Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.

MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
Can see on this screen.
Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 2.06.36 PM.png
 

Schprecher

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2015
130
19
Same card, same bios. Something else is different.

Any card can work in iMAc A1312, any card on MXM-III standart, but if in Main EFI have a binary driver for it.

about any update from OSX, "OSX can rewrite some section in Main EFI bios. and GTX780M cant starting up"
after OSX update to new one.

i try on 10.9.5 with old version "Main EFI." me copy it from logic board with usb programmer. (any card working fine)
but if osx updated, gtx780m lose screen after restart.

i have theoretic method to solve bootscreen and backlight control with one thing,
compile driver, but first step is: unpacking main EFI,
it possible, because imac 27 a1312 with logic board 820-2828-A construction with z68 chipset,
and with Intel tool, bios can be unpacked.

this damn so hard to do. but in theory can be released.
 

MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
Any card can work in iMAc A1312, any card on MXM-III standart, but if in Main EFI have a binary driver for it.

about any update from OSX, "OSX can rewrite some section in Main EFI bios. and GTX780M cant starting up"
after OSX update to new one.

i try on 10.9.5 with old version "Main EFI." me copy it from logic board with usb programmer. (any card working fine)
but if osx updated, gtx780m lose screen after restart.

i have theoretic method to solve bootscreen and backlight control with one thing,
compile driver, but first step is: unpacking main EFI,
it possible, because imac 27 a1312 with logic board 820-2828-A construction with z68 chipset,
and with Intel tool, bios can be unpacked.

this damn so hard to do. but in theory can be released.


I do not believe that your assessment is correct.
 

mhafeez

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2013
103
56
mate if you were buying exactly the same card again can you provide a link where you would get i?

I got it from eBay a year ago sold by a guy from Slovakia named chooseyourdestiny but this guy have been hiatus for quite some time. If you are planning to get this 780m find the one with VBIOS 80.04.af.00.03 or from DELL
 
Last edited:

MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
So I am slowly moving forward. Testing in an X-Serve as it uses same slot.

GTX780M had no display output on 10.11.5 default driver, once Web Driver installed it worked again. I think key on an iMac is going to be to set up screen sharing before running an OS update so you can install Web Driver in the dark. Should save having to disassemble iMac for every update.

I'm getting more certain that I can write an EFI for these cards.
Screen Shot 2016-05-26 at 12.19.05 AM.png
Screen Shot 2016-05-26 at 12.18.32 AM.png
 

Schprecher

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2015
130
19
I do not believe that your assessment is correct.

Just think, dude.
What is main EFI? - this is, a standalone micro OS to control big OS like El Capitan and other sh&&..
In main EFI on board (820-2828-A) have few driver package, based for 4000, 5000, 6000 series cards.

EFI is weight 8mb,
and how many weight one driver for 6970m already compiled in binary. ?

when u hold alt, this up a boot menu in EFi, have u seen a good resolution of screen?
where 2560x1440 with 32bit color is used? good.
any idea about this?

it worked, because in main EFI on board inside (8mb binary data) have based driver for card 4000,5000,6000 series.

god, this like between a reference card and some other.

i cant proof this, because that in theory.

but, maybe, i think, this part can be on board 6970M inside a flash (128 or 256kb) data.

EFI Shell, show up some information about this.
[doublepost=1464252292][/doublepost]For MacVidCard

check this out, what happen if replace original chip (216-0811000) 6970M (Blackcomb XT) to 216-0811000 (remark in China) (Barts-PRO) code name,

a card uses original from iMac 27, A1312 mid 2011.
109-C29657-10 with original EFI.

same chip, but other result.


on original 6970M after replaced chip, loosing bootscreen and card name showing something amazing
(AMD Radeon HD6xxx)

this put my theory to first place, a problem in main EFI.

BARTS-PRO can work fine.
 

MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
I don't understand what you typed, it makes no actual sense in English.

6970M has an EEPROM chip with rom, not in main EFI.

Many cards work with just BIOS, no boot screens, well known in Mac Pro world. I am typing this on an MXM 980M in an X-Serve .

Same thing, no EFI but gets to desktop.

You can go on Tech-Powerup and get the iMac roms, they have EFI and BIOS, like any other AMD card
 

Fl0r!an

macrumors 6502a
Aug 14, 2007
909
530
about any update from OSX, "OSX can rewrite some section in Main EFI bios. and GTX780M cant starting up"
after OSX update to new one.

i try on 10.9.5 with old version "Main EFI." me copy it from logic board with usb programmer. (any card working fine)
but if osx updated, gtx780m lose screen after restart.

It's completely unrelated to EFI stuff. EFI isn't needed for initializing the drivers since OS X Lion. Apple keeps removing "unnecessary" GPUs from their drivers, end of story.
Some (formerly well-supported) GPUs have disappeared from the drivers with the release of El Capitan (e.g. GTX 560 Ti or some GT 740 models). Had a discussion about this with a few Hackintosh guys some months back, because we were trying to compile a list of supported GPUs. No easy task if Apple keeps changing drivers.

