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If you have not already done so, it may be more fruitful to ask your question over in the Official Catalina Patcher Thread. I would think something changed in 10.15.4 or the latest patcher that is causing your issue, rather than a GPU issue.

I'm going to try 10.15.3 with an older patcher(1.3.0) and see if that helps with my issues. I think its a compatibility issue with the latest Catalina.
 
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So with 10.15.3, i have external display working and i don't need to select a boot drive manually to boot. However with opencore, i only have display on the external screen...
 
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.

Of course, great question. After the flash, it still didn't work (black screen). So according to Post #1, at the bottom for "Sierra" users, it had a link to Post #601 which had the instructions for modifying the kext. Did I not interpret that correctly? I've undone it anyway (with the restore) and still not working (can't get the 4th LED to come on with the LCD fully in).
 
Of course, great question. After the flash, it still didn't work (black screen). So according to Post #1, at the bottom for "Sierra" users, it had a link to Post #601 which had the instructions for modifying the kext. Did I not interpret that correctly? I've undone it anyway (with the restore) and still not working (can't get the 4th LED to come on with the LCD fully in).

Did you tried a Mojave installation, making an install disk with Mojave patcher?
 
Hello!
Do I understand correctly that the best option for the iMac 21.5 mid2011 (A1311) will be the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M?
Where do you recommend purchasing this card (taking into account the rational sending to Russia)?
Thanks! (sorry for my English)
 
Hello!
Do I understand correctly that the best option for the iMac 21.5 mid2011 (A1311) will be the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M?
Where do you recommend purchasing this card (taking into account the rational sending to Russia)?
Thanks! (sorry for my English)
Probably AliExpress?
 
I looked - but I would like a recommendation for a trusted seller. they are all used, or they look strange for new ones.. on Amazon, there is one option "new", but the delivery cost is close to the cost of the product..
Really hard to answer. I got all my cards here in Germany on eBay and a local garage sale platform (hosted by eBay, too). Most worked, some not. Nobody can give you a glass ball view into the used parts market. The hot topic is currently the AMD card source of choice. Ongoing discussion, not final answer. I had to send back technology parts to china the long way, but I got the money back or a replacement. There is always a risk in buying grey market parts and nobody here can or will give you an insurance.
 
Really hard to answer. I got all my cards here in Germany on eBay and a local garage sale platform (hosted by eBay, too). Most worked, some not. Nobody can give you a glass ball view into the used parts market. The hot topic is currently the AMD card source of choice. Ongoing discussion, not final answer. I had to send back technology parts to china the long way, but I got the money back or a replacement. There is always a risk in buying grey market parts and nobody here can or will give you an insurance.
Thanks! Do you recommend AMD? Which one is for my case?
 
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AMD cards are no option for this machine.
so it's a lottery? simply, I request a photo of a particular instance on "Ali", and look at the appearance, the presence of a compound on the chip, the inscription "NVIDIA" on the Board? in what time period did NVIDIA Quadro K2100M produce?
 
so it's a lottery? simply, I request a photo of a particular instance on "Ali", and look at the appearance, the presence of a compound on the chip, the inscription "NVIDIA" on the Board? in what time period did NVIDIA Quadro K2100M produce?
Come on! There is at least one website delivering pictures, technical information and even BIOS versions of nearly every graphics adapter you could buy from the last decade and where you get get everything you want. This is all only on search, and one link, and one mouse click away. The K2100M will be a faster and a more capable replacement since it opens the gate to Mojave or Catalina.
Used part buying is always a lottery without warranty. Make sure that can return it in case of trouble.
 
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I am sure this is listed somewhere else in this long thread, but if you really don’t need a killer graphics and you want an oversized internet machine you can do like I did and add a 4670. I know they suck but they work.

I got a 27” 2011 from an internet auction for 350 and instead of doing a ton of modding I just paid 60 for a 4670 out of a 2010 21” model. After getting the parts in I had to swap the cards and redo the paste, but it runs Catalina just fine.

On my machine, I am using the stock 1tb drive and 32gb of sodimm I had on hand from my last 27” that I had to sell. I made sure and upgraded the firmware for APFS and went back and added the legacy graphics card patch ( normally you don’t use this and it works ok without it, but better with it).

so yea, I know the card is lowsy and barely cuts it with 256mb of ram, but it is a cheap option if no other exists. I actually happen to have a 780 (from way back when I did this about 150 pages ago), but I just want it to work. Plus it will instantly sell if I get broke again. People see Catalina and click buy, patched OS and all.
[automerge]1587600698[/automerge]
One quick question, out of all the cards that work, which ones are the closest to having everything work? Does every card require a firmware patch?
 

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I am sure this is listed somewhere else in this long thread, but if you really don’t need a killer graphics and you want an oversized internet machine you can do like I did and add a 4670. I know they suck but they work.

I got a 27” 2011 from an internet auction for 350 and instead of doing a ton of modding I just paid 60 for a 4670 out of a 2010 21” model. After getting the parts in I had to swap the cards and redo the paste, but it runs Catalina just fine.

