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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.
I still haven't gotten any clarity on the branding issue, on around page ~225 in this thread ~225 Dell/Alienware is mentioned as _not_ required, yet people keep writing you need a Dell/Alienware card. And the rest keep saying "read the first post!!!!" which doesn't make this clear, at ALL.

The questions are:

- Does MSI/Clevo/HP NVIDIA Kepler cards work, or not?
- Is it different for GTX cards and Quadra cards?
- Is a Dell or Alienware branded card required?

If we can get a clear answer to this, we can update the first post to actually include this information.
The first post is reflecting the current state of information, which has been changing a lot over time. So it will only mention any card brands where they really do matter.
 
Greetings! I'm finally breaking down to ask my question here. Its been a few weeks of trouble shooting.

My specs - 27 iMac mid 2011 I replaced the CPU with a Xeon E3-1275 before messing with the gpu. It was super easy, and worked right away. I then bought a Dell nVidia Quadro K3100M 4GB card and flashed it with the Linux usb stick and the correct ROM from the first post on this thread.

I have boot screen, I can use the apple boot selector, and the apple hardware test. This configuration also worked fine with Ubuntu. My problem is, I cannot boot all the way into macOS. The hard drive currently has High Sierra, I also have a patched Catalina usb booter with dosdude's patcher. When booting into these, and the recovery, I get the apple chime, the apple logo, the progress bar gets to 70% and then a brighter white screen appears for a while and then eventually a black screen. I've tried to patch the hard drive (on another mac) with the AppleGraphicsControl kext provided for fixing the black screen. This did not solve my problem.

I saw somewhere on the thread that if the progress bar gets to 70% and then black screen means the gpu is dying, but it works fine in Ubuntu and the apple hardware test didn't have any errors.

Thanks a ton for this thread, despite frustration I'm enjoying this!

Oh, ps when on verbose mode, it completes and lands me on the white screen. (not sure how verbose is used)
 
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I have strange results, one iMac, two different cards and theoretically K5000M twice as strong as K2100M and worse result

Mojave 10.14.6 (18G6020)
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
2,8 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
 

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Hi

all the worlds

here is my modest contribution

K5000M. with native backlighting target mode , diag mode

I did not test the target screen mode (not the hardware for. ;( .)

I invite you to test knowing that the speeds and voltages are not yet optimized
 
StephN999, bonjour, cava

i only have results for the k5000m
 

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Greetings! I'm finally breaking down to ask my question here. Its been a few weeks of trouble shooting.

My specs - 27 iMac mid 2011 I replaced the CPU with a Xeon E3-1275 before messing with the gpu. It was super easy, and worked right away. I then bought a Dell nVidia Quadro K3100M 4GB card and flashed it with the Linux usb stick and the correct ROM from the first post on this thread.

I have boot screen, I can use the apple boot selector, and the apple hardware test. This configuration also worked fine with Ubuntu. My problem is, I cannot boot all the way into macOS. The hard drive currently has High Sierra, I also have a patched Catalina usb booter with dosdude's patcher. When booting into these, and the recovery, I get the apple chime, the apple logo, the progress bar gets to 70% and then a brighter white screen appears for a while and then eventually a black screen. I've tried to patch the hard drive (on another mac) with the AppleGraphicsControl kext provided for fixing the black screen. This did not solve my problem.

I saw somewhere on the thread that if the progress bar gets to 70% and then black screen means the gpu is dying, but it works fine in Ubuntu and the apple hardware test didn't have any errors.

Thanks a ton for this thread, despite frustration I'm enjoying this!

Oh, ps when on verbose mode, it completes and lands me on the white screen. (not sure how verbose is used)
We had memory not working properly with Catalina but fine with High Sierra, we have now more than one GPU running with Linux and not with MacOS. It does all not help, as long as the BIOS we provide here runs fine on good cards it is not a topic of this thread. We cannot check remotely hardware and there is no proof possible that a piece of hardware is dysfunctional.

