DIY eGPU experiences

[Bujholm]

well, I guess I will join the chorus of frustrated..
Just got my DIY ViDock, and can' t find a way to make it work one way or another, so need your help! Basically, becak you are right saying that it' s far from obvious. I guessed some options but most of that stuff and the sequence of actions is a complete mystery to a newbie like me, and I have been around computers for a long time.
Anyway, here is my setup:
HP DV6-2162, i3, 4GB RAM, Win7/32, external card Nvidia GTX295

Boot with DIY ViDock on - does not boot
Plain boot, plugging DIY ViDock after "Starting Windows" appears - boots, but shows in Device manager with a "Code 43" message.
Plain boot, sleep, plug in DIY ViDock - laptop crashes on resume. Namely, I press the power button, the lights go on then off. Unplug DIY ViDock, press power button again - computer starts as if it were shut down.

Next, installed DIY ViDock setup in a RAM disk. Copied the devcon config into its /config folder.
Now, when I select ViDock setup at boot menu, switch on DIY ViDock when asked - sometimes it hangs at " Gathering system details" . OK, I turn it off, turn off laptop, turn on laptop, select DIY ViDock setup, turn on device, wait for a minute. Sometimes it works.

When it does, ViDock setup detects the card, original status:
pci_alloc_valid: yes
pci_written: no
free@d8000000 (128MB)
vid_0=8086:0046 (Intel)
vid_2=10de:05e0 (NVidia)

p1@x1 14e4:4357@x1
p2@x1 10ec:8136@x1
p5@x1 10de:05e0@x1

PCI compaction - bridges method comes back to the same 128MB of free space.
32-bit method has more sucess - 256MB. "free@d0000000 (256MB)"
36-bit method comes back with "free@c0000000 (512MB)"

Chainloading after compaction (DIY Vidock still runs) sees Win7 startup, but the Device Manager shows error Code 12 against PCI-e port 5..

And then the tambour dances begin. Tried installing latest Nvidia driver, with option "wipe out previous config" - installs, but the card is still marked as Code 10 in Device Manager. Tried disabling other PCI-e ports - no luck. Tried 32-bit compaction, 36-bit - same effect. Sometimes the system won't start at all, I even managed to see a BSOD a couple of times

In short, I have no idea what I am doing, and can only guess from the 270+ pages in this thread. Or am I missing a manual everybody else knows about? Is there a list of what needs to be done, why, and how?

[masterjumong2012]

@becak

I have not yet tried to make a R-W dump but want to do so now... your instruction says this differ per card. How do I know what command to use? I have a GTX 460 which is (10de0e22)

UPDATE:

I tried both

save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0600000 0x2000
save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0500000 0x2000

Neither of them worked. Before the load, both cards show up in nvflash, but the external card shows "unconfigured device, device is not accesible". After loading either dumps, the external card simply disappears and only shows my internal Nvidia. It also disappears from the right side of the menu (in black box area). According to masterjumong2012, nvflash show show both as configured after the dump load. How do I find the right memory to store?

on my experience if you load the wrong dump the card will disappear on the port(what i did was experimented to use the GTX 470 dump then the card disappeared)

if you have already have a dump the i suggest you do this first

1. boot into windows
2. go to DiYVidock folder (C:\DiYVidock)
3. load the DIYViDock-Setup-10e8.img
4. delete the "10de0e22.bin" if present on the virtual drive "usually @ V:\DIYVDK_IMG\CONFIG"

after that power on and plug your DiYVidock and make sure it is getting detected or else this method will not work!(to verify go to Device Manager>Display Adapters)

it should display (GTX 460 with Code 43 or Standard VGA Adapter with Code 10)

once you verify the card is detected, download the RW-Everything v1.4.7(the latest version is BROKEN! v1.4.8.5)
RW - Read & Write

then make sure you do the RW-Everything properly

Spoiler :

after that restart your computer and boot into DiYSetup and select #2 menu based
make sure DiYVidock is plugged and poweron and is getting detected

go to video card and select load dump, in my case there are 3 choices "none, vid_0 and vid_2"
(you will know which on is your onboard or external graphics card by looking at the top right corner windows where the memory, ports, etc is displayed)

in my case vid_2 says nvidia so i choose vid_2

now go to nvflash to verify if the card is getting detected, if successful it should not show
(unconfigured device, device is not accesible
no nvidia video card is detected)

after that go back to menu and select PCI CONFIG SPACE and select RUN COMPACTION. you would need to press enter several times and after that it will bring back you to the menu

don't unplug or poweroff your vidock

select Chanload W7(NOT CHAINLOADER!) and select your operating system(Windows 7)

