Level 1

21 points

White screen with EGPU only connected

I'm using a Radeon RX580 epug with my 2018 mac mini. If I try to boot with Catalina with only the egpu connected I just get white screen on boot. However if I boot with a combination of a monitor attached to the hdmi port and the egpu connected to other monitors, then the mac will boot correctly. It's very strange because the egpu works, but not without a hdmi display connected to the mini. Has anyone else had this bug and any suggestions? For now I'll just keep a hdmi display attached.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 8:01 AM

Top-ranking reply

selected9

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Oct 9, 2019 11:08 PM

This is a known and repeatedly reported issue which was sadly overlooked during the Catalina Betas by the Apple team. The issue is dubbed "white screen of death"

The problem mostly affects the 2018 Mac Mini running Catalina connected to a AMD Radeon RX570 or RX580 based eGPU.

The symptom is mostly a blank white screen (sometimes black or magenta) upon boot and excessive GPU heat which causes the GPU fans to spin to full speed after a while.

You have to do the following to live with the issue:

When the white screen appears, turn off your eGPU for 5 seconds and then turn back on. The login screen should appear normally.
Turn off "Start up automatically after a power failure" under Settings/Energy Saver
Turn off "Install macOS updates" under Settings/Software Update/Advanced...

The last two actions are needed to prevent your Mac to boot to a white screen unattended causing your eGPU to overheat for extended periods of time (this might cause further hardware related problems).

See these discussions for more information:

https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/state-of-egpu-for-macs-catalina-10-15-update

https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/macos-catalina-tidbits-egpu-updates/paged/2/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/catalina-egpu.2193797/page-4?post=27853347#post-27853347

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-2018-hot-egpu-fan-full-throttle-after-upgrading.2204860/

https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/dex36o/egfx_breakaway_box_550_amd_580_catalina_troubles/

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151 replies

Apr 16, 2020 11:59 PM in response to Yockster

It’s only the RX5x0 cards as far as I am aware for example I have a rx580

Oct 8, 2019 5:51 PM in response to rsmith4321

Same problem with me too. RX580 + eGFX Breakaway Box 550 on 2018 Mac Mini. I have to power cycle the eGPU box then I see the logon screen. I know at least a dozen other people with the exact same problem. Seems to be 570's and 580's that are having these issues.

Oct 11, 2019 3:44 AM in response to Maxxuless

One guy at egpu.io tried to revert to Mojave but he now has a black screen of death problem upon boot.

The issue seems to be related to a Mac Mini 2018 firmware update which runs during Catalina upgrade. This firmware update enables boot screen during boot (this is why you see the Apple logo during boot instead of just a blank screen as it was the case before), but somehow interacts badly when the Operating System's Radeon Polaris drivers (which supports the RX560/570/580 cards) fires up. The problem is not eniterly universal as there are Polaris based products which work fine.

Since the system firmware remains updated even if you revert to Mojave, you might still encounter problems.

For more info about the firmware update and the newly added eGPU boot screen support, see this discussion:

https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/mac-mini-2018-egpu-boot-screen-support

rsmith4321 Author

Level 1

21 points

Oct 11, 2019 12:48 PM in response to selected9

I've found at least for my needs the easiest workaround is to just leave a monitor plugged into the hdmi port at boot. If you use multiple displays this is an easy solution. This seems to bypass the issue because the Mac uses this display to show the boot logo instead of the egpu.

rsmith4321 Author

Level 1

21 points

Oct 11, 2019 12:52 PM in response to Yockster

Let me know I don't normally use beta's on my work machine but if it fixed this problem I will try it. I always tell myself I'm going to wait a few months before installing a new os then I always stupidly do it right away.

Oct 21, 2019 5:32 PM in response to rsmith4321

I also have a 2018 mini with the Sonnet Breakaway Box RX580. When I get the all white screen at login, I unplug the egpu from the mini - wait 5 seconds - plug it back in to the mini and all is fine. Still a pain, but no need to have anything plugged in by HDMI this way.

Oct 30, 2019 12:32 PM in response to Yockster

I have Sonnet 550 with RX480. With my monitor plugged into the Sonnet and the Sonnet plugged into the Mac Mini 2018, the system will not even boot. The Apple logo comes up then the screen turns black and that is it...DOA.

Both of these products were listed on Apple's approved use list on their website . Now I have a $700 investment (not counting the Mac Mini) that is worthless. Catalina broke this real good. I am sure that they can fix it with an update...question is...do they care enough to do so?

I don't believe there is an elegant retreat to Mojave. If there is, someone should share it here.

Nov 1, 2019 9:13 AM in response to kitcheg

I started having the same issue in Mojave after the latest security update.... I reinstalled the OS (version before the update) and everything I back to normal. 2018 Mac mini i7, Akitio Node EGPU, RX580 with three Dell U3014s...

Nov 1, 2019 3:02 PM in response to rsmith4321

Sonnet just sent me this... No help at all. We already knew this. Sonnet seems to be as clueless about this as we are.

“Hello,

Here is our latest information about using the Mac mini with Catalina and an eGPU.

Under macOS 10.15 and 10.15.1, a 2018 Mac mini with a Vega 56, Vega 64, WX 8200, WX 9100, Radeon 5700, or Radeon 5700 XT can boot with a monitor connected only to the GPU card; a 2018 Mac mini with an RX 560/570/580/590 must be booted with a monitor connected to the Mac mini’s HDMI port. The monitor may be moved to the GPU after booting.

Let us know if this helps.”

Nov 19, 2019 12:59 PM in response to richarddcrossley

Catalina broke most if not all of the previously supported eGPU boxes. Reverting to Mojave is not an option for most of us but it is most interesting to hear that Apple has now broke that as well. I have taken my video card (RX 480) out of my Sonnet 550 and returned to it my Windows machine. What a pity...bad on Apple.

tb1001

Level 1

4 points

Nov 20, 2019 5:20 PM in response to rsmith4321

2018 Mac Mini i7 with a Radeon RX580 8GB using eGFX Breakaway Box with 550W Power Supply. It was working great until I upgraded....to Catalina which now gives me a white screen on boot. If I unplug it during the white screen and plug it back it, then it goes normal. I cant boot the computer with the Breakaway Box plugged in or I just get the white screen. Is Apple not going to do anything about this?

Oct 11, 2019 11:13 AM in response to rsmith4321

I have the problem with Sonnet and rx580

Yockster

Level 1

82 points

Oct 11, 2019 12:51 PM in response to Yockster

eGPU

New Features

Support has been added for the AMD Navi RDNA architecture. For more information see Use an external graphics processor with your Mac.

rsmith4321 Author

Level 1

21 points

Oct 18, 2019 9:43 AM in response to Maxxuless

I can confirm that the issue is still not fixed in 10.15.1 beta 2.

Yockster

Level 1

82 points

Oct 18, 2019 10:25 AM in response to rsmith4321

Confirmed. But now I am getting just a black screen of death. Is this happening on the veg 56or Vega 64 cards?

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White screen with EGPU only connected