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

[Ausdauersportler]

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?

Just do a complete new installation of Mojave without any sleep extensions. If you can use the video card you made some mistakes during the installation attempts.

If your card does not work:
More likely you may then have a dying card. Using Linux or the ssh does not use the graphics card at all. I am pretty sure I wrote all this.

Just to make it 99%: You do not have the black screen issue, i.e. the Mojave does not boot up with just a missing LCD?

Note: You cannot repair dead or dying hardware by posting questions or installing patches...

 

[Sonny_NS5]

Just do a complete new installation of Mojave without any sleep extensions. If you can use the video card you made some mistakes during the installation attempts.

If your card does not work:
More likely you may then have a dying card. Using Linux or the ssh does not use the graphics card at all. I am pretty sure I wrote all this.

Just to make it 99%: You do not have the black screen issue, i.e. the Mojave does not boot up with just a missing LCD?

Note: You cannot repair dead or dying hardware by posting questions or installing patches...

I can't install Mojave because all I have is a black screen. No boot screen or apple screen ...

At the start, I hear Gong Gong Gong 3 times. Kind of strange, as if they were breaking off.

I tried to flash the GPU again, successfully. But again I only have a black screen.

Do you think this has nothing to do with my attempt to customize the sleep screen? I haven't made any changes to AppleGVA ...

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I can't install Mojave because all I have is a black screen. No boot screen or apple screen ...

At the start, I hear Gong Gong Gong 3 times. Kind of strange, as if they were breaking off.

I tried to flash the GPU again, successfully. But again I only have a black screen.

Do you think this has nothing to do with my attempt to customize the sleep screen? I haven't made any changes to AppleGVA ...

Yes, I think you have a broken hardware. It can be a dead card, a bad installation of the card on the sink or something similar. You have to take the machine apart and check the graphics card and other components. Would be nice to have another one to check of the system is working. You can boot an iMac 2011 without GPU and screen and log in remotely when you have another system and opened the ports in advance. I wrote all this before.
Get an external display to check.

 

[cesarvog]

At the start, I hear Gong Gong Gong 3 times. Kind of strange, as if they were breaking off.

Isn't three gongs a signal that indicates memory problems?
Make sure you have all your memory modules inserted all the way. Or better yet, try with a single memory module.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Isn't three gongs a signal that indicates memory problems?
Make sure you have all your memory modules inserted all the way. Or better yet, try with a single memory module.

Gong is the chime as the start tone, missing or faulty memory makes the beep tone. But who knows how a Gong sounds in French or Italian (which is a metal plate resonating)

If your Mac beeps during startup - Apple Support

Certain conditions related to memory or firmware might cause your Mac to beep once or more during startup.

support.apple.com

 

[Yasmel Diaz]

Hello after after about a month of having my AMD WX4150 perfectly working on my 21.5 mid 2011, it's starting to randomly crash, sometimes takes 40min sometimes 5min but ends doing it, once I restart the system it keeps working and then randomly crashes again, happens the same way on macOS than windows, anyone having this issue? Is my card screwed? I've checked everything, I have taped the X heatsink holder, also added the extra 1mm thick copper piece to fill up the CPU-HEATSINK gap, my card doesn't pass the 45°C, removed second ssd, optical drive and downgraded from i7 to i5 to reduce power consumption and no luck here's a video of the issue any help would be appreciated

 

[hwc]

Hello after after about a month of having my AMD WX4150 perfectly working on my 21.5 mid 2011, it's starting to randomly crash, sometimes takes 40min sometimes 5min but ends doing it, once I restart the system it keeps working and then randomly crashes again, happens the same way on macOS than windows, anyone having this issue? Is my card screwed? I've checked everything, I have taped the X heatsink holder, also added the extra 1mm thick copper piece to fill up the CPU-HEATSINK gap, my card doesn't pass the 45°C, removed second ssd, optical drive and downgraded from i7 to i5 to reduce power consumption and no luck here's a video of the issue any help would be appreciated

Does it only happen when you put the computer under load (specifically the GPU)? If so, it seems like it might be overheating. If this is the case for the GPU, maybe there was sufficient heat transfer that has now worn off. Such as slight gap filled with paste that possibly now separated over time.

See if turning up Macs Fan Control for the GPU fan to maximum extends the operation time before it crashes. If it does extend the time, then overheating is most likely the culprit. If the heatsink is not appropriately transferring the heat from the GPU, then the temperature reading of the heatsink will be much lower than what the GPU actually is.

