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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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Hello, I am making the modification for a 21.5 imac mid2011, I also found that it only has 4 pins on the board, which one did you connect it to?
Greetings and thanks
Can you take a screen shot of your kexts from the OpenCore configurator screen?
Hey, guys.
If anyone can help me out, that'll be great. TL
R: Internal black screen, even if I put back the old 6770M. I even got a new logic board and I am still unable to to get the internal screen to come on. LED #1 and #2 are on but #3, #4 are off, even with the 6770M. I baked it once again and it's still off. Lastly, I plug in a mini-display to HDMI and it will not show a picture on the external monitor.
Long Version.
Decided to upgrade my GPU to a WX7100. Got a 00_D model. When installing the GPU, macOS did not recognize the GPU just yet, but Windows did. I flashed it with the rom provided in the first page and it seemed to brick the WX7100. That changed when I downloaded the actual AMD RX580 drivers and did an install of OC on a USB. Not sure how, but I began to have native internal screen on the iMac with the WX7100. Everything was working great. I even have Univalley scores to provide.
Next, I decided to get this iMac updated to macOS Catalina. Used the Catalina loader guide, partitioned the SSD for the Catalina installation, and made sure the iMac had the latest firmware (also had the Post apply patch disabled). While that was happening, I went to take a shower and that was the very last time I ever saw the internal screen on the iMac.
At first, the WX7100 and the 6770M were still working through an External Display. Soon after, not even the external would work. Teamviewer and Screen Sharing began to not detect the WX7100 at all. Literally the "About my Mac" would just show a blank space in the GPU information. Same was true for Device Manager in Windows. 6770M was recognized in macOS (still High Sierra) but would not be detected on Windows at all.
I replaced the LVDS (or however you say it) cable, got a new motherboard, and I have ordered a backlight inverter. Nothing so far. Nothing is working anymore. Even with the original 6770M I only get LED #1, #2. The other two are off. I have probably disassembled and reassembled the computer over 100 times, it's gotten to the point where I started timing myself (perhaps doing this may have damaged some cables or capacitors but I thought a new motherboard would fix that).
I have been looking all through this thread for information, but none of the solutions so far have helped my issue. If anyone is able to help, please let me know.
If anyone can help me out, that'll be great. TL
R: Internal black screen, even if I put back the old 6770M. I even got a new logic board and I am still unable to to get the internal screen to come on. LED #1 and #2 are on but #3, #4 are off, even with the 6770M. I baked it once again and it's still off. Lastly, I plug in a mini-display to HDMI and it will not show a picture on the external monitor.Long Version.
Decided to upgrade my GPU to a WX7100. Got a 00_D model. When installing the GPU, macOS did not recognize the GPU just yet, but Windows did. I flashed it with the rom provided in the first page and it seemed to brick the WX7100. That changed when I downloaded the actual AMD RX580 drivers and did an install of OC on a USB. Not sure how, but I began to have native internal screen on the iMac with the WX7100. Everything was working great. I even have Univalley scores to provide.
Next, I decided to get this iMac updated to macOS Catalina. Used the Catalina loader guide, partitioned the SSD for the Catalina installation, and made sure the iMac had the latest firmware (also had the Post apply patch disabled). While that was happening, I went to take a shower and that was the very last time I ever saw the internal screen on the iMac.
At first, the WX7100 and the 6770M were still working through an External Display. Soon after, not even the external would work. Teamviewer and Screen Sharing began to not detect the WX7100 at all. Literally the "About my Mac" would just show a blank space in the GPU information. Same was true for Device Manager in Windows. 6770M was recognized in macOS (still High Sierra) but would not be detected on Windows at all.
I replaced the LVDS (or however you say it) cable, got a new motherboard, and I have ordered a backlight inverter. Nothing so far. Nothing is working anymore. Even with the original 6770M I only get LED #1, #2. The other two are off. I have probably disassembled and reassembled the computer over 100 times, it's gotten to the point where I started timing myself (perhaps doing this may have damaged some cables or capacitors but I thought a new motherboard would fix that).
I have been looking all through this thread for information, but none of the solutions so far have helped my issue. If anyone is able to help, please let me know.
You need a second system to check the parts including the WX7100 one be one.Hey, guys.
