[Guide] Getting Nvidia cards to work on Thinkpad P71

[qiuboujun]

@qiuboujun Can you invite me to the discord channel please? I have a Thinkpad P51 and want to figure out a way to make Nvidia work. If it's possible to extract complete VBIOS from Lenovo BIOS (of the P51) maybe it's possible to create a sort of lookup for MacOS to read VBIOS from a specific location instead of on the BIOS on the shared EEPROM.

It's not a English channel so not sure if that would help you much.

 

[qiuboujun]

Unfortunately you can only do this with P70 and P71. Looking at their service manuals, it looks like these are the only ones with an MXM video card (ie: removable/replaceable). I have a working P71 running nvidia Quadro P4000.
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Note that I've tried the exact same procedure on a P50 and it didn't work, since the video card si soldered to the motherboard.

I'm glad it worked out for you. I figured out a new method that allows you to use both igpu and nvidia gpu at the same time. Not sure if it's something you need.

 

[Zenkrey]

@qiuboujun What language is it?

 

[qiuboujun]

@qiuboujun What language is it?

chinese

 

[uncle-cash]

It's unlikely they are using mxm design on p73 let alone p53 since they are trying to appeal to the slimmer design market. And new rtx cards draw too much power without maxq design to cut back the tdp.

I'm considering getting a P71 and hackintoshing it. What issues do you currently have with your P71?

 

[qiuboujun]

I'm considering getting a P71 and hackintoshing it. What issues do you currently have with your P71?

Not much, thunderbolt hot plug is not working and I'm having some issue with dw 1560 wifi card. Other than that, p71 is probably the only laptop with discrete graphics working without gettingg into bulky gaming laptops.

 

[Mimir]

Not much, thunderbolt hot plug is not working and I'm having some issue with dw 1560 wifi card. Other than that, p71 is probably the only laptop with discrete graphics working without gettingg into bulky gaming laptops.

Did you managed to get the Brightness to work on it?

 

[qiuboujun]

Did you managed to get the Brightness to work on it?

Only when I'm using IPGU and Nvidia card at the same time. So my laptop screen is driven by IGPU, and I can connect it to an external monitor and use the Nvidia card like a regular computer.

 

[hackguy]

Folks do we have a detailed step by step for converting the P71 to a Hackintosh. If we could get a basic step by step close to a gold buld that would be terrific

 

[qiuboujun]

Folks do we have a detailed step by step for converting the P71 to a Hackintosh. If we could get a basic step by step close to a gold buld that would be terrific

I will write a complete walk through guide in the coming days. It will only work for P70/P71 so not sure if that's what you have.