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

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Great! Thanks for the thorough information.
I'll try that ROM file and report.

Thanks again Pascal!
 
Some interesting MXM to PCI-E 16x solution.

perhaps they can build a pure MXM Riser cable also. look at the the Kickstarter Project,
but at minimum of 100$ it's only worthwhile for EGPU users or professional MXM Patchers...

MXM to PCI-E 16x.jpeg


MXM to PCI-E 16x.jpg



Introducing SourNinja Dual Weild

www.sourninja.com www.sourninja.com
 
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I am now preparing my iMac 2011 27" with GTX765 to run OpenCore before installing the WX4170 but I am getting a black screen when loading the desktop.

I have removed Lilu and Whatevergreen kexts from /Library/Extensions and was able to get a loading bar which I couldn't before that.
I have loaded the NVidia Opencore config.plist

I am running 10.15.5 and since I installed the AppleGraphicsControl from 10.15.4, I am wondering if that could cause an issue with OpenCore.

When running a "kextcache -i /", here is what I am getting... (any idea?)

Home-iMac:Extensions admin$ sudo kextcache -i /
Kext with invalid signature (-67030) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fc28b443800 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/IOSurface.kext/", ID = "com.apple.iokit.IOSurface" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67030) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fc28b735190 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67030) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fc28b717c40 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67054) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fc28b71a680 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePolicyControl.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.ApplePolicyControl" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67054) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fc28b4b7e80 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/", ID = "com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67054) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fc28b462490 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.AppleHDA" }
KernelCache ID: 5ED71223A6A826978CA07D0ACBC76FA1
Kext with invalid signature (-67030) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fd98f665ae0 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/IOSurface.kext/", ID = "com.apple.iokit.IOSurface" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67054) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fd991d12170 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.AppleHDA" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67054) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fd98f5eeac0 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/", ID = "com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67030) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fd991d47320 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67054) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fd991d4adf0 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePolicyControl.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.ApplePolicyControl" }
Kext with invalid signature (-67030) allowed: <OSKext 0x7fd991d65880 [0x7fff913b48c0]> { URL = "file:///System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext/", ID = "com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy" }
 
There is actually something that I can't explain and is weird.

When I tell the system to load my USB disk with Opencore from the "startup disk" in preferences system, it will load a menu which is text based only and once I select my Catalina partition, I will get the loading bar and then black screen

However when I boot the system holding the option key and select the USB partition with OpenCore manually, I am getting a different menu (kind of like Clover) graphical one, and once I select the Catalina partition, it will this time boot to the desktop.

When I did open the opencore configurator though, I was asked to update to version 0.6 which I did.
The OpenCore configurator is showing a popup message saying that it can't find any compatible version installed.
Could that be what I did wrong?
 
If you had no interest in going past High Sierra or Mojave, Is it possible to modify a kext or plist file to get brightness working on the Nvidia K610m/K1100m/K2100M cards without using OpenCore. If so what file needs modification?
 
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duvelhedz said:
If you had no interest in going past High Sierra or Mojave, Is it possible to modify a kext or plist file to get brightness working on the Nvidia K610m/K1100m/K2100M cards without using OpenCore. If so what file needs modification?
Click to expand...

that sounds interessting, I was not aware of this possibility.

this kext mod is perhaps not working with other Nvidia cards like you listed.. ?
 
