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

[snam11]

Hi dear Nick, I have tried your a new method using side loader, but no luck, my iMac constantly reboots and cannot start Catalina from my USB sticl

My iMac '27 is filled with a GTX 780M, with a #1 method (flashed ROM & 1 gen VBIOS EFI).

I proceed with a startup error log



Where to dig in?

mate,
afaik this is only for k1100m and 2100m, no other nvidia vga...

 

[jovonov]

the easiest/fastest way is to use the linux method.disconnect any internal hdd, pop in the usb with linux, ssh from another pc in same lan, and flash it

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread :D hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb. I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive I created a Linux Live USB...

forums.macrumors.com

Just a quick question there. I tried this method, but never got my iMac to register for an IP address while booted using the USB stick. I tried the same stick in my MacBook (with working graphics) and it was no problem.
Is there any step I missed when navigating my iMac blindly? I just disconnected the hard drives, plugged in the USB stick and started the iMac. Then waited for some minutes for everything to load, (still no screen of course) but I never got any connection to the router.

 

[Jay6]

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread
hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb.

I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive

I created a Linux Live USB (based on grml.org) Thumb Drive with nvflash_linux and Nicks Bioses preloaded. and its booting by itself so you can work blind with a new unpatched nvidia card plugged in. Also, its starting a ssh daemon and using DHCP to get an IP so you can remote login

Steps

Download
14 days left to download, uploaded here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/cztz4xqj2sru9gj/2011_imac_usb.zip/file

mirror by NOTNICE, thnx: https://cloud.notnlce.com/index.php/s/xkJP34GD6a9WziE/download


Prepare USB Drive or SD Card
so, you take a small usb thumb drive, partition it with disk utility on a Mac: GPT + FAT32
and just unzip the files structure onto the drive, no dd or etcher or something. just copy paste it. folder structure see attached screenshot. (you can remove the .roms I downloaded and download itself if you want to be sure about the correct file size. I did not verify them at all. use/flash at your own risk please)

Test & Try
test your thumb drive with a more or less working GPU/ external Screen or just have faith in me

Swap Hardware
swap your GPU to NVIDIA and (!) disconnect every SSD/HDD, makes it easier to boot blindly from one USB or SD Card, connect the ETH Cable (!)

Find IP
let the iMac boot, everything is black, the boot loader is waiting 20s before booting, so give the whole process 1min time, then head over to your Router Page and find the right IP that the iMac got through DHCP

SSH to the iMac
now fire up your terminal on a Win/Mac/Linux Machine of your choice and ssh to your iMac with
ssh root@YOURIP
Password: flash
Confirm the ssh id with yes and you should be in your iMac

Working Directory
cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash

read the RADME in there… I will enjoy my brand new k2000m in my 27" 2011 iMac with Catalina 10.15.3
… and because this is so easy, I rebuild it to a K1100M and flashed that also

(someone could write some fancy scripts but I thought its saver that everyone is doing it command by command and don't stop thinking and trusting some scripts)

Thanks for that xanderon but when I try to flash my Nividia 780m I got this error:

ERROR: Mismatch in 256 byte page-mode programming

anyone knows what to do with that ?

Thanks

 

[Jay6]

Hello all,

I'm trying desperately to flash my Gtx 780 with the Nick[D]vB bios but I keep getting this error when trying to flash it:

ERROR: Mismatch in 256 byte page-mode programming

I've notice that when I save the original BIOS the size is only 162k ? Is this normal ? Here's the link to my saved BIOS

Does anybody can help me with that ?

 

[nathan991]

Hi, I used Nick's vbios and now have no boot option after setting up firmware password. Is this problem easily resolved?

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[snam11]

waited for some minutes for everything to load, (still no screen of course) but I never got any connection to the router

assuming you lan cable is ok and your imac lan port is 100% working, it depends on how did your lan network setup.
1 if you have manual ip set, simply ssh on the ip your imac had.
2 if you have dhcp with reserved address is same as point 1, simply ssd on the pre assigned ip you had
3 if you have plain dhcp you need to go to the router settings and check in lan settings the assigned ip

you can also try with any free lan scan app for win or mac to find the ip

also if you're having issues with ssh connection (on mac) delete the file: known_hosts located in ~/Users/yourusername/.ssh

 

[Kieran Roberts]

Hi everyone!

I succeed in installing a K1100 in a 27" 2011 Thank you for your work! You're awesome!

By the way: I flashed the vbios with the latest rom by @Nick [D]vB (Dec 2019). Still without boot screen
and no native brightness control (that was supposed to be fixed, did I do something wrong?)

