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

[meggle]

Well, end of suspense.
[...]
It's not a 109-C769A1-00B -xx that i have, but a 109-C95847-00D-02.

Thanks for spending this time and reporting back Pascal!

I have looked at the picture of the GPU you posted and compared it to mine, I can't see any difference whatsoever between the two 00D cards even in places where there might be different resistor placements etc. Is there anything else that might be different between our two iMacs? What Bootrom/SMC version are you running? Anything out of the ordinary that might make a difference?

I have contacted my reseller and he agreed to swap out my card for a 00C model (maybe who knows what will arrive). But I am wondering if I can/should do anything else with my card before sending it back. Unfortunately I do not have another MXM or PCIe capable machine where I could confirm it's function... It does draw current and get's slightly warm in operation but not crazy hot.

When testing I am not attaching the display, but rather going into OSX via Screen Sharing and checking if a GPU is reported. Should I try with connecting the internal display? I tried this before but only with the stock VBIOS. If I have some time later I will also try resetting PRAM/SMC again, I also only did that with stock VBIOS, where it did not make a difference.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Thanks for spending this time and reporting back Pascal!

I have looked at the picture of the GPU you posted and compared it to mine, I can't see any difference whatsoever between the two 00D cards even in places where there might be different resistor placements etc. Is there anything else that might be different between our two iMacs? What Bootrom/SMC version are you running? Anything out of the ordinary that might make a difference?

I have contacted my reseller and he agreed to swap out my card for a 00C model (maybe who knows what will arrive). But I am wondering if I can/should do anything else with my card before sending it back. Unfortunately I do not have another MXM or PCIe capable machine where I could confirm it's function... It does draw current and get's slightly warm in operation but not crazy hot.

When testing I am not attaching the display, but rather going into OSX via Screen Sharing and checking if a GPU is reported. Should I try with connecting the internal display? I tried this before but only with the stock VBIOS. If I have some time later I will also try resetting PRAM/SMC again, I also only did that with stock VBIOS, where it did not make a difference.

You should try to connect the the internal display, first thing to do.
My SMC version: 87.0.0.0.0

My bootrom is modded, it was mandatory for the first beta bios. And i didn't unmodded it latter. Normally it is not needed anymore.

 

[meggle]

You should try to connect the the internal display, first thing to do.
My SMC version: 87.0.0.0.0

My bootrom is modded, it was mandatory for the first beta bios. And i didn't unmodded it latter. Normally it is not needed anymore.

Aha, interesting! So in case nobody has any objections I will try again first with the internal display connected (the hypothesis being that the GPU does not report itself to the system if no internal display is connected), and then try flashing the modified bootrom and try again.

By the way I am also currently not using OpenCore, could that make a difference also for the general function and detection of the GPU, besides Backlight control?

Ill probably have time in the next few days, if anybody wants to chime in if this makes sense that would be great.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Aha, interesting! So in case nobody has any objections I will try again first with the internal display connected (the hypothesis being that the GPU does not report itself to the system if no internal display is connected), and then try flashing the modified bootrom and try again.

Ill probably have time in the next few days, if anybody wants to chime in if this makes sense that would be great.

As i said, no modded bootrom shall be needed. Try with the display connected.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Aha, interesting! So in case nobody has any objections I will try again first with the internal display connected (the hypothesis being that the GPU does not report itself to the system if no internal display is connected), and then try flashing the modified bootrom and try again.

By the way I am also currently not using OpenCore, could that make a difference also for the general function and detection of the GPU, besides Backlight control?

Ill probably have time in the next few days, if anybody wants to chime in if this makes sense that would be great.

Without Opencore you will boot blind till the desktop, but you will boot.

 

[Rhino_60]

Hello,
after several "unsuccessful trials" in order to programming my graphic card (k2100m) by CH341a programmer, I've choose flashing method via linux boot from SD card.
Finally yesterday I've completed flashing graphic card with Nick's BIOS K2100M and changed my i5 CPU with an i7-2600s.
At first reboot everything was ok, I've tried also to restart in “startup manager” mode (holding option key pressed) without problem, just to see if my win bootcamp partition was available.
Later, in the evening, after power on .... black screen! I've made a PRAM-NVRAM reset and everything was returned ok.
After I've tried to power on and off several times just to check for other problems, I've found that only after reset NVRAM was possible to restart OSX High Sierra.
Today, I've repeated other several power on test with same results (only after NVRAM reset is possible to restart OSX), furthermore, now I'm not more able to restart my system in "startup manager” mode in order to activate and testing functions of Windows Bootcamp partition.
Attached here screenshot of my System Information pre and post modding for GPU and CPU.
NOTE: Driver EFI version for new graphic card is not present, is it a "normal issue" ?
Do you have any suggestions ?
Thanks!

