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

[vinceventresca]

nope core 2 duo iMac's are not supported.
Only core i models are.

Ah that sucks, thanks for the response! I found one locally for cheap with a bad gpu and I would of considered it if an upgraded gpu even had basic functionality. Is anyone working on getting them to work on core 2 models?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Ah that sucks, thanks for the response! I found one locally for cheap with a bad gpu and I would of considered it if an upgraded gpu even had basic functionality. Is anyone working on getting them to work on core 2 models?

The name of the thread implies that possibly no one is focussing on even older hardware. You can always buy a cheap card and try yourself. I have not seen a post except once or twice others were asking. You may use the search funtionality of the page and limit results to this thread. The no support fact is listed on page one and post one, nearly on the top.
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My very first post on this site 🙂 . Thank you so much for all the hard work. Its there a way to donate and support Nick and others?

I have 2- 27" iMacs that were purchase new back them. after the years the ATI cards start dying like every ones and i was baking them until they didn't work any more. After reading here I decided to go Nvidia and got a good deal on 2 brand new 770m for alienware.

Istalled one and work like a charm minus the standard problems no boot screen etc... Been using it for like 3 months now in fact its what I'm using right now .. Works great and doesn't get as hot as the ATI..

BUT I HAVE FAILED TRYING TO FLASH THIS CARD. I cant get Windows with this unflashed card to install and in anything i try i get stock somewhere I guess I'm not that good and need many more hrs trying. I order the clip to try flashing externally can any one point me to a simple guide of how to achieve this ?

Its any one interested in flashing these 2 cards for me and ship then back ? I did buy you dinner, beer, coffee, etc, 🙂) to have my two old iMac back together. lol

Thank you every one and excuse my english....

Same answer: Check out the first post on page one of this thread, there is a small section about all flashing options containing the necessary links. Flashing is easy, but you need in any case some admin knowledge and the ability to enter some correct terminal commands - if you lack of this please search in your neighbourhood for local help. Sending cards for flashing around the world is a funny idea 🙂

 

[vinceventresca]

The name of the thread implies that possibly no one is focussing on even older hardware. You can always buy a cheap card and try yourself. I have not seen a post except once or twice others were asking. You may use the search funtionality of the page and limit results to this thread. The no support fact is listed on page one and post one, nearly on the top.

Yes ive read that and searched, someone tried a k610m and it worked but of course the modified vbios doesnt work. I was just seeing if anyone has gotten different cards or brightness control to work
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hmm
Kinda strange - isnt It? 🙂 K610 works well...

Have you tried the modified k610m vbios?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Yes ive read that and searched, someone tried a k610m and it worked but of course the modified vbios doesnt work. I was just seeing if anyone has gotten different cards or brightness control to work

Getting brightness or boot screen is out of options. When I started with this I bought two late 2009 core2duo and a K2100M - I had to sell the systems and keep the card 🙂 Probably your way, too. Currently it is cheaper to get a GPU dead iMac than a graphics card listed on page one. Unfortunately I never even checked the card in the core2duo system.

 

[vinceventresca]

Getting brightness or boot screen is out of options. When I started with this I bought two late 2009 core2duo and a K2100M - I had to sell the systems and keep the card 🙂 Probably your way, too. Currently it is cheaper to get a GPU dead iMac than a graphics card listed on page one. Unfortunately I never even checked the card in the core2duo system.

Yea it seems ill just continue keeping my eye out for a core i model. This core 2 duo was the first broken one ive seen locally in a couple weeks

 

[BadBiscuit]

Here's my EFI folder for WX7100 and a capture of kexts installed on Mac OS Catalina 10.15.5

Thanks so much! I used your files to build a "WX7100 PB" OC SD, and that is now what I'm using to boot. I didn't see your 3rd attachment until I'd already put together my own set of files based on the screenshot. The other two discoveries that helped, was seeing that you were running 10.15.5, and realizing that my DosDude Catalina installer was not the latest. I was stuck at 10.15.2 with it reporting current; now I have 10.15.6 running. I also somehow got an old AppleGraphicsControl.kext which was causing issues once installed (no screen at boot, but fortunately still able to SSH and repair), so with your SD and those two items sorted, I now have a stable machine with working sleep using OpenCore.

