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

[Swanheart]

hello guys, just some news
black screen/backlight on probleme on my imac 2009 was effectively due to Q9001 broken. just replace with 2N7200 N-channel mosfet and it works now !

 

[iPlasm]

Hi can anyone confirm if this card will work in my 27" 2011 iMac:

HP L17822-001 PCA RADEON PRO WX 4150 4GB MXM Mobile

WX 4150 is found on the list of compatible cards on page 1 of this thread, but I am unsure of the HP part.

Thank you in advance.

I guess you're linking to this on ebay HP L17822-001 PCA RADEON PRO WX 4150 4GB MXM Mobile Graphics
it's interesting for price $60 USD, but your answer is unknown and we welcome you for testing , remember to take pictures of GPU Card before installing in both sides and in good quality.

This card is blue colour with white HP logo on the Card, and AMD logo silver colour on the the Chip card.
the ID number for this is 109-C98581-10_02 (or HP Part number: L17822-001 or same: L10991-001)
here is another with better pictures on ebay 109-C98581-10_02

Nguyen Duc Hieu has tried a blue card with white hp logo 109-C98581-10_02, and were succeeded #9712

And the without white hp logo, or the white AMD logo 109-C98581-10_02 blue card, which much more expensive for about $150 USD

Have a nice try! 🙂

 

[streak8047]

This is a K2000M and you will not get brightness control with it! Check the table on page #1 and post #1. At least you first picture is telling this to me

@Ausdauersportler cannot succeded to make native brightness on High Sierra ,cannot figure out what is issue when its booting from open core at last moment Mac restart ,my board was Mac-942B59F58194171B was already inside the AppleGraphicsControl.kext ,need to edit again the board id am not sure ,kext for high seira was get by the link. AppleGraphicsControl.kext

There was any issue on the Card K2100M or Configuration issue cannot figure out ,installed high sera was original Apple store version with security updated installed working fine for than 15 hours with out any issue

 

[Ausdauersportler]

@Ausdauersportler cannot sucked to make native brightness on High Sierra ,cannot figure out what is issue when its booting from open core at last moment Mac restart ,my board was Mac-942B59F58194171B was already inside the AppleGraphicsControl.kext ,need to edit again the board id am not sure ,kext for high seira was get by the link

I told you already, you own a K2000M, not a K2100M!

The K2000M is a different, older card which does not provide brightness control with the BIOS published. You do not need the Catalina Loader - and you should have read the doc attached to the Catalina Loader post.

Please check out the table in the first post, check out the picture you uploaded here and check your own card, again.

 

[internetzel]

I guess you're linking to this on ebay HP L17822-001 PCA RADEON PRO WX 4150 4GB MXM Mobile Graphics
it's interesting for price $60 USD, but your answer is unknown and we welcome you for testing , remember to take pictures of GPU Card before installing in both sides and in good quality.

This card is blue colour with white HP logo on the Card, and AMD logo silver colour on the the Chip card.
the ID number for this is 109-C98581-10_02 (or HP Part number: L17822-001 or same: L10991-001)
here is another with better pictures on ebay 109-C98581-10_02

Nguyen Duc Hieu has tried a blue card with white hp logo 109-C98581-10_02, and were succeeded #9712
View attachment 961560

And the without white hp logo, or the white AMD logo 109-C98581-10_02 blue card, which much more expensive for about $150 USD
View attachment 961561

Have a nice try! 🙂

That AMD labelled 109-C98581-10_02 is new to me.

 

[Yasmel Diaz]

Thanks for the update! Okay I'll take a shot to it and pray lol will keep updated with all the info if anything works... Btw my best choice then would be the Quadro K2100M?

Hello, just installed my WX4150, first I booted up from windows and 13.6 and both went "well" (image on external monitor but not on main) so I didn't have to do the stuff blinded with teamViewer first thing I did ,booted from the OpenCore USB, (plist configured for AMD), after did open core 13.6 stopped loading so I installed my dual boot Catalina / windows 10, windows 10 still booting and catalina too but I still don't get backlight on the main monitor and catalina runs really slow with alot of graphic lag, proceeded to flash the graphic card rom which I have two different files downloaded from this forum (WX4150_GOP.rom and Dell RX 560 4GB.rom) WX4150_GOP.rom failed to flash and then I proceeded to the other one and successfully flashed but at the end the results were the same in resume the card was recognized and updated drivers by windows, catalina loads but slow graphics and no backlight at all in none of the systems, any suggestions what to do after this ? It was mentioned that someone sucessfully got backlight with open core what did miss? Any other rom for this card that I haven't check?

