Evo* Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 In this guide I provide a way to give 100% optimus internal LCD mode on a iGPU-only equipped Macbooks (not GT650M/GT750M/HD6750M MBP) on every boot. No special hardware interaction is necessary! Discovered as part of my implementation at [GUIDE] 2013 15" Macbook Pro Iris + GTX970@16Gbps-TB2 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + Win8.1/OSX THIS GUIDE IS INTENDED FOR WINDOWS 8.1 UEFI ONLY! PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!All Commands are from OS X Yosemite 1. Obtain the EFI Disk IndentifierOpen OS X Terminal (Enter the Following)diskutil list The Output will be similar to below but for your System. Take note of the EFI Identifier for YOUR System output. here mine is 'disk0s1' (shown in RED)Evo$ diskutil list /dev/disk0 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0 1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1 2: Apple_CoreStorage 439.4 GB disk0s2 3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3 4: Microsoft Basic Data Windows 60.0 GB disk0s4 /dev/disk1 #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: Apple_HFS Yosemite *439.0 GB disk1 If your disk identifier for the EFI is different than what is shown above please edit the below Terminal Commands to suit (Highlighted in RED) 2. Mounting and Backing up the EFI Partition.mkdir /Volumes/efisudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/efiEnter your Password and hit ENTERsudo hdiutil create ~/Desktop/EFIBackup.dmg -srcdevice /dev/disk0s1You will now have a Backup of your EFI on the Desktop. 3. Adding the Optimus Boot files to the EFI partition. Download the DMG image >>> http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=68742157736895896560 <<< into the OS X Download Directory (Default) ~/Downloads Mount the Downloaded Imagehdiutil attach ~/Downloads/OPTIMUS.dmg The next Command will transfer all the Files to the EFI Partitionditto -V --norsrc /Volumes/OPTIMUS /Volumes/EFIUnmount the EFI Partition.sudo diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s1 4. Choosing your Default OS to Auto Boot at Startup System Preferences >> Startup Disk >> Select BOOTCAMP (Windows) 5. RebootRestart holding "option" Key and Select EFI Boot from the Apple Boot Loader to proceed to Boot into Windows. Optimus Should be Running within Windows 8.1Restart holding "option" Key and Select OS X Partition from the Apple Boot Loader to proceed to Boot into OS X System Preferences >> Startup Disk >> Select BOOTCAMP (Windows) Restart Again without holding the "option" key and Windows will Boot automatically with Optimus Enabled on Every Boot with no interaction. Unless you change the Startup Device from within Bootcamp ControlPanel (WIN) or System Preferences (OS X)Booting With the Option Key will give you Access to All Bootable OS from the Apple Bootloader 6. Troubleshooting. (Optional) [FONT=arial] Encountering the dreaded GRUB 2 boot prompt [/FONT][FONT=sans-serif][FONT=arial]If improperly configured, GRUB 2 may fail to load and subsequently drop to a boot prompt. To address this issue, proceed as follows:[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=sans-serif][FONT=arial] 1. List the drives which GRUB 2 sees:[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=arial]grub2> ls[/FONT][FONT=arial] [/FONT][FONT=sans-serif][FONT=arial] 2. While the output for a gpt partition table /dev/sda with four partitions will look something like this:[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=arial](hd0) (hd0,gpt4) (hd0,gpt3) (hd0,gpt2) (hd0,gpt1)[/FONT] [FONT=sans-serif][FONT=arial] 3. With this information you can now probe each partition of the drive and locate your efi parition containing the windows boot efi[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=arial]ls (hd0,gpt1)/ [/FONT][FONT=arial] [/FONT] [FONT=sans-serif][FONT=arial]4. Declare your root partition:[/FONT][/FONT] set root='(hd1,gpt1)' 5. the declared root now can be edited in the grub config file in OS X /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Grub/grub.cfgapple_set_os insmod part_gpt insmod chain set root='(hd1,gpt1)' chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi boot [FONT=arial]How do I restore the old EFI with the Backup file?[/FONT]QuoteHow do I restore the old EFI with the Backup file?QuoteJust repeat Step 2&3 with the new file names and without making a new backup:If your disk identifier for the EFI is different than what is shown above please edit the below Terminal Commands to suit (Highlighted in RED)2. mkdir /Volumes/efi sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/efi3. hdiutil attach ~/Desktop/EFIBackup.dmg ditto -V --norsrc /Volumes/EFIBackup /Volumes/EFI sudo diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s14. Profit 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Weri Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Hi. I having problem with the Grub 2 boot prompt. If I understand correctly I am supposed to set the root partition to the EFI partition that we edited earlier(Which in my case is hd1,gpt1). However I am still unable to boot using Grub 2- still stuck with the boot prompt.When I probe (hd1,gpt1) withls (hd1,gpt1)I can only seeapple/ Grub/Is there supposed to be Microsoft/ Thank you for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 You think that OSX 10.10.2 will overwrite or change any of this?---Edit: 10.10.2 doesn't affect this. I was worried that the "Thunderstrike exploit" patch would change sth on the EFI partition, but it didn´'t. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryptoPhan Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Awesome guide man, thanks a lot! Do you think this will work with a VM like Parallels Desktop? Since I have a limited understanding about what you've actually done here, I am too afraid to load the Optimus enabled partition in Parallels (maybe it would somehow mess up the partition?). Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Paralles should only affect the drivers and not the EFI partition! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryptoPhan Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Well that was a silly question from me then... Thanks!Edit:Wait, so is it actually safe to run Parallels or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 You are talking about running the Bootcamp partition in Parallels right? I think it shouldn't be a problem, but not 100% sure. The thing is, Parallels will install driver for itself to give the best performance. But I would assume, that it will just add driver and not remove any of them. Imho it is worth to try. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euqlaog Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 You are talking about running the Bootcamp partition in Parallels right? I think it shouldn't be a problem, but not 100% sure. The thing is, Parallels will install driver for itself to give the best performance. But I would assume, that it will just add driver and not remove any of them. Imho it is worth to try.I haven't tried but seems to be impossible:"Parallels Desktop (v9 and v10) supports only storage devices (Thunderbolt and FireWire), i.e. external hard drives - are supported.Parallels Desktop (v9 and v10) for Mac does not provide support for non-storage FireWire devices, i.e. scanners, printers, video/sound cards, etc. - are not supported."KB Parallels: Firewire device does not work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Of course, my fault. I was thinking he was just talking about using the eGPU+bootcamp partition in Parallels without the eGPU.Thunderbolt eGPU in Parallels will not work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnautovic Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Ok forget everything its an ls (Ls) not Is (is) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stromjogge Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Thanks for this guide! Worked for my MacBook Pro 13“ (Mid 2014) with Akitios and Asus GeForce GTX 660. But how is it possible to replay the original backup of the EFI that was created in Step 2? Which command must be entered in terminal?Sorry for my bad english… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryptoPhan Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Of course, my fault. I was thinking he was just talking about using the eGPU+bootcamp partition in Parallels without the eGPU.Thunderbolt eGPU in Parallels will not work.Sorry, just realised how ambiguous my question was. I meant running the partition itself in parallels, without the eGPU. And if anyone wonders, it works without problems.Thanks for the replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Yeah that was my first guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benchallenger Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Hi I'm curious - I have a thunderbolt portable hd drive - when I plug it in and try to boot the egpu in windows - it seems that the grub cfg file loses site of where to boot the efi as the naming structure of the drives changes (i.e. with no HDD attached the efi is on hd1gpt1 for example, but when it boots with the HDD attached, the efi partition changes to hd2gpt1 and thus the grub loader fails and heads to the prompt..... I have tried changing the grub.cfg file to point to the correct partition but windows starts loading then crashes... any suggestions welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidvu396 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 How do I restore the old EFI with the Backup file? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 How do I restore the old EFI with the Backup file?Just repeat Step 2&3 with the new file names and without making a new backup:If your disk identifier for the EFI is different than what is shown above please edit the below Terminal Commands to suit (Highlighted in RED)2.mkdir /Volumes/efisudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/efi3.hdiutil attach ~/Desktop/EFIBackup.dmgditto -V --norsrc /Volumes/EFIBackup /Volumes/EFIsudo diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s14.Profit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidvu396 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Just repeat Step 2&3 with the new file names and without making a new backup:ditto -V --norsrc /Volumes/EFIBackup /Volumes/EFIWhile attaching EFIBackup.dmg: /dev/disk2 /Volumes/EFI 1I'm getting: ditto: can't get real path for source '/Volumes/EFIBackup' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 can mount the EFIBackup manually? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidvu396 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 how to?Somehow the EFIBackup.dmg file is inside the EFI partition...Everytime I try to boot windows, the GRUB command line comes up and nothing happens.Edit: Nevermind, got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evo* Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 any usb media device connected on boot i believe interferes with the grub boot. detach any connected devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasi88 Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Hi,I was using my egpu completely fine with windows 8.1 and i saw that nvidia has released dx12 drivers for Windows 10 preview edition. so I thought to install the windows 10 using bootcamp. so now I have installed Windows 10 successfully also my egpu was detected and i installed the drivers too. everything looked fine but now when i try to run 3dmark 11 to test performance, my only internal gpu works but not my gtx 980. i knew because it is giving very low fps in the benchmark test. Is any one had any idea please let me know. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eeevan Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Would it be possible to make a version of Optimus.dmg that could be enabled within reFind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiwanjen Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 is the original way to install windows via bootcamp called UEFI? Or I have to do something to make it UEFI installed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 I just used Bootcamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordromanov01 Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 After following these steps my MBP now runs hotter. Task Manager says that 'System' is using up ~12% of CPU usage pretty much constantly, and idle temperatures are about 60-65 degrees where before they were around 40-45. Any idea why this is the case? And is there a way to fix it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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