[masterjumong2012]

well, I guess I will join the chorus of frustrated..
Just got my DIY ViDock, and can' t find a way to make it work one way or another, so need your help! Basically, becak you are right saying that it' s far from obvious. I guessed some options but most of that stuff and the sequence of actions is a complete mystery to a newbie like me, and I have been around computers for a long time.
Anyway, here is my setup:
HP DV6-2162, i3, 4GB RAM, Win7/32, external card Nvidia GTX295

Boot with DIY ViDock on - does not boot
Plain boot, plugging DIY ViDock after "Starting Windows" appears - boots, but shows in Device manager with a "Code 43" message.
Plain boot, sleep, plug in DIY ViDock - laptop crashes on resume. Namely, I press the power button, the lights go on then off. Unplug DIY ViDock, press power button again - computer starts as if it were shut down.

Next, installed DIY ViDock setup in a RAM disk. Copied the devcon config into its /config folder.
Now, when I select ViDock setup at boot menu, switch on DIY ViDock when asked - sometimes it hangs at " Gathering system details" . OK, I turn it off, turn off laptop, turn on laptop, select DIY ViDock setup, turn on device, wait for a minute. Sometimes it works.

When it does, ViDock setup detects the card, original status:
pci_alloc_valid: yes
pci_written: no
free@d8000000 (128MB)
vid_0=8086:0046 (Intel)
vid_2=10de:05e0 (NVidia)

p1@x1 14e4:4357@x1
p2@x1 10ec:8136@x1
p5@x1 10de:05e0@x1

PCI compaction - bridges method comes back to the same 128MB of free space.
32-bit method has more sucess - 256MB. "free@d0000000 (256MB)"
36-bit method comes back with "free@c0000000 (512MB)"

Chainloading after compaction (DIY Vidock still runs) sees Win7 startup, but the Device Manager shows error Code 12 against PCI-e port 5..

And then the tambour dances begin. Tried installing latest Nvidia driver, with option "wipe out previous config" - installs, but the card is still marked as Code 10 in Device Manager. Tried disabling other PCI-e ports - no luck. Tried 32-bit compaction, 36-bit - same effect. Sometimes the system won't start at all, I even managed to see a BSOD a couple of times

In short, I have no idea what I am doing, and can only guess from the 270+ pages in this thread. Or am I missing a manual everybody else knows about? Is there a list of what needs to be done, why, and how?

did you try to let your computer boot with the ViDock plugged long enough?
on my experience i thought it would not POST cause it will just show HDD but now screen and will reboot

what i did was let it boot and i observered that at first 2 attempts of the computer to boot it would not display any screen and at the third attempt it will just boot fine

my advice to you is to save a dump using RW-Everything 1.4.7 then load that into vidock and run compaction then chainload w7 and select your os (don't power off or unplug your ViDock!)

[becak]

Quote:
@becak

I have not yet tried to make a R-W dump but want to do so now... your instruction says this differ per card. How do I know what command to use? I have a GTX 460 which is (10de0e22)

UPDATE:

I tried both

save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0600000 0x2000
save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0500000 0x2000

Neither of them worked. Before the load, both cards show up in nvflash, but the external card shows "unconfigured device, device is not accesible". After loading either dumps, the external card simply disappears and only shows my internal Nvidia. It also disappears from the right side of the menu (in black box area). According to masterjumong2012, nvflash show show both as configured after the dump load. How do I find the right memory to store?

@blueiko

I also experience card disappearing after I load the dump, that was when i am still using the R-w ver 1.4.8.5 but after using ver 1.4.7 I manage to successfully load the dump.

On my case after loading the dump, i immediately do PCI compaction then check NVflash which is not according to instruction.
I didnt do any devcon config file.

In your case you seems to have a dedicated graphic card in your laptop, mine doesn't I only have the Intel IGP 4500. so you might have to disable the dedicated graphic card then do compaction.
I am not really well known abt the setup with dedicated graphic card, the other user with similar config as me, Apollo-fox has a discrete graphic (ATI HD3450) and he can make it work.

[acer47ok]

Hey, I would really like to add another usb port to my vidock setup. Is it possible I can convert the floppy connector off the atx psu into a usb?

[Bujholm]

@masterjumong2012
thanks for the suggestion!
Unfortunately, my card is not a GTX460 but a GTX295, ID 10de:05e0
So - no luck. I performed the dump as described for 10de0e22 but it was not recognized of course. The script then asked whether I would like to try the GTX470 dump - I said let's, it went ok but - no result, when I chainload back to 7, the card gets recognized, Windows tries to install drivers and fails (whether it's code 10 or 12 can't remember).
When I try to perform the dump and save it under proper name 10de:05e0.bin - the dump is not even loaded, throws an error.
Apparently I need to find out which memory block on my card is required. Does anybody know? How can I find out? What's in this block anyway?

