iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

[FlorisVN]

Has somebody here perhaps already made a way possible to disable efi check within MacOS ?

My experience so far you will get efi warnings due too the bootrom patch.
I spoke with nick before in the past, and there should be a way to disable it.


Maybe this link will give us some usefull info about thr efi check deamon..?

Apple’s eficheck…

Ok. So you use Clover with an AMI or Phoenix BIOS. Well. In that case you may be interested in this: This is part of routines that wipe data in the generated dump, but why would Apple do this for A…

pikeralpha.wordpress.com

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I planned to make a guide in German.

Great, currently working on a english version here, and will make a dutch one too..

 

[coolbits]

Great progress here and many thanks to Nick for vbios and bootrom patches.

I have late 2009 imac with 765m which is now already flashed with Nicks vbios.
Bootrom already patched and just waiting for SOIC8 clip to flash it.

With bootscreen working i will start some more experiments with DSDT tables (im the one who got display brightnes slider to show)
because now i will be able to start without clover efi injections if it blacks out
Without bootscreen i had to take out ssd disk and remove DSDT patch with another computer, and that was too much time consuming.
I strongly belive brightness is only software issue on kepler cards.

Has anyone already flashed bootrom to late 2009 imac?

 

[rumian]

Great progress here and many thanks to Nick for vbios and bootrom patches.

I have late 2009 imac with 765m which is now already flashed with Nicks vbios.
Bootrom already patched and just waiting for SOIC8 clip to flash it.

With bootscreen working i will start some more experiments with DSDT tables (im the one who got display brightnes slider to show)
because now i will be able to start without clover efi injections if it blacks out
Without bootscreen i had to take out ssd disk and remove DSDT patch with another computer, and that was too much time consuming.
I strongly belive brightness is only software issue on kepler cards.

Has anyone already flashed bootrom to late 2009 imac?

I'm just getting ready for it. I have two iMac 27 from 2009 and 2011 and GTX765M. the clip is already vBios uploaded : D

 

[FlorisVN]

Great progress here and many thanks to Nick for vbios and bootrom patches.

I have late 2009 imac with 765m which is now already flashed with Nicks vbios.
Bootrom already patched and just waiting for SOIC8 clip to flash it.

With bootscreen working i will start some more experiments with DSDT tables (im the one who got display brightnes slider to show)
because now i will be able to start without clover efi injections if it blacks out
Without bootscreen i had to take out ssd disk and remove DSDT patch with another computer, and that was too much time consuming.
I strongly belive brightness is only software issue on kepler cards.

Has anyone already flashed bootrom to late 2009 imac?

great
Let's hope this time we perhaps can get an brightness slider afterall..
Btw even with the EFI mod from Nick, also the internal imac display is still not recognised as an imac display, but as a genaric Apple Cinema display.

perhaps this can also be fixed someday, along with a full brightness control, who knows..

 

[Zulus555]

Explain to me the problem of brightness on Kepler boards ... After installing Windows, I had the opportunity to adjust the brightness in the Windows control panel. After installing the Nvidia drivers, the slider disappeared, but I have the ability to adjust the brightness using the Nvidia driver. Are we talking about the same brightness? Another caveat - with a white background and brightness above 50% in imac chokes "whistle". This is normal?

 

[Roman78]

Great progress here and many thanks to Nick for vbios and bootrom patches.

I have late 2009 imac with 765m which is now already flashed with Nicks vbios.
Bootrom already patched and just waiting for SOIC8 clip to flash it.

With bootscreen working i will start some more experiments with DSDT tables (im the one who got display brightnes slider to show)
because now i will be able to start without clover efi injections if it blacks out
Without bootscreen i had to take out ssd disk and remove DSDT patch with another computer, and that was too much time consuming.
I strongly belive brightness is only software issue on kepler cards.

Has anyone already flashed bootrom to late 2009 imac?

So... like this... Or is that you https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/t...in-imac-111-late-2009-display-brightness-fix/

At least the Display shows up as Internal...

 

[coolbits]

So... like this... Or is that you https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/t...in-imac-111-late-2009-display-brightness-fix/

At least the Display shows up as Internal...

