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

[nikey22]

** NVIDIA Quadro K5100M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control


​

I put together this UGA-based rom for the K5100M (N15E-Q5-A2):

• Does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore
• Needs modification of the AppleBacklight.kext [AppleIntelPanelA/ApplePanels/F10Ta007] brightness stepping
• Stock Quadro K5100M GPU clock/RAM speeds
• Full acceleration OpenCL

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

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.

Thanks to @ZenSurfeur for his very thorough testing and successful implementation. He is very pleased with the ROM and has done extensive tests.

"insanely Great!"
-Steve Jobs






**Update**
12-20-2020 - ROM adjusted to 1900Mhz vram and 810 Mhz TDP for better stability and windows 7/10 compatability

 

[jay508]

** NVIDIA Quadro K5100M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control


​

View attachment 942192

I put together this UGA rom for the K5100M:

• Does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore
• Needs modification of the AppleBacklight.kext [AppleIntelPanelA/ApplePanels/F10Ta007] brightness stepping
• Stock Quadro K5100M GPU clock/RAM speeds

Thanks to @ZenSurfeur for his very thorough testing and successful implementation.

"insanely Great!"
-Steve Jobs


View attachment 942216 View attachment 942217

View attachment 942218
[/引用]

Hello Nick, is the gtx780m 4g gtx870m 3g only available for the Dell version of the card? I tried the blue sky MSI’s gtx780g 4g gtx870m 3g and the vbios you released can’t be used. The 870m 3g motherboard LED lights only the first two lights. Only the front three LED lights are on for 780M. There is no display on the screen. The flash mode linux programmers have tried the same result.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Please avoid publishing of empty posts with the same pictures again and again and again!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Just to update, I've tried a fresh installation of High Sierra onto a separate volume and run into the same issue. Booting unmodified or through OpenCore the system reboots as soon as the load screen is complete. Fresh installation of High Sierra will work in safe mode however.

This is either a bad card at all or a bad installation of the card on the heat sink causing problems unter load (which is here the change of the progress bar into the login screen). You have a hardware problem, which we cannot solve. Open the system again and check the installation of the card on the sink. If there a other components of the K2100M in direct contact with the sink except the GPU than it might be (just) an installation issue, but I assume your card is already half dead. Have seen too much of this with my own cards.

 

[jay508]

This is either a bad card at all or a bad installation of the card on the heat sink causing problems unter load (which is here the change of the progress bar into the login screen). You have a hardware problem, which we cannot solve. Open the system again and check the installation of the card on the sink. If there a other components of the K2100M in direct contact with the sink except the GPU than it might be (just) an installation issue, but I assume your card is already half dead. Have seen too much of this with my own cards.

Why can't I use Nikki's VBIOS for this gtx78m gtx870m? The main board LED light 780m can light up three in the front and only two in the 870m. The card is sure to be good without any problems. It has been tested on PC.

 

[coops312]

This is either a bad card at all or a bad installation of the card on the heat sink causing problems unter load (which is here the change of the progress bar into the login screen). You have a hardware problem, which we cannot solve. Open the system again and check the installation of the card on the sink. If there a other components of the K2100M in direct contact with the sink except the GPU than it might be (just) an installation issue, but I assume your card is already half dead. Have seen too much of this with my own cards.

Ah damn, I half suspected this. Thanks for the feedback. I'll check the installation again but expect you're probably right.

First and last time ordering from AliExpress.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Why can't I use Nikki's VBIOS for this gtx78m gtx870m? The main board LED light 780m can light up three in the front and only two in the 870m. The card is sure to be good without any problems. It has been tested on PC.

Did you test the cards within an iMac, too? I do not know how PC boards react of some changes to the BIOS made by @nikey22 or @Nick [D]vB ? How did you test the card within a PC? Just pluging in and boot Windows? Did you run a stress test like a Unigine Valley or others. I cannot separate bad cards from good cards remotely. But I guess not every card you touch is really working under stress, too.
At least HP and Dell cards are working usually for me. Never had an MSI one. But I do not know if there is a difference or if all the boards came from the same Chinese producer using the same components and just different coloured boards (dark green, light green, blue). I own a "blue" 780M which works pretty well in my iMac here. But I cannot tell you which label it had.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Ah damn, I half suspected this. Thanks for the feedback. I'll check the installation again but expect you're probably right.

First and last time ordering from AliExpress.

I would not condemn AliExpress in general. Some had success with these cards, others not. I usually get all the BCM94360 AC WIFI cards from there, and have a 95% success rate. Where are you located, Europe?

 

[ZenSurfeur]

** NVIDIA Quadro K5100M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control


​

View attachment 942192

I put together this UGA rom for the K5100M:

• Does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore
• Needs modification of the AppleBacklight.kext [AppleIntelPanelA/ApplePanels/F10Ta007] brightness stepping
• Stock Quadro K5100M GPU clock/RAM speeds

Thanks to @ZenSurfeur for his very thorough testing and successful implementation.

"insanely Great!"
-Steve Jobs


View attachment 942216 View attachment 942217

View attachment 942218

A great thx mister Wizzard
Can you explain the AppleBacklight.kext for the brightness?
files needed?
Thx again
Great job and many thx once again

 

[Ausdauersportler]

A great thx mister Wizzard
Can you explain the AppleBacklight.kext for the brightness?
files needed?
Thx again
Great job and many thx once again

Copied from the posting @nikey22 made and you cited yourself It is the same thing what has to be done with all recently published BIOS versions and what you will find linked in the first pos, too.

