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

[Berenod]

Hi everyone !
So basically someone gave me an old iMac 2010 (2389) that had a faulty gpu..
I managed to do the bake trick on the gpu to get it to work properly again.
Swapped the HDD for an SSD, and reinstalled macOS High Sierra on it, then added 8Go of RAM to the 4Go already in.
So far so good but :
1) I'm afraid that the gpu becomes faulty again
2) I'd like to upgrade the machine to be able to edit some 4K footage I have with FCPX

From what I understood by searching on this thread, the best components for my machine would be an i7-870s and a GTX 770M.
That's where I'd like a confirmation please, what's the best CPU choice for this particular machine and use of mine ?

Thanks !!

This machine would be totally unsuitable! Just too old.
The editing is no problem (low res proxies, although it'll take hours to create them), it's the rendering afterwards.

16GB ram is already pretty much the minimum for 1080p editing, so your 8GB for 4K just ain' goint to work.

I'd reckon you're looking at several hours of rendering for just a minute 4K clip!

On top of it you need an metal OS (Mojave/Catalina) to run fcpx (High Sierra won't work), so that means bios flash for the GPU, hardly easy stuff to do without guranteed results.

 

[Drissou]

This machine would be totally unsuitable! Just too old.
The editing is no problem (low res proxies, although it'll take hours to create them), it's the rendering afterwards.

16GB ram is already pretty much the minimum for 1080p editing, so your 8GB for 4K just ain' goint to work.

I'd reckon you're looking at several hours of rendering for just a minute 4K clip!

On top of it you need an metal OS (Mojave/Catalina) to run fcpx (High Sierra won't work), so that means bios flash for the GPU, hardly easy stuff to do without guranteed results.

Thank you very much for your answer !
Actually I have 12GB of RAM, but could swap to 16GB.
Also, even if the footage is in 4K, I could totally render it to be in 1080p in the end.
About FCPX, I actually have it installed on the iMac right now, are you sure it won't work ? I didn't try on this machine indeed.

 

[Berenod]

Thank you very much for your answer !
Actually I have 12GB of RAM, but could swap to 16GB.
Also, even if the footage is in 4K, I could totally render it to be in 1080p in the end.
About FCPX, I actually have it installed on the iMac right now, are you sure it won't work ? I didn't try on this machine indeed.

https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/specs/

Do note, those minimum requirements are often not a very good indication.
Yes it will "work", but if you are a coffeedrinker you'll likely die of a caffeine overdose and will have pulled out all your hair before the rendering is done 😁

 

[xanderon]

at the end you will have a machine you can try to live with OR you sell it even with some reward in $$.
you also will learn a lot on the way to this final machine and that reward is worth much more

 

[mmb4]

I currently saw this issue with a Nvidia GTX 780M flashed with @Nick [D]vB's BIOS, too. System runs with degraded graphics performance with an external display - I used UNIGINE heaven and valley to get this numbers. When I connect the internal LCD it does not come up or it shows errors which can be recognized as a faulty GPU.
Give it back, if you can!

I managed to get another Nvidia GTX 770M. I get exactly the same behavior. When I run it without the internal screen attached, it runs fine (except for all the fans running at max speed). I can use the iMac through screen sharing. When I connect the internal display the machine refuses to start. Fans spinning for a second and then they stop. Only one LED on the logic board. When I disconnect the internal display port connector. Its starts fine again (3 LEDS) without screen.

Anyone an idea what could be wrong?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

nekton, I believe I bought the same card from the same seller.
I was glad to see your post before mine arrived, thinking my flash process would go smoothly...

But, when I attempted to flash with nv_flash in linux (thanks xanderon!) the card is detected as a GTX 660. I was curious if you have the original romdump from the card you got.

