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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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@Aesthetica
At first glance, it seems one of the memory modules is not being read appropriately. Try to replace it and see if you still get a kernel panic.
Code:
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 2 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x02FE, 0x45424A3230554638424353302D444A2D4620
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x0702, 0x353132363459313333490000000000000000
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM1, 2 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x02FE, 0x45424A3230554638424353302D444A2D4620
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x0000, -At first glance, it seems one of the memory modules is not being read appropriately. Try to replace it and see if you still get a kernel panic.
AFAIK the first page pertains to iMacs with Sandy Bridge microarchitecture Intel Core processors, e.g.
iMac 21.5-Inch "Core i5" 2.5 (Mid-2011)2.5 GHz Core i5 (I5-2400S)
iMac 21.5-Inch "Core i5" 2.7 (Mid-2011)2.7 GHz Core i5 (I5-2500S)
iMac 21.5-Inch "Core i7" 2.8 (Mid-2011)2.8 GHz Core i7 (I7-2600S)
iMac 27-Inch "Core i5" 2.7 (Mid-2011)2.7 GHz Core i5 (I5-2500S)
iMac 27-Inch "Core i5" 3.1 (Mid-2011)3.1 GHz Core i5 (I5-2400)
iMac 27-Inch "Core i7" 3.4 (Mid-2011)3.4 GHz Core i7 (I7-2600)
I assume the kernel extensions provided in the various links on Page1/Post1 (P1/P1) address these specific processors. Xeon processor upgrades are still a part of active development in the community and there is not a pathway to a completely working system to date.
As P1/P1 states: "Ask not what this thread can do for you, but what you can do for this thread." If you are keen on getting your system to work you will have to become a part of the development of solutions for your particular configuration.
One of the truly mind boggling aspect of this upgrade is the vast number of combinations possible. It is no wonder that Apple does not support these machines into the indefinite future as the total entropy of system configurations explodes. Apple has a much larger team and a vastly bigger budget and resource allocation than the handful of volunteers here who have ingeniously worked through a solution.
Given that Apple will at some point make choices for their OS that will preclude upgrades of the sort worked out in this thread, it is clear that these wonderful old machines have only so much life left in them... enjoy while you can.
FORSAN ET HEAC OLIM MEMINISSE IUVABIT
The Aeneid, Book 1, line 203
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We are talking about different things:
Using the Nvidia cards list on the first post with a modified BIOS gives you (all the time the option to see) the EFI boot screen. But you do not see this boot screen on every boot unless you press the alt/option key - it is optional!
Using the Catalina Loader based on OpenCore gives you a boot screen on every boot without pressing any key. This confused a lot of (Nvidia card) users here, they wanted to get rid of this.
If you have an AMD card installed you do not get an EFI boot screen feature, it is not part of the modded BIOS versions. So we have to emulate a boot screen and we do this using the - surprise! - Catalina Loader based on OpenCore.
Sorry but the original post doesn't say anything about vbios editing software.
Okay, I admit, there was a mistake I made following the guide.Hello, I have a 27" iMac mid 2010 i7 with a GTX 770M.
I have followed the guide on page 1 and also another guide on "Hello World Codes" "2011 iMac K1100 Graphics card swap and install catalina".
2011 iMac 27" K1100M Graphics Card Swap And Install Catalina - Hello, World! Codes
A step-by-step guide on how I successfully swap the graphics card to K1100M on my 2011 27″ iMac and install Catalina in this unsupported system. I decided to take on this project due to the infamous Apple AMD GPU failure…helloworldcodes.com
The issue I am having is the Black Screen fix, I have followed this post to fix it "https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-236?post=28406927#post-28406927" but my iMac 2010 will not work unless I press Alt before I boot. It seems replacing AppleGraphicsControl.kext is the solution. but it is not working for me.
Is anyone got a working system to boot on an iMac 2010 so you don't need to press "Alt/Option"?. Do I need to install OpenCore maybe?. I have not done this since I know this is to fix Brightness Control on a different video card.
Thank you.
-Lui
the Kext needs to be placed on System/Library/Extensions. The kext util by default gets you to a different /Extension folder. (for the target)
Once you copy kext, you are supposed to open a terminal window and type sudo reboot (for it to work).
Well, the next time I did a reboot, no need to press Alt, just wait a bit. Also the wifi card started to work.
I hope it help some newbie like me.
Sorry, misread what you meant by editing. Thought you were talking about flashing vBios.
I upgraded my 27" 2011 iMac with an SSD, a server grade HDD, an i7 2600 and a K3100M 4GB. At first it booted with a black screen and the fans went to max speed. Then I flashed the GPU with the latest version of nikey22's firmware and it boots fine, with screen and all.
The fans are still running at max speed, though. How come? How can I remedy this?
The fans are still running at max speed, though. How come? How can I remedy this?