I put together this UGA rom for the K5100M:

• Does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore
• Needs modification of the AppleBacklight.kext [AppleIntelPanelA/ApplePanels/F10Ta007] brightness stepping
• Stock Quadro K5100M GPU clock/RAM speeds

 

[ZenSurfeur]

Copied from the posting @nikey22 made and you cited yourself It is the same thing what has to be done with all recently published BIOS versions and what you will find linked in the first pos, too.

I put together this UGA rom for the K5100M:

• Does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore
• Needs modification of the AppleBacklight.kext [AppleIntelPanelA/ApplePanels/F10Ta007] brightness stepping
• Stock Quadro K5100M GPU clock/RAM speeds

where do you get this file?

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

where do you get this file?

"K3100m/K4100m/780M/Future Nvidia cards with native brightness control may notice their displays are not hitting maximum brightness control Potential. A kext modified by @highvoltage12v can be found here to fix this issue."

 

[Ausdauersportler]

where do you get this file?

first page, post #1, support table, row of K5100M, click on the link yes in yes (natively) in the brightness column or just search this thread for the recent posts @highvoltage12v made.

 

[ZenSurfeur]

ok thx

 

[coops312]

I would not condemn AliExpress in general. Some had success with these cards, others not. I usually get all the BCM94360 AC WIFI cards from there, and have a 95% success rate. Where are you located, Europe?

I’m in Australia. I’m sure AliExpress is probably fine most of the time. Just a bit wary at the moment, had my first fraudulent transaction in 15 years appear on my CC after ordering from them.

 

[ZenSurfeur]

AppleBacklight.kext [AppleIntelPanelA/ApplePanels/F10Ta007] brightness stepping > modification done, this is really much better thx again

 

[jay508]

Did you test the cards within an iMac, too? I do not know how PC boards react of some changes to the BIOS made by @nikey22 or @Nick [D]vB ? How did you test the card within a PC? Just pluging in and boot Windows? Did you run a stress test like a Unigine Valley or others. I cannot separate bad cards from good cards remotely. But I guess not every card you touch is really working under stress, too.
At least HP and Dell cards are working usually for me. Never had an MSI one. But I do not know if there is a difference or if all the boards came from the same Chinese producer using the same components and just different coloured boards (dark green, light green, blue). I own a "blue" 780M which works pretty well in my iMac here. But I cannot tell you which label it had.

On the PC, use MSI Dell Clevo to test whether the card is good or not. All kinds of stress tests are normal. The VBIOS provided by Nick can't light up the screen on IMAC. It doesn't matter if you look at the gtx780m electronic parts. There are differences between gtx870m and Dell's card. It has been marked in the figure

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I’m in Australia. I’m sure AliExpress is probably fine most of the time. Just a bit wary at the moment, had my first fraudulent transaction in 15 years appear on my CC after ordering from them.

Somebody wrote it somewhere: Just be sure to have a customer friendly return policy. At least I would recommend to check the installation on the sink. 50% of the hardware problems are related to this. A lot of users on the thread tend to ignore this fact - but trust me, I tried all cards on nearly all kind of heat sinks available in the 27" late 2009 to mid 2011. And not every card fits on any sink without adding some isolating strips of tape.

 

[jay508]

Somebody wrote it somewhere: Just be sure to have a customer friendly return policy. At least I would recommend to check the installation on the sink. 50% of the hardware problems are related to this. A lot of users on the thread tend to ignore this fact - but trust me, I tried all cards on nearly all kind of heat sinks available in the 27" late 2009 to mid 2011. And not every card fits on any sink without adding some isolating strips of tape.

Two photos of Clevo's gtx870m 3G are tested, and they can be used normally on PC, including various pressure tests. 3dmark 11 is normal. VBIOS written in @Nick [D]vB can't be used on IMAC 2011 27 inch. If you don't power on directly, the front two LED lights on the motherboard show that the third and fourth are not on. The gtx880m 8g and k2000m on the right use @Nick [D]vB 's VBIOS normally on IMAC.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Two photos of Clevo's gtx870m 3G are tested, and they can be used normally on PC, including various pressure tests. 3dmark 11 is normal. VBIOS written in @Nick [D]vB can't be used on IMAC 2011 27 inch. If you don't power on directly, the front two LED lights on the motherboard show that the third and fourth are not on. The gtx880m 8g and k2000m on the right use @Nick [D]vB 's VBIOS normally on IMAC.

I guess you are talking about the BIOS version @nikey22 made?

 

[jay508]

Hello, @Nick [D]vB , what kind of gtx870m 3G you are testing can provide pictures of the next video card version. Compare and see how my Clevo GTX 870m 3gb is different. The gtx780m of these two blue PCBs is confirmed to be intact, and all kinds of tests on the PC are normal. Write the VBIOS ROM provided by you. On the IMAC 2011 27 inch, you can't use the sound of Duang when you boot it. The motherboard can only light up the front two LED lights, and there is no response to the excessive rotation of the radiator fan.

 

[jay508]

I guess you are talking about the BIOS version @nikey22 made?

Yes, that's right. I really wonder why it can't work. I don't know which gtx870m 3G you are using

 

[jay508]

Now I have two Clevo gtx870m 3G, which are written into @ nikey22 @Nick [D]vB VBIOS Rom. the results are the same on IMAC. I can't use the motherboard. Only two LEDs on both sides are on. Other models of cards are also @ nikkey22 @Nick [D]vB VBIOS ROM, which are normal and can be used on IMAC 2011 27.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Yes, that's right. I really wonder why it can't work. I don't know which gtx870m 3G you are using

Please avoid to constantly add the very same images to your post (twice).

 

[jay508]

Please avoid to constantly add the very same images to your post (twice).

OK, the second picture is different. The second time the cards are more complete. It's very confusing that Clevo gtx78m 3G can't be used on IMAC 2011 27. How can I contact @ nikkey22 for advice? Thank you.