Contribute
Register

[Solved] GC-Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 Card

Status
Not open for further replies.
Can you guys help me with the whole windows thing? I want to install the driver for alpine ridge in windows but im not sure how to do that. I know some people use bootcamp assistant and other things, but I dont know how to do any of that. Can someone steer me in the right direction and show me how to install windows? I only have one ssd in my computer and I dont know if I can go back and delete windows after using it to install the drivers. I dont know if by installing windows I can just have it installed on a usb, install drivers, remove usb and hopefully have the thunderbolt card work in mac os, and I dont know if by deleting windows i would delete the drivers as well? Im very new to this whole hackintosh thing and how installing a driver on windows just to make something work on mac os works.

thanks!!
 
RyanKluff said:
Can you guys help me with the whole windows thing? I want to install the driver for alpine ridge in windows but im not sure how to do that. I know some people use bootcamp assistant and other things, but I dont know how to do any of that. Can someone steer me in the right direction and show me how to install windows? I only have one ssd in my computer and I dont know if I can go back and delete windows after using it to install the drivers. I dont know if by installing windows I can just have it installed on a usb, install drivers, remove usb and hopefully have the thunderbolt card work in mac os, and I dont know if by deleting windows i would delete the drivers as well? Im very new to this whole hackintosh thing and how installing a driver on windows just to make something work on mac os works.

thanks!!
Click to expand...
I just got Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming (v1.0) and Alpine Ridge card. I've done this TB + Windows activation thing a few times before (Z170 Designaire board & built-in TB3, ASUS X99-A + ASUS ThunderboltEX II card). And now just did it with the Z370. I need to go check some UEFI/BIOS settings on the new board, as something's not working on the macOS system. At any rate - here's my suggestion & what has worked for me in the past:
  1. Get a 16GB USB flash drive & use the Windows 10 USB/DVD download tool to build a USB key Win10 installer. You don't need an activation code - you get 30 days before you need to do anything. Build an installer key, and then get a spare HD (I have a couple old ones laying around pulled from other old systems). I install Win10 on that spare drive, and get Win10 fully functional (drivers, etc.). Now, power down.
  2. Follow all instructions in the Alpine Ridge card's QuickStart guide (card goes in PCIEX4 slot, then connect jumper cable to card + mobo header).
  3. Boot Win10, then pop in the driver CD (TB3 card's in-box driver CD) into a drive (I have a portable USB3 CD/DVD player that I keep for just such things). You can also go to the Support site for the Alpine Ridge card & download the Windows driver/mgmt. software installer from there. Either way, run the installer that installs the drivers and the Win10 Thunderbolt management software (runs as a tray icon once you plug in your first TB device).
  4. (optional) On the CD (or from the card's support Web site) there is a TB card flash utility. This is a bit confusing. The installer from the CD (or from the download) installs a flashing program to check or flash the card. Running the installer from the CD or from the download will not flash your card's firmware! Once you install the firmware flasher, you then need to go to the Program menu - you should see the actually flasher program at the top of the Start menu in "Recents." NOW, launch THIS program - it will report to you current firmware version on the card, and the version that it's about to flash. I was lucky - my card's firmware was the same as what the latest FW flasher was going to flash.
  5. Plug in a TB device. I have quite a few, but the first one that was handy was a CalDigit TB3 docking station. The second I plugged that in, the TB card "woke up" and you could see messages above the tray clock that new devices were being installed (USB audio, etc). Once that's done, you can right-click the TB icon in the dock and launch the TB management program. You'll see what device(s) are connected & working. I tested the docking station, a Seagate TB1 device (using Apple TB3 > 2/1 adapter). I also connected an Apple TB > Ethernet adapter. Note that Apple TB devices will show a message in the Win10 Thunderbolt manager as "not certified for use with Windows." Just ignore.
At this point, your Alpine Ridge TB3 card should be fully functional. For some reason, though, the card is not working in macOS yet for me. I think there's something I may have to tweak in the UEFI/BIOS yet. With the latest firmware on the Z370 board, there are a few settings that are different than what I saw in the Z170. While this has nothing to do with my TB issues, in the latest firmware for this Z370 board, there is no longer an option for the setting of what kind of OS you're using (Windows, Other OS used to be the 2 options).

BTW, unless you actually have the Alpine Ridge card plugged in, you won't see any settings options in the UEFI/BIOS for anything Thunderbolt. It's a dynamic menu option that is activated when BIOS sees the card.

I'll continue to play around & if I figure it out, I'll be sure to report back. If anyone else finds the secret sauce sooner, please share! THANKS!
--B

UPDATE (~30 min later): TB3 card is now working! The setting that still needed to be changed was not in the TB menu, but at the bottom of the BIOS menu. Make sure to set Other PCI Devices > Legacy. Now that I think about it, that's how my Z170 Designaire was set. I've now got USB audio working via my CalDigit TB3 docking station, as well as my Seagate GoFlex TB1 drive is also working fine.
 
Last edited:
Hey guys, So I was wondering can I use a thunderbolt 3 to Display port cable to get 4k at 60fps without having a separate graphics card? I have a i7 8700k processor and using the default Intel UHD Graphics 630.
 
Hi Boom,

I have the same board and processor with Alpine Ridge AIC (rev 2.0). I have my Focusrite Clarett Pre4 working in Windows 10. On first boot into OSX High Sierra the card was recognised and working. However, since rebooting it is not longer recognised (still working OK in Windows, though).

I have set PCI Devices to Legacy mode in BIOS, but this hasn't worked for me :-/

Any help greatly appreciated - this is driving me insane!