 

[chrisx78]

I want to flash now the Nvidia K2100M with the bios file from this forum. But i have a smaller Bios chip MXL1005 sewtup with 128 kb, thi files are for a 256 KB chip. Is there chance to change the BIOS software? or is it possible to change the chip , maybe Winbond W25x20?

Best Regards

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Temperatur Monitoring (not controlling)​

Using the FakeSMC extensions coming with the Catalina Loader and the HWMonitor tool you can check in parallel both the GPU and GPU Sink temperature. Both should stay close even under load. Of course this is a steady state observation. If you switch on the load than the GPU will heat up faster but should transfer the heat fast to the sink and so both parts come closer in the temperature over time (some laws of thermo dynamics make this possible).

To have an optimal heat transfer of some flat GPU types (mainly AMD WX4130/WX4150/WX4170 and NVIDIA K610M) one should place a thin 0.5mm or 1mm copper plate between GPU and copper part of the heat sink. Use thermal paste on both contact surfaces of the plate! Without this plate you will only burn the GPU to death over a short time. Keep in mind these sinks have been constructed for different card types and need some adjustment!

Attached you will find a picture showing the small copper plate placed on the GPU and screen shot showing the same card in action with UNIGINE Valley benchmark and close temperatures or 46C on the sink and 48C on the GPU using the HWMonitor. Both temps are marked in red circles.

Controlling has to be done with Macs Fan Control or similar working software tools!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I want to flash now the Nvidia K2100M with the bios file from this forum. But i have a smaller Bios chip MXL1005 sewtup with 128 kb, thi files are for a 256 KB chip. Is there chance to change the BIOS software? or is it possible to change the chip , maybe Winbond W25x20?

Best Regards

You will have to solder the bigger chip on your card or get another card or use a different BIOS The netto size of the BIOS provided here is more than 128K.

 

[jay508]

I want to flash now the Nvidia K2100M with the bios file from this forum. But i have a smaller Bios chip MXL1005 sewtup with 128 kb, thi files are for a 256 KB chip. Is there chance to change the BIOS software? or is it possible to change the chip , maybe Winbond W25x20?

Best Regards

The original graphics card version of k1000m k2000m k610m k1100m k2100m can refresh 256K vbios directly. There is no need to replace these graphics cards. I have tested them. I replaced the Dell gtx780m with Winbond 25x20CLNIG to facilitate the use of programmers.

 

[BeatCrazy]

How to Boot Seamlessly using the OpenCore Bootloader

Many thanks to Nick(D)VB for bringing my iMac back to life!

After spending many hours on a bazillion forums, here are the steps on how to get your iMac to boot using the OpenCore Bootloader with no keyboard manipulations. This works for Catalina 10.15.3 and 10.15.4 on a 2009 2011 iMac (possibly 2010, but I would need someone to confirm). I can't say for other versions or other iMacs.

1. Read the post from Nick here and download the OpenCore Bootloader.
2. Download BalenaEtcher https://www.balena.io/etcher/. Alternatively, you can use Disk Utility.
3. Using BalenaEtcher copy the Opencore Bootloader.dmg to your USB or SD card. With Disk Utility, you can restore the file to your USB or SD Card. If you use BalenaEtcher, it is normal to get the error message about a missing partition table. Click on Continue.
4. Eject and reinsert your USB or SD card. You should see in Finder "Catalina Loader".
5. Go to Finder, click on Go from the top menu and choose Go to Folder. Put without quotation marks "/Volumes/Catalina Loader/EFI/OC". Hit enter.
6. In this folder, locate config.plist and rename it. For example, configbak.plist.
7. Unzip the appropriate archive: nvidia.zip for Nvidia cards and amd.zip for AMD cards.
8. Double-click the new config.plist that was just extracted. OpenCore Configurator should open. If not, you will have to go to the root of your USB and SD card and open OpenCore Configurator and find your config.plist file.
9. On the left, click on Kernel. Make sure the first 6 kexts are checked. UNLESS, you have a Nvidia card and you installed kexts when setting up your card (namely Sandybridge and Sleep). In this case, uncheck the first two (Lilu.kext and WhateverGreen.kext). If your computer hangs after the OpenCore Bootloader, this is why.
10. Click on Misc on the left. Change External to Builtin. Make sure Show Picker and PollAppleHotKeys are checked.
11. At the top right, click on Security. Make sure AllowSetDefault is checked.
12. Click on File and then Save.
13. Normally, you would go into System Preferences and in the StartUp Manager choose Catalina Loader. This did NOT work for me and caused me a lot of grief trying.
14. Reboot your computer
15. Be ready to hit your Option key, as your iMac reboots.
16. When you are presented with your boot options, use the arrow to select Catalina Loader. Here this is important to hit CTRL + Enter at the same time, You will see an arrow under Catalina Loader indicating that it is the default boot item.
17. You should now see the OpenCore Boot Picker. Use the arrow to select your iMac boot drive. Again, very important to use CTRL + Enter. This will tell the OpenCore boot loader this is your default boot device. It will now boot into your Apple partition.
18. Do a test. Reboot your computer and should boot directly to your Apple partition through the OpenCore Bootloader. Be patient it does sit on the OpenCore Boot Picker for about 10-15 seconds. You can check if you are able to change your brightness settings.
19. If it works correctly, go to Finder. Click on Go from the top menu and choose Go to Folder. Put without quotation marks "/Volumes/Catalina Loader/EFI/OC". Hit enter.
20. Open the config.plist with the OpenCore Configurator again.
21. Click on Misc on the left. Uncheck Show Picker.
22. Click on File and Save again.
23. Reboot again and you should have a slight delay. You will not see the OpenCore Boot Picker then it will go directly to the Apple boot screen.
24. You must leave the USB or SD card in your iMac as it will boot from the OpenCore boot loader.

