here ◄ workaround #2: How to Enable Hot plug for PCI-E port using hidden settings in BIOS by xRay
here ◄ workaround #1: loading driver 368.81, then loading 378.81 but not “clean” install by IgorGIV
UPDATE #1: This problem is specific to the GTX10xx series. GTX9xx and older cards are reportedly not be affected.
Worst are GTX1050 and some new GTX1060 cards that are not supported on the 372.70 downgrade workaround driver solution.
The Problem
NVidia’s driver 372.90 and newer is checking if the eGPU hosting port/bridge locked hotplug bit is enabled. If not, the driver fails to initialize with error 43. Below we show how you can check if your mPCIe/NGFF.M2 interface is affected, look at AMD option and suggest the best eGPU interface to invest in.
Those affected are have these two workaround solutions:
1. revert back to 372.70 and (for the time being) , bypass driver version checking in games like BF1.
2. remove all current NVidia drivers, load 368.81 then do a 378.57 (not ‘clean’) install. Details as provided by @IgorGIV here
How to check if the candidate eGPU port is hotplug enabled?
Example below: a Dell E6540 (that I’m currently using). I find the wifi card to identify the mPCIe port that could host an eGPU. Then I click the hosting PCIe bridge to check if hotplugging support is enabled.
Can I enable the hotplug bit?
Not (usually). The PCIe port hotplug bits are read and write-once (R/WO), so we can’t change them after the BIOS has set them as shown from Intel’s datasheet extract below. I’ve also confirmed these are write-once by attempting PCI writes to the register and seeing it doesn’t change. You either need a factory/hacked BIOS with hotplug enabling settings or identify of UEFI variables that can be altered using a special grub2 bootloader.
Can’t I just use an AMD card instead?
Yes, but AMD has no NVIdia Optimus internal LCD acceleration and I found it’s DX11/DX10 performance to be inferior over a narrow x1 interface. The poor features and performance makes you wonder why bother? I’d be inclined to build a desktop PC instead.
What eGPU interface should I invest in instead?
Thunderbolt 3. The US$268 AKiTiO Node making this a somewhat financially viable interface. See https://egpu.io/external-gpu-buyers-guide-2017/#tb3-enclosures
What if TB3 is too expensive? I live in a poor country.
Look for older expresscard 2.0 systems. The BIOS should set that port as hotplug enabled as is defined by PCI SIG to be a hotpluggable interface. See details about them at https://egpu.io/forums/pc-setup/expresscard-2-0-egpu-interface-pros-cons-and-a-candidate-notebook-list/
Otherwise you can still go with mPCIe/NGFF.M2, but be aware that future games will need new driver capabilities. Likely you’ve got about 1-2 years of current gaming use then.
I wonder if the check is intentional, or is that something added inadvertently. I think the latter is more likely, since nVidia does not gain much (if anything, they might lose sales) from blocking such eGPU use.
As for Expresscard, I know that some of the later Lenovos still have Expresscard slots (often occupied by the removable card reader). The T540 should have this port, for example, and it is just one generation back on the Lenovo product list.
Finally, a good laptop alternative for eGPU use is the Lenovo T430s. The i7 version (without an nVidia GPU, and only that model, so be careful when you look for them – All the other models have a mini-DisplayPort instead of the Thunderbolt port) has a Thunderbolt chip and it is (very) easy to get eGPU working on that laptop. Couple that with a DIY setup based on the ThunderTek/PX (140$) and you can have a nice setup for quite cheap. I picked up a T430s for 136$ on ebay to replace my dead NUC, which is an absolute steal for a lightweight, Thunderbolt-capable, 2.9Ghz i7-3520M based laptop with 8GB of RAM.
"Dire Wolf" - HP ZBook 15 G2: Core i7-4810MQ, 16GB DDR3 1600Mhz, K2100M dGPU, R9 Fury eGPU (AKiTiO Thunder2 over TB2), HP Z27q (5K) + Dell P2715Q (4K).