On my machine, I am using the stock 1tb drive and 32gb of sodimm I had on hand from my last 27” that I had to sell. I made sure and upgraded the firmware for APFS and went back and added the legacy graphics card patch ( normally you don’t use this and it works ok without it, but better with it).

so yea, I know the card is lowsy and barely cuts it with 256mb of ram, but it is a cheap option if no other exists. I actually happen to have a 780 (from way back when I did this about 150 pages ago), but I just want it to work. Plus it will instantly sell if I get broke again. People see Catalina and click buy, patched OS and all.
[automerge]1587600698[/automerge]
One quick question, out of all the cards that work, which ones are the closest to having everything work? Does every card require a firmware patch?
The consensus is that K1100m and K2100m have everything that work, provided you use OpenCore BootLoader. These two cards need to have the firmware updated. However, using the USB with Linux is pretty easy. A lot easier than replacing a graphics card on these iMacs.
 
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Yes, I know it's a K2110M from the code—if we bought from the same place on eBay (Asendtech I think it was), I have no idea why you receved a 660M and not the K2100M or why the flasher software thinks it's a 660M. I used a ch341a programmer with chip clip on a RPi 4 to do the flash and it was uneventful.

Yep... that is the identical card physically, same seller.

35983F02-76BE-4DE7-BB6A-F16124C88271.jpeg

04D6395C-E41B-4714-B47D-36D76AE4083F.jpeg


I am certain it is a K2100m but nvflash in Linux refuses to overwrite given the device ID mismatch. Someone must have been playing around with this card before me.

So I attempted to reflash with a programmer + clip, but the one I have was not making a solid connection. Looking at the construction of the one I got, I’m shocked it could work at all.

Next stop before removing the eeprom is flashing in Windows with a modified nvflash.

Anyway thanks for confirming. Will report back when I managed to get it flashed and working.

edit: While I’m here, is this the proper way to cable the programmer?

1EDECA1B-B78F-4E11-97A1-B595C0C90F2E.jpeg


And on the board side, pin 1 (red) on the clip would connect to the eeprom pin near the white dot?

5196CF29-F7DB-45FA-81FC-30C44C80D92E.jpeg
 
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Yep... that is the identical card physically, same seller.

View attachment 908429
View attachment 908430

I am certain it is a K2100m but nvflash in Linux refuses to overwrite given the device ID mismatch. Someone must have been playing around with this card before me.

So I attempted to reflash with a programmer + clip, but the one I have was not making a solid connection. Looking at the construction of the one I got, I’m shocked it could work at all.

Next stop before removing the eeprom is flashing in Windows with a modified nvflash.

Anyway thanks for confirming. Will report back when I managed to get it flashed and working.

edit: While I’m here, is this the proper way to cable the programmer?

View attachment 908427

And on the board side, pin 1 (red) on the clip would connect to the eeprom pin near the white dot?

View attachment 908428
Yes to both questions above. Getting a good connection with the clip is hit and miss. Make sure the black polycarbonate parts of the clip are as close to the board as possible. I used a RPi to run the commands:

sudo lsusb (to make sure the RPi is seeing the programmer first and then)
sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r testbin.bin (to read and dump rom)
sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -w [path to K2100M.bin] -V

Notice I am using flashrom in Linux (latest version for RPi4) and not nvflash.
 
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Yes to both questions above. Getting a good connection with the clip is hit and miss. Make sure the black polycarbonate parts of the clip are as close to the board as possible. I used a RPi to run the commands:

sudo lsusb (to make sure the RPi is seeing the programmer first and then)
sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r testbin.bin (to read and dump rom)
sudo flashrom -p ch341a_spi -w [path to K2100M.bin] -V

Notice I am using flashrom in Linux (latest version for RPi4) and not nvflash.

yep. Ok thanks for confirming.

I attempted to use flashrom in Linux on a separate machine to flash the chip but I could never get solid connectivity with the (seemingly damaged) clip I received with my programmer. So my attempts to read were not successful. I saw the device on the Linux machine but did not find any sort of command to test the communication with the programmer via flashrom, barring reading a chip.

I noticed you asked in an earlier post but didn’t see a reply...
Which MX eeprom variant did you find on your card? I noticed some of the chips available for purchase have read voltage values appended to their model numbers. Not sure this even matters for a replacement in this application but wondering what you learned...
 
Hey Everyone

Today I've installed an K1100m with costum vbios and an Opencore on sd card

- can I mount the open core so I can boot without sd card in ?
- final cut has an error message if I want to open it (Graphics configuration not supported) can any one help me?
 
Good afternoon!
I am currently in the process of choosing..:
1) what is the difference between K2100M and K2000M? Different chips? (different performance ~20%, but do they differ in reliability?) They say the one in 2000 was used by Apple.. Which is preferable for iMac 21.5 mid 2011 (A1311)?
2) do I understand correctly that there are problems with the loading screen and (most importantly!) brightness adjustment is solved for both options?
 
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Good afternoon!
I am currently in the process of choosing..:
1) what is the difference between K2100M and K2000M? Different chips? (different performance ~20%, but do they differ in reliability?) They say the one in 2000 was used by Apple.. Which is preferable for iMac 21.5 mid 2011 (A1311)?
2) do I understand correctly that there are problems with the loading screen and (most importantly!) brightness adjustment is solved for both options?
1. K2100m is a more recent model. Here are the differences between the two: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Quadro-K2100M-vs-Quadro-K2000M_4832_3237.247598.0.html
2. If you look six posts higher #5,790, you will see a fantastic post from moi-même! That will answer your question.

I HIGHLY recommend that you read the first page before posting. Your question has been asked many times.

Cheers!
 
Hi! I have noticed after upgrading my imac mid2010 21,5 graphics card to k2000m the white color is not so white but more to yellowish did you noticed something similar to this?
 
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