Without boot screen I'm not able to install Catalina: how can I do that without using another computer? I have another iMac 27" 2010 with its original graphics card and works fine.

Thank you so much guys! <3

hi

Hi everyone!

I upgraded my GPU with a K1100 and now running Catalina pretty well.

The problem is that the sleep mode does not work fine, since while the screen is off, the iMac is still running sometimes (I can hear the fans). Sometimes it just wakes up, goes to the login screen, the optical drive makes noise, and then the screen turns off again.

Is that normal?

Thank u! 🙂

what method did you use to flash the bios on your new k1100m?

cheers

 

[snam11]

Hello all,

I'm trying desperately to flash my Gtx 780 with the Nick[D]vB bios but I keep getting this error when trying to flash it:

ERROR: Mismatch in 256 byte page-mode programming

I've notice that when I save the original BIOS the size is only 162k ? Is this normal ? Here's the link to my saved BIOS

Does anybody can help me with that ?

if it's just a space problem, have you tried with an hex editor to remove the latest bytes of the rom file? it should have a lot of empty sectors (FFFF) in the end of the file
i did a try on the 780 nick's rom. dunno if it's the real issue with your card, but you can have a try

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi dear Nick, I have tried your a new method using side loader, but no luck, my iMac constantly reboots and cannot start Catalina from my USB sticl

My iMac '27 is filled with a GTX 780M, with a #1 method (flashed ROM & 1 gen VBIOS EFI).

Currently the K2100M and K1100M are the Nvidia graphics cards getting backlight control with OpenCore - did you read Nick’s announcement carefully

 

[jowaju]

I've tried the opencore loader image provided by Nick and it doesn't work for me at all on any iMac with a 3rd party video card. It seems to work in all the ones I try with an original Apple AMD card, but I have a handful of K1000m machines and it won't boot on any of them. Most of them show the Apple loading bar about halfway across and then reboot. One machine shows the Apple logo, never shows a progress bar, and never moves off that screen, I left it for 1/2 hour or so. I'm sure its some combination of Kexts in the EFI folder, but I tried several variations and never got anywhere. These are all on machines that are already working with either Mojave or Catalina, all 2010 and 2011 21.5" and 27" models.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I have a handful of K1000m machines and it won't boot on any of them. Most of them show the Apple loading bar about halfway across and then reboot...

First of all I do not understand why you are using the OpenCore setup at all - the K1000M was not short listed on the backlight control candidates and secondly @highvoltage12v pointed out, that you cannot have Lilu and WhateverGreen installed and presented by OpenCore at the same time. You may deinstall these kext files from your handful machines or just deselect in the OpenCore Configurator. The stock setup ist meant for fresh installed 2009/2010/2011 machines with K1100M, and K2100M, or AMD WX41x0 family cards, and WX7100 cards. Using a 2011 you have to install some kext files manually - the ones in the subfolder, I have submitted some pictures lately. Please read at least Nick's post completely on your on.

The readme says:

[1] Native brightness control on Quadro K1100M & K2100M cards.
(more cards may be added in the future through vBIOS updates)

I would by happy to see more cards working

 

[highvoltage12v]

First of all I do not understand why you are using the OpenCore setup at all - the K1000M was not short listed on the backlight control candidates and secondly @highvoltage12v pointed out, that you cannot have Lilu and WhateverGreen installed and presented by OpenCore at the same time. You may deinstall these kext files from your handful machines or just deselect in the OpenCore Configurator. The stock setup ist meant for fresh installed 2009/2010/2011 machines with K1100M, and K2100M, or AMD WX41x0 family cards, and WX7100 cards. Using a 2011 you have to install some kext files manually - the ones in the subfolder, I have submitted some pictures lately. Please read at least Nick's post completely on your on.

The readme says:

[1] Native brightness control on Quadro K1100M & K2100M cards.
(more cards may be added in the future through vBIOS updates)

I would by happy to see more cards working

That's why its rebooting, the MXM card is not currently supported with Open Core and it is panicking on AppleGraphicsPowerManagement. A ROM update is needed to use Open Core, or just swap the card for a k1100m or K2100m. The Same thing goes for the k2000m they are not currently supported, which is why mine are shelved.

 

[Jumme_Cph]

iMac 2010 27", K2100m, High Sierra.
I installed OC mainly to get native backlight on the nVidia card, flashed with Nicks vbios.

I first booted from a SD card and changed the config.plist file; afterwards made a HFS+ partition on 1GB and now booting from there.
Now my mac is now booting up correctly with native brightness control - thanks a bunch everyone.