Yes that was me, i even have same nickname.
I also posted here:

brightness problem with GTX 765M in iMac 11,1

Hello to all great hackers. I see a lot of knowledge in ACPI programming here. I would like to ask for some help because im not so good at this. I have an iMac from late 2009 with i5, 8Gb ram, ssd and now also GTX 765M, old 4850 died as they usualy do in imacs. The card works oob but without...

www.tonymacx86.com

Explain to me the problem of brightness on Kepler boards ... After installing Windows, I had the opportunity to adjust the brightness in the Windows control panel. After installing the Nvidia drivers, the slider disappeared, but I have the ability to adjust the brightness using the Nvidia driver. Are we talking about the same brightness? Another caveat - with a white background and brightness above 50% in imac chokes "whistle". This is normal?

Yes, brightnes adjusting works in linux too so its software driver issue which could be fixed with DSDT passing right instructions to osx.
I hope at least, will see.

 

[Roman78]

Ah yes... now i see the same Nickname... 🤦‍♀️

I also testet Mint Linux and the Backlight controls works. I hope there will be a solution for this in OSX some day.

 

[FlorisVN]

Just revived another dead 27" 2011 core i7 iMac today !

Working fine again with Nvidia GTX765m , and special thanks again to Nick for the Bootrom Mod

Very happy iMac user here again..

This machine is all ready for Mojave/Catalina patchers..

 

[liquidtwitch]

Just getting started with the flash now - but whenever I try and dump the iMac rom with dosdude's ROMTool the mac restarts.

Anyone got any ideas? Guess I could use the clip to dump it but I'd rather not.

EDIT: Got it working by killing all login items - could have been Google backup tool or Dropbox stuffing it up.

 

[Roman78]

Nope as far as I know, only possible to upgrade to to run the 004 security update running high sierra.

I would also advise everyone to upgrade the bootrom first, before doing the bootrom patch !

Hmmm would it be possible to make a dump from the iMac containing the 80.0.0.0 Firmware and upload that to the others using the CH341A? This would be faster than installing 10.14 and update it with the 004 update. On Windows i have a Tool to read and write on those chips using the CH341A.

 

[FlorisVN]

Hmmm would it be possible to make a dump from the iMac containing the 80.0.0.0 Firmware and upload that to the others using the CH341A? This would be faster than installing 10.14 and update it with the 004 update. On Windows i have a Tool to read and write on those chips using the CH341A.

Nope not possible, since the bootrom contains personal itms like serial number etc. as far as I know.

So you must make a own custom patch for your own iMac.

10.13.6 high sierra security update will give you a newer bootrom version, not 10.14 mojave.

 

[rumian]

Great progress here and many thanks to Nick for vbios and bootrom patches.

I have late 2009 imac with 765m which is now already flashed with Nicks vbios.
Bootrom already patched and just waiting for SOIC8 clip to flash it.

With bootscreen working i will start some more experiments with DSDT tables (im the one who got display brightnes slider to show)
because now i will be able to start without clover efi injections if it blacks out
Without bootscreen i had to take out ssd disk and remove DSDT patch with another computer, and that was too much time consuming.
I strongly belive brightness is only software issue on kepler cards.

Has anyone already flashed bootrom to late 2009 imac?

Unfortunately, despite many attempts, I could not get the boot screen in iMac 2009 27 ", or I'm doing something wrong or in 2009 this trick does not work. Immediately I take for 2011 I'll see if I make a mistake somewhere

 

[FlorisVN]

Unfortunately, despite many attempts, I could not get the boot screen in iMac 2009 27 ", or I'm doing something wrong or in 2009 this trick does not work. Immediately I take for 2011 I'll see if I make a mistake somewhere

hmm strange, as far as I can remember, Nick said once that the bootrom patch should also work with 09/10 iMac's.
But I think he never tested this himself.

I also think it will be possible to make it work on these older iMac's.
Perhaps you made a wrong bootrom patch, are you sure you have made a correct new modded rom.. ?

Perhaps share your rom with Nick, or ask if he can check it for you..

He is on Holiday's like he said, so keep that in mind..

 

[liquidtwitch]

UGH! So I put the 765m in without issue, flashed it with the new rom and it was working perfectly.

Then when I was just about to flash the bootrom the crappy quality test clip wouldn't latch on the the chip, I can get it to stay for a few seconds but it moves or falls off... so I'll have to find another one. Pretty annoyed as I waited 3 weeks for it to arrive.

 

[FlorisVN]

UGH! So I put the 765m in without issue, flashed it with the new rom and it was working perfectly.