Use a software called Macs Fan Control for instance to drive the Fans, as there is no more temp reading on the SSD.
There was a post about 20 pages back about how to splice two SATA wires together that will stop the fans from spinning at max speed. Also, installing a Y splitter off of the SATA power will do the same thing. Then install Mac Fan Control.
EDIT: Found it here
Did someone tried this, it should be the same goal, done differently.
I saw that but it wasn't easy to solder my hard-drive. This is the easiest solution: splitter
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Sure.
The idea is to put to the ground pin 11 in the sata connector to keep the fan quiet.
But thinking about that, it's not a very good idea for us as we must control the fan speed in relation with the heat to dissipate in these customised iMacs, not simply keep the fans low.
It will be a mistake to do that.
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You da man! I will be the guinea pig since I just bought this
Whats the difference between a "Clevo" based and "UGA" based rom?
If this doesn't work for whatever reason, can I try the Clevo 3gb on this? hoping that it would just limit memory to 3gb but still works? Thx.
Have you had any luck with either ROM @hchc ? I've just got this card and was thinking of giving it a go...
The splitter and the solder point do the same. There is a separate thread about that. Just search for it.
After a several attempts, and a bit of frustration from my brothers part, he was very successful in flashing the BIOS of a NVidia Quadro K1100M, now my former iMac is running smoothly with Catalina 10.15.6. All in all the iMac 21.5 is running a 512 SSD drive along with the video card.
We also experienced a slight setback with one of the CMS memory DIMMs, fortunately the DIMM has a lifetime warranty.
We also experienced a slight setback with one of the CMS memory DIMMs, fortunately the DIMM has a lifetime warranty.
Attachments
This is not true. A modern SSD does not dissipate the heat needed to run the HDD fan at maximum per default. Using the splitter or the solder point let’s you still use Macs Fan Control to run the HDD fan according to the current temperature.Sure.
The idea is to put to the ground pin 11 in the sata connector to keep the fan quiet.View attachment 965315
But thinking about that, it's not a very good idea for us as we must control the fan speed in relation with the heat to dissipate in these customised iMacs, not simply keep the fans low.
It will be a mistake to do that.
I'm at a loss! I have a 27" 2011 iMac that I upgraded with a Quadro K2100M I got off eBay. After installing it I got the first 2 diagnostic leds to come on. Flashed the VBIOS and the 3rd diagnostic led came on (Thought I was in business!). Reinstalled the LCD screen but no display or backlight. Checked that the 4th diagnostic light was on and to my surprise it was. I then attached an external monitor which successfully displays. I'm not sure what to do now. Does anyone have any thoughts on what I should do next? Does this mean the LCD is bad? I thought if that was the case, I wouldn't see the 4th diagnostic led on. Thanks for reading!
Pay the first post a visit and search for black screen. Why you guys cannot find this? It is a common problem.
EDIT: PRAM reset sometimes help after the GPU change.
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Sorry. I didn't think to look back there afterwards. I was following the @xanderon "pre-made USB that can flash Nvidia cards in the iMac" steps.
Thanks! I checked out that "black screen" section but I'm not sure if any of it is related to the problem I'm seeing. I only say that because it seems to be all MacOS related and I'm trying to boot into Linux but no display on the internal LCD and external LCD is fine.
Update: Apologies for posting my problems in this thread guys. I realize now I should have created a new thread instead. Is there any way to delete my posts on this thread so its not causing clutter?
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Just a follow-up to my upgrade of my iMac 2010 27" i7.
Firstly
What a bad day !
I removed the LCD panel & disconnected all internal hard disk, leaving only the ethernet port and USB Linux flasher with AMD modification connected.
Then I swapped in the graphic cards.
A fixed IP had been assigned to my iMac 2010 before I shut it down.
The green card was probably dead. I can turn on the machine but no chime.
My iMac 2007 couldn't ssh to it.
I inspected the card again with readjustment of screw tension in fear of close contact of card component to heatsink with no avail.
So I swapped to the blue card. It did startup with a boot chime.
I could ssh to it and run the linux amdvflash.
However, an unknown bios chip "R600 spi" was found of rom size only 10000 (64K) and failed on reading.
I looked at the bios chip and did some identity check. It should be a 512K chip (25Q40CT).
My further internet search reviewed that the bios chip was probably locked, requiring shorting pin 1 and 8 to enable reprogramming as a workaround, of which I was a bit hesitant.
I decided to flash the bios chip directly with the USB ch341a programmer with a clip.
Thus, I installed the Mac driver for the device, Homebrew and flashrom in my iMac 2007 running Catalina.
Upon several re-adjustment of the clip, I was able to read the bios off the chip as a backup.rom for twice to confirm the correct working of the device with comparing the two files.
Then I tried to flash the reduced gop bios (256k) of WX4150 from Nick.
Unfortunately, it refused to write the lesser content to the bios chip (512k).
