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

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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.
Pascal Baillargeau said:
iMac 2011 21,5'' and WX4150.
I tried to install a WX4150 in an iMac 2011 21,5'' and it works. It was an HP card coming from a ZBook.
No need to say i took extra care, assembling graphic card and heatsink, putting some tape where i thought it could be needed to protect from potential shorts.

Edit (for fools):
I am not saying all WX4150 cards will work in an iMac 2011, beware.
I didn't took photos, i thought it will not work. So please stay calm, stand still and wait for further informations. I will take photos of this card, but not before a week, i'am afraid.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Would be really cool if you can get back to this and post the photos of the board/GPU that worked for your. The ones from the stock are not working for me in mid 2011 21,5" >
tinyurl.com

NEW HP L17822-001 PCA RADEON PRO WX 4150 4GB MXM Mobile Graphics | eBay

AMD Radeon Pro WX 4150. Compatible HP models Condition: New, sealed.
tinyurl.com
 
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Good day!

So there is Imac 27 2011, GTX 780m card has been safely installed on it (hd 6970 is dead). Imac started successfully, MAC OS worked correctly. Then I flashed the GPU BIOS successfully too, the boot screen turned on. Everything worked well for several days, but at one point the MAC showed only a black screen when turned on, and then alsow, and after only a black screen ...
What was done after that:
1.shined a flashlight on the screen (maybe there is no backlight), but nothing is displayed ...
2.when the Command + R or Command + Option + P + R key combinations were used, the screen was black, but you can see how the backlight turns on, but there is no image
3. took off the screen and turned it on. On the motherboard, 3 out of 4 diagnostic diodes are lit (1, 2, 3) ... that is, like the power supply, processor and GPU are determined by the system ...

Tell me where to look? How to diagnose what's out of order? on hand only HD6970 (dead)

And yes, Imac worked until about the moment when I tried to turn on the backlight control (system files rules), but I think this is just a coincidence and really a problem in the hardware ...
 
Last edited:
Sonny_NS5 said:
Good day!

So there is Imac 27 2011, GTX 780m card has been safely installed on it (hd 6970 is dead). Imac started successfully, MAC OS worked correctly. Then I flashed the GPU BIOS successfully too, the boot screen turned on. Everything worked well for several days, but at one point the MAC showed only a black screen when turned on ...
What was done after that:
1.shined a flashlight on the screen (maybe there is no backlight), but nothing is displayed ...
2.when the Command + R or Command + Option + P + R key combinations were used, the screen was black, but you can see how the backlight turns on, but there is no image
3. took off the screen and turned it on. On the motherboard, 3 out of 4 diagnostic diodes are lit (1, 2, 3) ... that is, like the power supply, processor and GPU are determined by the system ...

Tell me where to look? How to diagnose what's out of order? on hand only HD6970 (dead)

And yes, Imac worked until about the moment when I tried to turn on the backlight control (system files rules), but I think this is just a coincidence and really a problem in the hardware ...
Click to expand...
Please read the first post on the first page, again!

EDIT:
Backlight (brightness) control is native with the latest BIOS @nikey22 has published. So why you exactly need to turn it on?
 
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dstd123 said:
Everything works as it should, THNX Very much for this.
My only concern is that, most people from the beginning of this board thread here have GTX 765m & GTX 770m and no firmware for native brightness control has been released yet (even though it has for the GTX 780).
Am willing to test a firmware if there is one for this particular 2 GPUs.
Again thankx to all the people contributing to this thread.
Click to expand...
On mojave also works fine, without messing with root dir.
 

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Hello,

I am preparing by writing on a piece of paper , before do the change, all the operations to change the graphics card of my Imac mid 2011 27 " by a WX4130 (Dell model). I have read the first page :) but I need some confirmation

To flash the bios of a WX4130 card

1) it is indicated on this post :
ROMs:
- WX4130.ROM
- WX4130_GOP.ROM
I did not understand (my native langage is french...) what was the difference between the 2 ROMs ?
What is the meaning of GOP ?

2) On the first page, the ROM for the card WX4130 in the BIOS link is stated "Dell RX 560 2GB.ROM"
I think this ROM is the same as listed before WX4130.ROM , only the name change, and I must use the ROM RX560_2G.ROM for my Dell Card ?
amdvbflash will work with this ROM ?


Thank you for your answers,
 
Last edited:
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sergiodadi said:
Hello,

I am preparing by writing on a piece of paper , before do the change, all the operations to change the graphics card of my Imac mid 2011 27 " by a WX4130 (Dell model). I have read the first page :) but I need some confirmation

To flash the bios of a WX4130 card

1) it is indicated on this post :
ROMs:
- WX4130.ROM
- WX4130_GOP.ROM
I did not understand (my native langage is french...) what was the difference between the 2 ROMs ?
What is the meaning of GOP ?