[masterjumong2012]

@masterjumong2012
thanks for the suggestion!
Unfortunately, my card is not a GTX460 but a GTX295, ID 10de:05e0
So - no luck. I performed the dump as described for 10de0e22 but it was not recognized of course. The script then asked whether I would like to try the GTX470 dump - I said let's, it went ok but - no result, when I chainload back to 7, the card gets recognized, Windows tries to install drivers and fails (whether it's code 10 or 12 can't remember).
When I try to perform the dump and save it under proper name 10de:05e0.bin - the dump is not even loaded, throws an error.
Apparently I need to find out which memory block on my card is required. Does anybody know? How can I find out? What's in this block anyway?

im very sorry. that is all the stuff i know as of now



btw i recently returned my Logisys 575w to newegg and decided to replace it with OCZ StealthXstream II OCZ500SXS2 500W

i am also planning to get this monitor ViewSonic VX2250wm-LED Black 21.5" 5ms Full HD LED


i need some advice before i do anything

as some of you may already know, i have PE4H EC2C and PM3N

my computer(Acer Extensa 5620z-4801) can have 2 free PCI-E Slots(EXPRESSCARD and MPCI-E)

currently if i remove my mpci-e, i can use PORT 2(MPCI-E) and PORT 3(EXPRESSCARD)

i tried to go on the DiYSetup and select X2 on odd port and what happened is the PORT 2 Disappeared and PORT 1 is set to X2(i didn't tried with my Vidock plugged on cause i don't have power supply yet)


what i am thinking right now is if it is possible to use my PM3N and EC2C at the same time to achieve X2 speeds by linking PORT 2 and PORT 3

i am thinking of using a USB Wireless Adapter and get this Rosewill RNX-EasyN1 IEEE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wireless-N 4.0 Dongle (1T1R) Up to 150Mbps for my network connection

i don't have any second mini hdmi cable and i am looking at this DealExtreme: $5.61 Gold Plated 1080P HDMI Mini V1.3 M-M Connection Cable - Black (1.5M-Length)


according to everest, my PORT 1 is Gigabit Ethernet Controller. i don't plan to use that thing

if i set to X2 mode, is there any side effects that i am not aware of?

[acer47ok]

Well I tried to mod my vidock so I could have another usb input. But I think it turned out bad and I fried my player which I used to test. Luckily my usb input still works on the pe4l board. It doesn't detect the mouse anymore which is weird, but I can put another mp3 player in it and it charges it so it means its still good. And in the device manager the mouse says it cannot start...

Please help. So the other mp3 player works on the pe4l usb. My mouse does not work on the pe4l USB I get a this device cannot start code 10 error. The mouse works on any of the usb ports on my laptop.

Problem is temperarily solved....I have 2 of the same mouses and just switched them and they both work now....must have to do with registry.

[HITRC]

Becak

To get the memory location go into Setup 1.x menu> Video Card + > !Save dump (Win) + > [Choose the video card, you can see which one you want on the right hand side of Setup 1.x]

It provides the instructions for R-W Everything in step 5

[Bujholm]

Becak

To get the memory location go into Setup 1.x menu> Video Card + > !Save dump (Win) + > [Choose the video card, you can see which one you want on the right hand side of Setup 1.x]

It provides the instructions for R-W Everything in step 5

That was me. Thanks for the tip! I did, and found the right memory address for my card.

Unfortunately it did not help much. I am stuck around Code 10 or Code 43. With an occasional BSOD http://forum.notebookreview.com/imag...lies/smile.gif

@all
Here are the steps (the 10de05e0.bin is already saved in \config):
Boot
Select DIY ViDock setup
Select menu mode
start the ViDock itself, wait 10-15 seconds then hit [Enter] - otherwise it hangs
Once it is up, load dump, compact PCI, then chainload into my w7.
Different compact methods:
[Bridges] gives no result,
[32bit] brings w7 to BSOD on chainloaded boot.
[36bit] actually works - the system returns with 512 Mb free, then chainload works. Upon boot, Windows7 finds the card and install the drivers (if it were unconfigured/cleaned out before). But - plain WDDM driver shows Code 43. Nvidia drivers - I tried the latest 266.58 and also an older 258.something. To the same effect. Code 43, sometimes Code 10..

Once again, need ideas!