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

[jborko]

Holy crap... This is awesome! I was thinking about trying something similar to this, but never had much of a chance or the time to try... Getting these modern/reliable cards working in an iMac with boot screen is a HUGE deal! No more garbage Radeon HD 5xxx/6xxx series! I look forward to trying this out on a couple 2011 iMacs of mine.

Apologies for the hiatus of DyingLight production... They are hand assembled and programmed by myself and a friend of mine who worked on the project with me, and both of us have been extremely busy. Currently, though, they are back in stock, and we should be able to retain stock for quite awhile.

Hey @dosdude1, first of all, thanks for making new OS easily accessible on unsupported machines.

I am curious whether flickering problems have been resolved with the dyinglight module?

I was reading back through the thread history, and found no conclusion on some of your previous discussions with people reporting it. I see there is very detailed instruction on installing it on MacBooks but no specific instruction on installing it on an iMac 2011. I found several various approaches in this thread. Do you have a recommended way of installation on these Macs?

Thanks

 

[Dilli]

good you have it working now
Enjoy your EFI bootscreen thx to Nick !

Glad to hear a user who used my winclone image with succes..

Enjoy your iMac, now for many more years to come, also thx to Dosdude1 of course with his patchers..

Appreciate if I could get the link to the winclone image other than mega

 

[FlorisVN]

Appreciate if I could get the link to the winclone image other than mega

Hi,
I dont understand your problem.
Others have downloaded withouth problems..
You dont need any kind of account, you can just download it..

Just select files, choose and click on download as ZIP (ignore the mega app commercial), choose download-->default download.

https://mega.nz/#F!Gw8jQSRL!GQFFtJoh9Hrs8nsLeW7Bkg

 

[dosdude1]

Hey @dosdude1, first of all, thanks for making new OS easily accessible on unsupported machines.

I am curious whether flickering problems have been resolved with the dyinglight module?

I was reading back through the thread history, and found no conclusion on some of your previous discussions with people reporting it. I see there is very detailed instruction on installing it on MacBooks but no specific instruction on installing it on an iMac 2011. I found several various approaches in this thread. Do you have a recommended way of installation on these Macs?

Thanks

Unfortunately not, as it turns out to be a limitation of the hardware design currently. Fixing it would require redesigning the board.

 

[LegoNickD]

Hey @dosdude1, first of all, thanks for making new OS easily accessible on unsupported machines.

I am curious whether flickering problems have been resolved with the dyinglight module?

I was reading back through the thread history, and found no conclusion on some of your previous discussions with people reporting it. I see there is very detailed instruction on installing it on MacBooks but no specific instruction on installing it on an iMac 2011. I found several various approaches in this thread. Do you have a recommended way of installation on these Macs?

Thanks

Unfortunately not, as it turns out to be a limitation of the hardware design currently. Fixing it would require redesigning the board.

The flicker problem really isn't that bad, its only when changing the brightness. The main issue I have with it is that the brightness controls on the keyboard don't do anything or bring up the nice hud, have to use the menu bar slider. Still better than the other solutions so far and I soldered pins to everything incase a better solution appears.

 

[jborko]

Still better than the other solutions so far and I soldered pins to everything incase a better solution appears.

Thanks, LegoNickD - I see what you did here (but cannot see thoroughly). Is there a chance you can share details of where you hooked up the wires on the board? I see you used the IR sensor connector and one wire (i guess the 3.3V) from the SD card reader?

 

[Kouiderdream]

Hi

About bootrom mod..
Nick [D]vB, can you post a detailed manual from A to Z of making this correctly?

I'll try to make this procedute completely.

Now i have every thing prepared to mod my 2011 imac 27 already seen th video i think is not hard to do it but please can your clear me once the bootrom is moded in my opinion the best way is to use the ch341 programer as i have read lot of post here (and thanks ) the auestion is what is the next step how to flash it back to eeprom with witch program and witch system os i an waiting with 2 open imac on the table hoping that my wife let me more time to do it
Thank in advence

 

[LegoNickD]

Thanks, LegoNickD - I see what you did here (but cannot see thoroughly). Is there a chance you can share details of where you hooked up the wires on the board? I see you used the IR sensor connector and one wire (i guess the 3.3V) from the SD card reader?

once you cut the ir board then you solder the wires to the dying light as follows (please test for ground with a multi meter incase its backwards)
usb - | usb + | 5v (not used by dl) | gnd

I used ground from the ir board since the sd wires are smaller than they look in pictures.
For 3v I soldered a wire to a fuse (I think) on the back of the sd board here:

since it was a bigger target
for pwm attatch a 6 pin extender I used this one cut the wire that connects to the pin shown here:

then just run a wire to the wire you just cut running to the dying light board note that I marked the wrong wire on my mspaint diagram so don't follow it
That should be all the wiring you need to do unless you plan on doing something with the bluetooth.

