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10.15.1 update renders eGPU nonfunctional

My 2018 Mac mini (3.2GHz i7; 32GB RAM) connected to a Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 64 in a Razer Core X chassis via thunderbolt 3 which is connected to a Dell U2718Q display via DisplayPort was working without issue prior to the 10.15.1 update. It's been rendered mostly nonfunctional.

Problems manifested first in a reboot during sleep: I would wake mini to a login screen, not the desktop. This was annoying, but not a showstopper. After several occurrences I went looking for a cause and possible fix. This led me to a post here on the Apple boards where an 'expert' suggested an SMC reset. That worked a treat: boot to a black screen. After several hours of cable and hair pulling I managed to boot to a login screen using an HDMI cable connecting the mini to the Dell directly. Changed every system preference I could think of to never sleep the monitor/disks/mini; not that I thought this affected the root cause of the problem, but at least it might keep me from ending up facing a black screen. Turned on the screen saver for good measure.

Booted with only the eGPU (mini > eGPU > Dell) connected and was able to login. Watched the mini long enough to see the screen saver start and left it in that state. Came back 10 min. later to find a black screen and unresponsive Mac.

Thank you Apple for another crap update ... but I do appreciate the 70 new emoji.

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 10, 2019 3:32 AM

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2 replies

Nov 11, 2019 11:36 AM in response to Michael Viksna

Well that lasted about 6 hours. Apple, your software QC is worthless. If I didn't have 3 decades invested in your ecosystem you'd be history. I stopped recommending you to Windows users about 6 years ago. You've now reached the point where I won't recommend you even to new non-PC users. I've nuked this system and reinstalled twice in the last 24hours and can't get it to recognize my eGUP beyond one shutdown. Oh, and it freezes and crashes forcing said shutdown.

The system is a 2018 Mac mini 3.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7 with 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD. The eGPU is a Sapphire RX Vega 64 in a Razer Core X enclosure. It's in your list of supported hardware (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544). It was working prior to 10.15.1 (and still works occasionally for short periods between freezes and reboots and plug in/out voodoo).

Nov 10, 2019 6:25 AM in response to Michael Viksna

I did a network (re)install of Catalina. More unplugging/replugging required for the mini to recognize the GPU (it saw the Core X but not the card).

Still running via HDMI direct connection to mini, but the Vega 64 is showing up in activity monitor. I'll wait a bit to see what happens when/if the mini goes to sleep before trying to actually use the external GPU.

Dock doesn't seem to work when positioned on the right side of the screen.

And to think for the better part of the last three decades I laughed at Windows users reinstalling their OS. Thanks for teaching me humility Apple.

10.15.1 update renders eGPU nonfunctional