Mac mini 2018 Kernel Panics and Boot Loops When Connected to eGPU Running AMD Radeon Pro W5700

Question

Mac mini 2018 Kernel Panics and Boot Loops When Connected to eGPU Running AMD Radeon Pro W5700

Mac: Macmini8,1 (Core i7-8700B, 64GB RAM, 500GB SSD)

macOS Sonoma 14.5

eGPU Enclosure: OWC AKiTiO Node Titan

Graphics Card: AMD Radeon Pro W5700

I bought an external GPU enclosure and a refurbished Radeon Pro W5700 for my Mac mini.

Unfortunately, something about the GPU causes my Mac to kernel panic and get stuck in a boot loop until the eGPU is powered off or disconnected; afterward, the Mac resumes normal operation.

Here's the crash report that comes up once the Mac mini reboots from that.

Crash Report

The Node Titan's instructions say to boot the Mac first, turn on the eGPU, then connect the two together using a Thunderbolt 3 cable.

The eGPU case isn't faulty since I bought it new, and my ASRock RX 5600 XT worked when I tested it.

There's no point in using the RX 5600 XT outside my primary desktop though, because my Mac mini setup is meant to use a USB-C Astropad Luna Display module so I can use my iPad Pro as a display.

The RX 5600 XT does not have a USB-C port, and while it does have an HDMI port, the HDMI Luna module I also have does not work in macOS.

I tested the W5700 by installing it to another Mac, and it caused exactly the same kernel panic behavior.

However, the GPU cannot possibly be defective even though it's refurbished, because when I installed it to my Windows desktop, its AMD graphics drivers recognized the GPU just fine.

A friend says that older Macs have distinct Mac-specific GPUs that have slightly different physical configurations and VBIOS loaded; do I need to check if the W5700 VBIOS needs re-flashed?

My Mac mini is from 2018, and the GPU is from 2019, so they're really not all that old.

I'm certain that the W5700 is Mac-compatible because the 2019 Mac Pro had an option to ship with the Radeon Pro W5700X, which I'm aware is a different card, but should be similar enough architecturally to my W5700 that it shouldn't really matter, right?

I've also seen YouTube videos of other Mac users running the W5700 on a MacBook Pro with an eGPU, although it shows up as a Navi10; for them, it worked out of the box.

If their W5700 worked for their MacBook Pro, then it should also work for my Mac mini.

https://youtu.be/XOCBAhmuoQg

Thanks in advance for any help.

Until next time, stay foxy!

Foxy Gekkerson

Mac mini, macOS 14.5

Posted on Jul 5, 2024 11:51 PM

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Answer 1

TheLittles

Level 10

194,976 points

Jul 5, 2024 11:59 PM in response to Foxy_Gekkerson

Foxy_Gekkerson Said:

"Mac mini 2018 Kernel Panics and Boot Loops When Connected to eGPU Running AMD Radeon Pro W5700: I tested the W5700 by installing it to another Mac, and it caused exactly the same kernel panic behavior.[...]"

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Troubleshooting a Mac in a Boot Loop:

Seems to be a Kernel Error. So, refer to the following...

A. Reset your SMC and your NVRAM:

(Applies to Intel-Basel Macs Only) Sometimes changes (i.e. Installations) are made to the system and then settings (i.e. Networking) become corrupted, technically. So, reset both on your Mac. So, reset the SMC and reset the NVRAM or PRAM. It might take three tries. to fix this. So, be certain you have the time to do so.

Start With This:

B. Re-Mount the Drive:

Boot into Recovery Mode (Intel or Silicon) . You need to click the “Mount’ button to proceed. So, select the drives, and then click "Mount" Try rebooting once more. If of no success, then click unmount button, and then the mount button. Try rebooting once more. It looks dulled-out. So, if you cannot click it, then click the First Aid button to fix this volume.

and...

C. Install, or Restore to Access it:

If it is telling you kennel error,, then it is likely due to a corrupt update. So, either(A.) backup your Mac > erase the drive in Recovery Mode (Intel or Silicon) > install Catalina > Move a content using Migration Assistant. Or, (B.) just restore your Mac from a backup you created prior to this update. Didn't make a backup? If so, take this as a learning experience, knowing to always back up your Mac prior to making any major changes to it(such as an update. That way you can have something to restore your Mac from, should anything go wrong with the update.

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Answer 2

Jul 8, 2024 3:22 PM in response to Foxy_Gekkerson

Since the macOS Big Sur partition still kernel panicked with the W5700, I decided to remove that partition from my Mac mini and try a fresh installation of macOS Sonoma from Recovery Mode. If nothing else, it got rid of the last remnants of the Windows 10 Bootcamp partition I tried installing. Even after all that, the W5700 is still causing kernel panics.

In a way, I’ve given up (I’ll explain why toward the end of this post.)

Not long before I ordered the Radeon Pro W5700, I actually ordered a second Radeon RX 5600 XT, which is what I’ve been using in my primary desktop. That second GPU just came in today, so I put it in my eGPU enclosure and ran some tests.

