...I need help. Big help. (Zbook 17 + Polaris/Ellesmere)

So...I have been working for several weeks on a very significant project. And unfortunately...haven't been having much luck. I decided that I wanted to go AMD on the Zbook 17, and most cards I've tried have worked fine. But...this most recent one...I haven't been able to. And I really...really would like it, if it could work somehow.

To be specific, the laptop in question is a Zbook 17 G3, and the card I'm trying to get to work is a 4GB RX 480/Radeon Pro WX 7100. The problem I have is, simply, the laptop refuses to recognize this card. In Windows, it doesn't see it. When the BIOS is switched to dedicated graphics mode, there's no output at all.

It's exactly the same in a Zbook 17 G1. I've been trying to fix an MSI GT60 to get a different brand to try it with, but unfortunately, that hasn't worked. Can anybody, perhaps, give me some advice or things to consider?

I do have a SPI flasher and have tried several different VBIOS to see if, perhaps, a VBIOS flash could take care of the issue.

As such, I can try other VBIOS, or modded VBIOS, and I've studied Polaris so I know how to pass the signature checks. At this point, I'll try almost anything.

If possible...could I get some assistance from people who are more knowledgeable? Or do I need to downgrade my goals to S7100X?

 

Hi,
Are you absolutely positive the rx480 is working?
Normally it should at least come up in the device manager as STANDARD VGA ADAPTER

 

They normally come up as that, yep. But for this one, oddly enough...it doesn't. And this is considering the fact that I even went as far as to flash several different VBIOS, via hardware flasher, to try to get it to work. The computer has Enduro/MSHybrid support - and I've gotten every single other AMD card I've tried (7970M, M6100, S7100X - Yes, the server blade one) to work with 0 effort.

...I am pretty positive the RX 480 is working to some extent but...it's not working on my system, no. I have evidence though that RX 460 works on this system family, too - so doesn't that mean that RX 480 (since both are Polaris cards, just sister architectures) should work too?

Thank you for the reply and help, I haven't gotten much of it recently.

 

just a dumb question: are you using the laptop with ENDURO/OPTIMUS ON or OFF?
The Rx480 supports ENDURO but does not work with edp panel natively, according to this topic:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ning-on-120hz-edp-3d-display-it-works.828697/
Try to enable ENDURO/MsHybrid (or whatever it's called in HP Zbook) if it's not enabled already and see if a standard VGA adapter comes up in the device manager.

You may also try to flash wx7100 vbios (one should work with edp screen) and disable MSHybrid/ENDURO.
If nothing works, try the card in another laptop (MSI, Clevo, Alienware, Dell) and check if it pops up in device manager... If not, the card is dead.

Good luck!

 

Enduro/MSHybrid turns on automatically. With all my AMD cards, it auto detects it and adjusts the mode. I can tell because each time I put a card in or pull it out, Windows has to reinstall my intel HD driver, to switch the mode - before that, it acts as if the driver is uninstalled.

I tried WX7100 VBIOS and also the RX580 BIOS, and none of them worked. I even manually edited one to include the right straps with Polaris Bios Editor, and it still absolutely refused to show up.

But I have a quick question, please, if that's alright.

When a GPU is actually functioning, like that, on this series of laptops - that is, the HP series, for example, Polaris - will it ALWAYS show up in the panel as long as you can see Windows somehow, even if it's not compatible?

Because as I mentioned, the RX 460 cards have been shown to work on the Zbook 15 G1, I have picture proof. So what I'm mostly wondering is, is it certain that the WX 7100 does, in fact, work on the ZBook series laptops?

If so, I know exactly what the problem is, but I just don't have any proof that they do, in fact, work.

 

I know rx460 works nicely on zbook 15 G1, as I tried one already...
if the GPU is working, it will definitely show in the device manager.
That's why I'm thinking your GPU might have a problem and does not kick in. Is the GPU core cold or warm after you shutdown the laptop?

 

Wow, I never even thought of that. Also, sorry, I literally learned about the RX 460 working and my mind was utterly blown. So I thought that wasn't common knowledge - my bad!

But wow, I never even considered checking the core temperature after. I know, that's super basic, but I never thought to even try it. I'll do that later today. That's a fantastic tip. Thanks a lot.

 

Check this thread about rx560:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-precision-m4800-can-gpu-be-upgraded.792187/page-22

Cold core unfortunately can only tell you mxm port does not see the card but does not give you any clue about what's wrong with it...
It happened to me once on an Alienware 17 R1, I flashed a custom BIOS then the latest official one but for whatever reason it got stuck on Igfx paremeter instead of basic SG (=optimus). MXM cards were not detected at all....
But for you the story seems to be a whole lot different as other cards work...