Here is mine:

And when I try to flash:

root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K2100.rom
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)
Simplified Version For OEM Only
Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...
Adapter: GeForce GTX 660      (10DE,11C0,103C,1028) H:--:NRM  S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00
WARNING: None of the firmware image compatible PCI Device ID's
match the PCI Device ID of the adapter.
  Adapter PCI Device ID:        11C0
  Firmware image PCI Device ID: 11FC

You can compare both cards one by one here:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M Specs

NVIDIA GK107, 950 MHz, 384 Cores, 32 TMUs, 16 ROPs, 2048 MB GDDR5, 1250 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

and

NVIDIA Quadro K2100M Specs

NVIDIA GK106S, 667 MHz, 576 Cores, 48 TMUs, 16 ROPs, 2048 MB GDDR5, 752 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

They do not even have the same form factor. If you are sure to have the smaller K2100M than you need a clip programmer to do the overwrite. I do not know if one can force the Nvidia flash software to ignore the device ID.
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I managed to get another Nvidia GTX 770M. I get exactly the same behavior. When I run it without the internal screen attached, it runs fine (except for all the fans running at max speed). I can use the iMac through screen sharing. When I connect the internal display the machine refuses to start. Fans spinning for a second and then they stop. Only one LED on the logic board. When I disconnect the internal display port connector. Its starts fine again (3 LEDS) without screen.

Anyone an idea what could be wrong?

Sorry for my misleading first hint.

I just put the current status together:
iMac 2011, LCD is working with the original Apple ATI GPU, doesn't work now with two different 770M flashed with Nick's BIOS. remote login and screen sharing works.

Now we have two not working 770M and the only thing I can ask you: Have you the chance to check this cards in another system, even a PC laptop?

 

[snam11]

i have to say usually display and other connectors on motherboard are quite tough to break, but a check under a magnifier would be a good advice.
in my personal experience those connectors won't broke even if the 27 lcd panel fall off with with lcd/power/sensor attached. just some plastic cover shattered, and some bent pins (sensor and 4 lcd)to put again in straight position...

 

[mmb4]

You can compare both cards one by one here:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M Specs

NVIDIA GK107, 950 MHz, 384 Cores, 32 TMUs, 16 ROPs, 2048 MB GDDR5, 1250 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

and

NVIDIA Quadro K2100M Specs

NVIDIA GK106S, 667 MHz, 576 Cores, 48 TMUs, 16 ROPs, 2048 MB GDDR5, 752 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

They do not even have the same form factor. If you are sure to have the smaller K2100M than you need a clip programmer to do the overwrite. I do not know if one can force the Nvidia flash software to ignore the device ID.
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Sorry for my misleading first hint.

I just put the current status together:
iMac 2011, LCD is working with the original Apple ATI GPU, doesn't work now with two different 770M flashed with Nick's BIOS. remote login and screen sharing works.

Now we have two not working 770M and the only thing I can ask you: Have you the chance to check this cards in another system, even a PC laptop?

Thanks for your advice.
Yes, that's the status. When reinstalling the original, everything is fine again (except for the really slow graphics since I already installed Catalina).
I don't have another system to check these cards, the last one is coming from a very reliable source however.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

i have to say usually display and other connectors on motherboard are quite tough to break, but a check under a magnifier would be a good advice.
in my personal experience those connectors won't broke even if the 27 lcd panel fall off with with lcd/power/sensor attached. just some plastic cover shattered, and some bent pins (sensor and 4 lcd)to put again in straight position...

Estimation: Half of the GPU dead 2009/2010 iMacs are sold without a HDD because people are afraid somebody could find their personal data on it. Most of them would have worked with TDM, though.

During this expert deinstallation half of the systems come back with a ripped of LCD connector from the logic board. You can find this connector easily offered by a lot of shops on Ebay - there must be a higher demand The cables are mostly fine, but the connector is often gone.

 

[lolvince]

Hi,

First of all, I would like to congratulate the actors on this subject for their excellent work.

