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

[s44sakuni]

Semi yay, I was able to replace the GPU to K1100M! I am running across a small problem when flashing the vBIOS.
I am trying to flash this via the linux method and I kept getting an error saying connection refused (searching around this thread lead me to a conclusion that the flash drive wasn't booting) so I moved on to the next method of running the windows method. After opening the windows installer package I get an error post installation saying "Failed restoring to /dev/disk0s3" (searching around this thread I saw people mention that the SIP needs to be disabled in order to do this method).
-- I have Mac OS High Sierra and it boots fine to the regular os, but I can't enter recovery mode via command+R (I get a blank screen) neither can I enter boot picker screen holding the options key. I tried to enter recovery via the command line: sudo nvram "recovery-boot-mode=unused" && sudo reboot recovery -- but still blank screen, don't know if I didn't give it enough time (around 2-3 mins)

-- My question is that is there something that I am missing or how do I disable SIP without entering recovery mode so I can flash the VBIOS to get the boot screen back. Do I need to navigate this blindly at this point?

Edit: was able to enter recovery via the command line I wrote above -- just tried it again and it worked. Will see if the windows installer works this time. -- I was unable to boot after entering recovery mode and disabling SIP -- only way to bring it back was to do NVRAM reset. Any idea what to do?

 

[nathansz]

Semi yay, I was able to replace the GPU to K1100M! I am running across a small problem when flashing the vBIOS.
I am trying to flash this via the linux method and I kept getting an error saying connection refused (searching around this thread lead me to a conclusion that the flash drive wasn't booting) so I moved on to the next method of running the windows method. After opening the windows installer package I get an error post installation saying "Failed restoring to /dev/disk0s3" (searching around this thread I saw people mention that the SIP needs to be disabled in order to do this method).
-- I have Mac OS High Sierra and it boots fine to the regular os, but I can't enter recovery mode via command+R (I get a blank screen) neither can I enter boot picker screen holding the options key. I tried to enter recovery via the command line: sudo nvram "recovery-boot-mode=unused" && sudo reboot recovery -- but still blank screen, don't know if I didn't give it enough time (around 2-3 mins)

-- My question is that is there something that I am missing or how do I disable SIP without entering recovery mode so I can flash the VBIOS to get the boot screen back. Do I need to navigate this blindly at this point?

you can disable sip in terminal from a mac os usb installer

 

[s44sakuni]

you can disable sip in terminal from a mac os usb installer

Wouldn't I need to be able to boot into that usb installer first though? I am not able to boot into the usb which I had the linux installed. Apologies if I didn't understand that.

 

[nathansz]

Wouldn't I need to be able to boot into that usb installer first though? I am not able to boot into the usb which I had the linux installed. Apologies if I didn't understand that.

could you set the install disk as startup disk in system preferences?

 

[s44sakuni]

could you set the install disk as startup disk in system preferences?

I tried that but it ended up telling me there is nothing bootable from that partition.

 

[nathansz]

I tried that but it ended up telling me there is nothing bootable from that partition.

does it not show up in startup disk or it does but then won't boot to it?

 

[s44sakuni]

does it not show up in startup disk or it does but then won't boot to it?

The windows installer method gives me an error before it's done - which is why I think I am not able to boot into the windows partition. And Yes the windows partition does show up in startup disk and it still won't boot into it.

 

[nathansz]

The windows installer method gives me an error before it's done - which is why I think I am not able to boot into the windows partition. And Yes the windows partition does show up in startup disk and it still won't boot into it.

sorry I meant if a macOS usb installer shows up in Startup Disk you should be able to boot to that and disable sip from the terminal

maybe I'm missing something

 

[herrdude]

Wouldn't I need to be able to boot into that usb installer first though? I am not able to boot into the usb which I had the linux installed. Apologies if I didn't understand that.

I strongly recommend doing a trial boot on another computer to make sure that the Linux USB is booting properly. Once you are confident it is working, the rest should be fine.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I tried that but it ended up telling me there is nothing bootable from that partition.