Ron
 
Last edited:
Devil's Canyon
GA-Z97X-UD3H |  i7 4790K |  GeForce GTX 650 Ti
Yes I did.. it was related to the "parent" menu option - CSM Support, where you find the PCI Devices > Legacy setting. Check out my UEFI/BIOS settings on my Golden Build post with the GA-AORUS Z370 + Alpine Ridge card.
 
BoomR said:
Yes I did.. it was related to the "parent" menu option - CSM Support, where you find the PCI Devices > Legacy setting. Check out my UEFI/BIOS settings on my Golden Build post with the GA-AORUS Z370 + Alpine Ridge card.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

I can only get Thunderbolt to connect with my audio interface if I first boot into Windows 10, then boot into OSX without powering down. Once I power off, the TB connection is lost and I need to re-establish the link in Windows. I can live with this, but would welcome any ideas how to bypass Windows altogether!

Thanks again

Ron
 
Devil's Canyon
GA-Z97X-UD3H |  i7 4790K |  GeForce GTX 650 Ti
purpleronnie said:
Thanks for the reply.

I can only get Thunderbolt to connect with my audio interface if I first boot into Windows 10, then boot into OSX without powering down. Once I power off, the TB connection is lost and I need to re-establish the link in Windows. I can live with this, but would welcome any ideas how to bypass Windows altogether!

Thanks again

Ron
Click to expand...
Post some screen shots of your UEFI/BIOS > Boot menu, and also Peripherals > Thunderbolt menu. Make sure to have USB flash drive plugged in - formatted MBR. The use F12 to do screen dump (it will automatically write to your USB drive).
 
Hi, I've been following this thread for a bit. I have nearly the same setup as you (Aorus Ultra Gaming, Alpine Ridge 2.0 AIC--though my TB device is a UAD Apollo Twin MKII interface) and I still can't even get Windows to recognize it. I've tried your BIOS settings, but no dice. I plugged my phone into the TB3 port just to check and that seems to work fine, though the TB Manager shows no attached devices.

I also noticed that once I plugged in the Alpine Ridge card that my machine seems to hiccup when restarting now and shows that the BIOS was reset every time I check that. BIOS is F7h. Did you run into any of that?

BoomR said:
I just got Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming (v1.0) and Alpine Ridge card. I've done this TB + Windows activation thing a few times before (Z170 Designaire board & built-in TB3, ASUS X99-A + ASUS ThunderboltEX II card). And now just did it with the Z370. I need to go check some UEFI/BIOS settings on the new board, as something's not working on the macOS system. At any rate - here's my suggestion & what has worked for me in the past:
  1. Get a 16GB USB flash drive & use the Windows 10 USB/DVD download tool to build a USB key Win10 installer. You don't need an activation code - you get 30 days before you need to do anything. Build an installer key, and then get a spare HD (I have a couple old ones laying around pulled from other old systems). I install Win10 on that spare drive, and get Win10 fully functional (drivers, etc.). Now, power down.
  2. Follow all instructions in the Alpine Ridge card's QuickStart guide (card goes in PCIEX4 slot, then connect jumper cable to card + mobo header).
  3. Boot Win10, then pop in the driver CD (TB3 card's in-box driver CD) into a drive (I have a portable USB3 CD/DVD player that I keep for just such things). You can also go to the Support site for the Alpine Ridge card & download the Windows driver/mgmt. software installer from there. Either way, run the installer that installs the drivers and the Win10 Thunderbolt management software (runs as a tray icon once you plug in your first TB device).
  4. (optional) On the CD (or from the card's support Web site) there is a TB card flash utility. This is a bit confusing. The installer from the CD (or from the download) installs a flashing program to check or flash the card. Running the installer from the CD or from the download will not flash your card's firmware! Once you install the firmware flasher, you then need to go to the Program menu - you should see the actually flasher program at the top of the Start menu in "Recents." NOW, launch THIS program - it will report to you current firmware version on the card, and the version that it's about to flash. I was lucky - my card's firmware was the same as what the latest FW flasher was going to flash.
  5. Plug in a TB device. I have quite a few, but the first one that was handy was a CalDigit TB3 docking station. The second I plugged that in, the TB card "woke up" and you could see messages above the tray clock that new devices were being installed (USB audio, etc). Once that's done, you can right-click the TB icon in the dock and launch the TB management program. You'll see what device(s) are connected & working. I tested the docking station, a Seagate TB1 device (using Apple TB3 > 2/1 adapter). I also connected an Apple TB > Ethernet adapter. Note that Apple TB devices will show a message in the Win10 Thunderbolt manager as "not certified for use with Windows." Just ignore.
At this point, your Alpine Ridge TB3 card should be fully functional. For some reason, though, the card is not working in macOS yet for me. I think there's something I may have to tweak in the UEFI/BIOS yet. With the latest firmware on the Z370 board, there are a few settings that are different than what I saw in the Z170. While this has nothing to do with my TB issues, in the latest firmware for this Z370 board, there is no longer an option for the setting of what kind of OS you're using (Windows, Other OS used to be the 2 options).

BTW, unless you actually have the Alpine Ridge card plugged in, you won't see any settings options in the UEFI/BIOS for anything Thunderbolt. It's a dynamic menu option that is activated when BIOS sees the card.

I'll continue to play around & if I figure it out, I'll be sure to report back. If anyone else finds the secret sauce sooner, please share! THANKS!
--B

UPDATE (~30 min later): TB3 card is now working! The setting that still needed to be changed was not in the TB menu, but at the bottom of the BIOS menu. Make sure to set Other PCI Devices > Legacy. Now that I think about it, that's how my Z170 Designaire was set. I've now got USB audio working via my CalDigit TB3 docking station, as well as my Seagate GoFlex TB1 drive is also working fine.
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Copyright © 2010 - 2024 tonymacx86 LLC
Back
Top