I allow myself to publish my current state, I have iMac 27 mid-2011 HD 69790M i7-2600 SSD 1 TB 16 GB of RAM.

unfortunately I have my graphics card which must be HS, impossible to start MAC OS or Windows, I have a white screen, however I can start the diagnosis, which does not seem to test the graphics card.

more the test stops with a MOT HDD error which must correspond to the temperature sensor of the HDD which I did not put following the change of HDD, and if I put the original HDD which is HS, the test passes , but I have a disk error, which is logical, since it is at the end of its life.

in short, if my graphics card is HS, I would change it because I find this configuration excellent. however, either I update the same thing and stay as it is, or update the map, so I go to the Hackintosh side: p

I was also thinking of converting my screen to an external screen, but I have to buy a tower ...

Anyway, I'm ready to take the plunge, except that I only have a MAC, and that's it, I no longer have a MAC mouse keyboard, my goal is to have both OSes, if not worse only Windows, is that a problem?

apparently the AMD WX7100 card seems to be the one with the least constraints and hardware modification, is that correct?

thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[highvoltage12v]

seems I spoke too soon

now if I let it sleep it is frozen trying to wake, then reboots, gives 3 beeps (i always thought this was ram but ram passes efi asd. i’ve also read it could be incompatible os) then I have to smc reset to get it to boot where I'm greeted with Problem Report for System Sleep Wake

I've also attached the part of pmset log from time of sleep/wake/reboot

any thoughts apprecieated

This kext pack is taken directly from the Dosdude1 Catalina patcher, use the kexts from this,the IOSurface kext is still needed, which you should have installed already. Still 3 beeps usually means a RAM problem, even if ASD passes.
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i have to say usually display and other connectors on motherboard are quite tough to break, but a check under a magnifier would be a good advice.
in my personal experience those connectors won't broke even if the 27 lcd panel fall off with with lcd/power/sensor attached. just some plastic cover shattered, and some bent pins (sensor and 4 lcd)to put again in straight position...

I have a foam block (came shipped from eBay seller)shaped to a 27" iMac that I lay them in when i take them apart, I never taken them apart standing up, that's just asking for problems. On the 27" i use 2 small bent 90 degrees screwdrivers to get at the corner of the brackets to lift up on the LCD, then I place my phone inside the iMac with the light on to disconnect the cables. my other hand is inside the iMac in a fist shape while my other hand disconnects the cables. Never had an issue yet, and I had them apart at least 20 times now.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi,

First of all, I would like to congratulate the actors on this subject for their excellent work.

I allow myself to publish my current state, I have iMac 27 mid-2011 HD 69790M i7-2600 SSD 1 TB 16 GB of RAM.

unfortunately I have my graphics card which must be HS, impossible to start MAC OS or Windows, I have a white screen, however I can start the diagnosis, which does not seem to test the graphics card.

more the test stops with a MOT HDD error which must correspond to the temperature sensor of the HDD which I did not put following the change of HDD, and if I put the original HDD which is HS, the test passes , but I have a disk error, which is logical, since it is at the end of its life.

in short, if my graphics card is HS, I would change it because I find this configuration excellent. however, either I update the same thing and stay as it is, or update the map, so I go to the Hackintosh side: p

I was also thinking of converting my screen to an external screen, but I have to buy a tower ...

Anyway, I'm ready to take the plunge, except that I only have a MAC, and that's it, I no longer have a MAC mouse keyboard, my goal is to have both OSes, if not worse only Windows, is that a problem?

apparently the AMD WX7100 card seems to be the one with the least constraints and hardware modification, is that correct?

thank you in advance for your advice.

The French version looked better to me, sounds like vacation

If you are asking for the cheapest and most easy way to this graphics card upgrade then there is only one answer:

Use the K2100M or K1100M (every feature, no hardware mods)

Currently the 780M is without brightness control and the AMD cards are expensive, difficult to buy and obviously even difficult to install and configure right now and you need to modify your heat sink - crafting work.