 

[jborko]

As a matter of fact, I plan to replace the Wireless card with a new one, arrived today. But OK, I think I got it for the PWM and the 3.3V... I think I will not cut the IR completely (I will attempt to tap to the connections) if that is a possibility. Or maybe I will just wait and see whether an improved dyinglight module will be created by @dosdude1

 

[passatgt]

Slightly off-topic: 2011 iMac with Mojave, gives me an option to upgrade to Catalina. Its not going to work, right? I need the patcher tool?

 

[LegoNickD]

As a matter of fact, I plan to replace the Wireless card with a new one, arrived today. But OK, I think I got it for the PWM and the 3.3V... I think I will not cut the IR completely (I will attempt to tap to the connections) if that is a possibility. Or maybe I will just wait and see whether an improved dyinglight module will be created by @dosdude1

you cannot just do both dying light and ir on the same connector, but I think you can just strip off the ports from a cheap usb 2 hub (this one looks fine I guess) and essentially plug the ir board and dying light into the hub with 2 extra ports for whatever future things can be done internally. Should be as simple as this:

Not sure why IR would be desirable enough to go through the work though.

Slightly off-topic: 2011 iMac with Mojave, gives me an option to upgrade to Catalina. Its not going to work, right? I need the patcher tool?

Catalina patcher has an option to patch the installer app itself, the update from there is basically the same as if you were to update from settings, just make sure you don't install the legacy graphics patch if you upgraded the gpu. But yes you need to use the patcher.
[automerge]1574477593[/automerge]

Hi


Now i have every thing prepared to mod my 2011 imac 27 already seen th video i think is not hard to do it but please can your clear me once the bootrom is moded in my opinion the best way is to use the ch341 programer as i have read lot of post here (and thanks ) the auestion is what is the next step how to flash it back to eeprom with witch program and witch system os i an waiting with 2 open imac on the table hoping that my wife let me more time to do it
Thank in advence

This sorta shows how to physically set up the programmer (ignore the software stuff, just use it for setup) Important thing is that the red wire on the clip is pin 1, pin 1 on the chip is marked with a dot
This video I used shows how to set up and use the software on a Mac as well as show how to make a backup, flashing is basically the same, follow what the help command says. Keep in mind that by default all files are saved to and pulled from your home folder.

 

[FlorisVN]

Slightly off-topic: 2011 iMac with Mojave, gives me an option to upgrade to Catalina. Its not going to work, right? I need the patcher tool?

This must be a bug then.
Since the 2011 and older indeed need a patcher !!

 

[passatgt]

This must be a bug then.
Since the 2011 and older indeed need a patcher !!

I'm not going to risk clicking on it though

 

[DeeImac]

you cannot just do both dying light and ir on the same connector, but I think you can just strip off the ports from a cheap usb 2 hub (this one looks fine I guess) and essentially plug the ir board and dying light into the hub with 2 extra ports for whatever future things can be done internally. Should be as simple as this: View attachment 878745
Not sure why IR would be desirable enough to go through the work though.


Catalina patcher has an option to patch the installer app itself, the update from there is basically the same as if you were to update from settings, just make sure you don't install the legacy graphics patch if you upgraded the gpu. But yes you need to use the patcher.
[automerge]1574477593[/automerge]

This sorta shows how to physically set up the programmer (ignore the software stuff, just use it for setup) Important thing is that the red wire on the clip is pin 1, pin 1 on the chip is marked with a dot
This video I used shows how to set up and use the software on a Mac as well as show how to make a backup, flashing is basically the same, follow what the help command says. Keep in mind that by default all files are saved to and pulled from your home folder.

Hi
New to this today but have had great help when trying to setup my iMac 27 2011.

I have decided to go all out and go for the installation of Catalina. Before this I decided to get a new GPU and went with the Geforce GTX 675MX 4GB. This has been perfect without any issues at all.
the card does argue with the heat sink of 6970 but buying this on ebay for 275 Pound was the best step.
instruction in included and the back plate.
It was a straight plug and play with boot screen Available. i had already installed Catalina on the old card but got the normal GPU with issues.
After restarting system and holding down Option key I reinstalled Catalina with the Normal Dosdude1 patched usb and the new GTX 675MX for mac installed..... All Good now running Native Catalina with iTunes/Photos all linked to my IPad Pro 2018.
Just for another bit of info.... My boys love Fortnite and after this install they are able to play this on Catalina.
Hope this Helps any thinking of doing similar install

PS have been keeping an eye on the temp of GPU not exceeded 74oC yet.

