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

[NOTNlCE]

Another question, I flashed the 770m using Nick's Beta3 rom, and the boot screen only appears when I restart the system from windows. When I restart from macOS I don't have a boot screen, is this normal or did I do something wrong?

This is expected. There is a small delay between POST and the initialization of the actual boot screen on the beta3 VBIOS. Most of the time (such as a quick reboot in macOS) the system boots too quickly for the EFI portion of the VBIOS to initialize. The reboot from Windows into macOS is a little slower, thus giving it more time and showing you a full boot screen. All is working as intended if you can hold the "Option" key at startup and get a boot picker.

 

[vladinikoloveqk]

Did you see the opencore boot screen?

Yes I saw the open core boot screen
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Please add your hard and software to your signature - we cannot guess what you are talking about and we will not read back trough twenty pages and 100 posts to get it!

What does "black screen? mean? No post, no chime, nothing. Please describe a little more specifically what you did, which machine you have, which OS you are trying to boot. Otherwise most other will simply ignore your requests here...

Try to get an external display (miniDP connector) in case you hear a chime and the machines seems to boot. Sometimes you get a picture there...

iMac Mid 2011, 21.5 i5 2400s, Quadro K1100m with High Sierra installed on a HDD. I hear a chime and when i booted with open core the boot screen was somewhere in the middle and then the screen went black.

 

[Kuyanov]

Dear friends, I recently wrote a message about help. Please help me.
I have iMac 27 2011. I bought an nvidia 780m and when I received the package, I tested the video card without a radiator for 2 minutes, I saw the high sierra operating system and everything was fine. After 2 weeks, I bought a radiator and reinstalled the 780m and updated the CPU on the i7-2600. But when you turn on the internal screen does not work, the whole image goes only to the external display connected via DP. Firmware Nick [D] vB's ROMs did not produce results. When the old AMD HD6770m graphics card returns, the internal display works, I checked 2 times replacing the 780m and AMD HD6770m in places. On the advice I installed on High Sierra and Catalina AppleGraphicsControl.kext with SIP disabled, but this did not produce any results.
What else can be done? How can I check a video card, etc.? Or is there a way to force the internal display to start?
I recorded a video to understand what is happening:

In the attached file, I show that the internal display works with AMD HD6770m:

 

[nathansz]

Dear friends, I recently wrote a message about help. Please help me.
I have iMac 27 2011. I bought an nvidia 780m and when I received the package, I tested the video card without a radiator for 2 minutes, I saw the high sierra operating system and everything was fine. After 2 weeks, I bought a radiator and reinstalled the 780m and updated the CPU on the i7-2600. But when you turn on the internal screen does not work, the whole image goes only to the external display connected via DP. Firmware Nick [D] vB's ROMs did not produce results. When the old AMD HD6770m graphics card returns, the internal display works, I checked 2 times replacing the 780m and AMD HD6770m in places. On the advice I installed on High Sierra and Catalina AppleGraphicsControl.kext with SIP disabled, but this did not produce any results.
What else can be done? How can I check a video card, etc.? Or is there a way to force the internal display to start?
I recorded a video to understand what is happening:

In the attached file, I show that the internal display works with AMD HD6770m:

hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can chime in

but is it possible that upgrading both the cpu and the gpu creates too much of a power demand

i have 2 2011 27” imacs. one has i5 processor and originally had 1GB 6970. the other has i7 and was originally 2GB 6970

they have completely different power supplies. i don’t know though if one is aftermarket power supply and that’s why or if they were originally different

 

[erihp]

Is it possible to test (and flash) large MXM cards too (case opened) with a HP elite 8200 USDT?

I would think so, but there are three considerations:

1) Adequate power.
The HP 8200 USDT uses DC power. I am currently using a 200W HP power adapter from a docking station. P/N: 677764-003. That said, I have not tested mxm-b cards in this system.

2) Motherboard removal from Chassis.
The MXM slot on board only fits an MXM-A card with the case on.

3) Adequate cooling.
The heatsink that comes with the MXM-A cards on the UDST is pretty puny. Since the motherboard will need to be removed, this would help with space for a larger cooling solution. That said, the stock heatsink may be fine if you are just flashing.

Attaching a picture of the chassis and heat sink.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Is it possible to test (and flash) large MXM cards too (case opened) with a HP elite 8200 USDT?

