I have been holding off on upgrading to Catalina because of the issues I have seen posted regarding booting with an EGPU connected. I have a 2018 Mac mini with a Razer Core X EGPU box containing an RX580.
I was wondering if the latest update to Catalina (10.15.2) fixes these issues.
Mac mini 2018 or later
Kappy wrote:
Whatever changes are in 10.15.2 are listed here: What has changed in Catalina 10.15.2?.
If you want to ask about specific problems with your eGPU, then please state them. You are not using an Apple product, so you should direct your questions to the manufacturer. Razer does not make Apple compatible hardware, and may not be aware there are problems.
Nope, no specific problems with my eGPU at the moment. I would have stated so if I did have some. I'm trying to prevent them from occurring by not installing Catalina until those problems posted on the web have been fixed.
Some examples:
https://www.cultofmac.com/658768/macos-catalina-egpu-issues/
https://www.imore.com/macos-catalina-causing-problems-external-gpus
And, actually, Razer does make Mac compatible products. Regarding my eGPU chassis, the Core X, this is what Razer says:
"Does the Razer Core X work with a Mac?
Yes, they are compatible with Thunderbolt 3 Macs running macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or later and requires a compatible AMD graphics card."
However, you are correct that they may not 'know' that problems have cropped up since Catalina.
And, from Apples support article https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544
"AMD Radeon RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580, and Radeon Pro WX 7100
These graphics cards are based on the AMD Polaris architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the Sapphire Pulse series and the AMD WX series.
Recommended Thunderbolt 3 chassis for these graphics cards:
So, per Apple the RX 580 combined with the Razer Core X should be compatible with the Mac. And it has been up to the release of Catalina.
Please read Writing an effective Apple Support Communities question. We are here to help. We are all users. We are not mind-readers nor clairvoyants. We only know what you write down and tell us. Be specific and thorough. Include your hardware information and installed version of macOS.
I could have been more clear in my question. Instead of "I was wondering if the latest update to Catalina (10.15.2) fixes these issues." I should have asked: "Did the 10.15.2 update fix the problem with some Macs not being able to boot when connected to an eGPU using an RX580 and running Catalina." I assumed anyone that either was having this problem or had read about it would understand what I was talking about. My bad. I hope this post provides you sufficient information so that you don't have to be clairvoyant.
FYI: These are user-only forums. You are not speaking to Apple. if you need to speak with Apple Support, then contact product and tech support: Contacting Apple for support and service including international calling numbers.
Yep, 100% aware of this. I wanted to crowd source the answer. Figured that there are a lot more 'users' than 'Apple Support' out there that might either have experienced this problem or run across an article where someone said it was fixed. Especially since I have not seen an 'official' admission from Apple that the problem exists. There may be one, but I have not run across it.
I have the same problem (same as Slackjaw565, I have Vega64 on Razer X). With 10.5.2 update it literally ruined all my experience on MacMini 2018. Before I could nicely see the boot screen via external GPU. Now it is just black and nothing happens.
Seems when Mac is booting, it needs display connected to internal HDMI. So when you boot together Mac and eGPU, but something is connected to the internal HDMI, then black screen doesn't occur. This only the case when nothing is connected to the internal HDMI. So I hope developers, who successfully ruined our great experience are reading this and probably will use this information to bugfix this horrid update. Apple, we are looking for 10.5.3!
Being developer myself, I am very disappointed with such quality of release. :-(
I have the same configuration (Mac Mini 2018 6-core, Razer Core X with a Vega 56) and can confirm that resetting the PRAM also solved the problem for me. The functionality is now the same as in 10.15.1, where there is only black screen until the login, but that screen appears in the normal amount of time. Thank you for the fix!
I wish resetting the PRAM was all there was to it. This was the first thing I did: with the eGPU, with a TB3-DisplayPort beteween the Mac Mini and monitor, with a HDMI link to the monitor…. Lots of PRAM resetting.
Still get "black-screen-of-death" when I try to boot with the monitor only connected to the eGPU =/
OTOH, the TB3-DisplayPort and HDMI direct links work well. Unfortunately the in-built graphics in the Mac mini is quite underpowered. So I really need a powerful GPU for scrolling/ editing large (200 megapixel) images.
Rainy day experiments with 10.15.2 and an eGPU...
At the moment I'm running off my RX Vega 64 in a Razer Core X. We'll see how long it lasts. To get here I set scaling to default for display and unchecked 'Displays have separate Spaces' in Mission Control. Attached my Dell display to my mini via HDMI and to my Core X via DisplayPort (Core X to mini via Thunderbolt 3). Set the display to HDMI via the display control buttons. Started the mini and then the Core X. Things got a bit wack here when switching back and forth between the HDMI and DP inputs using the display controls. Menu bar only available on one 'display', apps running on one 'display' or the other depending on whether 'prefer eGPU' was checked in their get info windoid. Eventually gave up and pulled the HDMI cable leaving me with only the DP hookup. 20 minutes in, things are still functioning.