If anyone can help me out, that'll be great. TL
I have been looking all through this thread for information, but none of the solutions so far have helped my issue. If anyone is able to help, please let me know.
Only two questions:
Which boot rom version do you have installed?
Did you try to install the Catalina while booted through OpenCore?
Do you hear the Apple chime? In other words, is it posting? With the first two LEDs the motherboard should be working. The third LED is that the motherboard is communicating with the graphics card. Try booting with the Linux USB from the first post to see if you can SSH into your iMac. This is one way to check that the motherboard isn't toast.Hey, guys.
If anyone can help me out, that'll be great. TL
Long Version.
Decided to upgrade my GPU to a WX7100. Got a 00_D model. When installing the GPU, macOS did not recognize the GPU just yet, but Windows did. I flashed it with the rom provided in the first page and it seemed to brick the WX7100. That changed when I downloaded the actual AMD RX580 drivers and did an install of OC on a USB. Not sure how, but I began to have native internal screen on the iMac with the WX7100. Everything was working great. I even have Univalley scores to provide.
Next, I decided to get this iMac updated to macOS Catalina. Used the Catalina loader guide, partitioned the SSD for the Catalina installation, and made sure the iMac had the latest firmware (also had the Post apply patch disabled). While that was happening, I went to take a shower and that was the very last time I ever saw the internal screen on the iMac.
At first, the WX7100 and the 6770M were still working through an External Display. Soon after, not even the external would work. Teamviewer and Screen Sharing began to not detect the WX7100 at all. Literally the "About my Mac" would just show a blank space in the GPU information. Same was true for Device Manager in Windows. 6770M was recognized in macOS (still High Sierra) but would not be detected on Windows at all.
I replaced the LVDS (or however you say it) cable, got a new motherboard, and I have ordered a backlight inverter. Nothing so far. Nothing is working anymore. Even with the original 6770M I only get LED #1, #2. The other two are off. I have probably disassembled and reassembled the computer over 100 times, it's gotten to the point where I started timing myself (perhaps doing this may have damaged some cables or capacitors but I thought a new motherboard would fix that).
I have been looking all through this thread for information, but none of the solutions so far have helped my issue. If anyone is able to help, please let me know.
Also, this seems obvious, but I will say it anyways. Make sure the video cards are properly seated. I always give it an extra little nudge to be sure.
I do not believe to see two LED (BTW you will not see a third with AMD WX7100 unless doing the boot rom mod) with a not properly seated card. There must be another reason.
1. I failed to take a picture on Sunday (when I had everything working) but here’s the latest BOOTROM I had working: IM121.004F.B00
2. I don’t think so, but funny story. Through Open Core, I booted to macOS High Sierra and used dos-dude patch for Catalina. Unfortunately, my start up disk was Windows, so when the computer restarted, it booted into Windows. No big deal it seemed. I just loaded the boot camp control panel to boot back into macOS.
Unfortunately, it booted into the Catalina installation that was pending for my Catalina partition. Screen was still on but, when the installation completed, that’s when I was unable to boot again.
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At first, there wasn’t. But I did a PRAM reset and the chime comes back on. I pretty much squeeze the MXM has hard as I can into the slot for both GPU’s. Thought maybe the motherboard MXM slot was faulty, so I got another one. Same story.
As for the Linux installation, I have not tried that. I’ll look at the first page to see how to get it working.
Thank you guys for the quick replies.
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How do I do a bootrom mod? Do I need that CH341a programmer? Is not flashing the vbios the same?
You should have updated the High Sierra to the latest to get the latest firmware which is 87.0.0.0.0.
With this you get native APFS support, but possibly the existing one has it too. Even the @dosdude1 patcher warns to update the firmware - most users ignore.
Normally it could not happen, but using OpenCore spoofing a wrong board ID one could force the installer to choose the wrong firmware update.
The latest OpenCore has settings to avoid this.
I do not know what happens during your Catalina installation attempt, the status is simply unknown now.
Alright. I reinstalled High Sierra fresh. New motherboard. Updated bootrom. Configured OC for my USB stick.