 

[JohnShaw55]

Good morning from the UK. Ok. So today going to fix the 780 card flater on the heat sinc. (Is that right?) then, if the screen fires, have a Linux mint distro flash rom to boot from. Works on my 2017 2.5 iMac.

Did you flash the card in advance?
I doubt your “non dremel” installation will work, I installed two 780m so far and had to grind the heat sink.
Did I mention the pictures attached at the first post of this thread

You were right. removed some metal and bang- works.... now to get mojavie on it! THANKS!

 

[StephN999]

Bonjour, Bonsoir,

I plan to test the part of the Backlight control code found in iMac 13,1 (I have not yet found the bootrom)
because the architecture of the graphics card (GeForce GT 640M) is very close to the Quadro K2100 (GK107 and GK106).

I specify that I know that slab in programming I will just play copy-paste with UEFITool, I have already modified my bootrom with the code of my processor, more than waiting for my programmer EPROMM to test (I would have tested it directly, but I never managed to flash my bootrom directly despite the tutorials seen on the right to left).

Besides, if people have info to help me, see if I should make other backups (I was thinking of SMC).

Bonne journée/Soirée

 

[stephengrenfell]

Well this morning I found a very cheap (30 euro) mini DP - HDMI adapter in a local "Hi Tech" shop.

And when I tried to boot up with an external display connected I was greeted by this.......

But still it won't boot at all with internal lcd connected.....
So I replaced the inverter board, you never know and as I have one handy..... but alas no change.
I have already tried another power supply, so it's not that either.

Then carefully examined the lcd connectors (cable and m'board) with a 20x magnifying eye, all looks ok, and the connectors all seat easily and securely in place when connected.

I did notice a couple of strange things though.
1. After boot up there was no bluetooth (no keyboard no mouse), and on opening bluetooth in préférences impossible to disactivate BT.
2. Then I noticed connecting any USB device (ie mouse, keyboard, or hub) nothing worked - it seemed there was no USB power (no led on hub or mouse).
Another power down restart solved both of these these though.

Any one have any ideas...

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Well this morning I found a very cheap (30 euro) mini DP - HDMI adapter in a local "Hi Tech" shop.

And when I tried to boot up with an external display connected I was greeted by this.......

View attachment 915292

But still it won't boot at all with internal lcd connected.....
So I replaced the inverter board, you never know and as I have one handy..... but alas no change.
I have already tried another power supply, so it's not that either.

Then carefully examined the lcd connectors (cable and m'board) with a 20x magnifying eye, all looks ok, and the connectors all seat easily and securely in place when connected.

I did notice a couple of strange things though.
1. After boot up there was no bluetooth (no keyboard no mouse), and on opening bluetooth in préférences impossible to disactivate BT.
2. Then I noticed connecting any USB device (ie mouse, keyboard, or hub) nothing worked - it seemed there was no USB power (no led on hub or mouse).
Another power down restart solved both of these these though.

Any one have any ideas...

A couple of weeks ago I had faulty 780M which happily started with an external display and did not like to start with the internal LCD connected at all. It also gave me surprisingly low benchmark results (on the external display).

To fence this problem out please boot HS with the external display, download UNIGINE valley and let if run using the 1920x1080, medium settings and finally post the results.

You may compare your results with these...

 

[nathansz]

I did notice a couple of strange things though.
1. After boot up there was no bluetooth (no keyboard no mouse), and on opening bluetooth in préférences impossible to disactivate BT.
2. Then I noticed connecting any USB device (ie mouse, keyboard, or hub) nothing worked - it seemed there was no USB power (no led on hub or mouse).
Another power down restart solved both of these these though.

i have this problem also, but display has always worked.

Always after a sleep/wake fail it reboots to beeps, then second reboot no usb (bluetooth is on usb) then either third reboot or an smc reset and everything works fine

i have a theory that maybe the battery is dying

 

[StephN999]

If someone could get me this section with UEFITool from his imac 13,1 it would be really nice. (ROMTool for dump your BootRom)

Thank you!

 

[meggle]

Quick update on my 00D Saga: I tried it now with the internal display connected and the modified iMac Bootrom just for fun, but it did not make any difference. So I am sending the card back and will be getting a replacement in the next couple of weeks. Ill post my results then!

