Y510p Ultrabay Graphics card

[STYXMHE]

What is Your EC version ?

[Tesla]

EC: 3.05

BIOS: 2.04

 

I also tried with 2.07 and got same results

[STYXMHE]

I have

EC 2.07

BIOS 2.07 

[ManyStrongWords]

Okay, so without any GPU in it you can hear windows 10 boot sound correct? If you let it sit like that for 5-10 min after the sound does the laptop display come up? As that is how it worked for me with the video card and i'm wondering if it would do the same without the GPU.

 

Here are the scenarios that have worked for me:

OS: Windows 10   Boot: Legacy    BIOS: 2.07   EC: 2.07   GPU: RX 480

OS: Windows 10   Boot: Legacy    BIOS: 2.07   EC: 2.07   GPU: 6670

OS: Windows 10   Boot: Legacy    BIOS: 2.04   EC: 3.05   GPU: RX 480

OS: Windows 10   Boot: Legacy    BIOS: 2.04   EC: 3.05   GPU: 6670

OS: Windows 10   Boot: Legacy    BIOS: 2.04   EC: 2.07   GPU: RX 480

OS: Windows 10   Boot: Legacy    BIOS: 2.04   EC: 2.07   GPU: 6670

 

It looks like EC doesn't matter but BIOS must be 2.07 or earlier. I would highly recommend that you make your BIOS and EC match to avoid any issues.

If you don't have any luck with Windows 10 you might try Ubuntu. I haven't tried it myself yet but I know Windows 7 won't work for sure as I have tested it extensively. You could always try to install the drivers for your egpu onto Windows 10 first and then boot with the adapter.

 

@gerald, thank you for this great product. I have been watching for an ultra-bay adapter for years.

Edited July 3, 2016 by ManyStrongWords

[Tesla]

well, if i let it sit, it doesn't seem to boot to windows at all, laptop keeps restarting about every 30 secs.

Do you get at least lenovo logo on your external display?

[Andrew54]

Great work so far. I have same issue, black screen with 30second reboots.  Have flashed BIOS and EC 2.07.  Have uninstalled drivers.  Card is a GTX 780, using 8pin psu cable.

[Heterodyne]

Hi gerald!

 

Will the adaper be available in the future again, because I couldn't buy one the first time around.

[Tesla]

3 hours ago, Andrew54 said:

Great work so far. I have same issue, black screen with 30second reboots.  Have flashed BIOS and EC 2.07.  Have uninstalled drivers.  Card is a GTX 780, using 8pin psu cable.

can you test it with amd gpu? so far nvidia gpus are resulting to 30 sec reboots.

[STYXMHE]

Someone tried to disable gt750m / gt755m and then connect external NVIDIA card?

[Tesla]

i did. it didnt work.

[ManyStrongWords]

So you won't ever see the Lenovo logo on either display (meaning you can never change your BIOS without unplugging the eGPU).

1. Both displays will be black for a few minutes.

 2. You will hear the Windows 10 startup sound but the displays will still be black.

3. After 5 - 10 mins the internal display will show your desktop on Windows 10 but the external display will still be black.

4. You can now download the software to auto-detect drivers from AMD's website. So run it and install drivers.

5. After installing drivers both displays should display your desktop but only the 750m will work in games.

6. Go to device manager and disable the 750m.

7. Your internal display will go black but the external display will now be using your eGPU.

8. Whenever you reboot your 750m will automatically be disabled if your eGPU is plugged in.

*If you boot without the eGPU your 750m will automatically re-enable itself.

**If you switch to a different AMD card all drivers for the old AMD card must be removed or you will never get to Step 3.

This procedure has worked for both AMD 6670 and RX 480. I can see how the 750m drivers could conflict with additional eGPU nvidia cards as the 6670 drivers prevented the internal display from showing the desktop in step 3 when I switched to the RX 480. Even if you could fully remove the drivers for the 750m the presence of the card still being connected to the laptop could screw it up. So it is likely this only works for non-nvidia cards.