internetzel said:
So here more details about how I got the WX4130 to work:
  • luckily I could find the original WX4150 VBIOS for Nick's modified WX4150_GOP;
    binary diffing those files showed the replaced GOP driver and some small modifications to another part
  • copying the GOP driver from Nick's modified VBIOS to the one of the WX4130 was simple - but did not enable any backlight yet
  • PolarisBiosEditor can be used to correct the checksum after making any modifications to the first part of the VBIOS - the GOP driver and some other part are not included in that checksum
  • ATOMBIOSReader showed the metadata of the other modified part; it's start address and length;
    the corresponding section in the WX4130 VIBOS was larger so I had no problem copying the data from Nick's BIOS to the WX4130 one, because those sections start with specifying their length - that did enable backlight in OpenCore, and both macOS and Windows 10
After mounting it to an MXM-B heatsink using a copper shim (I wanted to leave the K1100M mounted to the MXM-A heatsink), I could make some performance tests;
So the card performs very well in Windows 10 (it should be as fast as the 6970M, but with far more features and very low TDP) but very badly in macOS - doesn't even get warm there and performs worse than the K1100M.
Edit: After retesting in Windows 10, 10.14 and 10.13 I got similar frame rates in Unigine Valley Extreme (changed to OpenGL when running on Windows); generally around 20 fps, rarely above 30 fps, with only slightly higher performance when running on Windows. Geekbench 5 Metal and OpenCL scores in 10.14 were within the expected range, a bit better than a Radeon Pro 450.
The Geekbench Metal and OpenCL benchmarks report a totally different name for the compute device containing the word "prototype" compared to when running Geekbench on 10.14 - so I guess the drivers in 10.13 might not fully support the WX4130.

The attached zip file contains both the original and the modified VBIOS - all the changes were copied 1:1 from Nick's VBIOS for the WX4150 (and WX4170), so it's his work and merit.

I never managed to get access to the EEPROM via a CH314a based programming clip - as soon as I connect the clip the CH341a board begins to draw a high current and is switched off by the OS. So any flashing was done in Windows 10.

I bought the card from China via eBay and the listing is still active (the card arrived in bad condition but is working well). The card works in the 27" late 2009 core i (iMac 11,1) and should work in the 2010 iMacs (iMac 11,2 and 11,3) as well.
Click to expand...
Using a WX4130 in a mid 2010 21,5' iMac, i have a problem with windows 10.
Did you use windows 10 bios? As i have an 43 error when windows try to load graphic drivers in windows 10 UEFI?
 
duvelhedz said:
If you had no interest in going past High Sierra or Mojave, Is it possible to modify a kext or plist file to get brightness working on the Nvidia K610m/K1100m/K2100M cards without using OpenCore. If so what file needs modification?
Click to expand...
Was this a question or a statement of some unknown facts?
Right now I am only aware of the single Nvidia card model @Nick [D]vB is offering on eBay as a real drop in replacement offering brightness control and boot screen selection without using OpenCore.
 
Ausdauersportler said:
Was this a question or a statement of some unknown facts?
Right now I am only aware of the single Nvidia card model @Nick [D]vB is offering on eBay as a real drop in replacement offering brightness control and boot screen selection without using OpenCore.
Click to expand...
For this to work the changes need to be Made VBIOS level, otherwise OpenCore needs to spoof/add these values. The EG2 ROMs for AMD can accomplish this without OpenCore, but they have the unsolved no backlight issue on Boot, its a non issue for me, in the OS once drivers load, Backlight works.
 
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Agree with above.
For the Nvidia cards, kext modifications won't work unless you spoof the system using a bootloader, like OpenCore and take control of what gets loaded. I personally am a purist, this is an unacceptable way of life for me.

What you need is the UGA draw protocol to be instantiated by the efi rom. Once this is done, it will load the APPL-blackscreen prefs, backlight-control and the pwm-info parameters to work with your native display's EDID information. All three properties will be triggered at once, and you get brightness/gray boot up screen.
None of your roms do this...
 
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Hi all,

I have buy a WX7100 video card from Aliexpress that unfortunately does not work (my iMac does not power on).


The fan start to spin for 1 second and the iMac auto power off.
I don't know if this video card has even work in my iMac 27 (2011) because I have return it to the seller.
However, before send it back, I have take some pictures and a complete BIOS dump, maybe this can help.

I'll wait to buy a new one until you guys found why some WX7100 does not work.

Thanks!

Image 1.jpg


Image 2.jpg

[automerge]1593890072[/automerge]
 

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Pascal Baillargeau said:
Using a WX4130 in a mid 2010 21,5' iMac, i have a problem with windows 10.
Did you use windows 10 bios? As i have an 43 error when windows try to load graphic drivers in windows 10 UEFI?
Click to expand...
Windows 10, UEFI booted, did work fine using the modified VBIOSes on the WX4130 I had.
I attached the VBIOS I'm currently using. There is one for the 2 GB cards (WX4130) and one for the 4 GB cards (WX4150, RX560).
 