Then when I was just about to flash the bootrom the crappy quality test clip wouldn't latch on the the chip, I can get it to stay for a few seconds but it moves or falls off... so I'll have to find another one. Pretty annoyed as I waited 3 weeks for it to arrive.

hmm strange, mine just holds steady and works fine.
so far I have used it on 2 iMac's so far.

Both times it was working rightaway, and id never failed of for me so far..

Maybe check the spring inside your clipper.. ?

Nick suggested here before to someone else, that these default eeprom clippers from the CH341A could be a little bad.
using a different POMONA 5250 could be a good investment perhaps. :

Amazon.com: POMONA 5250

Amazon.com: POMONA 5250

www.amazon.com

 

[rumian]

hmm strange, as far as I can remember, Nick said once that the bootrom patch should also work with 09/10 iMac's.
But I think he never tested this himself.

I also think it will be possible to make it work on these older iMac's.
Perhaps you made a wrong bootrom patch, are you sure you have made a correct new modded rom.. ?

Perhaps share your rom with Nick, or ask if he can check it for you..

He is on Holiday's like he said, so keep that in mind..

I did not check the iMac 2011 I even desoldered the bone with graphics cards as well as with supported boards in the socket and ... nothing black screen, no boot screen ... I do something wrong I have bad luck

 

[Zulus555]

finally came my programmer. The hands itch, and there are no instructions on the bootrom firmware from Windows yet .....

 

[liquidtwitch]

POMONA 5250 could be a good investment perhaps.

Thanks! I'll get one today and hopefully it'll arrive in a few days.

 

[liquidtwitch]

there are no instructions on the bootrom firmware from Windows yet

Can you use a virtual machine to run macos?

 

[jmilan0302]

I strongly belive brightness is only software issue on kepler cards.

It probably most likely is just a software issue seeing as you can control brightness under linux. Hopefully we get a fix, that backlight inverter gets damn hot!

Anyway, I have noticed there are Radeon R9 M290X cards for as cheap as $150 on Ebay. The same chip as in the original 5K iMac if I'm not mistaken. Today the desktop R9 290x is similar in performance to a GTX 1060, the R9 cards aged way better than Kepler. Maybe it would be easier to get brightness control working with them...

 

[tobee1k]

I have spent a fair bit of time hunting through these forums to try and find an answer to this but no joy, so I'm going to tack the question on here.

I have a Quadro K1000m that I managed to pick up cheaply and plan to install it in my 21.1" 2011 iMac. Seems like the MXM type A card should fit without modification (beyond removal of the X clamp from the card). However, I was really hoping to flash the card before installing it, in an attempt to keep the boot screen etc. I can't find a ROM for the K1000m anywhere, can anyone suggest where I might find such a thing? Is this card based on something else that has a more widely available ROM that I could use?
Thanks

 

[FlorisVN]

I have spent a fair bit of time hunting through these forums to try and find an answer to this but no joy, so I'm going to tack the question on here.

I have a Quadro K1000m that I managed to pick up cheaply and plan to install it in my 21.1" 2011 iMac. Seems like the MXM type A card should fit without modification (beyond removal of the X clamp from the card). However, I was really hoping to flash the card before installing it, in an attempt to keep the boot screen etc. I can't find a ROM for the K1000m anywhere, can anyone suggest where I might find such a thing? Is this card based on something else that has a more widely available ROM that I could use?
Thanks

currently there is no rom available for your quadro card.
Maybe Nick or someone else can make a rom for these quadro cards someday, and again release them to the public.
for now you will have to do withouth a bootscreen..
But at least you will have a reliable card, and your iMac will work again !

For nvidia there are only roms made available thx to Nick for: GTX765/770/780m
We should be very happy with this

 

[tobee1k]

currently there is no rom available for your quadro card.
Maybe Nick or someone else can make a rom for these quadro cards someday, and again release them to the public.
for now you will have to do withouth a bootscreen..
But at least you will have a reliable card, and your iMac will work again !

For nvidia there are only roms made available thx to Nick for: GTX765/770/780m
We should be very happy with this

Yeah I thought that might be the case. Thanks for confirming.

 

[FlorisVN]

Yeah I thought that might be the case. Thanks for confirming.

no problem.
perhaps Nick will make a rom for these quadro cards someday, let's hope.
And if not it is possible to install a GTX765m inside a 21,5" iMac, i would personally not reccomend it in the first place.
But others have done it, and it is possible..