My disjointed thoughts are that this issue has at least something to do with how Catalina handles 'desktops' and 'spaces'. My freezes seemed to be occurring when an app winds up running in both the Mac 'space' and the eGPU 'space'. An example is Firefox (prefer eGPU checked) beach balling after some random period of time; force quitting it from the Apple Menu and not being able to relaunch it because 'application is already running' error. Activity monitor doesn't show it, but 'ps' in terminal showed it still running. Couldn't 'kill' it from terminal. Reboot worked, but only for a limited time. Activity monitor seems to play some part in the freezes also (beach balling), but I don't know if it's directly involved or trying to monitor some process that's hung.
... So I'll give it something to do besides FF and Safari. I'll try Unigine Heaven benchmark. If that doesn't kill it, I'll try Civ VI. Fingers crossed.
Seems to be stable. Heaven benchmarked at 44fps at 4K. Not awesome, but better than the builtin graphics.
Shut down and powered back up with only the Core X connected to the display via DisplayPort and ... black screen. Waited a minute or so and then plugged the HDMI cable back in and switch the display to use the HDMI port. There was the login screen. Unplugged the HDMI cable and switched the display to the DisplayPort port and everything was still working.
So... It appears that you need two monitors (speculation since I only have the one) or one monitor capable of supporting two connections. I couldn't get this to work using the monitor connected to the mini until login and switching the cable to the Core X though I've seen others stating this works.
My setup is mini -> display via HDMI
mini -> Core X via Thunderbolt 3 -> display via DisplayPort
Switch the display to HDMI input and power on the mini and Core X. Wait for the login screen. Login and pull the HDMI cable. Switch the display to DisplayPort input. And shake your head that something the should 'just work' requires so many hoops to jump through. And cause so much aggravation. OH ... and still haven't tried scaled video (text is tiny). But my nerves are shot. <shrug/>
EGPU support has been an absolute joke!
Apple are insanely slow at giving support for newer Radeon cards, and you can only use Radeon cards. Catalina 10.15.1 seemed to sort out most of the problems but 10.15.2 has just brought them back.
I cannot start up with the EGPU connected, so I start up with EGPU turned off and with the mac mini connected directly to screen via usb-c, then I turn on the EGPU and connect via displayport and...................
Oh wait no, still doesn't work!
The mac recognises the right card, the home screen is on, BUT I see no mouse cursor, keyboard functions don't do anything, nightmare! Apparently HDMI should work so I will try that but displayport doesn't work.
I am a photography geek and wanted to maximise lightroom performance so, given apple said they added support for EGPUs over a year ago, I spent a lot of money on the following:
Mac mini 2018 - 3,2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7 with 2TB Flash Storage - 2449€
Add 64GB OWC RAM - 487.96€
Apple mouse + keyboard - 180€
Razer Chroma X + Radeon RX5700XT - 900€
BenQ SW271 - 1110.94€
Mac mini speaker is beyond useless so added speakers - 125€
TOTAL - 5253€ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I did this because I thought I would have had an editing monster but, for the price, I should have just bought the imac pro and been done with it. I have a 2011 imac that has worked perfectly since day 1. In 2015 I changed the HDD drives for Samsung SSD and it has not only worked perfectly, but been incredibly fast. The only thing that was slow was lightroom. I have had 10 times more issues with the mac mini + EGPU in 3 months, than I had with the imac in 9 years! I am so ****** because Im stuck with my choice, I cant send the screen, egpu etc back!
If you want an editing station, go with imac or imac pro, DO NOT go the EGPU route. At least wait many more months until apple has sorted out all these issues.
I will also say that because Apple has removed support for 32bit apps, there are still a ton that don't work in Catalina. Notably the Palette Master app which is used by Benq for calibrating their screens (there is no workaround, it just doesn't work), and the HP easy scan which works with my printer/scanner (there is a workaround but its pain in the ***). So for me, this very expensive investment has been an unmitigated disaster. Thanks Apple!
Well that lasted about a day and a half.
Day One: Stable 8+ hours through shutdowns and restarts.
Day Two: Stable 4 hours then black screen[1] while switching apps[2]. Forced power off. Started up and functioning 'properly' for approximately 2 hours and then again black screen when switching apps. Forced power off. eGPU not recognized on power on.
Day Three thru ... eGPU not recognized.
[1] black screen was interesting in that it disabled the function buttons on the Dell display: could not switch to HDMI; could not even shutdown the display (display on light indicating it was 'on').
[2] the apps were Civ VI running in windowed and full screen mode. Quit the app and returned to the desktop. Launched Apple Mail and within 30 seconds had the black screen.
It's not a heat issue or it would have crashed during Civ (I'll stick with displays/spaces or scaling). Something (cache, kext, log file, whatever) is corrupted over time and eventually renders the eGPU unrecognizable. The only solution to get it back seems to be a reinstall. Not much point in that if it only lasts a day or two.
