XG Mobile Dock

This open source hardware allows you to connect any PCIe card to an ASUS ROG device with the XG Mobile connector.

The standard variant is a drop-in replacement PCB for the XG Station Pro Thunderbolt 3 eGPU dock. It contains a built in USB 3.1 Gen 2 hub and a 100W USB PD charger.

The lite variant is a drop-in replacement PCB for the ADT-UT3G. It requires a standard ATX power supply and passes through the USB to an external port.

Features

• PCIe 4.0 x8 support for 2022/2023 ROG Flow
• PCIe 4.0 x4 support for 2023 ROG Ally
• MCU handling cable detection and LEDs
• 100W USB PD charger (standard variant)
• 2 USB-C ports connected to a USB 3.1 Gen 2 hub (standard variant)

Getting Started

1. Build the PCB
2. Flash the board
3. Install the software

Flashing Firmware

STM32 MCU

1. Download XG_Mobile_Dock_MCU.bin from the latest release or build your own.
2. Download and install ST32CubeProgrammer.
3. Connect your ST-LINK v2 to your computer. Note if you are using a cheap clone from Amazon or Aliexpress, the pin numbers printed on the device may be incorrect.
4. Connect the SWDIO, SWCLK, and GND pins to J10 on the board to the ST-LINK v2. Do not connect +3V3.
5. Ensure the board is powered on so it can be programmed.
6. Open ST32CubeProgrammer and go to the "Erasing & programming" page (second icon on the left sidebar).
7. Browse and select the firmware file.
8. Check "Run after programming"
9. Click "Connect" on the right sidebar and then "Start Programming" on the left.

SPI Flash for TI USB PD

We will be using a Raspberry Pi, although most other SBC can also work as well as dedicated SPI flashers.

1. Enable the SPI interface on the Raspberry Pi.
2. Connect GND (Ground), SS (SPI0 CE0), CLK (SPI0 SCLK), MISO (SPI0 MISO), and MOSI (SPI0 MOSI) on J9 to the Raspberry Pi.
3. Open a shell to the Raspberry Pi and install Flashrom: sudo apt-get install flashrom
4. Download XG_Mobile_Dock_Charger.bin from the latest release or build your own.
5. Flash the firmware: sudo flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0,spispeed=1000 -w XG_Mobile_Dock_Charger.bin

Install XGMActivator

XGMActivator is a simple Windows service that tricks ARMORY CRATE software into identifying the custom dock as an official XG Mobile device. Once installed, it should work even if ARMORY CRATE software is updated. You can check out the source code here.

1. Download XGMActivator_Setup.msi from the latest release.
2. Run the installer making sure to correctly select AMD or NVIDIA depending on the vendor of the GPU you are installing.
3. If you need to swap between AMD and NVIDIA, uninstall from Control Panel or by running the installer again. Then you can re-install and select the right option.

Troubleshooting

Error 43 or no video output on NVIDIA GPUs

This is a well known issue with NVIDIA eGPUs. Once the eGPU is installed along with the correct drivers, you will need to install this script.

PCIe is only getting 3.0 speeds

You need to restart your device. For some reason, hot plugging sometimes results in 3.0 speeds.

References

Knowledge base for all things XGM gathered from reverse engineering the hardware and software.

• XGM connector information
• XGM software interfaces
• MCU command interface
• PCB design diary
• Reversed ACPI tables
• Reversed BIOS detection