 

[internetzel]

Hello, just installed my WX4150, first I booted up from windows and 13.6 and both went "well" (image on external monitor but not on main) so I didn't have to do the stuff blinded with teamViewer first thing I did ,booted from the OpenCore USB, (plist configured for AMD), after did open core 13.6 stopped loading so I installed my dual boot Catalina / windows 10, windows 10 still booting and catalina too but I still don't get backlight on the main monitor and catalina runs really slow with alot of graphic lag, proceeded to flash the graphic card rom which I have two different files downloaded from this forum (WX4150_GOP.rom and Dell RX 560 4GB.rom) WX4150_GOP.rom failed to flash and then I proceeded to the other one and successfully flashed but at the end the results were the same in resume the card was recognized and updated drivers by windows, catalina loads but slow graphics and no backlight at all in none of the systems, any suggestions what to do after this ? It was mentioned that someone sucessfully got backlight with open core what did miss? Any other rom for this card that I haven't check?

Booting via OpenCore ("Catalina Loader") should give you backlight on every boot once OpenCore launches its boot volume chooser. Are you booting via OpenCore?
In case you had Catalina installed using the dosdude patcher before replacing the graphics card you'll have to undo the legacy video patch, preferably by reinstalling Catalina using the patcher. But take care to deselect automatic post install patching and not to install the legacy video patch.
All information you need should be linked in the first post on this thread.

 

[iPlasm]

That AMD labelled 109-C98581-10_02 is new to me.

I forgot to link a sample on ebay AMD logo blue card WX4150 (109-C98581-10_02)

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello, just installed my WX4150, first I booted up from windows and 13.6 and both went "well" (image on external monitor but not on main) so I didn't have to do the stuff blinded with teamViewer first thing I did ,booted from the OpenCore USB, (plist configured for AMD), after did open core 13.6 stopped loading so I installed my dual boot Catalina / windows 10, windows 10 still booting and catalina too but I still don't get backlight on the main monitor and catalina runs really slow with alot of graphic lag, proceeded to flash the graphic card rom which I have two different files downloaded from this forum (WX4150_GOP.rom and Dell RX 560 4GB.rom) WX4150_GOP.rom failed to flash and then I proceeded to the other one and successfully flashed but at the end the results were the same in resume the card was recognized and updated drivers by windows, catalina loads but slow graphics and no backlight at all in none of the systems, any suggestions what to do after this ? It was mentioned that someone sucessfully got backlight with open core what did miss? Any other rom for this card that I haven't check?

First: 300 words typed in and endless row are hard to read. Ever tried to break a line?

Second: Try a PRAM reset! Then boot into any MacOS and wait...

Third: The screen should come up automatically after the MacOS has been fully booted!

If this does not happen them you have most likely a hardware problem. Display cable, inverter cable, etc. Please check this out before messing around with OpenCore. OpenCore gives you backlight on start/boot.

But right now you do not get any backlight even when the MacOS has been booted. Your card has been flashed successfully, otherwise you would not have an image on the external screen.

 

[hondarider115]

Hi everyone,
I have a question in regards to flashing the GPU. My 2011 27" imac just died due to the factory graphics card failing. I have purchased an Nvida 2100k GPU from Ebay and intend to install it tomorrow. Furthermore, I am going to use the Xanderon method to flash the vbios for the GPU. My question that I have, is pertinent to not connect any drives, moreover assemble the computer before booting into the USB to flash the GPU? I'm assuming the disconnect of the drives is a workaround due to the graphic card swap, and the OS boot screen is disabled due to the new GPU? My second question is does an Ethernet cable need to be plugged into the mac with the new GPU to SSH in, or will the network card still work.

Thank you
Best regards,
Brad O.

 

[highvoltage12v]

View attachment 961363
Yes, I did PRAM reset. Boot progress screen is shown when I do PRAM reset, but not on subsequent boots.
It behaves just like @highvoltage12v said: boot screen does not show unless I hold Alt/Option on boot.
Gonna try OpenCore next, thanks!