Q: I have a delay in boot, maybe 5-6 seconds grey/white screens + a flash of black screen / yellow text (definately OC).
Is this really unavoidable? See attached for settings...


NB Too be honest, I don't really know what Im doing, but trying to follow instructions + some trial/error...

 

[passatgt]

iMac 2010 27", K2100m, High Sierra.
I installed OC mainly to get native backlight on the nVidia card, flashed with Nicks vbios.

I first booted from a SD card and changed the config.plist file; afterwards made a HFS+ partition on 1GB and now booting from there.
Now my mac is now booting up correctly with native brightness control - thanks a bunch everyone.

Q: I have a delay in boot, maybe 5-6 seconds grey/white screens + a flash of black screen / yellow text (definately OC).
Is this really unavoidable? See attached for settings...

View attachment 899523View attachment 899524View attachment 899525
NB Too be honest, I don't really know what Im doing, but trying to follow instructions + some trial/error...

Yes, the delay is unavoidable at the moment. But who turns off a mac? Just put it in sleep, it will start up immediately, this is not Windows

 

[Jumme_Cph]

Yes, the delay is unavoidable at the moment. But who turns off a mac? Just put it in sleep, it will start up immediately, this is not Windows

Thanks a lot, champ. If unavoidable, then the delay is definately bearable. 😁

Next: Moving to 2011 27”, Catalina.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thanks a lot, champ. If unavoidable, then the delay is definately bearable. 😁

Next: Moving to 2011 27”, Catalina.

Please enable Lilu.kext even on High Sierra, the comment on your own OpenCore picture says: "Required:". You can run it without but it turns out that the range of brightness you are able to control becomes wider, i.e. you can illuminate the background more, when using the Lilu.kext.
On Catalina you will need it anyway because of the "sleep issue".

Have not measured this with an iPhone app, just repeating trusted source confirmed by my own experience here.

 

[ZenSurfeur]

Hello

My actual config > iMac 27" mid 2011 > i7 3,4Ghz, 24Go ram, hd6970m 2Go, SSD 480Go, High Sierra 10,13,6 updated - windows 8.1

I got a Quadro k2100m 2Go from Dell, another SSD 600Go with Catalina already installed (using a usb docking station)

The project is moving high sierra to Catalina

As soon as I get the p5 pro thermal compound , I will flash vbios with the latest rom by @Nick [D]vB under windows 8.1

I would like to get native brightness control, can someone do an explicit "how to" (maybe a pm not to polute the topic) to :

Create the right table partition including OpenCore (can I use the My 600Go with Catalina and modifiy it or must do a clean install)

Get the right configuration of OpenCore

Thx for all

 

[Kieran Roberts]

Does the k1100m need any mods to fit the heat sink? Holes drilled out etc?

 

[Jay6]

if it's just a space problem, have you tried with an hex editor to remove the latest bytes of the rom file? it should have a lot of empty sectors (FFFF) in the end of the file
i did a try on the 780 nick's rom. dunno if it's the real issue with your card, but you can have a try

Thanks @snam11 . So I need to remove all the FFFFFF at the end of the @Nick [D]vB modified rom ? @highvoltage12v already sent me a lighter version but it was 255k so maybe it was not small enough ?

My original rom is 166k and Nick's modified rom is 262k (or 227k without padding) . So it's correct ?

I've also notice that the Versions detected by Nvflash are different. Is it supposed to be the same ?

Adapter: GeForce GTX 780M (10DE,119F,1028,05AA) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

Current - Version:80.04.AF.00.03 ID:10DE:119F:1028:05AA
GK104 Board - 20530001 (Normal Board)

Replace with - VersionE.AD.00.BE.EF ID:10DE:119F:1028:05AA
GeForce GTX 780M by Nick[D]vB (Normal Board)

 

[snam11]

Thanks @snam11 . So I need to remove all the FFFFFF at the end of the @Nick [D]vB modified rom ? @highvoltage12v already sent me a lighter version but it was 255k so maybe it was not small enough ?

My original rom is 166k and Nick's modified rom is 262k (or 227k without padding) . So it's correct ?

I've also notice that the Versions detected by Nvflash are different. Is it supposed to be the same ?

