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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
TheFalChris said:
I had a working WX7100 in my 2011 27” machine, briefly...

The system was up and running perfectly, and then I tried to switch partition before I considered flashing. However I was greeted by the “no bootable device error” and nothing has worked since.
Just a black screen and that’s it.

I’ve tried using an external display, safe booting, blindly navigating the startup menu holding alt, removing the partition that caused the error (the ssd boots on my MacBook), resetting NVRAM/PRAM, reseating the card.

I worry things have gotten worse as it was chiming and then starting up before eventually powering itself down. Now it chimes and the fans run on full.
It still beeps to register there’s no RAM if I take it out.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.
Click to expand...
hijglander said:
If you still have it and it works, put back the old graphics card.
I had the same error “no bootable device error” and it turned out to be repairable via diskutility (use CMD+R at startup).
Click to expand...

That! Get back with an original or working card if you can. Also after about 2 weeks of testing various setups and partitioning disks, and successfully running Linux, Windows, High Sierra and Catalina from one SSD disk, I can safely say that it is not worth the effort to partition disks on Mac. (unless all of them are MacOS). If you have to do it install different OS's on separate physical disks (you can have 3 in the machine). Might not be related to your problem, but things get complicated when the partition tables and boot loaders get messed up. I see @Dilli has problems too with his partitions.

@hijglander good to know the HB pencil trick worked again. I am not sure of the parts, but I will try to make a closeup picture next time I open the computer up, there might be some markings on the resistors that can help to identify which one to use... another obvious thing is to try to find well priced MLB... :(
 
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An SOS here...
I’ve been running my 27” 2011 iMac with a 765m for many months now with no issues. I’ve even installed a dyinglight for backlight control and updated wifi/Bluetooth for airdrop abilities. Everything was working great until I restarted today.

Startup chime and then black screen (as is typical), but then nothing. 5 min, 10 min, 20 min... still nothing. Forced another power off and startup, same thing. Tried booting to recovery with cmd + R. Nothing. Internet recovery, nothing.

Then I tried a P Ram reset and things got worse. Now it just continuously chimes and restarts. Won’t enter target disk mode and still won’t do a recovery. Tried a SMC reset and that didn’t help either. Oh, haven’t been able to boot it from a CD either.

Unless there is other guidance it appears I’m stuck trying to get my previously dead AMD card temporarily revived with an oven bake to see what is going on.

Any help appreciated.
 
Finally had some time to do Nick's bios mod for my 780M, works fine!
[automerge]1575757123[/automerge]
CMCook said:
An SOS here...
I’ve been running my 27” 2011 iMac with a 765m for many months now with no issues. I’ve even installed a dyinglight for backlight control and updated wifi/Bluetooth for airdrop abilities. Everything was working great until I restarted today.

Startup chime and then black screen (as is typical), but then nothing. 5 min, 10 min, 20 min... still nothing. Forced another power off and startup, same thing. Tried booting to recovery with cmd + R. Nothing. Internet recovery, nothing.

Then I tried a P Ram reset and things got worse. Now it just continuously chimes and restarts. Won’t enter target disk mode and still won’t do a recovery. Tried a SMC reset and that didn’t help either. Oh, haven’t been able to boot it from a CD either.

Unless there is other guidance it appears I’m stuck trying to get my previously dead AMD card temporarily revived with an oven bake to see what is going on.

Any help appreciated.
Click to expand...

Remove the card and flash it with Nick's 765M bios! Check the first post for more info.
 

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How do I flash bios from techpowerup to k2100m. It gave me error size does not match. I use flashrom from Linux. Thank you.

Deni_z said:
Hi Everyone! With help of
highvoltage12v and NOTNlCE we were able to upgrade imac 2011 27" i5 to Quadro k2100m.
I've tried this vbios
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/205515/205515
Day of testing past - everything works smoothly.
Good luck with upgrades.

looking forward to upgrading imac 21" 2010 i3 to k1100m. If anyone has succeeded with this - please let me know what vbios did you used.

and is there any possibility to upgrade imac 2009 C2D with AMD 4670m 256.
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
 
It seems St. Nick is running a few days late this year, 🎅
or maybe a few weeks early, depending on where you live…

Quadro roms attached, for the following cards:

K1000M, K1100M, K2000M, & K2100M

They all have CoreEG2 integrated so no boot-rom mod required.
The clocks should also be unlocked in windows (not P5 limited)
and they have a moderate over-clock which should be stable.

Thanks to @highvoltage12v for running the K2X stability tests,
so if your iMac crashes, for any reason, it’s totally his fault ! ;)

I have native brightness control & Target Display Mode working
so far only on the two newer cards (K1100M & K2100M)

At the moment this will require using the OpenCore boot-loader
to do some ACPI injection, and maybe load some additional Kexts.

I’m working on a plug-n-play version that runs from a USB stick,
but there are still some things to fix so that may be a few weeks out.