It should work beautifully now!

Hi again,

I would really appreciate a bit more guidance. A few "progress" items I've made: I did manage to update the BootROM on my Late 2009 27" iMac to 63.0.0.0. I am using a K2100M GPU, and official High Sierra 10.13.6 with latest official updates. I disabled SIP. I followed all the instructions above. I also tried both variations on step #9, unchecking/checking Lilu.kext and WhateverGreen.kext.

Upon a reboot/Option hold, I'm able to pick the Catalina Loader, press CTL+ENTER, then I get the OpenCore Boot picker. With the * next to Macintosh HD (my only option), I again press CTL+ENTER.

I get the progress bar and Apple logo, but halfway through, I get the circle/slash icon

I have followed all the steps above, exactly. I have read (and re-read!) @Ausdauersportler 's PDF guide, and posts, several times, and used the 0.6.2 version from this post.


EDIT: so it looks like the instructions are spot-on. I'm just having an issue with 0.6.2, as 0.6.0 does work for me, albeit at reduced brightness.

 

[protocold]

I have 21.5 iMac 2010 with K610M and High Sierra. I have a few issues:

1) Catalina Loader 0.6.2 with renamed config.NVIDIA-215.plist to config.plist dont work, it will boot up stuck in a grey screen with a circle and a line through it.
2) Catalina Loader 0.6.0 works with renamed config. However on boot I realized the screen brightness is reduced, brightness adjustment works but it cant go completely dark or reach max brightness.

Any idea?

 

[Ed Hartouni]

I was interested in maxing out the CPU and GPU to see how my iMac 12,1 would respond. I found that the Unigine Valley benchmarks in Catalina 10.5.7 were worse than for High Sierra, which leads me to suspect that the OpenGL/CL used is not optimized, and that Apple would prefer that Metal be used.

So I downloaded Xcode (not recommended unless you are a developer) and also some example programs using Metal to do calculations exclusively on the GPU (looks like stellar dynamics for galaxy formation). This utilizes the GPU 100% to the point of making it difficult to move stuff around on the screen (I'm using a K1100M).

The Intel Power Gadget is a nifty application you can down load from Intel which provides all sorts of information about the CPU, and includes a test where you can max out all the threads on all the cores (while respecting the max die temperatures).

So running these two together gives a representation of the maximum power use (or at least close to it, ramping an HDD up and down while testing the memory would also add a bit...).

It also gave me a look at the "equilibrium" temperatures on the CPU and GPU heat sink, which are round 45ºC, Mac Fans seems to do a fine job ramping up the cooling fans.


The machine seemed to do fine, not sure if I could run it that way for 24 hours, but I don't have any calculations planned in the near future that would require it. It will be fun using the Metal to write programs to use the GPU in some calculations... once I figure out how to do it outside of the Xcode KDE.

Here's a screen shot of the CPUs and GPU maxed out, fans, temps, and all that

 

[BeatCrazy]

I have 21.5 iMac 2010 with K610M and High Sierra. I have a few issues:

1) Catalina Loader 0.6.2 with renamed config.NVIDIA-215.plist to config.plist dont work, it will boot up stuck in a grey screen with a circle and a line through it.
2) Catalina Loader 0.6.0 works with renamed config. However on boot I realized the screen brightness is reduced, brightness adjustment works but it cant go completely dark or reach max brightness.

Any idea?

Oh my! I just tried Catalina Loader 0.6.0, and it works! Yes, it does seem like max brightness is reduced. Brightness seems to start dimming about half way through the initial boot progress bar.