Right the k1100m/k2100m/k610m, still use the @Nick [D]vB VBIOS which don't have the instant on feature that the @nikey22 VBios do, think of it like the Mac 5,1 cards, there is a dealy but that delay doesn't line up with the iMac's boot sequence. That's the best way I can explain it.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Thanks to all great minds here in achieving the almost impossible in bringing old Macs to the new OS.

Lately I have got hold of a Dell version of WX4150 (......00D_02 board ID).
I read in 1st post that there are two versions of BIOS for it:
-Using the GOP BIOS will get native brightness and a boot selection only with OpenCore.
-Using the EG BIOS version will get a native Apple boot picker with an iMac firmware modification, but no brightness control.

Hence, theoretically all can be achieved via the BIOS without OpenCore Loader.
Are there any further work being done to merge the two to get the best of both worlds?

I read that Mac video cards have an efi loader part and the vbios proper, and the former is important for the boot screen and picker. RX560 seems to be used in one of the Macbook Pro lines and I just wonder whether we can graft the efi portion from that mac video BIOS on the GOP BIOS to get the boot screen ...

But of course, I am just a newbie and not knowledgeable as the geniuses in vbios editing here ...

There is a EG2 method that isn't discussed much here anymore due to people damaging their logic boards. But you can modify your bootrom to inject 2 modules, coreEG2.ffs and EDIDPARSER.ffs and flash your EFI back using a clip.

A few users here have knocked components off their logic board doing this, but if you have precision hands it can be done. I myself use these EG2 ROMs, another issue is the Bootscreen will only show up on an external monitor, and if no monitor is plugged in, the Bootscreen will show up on the internal screen with no Backlight. Still far better than no real Bootscreen at all.
Also backlight control works natively once booted into the OS.

Unfortunately The creator Nick has been Missing since May, and I fear Covid may have gotten to him. I cannot communicate with him at all

 

[highvoltage12v]

My HP WX4150 works, with a small issue.
(Maybe I got lucky, maybe you won't be lucky as I am, bear that in mind if you ever buy your own HP WX4150)

Photo is in this post. #76

I used GOP ROM to flash, I used a HP 800G1 USDT, Windows 10, and Atiwinflash.
The link to the ROM is next to WX4170 in the table on #1

After install it to my iMac 2010 (running High Sierra), I powered it on.
Normal chime, normal quiet fans, the machine was cool, nothing went crazy.
But the screen was pit black (no light, at all), however long I waited, reset NVRAM, etc....
Feeling despair, I hooked it to the HP 800 G1 to see if Target Display Mode work, before reporting here for any suggestion.
Target Display Mode did work. Windows recognized the 2k resolution, and display beautifully.
What a relief! I didn't screw up with the installation. (or did I?)
So I turn-off the Windows PC, thinking about putting back the HP5670 to my iMac.
...
What the hell? I saw the log-in screen on my iMac...
And I log-in....

Now I got a Radeon Polaris 4096MB GPU recognized already...

With brightness control, yes.
Sleep mode: Yes.
Just have to kick-start it with Target Display Mode ....

If your HP WX4150 behaved the same, maybe you could try Target Display Mode as I did. (This is for your guys who already bought the HP cards, I do not encourage you to buy HP WX4150, it's risky.)

P/S 1: I edited my post adding (running High Sierra) in case I change my signature later. It may sound inconsistent with internetzel's post below, but he was giving me great advice on the OS version.

P/S2: When I connected my Dell 2407WFP to the miniDisplayport (miniDisplayPort to D-SU adapter), it just worked and displayed on both screens. No need to KickStart anymore. I now have a computer I can write home about.

Thank you all, I admire your works a lot. Greatly appreciate!

This is so strange, I have 2 of these HP cards both 21.5" 2010, 2011 21.5" and 27". With the identical cards (that's 2) none of the 3 iMac's will power on. the 1st led will just turn off. Do I really need to invest money/Space into a 2010 27" iMac just to see if the HP card works with the 27" 2010 iMac, and only the 27" 2010 model.... The suspense is killing me. And yes, I have done things like attempt to boot the iMac without without the Heatsink, these cards work perfectly in my HP 800 G1 and elite 8200 USDT.