Not forgetting the red team…

I worked out what was limiting the boost clocks in MacOS,
these Beta3 roms should now be completely un-limited.

I’ve also included an over-clocked version - but be careful,
it will produce a lot more heat so make sure you crank the fans up!

I’m still working on a fix for that code 43 driver issue in Windows,
and hoping we can use OpenCore to work-around the problem,
as it can also be used to enable “iMacPro” HEVC encoding for FCPX etc.

The boot-rom mod is still required for AMD, probably always will be,
It’s included here but there are no changes so no need to re-apply it.



UPDATE for K1100M !

Well this is embarrassing... turns out I'm an idiot! :rolleyes:
I accidentally uploaded the wrong file for the K1100M
If you downloaded the previous version do not flash it.
No other cards effected, I have updated the download.


🎅
 

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Wow. You folks have done a lot of work here. I have been scrolling through and reading various sections and there is a lot of material to cover. I'm wondering if anyone would be so kind as to make some recommendations based on the following.

My close friend has a 2011 I7 3.4 - I believe its the 2GB video card, but maybe the 1GB.
I have baked the card twice and am looking to replace to make it useable long term. (I really do care for them, but I would prefer to just fix it one more time rather than putting a bandaid on every so many months. : )

I don't need the greatest graphics card in the world here, just something to replace with similar specs, that won't break the bank. (an upgrade in performance is great if the cost is not much more.)
I would like to have boot screen, brightness control and have it working as close to 'normal' as possible. (Normal would be the goal!)

If any bios flashing etc can be done through the computer itself that would be preferred rather than fancy clips, raspberry pi, etc.

I have seen many cards listed, and I am just a little overwhelmed with all of the options, so if you are able to make a few suggestions of options for cards, and the process involved that would be amazing!

Thanks in advance, and thanks for all those who have contributed to making these imac resurrections possible.

Cheers!
 
Dilli said:
Actually I did have an issue. When I was installing Mojave after install I did not get post install screen So I had to press option and then again go to press post install and select my model iMac 12.2 . Since then I see this installation Os icon in boot screen. I want to get rid of it.
Click to expand...
Sorry mate, but this I don't know.. I didn't install Mojave, went straight to Catalina, and didn't experience this issue. Maybe someone else knows what went wrong here?
 
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jborko said:
..... snip....
@hijglander good to know the HB pencil trick worked again. I am not sure of the parts, but I will try to make a closeup picture next time I open the computer up, there might be some markings on the resistors that can help to identify which one to use... another obvious thing is to try to find well priced MLB... :(
Click to expand...
A closeup picture would definitely be great! Hopefully the resistors can then be identified. If all fails I'll buy another MLB.
 
Nick [D]vB said:
It seems St. Nick is running a few days late this year, 🎅
or maybe a few weeks early, depending on where you live…

Quadro roms are attached, for the following cards:

K1000M, K1100M, K2000M, & K2100M

They all have CoreEG2 integrated so no boot-rom mod required.
The clocks should also be unlocked in windows (not P5 limited)
and they have a moderate over-clock which should be stable.

Thanks to @highvoltage12v for running the stability tests,
so if your iMac crashes, for any reason, it’s totally his fault ! ;)

I have native brightness control & Target Display Mode working
so far only on the two newer cards (K1100M & K2100M)

At the moment this will require using the OpenCore boot-loader
to do some ACPI injection, and maybe load some additional Kexts.

I’m working on a plug-n-play version that runs from a USB stick,
but there are still some things to fix so that may be a few weeks out.


Not forgetting the red team…

I worked out what was limiting the boost clocks in MacOS,
these Beta3 roms should now be completely un-limited.

I’ve also included an over-clocked version - but be careful,
it will produce a lot more heat so make sure you crank the fans up!

I’m still working on a fix for that code 43 driver issue in Windows,
and hoping we can use OpenCore to work-around the problem,
which can also be used to enable “iMacPro” HEVC encoding for FCPX etc.

The boot-rom mod is still required for AMD, probably always will be,
It’s included here but there are no changes so no need to re-apply it.

🎅
Click to expand...

Thanks again Nick for your great work !!! :)
this could make lot's of 21,5" iMac users very happy ! :)
 
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Nick [D]vB said:
It seems St. Nick is running a few days late this year, 🎅
or maybe a few weeks early, depending on where you live…

Quadro roms are attached, for the following cards:

K1000M, K1100M, K2000M, & K2100M

They all have CoreEG2 integrated so no boot-rom mod required.
The clocks should also be unlocked in windows (not P5 limited)
and they have a moderate over-clock which should be stable.

Thanks to @highvoltage12v for running the stability tests,
so if your iMac crashes, for any reason, it’s totally his fault ! ;)

I have native brightness control & Target Display Mode working
so far only on the two newer cards (K1100M & K2100M)

At the moment this will require using the OpenCore boot-loader
to do some ACPI injection, and maybe load some additional Kexts.