 

[passatgt]

Hi
New to this today but have had great help when trying to setup my iMac 27 2011.

I have decided to go all out and go for the installation of Catalina. Before this I decided to get a new GPU and went with the Geforce GTX 675MX 4GB. This has been perfect without any issues at all.
the card does argue with the heat sink of 6970 but buying this on ebay for 275 Pound was the best step.
instruction in included and the back plate.
It was a straight plug and play with boot screen Available. i had already installed Catalina on the old card but got the normal GPU with issues.
After restarting system and holding down Option key I reinstalled Catalina with the Normal Dosdude1 patched usb and the new GTX 675MX for mac installed..... All Good now running Native Catalina with iTunes/Photos all linked to my IPad Pro 2018.
Just for another bit of info.... My boys love Fortnite and after this install they are able to play this on Catalina.
Hope this Helps any thinking of doing similar install

PS have been keeping an eye on the temp of GPU not exceeded 74oC yet.

Wait, what? You had to do any bios modding to achive boot screen? Or it was working out-of-the-box? Can you post your video card info? (System Reports / Graphics)

 

[Kouiderdream]

Hi iam still waiting for help i made work as on youtube video hoe to flash the eeprom of imac but still blocked because it ask me for password and what ever i tape no thing happend

 

[monofase]

Hi all,
Anyone tried to put a K1100M into a Late 2009 21" iMac?
I tried, and the card works ONLY with external display. Internal display stays off. Tried both with nVidia drivers and stock with osx 10.11 and 10.13.

No way!

The Late 2009 Core 2 Duo iMac does actually work with the same card.

 

[kmare]

passatgt you need to dump your video and mac bios, if in fact was plug and play w/boot screen

does brightness work?

 

[rmd79]

Hi iam still waiting for help i made work as on youtube video hoe to flash the eeprom of imac but still blocked because it ask me for password and what ever i tape no thing happend

The password it is asking for is your login password. You'll need to be logged into your Mac with an account that has Admin privileges (check in System Preferences->Users & Groups).

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Hey all, sorry if I missed your PMs and I've not been around to reply here recently,
I've had some health problems and just quit my job, so it's been a fun month...

On the bright side, I recently made some significant progress on the iMac cards,
I was planning to release this update next week along with the Quadro roms,
but it seems DeeImac has just unknowingly let the cat out of the bag
(no worries Geoff, you weren't to know) so I may as well just tell you now...

I have found a way to get the bootscreen working without needing to do the bootrom mod!
It works for most Kepler cards (but sadly not the new AMD cards, so they'll still need the mod)

These Beta3 roms will enable the bootscreen without the bootrom mod, just flash the vBIOS in the normal way, if you've already done the bootrom mod these roms have no benefit. To be honest I am only releasing these now to avoid any more logic-board casualties - but you can call it an early Christmas preset.

In other news, I finally got native brightness control working on a few of the Kepler cards, but so far I have not been able to replicate this across most of the other cards. At the moment it seems most will still require either a new type of bootrom mod just to enable brightness control, alternatively you can use the OpenCore Boot-loader.

I'm still working on the brightness stuff, but I hope to have the beta Quadro roms ready soon.
After a lot of work I do have some cards working almost perfectly now, so I've decided that
for those who just want to pay for a simple plug & play solution I will be selling these on eBay.
For everyone else, I'm sure saint (?) Nick will make another delivery soon. 🎅

With that in mind, I would politely advise people against posting dumps from my eBay cards.
It's probably best to wait for the goose to finish laying golden eggs, before you eat it for Christmas...

 

[highvoltage12v]

Hey all, sorry if I missed your PMs and I've not been around to reply here recently,
I've had some health problems and just quit my job, so it's been a fun month...

On the bright side, I recently made some significant progress on the iMac cards,
I was planning to release this update next week along with the Quadro roms,
but it seems DeeImac has just unknowingly let the cat out of the bag
(no worries Geoff, you weren't to know) so I may as well just tell you now...

I have found a way to get the bootscreen working without needing to do the bootrom mod!
It works for most Kepler cards (but sadly not the new AMD cards, so they'll still need the mod)

These Beta3 roms will enable the bootscreen without the bootrom mod, just flash the vBIOS in the normal way, if you've already done the bootrom mod these roms have no benefit. To be honest I am only releasing these now to avoid any more logic-board casualties - but you can call it an early Christmas preset.

