I got so far with this, but seem to have hit a brick wall. I was able to install the GTX870M into my 2011 27" imac, modded the heat sink no problem, successfully upgraded the BIOS using Linux over SSH and the diagnostic LED on the logic board shows the GPU is now recognised. I thought I'd done the hard part, but I just can't get it to boot into High Sierra. The boot-screen loading bar gets about half way and it hangs, if I try to boot from the recovery disk the same thing happens. If I try to boot from internet recovery, it downloads what it needs, but on the next screen it also hangs about half way along the progress bar. I've reset the SMC and the PRAM several times. Am I missing something obvious?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
I got so far with this, but seem to have hit a brick wall. I was able to install the GTX870M into my 2011 27" imac, modded the heat sink no problem, successfully upgraded the BIOS using Linux over SSH and the diagnostic LED on the logic board shows the GPU is now recognised. I thought I'd done the hard part, but I just can't get it to boot into High Sierra. The boot-screen loading bar gets about half way and it hangs, if I try to boot from the recovery disk the same thing happens. If I try to boot from internet recovery, it downloads what it needs, but on the next screen it also hangs about half way along the progress bar. I've reset the SMC and the PRAM several times. Am I missing something obvious?
Read page1/post1 for getting through a boot, I can't recall getting there without using one of the Loaders... but even then I'm not sure what is happening, been having issues getting into High Sierra (but I'm booting successfully into Catalina, so I'm not stressing).
You can boot to verbose mode and see where the system hangs... CMD V (hold this boot key combination to get you into verbose mode)
Last edited:
Thanks for your reply! I have been going over and over page one, but can't see what I'm missing - I've been unable to find loaders for High Sierra. In verbose mode the last thing I see is "macx_swapon SUCCESS" before I get a white screen for a while, then final a message saying "Your computer restarted because of a problem. Press a key or wait a few seconds to continue starting up". Then, of course I'm back to it restarting and hanging :/
I went from 10.11.x (whichever official version Apple still has on their site) to 10.13.6, via App Store auto install.
When I first got the machine, it had no HDD. So I dropped in a SSD, started with 10.13.6 then got the 2020-005 update. This was all the the original GPU and hardware. I just updated the GPU a few days ago.
Last edited:
Hello,
I installed the Nvidia GTX765M on a Mac 2011 27" with success, using the "ssh--method" from Xanderon.
However, I installed it with a 3-pipe heatsink but noticed that the card had some physical contact with the ALU-base of the heatsink, could overcome this only partially using some spacers.
How could the contact affect the performance of the card? Should I try to remove some aluminum of the card or use some extra spacers?
A second question: the GTX765M disabled bright control and boot-screen with the firmware shipped with the "ssh-flasher". Is there a firmware available for the GTX765M which does enable one of these features?
Thanks in advance for any ideas!
I installed the Nvidia GTX765M on a Mac 2011 27" with success, using the "ssh--method" from Xanderon.
However, I installed it with a 3-pipe heatsink but noticed that the card had some physical contact with the ALU-base of the heatsink, could overcome this only partially using some spacers.
How could the contact affect the performance of the card? Should I try to remove some aluminum of the card or use some extra spacers?
A second question: the GTX765M disabled bright control and boot-screen with the firmware shipped with the "ssh-flasher". Is there a firmware available for the GTX765M which does enable one of these features?
Thanks in advance for any ideas!
Again, take a look at the first post and read there first before starting this entire operation! Short: Yes and No!
Last edited:
Still with that problem. You can get my attention if it's on the first page. 
I swear I looked and didn't find the solution.
• iMac 27" Mid 2011 - i7 - 3.4GHz - GPU Nvidia GTX 770M - Flashed (Nick[D]vB + xanderon method) macOS Catalina - SSD 240GB + HD 1TB - 16GB RAM.
Also let me know if this post is in the wrong place.
Thank you.