2) On the first page, the ROM for the card WX4130 in the BIOS link is stated "Dell RX 560 2GB.ROM"
I think this ROM is the same as listed before WX4130.ROM , only the name change, and I must use the ROM RX560_2G.ROM for my Dell Card ?


Thank you for your answers,
Click to expand...
The first post you linked shows only a picture of my personal Linux flash utility containing some experimental BIOS versions never made it to the public. You cannot download a BIOS from a picture :)

Please use only the published and available BIOS versions from the table on the first post. Use the 2GB version you already found there and copy it onto your Linux flash utility in advance. Check the first post, again! There is a short plan added at the very end.
 
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Ausdauersportler said:
Please use only the published and available BIOS versions from the table on the first post. Use the 2GB version you already found there and copy it onto your Linux flash utility in advance. Check the first post, again! There is a short plan added at the very end.
Click to expand...

Thank for your (quick) reply and confirmation :)
 
Ausdauersportler said:
Please read the first post on the first page, again!

EDIT:
Backlight (brightness) control is native with the latest BIOS @nikey22 has published. So why you exactly need to turn it on?
Click to expand...

I have looked closely at the first page many times already ... But, haven't found a solution.

Perhaps I did not quite correctly describe it, I only have a black screen ... Some times before (after flash BIOS by instructions from xanderson with the file 780M_EG2.rom) there was a boot screen and the MAC OS loaded normally. But there no Backlight (brightness) control. So I tryed to do this . And now I have only black screen... It s look like GPU is broken?
 
Sonny_NS5 said:
I have looked closely at the first page many times already ... But, haven't found a solution.

Perhaps I did not quite correctly describe it, I only have a black screen ... Some times before (after flash BIOS by instructions from xanderson with the file 780M_EG2.rom) there was a boot screen and the MAC OS loaded normally. But there no Backlight (brightness) control. So I tryed to do this . And now I have only black screen... It s look like GPU is broken?
Click to expand...
Please check the first post again! Following the links in the table you might find a more suitable and more recent BIOS version @nikey22 published. I cannot believe that this table is so confusing! There are links within each row pointing out the most recent version of the BIOS to be used with this particular card.

The flash utility has been released more than half a year ago and it contains bei default only the old BIOS versions have been published prior to this flash utility release date.

Welcome to the world of software :)
 
the latest Catalina Loader based on OC version 0.6.2 and the supporting files boots fine to the Catalina loaded using dosdude1's install but broke the High Sierra boot (had worked with previous version of the Catalina Loader).

Boot progresses to about 50% then it stops there indefinitely.

that's all I have right now... I'll try to get more information later...
 
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Ausdauersportler said:
Possibly you need to patch the AGPM - this is @highvoltage12v 's call. He sent me once this version for exactly this config. Check it out...

And save the original version before you put the patched one in...
Click to expand...

I don't think I got it
What did you mean with the screenshot? Should I change something in the Info.plist of the kext?
I tried only installing the linked kext with kextutility, but nothing changed...

I also noticed some weird reporting on HWMonitor, my CPU is still reporting 2THz, but the GPU is stuck at 400MHz core and 4Ghz memory, but by this spec it should be at around 660Mhz core and 750MHz memory.
I'm not sure if it is misreporting, memory probably is or it should be crashing, but the core is within what I expected, as I am getting poor Valley performance.
 
toucharcade said:
Would be really cool if you can get back to this and post the photos of the board/GPU that worked for your. The ones from the stock are not working for me in mid 2011 21,5" >
tinyurl.com

NEW HP L17822-001 PCA RADEON PRO WX 4150 4GB MXM Mobile Graphics | eBay

AMD Radeon Pro WX 4150. Compatible HP models Condition: New, sealed.
tinyurl.com
Click to expand...

Nice mention to Pascal Baillargeau, but you toucharcade could you please take picture of the other side of your WX4150 Card? the ebay link site does not include the other side of GPU Card for version information number, because the other side of the Card includes the version number.
we need to make a clear information table with pictures for each AMD [Blue & Green coloured] plus (OEM, HP, Dell) GPU version number information for what not worked and half working and what fully working and in which iMac year version....
I will make and take care of those information and post later after I get near fully information of it.
Thanks
 
torresmon235 said:
I don't think I got it
What did you mean with the screenshot? Should I change something in the Info.plist of the kext?
I tried only installing the linked kext with kextutility, but nothing changed...