An interesting issue has appeared. When I first booted into the fresh high Sierra. The GPU was recognized as WX7100. No internal display or external output, but at least there’s progress now. While I was the update was downloading, the computer completely shut down. Upon reboot. The System report does not recognize the WX7100 anymore. Matter of fact, the GPU pane shows no hardware installed.
Admittedly, I cut corners when putting the Mac together, specifically not screwing the motherboard and I basically had my SSD hanging (installed HS on a different Mac and then plugged it in the iMac to see if it will boot).
My Bluetooth wires and SSD are quite close to the GPU. Perhaps a short on the GPU or is this another software issue?
Prob a stupid question, but
Is there a reason why OpenCore is being booted off of external media and not the internal EFI partition?
Is there a reason why OpenCore is being booted off of external media and not the internal EFI partition?
Yes there is a reason! You can put it where you want, but since some people here struggle with reading docs to install a single kext I would not start with messing around with the EFI partition.
Next problem is with AMD cards you do not have a native boot via option/alt. Misconfiguring the EFI partition or the OpenCore there can lead to a an unbootable system. You will have to open the iMac, unplug the disk cable just to restart the installation.
It is so easy to plug the SD card in that case... With Nvidia card live is much more easy. Most people have never even used the SD slot before (or all of the four USB ports).
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Check out yourself and report later , please!
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security update 2020-004 10.14.6 Mojave on iMac 27” 2009 with K2100M made with no issues.
security update 2020-004 10.14.6 Mojave on iMac 27” 2011 with K4100M and RAID 0 get error in end of instalation. after this error have freeze on apple logo
According to Apple support pages the RAID-0 is not supported on system disks with Mojave or Catalina. So I guess it is not the card.
I have tried both with lilu and whatevergreen on and off, the are the latest editions
Attachments
Hello. I wonder about the HDD fan, did you make such a modification?
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This sensor can be attached to the radiator of the video card and make a blowout on the card.
This sensor can be attached to the radiator of the video card and make a blowout on the card.
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Hi everyone,
I've been attempting to upgrade my iMac 12,1 (https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel_21.5"_EMC_2428) using a K610M and have got pretty far, but:
I seem to be really close. What am I missing here? I hope someone can help
EDIT: Pluggin in an external monitor WORKS... So the issue must be something about the screen not being properly attached?
I've been attempting to upgrade my iMac 12,1 (https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel_21.5"_EMC_2428) using a K610M and have got pretty far, but:
- Successfully flashed the BIOS in Ubuntu using this rom https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-271?post=28497093#post-28497093
- Reboot - black screen. Holding Option to get boot screen makes no difference
- I'm still able to boot blind into Ubuntu
- Since I failed previously I've already had to put the old GPU in and restart the process. Had no issue with screen coming back alive
- Checked the cabling, everything seems fine
NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)
Simplified Version For OEM Only
Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...
Adapter: Quadro K610M (10DE,12B9,103C,2256) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00
WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (106B.1026)
does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (103C.2256).
Please press 'y' to confirm override of PCI Subsystem ID's: y
Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch
Current - Version:80.28.54.00.02 ID:10DE:12B9:103C:2256
GK208 Board - 20390504 (Normal Board)
Replace with - Version
Quadro K610M by Nick[D]vB (Normal Board)
Update display adapter firmware?
Press 'y' to confirm (any other key to abort): y
Identifying EEPROM...
EEPROM ID (EF,3012) : WBond W25X20A 2.7-3.6V 2048Kx1S, page
Storing updated firmware image...
................................................................
Verifying update...
Update successful.
Firmware image has been updated from version 80.28.54.00.02 to DE.AD.00.BE.EF.
A reboot is required for the update to take effect.
lspci | grep VGA in Ubuntu gives me:I seem to be really close. What am I missing here? I hope someone can help
EDIT: Pluggin in an external monitor WORKS... So the issue must be something about the screen not being properly attached?
How many of the status LEDs are becoming green on power on? Probably you have a faulty GPU on the K610M?
Thanks for your reply. I have indeed already fixed it: hadn't plugged in the LCD temp sensor cable. Which explains the spinning fans and why the display didn't come on
TL;DR my dumb mistake. It is now working
in the process of upgrading a 21.5-inch Mid 2011 iMac
I was interested in the power consumption limits so I attempted to obtain some guidelines starting with the Apple power specifications which includes information on thermal output management as well.