The complete current status ist written to the very first post of this thread. Take your time and read through, just follow the direct links and even take look at the six pictures at the bottom to get an idea what has to be done. It is not a "under 6 years Lego set" Do not put any bricks into your mouth!

 

[lolvince]

The French version looked better to me, sounds like vacation

If you are asking for the cheapest and most easy way to this graphics card upgrade then there is only one answer:

Use the K2100M or K1100M (every feature, no hardware mods)

Currently the 780M is without brightness control and the AMD cards are expensive, difficult to buy and obviously even difficult to install and configure right now and you need to modify your heat sink - crafting work.

The complete current status ist written to the very first post of this thread. Take your time and read through, just follow the direct links and even take look at the six pictures at the bottom to get an idea what has to be done. It is not a "under 6 years Lego set" Do not put any bricks into your mouth!

thank you for your answer ^^
sorry for the post in french, this is a mistake. but if you spend your holidays in france i would be happy to meet you

I have read and reread the first page, I understand the changes made, for me the most complicated is the MAC software part that I do not master if there is a need for another MAC or specific MAC hardware for the second screen and / or opencore.

if I take stock,
_a HD6970M 2 GB card is available on AliExpress for around $ 125, which allows you to find the mac in its original state.
_for a FirePro WX7100 8GB you can find it on the same site at $ 285.
_a K2100M 2GB costs $ 85

the K2100 is much less efficient compared to the HD6970M
and the WX7100 is 4 times more powerful than the HD6970M

good ok I'm not talking about the TDP (55w, 75w and 130w).

why choose the k2100 instead of going back to an HD6970M?
in my opinion, the WX7100 seems to be the most powerful upgrade, but is it reasonable?

 

[nathansz]

This kext pack is taken directly from the Dosdude1 Catalina patcher, use the kexts from this,the IOSurface kext is still needed, which you should have installed already. Still 3 beeps usually means a RAM problem, even if ASD passes.

thanks. I do have some other ram. I'll try that

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

thank you for your answer ^^
sorry for the post in french, this is a mistake. but if you spend your holidays in france i would be happy to meet you

I have read and reread the first page, I understand the changes made, for me the most complicated is the MAC software part that I do not master if there is a need for another MAC or specific MAC hardware for the second screen and / or opencore.

if I take stock,
_a HD6970M 2 GB card is available on AliExpress for around $ 125, which allows you to find the mac in its original state.
_for a FirePro WX7100 8GB you can find it on the same site at $ 285.
_a K2100M 2GB costs $ 85

the K2100 is much less efficient compared to the HD6970M
and the WX7100 is 4 times more powerful than the HD6970M

good ok I'm not talking about the TDP (55w, 75w and 130w).

why choose the k2100 instead of going back to an HD6970M?
in my opinion, the WX7100 seems to be the most powerful upgrade, but is it reasonable?

Choosing HD6970M, you can't upgrade to Mojave, no metal support.

 

[lolvince]

Choosing HD6970M, you can't upgrade to Mojave, no metal support.

ok, so the k2100 is the cheapest solution to upgrade to the higher version of MacOS if I understand correctly, but this card brings as much constraint as the WX7100 card, and therefore with identical constraint the difference is in the performance and therefore the price .

is it correct ?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

ok, so the k2100 is the cheapest solution to upgrade to the higher version of MacOS if I understand correctly, but this card brings as much constraint as the WX7100 card, and therefore with identical constraint the difference is in the performance and therefore the price .

is it correct ?

The K1100M is the cheapest and weakest.

No, the MXM B cards need heat sink mods. If money is not your concern AND you are able to grind the heat sink go with the WX7100.
The Nvidia cards are sometimes available on eBay Europe which makes some buyers more comfortable.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

ok, so the k2100 is the cheapest solution to upgrade to the higher version of MacOS if I understand correctly, but this card brings as much constraint as the WX7100 card, and therefore with identical constraint the difference is in the performance and therefore the price .

is it correct ?

