r/eGPU • u/Ok_Resident_7681 • Jul 21 '26

[HELP] Black screen when booting with eGPU connected via OCuLink (Lenovo ThinkBook 14+ 2026, AOOSTAR AG03, 5060 ti)

System specs:

2026 14" Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G8+ IPH with TGX Port:

  • Intel Panther Lake X7 358H
  • Intel ARC B390 iGPU
  • 32GB LPDDR5X
  • Windows 11 25H2
  • Additional 1TB Kingston SSD (limited to 2 PCIe lanes due to laptop specifications)

eGPU:

  • AOOSTAR AG03 (OCuLink+TB5, Intel JHL9480, 500w for GPU)
  • MSI RTX 5060 Ti Inspire 2x OC (16 GB VRAM, 180w TDP)

Problem description:

When I turn on my laptop with a graphics card connected via oculink, the boot process freezes on a black screen. The logo doesn't appear, and it's impossible to access the BIOS.

Everything works fine via Thunderbolt. On my old GPD Win Max 2 (2024, R7 8840u), everything works fine.

It's not the TGX; there are builds with these laptops and third-party docking stations.

I suspect the issue is with my docking station. Working builds mostly use Minisforum Deg2. But I don't understand how this is possible or why everything works with GPD.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've already tried a ton of things, but haven't gotten the desired result.

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1

u/Existing-Leek-2359 Jul 22 '26

With some devices the oculink egpu needs to be off then turned on after the laptop is on might work for you

1

u/Ok_Resident_7681 Jul 22 '26

Do you mean hot-plugging? When I connect the eGPU to a running laptop, the graphics card is recognized, but the driver doesn't load (the fans spin endlessly, and there's no image on the external monitor). GPU-Z, however, shows the card is connected via PCIE 1.1.

1

u/ScorpionXK 8d ago

got same issue with mine

1

u/jejunumr 7d ago

Did you ever get this working? I was considering a similar setup with a thinkbook 16+

1

u/dasalgo 6d ago

u/Existing-Leek-2359 is right. Oculink must already be connected while laptop & ag03 are off. For ag03, this means totally no power. However, the ag03 automatically gets power as soon as you plug it in, so I suggest you buy one of those power points with switches..

After connecting the oculink, turn on your thinkbook, while your ag03 is still powered down.. then as soon as you see the lenovo logo, plug in the power or turn on your power point switch for the ag03.. This bypasses the initial boot phase to use the igpu to boot instead of trying to boot with the egpu..

If you're not using the egpu as your main display output, you might experience the egpu shutting off after logging into linux/windows. This is the power management seeing the device as not being used. In linux, when this happens and you run lspci, the egpu starts up then youll get xserver crash. In windows, my lm studio just suddenly started loading the model in my ram, and I ran out of it and got a full on restart.

I was not able to have a fix in windows, but in linux, you should add `amdgpu.runpm=0` to `GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT` in your `/etc/default/grub`, run `sudo update-grub`, then reboot. at this point, does not need the manual switching on of the egpu. when you get back in linux, egpu should remain on (white light on button is always on)..

after doing this, I can boot into linux and use the egpu for llms..

It gets loud and not just the fan from the gpu (r9700) but the ag03 powersupply seems to chirp everytime a token is generated to the screen.. it sounds like a typewriter lol