A summary of the 5 relevant configurations
there was no apparent definition of "CPU max".
Attempting to estimate these performance numbers using component values (usually maximum):
CPUs
GPUs
With these inputs I calculated the power consumption for "CPU max" (all components excluding GPU) for the 5 configurations:
which seems to give a reasonable estimate (slight overestimates).
If I include the GPU max then:
for both the CPU and GPU running at max (which may happen with some computationally intensive applications taking advantage of the GPU acceleration).
These numbers to be compared with the 205W 21.5-inch, and 310W 27-inch power supply limits. Presumably, any upgrade (adding disk, adding memory, changing CPU, changing GPU) should observe the appropriate power supply limits.
Additional issues involve managing the thermal output. I believe the power supply limits are more demanding.
The TPD for the GPUs listed are:
I was interested in the power consumption limits so I attempted to obtain some guidelines starting with the Apple power specifications which includes information on thermal output management as well.
A summary of the 5 relevant configurations
| configuration | Power consumption | Thermal output | configuration | ||||
| idle | CPU max | idle | CPU max | common: 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB | |||
| 1 | 27-inch, Mid 2011 | 142W | 200W | 485 BTU/h | 682 BTU/h |
| |
| 2 | 27-inch, Mid 2011 | 139W | 195W | 474 BTU/h | 665 BTU/h |
| |
| 3 | 27-inch, Mid 2011 | 135W | 170W | 461 BTU/h | 580 BTU/h |
| |
| 4 | 21.5-inch, Mid 2011 | 85W | 114W | 290 BTU/h | 389 BTU/h |
| |
| 5 | 21.5-inch, Mid 2011 | 81W | 106W | 276 BTU/h | 362 BTU/h |
|
Attempting to estimate these performance numbers using component values (usually maximum):
| component | estimated power consumption | estimate basis |
| 21.5-inch display | 51W | Apple document |
| 27-inch display | 106W | Apple document |
| 4GB DDR2 SDRAM | 4W | Wikipedia article |
| 1TB SATA HDD | 2W | Western Digital example |
| 500GB SATA HDD | 2W | Western Digital example |
CPUs
| type | TPD max | estimate basis | |
| 65W | Google search | |
| 65W | Google search result | |
| 95W | Wikipedia article | |
| 65W | Wikipedia article | |
| 95W | Wikipedia article |
GPUs
| type | TPD max | estimate basis | |
| 35W | Web resource | |
| 35W | Web resource | |
| 75W | Web resource |
With these inputs I calculated the power consumption for "CPU max" (all components excluding GPU) for the 5 configurations:
| configuration (see above) | power consumption | fraction of Apple spec |
| 1 | 207W | 1.04 |
| 2 | 207W | 1.06 |
| 3 | 177W | 1.04 |
| 4 | 122W | 1.07 |
| 5 | 122W | 1.15 |
which seems to give a reasonable estimate (slight overestimates).
If I include the GPU max then:
| configuration (see above) | power consumption | fraction of Apple spec |
| 1 | 282W | 1.41 |
| 2 | 282W | 1.45 |
| 3 | 212W | 1.25 |
| 4 | 157W | 1.38 |
| 5 | 157W | 1.48 |
These numbers to be compared with the 205W 21.5-inch, and 310W 27-inch power supply limits. Presumably, any upgrade (adding disk, adding memory, changing CPU, changing GPU) should observe the appropriate power supply limits.
Additional issues involve managing the thermal output. I believe the power supply limits are more demanding.
The TPD for the GPUs listed are:
| GPU | TPD | note | |
| 45W | ||
| Quadro K2100M | 55W | ||
| 45W | ||
| 55W | ||
| 30W | ||
| 100W | ||
| 75W | ||
| 75W | ||
| 100W | ||
| 75W | ||
| 75W | GK104 | |
| 45W | GM107 | ||
| 75W | ||
| 50W | ||
| 50W | ||
| 50W | ||
| 130W | mobile | |
| 35W | ||
| 35W | ||
| 75W |
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lol. well at least you could't miss it
as i said, its the card of pascal. and its working