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lumos said:
Hi all,

I have buy a WX7100 video card from Aliexpress that unfortunately does not work (my iMac does not power on).


The fan start to spin for 1 second and the iMac auto power off.
I don't know if this video card has even work in my iMac 27 (2011) because I have return it to the seller.
However, before send it back, I have take some pictures and a complete BIOS dump, maybe this can help.

I'll wait to buy a new one until you guys found why some WX7100 does not work.

Thanks!


[automerge]1593890072[/automerge]
Click to expand...
@jborko had the same type of card (different serial, just checked) showing the same symptoms in two different iMac 2011. But it ran (slowly) in a 2009. Maybe we did not knew the correct settings to make it work properly in the 2009, but I still have no idea why some cards run and others not in the 2011.

Lately another user had the same experience and had the chance to put the card in a Dell 7720 - and it worked there. So this cannot be the card, alone. There is something we obviously do not know and do not understand right now.
And we had this week another success story using a 00D card.
 
Hello,

A such simple process of loading macOS Catalina with OpenCore does not work for me.
My iMac will always kernel panic and reboot.

I am trying to get OC to work as I have my WX4170 waiting to be installed and tested...

My config:
iMac 27" 2011
3.4Ghz Core i7
40GB of RAM
GPU: GTX765 flashed by Nick
Storage: 500GB SSD
macOS 10.15.4

I have removed Lilu and Whatevergreen kexts from /Library/Extensions and /System/Library/Extensions
I have even tried a new install from the Dosdude installer on another USB disk and same thing

The iMac works fine without the OpenCore bootloader.

It seems to be a pretty straight forward procedure which I did:
- Get a USB stick
- Format it with one HFS partition in GUID format
- Restore the Opencore DMG posted on this thread
- Replace the config.plist with the appropriate one based on the GPU (Nvidia obviously in my case)
- Select the Catalina Loader in startup disk
- Reboot and once in Opencore loader, load my Catalina system.

It will load up until it reaches nearly the end, then black screen and reboot.
At this point, it goes back to Opencore and my Keyboard/Mouse (bluetooth) are unresponsive.

I need to switch off the iMac and restart it.

I might be missing a simple step or my config is not compatible for some reasons.

The only hardware upgrade other than the CPU/GPU and SSD that I've done on this machine is the Wi-Fi card that I took from a newer MacBook Pro BRM43XX

Any hint please?
 
overshoot said:
Hello,

A such simple process of loading macOS Catalina with OpenCore does not work for me.
My iMac will always kernel panic and reboot.

I am trying to get OC to work as I have my WX4170 waiting to be installed and tested...

My config:
iMac 27" 2011
3.4Ghz Core i7
40GB of RAM
GPU: GTX765 flashed by Nick
Storage: 500GB SSD
macOS 10.15.4

I have removed Lilu and Whatevergreen kexts from /Library/Extensions and /System/Library/Extensions
I have even tried a new install from the Dosdude installer on another USB disk and same thing

The iMac works fine without the OpenCore bootloader.

It seems to be a pretty straight forward procedure which I did:
- Get a USB stick
- Format it with one HFS partition in GUID format
- Restore the Opencore DMG posted on this thread
- Replace the config.plist with the appropriate one based on the GPU (Nvidia obviously in my case)
- Select the Catalina Loader in startup disk
- Reboot and once in Opencore loader, load my Catalina system.

It will load up until it reaches nearly the end, then black screen and reboot.
At this point, it goes back to Opencore and my Keyboard/Mouse (bluetooth) are unresponsive.

I need to switch off the iMac and restart it.

I might be missing a simple step or my config is not compatible for some reasons.