You need to have a hardware backlight mod with AMD cards, not with NVIDIA cards. Even if you can remove hardware backlight mod after, using opencore to boot the iMac. You must be sure of your Opencore configuration before removing backlight mod.


You have to use WX7100_GOP bios to have backlight and backlight adjustment with Opencore. I put Opencore folder in my default EFI partition. In this case if Opencore breaks before bootpicker you are stuck, you have no more boot screen, no more display and you need to reinstall hardware backlight mod and flash back to 580X_67W (for instance) from windows10 to recover a display (via teamviewer from another computer, and sick computer default booting to windows, where you can flash remotely and PRAM reset does nothing else than defaulting to Opencore which is stuck. The solution is to physically unplug hardrive with Opencore to default booting from another drive (without bootscreen).
What i learn with this story is to avoid to put Opencore on the default EFi partition, but have it on a secondary harddrive or a flash drive.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

You need to have a hardware backlight mod with AMD cards, not with NVIDIA cards. Even if you can remove hardware backlight mod after, using opencore to boot the iMac. You must be sure of your Opencore configuration before removing backlight mod.

"You have to use WX7100_GOP bios to have backlight and backlight adjustment with Opencore, but if Opencore breaks, you have no more boot screen, no more display and you need to reinstall hardware backlight mod and flash back to 580X_67W (for instance) from windows10 to recover a display (via teamviewer from another computer, and sick computer default booting to windows, where you can flash remotely)"

Hi Pascal, are you sure of this?

My WX4170 with GOP vBIOS gives me brightness control and a display and no boot screen without OpenCore AND boot screen and brightness control with OpenCore.

There is no need to re flash this card if I pull off my SD card and boot the iMac without the OpenCore settings.
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_for a FirePro WX7100 8GB you can find it on the same site at $ 285.

Here we have it:
The card we need is the AMD Radeon Pro (Polaris) WX7100. If the shop owner is confusing the name tag and the model number your are likely get some card, but not the one which works with @Nick [D]vB great vBIOS versions.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Hi Pascal, are you sure of this?

My WX4170 with GOP vBIOS gives me brightness control and a display and no boot screen without OpenCore AND boot screen and brightness control with OpenCore.

There is no need to re flash this card if I pull off my SD card and boot the iMac without the OpenCore settings.

I have to say that i had installed Opencore on my boot disk EFI partition. I made a configuration mistake in Opencore and after a while i rebooted. Black screen and MacOS not booting on reboot. Opencore was stuck before bootpicker. After 15/20mn iMac rebooted and stayed stuck again. As MacOS was on default drive PRAMs reset did nothing. I then physically unplugged MacOS drive and effectively booted back to windows10. So this setup with OpenCore on "default" EFI partition is a little bit touchy in case of misconfiguration.
I think you may be right now, maybe i did not need to flash back at the end. I will put Opencore on a secondary drive EFI partition, so that PRAM reset could default to main boot drive without Opencore and verify this.

 

[jborko]

I have to say that i had installed Opencore on my boot disk EFI partition. I made a configuration mistake in Opencore and after a while i rebooted. Black screen and MacOS not booting on reboot. Opencore was stuck before bootpicker. After 15/20mn iMac rebooted and stayed stuck again. As MacOS was on default drive PRAMs reset did nothing. I then physically unplugged MacOS drive and effectively booted back to windows10. So this setup with OpenCore on "default" EFI partition is a little bit touchy in case of misconfiguration.
I think you may be right now, maybe i did not need to flash back at the end. I will put Opencore on a secondary drive EFI partition, so that PRAM reset could default to main boot drive without Opencore and verify this.

Having High Sierra on SATA 0 as a default boot option after NVRAM reset should help to avoid the need to open the Mac and swap the drives. During my recent experience with WX4170 I learned this the hard way too. Personally whatever setup I will make I will ensure this is the OS to boot after NVRAM reset.

