T420 + ViDock 4+ w/ GTX660 - works but constant freezing and crashing

So I'm running a Thinkpad T420 (Intel HD3000 gfx) with Vidock 4+ and an EVGA GTX660.

Upon hot-plugging the vidock it was detected by windows and I was able to install Nvidia drivers and restart. Upon getting back into windows I am able to setup Nvidia control panel and external display. The laptop's internal display also functions with the 660 so I just stuck to that for ease of testing.

Basically at this point everything is working fine but then my computer becomes an unstable mess.

And this is where things started going bad. The mouse randomly becomes laggy, windows becomes laggy, and usually crashed after 10 minutes or less. The few times I was able to load a game it is clearly utilizing the GTX660 but the performance is severely bottle-necked and most games just randomly crash.I tried several different Nvidia drivers as well as disabling my internal GPU (HD3000) but if I disable it my computer will no longer recognize the 660 as being connected to any monitors or internal display.The other thing I could think of is that my BIOS version is possibly incompatible (1.43) does anyone have a T420 using vidock with 1.43 BIOS? (latest)



Any ideas what is wrong? Is the Vidock itself possibly faulty?

 

Could very well be a power issue. NVidia lists the 660 at 140w and one 6 pin. The Vidock 4+ has a 150w 6-pin, and depending on which 660 you purchased, it might be causing some issues. Could you list which 660 you bought?

 

EpicBob,

I have EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked, Total Power Draw : 140 Watts according to their official spec sheet. The ViDock 4+ has two 6-pin plugs. Does it matter which plug I use? I have not tried switching them. Does your 660 also have a power draw of 140w?

 

I have an MSI overclocked 660. But mine has been working fine even after playing battlefield 3 and dayz for over an hour.

Both are 6-pin connectors, but one pin is for the 75w power brick and the other is for the 150w brick. Might be that you just connected the wrong one. Should be easy to test though.

 

The GTX 660 only draws around 105w under full load. There should be no problem there. Review sites confirmed this.

 

The problem is he could have connected the 75w six pin instead of the 150w six pin.

 

On the Vidock itself, it is hard to tell which six pin goes to each power supply. If the problem is power, then I must have gotten lucky on my first guess.

 

Guys, That is indeed my mistake. I opened it up and switched the power plug and it's been working like a charm since then.

There is however one persisting issue. The Vidock must NOT be plugged into the expresscard slot during boot-up or it becomes crash prone. If I hot-plug it once windows is at the desktop everything is fine.

Just a notice to future T420 users. Interested to know if all T420s are this way?

Can you guys with 660's recommend any Nvidia drivers to use with ViDock or just stick to the latest? Just looking for the best performance. Been playing ARMA 3 Alpha today. Very smooth 40+fps on high settings. Tons of fun.

 

I don't know about the T420 but my X220 which has the same chipset and GPU as you (Although I'm using a GTX650) works fine. I can sleep the X220t and leave it all plugged in, but sometimes when resuming the thing will go into a consistent reboot stage, where it just keeps rebooting. The only way to get out of it, is to hard power off, and then with the Vidock plugged in, cold start.

Does anyone know how to avoid this?

2d