I swear I looked and didn't find the solution.• iMac 27" Mid 2011 - i7 - 3.4GHz - GPU Nvidia GTX 770M - Flashed (Nick[D]vB + xanderon method) macOS Catalina - SSD 240GB + HD 1TB - 16GB RAM.
Also let me know if this post is in the wrong place.
Thank you.
Attachments
Last edited:
I know, I cannot stop these kind of (useless) posts, but the few developers we have working here asked for this line below on the first post. You may respect this.
Please do not harass the BIOS developers to go faster, release a particular BIOS, etc. Please do not clog up the thread with useless posts asking if your specific card will get a new BIOS.
This should be added to the 1st page Sticky - Brilliant! Thanks!so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread
hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb.
I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive
I created a Linux Live USB (based on grml.org) Thumb Drive with nvflash_linux and Nicks Bioses preloaded. and its booting by itself so you can work blind with a new unpatched nvidia card plugged in. Also, its starting a ssh daemon and using DHCP to get an IP so you can remote login
Steps
Download
14 days left to download, uploaded here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/cztz4xqj2sru9gj/2011_imac_usb.zip/file
mirror by NOTNICE, thnx: https://cloud.notnlce.com/index.php/s/xkJP34GD6a9WziE/download
Prepare USB Drive or SD Card
so, you take a small usb thumb drive, partition it with disk utility on a Mac: GPT + FAT32
and just unzip the files structure onto the drive, no dd or etcher or something. just copy paste it. folder structure see attached screenshot. (you can remove the .roms I downloaded and download itself if you want to be sure about the correct file size. I did not verify them at all. use/flash at your own risk please)
Test & Try
test your thumb drive with a more or less working GPU/ external Screen or just have faith in me
Swap Hardware
swap your GPU to NVIDIA and (!) disconnect every SSD/HDD, makes it easier to boot blindly from one USB or SD Card, connect the ETH Cable (!)
Find IP
let the iMac boot, everything is black, the boot loader is waiting 20s before booting, so give the whole process 1min time, then head over to your Router Page and find the right IP that the iMac got through DHCP
SSH to the iMac
now fire up your terminal on a Win/Mac/Linux Machine of your choice and ssh to your iMac with
ssh root@YOURIP
Password:flash
Confirm the ssh id with yes and you should be in your iMac
Working Directory
cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash
read the RADME in there… I will enjoy my brand new k2000m in my 27" 2011 iMac with Catalina 10.15.3
… and because this is so easy, I rebuild it to a K1100M and flashed that also
(someone could write some fancy scripts but I thought its saver that everyone is doing it command by command and don't stop thinking and trusting some scripts)
Again, as Ausdauersportler has often said, read the 1st post.
This SSH USB linux flashing method is well linked under Q&A on how to flash the vbios.
However, it won't work in those with protected bios, especially some of the blue HP cards, though you can still use the ch341a programmer with a bios chip clip for direct flashing. But flashing the bios is only half the thing, getting the card to work depends on a no. of things that we can't control nor fully understand at the moment.
Last edited:
How can k610m use the windows10 windows7 system to realize the brightness increase of the native system system?
The monitor screen displays 130W in standby mode and generally uses 150W lightly. If the screen is turned off and standby is about 45W, the power consumption of the screen display alone is about 100W. It runs at maximum brightness and generates a lot of heat. How can we achieve the native brightness adjustment of windows10 and windows7 to reduce the screen The calorific value.
Attachments
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/post-28728009 try this. I Can't recall at the moment if the k610m is an OpenCore dependent card or not. You're mainly interested in the RegEdit part.
in Regedit goto:
set
set
Code:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{F46C30BF-CB7E-11EA-A991-1040F3E50CE9}\0000set
Code:
EnableBrightnessControl to 1
Code:
RMBrightnessControlFlags to 0x00000400 (1024)about the K610M being PCIE x8 i found out after some digging the K610M is indeed a PCIE x8 GPU so there is no error.