Edited July 3, 2016 by ManyStrongWords

[Tesla]

thanks for the info. i tried couple scenarios where i could boot using GT755m. and you're right. the laptop screen will come on just after the startup sound. (i did this by disabling the intel 4600hd and hotplugging the egpu after putting the laptop to sleep). however the laptop never recognized or detected the the egpu connected. i tried to use aida64 but that too didnt read the egpu.

Now my cards im testing with are old. and they might have compatibility issues(such as both of them are non-UEFI compatible).

also there is that 30 sec reboots when u connect everything and try to boot. the bios seems to be blocking the adapter or the nvidia gpu and rebooting the laptop every ~30secs. same thing is happening with styxmhe and andrew54(they are using GTX1070 and GTX780).

my guess on the nvidia gpu is just a wild speculation. nothing sure for now. so dont take my word for it. it could be also hardware issue.

Id appreciate your help if you could grab an nvidia gpu and try to see if that 30 sec reboot is happening.

 

Edited July 3, 2016 by Tesla

[ManyStrongWords]

I don't have access to a nvidia gpu as I have always bought AMD for its superior price/performance around the $100-300 price range (the y510p is my one exception). Maybe @gerald has a nvidia gpu that he would be willing to test.

[STYXMHE]

I also tried hotplugging the egpu and install the drivers but it does not detect the egpu

[ManyStrongWords]

@STYXMHE @Tesla I also tried hotplugging and pre-installing the drivers with Windows 7 back before I knew Windows 10 was the solution. It didn't work me either.

Edited July 3, 2016 by ManyStrongWords

[ManyStrongWords]

@Tesla Can you test your Legacy cards with a Legacy installation of Windows 10 instead of UEFI since they are old cards like you mentioned?

Edit: Or maybe you already did that when you tried legacy Windows 10 on an external hard drive earlier.

Edited July 3, 2016 by ManyStrongWords

[Tesla]

yep i already did.

tmw ill borrow an xfx 4850 from a friend. will see how it goes.

[Andrew54]

I don't have an AMD card to test on at the moment unfortunately 

[gerald]

I have found an old Nvidia GPU and tested it. It seems that Nvidia GPUs does not work with this adapter. This can be an issue in the BIOS or in the windows driver. I will do further investigation on this topic...

Currently only AMD GPUs does work. 

 

[Tesla]

hey Gerald, thanks for taking time to test it out, I've done some extensive research on why nvidia cards wont work. and I've came to realize that bios is blocking them.

so in bios 2.07 and 2.04 the bios will just block nvidia gpus(they probably designed it that way so ppl dont plug other ultrabay cards) .

 

well, in bios v3.05/3.08, they have extended that blacklist to include anything connected to the ultrabay slot including amd cards where it will give you "unauthorized slave vga..." message.

 

In both cases, upon prompting the user with "unauthorized slave vga ..." the laptop will reboot itself every 30-60 secs(havent measured it but its about 30-60).

 

so in order to get nvidia card working, we need a bios modder who can whitelist the pcie under bios v2.07/2.04.

Or as I've read on some chinese website, if you flash v1.05, there is a good chance to get it working, since someone used that version to connect 755m ultrabay to a 750m laptop.

unfortunately, v1.05 is nowhere to be found

Edited July 4, 2016 by Tesla

[cajuil]

Hey @gerald

 

I've noticed you couldn't fund your project and that's sad, I know many would have wanted to buy this adapter. 

 

Is there any way you could still sell these? I'm interested.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[STYXMHE]

If anyone tried nVidia egpu with this upgrade for BIOS ?

[gerald]

Does your boot-USB start also with the adapter and the GPU plugged?

 

[gerald]

One idea for new BIOS with message "unauthorized slave vga ...". The BIOS read this information over the SM-Bus.

You can try to isolate the SMBus with a sticky tape. Pin 5,6 (SMxxx) should be isolated between GPU and PCIe connector.

 

[STYXMHE]

Has anyone tried isolated SMBus?