Let's figure out how to make a DIY eGPU (previously DIY ViDock)

[growbag]

Try a 'full' driver from here http://www.magma.com/support/drivers/index.html that might get rid of error 12
if that doesn't work try a 'standard vga' for 8400

For my WinXP install, I diden't install any video driver for the built in 8400, I just left it as "Standard VGA".

I don't understand the drivers in that link, which one should I grab, and what should it do?

Thanks .

[key001]

FULL_FUNCTION_2_6.exe - This driver installation package is for chassis that support hot-plugging and have an error code 12 issue after boot on a specific platform.

basically if you have error 12 it could fix it

[xxbadboys93]

Wait so you guys are working on something to connect to the laptop screen? If so what and how do you plan on doing it.?
Will the vidock 2 go down in price, i feel that its highy overpriced and should be lowered to at least 200.

[Malumake]

Here a few answers to that question xxbadboy93::

There is a thread (Nando has posted links to it several times) that considers a MXM interface which seems to be extremely difficult due to the many different standards per manufacturer. The other is to create a sort of a KVM (of course only the "V" portion pertains) type connection to the LVDS port. Either would require quite a bit of modification to your chassis/casing.

The other is, it seems a possibility that the AMD RS780M chipset might actually provide a synergistic output with ATI graphics cards to the laptop screen. We are currently waiting for invisibleman (is having detection issues) and myself (waiting for my video card to arrive) to test this possibility.

[xxbadboys93]

Doesnt the fijistsu amilo work with its laptop screen. Malumake, iam not quite getting you with the mxm interface, how owuld that be able to drive the laptop screen, also if you have a mxm gpu wouldnt you need a fan to cool it?

Thanks

[Malumake]

The thread is here. It would just be an interface card with no true processing on board, just a cable feeding out to your external device. As for the Amilo, it looks like it too feeds external monitors only, but supposedly there is a driver that allows it to use the laptop screen (This is what invisibleman and I will have to research if we can't get it to work for us out-of-the-box). The specsheet also states only supports 8x.

To all parties concerned, check out the update at the end of the article here. The laptop itself utilizes the RS780M chipset. The only caveat I see in this is that the Amilo utilizes a proprietary cable (XGP?). So hopefully once I get my graphics card, we'll find out.

@invisibleman-- any updates?

[invisibleman]

Tried the "full function" magma drivers, but the only thing it did was screw up windows startup, prompting it to fix the issue by doing a system restore. I still get the error 12.

My laptop doesn't seem to be able to boot from the usb drive I made using the diyvidock files (used lexar's bootit application to make usb key bootable). I hope to get this fixed soon, as I will be going on vacation so I won't be able to work on this for 2 weeks.


UPDATE - PARTIALLY WORKING

I noticed that BIOS was being displayed, though there was a blank screen with a blinking cursor as Windows started up.

I went from 4gb of ram to 2gb, and I was actually able to get it working for a bit. It looked strange because at desktop the entire screen was being rendered at a grayish dim manner except for my mouse pointer. I went ahead and started up Race Driver GRID, and amazingly got it to work... for 5 minutes. I suddenly lost signal to the monitor and everything just froze. My laptop screen was just a zoomed in view of my desktop in that same dim gray rendering.

Also tried Modern Warfare 2. Results were even worse - upon loading the first level it began to stutter, displayed a few frames, then cut out and froze.

Any thoughts?

[toshiki]

Malumake and invisibleman,

The feature that allows to display externally accelerated graphics on laptop's LCD panel is called "Cross Display".
Cross Display is possible due to CrossFireX functionality of G780M chipset in your laptops which essentially allows to connect both the IGP and external card in CrossFire with IGP being the primary video output card.

Here's a video of it working on W7 x64:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZY8d14n5DA
Pause at 0:28 to see what Catalyst's screen should look like with everything setup correctly.
Following is a video of what should happen when you have "Accelerate Existing Displays" set and plug in your external card:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBdT1Tu6c6Y&feature=fvw

Here's a link to an older XGP driver that supports Cross Display:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M21LDFZS
However, it might be limited to 3 series external mobility video cards only.

Earlier I posted a link to Acer Ferrari One's DynaVivid XGP driver for W7.
Here it is:
http://global-download.acer.com/GDFi...cer&SC=EMEA_27
It supports Acer's DynaVivid XGP box with mobility HD4670 inside. I am not sure if it supports Cross Display(some versions do and some don't), but the only way to find out is to install it instead of your main chipset driver(uninstall the stock driver first).
I would also install the desktop card's driver on top. All of this before plugging in the external card.

Error 12 should not come up with these drivers installed as otherwise it would be coming up with XGP boxes, which it doesn't(at least in theory).
The other problem could be in the fact that the desktop driver is not "tied in" with the XGP driver, so black magic might be in order to get it properly integrated(inf/vbios/did editing and so on).

Good Luck.

[invisibleman]

I don't seem to be able to use any XGP settings from those drivers.

My solution was to use 2gb of ram. I think my problem earlier was a that the hd 3870 wasnt seated properly in the PE4L, as I've been able to get some game working without any crashes. I'll have to go back through the threads more carefully to figure out how i can use 4gb of ram...

I've also noticed that browser use seems to have an adverse effect on USB audio (whereas it normally doesn't), perhaps theres some sharing of bandwidth going on?

[toshiki]

invisibleman,

1. Did error 12 disappear after installing one of the XGP drivers with a desktop driver on top(i.e. do you still have an XGP driver installed)?
If not, what did you have to do(having the card firmly plugged-in wouldn't be the reason for the error to go away)?

2. Are you experiencing USB audio problems with every USB port?

XGP settings aren't available becuase you might have to edit the inf file with your hardware IDs. As i said - don't expect things to work out of the box. On the positive side - all the functionality is there, just need to unlock it.