Setup in progress - MBP 2016 15" - AKiTiO Node Pro - 5700 XT  

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).

1. Install W10 build 18362.30
2. Turned on "notify only" for auto updates of Windows
3. Update to 18362.295 (from here)
4. Downloaded DDU
   1. Safe mode 
   2. Run with all checkboxes for AMD
   3. Run with all checkboxes for Nvidia
   4. Restart
5. Tried to install AMD drivers from the official website - This gave mer error 173, no AMD hardware detected
6. Made a restore point in windows
7. Boot back into macOS
8. EFI
   1. Make a new FAT partition - I didn't have a USB drive
   2. Download the files for automate-eGPU EFI v1.0.5 (from here)
   3. Place into new partition
9. Boot with EFI - I probably had the eGPU connected at this point, not sure if that's good
   1. It said "eGPU not detected" but it seemed normal reading around so I ignored it
10. Check Device Manager for what is there

     

    1. 

    2. Is this a correct state so far? I didn't check what the yellow warning was for to be honest.
11. Downloaded Intel Graphics via "Intel Driver & Support Assistant"
    1. It installed "Intel Graphics - Windows 10 DCH Drivers"
    2. Now the state in Device Manager is like this:

    3. 

12. Try to HOT-PLUG the eGPU and install AMD Drivers again - Same 173 error
13. Download Red Drivers from bootcampdrivers.com
    1. This at least Installs
    2. At this point the screen becomes super small resolution
    3. After the install I go to check the Device Manager again, hoping it will say 5700 XT
    4. I get this:

    5. 

14. Restart - I don't remember if I used EFI boot here or not, or if I removed the eGPU or not...
    1. Device Managers shows me this - I guess I don't have the eGPU connected here?

    2. 

    3. The 455 is the integrated.. or I think it is called discrete GPU in this macbooks case?
15. Boot into macOS
16. Read some guides
17. Following this guide
    1. From step 5 I copied the dsdt.aml file into my FAT partition
    2. I ignored step 6 because I am stupid and thought I was not on Catalina, so I ignored all Catalina mentions
    3. Reboot to EFI - Loading Windows Forever
18. Reboot to macOS
19. Delete the .aml file because I wanted to try something else
20. 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". 

1. Move eGPU to top right port (so far I used top left)
   1. Disable the x16 and x8 PCI ports.
   2. Reboot to EFI - Blue Screen
   3. Reboot to Windows - Blue Screen
   4. Reboot to anything - Blue Screen Blue Screen Blue Screen Blue Screen
   5. Try safe mode - Blue Screen
   6. Try restore point 2 - Blue Screen
   7. 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.
2. 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.