I also noticed some weird reporting on HWMonitor, my CPU is still reporting 2THz, but the GPU is stuck at 400MHz core and 4Ghz memory, but by this spec it should be at around 660Mhz core and 750MHz memory.
I'm not sure if it is misreporting, memory probably is or it should be crashing, but the core is within what I expected, as I am getting poor Valley performance.
Click to expand...
The screen shot shows only the place in the info.plist where the new part about the card with the device ID 11fc has been inserted.

Honestly I do not know if you did the installation of the kernel extension right and my remote administration capabilities are limited. At least this patch worked for me. Please check if your card comes up with the same ID in the About this Mac -> System Report -> Graphics....
 
Ed Hartouni said:
the latest Catalina Loader based on OC version 0.6.2 and the supporting files boots fine to the Catalina loaded using dosdude1's install but broke the High Sierra boot (had worked with previous version of the Catalina Loader).

Boot progresses to about 50% then it stops there indefinitely.

that's all I have right now... I'll try to get more information later...
Click to expand...
Possibly the now missing MinKernel 18.0.0 entry for Lilu and Whatevergreen in the Kernel section....added two modified config.plist blueprints.
 

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Ausdauersportler said:
Possibly the now missing MinKernel 18.0.0 entry for Lilu and Whatevergreen in the Kernel section....added two modified config.plist blueprints.
Click to expand...

tried that, didn't work...

Not sure how I can see what's going on... but the progress bar proceeds to about 50% and the display dims, which indicates that GPU is engaged and the brightness control has kicked in, but then the boot stalls at that point.

Is there some mystical key sequence I can press to get a screen of the boot progress? I've never really engaged in this level of macOS system hacking.

This modified .plist worked fine for Catalina boot.
 
Ed Hartouni said:
tried that, didn't work...

Not sure how I can see what's going on... but the progress bar proceeds to about 50% and the display dims, which indicates that GPU is engaged and the brightness control has kicked in, but then the boot stalls at that point.

Is there some mystical key sequence I can press to get a screen of the boot progress? I've never really engaged in this level of macOS system hacking.

This modified .plist worked fine for Catalina boot.
Click to expand...
You can add a -v to the boot args in the config.plist... (same as CMD + V)
 
Ausdauersportler said:
Please check the first post again! Following the links in the table you might find a more suitable and more recent BIOS version @nikey22 published. I cannot believe that this table is so confusing! There are links within each row pointing out the most recent version of the BIOS to be used with this particular card.

The flash utility has been released more than half a year ago and it contains bei default only the old BIOS versions have been published prior to this flash utility release date.

Welcome to the world of software :)
Click to expand...
Something strange is happening...
I have previously flashed the BIOS GPU and there were no problems, but now I cannot connect by ssh, please take a look at the picture ... it doesn’t asking for a password, and stop on "Host key verification failed" then it back to my macbook user terminal

usb I tested on my macbook everything is ok
 

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Sonny_NS5 said:
Something strange is happening...
I have previously flashed the BIOS GPU and there were no problems, but now I cannot connect by ssh, please take a look at the picture ... it doesn’t asking for a password, and stop on "Host key verification failed" then it back to my macbook user terminal

usb I tested on my macbook everything is ok
Click to expand...
Welcome to ssh, too!

rm ~/.ssh/known_hosts clears the table of all stored hosts keys...

You may also use the standard search engines to learn things about the tools....we cannot guide you step by step through this. This does not scale any longer...
 
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Hi,
first of all, I want to thank all the people who contributed to this thread.👏

I own an iMac 27 2011 with a k2100m and Catalina 10.15.7 + OpenCore installed.
Everything works great (backlight, airplay etc), I only have a problem with the TV app. When I play a purchased movie or content from TV +, it stops playing after few seconds. I tried to change some settings (streaming quality etc) but the problem still remain.

I suspect that there is something related to play DRM contents or HDCP compatibility

Has anyone had the same problem?

Thanks again
 
Erick Tanghetti said:
Hi,
first of all, I want to thank all the people who contributed to this thread.👏

I own an iMac 27 2011 with a k2100m and Catalina 10.15.7 + OpenCore installed.
Everything works great (backlight, airplay etc), I only have a problem with the TV app. When I play a purchased movie or content from TV +, it stops playing after few seconds. I tried to change some settings (streaming quality etc) but the problem still remain.

I suspect that there is something related to play DRM contents or HDCP compatibility

Has anyone had the same problem?

Thanks again
Click to expand...
Really difficult topic:


and

github.com

WhateverGreen/Manual/FAQ.Chart.md at master · acidanthera/WhateverGreen

Various patches necessary for certain ATI/AMD/Intel/Nvidia GPUs - acidanthera/WhateverGreen
github.com github.com

Most DRM playback needs an AMD GPU...
 
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