Even if you can't help, this ought to be an interesting read (maybe even educational to anyone considering getting a ViDock or other eGPU).
Alright, here goes:
Got myself a ViDock, monitor, and GT 640.
Initially setting up my system went almost perfectly. I hooked everything up, turned on my laptop, and then (while my laptop was on) plugged the PCIe express card from the ViDock into my laptop. The graphics card began to spin, the blue ViDock light came on, and drivers of some kind immediately began to install. After these drivers (whatever they were) finished installing, I then went to nVidia's webpage and downloaded the drivers for my GT 640. About 10 seconds before the drivers for my GT 640 finished downloading, my laptop screen goes blank (except for my background wallpaper) and my external monitor begins to display my desktop. Voila! The external monitor and ViDock were immediately recognized by my laptop. I scrolled across my screen, ran Google Chrome, and searched the web to make sure that I had done everything right. Everything I've seen online suggests that ViDock setup is often very complicated. I couldn't believe my luck. Everything had gone fine. I had done everything right.
Then, as I was reading a page on tomshardware about ViDock setup (I still couldn't believe everything had gone so smoothly), my monitor went blank, the Vidock light went off, and my graphics card turned off. Only a second later, everything turned back on, my monitor flashed for a second, and my desktop was restored. At the bottom right of my desktop, a notification appeared saying that "nVidia GT 640 has stopped responding and successfully recovered." I suddenly became very suspicious. I searched google quickly trying to see if this had happened to other people. While I was searching, it happened again: everything turned off, turned back on a second later, and then the notification "GT 640 stopped responding and has successfully recovered" reemerged. I then became very worried. I fiddled around online a little, but then decided that these two incidents just might be coincidental. I then went to "Steam" (the videogame service from Valve Corp.) and tried to run Battlefield Bad Company 2. I knew that my laptop was successfully sending a signal through the PCIe bus, to the gpu, and then to the monitor; but I wanted to see if the gpu would actually play a video game.
Two seconds after hitting "start game," while the video game map was loading, everything shut off, turned back on, and the notification "GT 640 blah blah blah" popped back up. I was blown away.
I turned off my laptop, unplugged the PCIe express card, and then rebooted. Upon rebooting, I plugged the express card back in its slot. My external monitor flashed for a second, and then everything crashed. A second later I got the blue screen, and four seconds later my computer was rebooting again, asking me if I wanted to reboot in safe mode or normal mode. I figured that I had made a mistake by plugging in the expresscard while the laptop was on (even though it had worked perfectly the first time I did it), so I decided to reboot the computer with the PCIe expresscard already plugged in. As the computer started up, my monitor never came on, even though the Vidock light was on and the gpu was running. I immediately went to my devices and saw that neither the GT 640 nor the external monitor were being detected by my computer, despite having been detected immediately upon my first try. I couldn't believe it.
Then, the next weird thing happened. I went online to find out if anyone had ever had a perfectly running external gpu suddenly go from working perfectly to not working at all. I found an article that seemed promising and began to read it. After about 15 minutes of reading this article, my screen laptop screen suddenly goes blank WHILE I'm reading, and my external monitor comes back on. My desktop was suddenly displayed on the external monitor again, the very same webpage where I had just been reading. Again, I was blown away. I exited out of the web page, went to my device manager, and sure enough both my internal graphics card (Radeon Mobility 5000 series) and the external GT 640 were detected. I then went to my devices and printers and saw that the ViDock VGA setup and the external monitor were both being detected and working properly, though they had been indetectable 20 minutes earlier and though I had done absolutely nothing. It seems as though it had simply fixed itself.
To test it out, I go back to Steam, load L.A. Noire and, to my surprise, the game begins to run. The graphics were crappy since I had previously lowered them in order to play on my laptop alone, so I went to settings and ramped up the game's resolution, SSAO, AA, AF, and graphics. The game continued to run silky smooth. IT WORKED! I then exit out of L.A. Noire and go back to Battlefield Bad Company 2 (the game that my setup had crashed on only 40 minutes before). Again to my surprise, the game boots. I ramp up the resolution and graphics, and find myself playing at silky smooth framer rates. IT WORKED! I couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true. So naturally, I turned my computer off to go watch a movie with my family (it is Christmas Day here in the US).
After the movie, I say goodnight to my family and come back to my room. I turn on my laptop, my ViDock turns on, my graphics card begins to spin, and my monitor does absolutely nothing. I waited for five minutes to see if the computer would suddenly detect the monitor and GT 640 like it did earlier, but nothing happened. So, I finally go to my devices and printers. Oddly enough, the GT 640 is being detected by my computer, but it has an exclamation mark next to its icon. Also, the monitor is not being detected. I click on "properties" for the "VGA Controller," go to "hardware" in the properties, and then double-click on "GT 640." To my dismay, under "NVidia Geforce GT 640 properties," I see the infamous "error 12" notification: "not enough resources."
So, now what. My setup seemed to be working, then crashed, then worked like a charm all by itself (I did absolutely nothing to fix it), and then stopped working again, but worse than before: "Error 12." What the heck do I do, guys?