I switched to the full size 512k gop bios in the 1st post for WX4150 with success and verified again with re-reading it for comparison.
I missed taking the picture of the screen for the successful flashing as it was late night already.
I thought the hard part should be over and transferred it to the iMac 2010.
On starting the iMac I gave it a 4 finger salute (command-option-p-r).
It responded with the boot chime as before but unfortunately kept rebooting itself after some seconds.
it won't boot from my prepared USB drive and I can't even ssh it from my other iMac for trouble-shooting.
I am still thinking what should be my next steps ...
1. directly flash the bios chip of the green card to see whether my iMac will boot up with a chime (seems unlikely a bios problem on the video card) since I can see the fans are turned on
2. attach an external monitor to see anything with the green or blue card ( seems not helpful as the continuous reboot won't likely stop with an external display)
Thus, from my experience, which likely would be encountered by many newbies who want a working WX4150, I would not recommend the AMD series, except the WX7100 which I haven't tried yet but now a bit hesitant since it is twice the cost of WX4150 and also of unpredictable compatibility. Besides, it requires modding the heatsinks, for which I don't have the equipment. It also draws twice the power (?up to 130W) as compared to its younger brothers (?75W). Although my iMac 2010 should have enough juice to support it, I already find my pre-existing HD5750 giving much heat inside my iMac raising the temperature.
I guess a new BIOS to the blue card should solve the issue but the hope is remote. Perhaps the new coming eg bios as hinted by Ausdauersportler might help since the blue card did not give the rebooting initially. I might switch to the K2100 (no heatsink modding) or K4100 (with heatsink modding but uncertain how extensive that maybe).
Not totally giving up on the WX4150s yet. Suggestions from forum members welcomed.
Firstly
What a bad day !
I removed the LCD panel & disconnected all internal hard disk, leaving only the ethernet port and USB Linux flasher with AMD modification connected.
Then I swapped in the graphic cards.
A fixed IP had been assigned to my iMac 2010 before I shut it down.
The green card was probably dead. I can turn on the machine but no chime.
My iMac 2007 couldn't ssh to it.
I inspected the card again with readjustment of screw tension in fear of close contact of card component to heatsink with no avail.
So I swapped to the blue card. It did startup with a boot chime.
I could ssh to it and run the linux amdvflash.
However, an unknown bios chip "R600 spi" was found of rom size only 10000 (64K) and failed on reading.
I looked at the bios chip and did some identity check. It should be a 512K chip (25Q40CT).
My further internet search reviewed that the bios chip was probably locked, requiring shorting pin 1 and 8 to enable reprogramming as a workaround, of which I was a bit hesitant.
I decided to flash the bios chip directly with the USB ch341a programmer with a clip.
Thus, I installed the Mac driver for the device, Homebrew and flashrom in my iMac 2007 running Catalina.
Upon several re-adjustment of the clip, I was able to read the bios off the chip as a backup.rom for twice to confirm the correct working of the device with comparing the two files.
Then I tried to flash the reduced gop bios (256k) of WX4150 from Nick.
Unfortunately, it refused to write the lesser content to the bios chip (512k).
I switched to the full size 512k gop bios in the 1st post for WX4150 with success and verified again with re-reading it for comparison.
I missed taking the picture of the screen for the successful flashing as it was late night already.
I thought the hard part should be over and transferred it to the iMac 2010.
On starting the iMac I gave it a 4 finger salute (command-option-p-r).
It responded with the boot chime as before but unfortunately kept rebooting itself after some seconds.
it won't boot from my prepared USB drive and I can't even ssh it from my other iMac for trouble-shooting.
I am still thinking what should be my next steps ...
1. directly flash the bios chip of the green card to see whether my iMac will boot up with a chime (seems unlikely a bios problem on the video card) since I can see the fans are turned on
2. attach an external monitor to see anything with the green or blue card ( seems not helpful as the continuous reboot won't likely stop with an external display)
Thus, from my experience, which likely would be encountered by many newbies who want a working WX4150, I would not recommend the AMD series, except the WX7100 which I haven't tried yet but now a bit hesitant since it is twice the cost of WX4150 and also of unpredictable compatibility. Besides, it requires modding the heatsinks, for which I don't have the equipment. It also draws twice the power (?up to 130W) as compared to its younger brothers (?75W). Although my iMac 2010 should have enough juice to support it, I already find my pre-existing HD5750 giving much heat inside my iMac raising the temperature.
I guess a new BIOS to the blue card should solve the issue but the hope is remote. Perhaps the new coming eg bios as hinted by Ausdauersportler might help since the blue card did not give the rebooting initially. I might switch to the K2100 (no heatsink modding) or K4100 (with heatsink modding but uncertain how extensive that maybe).
Not totally giving up on the WX4150s yet. Suggestions from forum members welcomed.
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