With the Luna Display module plugged into the Mac and without the eGPU connected, Blender won’t even run the Cycles render engine, and dragging the viewpoint gizmo around to rotate the model will stutter. With the RX 5600 XT in the eGPU and the Luna module still in the Mac, Cycles will actually run, and the 3D viewport rotates and zooms much more smoothly.

It turns out that even though the RX 5600 XT doesn’t have a USB-C port, my Luna Display module doesn’t need it.

This whole time, I was under the impression that I needed to connect the Luna module directly to the GPU to get full use out of it; even Astropad support said as much. The W5700 having a USB-C port was why I got it in the first place.

It’s not quite the solution I was expecting or hoping for, but because the W5700 still works in Windows, I’m just going to use it in my Windows desktop and use the other GPU in the Mac.

I’d still love to figure out how to get that W5700 to work in macOS, but that’s not really so high a priority anymore. If you have anything else you’d like to add to this thread, please don’t hesitate to post it.

Thanks again to everyone who shared their insights in this thread; you’ve all sincerely been a great help.

Until next time, stay foxy!

Foxy Gekkerson

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

81,208 points

Jul 6, 2024 7:19 AM in response to Foxy_Gekkerson

There is a short list of supported eGPU and GPU configurations for Mac's.

for that short list, see > Use an eGPU with your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 4

Jul 7, 2024 9:46 AM in response to padams35

I created a partition on my Mac mini drive and installed macOS Big Sur 11.17.10, and it’s still kernel panicking the same way Sonoma does.

If I let it power cycle enough times, I get a notice on a GPU-disconnected reboot that says:

”Panic Medic Boot

A third-party kernel extension was preventing the machine from successfully booting. All third-party kernel extensions have been disabled. You will be prompted to reenable them in the Security & Privacy System Preferences pane as they are used.”

I also tried booting a few times into the Big Sur Partition using Verbose Mode. Interestingly, each time I did, it froze at a different point. Even stranger is that it’s not boot looping while in Verbose Mode; it only freezes at a seemingly random point. All the same, I hope we can glean some information from it.

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Answer 5

Jul 17, 2024 5:35 PM in response to Foxy_Gekkerson

I thought I'd try the Radeon Pro W5700 in the Mac mini again, this time booting into Safe Mode to see what happens. It still doesn't work, but it fails in a different way.

After booting into Safe Mode (with an HDMI cable in the Mac,) turning the eGPU enclosure on will place the eGPU icon on the menu bar, the screen will flash black for a brief moment, then the eGPU icon disappears from the menu bar shortly after, all without a kernel panic.

I had to repeatedly press Command+R to get these screenshots from System Information, but macOS does recognize the W5700, if only for a brief moment. The menu bar eGPU icon never displays anything other than a grayed-out "No removable GPU" before disappearing.

Booting back into standard mode, all the same things above happen, except with a kernel panic. There's also one additional line in System Information's Graphics/Displays tab when macOS recognizes the W5700 before the kernel panic, which shows up after Revision ID.

Metal Support: Metal 3

Below: System Information recognizes that an eGPU is inserted, but doesn't see exactly what card it is.Below: System Information briefly recognizes that the W5700 is there.Below: System Information on the Akitio Node Titan, the eGPU enclosure I'm using in the Mac mini.

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Answer 6

Jul 6, 2024 2:01 PM in response to TheLittles

Unfortunately, resetting the NVRAM/PRAM and SMC did not fix the issue.

The Newegg listing from where I bought my GPU says the manufacturer was HP for some reason.

It was the only ostensibly Mac-compatible GPU I could find on Newegg with a USB-C port.

https://www.newegg.com/p/27N-0018-00198?Item=9SIBT5SK8U0104

TechPowerUp's GPU database shows the Radeon Pro W5700 has three separate vendors: AMD, Dell, and HP.

Each has their own distinct subsystem IDs.

I'm guessing this means that my GPU in particular was designed as an OEM part to a line of HP workstations.

AMD W5700: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/216287/amd-radeonprow5700-8192-191107

Dell W5700: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/255539/dell-radeonprow5700-8192-200113-1

HP W5700: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/235761/hp-radeonprow5700-8192-201005

Does that mean that my GPU is, for the lack of a better term, region-locked; that even though the AMD W5700 is shown to be Mac-compatible, the version specifically used in HP and Dell workstations aren't?

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Answer 7

padams35

Level 4

3,445 points

Jul 6, 2024 9:07 PM in response to Foxy_Gekkerson

Mac specific vbios are/were only a thing for 2012 and older Macs. You don’t need to worry about that for egpu use.

I’ve never heard about drivers caring about subsystem ID, but on rare occasions a vender will do something special that requires a proprietary driver not available on MacOS.

Are both of your crashing Macs running Sonoma? It may be worth creating a bootable external test drive with an older version of MacOS to see if the kernel panic is a Sonoma specific driver bug. (The YouTube video is 4 years old). The last major driver update was in Monterey which added Navi23 support. Maybe test if the W5700 works correctly in Big Sur?

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Answer 8