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've had my 2018 i5 mini for a couple of days and it shipped with Mojave. My Core-x with RX570 worked perfectly, then updated to Catalina and now I get black screen on boot with the EGPU attached.
Did a totally clean install and it managed one successful boot with the EGPU Attached before reverting to black screen.
Just thought I'd add my voice.
Maybe Apple will pull their collective fingers out..
The advice still stands: Boot the mini with the eGPU off. Wait ~30 seconds. Turn the eGPU on. You should be looking at the login screen. (mini connected to eGPU connected to the display -- I prefer the DisplayPort over HDMI.)
Depending on your usage, you can go all day if the eGPU doesn't overheat (seems to be a recurring issue here and there's no AMD/aftermarket Mac support -- e.g., no way to control fans on the card or the box.) You may want to try an SMC reset if you can't get past the black screen (pull the plug on the mini, hold the power button in for 15 sec, release and plug the mini in, power on Garth).
I've been having reasonably good luck including restarts without having to power down/up the Core X. Some nights I forget to turn it off after shutting down the mini and it boots fine the next morning <shrug/>.
I've installed windows via bootcamp: not much better there. I get Error 207 when trying to install the AMD drivers. There's some dance involving pulling a file from a previous window's installer and inserting it in the appropriate place in the bowels of the current system ... an exercise for another day.
Just wanted to say thanks to all of those that have chimed in. You have all helped save me the headache. So, still holding off on Catalina until they get this fixed. Here is hoping that 10.15.3 will fix the problem for all of us.
Again, thanks for your inputs.
This is incorrect. He's speaking to a video card that is supported by apple and worked without issue prior to Catalina. This is an extensively documented issue where Catalina breaks a couple of AMD videos cards that are supposed to be supported by apple. OS- Apple, his post is right where it should be. I recommend reading up on the issue prior to commenting in the future (quick google would show endless articles, posts etc). Good luck.
The only successful way of booting up my 2018 13" MBP is to have the eGPU disconnected. Input my password and let it boot to desktop then re-connect the eGPU or it just hangs during the login stage. Pair this with all the bluetooth issues I'm having, not good!
I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand your point in your first two sentences. While your statements may be true, not sure how they relate to the issue at hand. The RX (which I already own) is stated by Apple to be compatible with eGPU chassis' and their operating system. In my case, it is also a recommended card for the eGPU enclosure that I use (Razer Core X). While your third sentence does have some validity in that Apple does not seem to be able to fix their software, I'm not sure what you mean by saying that it "may be time to move away from Apple elsewhere". Are you saying that since they are having problems fixing the Mac OS, I should move away from iPhones and iPads? Just not sure what you mean by 'elsewhere'.
Yup it’s a shame people can’t have a technical discussion without It descending into a useless argument.
I'm pretty people have tested the betas of .3 and so far it’s not fixing the issue.
it’s super annoying as I just went from a 5,1 Mac Pro to the mini/egpu solution as it’s all supposed to be supported in Catalina, where as the 5,1 needed a hack to install it. All be it just one nvram flag.
I am really surprised that none of the main online Mac news sites haven't picked up on the broken eGPU support issue. AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, MacRumors et. al. appear to have completely missed it.
You would think that a problem like this, which affects 100s (1000s?) of users, would be worth a mention?…
Viksna,
I think most of their gushing occurred prior to Catalina. And, in that respect, I agree. I love my machine. I did 'trick mine out myself' with regard to RAM and the eGPU and have really no complaints WITH THE UNDERSTANDING I'M ON MOJAVE!
Sorry for the shouting :-) , just wanted to may sure everyone knew my love for this setup is 'pre-Catalina'. I did see a couple of the sites that were talking about issues with Catalina and eGPUs but they have stayed quiet since then. Those post were my reason for starting this thread (and staying on Mojave for now).
Let's hope this gets fixed soon. However, based on the issues I have with CarPlay which started with the first iOS 13 public beta and still persist today, I'm not too optimistic.