"Stormcrow" - Lenovo T430s: Core i7-3520M, 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz, GTX1050Ti eGPU (AKiTiO Thunder2 over TB1), Sony 4K TV.
“Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.” - Robert A. Heinlein, "Time Enough for Love"
@survfate what laptop you have?
Also, anyone have idea to workaround about this hot plug?
The hot plug bit is write-once. Has to be done by the BIOS. So would need a BIOS setting, modded bios or UEFI variable to set that bit.
It would serve NVidias interests to ceasing mPCIe/NGFF.M2 eGPUs from an RMA POV. The hosting hacky eGPU adapters leaving the video card exposed to environmental and user damage. Damaged cards cost NVidia replacement costs.
Worth noting too the latest GTX1050 starts at driver 375.63. So no official 372.70 driver downgrade workaround solution for that series.
Polish user juliano reports that y580 running on driver 376.09. Meybe it is 372.90 is broken? Can someone test other drivers?
Did Juliano check if his eGPU hosting PCIe port has hotplugging disabled as shown in the first post? If it’s enabled then there will be no issues with 372.90 or newer.
I looked into this, it seems that user posted a screenshot and hotplug is not enabled in bios for Y580
Same as for the Y480 model
A youtuber advised you can uninstall using DDU, reinstall old driver and then upgrade and it works well.
May just be for the lenovo models though?
I looked into this, it seems that user posted a screenshot and hotplug is not enabled in bios for Y580
Same as for the Y480 model
A youtuber advised you can uninstall using DDU, reinstall old driver and then upgrade and it works well.
May just be for the lenovo models though?
Did the Y480/Y580 users have problems specifically with 372.90? That’s when the problems started. @hwfreak reports a couple of screens up a Polish Y580 user running 376.09 without problem. A reddit NGFF.M2 NUC user also posting working screenshots with 376.09 + Win8.1.
Here is screen from Lenovo Y580 with i7-3630QM, dGPU GTX660M and Windows 8.1 Pro. eGPU GTX 1060 6GB
eGPU works on 372.90 and 376.19 drivers :/
Maybe Windows 10 is screwed?
HWFreak has advise in offline correspondence that he’ll be testing across different machines and OS to try to isolate this issue further. Reports suggesting Lenovo Y510P/Y480/Y580 are immune to this error 43 problem.
I was thinking the same as hwfreak. Only success stories I’ve seen were not on w10
Here is screen from Lenovo Y580 with i7-3630QM, dGPU GTX660M and Windows 8.1 Pro. eGPU GTX 1060 6GB
eGPU works on 372.90 and 376.19 drivers :/
Maybe Windows 10 is screwed?
Hey man what is the Windows 10 build version you using in this test?
I have the lenovo y40-70 w/ beast v8 NGFF and i am gonna receive my cable in the mail in a few days. I’ll test latest drivers w/ gtx 660 on windows 10
Lenovo y40-70
intel core i7 4510, 8gb, AMD R9 M275X
I got an egpu because my radeon card died in a tragic death of a pop and a crackle. Memory killed itself hard. .2gb effective? ill check my bios again for hotplugging tho not sure if it can its the basic lenovo, shitty, bios.
I have an eGPU setup with a T460p Thinkpad and a GTX 560 and 1060. The NGFF.M2 slot I use is not hotplug enabled. However, the GTX 560 works perfectly fine with the new 376.33 driver, but the GTX 1060 gives error 43 with the same driver, and thus requires a rollback to 372.70 to work. Can anyone with a larger Nvidia graphics card collection find out where between the 560 and the 1060 cards drivers past 372.70 start to cause problems?
@Third_Avenue, GTX9xx and earlier are being reported as unaffected by 372.90+ hotplug issue, eg: https://egpu.io/forums/pc-setup/i-got-gtx-1050-ti-to-work-with-372-70-sort-of/paged/2/#post-845
So GTX10xx + 372.90+ is the error 43 combo.