I guess the GTX 780M might be a similar case, but I can't explain why it's working for one guy but not for the other. Might be a good idea to dump & compare the VBIOS, maybe there's a difference despite same revision number.

You just showed a video proofing the opposite of your claims: Bootscreen is lost after replacing the video cards. Where is the EFI display driver now?
As MVC said, the VBIOS of 2011 and earlier iMacs certainly contains an EFI Display Driver. Wouldn't make much sense if Apple stored a redundant copy in the main EFI, would it?
Could be easily verified by firing up an EFI shell (e.g. with Clover, which will create EFI output even from stock PC cards) and investigating the loaded EFI drivers.
 

Schprecher

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2015
130
19
I don't understand what you typed, it makes no actual sense in English.

6970M has an EEPROM chip with rom, not in main EFI.

Many cards work with just BIOS, no boot screens, well known in Mac Pro world. I am typing this on an MXM 980M in an X-Serve .

Same thing, no EFI but gets to desktop.

You can go on Tech-Powerup and get the iMac roms, they have EFI and BIOS, like any other AMD card
It's completely unrelated to EFI stuff. EFI isn't needed for initializing the drivers since OS X Lion. Apple keeps removing "unnecessary" GPUs from their drivers, end of story.
Some (formerly well-supported) GPUs have disappeared from the drivers with the release of El Capitan (e.g. GTX 560 Ti or some GT 740 models). Had a discussion about this with a few Hackintosh guys some months back, because we were trying to compile a list of supported GPUs. No easy task if Apple keeps changing drivers.

I guess the GTX 780M might be a similar case, but I can't explain why it's working for one guy but not for the other. Might be a good idea to dump & compare the VBIOS, maybe there's a difference despite same revision number.

You just showed a video proofing the opposite of your claims: Bootscreen is lost after replacing the video cards. Where is the EFI display driver now?
As MVC said, the VBIOS of 2011 and earlier iMacs certainly contains an EFI Display Driver. Wouldn't make much sense if Apple stored a redundant copy in the main EFI, would it?
Could be easily verified by firing up an EFI shell (e.g. with Clover, which will create EFI output even from stock PC cards) and investigating the loaded EFI drivers.

Anyway we stuck here.
no one dont understand how it works, Vbios and EFI part.
No SDK from AMD,
we are never solve this.
 

Fl0r!an

macrumors 6502a
Aug 14, 2007
909
530
Uhm? It's actually a quite well-researched topic, both from the MacPro side (visit netkas.org) and the Hackintosh side (tonymacx86, InsanelyMac). The only issue is that very few people actually care about doing the same to an iMac because MXM parts are way more difficult to come by and are not easily exchangeable.

It shouldn't be too difficult to add the Mac EFI to the VBIOS of a MXM AMD card. I'd be surprised if it takes more than adjusting a device ID, concatenating it & running fixrom on the full thing.
 

tears2040

macrumors 6502
Aug 27, 2010
401
1
Seriously go to the VGA database at Techpowerup. They have MXM bios/EFI combos for recent AMD MXM cards.


I have a 2012 Late iMac 3.4GHZ i7 with the Nvidia 680MX 2GB card, need to upgrade it to a 4GB card, is this posit;e and how?

Thanks
 

FaelCarvalhoo

macrumors newbie
Jan 28, 2016
6
0
Hi folks, it's me again xD
i have my old 27" 2009 iMac, but now i have one 21" 2011 with problems and i want to know if is possible to put the gpu 21" radeon 6770 in my 27"iMac with radeon 4850. The board is smaller than the 27" but i think mxm is the same.
Any one know if its possible?
please help me :D
[doublepost=1465994178][/doublepost]
I have a 2012 Late iMac 3.4GHZ i7 with the Nvidia 680MX 2GB card, need to upgrade it to a 4GB card, is this posit;e and how?

Thanks
Sorry Bro, but the 2012 iMacs (Slim) is not possible to upgrade Graphics Card just Models 2009, 2010 and 2011 =/
2012 and newest models have a bga GPU
 

Eduardo K

macrumors newbie
Jun 20, 2016
3
1
I got it from eBay a year ago sold by a guy from Slovakia named chooseyourdestiny but this guy have been hiatus for quite some time. If you are planning to get this 780m find the one with VBIOS 80.04.af.00.03 or from DELL

I got same card with same VBios, but no success with my iMac Late 2009.
(card was MSI, taken from Alienware)

It works with Bootcamp but doesn't with MacOS(10.11.5)
This week i'll try to reinstall MacOS with old card then replace to 780m.
 

Attachments

  • mac.png
    mac.png
    103.1 KB · Views: 469
  • mac2.png
    mac2.png
    113.2 KB · Views: 448
  • mac3.png
    mac3.png
    79.3 KB · Views: 407
  • Like
Reactions: mhafeez
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.