 

[Yasmel Diaz]

This is so strange, I have 2 of these HP cards both 21.5" 2010, 2011 21.5" and 27". With the identical cards (that's 2) none of the 3 iMac's will power on. the 1st led will just turn off. Do I really need to invest money/Space into a 2010 27" iMac just to see if the HP card works with the 27" 2010 iMac, and only the 27" 2010 model.... The suspense is killing me. And yes, I have done things like attempt to boot the iMac without without the Heatsink, these cards work perfectly in my HP 800 G1 and elite 8200 USDT.

Must be DELL cards

 

[Yasmel Diaz]

First: 300 words typed in and endless row are hard to read. Ever tried to break a line?

Second: Try a PRAM reset! Then boot into any MacOS and wait...

Third: The screen should come up automatically after the MacOS has been fully booted!

If this does not happen them you have most likely a hardware problem. Display cable, inverter cable, etc. Please check this out before messing around with OpenCore. OpenCore gives you backlight on start/boot.

But right now you do not get any backlight even when the MacOS has been booted. Your card has been flashed successfully, otherwise you would not have an image on the external screen.

Sorry for so long explanation, maybe I missunderstood what backlight means which for me was display image, so far I haven't get image on main display at all, not after done OpenCore, not after booting macOS, neither before or after flashing, but always had on external display since the begining (with and without opencore or custom rom), I ordered a new LCD cable, just messed up mine and will keep trying, I actually didn't know that main display should give image right away after macos boot without flashing, I though flashing was needed to get image on main, it's then obviously a hardware problem, let's see I hope it an issue with the cable, I really Appreciate the help and time

 

[m0bil]

Right the k1100m/k2100m/k610m, still use the @Nick [D]vB VBIOS which don't have the instant on feature that the @nikey22 VBios do, think of it like the Mac 5,1 cards, there is a dealy but that delay doesn't line up with the iMac's boot sequence. That's the best way I can explain it.

Understood. Maybe there is hope for a @nikey22 VBIOS on the lower end k1100m/k2100m/k610m cards. I see he's already done great work on the K4x00M and K5x00M cards

 

[streak8047]

I told you already, you own a K2000M, not a K2100M!

The K2000M is a different, older card which does not provide brightness control with the BIOS published. You do not need the Catalina Loader - and you should have read the doc attached to the Catalina Loader post.

Please check out the table in the first post, check out the picture you uploaded here and check your own card, again.

@Ausdauersportler Thanks

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

This is so strange, I have 2 of these HP cards both 21.5" 2010, 2011 21.5" and 27". With the identical cards (that's 2) none of the 3 iMac's will power on. the 1st led will just turn off. Do I really need to invest money/Space into a 2010 27" iMac just to see if the HP card works with the 27" 2010 iMac, and only the 27" 2010 model.... The suspense is killing me. And yes, I have done things like attempt to boot the iMac without without the Heatsink, these cards work perfectly in my HP 800 G1 and elite 8200 USDT.

What did you mean by "the 1st led will just turn off"?
If your statement is correct, according to the Technician Guide, the iMac PSU is not powered on. Your iMac has a serious problem, the VGA card is causing a short and PSU shutdown itself?
The 1st LED is supposed to be always on when plugged in with power source, before you press the power button.

The below is off topic:

Spoiler

These card work perfectly in your HP 800G1 USDT?

After flashed, my WX4150 did not work perfectly in my HP 800G1.
I connected 2 monitors:
2nd DP on USDT => iMac (origin configuration)
D-sub port => Dell 2007wfp

When powering on the USDT, BIOS screen showed up on the iMac (WX4150 controlled)
When go to Windows, only the Dell showed image, iMac turned black (intel IGPU took control in Windows)

When I disabled the Intel GPU in Windows (on the fly)
=> Dell turned off, iMac showed artifacts (errors when switching GPU inside windows)
Only iMac display image, Dell has no signal, only iMac display image.
I'm happy it worked on iMac 2010 in High Sierra now.
But to me, the flashed WX4150 does not work perfectly if it can only control 1 monitor.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hi everyone,
I have a question in regards to flashing the GPU. My 2011 27" imac just died due to the factory graphics card failing. I have purchased an Nvida 2100k GPU from Ebay and intend to install it tomorrow. Furthermore, I am going to use the Xanderon method to flash the vbios for the GPU. My question that I have, is pertinent to not connect any drives, moreover assemble the computer before booting into the USB to flash the GPU? I'm assuming the disconnect of the drives is a workaround due to the graphic card swap, and the OS boot screen is disabled due to the new GPU? My second question is does an Ethernet cable need to be plugged into the mac with the new GPU to SSH in, or will the network card still work.