If you purchased at an Apple Store take it back. Demand a replacement or your money. The machine is defective (as are all mini's + eGPU at this point in time). Until Apple sees enough of these showing up at their stores they are unlikely to do much of anything. These are the VWs of Apple's desktop lineup. They're more interest in selling Porches.
Your instructions let me boot to the login screen. Mail and Firefox behaved. Walked away and approximately 5min. later: black screen. My screen saver is set to start at 5min. so I've disabled it ('never'); also, display sleep ('never'). We'll see how this goes. Not happy about running my display constantly but will use the display power button to shut it off for now.
To get the eGPU to show up I had to do an SMC reset prior to attempting your boot procedure.
Have an AMD RX5700 on order if this fails to stick for more than a day.
There is some interesting discussion going on about the Catalina/ eGPU problems at:
https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/
One of the posters makes a reasonable suggestion that running an OS update with the TB3 eGPU connected to the monitor (which is what I and many others did) messes things up.
So have switched off the eGPU and reconnected the monitor with a HDMI cable, rebooted in recovery mode (CMD-R) and am reinstalling macOS Catalina - takes me @ 1hr due to 3rd World internet speeds in Australia.
Will see if this finally fixes the eGPU dead-black-screen-after-boot problem.
@aznemeng I've done the reinstalls: both 10.15.1 and 10.15.2 multiple times (lost count at 3 per version). With everything disconnected but the display (via HDMI). None of them 'took' for more than a day. Didn't want to rain on your parade, as there seem to be so many different results posted by different people that I thought maybe you'd get lucky.
I tried the mini -> eGPU -> display but waited 30 seconds after powering on the mini before turning on the eGPU with screensaver and screen sleep off. Login screen on eGPU power up. Black screen 5 min. later. Running Apple mail, Firefox and Apple Music (the system wasn't idle). Locked up the display (couldn't turn it off). Turned off the UPS and killed everything connected.
Reconnected the mini -> display via HDMI. And installed Windows 10 via bootcamp. I haven't used windows in 10+ years and that was window NT. (Never owned a windows system; forced to use them at work over the years.) Spent hours trying to remember/discover how things work on the other side. It recognized the eGPU but couldn't get Unigine benchmark to run: DLL ****.
Thankfully the 5700 XT showed up. Plugged that into the Core X and am running with it now. Unigine Heaven benchmarks at a hair under 50fps at 4K. Fingers crossed that it is still working tomorrow.
I have to retract my claim of "fixed" here, and add a caution.
The fix lasted about a day like most others. I had my Mini set to scheduled start up just before before I normally get to work. The day it broke again, I happened to be running about 1/2 hour behind schedule. Arrived to find the black screen, with the Mini and the GPU running full throttle and COOKING. The Mini was so hot to the touch I was concerned it would be damaged. That turned out to not be the case, but I turned off the auto-scheduled startup right away.
Second day with the 5700 XT and only two black screens:
First one occurred about an hour in and basically the mini shutdown. The monitor reported no input, but could be switched off. Noticed that the mini's LED was off. Tapped the power button, short wait then the login screen. Everything appeared normal but I rebooted just to be safe. I'd set the screen to turn off after 1 hour in Energy Saver. Coincidence? Whatever, I set it to 'Never'. Screensaver is still set for 5 min.
Second occurrence was a crash while running Civ VI. It has an option to use OpenGL or Metal: I'd selected Metal for grins. I suspect that was the issue, though the 5700 XT is supposed to be Metal capable. The Core X fan was 'twitching' which is more than it's done since installing the 5700 XT.
This is worth noting: the 5700 XT is silent and running cool when compared to the RX Vega 64, which always had it's fans as well as the Core X fan running. And still ran on the hot side of warm. 5700 XT Benchmarks better. No brainer. Anyone want to buy a slightly used Vega 64?
The other 'fingers crossed' news is that it boots with the eGPU on. No 30 second wait necessary. This is really too good to be true and I'm waiting for the shoe to drop.
This sounds good.
Unfortunately my reinstall macOS 10.15.2 yesterday didn't fix the problem for my set up (Mac Mini/ ASUS XG-Station-Pro/ RX 5700)
Looks like I'll have to wait until the 10.15.3 update ships. At least I'm wiser now and know to do the update with the HDMI connected and the eGPU off =/
I have the same issue. It boots to a blank screen, sometimes a white screen.
My OS is Catalina v10.15.2.
My machine is a Mac Mini 2018 i5. The eGPU I'm running is a Razer Core X Chroma with an Asus RX 580 graphics card.
I have resorted to plugging an HDMI cable for the meantime to make the login screen show up.
Hopefully these issues get fixed in later patches. Really annoying.
Are EGPU issues fixed in 10.15.2 Catalina