I have an eGPU setup with a T460p Thinkpad and a GTX 560 and 1060. The NGFF.M2 slot I use is not hotplug enabled. However, the GTX 560 works perfectly fine with the new 376.33 driver, but the GTX 1060 gives error 43 with the same driver, and thus requires a rollback to 372.70 to work. Can anyone with a larger Nvidia graphics card collection find out where between the 560 and the 1060 cards drivers past 372.70 start to cause problems?
Its just 10-series cards that have problems. 376.33 is working fine with my 960.
Try installing 375.63 without uninstalling 372.70.
@Plastixx, I just tried this, gave me an error 43. Ah well.
@nando4, you mentioned in the original post that AMD cards do less than Nvidia when using a single lane. How much worse is it? I might end up returning my 1060 and buying an rx 480 if I (or anyone else) can’t find a long-term solution to this driver issue.
I’d advise getting a GTX9xx series instead of an AMD card. They’ve been reported as not having this error 43 issue with newer drivers. NVidia outperforming AMD on x1 links AND offering Optimus to accelerate the internal LCD if have an active Intel HD iGPU. Compelling reasons to stick with NVidia on narrow x1 links.
@Plastixx, I just tried this, gave me an error 43. Ah well.
@nando4, you mentioned in the original post that AMD cards do less than Nvidia when using a single lane. How much worse is it? I might end up returning my 1060 and buying an rx 480 if I (or anyone else) can’t find a long-term solution to this driver issue.
hi,
i have a thinkpad x220 and i am using pe4c v3.0 expresscard with gtx1060.
372.70 working fine with internal LCD over optimus, but newer drivers gives error43.
notebook has modded bios and i activated hotplug enable option on all pci port.
so, i am not sure whether this problem is related with hotplug issue…
TL;DR: For Expresscard like in my HP 8760W, NVIDIA Driver Version 375.70 is the latest version that will allow an NVIDIA 10xx series eGPU to run without error 43. Reason: Undetermined
I’m having a similar issue and I found a way to get 372.90 (or newer) working. I’m also using a GTX1060 (6GB Mini from ZOTAC) I’m going to keep trying newer and newer ones and I’ll keep updating here, but here’s what I did:
- Use display driver uninstaller to delete all NVIDIA related video drivers, restart
- Install 372.90 (or newer) using NVIDIA installer, restart
- eGPU should work without Error 43 on boot, if not, try step 4
- Device Manager > Display Adapters and find a device that’s called Standard VGA or similar, right click and “Update Driver” > “Browse” > “Let Me Pick” > “Have Disk” > “Browse” and browse to wherever you extracted the NVIDIA drivers (for me C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\372.90\Win8_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver\nv_desktop_ref4i.inf), Open > OK > Choose your card’s name (should be only one) and click next. It should install, your screen should go blank for a bit and then the eGPU should kick on.
Versions Tested (* denotes verified working, ! denotes error 43 result): 372.70*, 372,90*, 373.06*, 375.63*, 375.70*, 375.95!, 376.09!
- Can confirm gtx 1070 pe4c v3.0 via express card on a Thinkpad W530 i7-3740qm with Intel 4000 and the Nvidia Quadro K2000m works but only with the rollback 372.70 driver. I will look around for the hotplug option or listing in the bios and online. I’ll also try to move up drivers one by one to see what happens. I would be up for possibly a hacked/modded bios to get around this issue if possible.
- Can confirm gtx 1070 pe4c v3.0 via express card on a Thinkpad W530 i7-3740qm with Intel 4000 and the Nvidia Quadro K2000m works but only with the rollback 372.70 driver. I will look around for the hotplug option or listing in the bios and online. I’ll also try to move up drivers one by one to see what happens. I would be up for possibly a hacked/modded bios to get around this issue if possible.
James, the expresscard interface is specced as being hotpluggable. Did you check whether your eGPU hosting PCIe port (expresscard) is already hotplug enabled like shown on the opening post? Two posts up, @Velitacast managed to use 375.70 on his expresscard equipped HP 8760W.
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