Buyers of used cards will unfortunately experience this again and again. I tried to buy another single used K3100m and got five (5) broken ones from different sources with different symptoms in a row. I would say it highly probable to get a half dead old card. We had the same discussion with K2100M and K1100M cards at the beginning of the year.

A good card will boot after flashing directly into any MacOS newer than Sierra, assuming that the other hardware is okay and the doctor did not mess up the GPU transplantation or destroyed some parts during the operation.

Do I repeat this too often? Have you checked the first posts and the comment about hardware?
 
I have strange results, one iMac, two different cards and theoretically K5000M twice as strong as K2100M and worse result

Mojave 10.14.6 (18G6020)
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
2,8 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Both values a bad, even the K2100M one compared to other K2100M results. I recently asked the editor of the BIOS. He is aware of this problem... please to not ask for a release date.
 
my bad. here metal score
 

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StephN999, bonjour, cava
Bonjour, merci, oui et toi?

I just looked at different bios of K5000m
I don't know where the mod comes from, it's not even on Techpowerup, the only basic Nvidia is this one: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/129867/nvidia-quadrok5000-4096-120817

Otherwise I compared with Kepler Bios Tweaker the Dell, this Nvidia and the mod, they don't even have the same structure????

I forgot to ask, did you change your AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext?

I got the one from the last beta of Big Sur that works very well (except with the last beta buid of Catalina "10.15.6 (19G2531)", Valley crash!).

Edit: Metal Test with my bios mod K2100m -> 3319, between 2600 and 2700 normally.
 

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@Wania> I hadn't noticed that you had Mojave, I hope you have a backup of your original kext, my apologies! :eek:

Edit: Am I dumb, Since you have 2 machines you must have the original on the other one... phew! 🥵
 
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Why do you need the Brightness Slider?

;) ...just from habit !

I don't yet have exchange AppleGraphicsControl.KEXT on SD-Card, the modified with was
coming with iMac OC Loader was too dark on maximum brightness. Furthermore (as you
know about my defected / overheated K2000M cards ?), I experience with LED brightness
and dim with having a look at the LED temperature (idle status / under load with Games or
Benchmark) - and try to hold a max. LED temperature of about 60° Celsius...

I'm starting my iMac (without OC Loader 2GB SD-card) only with modified
AppleGraphicsControl.KEXT & AppleBacklightFixup.KEXT with less than half dim
of Brightness Slider.

Background: I'm now 48 years old (normally without glasses) and my eyes are not the best
(25 years ago I've eyes like an Eagle), so today I need a good display - the maximum contrast
together with no dazzle - compare to my original 27" iMac Display (not yellow and no clouding)
I want to put my other two 24" PC Displays to trash.

😅 😄
 
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Hey, dear community, I'm new here and have a question about the k3100m. She has the vbios from nikey22 (thank you very much). I've installed high Sierra. I can control the brightness, but the display is no longer as bright as with the 6970? is there any other way to get the screen brighter?
 
Hey, dear community, I'm new here and have a question about the k3100m. She has the vbios from nikey22 (thank you very much). I've installed high Sierra. I can control the brightness, but the display is no longer as bright as with the 6970? is there any other way to get the screen brighter?
Read post #1 and the announcement of the K3100M and K4100M Bios.
 
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Hi RRPC,

Thanks for your comments.
I will check the connector later.

EDIT:
I have looked into the port and can not see a red light.
Perhaps I did forget to connect the audio cable during my last take apart.

EDIT:
Today(2020/9/14), I finally open my iMac again.
And indeed, it was due to my carelessness not checking the audio cable correctly connected to the connector.
Now, my iMac works fine with internal speakers.
 
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Screen Shot 2020-09-14 at 2.49.34 AM.png


THANK YOU NICK!

My only slow down was my ignorance of ssh.
This was a new HP card for $40. Should have bought all of them.
No heatsink mods. Pried the X off with my finger nails. Reused the Radeon's X which had a thin plastic shield on it.
GPU in low 40's.
Now onto the brightness fix and maybe Catalina.
 
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