How to get TB3 for HP Z840 workstation

[RCYL]

I am confused in the community regarding whether the HP TB3 IO card will work on z840 workstation. If so can some expert share the parts required and the install

[DGroves]

i've answered this question several times, please use this forums search feature to see the posts for more details on this subject

HP did officially offer the TBolt 3 on the 840 as this card was released after the z840 was near the end of it's support life

however both the HP TBolt 2 and 3 cards are intel reference designs and use the same connector header/pinouts

so it's most likely the TBolt 3 card will work in the z840 when using the  z840 TBolt  cable that connects the card to the motherboard

yes, the HP TBolt 3 card does/will work in a z840 and was a official HP supported configuration

the HP TBolt3 card itself is a reference intel "Alpine Ridge" based card 

i suspect the issue is driver related, the TBolt 3 card uses newer and slightly different drivers than the TBolt 2 card

also you absolutely must uninstall the existing drivers before install the TBolt 3 card and then run the  sp74948 pkg

also don't forget to install the card in the supported slot (#5)

official TBolt2/3 card driver pkg  sp74948.exe

the intel "Nuc" uses a compatible TBolt 2/3 driver that is a later driver revision

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19402/thunderbolt-3-and-4-dch-driver-for-windows-10...

[RCYL]

Thank you. You are the most respected opinion here. So if understand you correctly, I can plug the TB3 card into a Z840 and it should work. I saw there was some advice on the sequence. We should install the driver first. Then plug the card in? Also since it was not meant for theZ840, which driver do I use for installation.

Thank you for your time and expertise.

[RCYL]

I apologise for not reading your reply. It was full and all I need is included. 

[Z840PC]

I've taken all those steps but the card is not recognized at bootup. When the computer boots up it says "A thunderbolt cable is connected but the card cannot be detected." I am using the HP TB3 Card with the cables that came with it. Any further advice would be most appreciated. Do I need to update the BIOS? Manually install drivers? 

[DGroves]

is this a HP TBolt3 card as you state? the Intel card should also work however other OEM type TBolt cards may not work due to firmware issues

make sure the TBolt drivers are installed AFTER the card is installed in slot 5 no other slot will work for the z840

last, are you using the HP cable for the MB to TBolt connection? while the TBolt card pinout is the same for the intel reference based TBolt 2/3 i'm unsure if other OEM's use the same motherboard pinout

[Z840PC]

Yes this is an HP TBolt 3 card. It is indeed installed in Slot 5. Should I uninstall the drivers, restart, and then reinstall them upon startup? If so, how do I uninstall the drivers? I installed the file sp74948.exe as the driver. 

Yes I am using the HP cable that came with it. It's the official HP cable. On my Z840 it plugs into the bottom part of the motherboard. It cannot connect to the top right where it says TBT1 because there is a plastic piece that would prevent 5 pin cable going into the MB from working. Nevertheless, the system detected a TB cable being plugged in but didn't see a thunderbolt card. It showed up in device manager as a RAID controller. I wondered maybe if it would be possible to update the driver directly in device manager.

[DGroves]

hmmmm..........sp74958 is for the z840 and should work on your hp TBolt card as it has support for the L6000 controller chip which is TBolt-3

what is the chip(s) numbers printed on the large chip's of your TBolt card

you could try these drivers

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_8826396-8788948-16

or the HP z4 TBolt driver (sp153076) which is the intel reference driver

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/hp-z4-g4-workstation/16449890

[Z840PC]

Here you go. This is the chip that's on there:

[DGroves]

sorry, the picture does not allow the chip markings to be viewed please post the actual numbers from the chips