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

[Ausdauersportler]

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?

No need to delete, it has become the facebook of failed installation attempts anyway. Try pressing alt/option on boot to fire up the boot screen on the internal LCD. If this does not work you have a hardware problem, sorry but you will have to check all parts on your own then.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Just a follow-up to my upgrade of my iMac 2010 27" i7.



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.

1. EG BIOS will not help
2. WX7100 BIOS is limited to 70W on average, do not post false assumptions

Sometimes cleaning the mxm connector helps with boot loops.

Less story telling and more focussing on the facts would make your posts really great. At least we know why there is this warning about potential incompabilities of AMD cards, again. Thanks for sharing!

Because you made several posts everything is scattered across the last 20 pages. You could link everything together?

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

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.
View attachment 965335

I looked at the bios chip and did some identity check. It should be a 512K chip (25Q40CT).
View attachment 965336

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.

Do you have at hand a windows10 installation (configured with autologin and using microsoft basic graphic driver) on an external SSD that you could assess via teamviewer from another computer?

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

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.

If we can always drive fans with Mac Fans Control to cool GPU (cooling SSD is useless, i agree) after doing this hardware modification, everything ok.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

If we can always drive fans with Mac Fans Control to cool GPU (cooling SSD is useless, i agree) after doing this hardware modification, everything ok.

I use splitter cables in all of my countless 2011 systems to keep the HDD fan quite on boot and I can nevertheless adjust the fan speed to the thermal data. It works!!

 

[KennyW]

Do you have at hand a windows10 installation (configured with autologin and using microsoft basic graphic driver) on an external SSD that you could assess via teamviewer from another computer?

Sorry, I don't. But I would like to know how that helps in my situation

 

[KennyW]

1. EG BIOS will not help
2. WX7100 BIOS is limited to 70W on average, do not post false assumptions

Sometimes cleaning the mxm connector helps with boot loops.

Less story telling and more focussing on the facts would make your posts really great. At least we know why there is this warning about potential incompabilities of AMD cards, again. Thanks for sharing!

Because you made several posts everything is scattered across the last 20 pages. You could link everything together?

The power consumption of WX7100 is taken from both the V4 list of Cards here as well as in my Internet search for WX7100 mobile version. Perhaps the 70W you mention could be the low average or idle but anywhere I search is close to 100 to 130W.
The power consumption of the graphic cards has been lowered thru the bios modding to match the iMac's power supply without exceeding also the heat dissipated capability !

I'll try cleaning the MXM connector again as you suggest.

As forum moderator, I agree on your preference of relevant short messages. But bare facts are too dry to swallow.
Detailing every steps are necessary so that experts here including you can know what possibly went wrong in our part. It could be long winded but at least I don't think my presentation of the whole process has many redundant non-useful information for reference by especially the new comers. It is perhaps my tone and use of words in expressing the fact or sequence a bit too light-hearted to release my frustration 😆

I have got only two posts in relation to this actual installation. How can I link them to do better? Please kindly advise 🤗

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Sorry, I don't. But I would like to know how that helps in my situation

First, Check this post for memory and vbios compatibility.
Windows10 should boot (in low resolution), have an internal and external monitor connected, just in case. Then through Teamviewer you'll can flash again your graphic card. (you'll need to press update, two times, to refresh display in Teamviewer in this low graphic mode).

 

[Ausdauersportler]

The power consumption of WX7100 is taken from both the V4 list of Cards here as well as in my Internet search for WX7100 mobile version. Perhaps the 70W you mention could be the low average or idle but anywhere I search is close to 100 to 130W.

I'll try cleaning the MXM connector again as you suggest.

As forum moderator, I agree on your preference of relevant short messages. But bare facts are too dry to swallow.
Detailing every steps are necessary so that experts here including you can know what possibly went wrong in our part. It could be long winded but at least I don't think my presentation of the whole process has many redundant non-useful information for reference by especially the new comers. It is perhaps my tone and use of words in expressing the fact or sequence a bit too light-hearted to release my frustration 😆

I have got only two posts in relation to this actual installation. How can I link them to do better? Please kindly advise 🤗

The BIOS versions provided here are limited using BIOS programming tools to an average of approximately 70W - regardless with (maximum) TDP the card may have. The same applies to nearly all Kepler MXM-B cards. The BIOS editors are all aware of the fact that the power supply cannot provide the 130W you found and more importantly the heat sink and fan cannot transport the heat generated by a card consuming 130W on average out of your iMac.

You are still publishing wrong assumption based on false or not relevant facts. Why you cannot simply ask a question about that? Now your claims have been published, other come across your false "knowledge" and the debate starts again. Somebody has to clean up behind you...

About style:

There are some forum rules general to this site. Read these. This is not "Facebook or a social media" is one of them. We try to share relevant information, not the story of your or my day. The more you write the harder it will be for others to get the relevant part - this is basic information theory or the the well known "needle in a haystack" problem. So the pictures of the card, board-id, the problems in a single post per card would be great, now we all have to move forward and backward searching through this thread and - you know - we have all 48h a day to do so.

The guys who post a single "it does not work" message I learned to ignore.

You provide valuable information about the problems with AMD cards and mix it up with false information about the WX7100, a card you have never seen or used in an iMac.

How to uses links? You have been able to post, add pictures and did not find the link feature. I cannot really believe this.

 

[KennyW]

First, Check this post for memory and vbios compatibility.
Windows10 should boot (in low resolution), have an internal and external monitor connected, just in case. Then through Teamviewer you'll can flash again your graphic card. (you'll need to press update, two times, to refresh display in Teamviewer in this low graphic mode).

Thanks for your explanation.
I don't have a Windows PC.
If the purpose is to flash the graphic card again, I suppose I can do it using my other iMac 2007 in Catalina using the ch341a programmer again with flashrom directly on the bios chip.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Thanks for your explanation.
I don't have a Windows PC.
If the purpose is to flash the graphic card again, I suppose I can do it using my other iMac 2007 in Catalina using the ch341a programmer again with flashrom directly on the bios chip.

No need for a windows PC. You can just install windows on a Mac.

 

[BeatCrazy]

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.
View attachment 965335

I looked at the bios chip and did some identity check. It should be a 512K chip (25Q40CT).
View attachment 965336

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.

I found your post very informative and helpful. Helpful especially in the sense that I don't think I'm going to try an upgrade

I'll describe my situation, so anyone is welcome to offer feedback. This is my first post in this thread. I have read the Wiki at least 10x.

My iMac is a free/new-to-me Late 2009 11,1 27" i7-860. It was DOA upon receipt, so I invested ~$110 for a new logic board, new display LVDS cable and new V-sync cable, all of which were previously damaged. I found a 240GB SSD and 8GB SO-DIMM in my drawer of tech junk, and got everything working yesterday. As such, I'm very familiar at this point with how to take this machine apart and all the internal nuances. I installed 10.13.6 including all the latest supplemental updates and latest EFI.

This will be a secondary/tertiary computer for my wife/kids, so stability is important. I would love to get Big Sur running on it, so I could get a few more years out of it, and have feature parity for what my family will be used to from other machines. I realize the biggest component of this is a replacement GPU, and it seems like the WX7100 would be my best bet. Digging on eBay, I couldn't find the proper one with vbios chip on the board. Even then, it does seem like my chances are not even 100% I could make it work. I suppose $300 is not too much to get another few years of modern macOS updates out of this machine, but that's really pushing it. For <$100 card option, I wouldn't even think twice about fooling around with it, succeed or fail.

Any input or recommendations based on my machine and/or priorities (getting Big Sur in a very stable way) are appreciated.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

I found your post very informative and helpful. Helpful especially in the sense that I don't think I'm going to try an upgrade

I'll describe my situation, so anyone is welcome to offer feedback. This is my first post in this thread. I have read the Wiki at least 10x.

My iMac is a free/new-to-me Late 2009 11,1 27" i7-860. It was DOA upon receipt, so I invested ~$110 for a new logic board, new display LVDS cable and new V-sync cable, all of which were previously damaged. I found a 240GB SSD and 8GB SO-DIMM in my drawer of tech junk, and got everything working yesterday. As such, I'm very familiar at this point with how to take this machine apart and all the internal nuances. I installed 10.13.16 including all the latest supplemental updates and latest EFI.

This will be a secondary/tertiary computer for my wife/kids, so stability is important. I would love to get Big Sur running on it, so I could get a few more years out of it was feature parity for what my family will be used to from other machines. I realize the biggest component of this is a replacement GPU, and it seems like the WX7100 would be my best bet. Digging on eBay, I couldn't find the proper one with vbios chip on the board. Even then, it does seem like my chances are not even 100% I could make it work. I suppose $300 is not too much to get another few years of modern macOS updates out of this machine, but that's really pushing it. For <$100 card option, I wouldn't even think twice about fooling around with it, succeed or fail.

Any input or recommendations based on my machine and/or priorities (getting Big Sur in a very stable way) are appreciated.

i7-860 compatibility for Big Sur seems not assured for now.
Micro Patcher

 

[BeatCrazy]

i7-860 compatibility for Big Sur seems not assured for now.
Micro Patcher

Thank you for that link. The relevant info for my config: "These are crashing in AppleACPICPU.kext during boot. Someone needs to create a patch to fix it, or these Macs will not be running Big Sur."

