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I've got an 51nb X210 Thinkpad with an M-keyed M.2 slot. My ultimate goal is to add a Thunderbolt 3 port via the GC-Titan Ridge card, but for now I want to start with a USB-C port. To that end, I got a Sunix UPD2018 (x1 PCIe) and several adapters (mPCIe -> x1 PCIe & M.2 -> x4 PCIe).

I confirmed that the Sunix card works if I connect it to my WiFi PCIe slot via the first mentioned adapter.

I also have a working M-keyed NVMe SSD (so, actual x4 PCIe works correctly).

However, anything I do to try getting the Sunix card working in the M.2 slot fails.

My question is: Do I need to do anything special in the BIOS to recognize non-storage devices in this slot? How can I tell which root port the slot is connected to?

Theoretically I should even be able to do an eGPU via this slot, right? So I really shouldn't have any trouble getting the Sunix card working...

Cheers, Rafael

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  • Who is the M2 Card Maker? I do not have such a port in my own X230. If not Lenovo, the BIOS may not recognize it.
    – John
    Dec 6, 2019 at 23:38
  • This is the non-Lenovo 3rd-party mainboard mentioned by K7AAY below. So it also uses a custom AMI BIOS that has a TON of configurable options...
    – flyingfishfinger
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:05
  • Does the custom BIOS show the M2 card?
    – John
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:28
  • It shows the NVME SSD in the NVME section, yes. When the NVME drive is connected, it also shows up in a PCI scan from whatever OS I boot (duh - an OS is installed on this disk when I have it installed). But there's no way to list what's connected to each PCI root port in the BIOS separately. When I add the Sunix / non-storage cards, NVME drives obviously aren't listed in the BIOS, and nothing ever shows up on PCI scans once booted.
    – flyingfishfinger
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:32
  • Possibly the modified BIOS is not compatible with the OS you booted from
    – John
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:36

1 Answer 1

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"Theoretically I should even be able to do an eGPU via this slot, right?"

No. The M.2 storage connector is not designed for eGPU expansion, even with the third party replacement motherboard from LCDFans installed to turn an Thinkpad X200 or X201 into a more modern machine.

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  • I'm using that exact motherboard, yes. What prevents it from doing so?
    – flyingfishfinger
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:00
  • That's a question for LCDFans who built it.
    – K7AAY
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:01
  • 1
    That's my next step, yes. What makes you say that the slot can't be used for an eGPU, meanwhile?
    – flyingfishfinger
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:07
  • Experience: Tried the same thing on several other ThinkPad models.
    – K7AAY
    Dec 7, 2019 at 0:10

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