I would say you would have to dremel part of the side panel away. With the 800 g1 (not 8200) you can make iGPU the default boot device so in theory you can flash a bricked card as long as it partially shows up in windows.

Also a 230W HP power brick is needed for the machine to boot with an MXM card at all.

To use a heatsink with the MXM card, buy this card:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-ATI-Mob...-Type-A-Graphics-Card-512MB-DDR3/133409269874 and remove the heatsink. I haven't yet tried the heatsink on an MXM-b card. The plate underneath may not be big enough for huge DIEs so maybe use the iMac heatsink hanging out the side with with a 120MM fan on top.

Since the HP Blue board WX4150 doesn't work in the iMac's at all (they won't power on in 2010/2011) I'm using one with my HP 800 G1. It makes a Great small Mac OS computer. One Displayport is for the WX4150 the other one always paired to the iGPU. Nick's EG2 ROM is actually needed on the HP for the iGPU to display video in Mac OS. I guess it's just a strange combination.

The blower fan shown is from a Xbox 360 Power supply. It's noisy, not too bad with the case on, but the airflow is needed.

 

[Marsupio]

OPEN CORE > do I accept to download and install update?

Hi Zensurfeur, did you receive an answer to your question ?

 

[ZenSurfeur]

Hi no
but I did the update and still working fine

 

[D.Lister72]

The only way to figure the memory out is to read the printing on the four big square VRAM chips and let google do the search and figure out the density of the chip. My K2100M 2GB has 8 such chips, four on each side. Most sellers do not know what the are offering in detail there.

I have confirmed that my card has 2GB. Any idea why mine is not showing up as such?

 

[NOTNlCE]

I have confirmed that my card has 2GB. Any idea why mine is not showing up as such?

This is conjecture from my personal experience with PCB repair, but it is possible one or more of the RAM chips on your card failed in its former life. Often, simply by moving a resistor, board refurbishers can disable half the memory on the card, or something similar.

Again, this is sheer conjecture, but would make sense. By chance, did you purchase your card from a reseller in China?

 

[D.Lister72]

This is conjecture from my personal experience with PCB repair, but it is possible one or more of the RAM chips on your card failed in its former life. Often, simply by moving a resistor, board refurbishers can disable half the memory on the card, or something similar.

Again, this is sheer conjecture, but would make sense. By chance, did you purchase your card from a reseller in China?

It was an eBay seller named techredosurplus.
The package came from Maryland.

 

[Roger GP]

Hey Everyone!!
Just stumbled on this page as i have just obtained a 27 inch mid-2011 iMac that i am currently in the process of upgrading. I been reading some of the submissions here. I wanted to know which graphic card do you recommend? Budget friendly of course but looking for 4k, video editing & gaming capability. Thanks!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hey Everyone!!
Just stumbled on this page as i have just obtained a 27 inch mid-2011 iMac that i am currently in the process of upgrading. I been reading some of the submissions here. I wanted to know which graphic card do you recommend? Budget friendly of course but looking for 4k, video editing & gaming capability. Thanks!

The guide is hidden on the first page and first post of the thread - you will find a lot of questions answered there.

 

[erihp]

Hey Everyone!!
Just stumbled on this page as i have just obtained a 27 inch mid-2011 iMac that i am currently in the process of upgrading. I been reading some of the submissions here. I wanted to know which graphic card do you recommend? Budget friendly of course but looking for 4k, video editing & gaming capability. Thanks!

take out ‘budget friendly’ and maybe you have a chance at getting what you want, you can’t have it all!

also, prepare yourself for some work and surgery... this isn’t for the faint of heart
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The guide is hidden on the first page and first post of the thread - you will find a lot of questions answered there.

haha ‘hidden’

 

[Ausdauersportler]

It was an eBay seller named techredosurplus.
The package came from Maryland.

The only thing I know: It is not a vBIOS or iMac issue, all my refurbished cards work well and happily showing up with 2 GB.
You may install Windows on your iMac and even use the old vBIOS to fence out everything.
As @NOTNlCE said before you have most likely just a limited hardware - in real live you will not feel the pain, I would assume.
I would ask for a rebate

 

[erihp]

For everyone buying cards on eBay... Know that these folks are just selling random parts, it seems like they have no way to test them and are just shipping anything they’ve got laying around.

So far I’ve purchased a two k2100m (one was bad) and two k610m’s that don’t POST.

Luckily, I’ve got 3 more K610m on the way from a different seller as I suspected this could be a pattern.