Another question is... I sort of understand that without backlight mod, you should be missing just the backlight? I might have misunderstood this and might be wrong here, however if that is true, then even if you have your macOS on a secondary drive you should still be able to select it with a flashlight in the boot menu.
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_for a FirePro WX7100 8GB you can find it on the same site at $ 285.

If you are lucky to be sent exactly what is offered, and you are not "bait and switched".

In regards to FCPX and these iMacs - proxies can help to edit whatever you through in. Also creating proxies and rendering are passive tasks and you don't need to be by the computer when those are being carried out. I personally still consider this a very capable machine, although I understand that these days you can have much more performance on a newer configurations. Yet, the money you have to spend are significant. So most of it depends on how serious you are about the stuff you do with the computer, and whether you have some return on the investment, or it is just for sake of doing it to learn something new or just for fun

 

[AnthonyFlorida]

Indeed, tried many boot options, both Apple wireless and Windows wired keyboards, no luck. Also connected another 27" iMac Late 2012 in target display mode, no luck.

Since that 4th LED on MLB won't come on, it's as if the LCD is dead. So unlikely, as I am very gentle when I disconnect and reconnect cables. Could have broken the display connector on the MLB. Visual inspection, all is fine.

Update, some progress, more questions.

• Recap: 27" iMac mid 2011 running High Sierra, upgrade to K2100M. Followed Post #1 and it's references, all went great, now have the first 3 LEDs on the MLB lit, so GPU VBIOS flashed, recognized, and communicating. Still black screen, and 4th LED won't light no matter what.
• Target Display mode from another iMac is working only when upgraded iMac is booted in Normal or Recover modes. Often takes a few to many Command-F2s for it to work. Interestingly, at first I had the LCD fully removed, and now I have it fully attached, and all still working. But no matter the scenario, if the upgraded iMac is booted in Safe mode, I've never gotten it to work, even waited for hours thinking it was just taking long to boot, no dice.
• I have always been able to SSH to the upgraded iMac (at first I couldn't, but recalled I had disabled Remote Login in Security & Privacy settings, so best to set this before upgrading anything).
• So with all of the above, on to the post to update the AppleGraphicsControl kext. First round I did it all manually. Turned off SIP while in Recovery Mode, then changed file permissions, then followed the post to add my board ID to the plist. But could never get kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel to work. Tried different boot modes, resetting file permissions, enabling SIP, but after much debugging, it always failed to load due to an invalid signature. This broke Normal mode boot, so unable to target display mode in, but able to SSH and looking into boot logs couldn't find anything as to why it was hanging.
• So after 3 more hours I gave up, restored to a previous instance of High Sierra via Time Machine, and tried again.
• This time I used the Kext Utility. I actually ran it on the upgraded iMac booted normally, via target display mode (is this viable?). I copied and modified the kext, double checked it, dropped it into the Kext Utility app, and it worked, no errors, caches updated. I also checked the extensions to make sure indeed the updated plist was there, all good. Reboot and.... broke Normal boot again, just hangs.
• So now I've restored again to a prior High Sierra. So now what? Any ideas? Try to hack Mojave onto it?

Thanks again for all of the support and tools. This thread really has great folks on it.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Update, some progress, more questions.