Take a look at this post. Probably you have used the wrong FS type when creating the Linux USB installer...

 

[s44sakuni]

[/QUOTE]

sorry I meant if a macOS usb installer shows up in Startup Disk you should be able to boot to that and disable sip from the terminal

I was able to enter recovery mode via the command line (I posed in my OP) and then disabled SIP but then I just have a blank screen after reboot -- the only way to bring it back was to reset NVRAP (which unfortunately enables SIP back again). That is my current problem right now.


[/QUOTE]

I strongly recommend doing a trial boot another computer to make sure that the Linux USB is booting properly. Once you are confident it is working, the rest should be fine.

I have and it boots fine on my MacBook pro -- I am just not able to use the keyboard to enter the boot picking screen by holding the options key (that would solve this problem and I could go ahead and flash from ssh)

 

[herrdude]

I have and it boots fine on my MacBook pro -- I am just not able to use the keyboard to enter the boot picking screen by holding the options key (that would solve this problem and I could go ahead and flash from ssh)

Disconnect any other drives and just let it boot to completion. I was able to check on my router when it picked up an IP address.
You know that you are doing SSH from another computer, don't you?

 

[s44sakuni]

Take a look at this post. Probably you have used the wrong FS type when creating the Linux USB installer...

I will give it a try but I am worried that if my mac is unable to enter the boot picker screen (holding options key) it won't matter what is put in the flash drive.

Disconnect any other drives and just let it boot to completion. I was able to check on my router when it picked up an IP address.
You know that you are doing SSH from another computer, don't you?

I tried that method before giving up on it -- I did use another computer I tried it with my macbook pro and was able to get the IP address too but I was unable to establish ssh connection. -- I kept getting connection refused once I entered the IP address

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I will give it a try but I am worried that if my mac is unable to enter the boot picker screen (holding options key) it won't matter what is put in the flash drive.


I tried that method before giving up on it -- I did use another computer I tried it with my macbook pro and was able to get the IP address too but I was unable to establish ssh connection. -- I kept getting connection refused once I entered the IP address

Disconnect internal disks and it will automatically boot the only usb stick connected without using alt/option...

 

[herrdude]

I will give it a try but I am worried that if my mac is unable to enter the boot picker screen (holding options key) it won't matter what is put in the flash drive.


I tried that method before giving up on it -- I did use another computer I tried it with my macbook pro and was able to get the IP address too but I was unable to establish ssh connection. -- I kept getting connection refused once I entered the IP address

How can you get access refused?
Did you:

ssh root@192.168.10.231

Of course, replace with your IP address.
Then, put the password "flash" without quotes.
What exactly is the error message?

 

[highvoltage12v]

Now I finally tested - by adding the necessary registry entries I've got Windows 10 native brightness control even without OpenCore.

I tested the DTC driver on my 2010 21.5" iMac and had the brightness slider after install but no actual control. Did you have to manually add these registry edits for brightness control?

 

[s44sakuni]

How can you get access refused?
Did you:

ssh root@192.168.10.231

Of course, replace with your IP address.
Then, put the password "flash" without quotes.
What exactly is the error message?

I had similar problems as the user who posted #4667 -- yea I typed in those code wise and the error message was " connection refused" I did not even get a chance to enter my password.

@Ausdauersportler My 4-5 attempts were done without plugging in the internal disk (thinking it would be the easiest) -- that's where I got the error message. I was able to boot the usb so I know the usb is fine just don't know how to get around this. And now I can't even use the alternative windows installer method lol

So I tried to make sure the USB works again by connecting my macbook pro via ssh to my other (working) Imac and I get the same rejection, which makes me think I am doing something wrong.
Line I wrote once the it booted into the usb: ssh root@MYIP and I get this as a response:
ssh: connect to host MYIP port 22: Connection refused

I am getting this IP address by going into network settings and clicking the Ethernet tab "Self-assigned IP" and the status says Connected and the IPv4 does say "using DHCP"

 

[herrdude]

I had similar problems as the user who posted #4667 -- yea I typed in those code wise and the error message was " connection refused" I did not even get a chance to enter my password.

