works half of the time. Why is that? But okay, could live with it.
2. Boot MacOSX: No problem. Nvidia WebDriver is installed, have not investigated further, since we are waiting for the Pascal drivers.
3. Boot Windows: With or without revealing the Intel Iris Windows won't boot. The spinning circles stops, HD LED keeps blinking. How can I find out, what's the problem in this stage? Some kind of log file? Where?
4. Don't connect eGPU at startup
   1. When enabling the Intel Iris, Windows won't boot. See 3.
   2. Without Iris and eGPU Windows boots. I can disable the dGPU (750m), but afterwards, I can't put Windows to sleep mode anymore. Hot plugging eGPU does not seem to have any effect.

All in all:

I can not reproduce the screen shots from above, anymore. During the last week, I booted about a hundred times, and I got the 1060 to show up in the device manager only ONCE! Since so many people can get it running, there MUST be a way! How can I convince my Windows 10 (EFI) to boot with my eGPU connected? Any help appreciated.

Still waiting for the first working boot. I have never observed a single frame leave my 1060. is it my deep hate for Windows, that I always have to suffer?

If you find any hope, please share it with me...

Since I have now rEFInd, there actually is no more need to press Alt while booting. But I just did it again. Intel Iris will stay hidden that way. And Windows booted! Phew! Hot plugging Thunderbolt had no effect. It never has had, actually.

So I got bold and booted again, this time using rEFInd and with the Intel Iris revealed and with Thunder2 running and plugged in. My MBP seemed to boot, but the screen stays dark. Has the Zotac magically taken over? External screen is dark, as well, but that might be the next problem.

No, I connected some USB device. There is no USB-connection-sound and it does not start up.

Yes, it already WAS disabled, by the time Windows stopped working altogether. In the last 2 days I disabled it countless times. It must be sore from disabling!

Well... time's up. Tonight, my girlfriend will return from Italy and I will spend my time with her instead of Windows...

I think I will have to reinstall Amok-Windows first. And probably all the games. Oh. My. God.

Yes, Mac OS is not a problem. Windows is. What a nightmare:

[GUIDE] DSDT override to fix error 12

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/topic/5874-%5BGUIDE%5D-DSDT-override-to-fix-error-12&share_tid=5874&share_fid=33421&share_type=t

But not for me. After things looked like I was finally almost there, Windows has now stopped booting at all. What a f***ing OS!!

Almost... *sigh*

After installing rEfind and using it to reveal the Intel Iris, Windows suddenly booted through and showed all 3 graphics adapters for the First time!

Look at this!

OK, I left unable-to-boot Windows alone for a while and looked what I could do in MacOSX. I downloaded and ran automate-eGPU.sh. On first run it said I had to disable an Apple security feature called "System Integrity Protection", or "SIP". This can be done after booting into the recovery partition. Afterwards, the script ran through and offered the following driver package:

http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.03.05f02/WebDriver-346.03.05f02.pkg

This is of course the wrong driver, but I don't think, there is a proper one, so I tried it. Afterwards, I had the following entry in the Mac system info, GPU section (!):

  Typ:    GPU

  Bus:    PCIe

  PCIe-Lane-Breite:    x4

  Hersteller:    NVIDIA (0x10de)

  Geräte-ID:    0x1c03

  Versions-ID:    0x00a1

  gMux-Version:    4.0.8 [3.2.8]

  Information zur Kernel-Erweiterung:    Keine Kext geladen

Yeah! This is the first life sign of the eGPU! It just misses the driver. So I believe it should work, once f***ing  Windows finally boots!!

Up Next: reveal the Intel Iris under Windows...

Then you are lucky. Mine is still either invisible or keeps Windows from booting.

Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Update:

I copied the DIY eGPU Setup disk image to a USB stick and tried to boot from it. But it just says, I should remove all disks. Which I can't. Game Over. 

I also carefully re-inserted the Zotac and used the other two Thunderbolt ports. 

I am running out of ideas...

I just noticed, my HDMI cable broke. On the last pic you can see the broken plug still firmly in the socket... 

These images show, how well the Zotac Geforce GTX 1060 Mini fits into the Akitio Thunder2. Note the 6-PIN PCIe power connector blocking the way for the outer chassis.

6 minutes ago, JohnyB33 said:

I suggest installing windows to the drive using bootcamp assistant then. 

Bootcamp assistant can't do that. It helps in partitioning the main drive and providing an EFI boot manager as well as Apple drivers. It's not needed for external drives.

46 minutes ago, MattGarland said:

Does the card fit nicely in the Akitio Thunder2? 

I took some pictures for you to see. I will have to load them to the Mac to be able to shrink them first. 

The card itself fits really nicely, but the power plug is a bit too high. Maybe I can modify it. Until then, I will leave the box open. 

46 minutes ago, MattGarland said:

Please keep us posted if you manage to get it working!

You bet, I will!

1 hour ago, JohnyB33 said:

Try going into the windows side and disabling all other graphics drivers. It should revert to windows basic adapter or something like that. If it requests a restart just reset the system. 

 

Reset the system? You mean restart?

I already tried that. Multiple times. 

1 hour ago, JohnyB33 said:

After you do that change your bootcamp setting to automatically boot into the windows side. This did the trick for me!

I don't use bootcamp. I have a dedicated USB SSD to boot Windows from

On 14. Juli 2016 at 4:09 PM, devild said:

It has the same height as zotac gtx 970 dual fan (that is fitted into Akitio box w/o cooling system cover), but radiator on gtx1060 is a bit higher than PCB and at first look it might be a little problem.

Well, in the meantime the card (Zotac Geforce GTX 1060 mini) has been released. I bought it and I can say, it fits! The only problem is the 6-PIN connector on top. I haven't tried to close the box yet, but I think, it should be possible.