Hello, I hope a "work in progress" is allowed here. I have not yet been able to get it working after 2 days of attempts. So I figured I could make a thread as in progress to ask questions and maybe get some help.
Specs:
- Macbook Pro late 2016 15"
- Catalina 10.15.5
- AKiTiO Node Pro (500W PSU)
- AMD Radeon ROG STRIX RX 5700 XT O8G (link)
I just nuked my Boot Camp partition since Windows stopped booting. Here is roughly what I did in my first round. I roughly followed this guide. But tried to fill in some blanks myself. These steps are specifically in the order I did it (I took notes).
- Install W10 build 18362.30
- Turned on "notify only" for auto updates of Windows
- Update to 18362.295 (from here)
- Downloaded DDU
- Safe mode
- Run with all checkboxes for AMD
- Run with all checkboxes for Nvidia
- Restart
- Tried to install AMD drivers from the official website - This gave mer error 173, no AMD hardware detected
- Made a restore point in windows
- Boot back into macOS
- EFI
- Make a new FAT partition - I didn't have a USB drive
- Download the files for automate-eGPU EFI v1.0.5 (from here)
- Place into new partition
- Boot with EFI - I probably had the eGPU connected at this point, not sure if that's good
- It said "eGPU not detected" but it seemed normal reading around so I ignored it
- Check Device Manager for what is there
-
- Is this a correct state so far? I didn't check what the yellow warning was for to be honest.
-
- Downloaded Intel Graphics via "Intel Driver & Support Assistant"
- It installed "Intel Graphics - Windows 10 DCH Drivers"
- Now the state in Device Manager is like this:
-
- Try to HOT-PLUG the eGPU and install AMD Drivers again - Same 173 error
- Download Red Drivers from bootcampdrivers.com
- This at least Installs
- At this point the screen becomes super small resolution
- After the install I go to check the Device Manager again, hoping it will say 5700 XT
- I get this:
-
- Restart - I don't remember if I used EFI boot here or not, or if I removed the eGPU or not...
- Device Managers shows me this - I guess I don't have the eGPU connected here?
-
- The 455 is the integrated.. or I think it is called discrete GPU in this macbooks case?
- Boot into macOS
- Read some guides
- Following this guide
- From step 5 I copied the dsdt.aml file into my FAT partition
- I ignored step 6 because I am stupid and thought I was not on Catalina, so I ignored all Catalina mentions
- Reboot to EFI - Loading Windows Forever
- Reboot to macOS
- Delete the .aml file because I wanted to try something else
- I JUST notice at this point that error 12 was actually a little notice inside the device manager on the device itself. I had googled for error 12 quite a lot withoout being able too see how to identify it. So seeing as error 12 was at least some kinda "right track" and widely documented I was at least a bit optimistic at this point.
Now is the steps I took where I had to nuke my install. So reading around I figure that the top left port is where I should be using the TB3 cable. But then I read more on the setup guide and in step 3 for the 15" it says "External GPU works reliably using the right-side ports that connect to the PCI Express x4 Controller – 1909".
- Move eGPU to top right port (so far I used top left)
- Disable the x16 and x8 PCI ports.
- Reboot to EFI - Blue Screen
- Reboot to Windows - Blue Screen
- Reboot to anything - Blue Screen Blue Screen Blue Screen Blue Screen
- Try safe mode - Blue Screen
- Try restore point 2 - Blue Screen
- Try restore point 1 - NOPE error was something like "windows needs to have system protection turned on". I could see the point, just unable to select it.
- So at this point I deleted the W10 partition, the little FAT partition and started to re install.
At the writing time of this post I have re partitioned the HDD and installed Windows 10 and will start over. When I installed it the device manager already shows me that I have "AMD Radeon Pro 455". I am not sure if it did this before, and the reason I saw the generic name earlier was because of DDU?
Not sure exactly what I will be doing differently, but I think something like this:
- Run DDU
- Keep using left side of ports
- Find error 12 asap
- Generate the DSDT file for my specific laptop
- Try some timing-plug ins
Some questions
- How exactly do I know when it all works - is it when 5700 XT shows up properly in the device manager?
- When no eGPU is connected - I am supposed to see only one entry under Display Adapters?
- When eGPU is connected - I am supposed to see two entries, one for dGPU and one for eGPU?
- When I hot plug the device - I see PCI entries coming and going, but nothing under Display Adapters changes (ill verify this..) - Is that correct?
- MacBook pro 2016 15" - Should I use top left port?
- Anything I specifically missed or did wrong on the steps above?
I'll post updates in this thread with things I try, what works and what doesn't.
I also saw that error 12 can be solved by using the insider fast version of windows just now so maybe I should try that one?.
Another question, since I use the 2016 model I don’t have the “large allocation” like later models. The specific solution to this is:
- to use the EFI boot plainly?
- EFI boot WITH DSDL file for my MacBook inside?
- .. and other, more intrusive, system file patches
- .. or something else
thanks again
Alright so I guess I am quite lucky, because I got it working on my second try. Not even have to deal with disabling thunderbolt ports or anything like that so far.
I actually recorded the whole thing, so I might go through it to see the exact steps I made, edit a little bit and upload it at some point. Because I believe I am the only one with this !exact! setup (node pro and 5700XT).
I've had one crash so far, I plugged in a mouse on the left side of the device. Apparently that was not fine.