@Ausdauersportler My 4-5 attempts were done without plugging in the internal disk (thinking it would be the easiest) -- that's where I got the error message. I was able to boot the usb so I know the usb is fine just don't know how to get around this. And now I can't even use the alternative windows installer method lol

I had similar problems as the user who posted #4667 -- yea I typed in those code wise and the error message was " connection refused" I did not even get a chance to enter my password.

@Ausdauersportler My 4-5 attempts were done without plugging in the internal disk (thinking it would be the easiest) -- that's where I got the error message. I was able to boot the usb so I know the usb is fine just don't know how to get around this. And now I can't even use the alternative windows installer method lol

So I tried to make sure the USB works again by connecting my macbook pro via ssh to my other (working) Imac and I get the same rejection, which makes me think I am doing something wrong.
Line I wrote once the it booted into the usb: ssh root@MYIP and I get this as a response:
ssh: connect to host MYIP port 22: Connection refused

I am getting this IP address by going into network settings and clicking the Ethernet tab "Self-assigned IP" and the status says Connected and the IPv4 does say "using DHCP"

Are you sure the IP address is correct?
Can you ping it?

 

[s44sakuni]

Are you sure the IP address is correct?
Can you ping it?

I feel like I am not doing something right --I tried formatting the FS on mac -- maybe I will try it from a windows computer to see if I can get a different result.

 

[nathansz]

I tested the DTC driver on my 2010 21.5" iMac and had the brightness slider after install but no actual control. Did you have to manually add these registry edits for brightness control?

this is the result i got in windows 10. i had the slider but it did not actually change the brightness

 

[erihp]

I feel like I am not doing something right --I tried formatting the FS on mac -- maybe I will try it from a windows computer to see if I can get a different result.

The Ethernet device does not have a valid IP nor is it actually connected to a network.

You need to boot your iMac with the Linux usb with Ethernet already connected. Your other machine must be on the same network (wired or wireless(unless using a guest network), best bet is to wire the ssh client device via Ethernet in a port next to where you plugged in the iMac.

Now you need to discover the IP the iMac was assigned (assuming you have dhcp in your wired network). You can find this in your router management UI, or by scanning for pingable devices in your subnet.

Once you have the IP you ssh from the working machine to the iMac IP.

Put another way, you do not wire the iMac directly to your MacBook.

I hope that makes sense...

 

[s44sakuni]

@erihp -- Thank you, I had a feeling I was doing something stupid. I guess I didn't read how to establish ssh connection. Appreciate you spelling it out for me. Good news! I have the VBIOS flashed! Now on to Opencore.

Thank you herrdude, nathansz, and Ausdauersportler for all your help
Will keep ya'll posted once done with this process

 

[fabienpascal]

I tested the DTC driver on my 2010 21.5" iMac and had the brightness slider after install but no actual control. Did you have to manually add these registry edits for brightness control?

Adding manually is a must.

 

[internetzel]

So yesterday I got the WX4130 to work the same way as the WX4170 is supposed to work - in both macOS and UEFI booted Windows 10. Basically I transferred the GOP driver and something like the PWM table for the brightness control from Nick's WX4150 bios to the bios the WX4130 came with.
I'll post more details later on.

Unfortunately compared to the K1100m I've been using until now I've not managed to get brightness control working in Windows 10. I wonder if I could manipulate the default brightness level to a lower value in the bios.

 

[fabienpascal]

I've got a late 2009 27" iMac, so no problems with the audio.

This is not related. The 2011 iMac will not have the internal audio working on Windows UEFI. The OpenCore bootloader fixed that by loading the DSDT directly into the opencore bootloader, or applying the DSDT patch through the registry. This is a 2011 specific issue. Booting legacy will not have that issue though.
I missed the instruction on setting up the config.plist properly but it's fixed now.