• Recap: 27" iMac mid 2011 running High Sierra, upgrade to K2100M. Followed Post #1 and it's references, all went great, now have the first 3 LEDs on the MLB lit, so GPU VBIOS flashed, recognized, and communicating. Still black screen, and 4th LED won't light no matter what.
• Target Display mode from another iMac is working only when upgraded iMac is booted in Normal or Recover modes. Often takes a few to many Command-F2s for it to work. Interestingly, at first I had the LCD fully removed, and now I have it fully attached, and all still working. But no matter the scenario, if the upgraded iMac is booted in Safe mode, I've never gotten it to work, even waited for hours thinking it was just taking long to boot, no dice.
• I have always been able to SSH to the upgraded iMac (at first I couldn't, but recalled I had disabled Remote Login in Security & Privacy settings, so best to set this before upgrading anything).
• So with all of the above, on to the post to update the AppleGraphicsControl kext. First round I did it all manually. Turned off SIP while in Recovery Mode, then changed file permissions, then followed the post to add my board ID to the plist. But could never get kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel to work. Tried different boot modes, resetting file permissions, enabling SIP, but after much debugging, it always failed to load due to an invalid signature. This broke Normal mode boot, so unable to target display mode in, but able to SSH and looking into boot logs couldn't find anything as to why it was hanging.
• So after 3 more hours I gave up, restored to a previous instance of High Sierra via Time Machine, and tried again.
• This time I used the Kext Utility. I actually ran it on the upgraded iMac booted normally, via target display mode (is this viable?). I copied and modified the kext, double checked it, dropped it into the Kext Utility app, and it worked, no errors, caches updated. I also checked the extensions to make sure indeed the updated plist was there, all good. Reboot and.... broke Normal boot again, just hangs.
• So now I've restored again to a prior High Sierra. So now what? Any ideas? Try to hack Mojave onto it?

Thanks again for all of the support and tools. This thread really has great folks on it.

May I ask? Why are you messing around with AppleGraphicsControl.kext that is a critical kext for Mac OS to boot. Also if you are worried about SIP you can install this kext attached to High Sierra. It permanently disables SIP, Mojave and Catalina should already have it. Also Target Display mode won't work with another Mac until it is booted to the desktop/Logged in. Your best bet is a monitor that has display port and a MDP to DP cable.

 

[MacGero]

@dosdude1 :
Hi dosdude, I'm running an iMac 27" 2011 with the GTX860 2GB.
Until Catalina 10.15.3 it was working perfectly with the Patcher from you....
But when I try to update to 10.15.4 with the Patcher 1.4.3 I have a black screen.
the created bootable HDD with the Patcher will not work at all.
when I try to boot from a created bootable HDD with the Patcher 1.3.- on 10.15.3 it works....
What can I do to get 10.15.4 on my iMac??

 

[jowaju]

On a whim a few weeks ago I ordered a K610m from eBay for around $9. Had a chance to play around with it this weekend, and here is what I found.

Original P/N on card was 785225-001. The original BIOS showed NOTHING. No version info, no UEFI info, nothing.

Flashed it with the only other BIOS I could find listed here : https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/212790/212790
I did this with the Linux SSH tool listed in the WIKI. There was no internal or external display working originally.



After flashing and rebooting it immediately worked in High Sierra. Both internal and external.







No Alt Key boot menu and No Brightness control, but secondary boot menus worked as well. Installed Windows 10 and bootcamp drivers, let Windows Update install the video card drivers. Internal video works fully on BootCamp, all the way from the Press any key to boot to this CD text through every part of setup. External video also works on Bootcamp. Oddly, after loading the video driver, even native backlight control works in Windows 10, you can drag the slider all the way down and the screen will go completely dark at the end, just like a supported card in MacOS. It's definitely native, the upper left corner of the rear display is cool to the touch with the brightness turned down and burning hot in MacOS with no way to turn it down.



Here's a few more pictures during the process, including some benchmark scores.


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Continued...



I also noticed several weird things when trying all the different versions of MacOS. High Sierra booted normally as long as no external screen was attached (even powered off caused issues). Below is a picture of the scrambled video if booted with an external screen attached. If you disconnected the external display cable, the internal LCD video fixed itself and you could proceed normally, without a reboot.



Also, several versions of MacOS Mojave and Catalina did not boot with video support on either internal or external. Here is the chart so far, it's obviously a work in progress. Also note this was only when booting from a USB installer, ALL of the versions I tried of a full MacOS worked with internal and external with no corruption, ever.

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