 

[nikey22]

If someone could get me this section with UEFITool from his imac 13,1 it would be really nice. (ROMTool for dump your BootRom)

View attachment 915329
Thank you!

those DXE modules are like firmware interfaces for the back-light. They are mainly for hot-keys polling; accessing NVRAM values, etc... I've already done this several months ago. I tried swapping in other versions from different iMacs. Nothing useful discovered. Been there, done that already unfortunately... But good effort!

 

[JohnShaw55]

Good morning from the UK. Ok. So today going to fix the 780 card flater on the heat sinc. (Is that right?) then, if the screen fires, have a Linux mint distro flash rom to boot from. Works on my 2017 2.5 iMac.

You were right. removed some metal and bang- works.... now to get mojavie on it! THANKS!

View attachment 915274

well had to open the imac to remove the ssd and checking all the connection cables everything was going great the the screen went white and the machine turned off????? I'm begining to. think it may have comvid???

 

[tgaillar]

If someone could get me this section with UEFITool from his imac 13,1 it would be really nice. (ROMTool for dump your BootRom)

View attachment 915329
Thank you!

While iMac 11,x (2010 & 27" late 2009) & 12,x (2011) had their brightness control signal coming from the MXM board (a PWM output from the GPU), iMac 13,x (2012) and further have their brightness control signal now coming from a pin out of the SMC micro-controller on the main logic board (hint: see the schematics for yourself).

So whatever you might find in the BIOS of an iMac 13,x (and beyond) likely won't help figure out brightness control on 11,x/12,x iMacs. But keep going, you'll learn more about iMAC EFI for sure!

 

[stephengrenfell]

A couple of weeks ago I had faulty 780M which happily started with an external display and did not like to start with the internal LCD connected at all. It also gave me surprisingly low benchmark results (on the external display).

To fence this problem out please boot HS with the external display, download UNIGINE valley and let if run using the 1920x1080, medium settings and finally post the results.

You may compare your results with these...

If I install and run UNIGINE I get these results with the external display.
(wasn't clear to me what you meant by "boot HS")

Looking at the other results for GTX780M it's much slower, but these are all with an i7-2600 - how much difference does hyperthreading make ?.

 

[stephengrenfell]

i have this problem also, but display has always worked.

Always after a sleep/wake fail it reboots to beeps, then second reboot no usb (bluetooth is on usb) then either third reboot or an smc reset and everything works fine

i have a theory that maybe the battery is dying

You think the lithium battery on the m'board needs replacing ?.

I guess after more than 8 years could be.

 

[Martonita]

Hi everyone in the forum!

First of all thanks for your amazing work. I'm the owner of a mid 2011 27'' i5 iMac, struggling with it`s awesome AMD HD6970M card... Missed Apple's replacement program, and after a reballing and a new chip the card is dead.

I've read through the forum to find the card that suits better my situation: I have MacOS Sierra, and I'm looking for a card with better performance but secure (in terms of heat) and easy to install (in terms of size/heatsink).

- Is the Quadro k2100m enough?

- Is the GTX770M the same size as the GTX765M? Since the 770 is more powerful, is there more risk of running hot?

- I pretend to go for Catalina, upgrading or maybe installing a new SSD. I have read this in the first post:

Some users might see a black screen on macOS 10.12 "Sierra" after swapping to an NVIDIA card.
Link to information on getting macOS Sierra running with non-apple Nvidia graphics cards:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/page-25#post-24105622

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/page-25#post-24105622

Does that solution work for NVIDIA cards? Do you recommend to go for an AMD card instead? I just found a WX4130 on Ebay, still not sure if the BIOS chip is on board.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

If I install and run UNIGINE I get these results with the external display.
(wasn't clear to me what you meant by "boot HS")

Looking at the other results for GTX780M it's much slower, but these are all with an i7-2600 - how much difference does hyperthreading make ?.

View attachment 915361

This is half the value you normally get with a really working card. HS means High Sierra

Since the boost of the cards is normally temperature controlled there is a small chance you just have a really bad installation (heat sink mod, thermal paste, etc.) and for that reason the GPU simply overheats or more likely you have a broken card with a dying GPU or some missing caps. My broken card is in Italy, @snam11 diagnosed five or six missing caps causing nearly the same symptoms. But this is a guess since we currently do not know if adding the caps will make the symptoms disappear.

Recently I did some benchmarks on my 2011-i7 with my WX4170 using different BIOS versions only driving the external display and others driving both displays and I got the same top values only depending on the BIOS modifications, not the display type.