The only hardware upgrade other than the CPU/GPU and SSD that I've done on this machine is the Wi-Fi card that I took from a newer MacBook Pro BRM43XX

Any hint please?
Click to expand...
A long time ago I uploaded config.plist that spoofs the backlight values for OpenCore, this will allow you to boot with OpenCore but the backlight slider will do nothing. I want to say i posted it in March, I'll see what I can Do from my phone but its 2am.
[automerge]1593929303[/automerge]
Here you go, you should probably find the Value added in OpenCore I think it was PWM-Level in the devices tab? https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/post-28321843
Might as well go with the iMac Pro 1,1 Plist if using BIG Sur, in my spare time I created a SNB kext that will work in Both OC and Native booted, the Kext will be board specific for 2011 models though.

Also this config is needed for the k2000m/765m/770m not wx4170, again just spoofing PWM levels to not have a panic with AGPM
 
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internetzel said:
Windows 10, UEFI booted, did work fine using the modified VBIOSes on the WX4130 I had.
I attached the VBIOS I'm currently using. There is one for the 2 GB cards (WX4130) and one for the 4 GB cards (WX4150, RX560).
Click to expand...
Thanks you. I will test this bios in 3 weeks, when at home. :) .
PS. I had the same behavior you described. No possibility to flash via clip, because of some kind of high current, when clip on place.
 

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highvoltage12v said:
A long time ago I uploaded config.plist that spoofs the backlight values for OpenCore, this will allow you to boot with OpenCore but the backlight slider will do nothing. I want to say i posted it in March, I'll see what I can Do from my phone but its 2am.
[automerge]1593929303[/automerge]
Here you go, you should probably find the Value added in OpenCore I think it was PWM-Level in the devices tab? https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/post-28321843
Might as well go with the iMac Pro 1,1 Plist if using BIG Sur, in my spare time I created a SNB kext that will work in Both OC and Native booted, the Kext will be board specific for 2011 models though.

Also this config is needed for the k2000m/765m/770m not wx4170, again just spoofing PWM levels to not have a panic with AGPM
Click to expand...
I will try that once back at home.

thanks a lot for the quick answer. You’re cool!
 
overshoot said:
Hello,

A such simple process of loading macOS Catalina with OpenCore does not work for me.
My iMac will always kernel panic and reboot.

I am trying to get OC to work as I have my WX4170 waiting to be installed and tested...

My config:
iMac 27" 2011
3.4Ghz Core i7
40GB of RAM
GPU: GTX765 flashed by Nick
Storage: 500GB SSD
macOS 10.15.4

I have removed Lilu and Whatevergreen kexts from /Library/Extensions and /System/Library/Extensions
I have even tried a new install from the Dosdude installer on another USB disk and same thing

The iMac works fine without the OpenCore bootloader.

It seems to be a pretty straight forward procedure which I did:
- Get a USB stick
- Format it with one HFS partition in GUID format
- Restore the Opencore DMG posted on this thread
- Replace the config.plist with the appropriate one based on the GPU (Nvidia obviously in my case)
- Select the Catalina Loader in startup disk
- Reboot and once in Opencore loader, load my Catalina system.

It will load up until it reaches nearly the end, then black screen and reboot.
At this point, it goes back to Opencore and my Keyboard/Mouse (bluetooth) are unresponsive.

I need to switch off the iMac and restart it.

I might be missing a simple step or my config is not compatible for some reasons.

The only hardware upgrade other than the CPU/GPU and SSD that I've done on this machine is the Wi-Fi card that I took from a newer MacBook Pro BRM43XX

Any hint please?
Click to expand...
If you install the flashed WX4170 it will have brightness control out of the box. If you have only a single MacOS installed on you main internal disk you can boot into it automatically without any user interventions and without OpenCore on a flash card or USB flash device plugged in! Just install the WX4170!

So I do not understand why you try to configure OpenCore working with an Nvidia card never intended to be used with it?! You are wasting your time a little bit. And you would have to do the complete and different configuration of OpenCore again after moving from the Nvidia to the AMD card.

So, after installing the WX4170 and after booting into your currently Catalina installation do the modifications to the prepared OpenCore boot loader according the the guide we recently posted and which can be found taking a look at the first page and the first post.
 
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