Just wanted you to know that what you shared, saved me a lot of head banging.

 

[Redlight-Records]

I highly recommend you also flash your vbios, to enable bootscreen support, and better GPU performance within MacOS and Windows Bootcamp.
with a custom vbios beta 3 from Nick, you will have full support on every MacOS which supports Nvidia kepler drivers, starting with Mac OS X Mountain lion and up..

I hope to enlist a friend who has some competency with such things to get boot screen. Will it also enable brightness control? Not that it matters much as I finally did @wlagarde's Backlight Control mod as per the instructions on post 1354 I was sweatin bullets as I cut the wire to the logic board, but it worked just fine. Thanks again for shining a light on these tech issues.

 

[Habanero83]

The name of the thread implies that possibly no one is focussing on even older hardware. You can always buy a cheap card and try yourself. I have not seen a post except once or twice others were asking. You may use the search funtionality of the page and limit results to this thread. The no support fact is listed on page one and post one, nearly on the top.
[automerge]1595191250[/automerge]

Same answer: Check out the first post on page one of this thread, there is a small section about all flashing options containing the necessary links. Flashing is easy, but you need in any case some admin knowledge and the ability to enter some correct terminal commands - if you lack of this please search in your neighbourhood for local help. Sending cards for flashing around the world is a funny idea 🙂

Thanks a lot for your reply.
🙂 Believe me I read that first page many times. My biggest problem its that I need to install Windows or linux to be able to flash and haven't been able to install any other OS because card Its not flashed and my old ATI cards won't work any more.... Hopefully the usb programer works I just pick one from amazon .... And yes my skills are limited Im a graduated IT that change profession many years ago and back them It was windows and MS DOS mostly lol .... my favorite password back them was BlueScreen . You couldn't forget that while using windows back them or maybe its still a thing now not sure lol....

Any one in here from New York?

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Thanks so much! I used your files to build a "WX7100 PB" OC SD, and that is now what I'm using to boot. I didn't see your 3rd attachment until I'd already put together my own set of files based on the screenshot. The other two discoveries that helped, was seeing that you were running 10.15.5, and realizing that my DosDude Catalina installer was not the latest. I was stuck at 10.15.2 with it reporting current; now I have 10.15.6 running. I also somehow got an old AppleGraphicsControl.kext which was causing issues once installed (no screen at boot, but fortunately still able to SSH and repair), so with your SD and those two items sorted, I now have a stable machine with working sleep using OpenCore.

Just wanted you to know that what you shared, saved me a lot of head banging.

You're welcome.

 

[Pacific1972]

Sometimes another stupid question...

does anybody brings OpenCore Loader with BalenaEtcher to a 2GB SD-Card,
configure OC and enable write protection to the SD-Card ? Or must the SD-Card
be "write enable" for install KEXTs and save configuration ?

- I want to protect the data, the SD Card with OC is like the NVIDIA
"Start Key" for the iMac - broom broom... 😀

(having had some issues with Hibernate / Deep Sleep modes with K2000M
- or is OC only for K1100m & K2100m ? Have a look at the attributes of the
Quadro cards )...

High Sierra 10.13.6 + Update 2020-003 on 27" i5 (2011)
...now I put back Apple HD6750M and test this Quadro Card at iMac 21.5" (2010)

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I hope to enlist a friend who has some competency with such things to get boot screen. Will it also enable brightness control? Not that it matters much as I finally did @wlagarde's Backlight Control mod as per the instructions on post 1354 I was sweatin bullets as I cut the wire to the logic board, but it worked just fine. Thanks again for shining a light on these tech issues.

The table on page one is pretty clear on this. Give it a chance and read it 🙂

 

[Machist]

Linux -> no problems I run YouTube over night and installed some apps. Also sleep work wery well.

Catalina -> I create new installation media (new usb stick). First kernel panic after I format SSD and start installation.
Now it is in loop. Kernel panic -> boot -> installer language selection -> 20 second -> panic... etc..

I try to install High Sierra next.

High Sierra run without any issues. No panics or nothing.

Mojave -> Kernel panics about every 10-15 minutes
Catalina -> kernel panics in installer

 

[parraman]

High Sierra run without any issues. No panics or nothing.

Mojave -> Kernel panics about every 10-15 minutes
Catalina -> kernel panics in installer

Same problem, currently with high sierra everything very fluid with opencore and a K1100M, flamed with vNiks ... in catlina constant reboots with the installer before finishing and with Mojave it is installed perfectly but kernels panicks both with opencore boot, and without it. ..

 

[StephN999]

Bonjour,

it would have to do with bad kexts, if I ask that it is that I could no longer have perfect acceleration with my K2100m (but no crash) I think I have found the right combination, tell me if it would be not a good track for these crashes? 😵

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Yea it seems ill just continue keeping my eye out for a core i model. This core 2 duo was the first broken one ive seen locally in a couple weeks

Just found a post from May, 2020. The K610M works in the late 2009 core2duo, but as I replied before most likely without the features you want like boot screen and brightness control. But you may give it a shot and post the results. Unfortunately the author of the post did not tell more about his success. Try to ask him in a private message...?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Same problem, currently with high sierra everything very fluid with opencore and a K1100M, flamed with vNiks ... in catlina constant reboots with the installer before finishing and with Mojave it is installed perfectly but kernels panicks both with opencore boot, and without it. ..

You might publish which machine you are using and which versions of Mojave and Catalina and the patcher version you tried.

Right now I have a last K1100M running fine in one mid 2010 21.5 with 10.15.5. I tested (all listed Quadro cards with all Catalina versions from 10.15.2 until the latest 10.15.6 (no more black screen issue) and have not seen kernel panics during installation.

 

[Sindrom18]

Hello guys,

I want to start by saying that I read the first post at least 5 times. And still, because I am not a tech guy, I don't know what I need exactly to do to fix my iMac. I am asking you to help me, please. I just need a short answer and I will continue from there.

I own an iMac from late 2011,27 inch, processor i7 3,4 GHz, 16GB RAM, and video card 2GB. My video card is gone and I need to replace it. I was advised to use K610M. (Even if it's just 1GB). From there, what I need from my iMac.

In my point of view, the tutorials get complicated when people want something extra from their system.

I will never install Windows on my iMac.
I don't need new software Catalina. I am ok with High Sierra.

As I said above, because of those extra things that people need from their machines, the tutorials get complicated (at least for me). So if I need my Mac just to work, and I buy that video board, what I have to do extra to make it work? Will be enough even if you guide me to a guide or anything like that. But I see people here that they solder extra things, or take off extra things or use I don't know which type of bios because they need something extra. I need the best basic stuff.

Please help.

 

[vinceventresca]

Just found a post from May, 2020. The K610M works in the late 2009 core2duo, but as I replied before most likely without the features you want like boot screen and brightness control. But you may give it a shot and post the results. Unfortunately the author of the post did not tell more about his success. Try to ask him in a private message...?

I saw that as well but didnt bother messaging, but I just noticed that his last post was before the modified vbios was released. Ill message him to see if hes tried it.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello guys,

I want to start by saying that I read the first post at least 5 times. And still, because I am not a tech guy, I don't know what I need exactly to do to fix my iMac. I am asking you to help me, please. I just need a short answer and I will continue from there.

I own an iMac from late 2011,27 inch, processor i7 3,4 GHz, 16GB RAM, and video card 2GB. My video card is gone and I need to replace it. I was advised to use K610M. (Even if it's just 1GB). From there, what I need from my iMac.

In my point of view, the tutorials get complicated when people want something extra from their system.

I will never install Windows on my iMac.
I don't need new software Catalina. I am ok with High Sierra.

As I said above, because of those extra things that people need from their machines, the tutorials get complicated (at least for me). So if I need my Mac just to work, and I buy that video board, what I have to do extra to make it work? Will be enough even if you guide me to a guide or anything like that. But I see people here that they solder extra things, or take off extra things or use I don't know which type of bios because they need something extra. I need the best basic stuff.

Please help.

You may just install the card. Then the system will lack the brightness control and over time the LCD will get hot.

To get the brightness control back you need in any case the OpenCore boot loader installed, there is an image available to be copied onto an SD card, or an USB stick, or an internal 2GB partition formatted with Mac OS Extended (journaled). This is not that complicated, I would advice to use the SD card method. Follow the original guide or the later added guides to configure and use the OpenCore boot loader.

 

[Sindrom18]

You may just install the card. Then the system will lack the brightness control and over time the LCD will get hot.

To get the brightness control back you need in any case the OpenCore boot loader installed, there is an image available to be copied onto an SD card, or an USB stick, or an internal 2GB partition formatted with Mac OS Extended (journaled). This is not that complicated, I would advice to use the SD card method. Follow the original guide or the later added guides to configure and use the OpenCore boot loader.

Of course! I need brightness control and boot screen but nothing like Windows system or another newer version of OS like Catalina.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Of course! I need brightness control and boot screen but nothing like Windows system or another newer version of OS like Catalina.

Is this a statement of facts or another question?

 

[Sindrom18]

I just said what i need from my machine. It wasn't a questions. So i need guidance how to make brightness control and boot screen to work step by step. The bad thing is that is my first iMac. I was an windows user. So ... no idea how to make a bootable USB stick for OS or anything like that.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I just said what i need from my machine. It wasn't a questions. So i need guidance how to make brightness control and boot screen to work step by step. The bad thing is that is my first iMac. I was an windows user. So ... no idea how to make a bootable USB stick for OS or anything like that.

I just gave you the answer. You need to install the OpenCore boot loader on SD card - there are three guides how to accomplish this linked on the first page/first post. Try the original one @Nick [D]vB made with his post of the Catalina Loader, the next one @herrdude posted or the last one I made - which covers much more than you need.

OpenCore / Catalina Loader:
Some of the below fixes are included in the OpenCore bundle! Please read the OpenCore post for more info. If you have previously modified your system for the below fixes, they will need to be removed to avoid conflict with the OpenCore injection. @herrdude provided an additional guide, another longer one by @Ausdauersportler and others named "Using Catalina Loader on an iMac" focussing on the special needs of 2011 models and special settings for AMD cards. All guides are worth reading before starting the installation.

 

[Redlight-Records]

The table on page one is pretty clear on this. Give it a chance and read it 🙂

You all are so empowering! I made a USB boot stick, and tried to follow the directions as outlined

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread :D hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb. I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive I created a Linux Live USB...

forums.macrumors.com

I hooked up a Cat 5 cable and used it's DHCP address and used an old MacBook for a remote. When I tested the USB boot on another machine, I found I had to actually insert it after I held option key for boot screen for it to show up, but when I ran the efi boot on a MacBook, it seemed to run fine.

I did not disconnect my system drive (kinda sick of tearing down my machine) and just intuited that I needed to page past my system drive, recovery partition, then to the vbios drive. (two clicks of the arrow keys) However, Terminal just returns an "operation timed out" message every time. I tried to blindly land on the bios start a few times, but no luck. I know remote connection is possible as I tested it when iMac was booted to OS. So I'm still stuck for now, unless anyone could shed some light on my difficulty.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

You all are so empowering! I made a USB boot stick, and tried to follow the directions as outlined

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread :D hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb. I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive I created a Linux Live USB...

forums.macrumors.com

I hooked up a Cat 5 cable and used it's DHCP address and used an old MacBook for a remote. When I tested the USB boot on another machine, I found I had to actually insert it after I held option key for boot screen for it to show up, but when I ran the efi boot on a MacBook, it seemed to run fine.

I did not disconnect my system drive (kinda sick of tearing down my machine) and just intuited that I needed to page past my system drive, recovery partition, then to the vbios drive. (two clicks of the arrow keys) However, Terminal just returns an "operation timed out" message every time. I tried to blindly land on the bios start a few times, but no luck. I know remote connection is possible as I tested it when iMac was booted to OS. So I'm still stuck for now, unless anyone could shed some light on my difficulty.

Sorry, you asked for the brightness control with the 765m. My answer was check the table on page one, I should have written no.

I always drive the people to read docs and I do not like spoon feeding of adults. Sorry, stopped this with my own children on age of six month, they were so proud to hold it on their own.

What do you exactly understand by „empowering“? Taking the spoon away, again?

The situation you described here lengthy could be solved by disconnecting the boot drives. I went through this several times with AMD cards offering no native boot screen.

And it might be that the Linux flash image is the first in the row of your invisible boot screen one click left assuming the selection is on your chosen start object?

Open your iMac and disconnect the drives.