Hopefully ONE of these cards works! My iMac has been in pieces for weeks!

 

[stephengrenfell]

Dear friends, I recently wrote a message about help. Please help me.
I have iMac 27 2011. I bought an nvidia 780m and when I received the package, I tested the video card without a radiator for 2 minutes, I saw the high sierra operating system and everything was fine. After 2 weeks, I bought a radiator and reinstalled the 780m and updated the CPU on the i7-2600. But when you turn on the internal screen does not work, the whole image goes only to the external display connected via DP. Firmware Nick [D] vB's ROMs did not produce results. When the old AMD HD6770m graphics card returns, the internal display works, I checked 2 times replacing the 780m and AMD HD6770m in places. On the advice I installed on High Sierra and Catalina AppleGraphicsControl.kext with SIP disabled, but this did not produce any results.
What else can be done? How can I check a video card, etc.? Or is there a way to force the internal display to start?
I recorded a video to understand what is happening:

In the attached file, I show that the internal display works with AMD HD6770m:

I have an iMac 27 mid 2011 and replaced an HD6970m with a GTX780M and had the same symptoms as you. The 780m would only work on external screen.

With internal screen connected. 1st diagnostic led lights up and on pressing the power on button the fans would spin for a few seconds then nothing, no other LEDs lit up, screen blank, no chime, no noise from ODD. Took it apart and carefully checked everything connected, GPU card correctly seated in its socket. In the end I gave up and sent the 780m back.

With the 780m and external screen I also had poor results with Unigine Valley score 1170.

 

[stephengrenfell]

I have confirmed that my card has 2GB. Any idea why mine is not showing up as such?

What does NVFLASH say (sorry if you've already tried that, I may have missed the post) ?.

It was an eBay seller named techredosurplus.
The package came from Maryland.

More than 34000 sales... I doub't they do any real testing. Just chance it. Statistically some items will be faulty, but most probably not. It's just a number game for them.

 

[NOTNlCE]

It was an eBay seller named techredosurplus.
The package came from Maryland.

Ah, I've been in their shop a few times. I'd doubt they modified anything, most likely when the GPU was produced it was restricted down to 1GB of VRAM due to binning or a bad factory component. If they marketed the GPU as 2GB, you could contact them, but in all honestly, for the horsepower of the K2100M, I doubt you will notice an appreciable difference. If all is working perfectly, I wouldn't be concerned.

 

[vladinikoloveqk]

Yes I saw the open core boot screen
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iMac Mid 2011, 21.5 i5 2400s, Quadro K1100m with High Sierra installed on a HDD. I hear a chime and when i booted with open core the boot screen was somewhere in the middle and then the screen went black.

What should i do?

 

[tgaillar]

What does NVFLASH say (sorry if you've already tried that, I may have missed the post) ?.



More than 34000 sales... I doub't they do any real testing. Just chance it. Statistically some items will be faulty, but most probably not. It's just a number game for them.

Seems most high-rate sellers are indeed distributors (mine clearly stated it as he was waiting to be delivered the board .. I had bought -- China lockdown had just started). Does not mean the quality's not good (very high-rate sellers pay *a lot* of attention to the quality of their sales, or their success rate quickly gets impacted, which never is good for business)

 

[cyberheater]

What should i do?

Do you reinstall the OS. I reinstalled on my system which allowed me to boot using opencore. If you have an external hdd, it might be worth giving it a try.

 

[stephengrenfell]

(very high-rate sellers pay *a lot* of attention to the quality of their sales, or their success rate quickly gets impacted, which never is good for business)

If an eBay transaction is refunded, the transaction is cancelled and there’s no feedback recorded, this will mask any negative feedback trend from returns. The only negative effect is the costs of postage etc.. eat into the margins.

For the big eBay sellers there’s always x% that get returned and if x gets too big find another supplier. This forces the China suppliers to have reasonable quality and not just bulk supply junk.

 

[D.Lister72]

What does NVFLASH say (sorry if you've already tried that, I may have missed the post) ?.



More than 34000 sales... I doub't they do any real testing. Just chance it. Statistically some items will be faulty, but most probably not. It's just a number game for them.

Is there a certain command I would need to run in NVFLASH to get the card information?

 

[vladinikoloveqk]

Do you reinstall the OS. I reinstalled on my system which allowed me to boot using opencore. If you have an external hdd, it might be worth giving it a try.

I’ll try tommorow and let you know