Anyone else using an eGPU via USB4 that stopped working due to Windows 23H updates?

HeadRusch

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
1,854
I've run a miniPC for about a year and a half or so, working great, does just what I need it to do (like, not be a laptop with an attached 14" Screen).....but since it had USB4 implementation, I took advantage of that by running (occasionally, mostly because I could, not because I ever really needed to do so) an inexpensive eGPU enclosure to turn on my spare 1080 Ti when I 'needed to'. It worked fine, all I ever did was benchmark, I found I was having too much fun tweaking settings and such in games on the AMD chips iGPU instead, dialing Doom Eternal to run at 60fps locked (with graphics settings akin to an xbox 360 but hey, the fun is in the doing!) while setting up other games at a locked 30fps (console style) and then...mostly never playing any of them. The USB4 was a nice to have and the eGPU add-on board was only about $90 bucks shipped.

Problem is, Windows broke it with the 23H update a few months ago...at least that is pretty-much what I am thinking since it's the only thing that has changed in the system. Was working 6 months ago, then turned it on and poof....no longer recognized by windows.

Browsing online Reddit and egpu.IO reveal that the egpu market continues to be awkwardly non-compliant (particulalrly with USB4) and nobody has any real answers, yet all of the suggestions involve regedits and updating firmware using dev tools and so forth.

Now, Life isn't so bad I couldn't just...buy a new eGPU adapter....the one I have is already 4 revisions on from the one I bought last year, this is more informative for me: Did anyone else who may occasionally use an eGPU USB4 dock (or Thunderbolt 3 I suppose) notice a breaking or problems introduced with the upgrade to the 23H builds of Windows 11 mid year?

PS: its not the USB4 cable and it's not the port itself as I can use it as a USB port just fine, although I don't own any other USB4 compliant devices I'm assuming I will get max speed on whatever I plug into it...its just the egpu dock (ADT-Link UT3G V3 in case you were wondering, the newest version is about $100 on sale or $125 not on sale on Aliexpress, more on Amazon) that refuses to show up and be recognized by windows. I plug an SSD into the port, it reads just fine.

Thx.
 
I have a Minisforum 773, that has USB 4, and the Razor egpu box with a 3090. All the current updates to windows. Seems fine.

I have had to refresh the gpu drivers on occasion so they play nice.

Might try a clean install of drivers again. I find the one for the igpu to be quirky.
 
I have a Minisforum 773, that has USB 4, and the Razor egpu box with a 3090. All the current updates to windows. Seems fine.

I have had to refresh the gpu drivers on occasion so they play nice.

Might try a clean install of drivers again. I find the one for the igpu to be quirky.
We're on the same little box then....but your RAZOR is TB3 right, not USB4? That should be way more stable, USB4 still the Wild West....and we're talking about a $100 adapter from China sooooooo....I already tried the drivers for the chip sets from Minisforum...and I of course clean-removed and installed the latest Adrenaline graphics drivers from AMD....I'm really wary of updating the bios to the last one they released in November of 2023, to me it's just not worth the risk of bricking this thing. One of those "Oh well" situations............if I want to game I'd get something with a proper PCI slot or an Occulink, thanks for at least confirming it's not a universal breakdown, glad yours is still up and running. TB3 and a 3090 you're probably leaving a lot on the table, have you considered booting off the SATA 3" SSD interface and using the M.2 as an oculink port with a ribbon cable hanging out the top or bottom, because that would probably be my next move if I really, really had to solve for this. Which I don't, just curious.

Thx for the reply.
 
if your nvidia card is giving you issues, why would you think we meant to reinstall the amd drivers?
 
if your nvidia card is giving you issues, why would you think we meant to reinstall the amd drivers?
Because I knew you were smart enough to realize I can't install Nvidia drivers..... unless it sees the nvidia GPU in the dock :)

No USB dock presence, no GPU seen. Only the iGPU shows up in Device Manager.

Actually on this topic I decided to order-up a 1 foot long certified USB4 cable off the 'zon, who knows...maybe it's as simple as me doing some damage to the USB cable (stock one is generic but about a foot and a half long, this one is shorter and better quality so...if this isn't it, free return on the cable and I shrug and give up). Figure this was my cheapest option of last resort until I have a few too many this weekend and order up a $75 dollar Oculink interface for the M.2 slot, spend all weekend transferring over the install C drive to what will become my 3" SATA SSD boot drive, move steam libraries off and spend countless hours tinkering with it only to find when this adapter arrives from China in a week or two that it works...but.....I still game on that Xbox Series X from the couch.)

But this is what we do, right? We're computer nerds......its why we're here......hopefully new short cable fixes it. (it wont, but what's another $10 bucks).
 
Last edited:
Because I knew you were smart enough to realize I can't install Nvidia drivers..... unless it sees the nvidia GPU in the dock :)
the drivers are still in there right? run ddu to remove it all, disconnect it, reboot and see if it can see it again. or is the dock thing not seen? it that what you mean? you op its a little all over the place...
edit: if it is that the dock or whatever isnt seen, maybe try the chipset drivers?
 
Last edited:
We're on the same little box then....but your RAZOR is TB3 right, not USB4? That should be way more stable, USB4 still the Wild West....and we're talking about a $100 adapter from China sooooooo....I already tried the drivers for the chip sets from Minisforum...and I of course clean-removed and installed the latest Adrenaline graphics drivers from AMD....I'm really wary of updating the bios to the last one they released in November of 2023, to me it's just not worth the risk of bricking this thing. One of those "Oh well" situations............if I want to game I'd get something with a proper PCI slot or an Occulink, thanks for at least confirming it's not a universal breakdown, glad yours is still up and running. TB3 and a 3090 you're probably leaving a lot on the table, have you considered booting off the SATA 3" SSD interface and using the M.2 as an oculink port with a ribbon cable hanging out the top or bottom, because that would probably be my next move if I really, really had to solve for this. Which I don't, just curious.

Thx for the reply.
Yeah I suppose you are right. It's in the USB 4 but TB3 input on the Razor. Honestly I don't use it that often. (DL Linux distros mostly) Like you, I thought it was a novelty and ran some benches. The 3090 doesn't have a home really.
 
the drivers are still in there right? run ddu to remove it all, disconnect it, reboot and see if it can see it again. or is the dock thing not seen? it that what you mean? you op its a little all over the place...
edit: if it is that the dock or whatever isnt seen, maybe try the chipset drivers?
(re-reads his post.....oooph yeah you're right.) My bad, yeah it's the dock that doesn't show up.....so nothing plugged into the dock shows up.

Yesterday I tried to use the USB4 port to a portable monitor using the USB4 cable....didn't work. Used a regular USBC cable to the usb4 port to the portable monitor. Worked.

Did I really just screw up this USB4 cable somehow? Amazon is delivering another cable sometime today...really hoping that's it, but been around long enough to know these kinds of wins don't come along that often ;)
 
Back
Top