Using the flashrom software on your Mac
It is not the first post about this. This software has a command line interface only. You need at least some knowledge how to handle this. Installation is quite easy (content copied for this external post).
Installing the software:
- Press Command+Space and type Terminal and press enter/return key.
- Run in Terminal app (enter this line of command code):
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" < /dev/null 2> /dev/nullor on Monterey/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
and press enter/return key.
If the screen prompts you to enter a password, please enter your Mac's user password to continue. When you type the password, it won't be displayed on screen, but the system would accept it. So just type your password and press ENTER/RETURN key. Then wait for the command to finish. - Run in the terminal:
brew install flashrom
- Press Command+Space and type Terminal and press enter/return key.
- Run in Terminal app (enter this line of command code to read from you BIOS the content and store it into the file named ORIG.ROM):
flashrom --programmer ch341a_spi -r ORIG.ROM
and press enter/return key. - To write the content of the file named K1100.ROM into your BIOS:
flashrom --programmer ch341a_spi -w K1100.ROM
Caveats:
Using nvflash on Linux and Windows to read the contents of a video BIOS ends up in a file with a smaller content size. The software reads only non zero bytes and stops after reaching the EOF (End OF File) marker.
Unfortunately the clip can only write full size files, i.e. if the chip has a size of 512K and the file is smaller you have to enlarge the file with ZERO bytes. This is done in the terminal app, too. Enter
brew install truncate to install another command line utility and to enlarge a small-file.rom to the size of 512K (524288 = 1024x512) enter this command truncate -s 524288 small-file.rom . It expands a smaller BIOS file named small-file.rom (in place) to the full size padding with zero. truncate needs brew, so do not try the second step after the first installing brew. First make a copy of the smaller file just in case something goes wrong.Most NVIDIA cards have 256K, most AMD cards 512K BIOS chips.
Last edited:
Yes, I told you before.
This is a hardware feature of this card. Some AMD cards have it two. Obviously the x8 PCI is fast enough to handle the traffic.
Only the ASD will complain that it has only x8 - when I start this hardware test with the K610M or some AMD cards I simply disable this test.
Last edited:
You're probably the savior of my K610M
now all I have to do is find the card and the programmer
hopefully i've not throwing them in garbage after failure flashing......
Hello,
I had the same situation on my iMac late 2009 27 with the Nvidia GTX 780 M.
Today I added a not the first post regarding all ++ cards. This is in fact an iMac firmware issue only visible with the late 2009 systems. The current solution is really to have an external display for the setup and later the AGC installed.
I reread the first post many times, but I still haven't found a solution to my problem. I also read "The / my incomplete list to the most common (hardware) issues". My problem is similar to hardware # 6 boot-chime-boot-chime
My Imac worked successfully with a GTX 780M, but there was no sleep mode in MAC OS Mojave. I decided to use the highvoltage12v method. I did part 1, rebooted and got sleep mode successfully. I skipped part 2 and just worked for a while. Later my Imac froze and I reloaded it, but the screen was black and GONG was 3 times. After that, a black screen.
I tried PRAM Reset, SMC reset ... But nothing helps
Now I have disconnected the hard drives and connected with ssh
successfully. I thought the problem was in the video card, but the firmware version is the newest, exactly the one I installed. I guess I got it wrong with the Intel HD 3000. I ask for help, how should I be?
My Imac worked successfully with a GTX 780M, but there was no sleep mode in MAC OS Mojave. I decided to use the highvoltage12v method. I did part 1, rebooted and got sleep mode successfully. I skipped part 2 and just worked for a while. Later my Imac froze and I reloaded it, but the screen was black and GONG was 3 times. After that, a black screen.
I tried PRAM Reset, SMC reset ... But nothing helps
Now I have disconnected the hard drives and connected with ssh
successfully. I thought the problem was in the video card, but the firmware version is the newest, exactly the one I installed. I guess I got it wrong with the Intel HD 3000. I ask for help, how should I be?
Last edited: