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

[BadBiscuit]

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.

Sounds like this could be a challenge for you. Most of the non-tech world just goes to Apple store and buys a new iMac, so I commend you for taking on this challenge. @Ausdauersportler has given you good advice as to building an OpenCore SD card to boot your new card with, though I suspect your bigger challenge may be to flash the VBIOS on your new card, and on installing it in the iMac. Proper prep and review is required to do that successfully, especially for a non-tech person. Torx drivers, thermal paste and K5 PRO or thermal pads are amongst the items you should have on hand. I find pre-flashing the new card before installation using a CH341a and clip is the best way to go, but if you don't want to buy one (they are cheap), or the card you select has a BIOS that can't be clipped, then there are lots of alternative ways. I think you will find that the alternatives exist because everyone has different supplies on hand, and so different ways to proceed. It can be overwhelming, but pick one that seems to fit your situation and go with it. There is a wealth of information in post #1, so read and follow its links.

Since you have decided to stay with High Sierra, you have certainly lessened the technical post-install steps, but the flashing and replacement of the card certainly requires some technical aptitude, or at least a desire to learn. Good luck.

One last thought, if you plan to stick with High Sierra, then you don't really need one of the video cards that support metal. Why not pick up a working Apple card off eBay, and save yourself the trouble of OpenCore, and the flashing of a non-Apple card. You will still have to go through the disassembly and swap process, but an Apple card will support native brightness, boot menu and such. You may even find that all that is needed is new thermal paste on your CPU and GPU, and what you already have will work again.

 

[highvoltage12v]

So at least for Nvidia 10.15.6 AppleGraphicsControl Patch is needed for Nvidia, neither of my AMD Macs have the no display issue though. Ill add the kext to my post as well.

Can any AMD users her on 10.15.6 confirm if they need the kext for external LCD/bootiing without OpenCore working?

 

[nikey22]

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

After much testing and research, I've put together a ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M which will allow:

• Genuine native brightness control
• Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen
• Genuine macOS bootloader compliance

Requirements:
BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL ROM before doing anything!
iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
BootROM: 87.0.0.0.0. Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest version.

GPU Variant: N15E-Q3-A2
Dell K4100M vbios: 80.04.E8.00.1D
HP K4100M vbios: 80.04.E8.00.22

tested card with the following vram:

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This is an alternative ROM and mainly for the audience that just want a “drop-in” answer to upgrading their video card on the iMac 2011. I appreciate the ongoing ROM testing done by @Ausdauersportler, @highvoltage12v. With their efforts we can expand its utility across multiple macOS versions and peripherals.

Brightness Control Stepping Modifcation:
-Turn computer on, hold down Command(⌘)-R
-Choose Utilities > Terminal
-Enter:csrutil disable
-Reboot
-MacOS Catalina: requires you to make root writeable: sudo mount -uw /
-You can download 'Hackintool v3.05' , navigate to menu, use the icon at the bottom to disable gatekeeper and mount the disk in read/write mode.
-Download and open 'Kext Utility v2.6.6'

-Navigate to S/L/E (System/Library/Extensions)
-Copy "AppleBacklight.kext" to Desktop
-Edit: AppleBacklight.kext/Contents/Info.plist
-Scroll down to: IOKitPersonalities > AppleIntelPanelA > ApplePanels
-There you find several Apple LCD profiles.
-For the iMac 2011 27" machine locate:

<key>F10Ta007</key>
<data>
ABEABgALABQAHAAnADMAPwBOAFwAZwBzAIEAkQClAL8A2wD/
</data>

-Change the <data> section to:
ABEAAgA3AF8AigCzAOsBJAFnAakB1AIJAlQCogL4A00DlgRpBGk=

-Drag your modded kext into Kext Utility, allow it correct permissions
-Applebacklight.kext.bak folder will be created
-Reboot

The above data pattern will allow for a wider span of steppings for the brightness control and utilizes more of the capacity of the HD3000. If you have a different machine, your panel ID can be found by going to System Preferences > Displays > Color > Open Profile > mmod

This rom does not require the use of an external EDID parser or a separate graphics core-console stack module, but I’ve left them in there for now. It uses a built in EDID_override_Protocol, a UGA_protocol and GOP_protocol. The rom is based on a TianoCore EDK2 build which houses its own generic video driver. During bootup, the efiROM is responsible for video rendering before the control is seamlessly transferred off to a different handle, the macOS video drivers. This is known as pre-boot configuration.

Caveats post-install/Bugs:
-16bit resolution glitch of UGA_DRAW_PROTOCOL - temporary solution: activate a sleep cycle and return, this should now clear the issue.

warning: as stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing.


In the words of Steve Jobs, “this is insanely great!”

files:
K4100M_BR.rom - stable with mem:2000Mhz, TDP:862Mhz
K4100M_UGA.rom - overclocked with mem: 2200Mhz, TDP: 967Mhz
K4100M_AFR.rom - for -AFR based cards

******
UPDATE
******
09 02 2021: working on Catalina 10.15.7
07 02 2021: tested stability @2200Mhz & 967Mhz, thank you @Ri7 for testing, K4100M_UGA
09 08 2020: working on BigSur!
11 11 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-006
24 09 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-005
21 07 2020: working on Mojave 10.14.6, security update 2020-004 (18G6020)
20 07 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-004
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.4
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.6 + kext mods

 

[Curtis Gross]

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....

Have you considered using the Linux usb stickto flash the cards? If you have another computer in your house it takes maybe an hour start to finish.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Thanks for hard work @nikey22 after flashing the ROM you may notice Brightness control may not be at the 100% it should be, as a fix you can extract the Kext from the OpenCore/Kexts folder called AppleBacklightFixup.kext, unlock your System partition (Catalina) and install the Kext using a Kext utility application.

A proper how too guide on patching AppleBacklight.kext will be released shortly if you desire to create your own Kext.

 

[RRPC]

​

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M ROM **​

Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control​

In the words of Steve Jobs, “this is insanely great!”

After much testing and research, I've put together a ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M which will allow:

• Genuine native brightness control
• Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen
• Genuine macOS bootloader compliance

Features (testing in progress):

• Target Display Mode: testing
• Target Disk Mode: functional via both TB ports
• External Monitor: 1 DP/Thunderbolt port functional only
• iGPU: H.264 with usual highvoltage12v HD3000/Framework Kexts mods
• dGPU temp sensor: testing
• Internet Recovery: present
• Apple Hardware Test: unknown?

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This is an alternative ROM and mainly for the audience that just want a “drop-in” answer to upgrading their video card on the iMac 2011.

I appreciate the ROM testing done by @Ausdauersportler, @highvoltage12v. With their efforts we can expand its utility across multiple macOS versions and peripherals.

This rom does not require the use of an external EDID parser or a separate graphics core-console stack module, but I’ve left them in there for now. It uses a built in EDID_override_Protocol and GOP_protocol. The rom is based on a TianoCore EDK2 build which houses its own generic video driver. During bootup, the efiROM is responsible for video rendering before the control is seamlessly transferred off to a different handle, the macOS video drivers.

warning: as stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing.


******
UPDATE
******
20 07 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-004
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.4
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.6 + kext mods

whoo ho, so 4100 is the best option !
thx
nikey22
i have updated the 1 post. to this new bios

 

[Wania]

​

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M ROM **​

Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control​

In the words of Steve Jobs, “this is insanely great!”

After much testing and research, I've put together a ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M which will allow:

• Genuine native brightness control
• Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen
• Genuine macOS bootloader compliance

Features (testing in progress):

• Target Display Mode: testing
• Target Disk Mode: functional via both TB ports
• External Monitor: 1 DP/Thunderbolt port functional only
• iGPU: H.264 with usual highvoltage12v HD3000/Framework Kexts mods
• dGPU temp sensor: testing
• Internet Recovery: present
• Apple Hardware Test: unknown?

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This is an alternative ROM and mainly for the audience that just want a “drop-in” answer to upgrading their video card on the iMac 2011.

I appreciate the ROM testing done by @Ausdauersportler, @highvoltage12v. With their efforts we can expand its utility across multiple macOS versions and peripherals.

This rom does not require the use of an external EDID parser or a separate graphics core-console stack module, but I’ve left them in there for now. It uses a built in EDID_override_Protocol and GOP_protocol. The rom is based on a TianoCore EDK2 build which houses its own generic video driver. During bootup, the efiROM is responsible for video rendering before the control is seamlessly transferred off to a different handle, the macOS video drivers.

warning: as stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing.


******
UPDATE
******
20 07 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-004
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.4
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.6 + kext mods

if I use the k4100m with OC, now as a flash card with a new ROM, I do not have to change anything more?
are you still working on modifying this ROM and better wait for the final version?

 

[ZenSurfeur]

​

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M ROM **​

Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control​

In the words of Steve Jobs, “this is insanely great!”

After much testing and research, I've put together a ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M which will allow:

• Genuine native brightness control
• Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen
• Genuine macOS bootloader compliance

Features (testing in progress):

• Target Display Mode: testing
• Target Disk Mode: functional via both TB ports
• External Monitor: 1 DP/Thunderbolt port functional only
• iGPU: H.264 with usual highvoltage12v HD3000/Framework Kexts mods
• dGPU temp sensor: testing
• Internet Recovery: present
• Apple Hardware Test: unknown?

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This is an alternative ROM and mainly for the audience that just want a “drop-in” answer to upgrading their video card on the iMac 2011.

I appreciate the ROM testing done by @Ausdauersportler, @highvoltage12v. With their efforts we can expand its utility across multiple macOS versions and peripherals.

This rom does not require the use of an external EDID parser or a separate graphics core-console stack module, but I’ve left them in there for now. It uses a built in EDID_override_Protocol and GOP_protocol. The rom is based on a TianoCore EDK2 build which houses its own generic video driver. During bootup, the efiROM is responsible for video rendering before the control is seamlessly transferred off to a different handle, the macOS video drivers.

warning: as stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing.


******
UPDATE
******
20 07 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-004
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.4
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.6 + kext mods

Ho Ho Ho Christmas in July
Thx nickey22

 

[Ausdauersportler]

if I use the k4100m with OC, now as a flash card with a new ROM, I do not have to change anything more?
are you still working on modifying this ROM and better wait for the final version?

If you flash your K4100m with the new BIOS you may pull you OpenCore SD card. This card using the new ROM works close to the original Apple card’s, but you need still a fan control. The GPU die temp is still not visible and the SMC control does not work IMHO. This is a result from quick tests last night.

As of now nobody can look into the future and nobody will deny or confirm that there may be new BIOS versions available in future. This is a glas ball question.

 

[StephN999]

Bonjour,

Great job! 👍
I guess we could have the same evolution for some of the Quadro on the list, right?

Edit:

So at least for Nvidia 10.15.6 AppleGraphicsControl Patch is needed for Nvidia

Thanks for your work too!

I never had a black screen problem so I never really understood if the Quadro K2100M had this problem or if it was other Quadro's, sorry for my lack of understanding. 😰


Otherwise I don't know if it's related, but on my side I thought I had solved a problem, but no, I don't have the maximum metal acceleration (2600), it's random in my case, rather around 1300/1400, not well understood where my problem was coming from, despite different tests of course.

 

[Cordonblu]

Hi lads,

Joining the club, thanks for all the amazing information.
I'm going for the big shoot this next month when the parts arrive, I also will test and report @nikey22 bios as I ordered a HP K4100M, planning a sleeper like build so not having to use OC and a slave sd it's a big improvement.

Planned final specs are:
I7-2600
16GB Ram
1TB HDD/ODD/500GB SSD
K4100M
Wifi/bluetooth upgrade kit from the local338 dude
Planning for a Mojave install until Catalina is polished enough or until I miss some feature from it.
I will report as much information as I can to try to help other people.

 

[bokkow]

​

** NVIDIA Quadro K4100M ROM **​

Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control​

In the words of Steve Jobs, “this is insanely great!”

After much testing and research, I've put together a ROM for the NVIDIA Quadro K4100M which will allow:

• Genuine native brightness control
• Genuine ‘gray’ early-boot screen
• Genuine macOS bootloader compliance

Features (testing in progress):

• Target Display Mode: testing
• Target Disk Mode: functional via both TB ports
• External Monitor: 1 DP/Thunderbolt port functional only
• iGPU: H.264 with usual highvoltage12v HD3000/Framework Kexts mods
• dGPU temp sensor: testing
• Internet Recovery: present
• Apple Hardware Test: unknown?

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This is an alternative ROM and mainly for the audience that just want a “drop-in” answer to upgrading their video card on the iMac 2011.

I appreciate the ROM testing done by @Ausdauersportler, @highvoltage12v. With their efforts we can expand its utility across multiple macOS versions and peripherals.

This rom does not require the use of an external EDID parser or a separate graphics core-console stack module, but I’ve left them in there for now. It uses a built in EDID_override_Protocol and GOP_protocol. The rom is based on a TianoCore EDK2 build which houses its own generic video driver. During bootup, the efiROM is responsible for video rendering before the control is seamlessly transferred off to a different handle, the macOS video drivers.

warning: as stated previously these cards are based on a WSON flash package and therefore are much more difficult to recover from a bad flash. Please take precautions and verify flashing.


******
UPDATE
******
20 07 2020: working on High Sierra 10.13.6, security update 2020-004
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.4
20 07 2020: working on Catalina 10.15.6 + kext mods

Awesome job @nikey22! Straight away ordered an HP K4100M to try out
I hope I got in before the price bubble, bought one for €190,- and i already see most going around €280,- around here...

I’ll keep you guys posted regarding this HP card

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Awesome job @nikey22! Straight away ordered an HP K4100M to try out
I hope I got in before the price bubble, bought one for €190,- and i already see most going around €280,- around here...

I’ll keep you guys posted regarding this HP card

I do not believe that our polished first post is a really good idea when it comes to acquiring a new or used listed card

 

[Cordonblu]

Awesome job @nikey22! Straight away ordered an HP K4100M to try out
I hope I got in before the price bubble, bought one for €190,- and i already see most going around €280,- around here...

I’ll keep you guys posted regarding this HP card

Yep if this vbios works great and keep improving we can expect a rise of prices, however as the card has WSON chip which is harder to recover in case of a bad flash it may keep the plug'n'play users away from it. 🤞
Mine was 200 eur ebay.

 

[parraman]

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.

Hello, sorry for the delay, 21.5 "med. 2011, with nvidion K1100M, flashed with niks vios before mounting with clip, without any failure and at the first time, the results are as follows:
- With high sierra everything is correct without any failure, with included opencore starter and its respective brightness control, the perfect dream.
- With mojave 10.14.6 and all the kext installed according to publication 1, working with brightness control and 100% opencore, and the only problem with sleep is the random restarts.
- And finally with catalina I have tried with several installers from 10.15.3 to 10.15.5 and during the installation, before I can apply the dosdude patches, it restarts and does not let me continue, all mounted with an SDD and odd solution .
Right now I'm going to install a second 240gb sdd for testing in the second sata and we'll see ...
Thank you

 

[dubyadubya]

Anyone interested in a 2011 iMac 21.5"? I tried the K2100M upgrade, somehow fried the ssd, then gave up and bought a newer iMac. It will boot Linux from a USB stick, gets all four diagnostic LEDs to light, and a monitor works through displayport. It has the i7-2600S, the K2100M, the original graphics card, 24 GB of memory, but no HD, and the backlight doesn't come on. Also I forgot to put the IR sensor back in, but will include it. No keyboard or mouse either.

Local pickup would be ideal (Knoxville TN area), otherwise it's yours for the cost of shipping. PM if interested.

Update: no longer available.

 

[MR_BRNHAM]

Hi guys!
I'm a university student from Beijing,China.
I have been following this post for some time. Sorry for my poor English. I hope you guys can understand what i mean.
I'm using a 2011 iMac 27’ with AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB, and actually my graphics card works well, except when I using applications like Adobe Illustrator it warns that it's out of graphic memory, my graphics card must be more than 1GB. So I want to change a grapic card.

I bought the WX7100 with109-C95847-00C 02 from Alibaba, but unfortunately it doesn't work properly.
The fan only turns on for one second when I touch power on, and the screen stays black.

I observed some anomalies on the motherboard. Under normal condition, there will be three regular lights on the host LED lamp, but only the first one on the left will be on after the replacement of WX7100, and the power supply has a subtle ticking sound, like the sound of a clock's second hand turning.

In addition, I didn't use the GOP ROM of @ Nick [D] VB because I didn't have any other computers to flash the ROM……

（I guess it's probably the lack of power supply? Because the power of the wx7100 is much higher than the original amd radon HD 6770m）

（The seller tested the card works well in a Dell laptop before he sent it to me……But he allowed me to replace it）

Now, I'm going to replace wx4170. Can someone give me some details? Are all models available for normal use or must it be a specific version number?

Thank you all，
Have a nice day!

Benham
July 21, 2020

 

[herrdude]

Hi guys!
I'm a university student from Beijing,China.
I have been following this post for some time. Sorry for my poor English. I hope you guys can understand what i mean.
I'm using a 2011 iMac 27’ with AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB, and actually my graphics card works well, except when I using applications like Adobe Illustrator it warns that it's out of graphic memory, my graphics card must be more than 1GB. So I want to change a grapic card.View attachment 935967
I bought the WX7100 with109-C95847-00C 02 from Alibaba, but unfortunately it doesn't work properly.
The fan only turns on for one second when I touch power on, and the screen stays black.View attachment 935969
I observed some anomalies on the motherboard. Under normal condition, there will be three regular lights on the host LED lamp, but only the first one on the left will be on after the replacement of WX7100, and the power supply has a subtle ticking sound, like the sound of a clock's second hand turning.View attachment 935970View attachment 935971
In addition, I didn't use the GOP ROM of @ Nick [D] VB because I didn't have any other computers to flash the ROM……

（I guess it's probably the lack of power supply? Because the power of the wx7100 is much higher than the original amd radon HD 6770m）

（The seller tested the card works well in a Dell laptop before he sent it to me……But he allowed me to replace it）

Now, I'm going to replace wx4170. Can someone give me some details? Are all models available for normal use or must it be a specific version number?

Thank you all，
Have a nice day!

Benham
June 21, 2020

Hello and welcome. It is really important to check the first page. You will see that the WX7100 card is hit and miss. Did you flash it with the ROM from the first page? Follow all the instructions on the first post.

Good luck!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I bought the WX7100 with109-C95847-00C 02 from Alibaba, but unfortunately it doesn't work properly.
The fan only turns on for one second when I touch power on, and the screen stays black.

I observed some anomalies on the motherboard. Under normal condition, there will be three regular lights on the host LED lamp, but only the first one on the left will be on after the replacement of WX7100, and the power supply has a subtle ticking sound, like the sound of a clock's second hand turning.
In addition, I didn't use the GOP ROM of @ Nick [D] VB because I didn't have any other computers to flash the ROM……

（I guess it's probably the lack of power supply? Because the power of the wx7100 is much higher than the original amd radon HD 6770m）

（The seller tested the card works well in a Dell laptop before he sent it to me……But he allowed me to replace it）

Now, I'm going to replace wx4170. Can someone give me some details? Are all models available for normal use or must it be a specific version number?

Thank you all，
Have a nice day!

Benham
June 21, 2020

You need to flash with the GOP ROM in any case. Using the ROM delivered on the card will likely end up in a non posting card as you have it. And even with the ROM flashed you may have a not working card in the 2011 - the reason is unknown. The MXM standard has not been used by any vendor in the same way...

If you get the WX4170 you need one with a BIOS chip on board.

EDIT:
Your card was a VER 1.0 card which is now known to fail in iMac12,2 systems.
You would have needed a more recent VER 1.1 revision.

 

[Pacific1972]

OpenCore Loader vs Quadro K2000M

today I become another NVIDIA K2000M from AliExpress and (nice) I can compare
this refurbished card with the one I have. My old K2000M was going into hibernate
or deep sleep mode and never wake up again. After compare both cards with patched
VBIOS in a 2010 iMac Core i5 I detect that the old card was defect - damned...

After booting the new installed card with OpenCore Loader I checked the Deep Sleep
/ hibernate modes with

pmset -g

and found hibernatemode = 1

After surfing around and read something about Caffeine, Teeine and other little system tools
I was looking for the manipulation of power settings with terminal commands.

Perhaps it's useful also for other users to open terminal and have a look at the manual to
prevent hibernate / sleep / Deep sleep modes with Quadro video cards.

man pmset

look at the attributes, mark the overview, print it out and compare - perhaps a few people
can solve problems also with terminal commands (for beginners and advanced users).

Edit: sudo pmset hibernatemode 0

and the other attributes & modes I must check also...

 

[MR_BRNHAM]

You need to flash with the GOP ROM in any case. Using the ROM delivered on the card will likely end up in a non posting card as you have it. And even with the ROM flashed you may have a not working card in the 2011 - the reason is unknown. The MXM standard has not been used by any vendor in the same way...

If you get the WX4170 you need one with a BIOS chip on board.

Thank you for your prompt reply!
Due to my poor English, I want to explain what I understand:

Step1: I need a computer running windows, and then use the terminal tool to flash the WX7100 GOP ROM

Step2: To install WX7100 into iMac

This problem may be solved, but through the first page I also know that some people cannot solve it, and the reason is currently unknown.

(This is a difficult problem for me, how do I find a windows computer with MXM port😂)

Thank you very much !
Have a nice day

Benham
July 22 , 2020

 

[snam11]

OpenCore Loader vs Quadro K2000M

today I become another NVIDIA K2000M from AliExpress and (nice) I can compare
this refurbished card with the one I have. My old K2000M was going into hibernate
or deep sleep mode and never wake up again. After compare both cards with patched
VBIOS in a 2010 iMac Core i5 I detect that the old card was defect - damned...

After booting the new installed card with OpenCore Loader I checked the Deep Sleep
/ hibernate modes with

pmset -g

and found hibernatemode = 1

After surfing around and read something about Caffeine, Teeine and other little system tools
I was looking for the manipulation of power settings with terminal commands.

Perhaps it's useful also for other users to open terminal and have a look at the manual to
prevent hibernate / sleep / Deep sleep modes with Quadro video cards.

man pmset

look at the attributes, mark the overview, print it out and compare - perhaps a few people
can solve problems also with terminal commands - seems to be that macOS have own
solutions with patched cards on board...

on a regular hackintosh to fix the deep sleep issue this helps:
sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank you for your prompt reply!
Due to my poor English, I want to explain what I understand:

Step1: I need a computer running windows, and then use the terminal tool to flash the WX7100 GOP ROM

Step2: To install WX7100 into iMac

This problem may be solved, but through the first page I also know that some people cannot solve it, and the reason is currently unknown.

(This is a difficult problem for me, how do I find a windows computer with MXM port😂)

Thank you very much !
Have a nice day

Benham
June 22 , 2020

The most easy way is IMHO the Linux boot stick method. You need a 8BG SD card or USB flash, download and install the files, add the AMD flash utility and boot your iMac with the installed WX7100 or WX4170 of it. Read below copied from the secret first page.

Q: Flash VBIOS? How do I do that?
A: BIOS can be flashed in one of two ways: Either directly with a CH341a clip programmer or with the "NVFLASH" software in Windows or Linux. THIS POST helps describe the flashing process. Others have found THIS POST useful. User @xanderoncreated a pre-made USB that can flash Nvidia cards in the iMac with Linux over SSH. Many have found this the easiest method. There is an add-on to flash AMD cards using this method, too. Additionally, user @jowaju created a simple Installer package that can be run on macOS Sierra (10.12) and higher that creates a 15GB Windows 7 Bootcamp partition with all the needed tools.


I am talking about this part, only:

User @xanderoncreated a pre-made USB that can flash Nvidia cards in the iMac with Linux over SSH. Many have found this the easiest method. There is an add-on to flash AMD cards using this method, too.

 

[k3igo]

Thank you for your prompt reply!
Due to my poor English, I want to explain what I understand:

Step1: I need a computer running windows, and then use the terminal tool to flash the WX7100 GOP ROM

Step2: To install WX7100 into iMac

This problem may be solved, but through the first page I also know that some people cannot solve it, and the reason is currently unknown.

(This is a difficult problem for me, how do I find a windows computer with MXM port)

Thank you very much !
Have a nice day

Benham
June 22 , 2020

You could use a PCI-E to MXM riser card/adaptor perhaps.

Anyway, it's July now..

 

[Pacific1972]

on a regular hackintosh to fix the deep sleep issue this helps:
sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0

Thank you, I look for use it after compare the other status modes !

"I found it interesting that the OpenCore Loader don't edit the values
of Sleep- & Hibernate modes - the status was same as before..."