Alright, here goes:
Got myself a ViDock, monitor, and GT 640.
Initially setting up my system went almost perfectly. I hooked everything up, turned on my laptop, and then (while my laptop was on) plugged the PCIe express card from the ViDock into my laptop. The graphics card began to spin, the blue ViDock light came on, and drivers of some kind immediately began to install. After these drivers (whatever they were) finished installing, I then went to nVidia's webpage and downloaded the drivers for my GT 640. About 10 seconds before the drivers for my GT 640 finished downloading, my laptop screen goes blank (except for my background wallpaper) and my external monitor begins to display my desktop. Voila! The external monitor and ViDock were immediately recognized by my laptop. I scrolled across my screen, ran Google Chrome, and searched the web to make sure that I had done everything right. Everything I've seen online suggests that ViDock setup is often very complicated. I couldn't believe my luck. Everything had gone fine. I had done everything right.
Then, as I was reading a page on tomshardware about ViDock setup (I still couldn't believe everything had gone so smoothly), my monitor went blank, the Vidock light went off, and my graphics card turned off. Only a second later, everything turned back on, my monitor flashed for a second, and my desktop was restored. At the bottom right of my desktop, a notification appeared saying that "nVidia GT 640 has stopped responding and successfully recovered." I suddenly became very suspicious. I searched google quickly trying to see if this had happened to other people. While I was searching, it happened again: everything turned off, turned back on a second later, and then the notification "GT 640 stopped responding and has successfully recovered" reemerged. I then became very worried. I fiddled around online a little, but then decided that these two incidents just might be coincidental. I then went to "Steam" (the videogame service from Valve Corp.) and tried to run Battlefield Bad Company 2. I knew that my laptop was successfully sending a signal through the PCIe bus, to the gpu, and then to the monitor; but I wanted to see if the gpu would actually play a video game.
Two seconds after hitting "start game," while the video game map was loading, everything shut off, turned back on, and the notification "GT 640 blah blah blah" popped back up. I was blown away.
I turned off my laptop, unplugged the PCIe express card, and then rebooted. Upon rebooting, I plugged the express card back in its slot. My external monitor flashed for a second, and then everything crashed. A second later I got the blue screen, and four seconds later my computer was rebooting again, asking me if I wanted to reboot in safe mode or normal mode. I figured that I had made a mistake by plugging in the expresscard while the laptop was on (even though it had worked perfectly the first time I did it), so I decided to reboot the computer with the PCIe expresscard already plugged in. As the computer started up, my monitor never came on, even though the Vidock light was on and the gpu was running. I immediately went to my devices and saw that neither the GT 640 nor the external monitor were being detected by my computer, despite having been detected immediately upon my first try. I couldn't believe it.
Then, the next weird thing happened. I went online to find out if anyone had ever had a perfectly running external gpu suddenly go from working perfectly to not working at all. I found an article that seemed promising and began to read it. After about 15 minutes of reading this article, my screen laptop screen suddenly goes blank WHILE I'm reading, and my external monitor comes back on. My desktop was suddenly displayed on the external monitor again, the very same webpage where I had just been reading. Again, I was blown away. I exited out of the web page, went to my device manager, and sure enough both my internal graphics card (Radeon Mobility 5000 series) and the external GT 640 were detected. I then went to my devices and printers and saw that the ViDock VGA setup and the external monitor were both being detected and working properly, though they had been indetectable 20 minutes earlier and though I had done absolutely nothing. It seems as though it had simply fixed itself.
To test it out, I go back to Steam, load L.A. Noire and, to my surprise, the game begins to run. The graphics were crappy since I had previously lowered them in order to play on my laptop alone, so I went to settings and ramped up the game's resolution, SSAO, AA, AF, and graphics. The game continued to run silky smooth. IT WORKED! I then exit out of L.A. Noire and go back to Battlefield Bad Company 2 (the game that my setup had crashed on only 40 minutes before). Again to my surprise, the game boots. I ramp up the resolution and graphics, and find myself playing at silky smooth framer rates. IT WORKED! I couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true. So naturally, I turned my computer off to go watch a movie with my family (it is Christmas Day here in the US).
After the movie, I say goodnight to my family and come back to my room. I turn on my laptop, my ViDock turns on, my graphics card begins to spin, and my monitor does absolutely nothing. I waited for five minutes to see if the computer would suddenly detect the monitor and GT 640 like it did earlier, but nothing happened. So, I finally go to my devices and printers. Oddly enough, the GT 640 is being detected by my computer, but it has an exclamation mark next to its icon. Also, the monitor is not being detected. I click on "properties" for the "VGA Controller," go to "hardware" in the properties, and then double-click on "GT 640." To my dismay, under "NVidia Geforce GT 640 properties," I see the infamous "error 12" notification: "not enough resources."
So, now what. My setup seemed to be working, then crashed, then worked like a charm all by itself (I did absolutely nothing to fix it), and then stopped working again, but worse than before: "Error 12." What the heck do I do, guys?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram