Anyone tried non-storage devices in X210 M.2 slot?

[flyingfishfinger]

Hi there-
I'm trying to get this card working in the X210. However, I can't tell if this just does not work, or if my card is DOA.

The symptom is no reaction at all, on either Windows or Ubuntu. No dmesg change, no new hardware installer popups.

Last I checked this card uses PCI lanes, which an M.2 slot should provide, by definition.

I'll try it out on different machines to see what happens, but in the meantime does anyone have thoughts on the matter?

Cheers,
R

[harryK]

Hi there-
I'm trying to get this card working in the X210. However, I can't tell if this just does not work, or if my card is DOA.

The symptom is no reaction at all, on either Windows or Ubuntu. No dmesg change, no new hardware installer popups.

Last I checked this card uses PCI lanes, which an M.2 slot should provide, by definition.

I'll try it out on different machines to see what happens, but in the meantime does anyone have thoughts on the matter?

Cheers,
R

We might have to enable another Pci root port for that to work (assuming that you are using coreboot). Have you tried it with the stock bios?

Also, what is it for?

[flyingfishfinger]

To add USB-C obviously And no, it doesn't work on stock either, but then the BIOS has so many options I wouldn't know if it was disabled...

They don't really make standalone Thunderbolt controllers yet so this might be the best we can do, unless someone wants to port Coreboot to the new X2100

R

[harryK]

To add USB-C obviously And no, it doesn't work on stock either, but then the BIOS has so many options I wouldn't know if it was disabled...

I see... Then you'll have to carve a new hole in the case I guess. Where are you going to do that?

They don't really make standalone Thunderbolt controllers yet so this might be the best we can do, unless someone wants to port Coreboot to the new X2100

It shouldn't be incredibly difficult, I guess. Don't think the X2100 will be massivly different from the X210. Not planning to buy one, though.

[harryK]

At a second look, I think the description on 51nb said that the M2 slot under the palmrest is storage-only. xytech might know better.
Are there any mini-pcie style usb-c boards, to go in the wwan slot?

[MikalE]

To add USB-C obviously And no, it doesn't work on stock either, but then the BIOS has so many options I wouldn't know if it was disabled...

I see... Then you'll have to carve a new hole in the case I guess. Where are you going to do that?

They don't really make standalone Thunderbolt controllers yet so this might be the best we can do, unless someone wants to port Coreboot to the new X2100

It shouldn't be incredibly difficult, I guess. Don't think the X2100 will be massivly different from the X210. Not planning to buy one, though.

Right up until this post I thought the USB 3 port would be right on the card. I guess not. I take it the X210 doesn't have the Express Card slot which is what I thought this was for.

[xytech]

At a second look, I think the description on 51nb said that the M2 slot under the palmrest is storage-only. xytech might know better.
Are there any mini-pcie style usb-c boards, to go in the wwan slot?

I can't remember if there were any documented cases of eGPU on the X210, but the X62 and T70 all had documented eGPU via M.2 and miniPCIe. The X210 comes from the same manufacturer so it's fair assumption that the PCIe lanes aren't limited to just storage. Perhaps the M.2 expansion card isn't getting enough power?

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

[flyingfishfinger]

M.2 keys confuse me. The one on the X210 looks to be a M-key, which should be 4x PCIe plus SATA, which checks out with the storage solutions people have talked about.

Regarding power, perhaps. It's got an external power plug that I've temporarily connected to a USB port (yes I know the card says it can source up to 3A out of the C-port, but I haven't connected anything and I figured a normal USB port would be enough to power up the thing). The card gets a little warm which I feel is normal for storage controllers, but it still doesn't show up. Maybe I'll try an external PSU...

EDIT: Higher-current capable power did NOT make the card show up

EDIT2: A different mPCIe USB-C card appears under lspci just fine. So either my M.2 card is damaged or the port is not enabled properly. I'm attempting a return to see if I can claim a DOA replacement and whether said replacement works...

R

[codetrick]

To add USB-C obviously And no, it doesn't work on stock either, but then the BIOS has so many options I wouldn't know if it was disabled...

They don't really make standalone Thunderbolt controllers yet so this might be the best we can do, unless someone wants to port Coreboot to the new X2100

R

I asked on 51nb and it seems that the USB-c will not have thunderbolt support on x2100. Yes the processor's built-in usb-c subsystem should have native thunderbolt support, but maybe they opted to get usb3 signal from the PCH instead so there's minimal change in the motherboard design from x210? I directed this question to HOPE about the specific hardware design but only got a generic answer (something along the lines of "they don't have time to do development and testing for thunderbolt"). Guess we'd have to wait till the board comes out to know the situation.

I do have interest in learning about / trying to port Coreboot to x2100 once I get my board. But my past exposure to Coreboot is a bit limited (only compiled for x230 before, never done porting). And I don't have access to intel documents like the EDS or FWG. There's currently no Coreboot support for any 10th gen motherboard, so I imagine it will be quite a bit harder to get it to work than corebooting x210, which is based on the librem 13 work.

[harryK]

EDIT2: A different mPCIe USB-C card appears under lspci just fine. So either my M.2 card is damaged or the port is not enabled properly. I'm attempting a return to see if I can claim a DOA replacement and whether said replacement works...

Care to share which mPCIe card you are testing? Also, where are you going place the USB-C connector in the X210 case? Asking for a friend

[flyingfishfinger]

Asking for a friend

Mmhm sure

The working one is this guy.

And I'm thinking of giving up the SATA Bay for this, so I'd carve out a port in the drive cover. I've got at least one extra.

R

[lulujyc]

Asking for a friend

Mmhm sure

The working one is this guy.

And I'm thinking of giving up the SATA Bay for this, so I'd carve out a port in the drive cover. I've got at least one extra.

R

Hi, did you connect the 2-pin header on the USBC card to somewhere else to get enough power, or ignoring that header will still be fine? I'm also wondering if that's a 5v or a 12v header too thanks!

[flyingfishfinger]

Hi,
For PCIe cards, I pulled ~12V directly from the battery contacts. The mPCIE USB-C cards should "appear" without external power, afaik it's just pass-through power for the downstream ports.

Also, I DID manage to get the Thunderbolt controller working - see my post a few rows down

R