If you check the list you will find some K2100M values very similar (30 FPS/1180 Score) with i5-2500S, i5-2400, and i7-2600. I would say the benchmark on the same machine is more or less independent of the CPU type.

We have to ask around if somebody has different valley benchmark results depending on the display type used?

My advice:
Check the physical installation of the card on the heat sink! Is it parallel on both axis, does the GPU have full contact to the copper part, do you have paste on the complete GPU?

 

[_Beckett]

Hi! Which system, which OS, which firmware version...?

OS - High Sierra
what You mean firmware version?

also its the same even with no hdd pluged in

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi everyone in the forum!

First of all thanks for your amazing work. I'm the owner of a mid 2011 27'' i5 iMac, struggling with it`s awesome AMD HD6970M card... Missed Apple's replacement program, and after a reballing and a new chip the card is dead.

I've read through the forum to find the card that suits better my situation: I have MacOS Sierra, and I'm looking for a card with better performance but secure (in terms of heat) and easy to install (in terms of size/heatsink).

- Is the Quadro k2100m enough?

- Is the GTX770M the same size as the GTX765M? Since the 770 is more powerful, is there more risk of running hot?

- I pretend to go for Catalina, upgrading or maybe installing a new SSD. I have read this in the first post:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/page-25#post-24105622

Does that solution work for NVIDIA cards? Do you recommend to go for an AMD card instead? I just found a WX4130 on Ebay, still not sure if the BIOS chip is on board.

Thanks in advance!!

Long story short:
Take the K2100M, it is known to work - including all features your want. The speed gain of the 765 is not worth the trouble, if you ask me.

The AMD cards are quite risky, you simply do not know what you get and especially the 4130/4150 do not work in your mid 2011.
[automerge]1589562441[/automerge]

You think the lithium battery on the m'board needs replacing ?.

I guess after more than 8 years could be.

Replace it with a quality product CR2032 - it is nearly impossible to get the BR2032 (the high temperature version or the CR2032) at least here in GY.

 

[nathansz]

You think the lithium battery on the m'board needs replacing ?.

I guess after more than 8 years could be.

i’m my case i think it may be a possibility for the usb and sleep issues. i’m am going to replace it next time i open it up

i don’t know if the battery would have any effect on the internal display working or not though. you could very well be having to separate issues

but i would let those more knowledgeable then me weigh in

 

[Ausdauersportler]

OS - High Sierra
what You mean firmware version?

also its the same even with no hdd pluged in

About this Mac->System Report->Hardware->Boot Rom Version == Firmware (probably Google can give you same answer?)
System == Hardware, i.e. iMac 27" late 2009 i5-750

You could change your signature in this forum to reflect your hardware. The signature is added to each post and everybody knows what we are talking about...

 

[stephengrenfell]

This is half the value you normally get with a really working card. HS means High Sierra

Since the boost of the cards is normally temperature controlled there is a small chance you just have a really bad installation (heat sink mod, thermal paste, etc.) and for that reason the GPU simply overheats or more likely you have a broken card with a dying GPU or some missing caps. My broken card is in Italy, @snam11 diagnosed five or six missing caps causing nearly the same symptoms. But this is a guess since we currently do not know if adding the caps will make the symptoms disappear.

Recently I did some benchmarks on my 2011-i7 with my WX4170 using different BIOS versions only driving the external display and others driving both displays and I got the same top values only depending on the BIOS modifications, not the display type.

If you check the list you will find some K2100M values very similar (30 FPS/1180 Score) with i5-2500S, i5-2400, and i7-2600. I would say the benchmark on the same machine is more or less independent of the CPU type.

We have to ask around if somebody has different valley benchmark results depending on the display type used?

My advice:
Check the physical installation of the card on the heat sink! Is it parallel on both axis, does the GPU have full contact to the copper part, do you have paste on the complete GPU?

Diff in CPUs was just a thought as there are double the number of pipelines.

I'll leave it switched off over night and try a benchmark directly after boot up and see if the figures are different. It had been switched on all day when I tried it earlier.

After that yeah OK I'll take it apart again.

Asside I was anyway beggining to wonder if there's a m'board power issue. Prob with the original HD6970 was sometimes bizzare, at first the vertical bars several times - reboot =ok , then just black white (no bars) with reboot = ok, then still blank white screen (no bars) - with restore only way to revive it, and finally fails to make it through boot up. At least once I saw flashing white backgound after blank white screen (like inverter board problem).

Many thanks for your help so far anyway.