Thank you
Best regards,
Brad O.

1. Disconnect all internal drives to ensure the iMac will only boot from USB flashdrive.
2. The Xanderon's flash image contains limited Linux drivers, don't assume wifi will work. Even if it does, how can you connect to your wifi network on such a headless machine?

With this level of yours (=rookie just like me), I suggest you do just as I did: Buy a HP USDT with Windows to flash. Doing this you can cross-check that the card is working fine, output signals, and you can monitor the whole flashing process (only last a couple minutes, though).

 

[spacebiscuit]

I guess you're linking to this on ebay HP L17822-001 PCA RADEON PRO WX 4150 4GB MXM Mobile Graphics
it's interesting for price $60 USD

Yes exactly it is this listing. I messaged the seller to ask about compatibility and he said it won't work. However that contradicts the success story of Nguyen Duc Hieu. I am tempted to take a punt on this - the sluggish GPU performance is killing me.

If it worked for Nguyen Duc Hieu wh would it not work in my case. Is the card he used not the same?

 

[KennyW]

How cheap is the HP USDT with Windows ?

But you can just spend a few bucks for the CH341a BIOS/EPROM programmer to flash a card in OSX using flashrom, all under direct monitoring ?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

How cheap is the HP USDT with Windows ?

But you can just spend a few bucks for the CH341a BIOS/EPROM programmer to flash a card in OSX using flashrom, all under direct monitoring ?

I got mine for 75$ (barebone 30$ Adapter 15$, RAM 10$, SSD 20$). Cost less if you can re-purpose the RAM & SSD in your iMac.
I did order a CH341a set, but I couldn't find the exact EEFROM chip to clip,
And since I'm a beginer, purchasing a 2nd-hand VGA card without the option to return it unless confirmed as non-working, I think I need a platform to test it as well.
Can you test to ensure your VGA card is not a faulty one with the CH341a programmer?

I can't return the VGA card to the seller and told him: Hey, I flashed the card, put it to my iMac and it didn't work.
He would just say: hey dude, it's supposed to be used in a windows laptop, not an iMac. And you are not supposed to flash the BIOS.

 

[m0bil]

Hello,

I can't seem to get Brightness Control working on my K610M / 21.5 iMac 2010 with Catalina 10.15.7

I have installed OpenCore from earlier on this thread (Catalina Loader 0.6.0), to SD. Then renamed config.NVIDIA.plist to config.plist and rebooted from SD. All seems to go fine, but can't change brightness via keyboard and on Display Preferences there is no brightness slider.

Any ideas? thanks!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello,

I can't seem to get Brightness Control working on my K610M / 21.5 iMac 2010 with Catalina 10.15.7

I have installed OpenCore from earlier on this thread (Catalina Loader 0.6.0), to SD. Then renamed config.NVIDIA.plist to config.plist and rebooted from SD. All seems to go fine, but can't change brightness via keyboard and on Display Preferences there is no brightness slider.

Any ideas? thanks!

No, have exactly the same config right in front of me and it is working. Sure you have booted the SD card and you got the different OpenCore boot screen?

 

[JohannusNL]

While I upgraded my iMacs with such nice Metal Compatible GPU's, I see people at online market places selling 2010/2011 imacs with the AMD GPU's running Catalina. I asked one seller to try running the Valley Benchmark. He said he was able to do so.
I tried to run the benchmark on catalina myself, on a 2010 21.5 and I get errors, as expected. Am I missing something, or is the selling-bastard telling jokes? I'm about to sell my 2010 21.5, it's standing in the way between my 27" imacs. And I don't want to sell it with a Nvidia K. Card. I want to keep it since no-one want's to pay extra for it, because people think it's not worth the penny extra.