 

[KennyW]

The BIOS versions provided here are limited using BIOS programming tools to an average of approximately 70W - regardless with (maximum) TDP the card may have. The same applies to nearly all Kepler MXM-B cards. The BIOS editors are all aware of the fact that the power supply cannot provide the 130W you found and more importantly the heat sink and fan cannot transport the heat generated by a card consuming 130W on average out of your iMac.

You are still publishing wrong assumption based on false or not relevant facts. Why you cannot simply ask a question about that? Now your claims have been published, other come across your false "knowledge" and the debate starts again. Somebody has to clean up behind you...

About style:

There are some forum rules general to this site. Read these. This is not "Facebook or a social media" is one of them. We try to share relevant information, not the story of your or my day. The more you write the harder it will be for others to get the relevant part - this is basic information theory or the the well known "needle in a haystack" problem. So the pictures of the card, board-id, the problems in a single post per card would be great, now we all have to move forward and backward searching through this thread and - you know - we have all 48h a day to do so.

The guys who post a single "it does not work" message I learned to ignore.

You provide valuable information about the problems with AMD cards and mix it up with false information about the WX7100, a card you have never seen or used in an iMac.

How to uses links? You have been able to post, add pictures and did not find the link feature. I cannot really believe this.

You have my respect.
I keep learning new things from your post that sometimes aren't explicitly mentioned in the 1st post

I have amended my prior post on the "false" assumption of power consumption with reference to your reveal of the current bios modding to reduce the power consumption to an acceptable level. That's great 👍

Posting message and picture appear basic functions that I start to master here in this forum. Forgive my incompetence on these as I was just labelled a newbie here few days ago but now "advanced" to member . I will explore linking to see what it does ...

The bios chip on the green card is probably dead since I can't read nor flash it with complete no recognition by the ch341a programmer.

Cleaning the contact of the blue card has no effect on the re-booting. I'll put back my old graphic card for the time-being.
Will report again when new cards arrive in a more succinct manner.

Thanks for responding to my post anyway .

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thank you for that link. The relevant info for my config: "These are crashing in AppleACPICPU.kext during boot. Someone needs to create a patch to fix it, or these Macs will not be running Big Sur."

It is worse, believe me. Read this short post and this other one made by the single expert who is doing 90% of the patches available for running Big Sur on unsupported machines. You can ignore this post or start to rip the valuable parts out if your 2010 and start over with a 2011, which is the better bet in these days.
Do not shoot the messenger and start to read the other thread...

 

[BeatCrazy]

It is worse, believe me. Read this short post and this other one made by the single expert who is doing 90% of the patches available for running Big Sur on unsupported machines. You can ignore this post or start to rip the valuable parts out if your 2010 and start over with a 2011, which is the better bet in these days.
Do not shoot the messenger and start to read the other thread...

Thank you. Although I've been following that thread, I had not come across those specific comments.

I think those posts confirm - I'll stick with High Sierra. I have other laptops in the house that can run Big Sur. My strategy now will be to use this 2009 iMac mainly in Target Display Mode for those laptops. Having a High Sierra Mac has already come in handy! I had the "can't relabel Bluetooth peripherals with Catalina" issue, and now I have a way to fix that

 

[Ausdauersportler]

The bios chip on the green card is probably dead since I can't read nor flash it with complete no recognition by the ch341a programmer.

Cleaning the contact of the blue card has no effect on the re-booting. I'll put back my old graphic card for the time-being.
Will report again when new cards arrive in a more succinct manner.

Thanks for responding to my post anyway .

The first post is just a collection of information and links. Most real facts are hidden in the posts linked. Like Wikipedia. You have to use the search button to find the height of the Eiffel Tower, it is not printed on the cover of the book.

Add a link to former post to the latter one, if you can still edit it.

Regarding the boot loop:

Try to start the system without an internal display data cable connected. If you get the same boot loop I am out of options.

If you surprisingly see your system coming up you may hot plug the display cable. This is possible by opening the iMac only 3-4 inches unless you hand fits in to connect the data cable. You can leave the V-SYNC unconnected to have more "hand" room.

 

[BeatCrazy]

It is worse, believe me. Read this short post and this other one made by the single expert who is doing 90% of the patches available for running Big Sur on unsupported machines. You can ignore this post or start to rip the valuable parts out if your 2010 and start over with a 2011, which is the better bet in these days.
Do not shoot the messenger and start to read the other thread...

One more question, if you don't mind. I see in your post here that you got the WX7100 working on your Late 2009 i7-860. Do you or @meggle still have this card in use? Or available for sale?

I realize that getting a working WX7100 won't help my Big Sur goals, but having a Metal-capable GPU could be useful for me.