Adapter: GeForce GTX 780M (10DE,119F,1028,05AA) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

Current - Version:80.04.AF.00.03 ID:10DE:119F:1028:05AA
GK104 Board - 20530001 (Normal Board)

Replace with - VersionE.AD.00.BE.EF ID:10DE:119F:1028:05AA
GeForce GTX 780M by Nick[D]vB (Normal Board)

from what i know, nick's rom are 264kb because usb ch341a programmer soft needs the full rom size to be flashed.
nvflash uses a different way of flashing the chip, and also on k1100m if you flash using nvflash you get a mismatch comparing the flashed rom with the rom file:
ERROR: Size difference between file(262144) and adapter firmware (101376)
but it works (on good vga, not like mine...)

dunno about the version, only nick can help you there.
but frankly i don't really know of your issue is just a matter of bios rom size.
have you had a try with my scraped version of the rom?it works?
[automerge]1584462977[/automerge]

Does the k1100m need any mods to fit the heat sink? Holes drilled out etc?

no mods at all, is mxm a so it will fit with the imac heatsink and gpu bracket

 

[Kieran Roberts]

from what i know, nick's rom are 264kb because usb ch341a programmer soft needs the full rom size to be flashed.
nvflash uses a different way of flashing the chip, and also on k1100m if you flash using nvflash you get a mismatch comparing the flashed rom with the rom file:
ERROR: Size difference between file(262144) and adapter firmware (101376)
but it works (on good vga, not like mine...)

dunno about the version, only nick can help you there.
but frankly i don't really know of your issue is just a matter of bios rom size.
have you had a try with my scraped version of the rom?it works?
[automerge]1584462977[/automerge]

no mods at all, is mxm a so it will fit with the imac heatsink and gpu bracket

Thank you for the reply, so the original “X” bracket from old gpu with fit on the k1100m? Without any need for cutting etc?
I removed the original one from the k1100m(unstuck it) and tried to drill the holes out as the heat sink screws were too big. Was that a waste of time? Haha

 

[snam11]

Thank you for the reply, so the original “X” bracket from old gpu with fit on the k1100m? Without any need for cutting etc?
I removed the original one from the k1100m(unstuck it) and tried to drill the holes out as the heat sink screws were too big. Was that a waste of time? Haha

yes it will work... but you could try yourself by placing it on the k1100m

 

[Kieran Roberts]

Thank you for the reply, so the original “X” bracket from old gpu with fit on the k1100m? Without any need for cutting etc?
I removed the original one from the k1100m(unstuck it) and tried to drill the holes out as the heat sink screws were too big. Was that a waste of time? Haha

Edit:
I had to grind a Tiny bit out of the original X bracket out to miss a cap

 

[snam11]

maybe beacuse your original vga had a bigger bracket. my hd5750 bracket fit perfectly on the k1100m

 

[Kieran Roberts]

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread
hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb.

I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive

I created a Linux Live USB (based on grml.org) Thumb Drive with nvflash_linux and Nicks Bioses preloaded. and its booting by itself so you can work blind with a new unpatched nvidia card plugged in. Also, its starting a ssh daemon and using DHCP to get an IP so you can remote login

Steps

Download
14 days left to download, uploaded here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/cztz4xqj2sru9gj/2011_imac_usb.zip/file

mirror by NOTNICE, thnx: https://cloud.notnlce.com/index.php/s/xkJP34GD6a9WziE/download


Prepare USB Drive or SD Card
so, you take a small usb thumb drive, partition it with disk utility on a Mac: GPT + FAT32
and just unzip the files structure onto the drive, no dd or etcher or something. just copy paste it. folder structure see attached screenshot. (you can remove the .roms I downloaded and download itself if you want to be sure about the correct file size. I did not verify them at all. use/flash at your own risk please)

Test & Try
test your thumb drive with a more or less working GPU/ external Screen or just have faith in me

Swap Hardware
swap your GPU to NVIDIA and (!) disconnect every SSD/HDD, makes it easier to boot blindly from one USB or SD Card, connect the ETH Cable (!)

Find IP
let the iMac boot, everything is black, the boot loader is waiting 20s before booting, so give the whole process 1min time, then head over to your Router Page and find the right IP that the iMac got through DHCP

SSH to the iMac
now fire up your terminal on a Win/Mac/Linux Machine of your choice and ssh to your iMac with
ssh root@YOURIP
Password: flash
Confirm the ssh id with yes and you should be in your iMac

Working Directory
cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash

read the RADME in there… I will enjoy my brand new k2000m in my 27" 2011 iMac with Catalina 10.15.3
… and because this is so easy, I rebuild it to a K1100M and flashed that also

(someone could write some fancy scripts but I thought its saver that everyone is doing it command by command and don't stop thinking and trusting some scripts)

Hello, I’ve followed all steps and now I’m stuck at this line of terminal? What do I do now? Trying to flash k1100m.
Thank You