Question about Lenovo V50t gen2 GPU upgrade or swap not possible - Hardware lock?
Question about Lenovo V50t gen2 GPU upgrade or swap not possible - Hardware lock?
Hey there! I hope you can assist me with this.
I recently bought a Lenovo V50T gen2 and attempted to upgrade the GPU, but it didn’t work. The issue is that no matter which GPU I installed, there was no output whatsoever. The only GPU that functioned properly was the original AMD RX 550.
I wanted to check if there were any settings I overlooked in the UEFI or if Lenovo had a hardware restriction preventing other GPUs from being used. I’m also aware that the PC doesn’t support additional PCI E Power.
Here are some details about my machine:
- Model: Lenovo V50T Gen2 MT
- Serial Number: PC2FQA5L
It isn't a strict BIOS whitelist (meaning you don't require a specific Lenovo branded SKU for a GPU), but it's common knowledge that Lenovo desktops restrict booting in UEFI mode to only certain GPUs, which were likely available when the BIOS was developed. There seems to be a patch available to modify some Lenovo BIOSes, allowing legacy CSM mode that boots Windows 10, though this would likely not work with Windows 11. A cleaner solution would be to ask for a custom BIOS from a forum to either add your GPU to the list or remove it entirely, but I'm uncertain if anyone has experience with that.
Hey everyone, I've reached new conclusions but still encounter the same issues. I observed that the original RX 550 is a PCIe 8x GPU. If you install a card with less than 16x, it functions perfectly. The BIOS also activates it at 16x. Do you have any suggestions?