 

[bohmanart]

No need to delete, it has become the facebook of failed installation attempts anyway. Try pressing alt/option on boot to fire up the boot screen on the internal LCD. If this does not work you have a hardware problem, sorry but you will have to check all parts on your own then.

No boot screen either. Must be the display. I've seen people having issues where the backlight led strip goes bad. I'll look into that. Thanks for the replies!

 

[gagarin04]

I managed to get everything up and running using the SATA trick, combined with Macs Fan Control for keeping the system at acceptable levels.

The computer seems to randomly reboot however, with issues relating to the NVIDIA driver. Any ideas? See this pastebin: https://pastebin.com/raw/G7bEktjQ

 

[Antonio Gerson B. da Cruz]

The following is a vbios ROM for: Nvidia Quadro K610M

K610M:
The chip I used to develop the ROM is: N15M-Q2-B-A1
MXM-A (3.0) bus interface, low powered card at TDP 30W.
It is a drop-in fit for the 21.5" iMac and 27” iMac heatsinks.
It is based on the GK208 GPU Kepler 2.0 architecture.
Metal supported.


I put this together only because there are now a few members on here that have one and it is relatively cheap to purchase for the moment.
It is based on Nick [D]vB's ROMs. All credit to him.
I have not had a chance to test it fully, but I can confirm brightness control will work with Opencore implementation on High Sierra 10.13.6.
Bootpicker menu is also available ofcourse.

This card should be added to our database of working GPUs.
Enjoy.

addendum:
7/15/2020
- working on Catalina 10.15.3 2011 iMac 21.5"
- no internet recovery
- working on Catalina 10.15.X 2009 iMac 27" (Ausdauersportler)

Dear Friend,
congrats for the job.
Have you got an external display working on this GPU?
Thanks

 

[pappl]

I use splitter cables in all of my countless 2011 systems to keep the HDD fan quite on boot and I can nevertheless adjust the fan speed to the thermal data. It works!!

I simply unplugged my HDD fan cable from the motherboard on my 2010 and 2011 iMac 27", problem solved since long time.
No hassle with OWC adapters or any other mod. No noise and temps are even lower since i run a SSD instead the original HDD.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Seeking Volunteers!
​

Purpose: If this experiment is successful we may replace all extensions scattering around the thread needed to be installed in such installer packages - which may be more easy for most users here.

This little package I attached will install hopefully without any problems the three kernel extensions needed to use the HW Monitor to show the GPU data in the /System/Library/Extensions folder.

You need SIP disabled (which is after @dosdude patcher installation of Catalina and Mojave the default) and your password. After installation the system will need to reboot.

You can check the success by simply open the /System/Library/Extensions folder and search for extensions names starting with FakeSMC and more importantly by running HW Monitor app. After installation you will see the CPU core frequency and some other additional data, the list of sensors becomes much longer. So use the app before and after installation.

To get rid of this files later you may use the uninstall script. Open the terminal app, enter sudo (the trailing space is important) and drop the script onto the terminal window. It will ask for the password and remove all files and rebuild the kernel. I tested this on two 2011 systems (Catalina and Mojave).

So please help and post back any problems you experience, possibly attach a screen shot of error messages!

Notes:

1. Experts, only.​
2. Do not use your productive system unless you know what you are doing ​
3. Why FakeSMC? It will unlikely break an installation. And to may give you some added value.​
4. I did not try to install it onto a disk having a not active MacOS.​
5. This is not a 100% fail save solution.​
6. On a 2nd installation attempt it will just stop, okay, this is what we expect.​
7. Deinstallation needs the script or manual intervention. There are no uninstall packages...​

EDIT:
It seems that the successful installation needs to make the root file system writable in advance. Open the Terminal app and enter sudo mount -uw / will do this trick. The reason are more sophisticated security measures introduced with macOS 10.8.3.
The uninstall.sh works fine.

 

[quarkpower]

Of course I've read the first post from the begining till the end, I'm asking because had no luck after following all the steps. All cables connected, no cable issues (all tested), PRAM/SMC didn't help, no AppleBootPicker access (black screen), no video on screen (lantern test), modded vbios is flashed and veryfied it's flashed and working, kext patch applied etc etc etc with no result.

I've installed again the 6790m because I've lost ssh access and external video output suddenly, and then instaled catalina with the patcher and I'll try again.

I hope you don't send me to read first post again, and some one could help me. If you don't have anything useful to say, better don't say anything

I want you all to know that upgrading to catalina before installing the new gpu, solved all my problems. That only thing solved everything and now my imac with k4100m is working perfectly. My gratitude to @MichaelDT, @nikey22, @xanderon and @highvoltage12v.

just... with the i7-2600/k4100m genbench shows cero score at Histogram Equalization, is it a bug or is it normal?