In other news, I finally got native brightness control working on a few of the Kepler cards, but so far I have not been able to replicate this across most of the other cards. At the moment it seems most will still require either a new type of bootrom mod just to enable brightness control, alternatively you can use the OpenCore Boot-loader.

I'm still working on the brightness stuff, but I hope to have the beta Quadro roms ready soon.
After a lot of work I do have some cards working almost perfectly now, so I've decided that
for those who just want to pay for a simple plug & play solution I will be selling these on eBay.
For everyone else, I'm sure saint (?) Nick will make another delivery soon. 🎅

With that in mind, I would politely advise people against posting dumps from my eBay cards.
It's probably best to wait for the goose to finish laying golden eggs, before you eat it for Christmas...

Thanks @Nick [D]vB, I was just about to bootrom mod my newly purchased 27" 2011 iMac (new home for my 770m) tomorrow, now I don't have too! I also just purchased another dying light module. Should I hold off on doing the mod (are the 780m/770m/765m some of the proposed backlight resolved cards?) I know it's absolutely frowned upon to ask for ETA's but I am in my return window. Either way im super excited for the progress so far and thank you for all the work you have done! I hope you are in better health.

 

[Nick [D]vB]

Thanks, no luck enabling brightness on any of those cards yet. If you are still looking for something for a 21" iMac the K2100M should perform very close to the 765M (but with a 55W TDP) and I think I can get brightness control working on that, I will be releasing a rom for it soon but you can still get them pretty cheaply on eBay at the moment. For most cards I think brightness control will need a bootrom mod or OpenCore to load a DSDT patch, so maybe we can be combine it with the HD audio code 12 fix etc. I'll try and post a guide for brightness control with the Quadro roms, but I've got a lot of stuff going on a moment so it might have to wait a few weeks.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Thanks, no luck enabling brightness on any of those cards yet. If you are still looking for something for a 21" iMac the K2100M should perform very close to the 765M (but with a 55W TDP) and I think I can get brightness control working on that, I will be releasing a rom for it soon but you can still get them pretty cheaply on eBay at the moment. For most cards I think brightness control will need a bootrom mod or OpenCore to load a DSDT patch, so maybe we can be combine it with the HD audio code 12 fix etc. I'll try and post a guide for brightness control with the Quadro roms, but I've got a lot of stuff going on a moment so it might have to wait a few weeks.

Yes, I will buy one if you recommend it, looking at this listing. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-QUADRO-K2100M-2GB-MXM-Type-A-GRAPHICS-CARD-SKU-5131/283681207631
I should be able to install it and use it as-is with the cards stock rom? I'll wait for a rom, take your time.

edit: stock rom appears to be a dell rom 80.06.61.00.08

 

[jborko]

Thanks @Nick [D]vB , you are a saint indeed

So for the ones with the modded bootrom, is it worth to flashback the bootrom to the original and just put the new vbios on the graphic card? Will it give other benefits over Beta v2 aside from the obvious simplified first-time installation procedure?

 

[t2pierre]

Hey all, sorry if I missed your PMs and I've not been around to reply here recently,
I've had some health problems and just quit my job, so it's been a fun month...

On the bright side, I recently made some significant progress on the iMac cards,
I was planning to release this update next week along with the Quadro roms,
but it seems DeeImac has just unknowingly let the cat out of the bag
(no worries Geoff, you weren't to know) so I may as well just tell you now...

I have found a way to get the bootscreen working without needing to do the bootrom mod!
It works for most Kepler cards (but sadly not the new AMD cards, so they'll still need the mod)

These Beta3 roms will enable the bootscreen without the bootrom mod, just flash the vBIOS in the normal way, if you've already done the bootrom mod these roms have no benefit. To be honest I am only releasing these now to avoid any more logic-board casualties - but you can call it an early Christmas preset.

In other news, I finally got native brightness control working on a few of the Kepler cards, but so far I have not been able to replicate this across most of the other cards. At the moment it seems most will still require either a new type of bootrom mod just to enable brightness control, alternatively you can use the OpenCore Boot-loader.

I'm still working on the brightness stuff, but I hope to have the beta Quadro roms ready soon.
After a lot of work I do have some cards working almost perfectly now, so I've decided that
for those who just want to pay for a simple plug & play solution I will be selling these on eBay.
For everyone else, I'm sure saint (?) Nick will make another delivery soon. 🎅

With that in mind, I would politely advise people against posting dumps from my eBay cards.
It's probably best to wait for the goose to finish laying golden eggs, before you eat it for Christmas...

+++1
I will be happy to support your great work and buy from your page on Ebay an OOB card for my iMac 2011
Are you serious about it? before Christmas ?