Regards
Jormsby,
You took the right path. My setup was Mojave. Bought the Apple RAM (32G) after upgrading a late 2012 mini back when. My fingers are too clumsy to fit inside the case anymore :P (that mini is running 10.15.2 serving files on my network; only restarts for updates and power failures). Just saying that my experience with mini's has been exceptional to this point. (Desktops starting with a PM9500 thru a G5 were also great; laptops not so much, which is why I've stayed away from all-in-one iMacs.) That's why this issue has 'annoyed' me to distraction.
I've never experienced as much aggravation with a software upgrade. And it's ongoing. What seemed to be working in 10.15 was broken in 10.15.1 and not fixed in 10.15.2. At the moment things are working (but every time I think that, it goes south again) if I do the little power up ritual. When things do go belly up it's not hard to get it working again, but I wonder (after years of scolding w/r forced power down) what kind of damage I'm doing to the filesystem. Reinstalls are relatively painless these days (2 hours more or less) and partitioning the system from user files may turn out to be a good thing. Everything is backed up and time machined to 2 sets of disks. That doesn't help a business that relies on their machines.
So I'll deal with it as it comes. Fingers crossed.
Apple has lost a lot of good will here. I stopped recommending them to windows using friends/colleagues a few years back (not worth learning a new OS). At this point I wouldn't recommend them to new users. Amazon has Intel NUCs that meet the mini's hardware specs (with the exception number of TB3 ports) for literally half what I paid for mine. If I could get past my MS hate, I'd jump.
"Please fix eGPU, Apple!" you ask. Heck, I cannot even unsubscribe from this stupid forum webpage anymore: click "Follow" to "Unfollow" and it keeps me following. :-( eGPU they will fix... learn HTML first!
I have the same problem. It boots sometimes a blank screen.
I'm happy to find that I'm n to the onlyone
My system are:
OS is Catalina v10.15.2.
Mac Mini 2018 i5.
Razer Core X Chroma
Power Color RX5700 XT
It's not just Catalina 10.15.2. The Mojave 10.14.6 Security Update 2019-002 contains the same bad firmware update that is in 10.15.2 and wrecks (some) eGPUs. So if you want to keep your working eGPU, don't install that Mojave update either (I did, and you can't revert).
Workarounds: in MacOS, boot with eGPU disconnected and monitor connected directly via HDMI. At desktop, hot plug eGPU.
In Windows: install rEFInd and the modified apple_set_os discussed at egpu.io. This will allow you to boot into Windows and plug eGPU, but you will still need to disable resources in Device Manager to get around error 12. Another user reported using a USB-C to HDMI converter to boot with display connected directly to Mini, then hot plugging eGPU at Windows desktop, but I haven't tested that approach.
I have a Mac Mini 2018 w/ a Sonnet eGPU 550w and a Vega 56. Periodically on boot I get no video thru the DisplayPort. I’ve tried a PRAM/NVRAM reset, powering off and on the eGPU or monitor, but more often than not I have to manually power off the mini, reboot and just hope it works.
This last time I manually powered off and on the eGPU while it sat there doing nothing and I then got a Apple Logo and a boot.
You are also not going to be able to use Disk Encryption as that apparently can only use the onboard HDMI out and not activate thunderbolt 3 (where the eGPU is). So yes, still some side effects.
Updated to 10.15.3 -
So using displayport cable still doesn't work. If I start up with EGPU connected I get black screen of death. If I startup and wait 30s, I get the logon screen but then freezes after password is entered.
If I startup fully, then turn EGPU on and then change from usb-c to displayport, I get an image of the homesceen but its frozen. If I then attempt to change back to usb-c, it says no cable connected and black screen, so I have to force restart.
I can't even count how many forced restarts I've had to do with this mac mini. Apple officially sucks way more than PC!
A PC would have been cheaper, more upgradeable and I could of used any graphics card I wanted, rather than the limited selection of AMD cards Apple apparently ''SUPPORT".
Are EGPU issues fixed in 10.15.2 Catalina