I’m working on a plug-n-play version that runs from a USB stick,
but there are still some things to fix so that may be a few weeks out.


Not forgetting the red team…

I worked out what was limiting the boost clocks in MacOS,
these Beta3 roms should now be completely un-limited.

I’ve also included an over-clocked version - but be careful,
it will produce a lot more heat so make sure you crank the fans up!

I’m still working on a fix for that code 43 driver issue in Windows,
and hoping we can use OpenCore to work-around the problem,
which can also be used to enable “iMacPro” HEVC encoding for FCPX etc.

The boot-rom mod is still required for AMD, probably always will be,
It’s included here but there are no changes so no need to re-apply it.

🎅
Click to expand...

I just put together my 2010 21.5 with k1100m, so i will try this in a couple of hours! Thanks again for your great work! Btw, i don't think its worth doing any mod for backlight control on the 21.5. I always used it on mac brightness and its fine, it won't get that warm compared to the 27". If someone still needs to dim it a little, it can be done with an app.
 
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Nick [D]vB said:
It seems St. Nick is running a few days late this year, 🎅
or maybe a few weeks early, depending on where you live…

Quadro roms are attached, for the following cards:

K1000M, K1100M, K2000M, & K2100M

They all have CoreEG2 integrated so no boot-rom mod required.
The clocks should also be unlocked in windows (not P5 limited)
and they have a moderate over-clock which should be stable.

Thanks to @highvoltage12v for running the stability tests,
so if your iMac crashes, for any reason, it’s totally his fault ! ;)

I have native brightness control & Target Display Mode working
so far only on the two newer cards (K1100M & K2100M)

At the moment this will require using the OpenCore boot-loader
to do some ACPI injection, and maybe load some additional Kexts.

I’m working on a plug-n-play version that runs from a USB stick,
but there are still some things to fix so that may be a few weeks out.


Not forgetting the red team…

I worked out what was limiting the boost clocks in MacOS,
these Beta3 roms should now be completely un-limited.

I’ve also included an over-clocked version - but be careful,
it will produce a lot more heat so make sure you crank the fans up!

I’m still working on a fix for that code 43 driver issue in Windows,
and hoping we can use OpenCore to work-around the problem,
which can also be used to enable “iMacPro” HEVC encoding for FCPX etc.

The boot-rom mod is still required for AMD, probably always will be,
It’s included here but there are no changes so no need to re-apply it.

🎅
Click to expand...

I flashed the k1000M rom, installed it in my 2010 21.5". I have boot screen! But, High Sierra won't boot. It goes up to around 60% slowly and just restarts. Should i try to reinstall? Or try with an older OS?
 
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passatgt said:
I flashed the k1000M rom, installed it in my 2010 21.5". I have boot screen! But, High Sierra won't boot. It goes up to around 60% slowly and just restarts. Should i try to reinstall? Or try with an older OS?
Click to expand...
A few posts above you said you have a k1100m, now you said you flashed a k1000m ROM. Did you flash the right ROM? Also I didn't test the k1000m/k1100m as I don't own those cards.
 
jborko said:
What is TDM?
Click to expand...
Target Display Mode
on a 2009 and 2010 27' iMac you can use a few adapters to basically have an hdmi input for the nice 1440p screen, 2011 has it too but thunderbolt only (meaning it can only display other Macs) but I remember at some point there was people talking about getting the old style back but don't think anything came of it.
 
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So i managed to flash my clevo GTX860M with a new bios from http://techpowerup.com by using a windows laptop. and a ch341a_spi programmer and the software that it comes with. quite easy actually..

Running nvidia web drivers. all works just fine but the internal display will not fire up. only led 1 and 2 on the motherboard lights up (not 3 and 4) I know as a fact that the screen works just fine. by adding a lesser supported card it lights up.

as you can see the card list as a nvidia gtx 860m 4095 Mb card.

What is the next step to make the internal screen to work now? can it be that i didn't use the right bios file. I have the right rom ver. there is 3 roms available Clevo, Dell and Nvidia all with same VBIOS ver. is it possible to edit some .plist files to allow the card to send video to the internal screen. cause there has to be something in that direction that the new gpu isn't listed as a supported card.

Any help is appreciated.


Se images at this post https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...mac-mid-2011-only-on-external-screen.2214409/
 
hello everybody!
Yesterday I tried to replace my stock ati hd460 256mb on my imac 21'' mid 2010 with the nvidia quadro k2000m and the weird thing happened... the first time booted fine but when I tried to boot up again the screen remained black... and I know that it reached the login screen but I had no display! Why do you think that happened? is the card faulty since it booted fine once but not after? Is there any way to work around it? I saw also that I can flash another rom but how? is there a guide step by step? thanks and sorry for the many questions!
 
here's a quick question, can a flash the k1100m card using my iMac on Mojave, or do I need to buy the ch341a chip flasher and use windows 10 on a separate computer.
 
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