So FYI @Ausdauersportler, it does seem like there is a problem with 0.6.2 with Nvidia cards. I did try to use the replacement AppleBacklightFixup, as well as the regular version that comes with 0.6.2. Neither would work.

 

[protocold]

@BeatCrazy I have now installed Catalina and the brightness seems to be normal now?!

But it feels like there is no acceleration and when I move any windows around there is significant lag that it leaves many duplicated frame that take a few seconds to go away?!

@Ausdauersportler However, I ran into the black screen issue which I suspect it is the AGC kext... when i replaced the kext it is still black screen, if I press option key after the chime, I saw the imac is stuck just pass 50% of the loading bar?

 

[chrisx78]

The original graphics card version of k1000m k2000m k610m k1100m k2100m can refresh 256K vbios directly. There is no need to replace these graphics cards. I have tested them. I replaced the Dell gtx780m with Winbond 25x20CLNIG to facilitate the use of programmers.

I have an other graphic card with the winbons chip. I was not sure I f its possible to use the chip from an different Vendor or size. I have an other old graphic card with an winbond chip and i will desolder both and mount the Winbond Bios to the working graphic card with the MXL Chip.

thanks a lot for the replay. I will do the changes

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I have 21.5 iMac 2010 with K610M and High Sierra. I have a few issues:

1) Catalina Loader 0.6.2 with renamed config.NVIDIA-215.plist to config.plist dont work, it will boot up stuck in a grey screen with a circle and a line through it.
2) Catalina Loader 0.6.0 works with renamed config. However on boot I realized the screen brightness is reduced, brightness adjustment works but it cant go completely dark or reach max brightness.

Any idea?

Stick with 0.6.0 and replace the AppleBacklightFixup as suggested in the post where you got the OC.

 

[BeatCrazy]

@BeatCrazy I have now installed Catalina and the brightness seems to be normal now?!

But it feels like there is no acceleration and when I move any windows around there is significant lag that it leaves many duplicated frame that take a few seconds to go away?!

Yes, I experienced the exact same issue last week (I'm still on High Sierra right now), when I was on Catalina. This was before I got OpenCore to work, so I don't think it's related. I was thinking it had to do with Legacy Video Card support tweak within the Catalina Patcher, but I couldn't figure out how to tweak/troubleshoot that. You probably also see some of your video boarders turn black? I don't think it's a "no acceleration" problem, as that would be much worse. It's almost like a broken driver?

Stick with 0.6.0 and replace the AppleBacklightFixup as suggested in the post where you got the OC.

I just tried that, but it did not make any difference.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Temperatur Monitoring (not controlling)​

Using the FakeSMC extensions coming with the Catalina Loader and the HWMonitor tool you can check in parallel both the GPU and GPU Sink temperature. Both should stay close even under load. Of course this is a steady state observation. If you switch on the load than the GPU will heat up faster but should transfer the heat fast to the sink and so both parts come closer in the temperature over time (some laws of thermo dynamics make this possible).

To have an optimal heat transfer of some flat GPU types (mainly AMD WX4130/WX4150/WX4170 and NVIDIA K610M) one should place a thin 0.5mm or 1mm copper plate between GPU and copper part of the heat sink. Use thermal paste on both contact surfaces of the plate! Without this plate you will only burn the GPU to death over a short time. Keep in mind these sinks have been constructed for different card types and need some adjustment!

Attached you will find a picture showing the small copper plate placed on the GPU and screen shot showing the same card in action with UNIGINE Valley benchmark and close temperatures or 46C on the sink and 48C on the GPU using the HWMonitor. Both temps are marked in red circles.

Controlling has to be done with Macs Fan Control or similar working software tools!

This is good stuff! Like your readings, both my CPU and GPU Proximity temp show 129ºC in Hardware monitor. Is this normal for a system at idle?

Also, does SIP need to stay disabled for us to run OpenCore?

 

[Yasmel Diaz]

Does it only happen when you put the computer under load (specifically the GPU)? If so, it seems like it might be overheating. If this is the case for the GPU, maybe there was sufficient heat transfer that has now worn off. Such as slight gap filled with paste that possibly now separated over time.

See if turning up Macs Fan Control for the GPU fan to maximum extends the operation time before it crashes. If it does extend the time, then overheating is most likely the culprit. If the heatsink is not appropriately transferring the heat from the GPU, then the temperature reading of the heatsink will be much lower than what the GPU actually is.

You're my savior lol, yes heatsink was about -10°C than GPU but only while on load, on normal basics work temp use to be around the same, thats why I didn't noticed, even after I added the extra copper piece, the issue was actually the thermal compound which thankfully I ran out of it because of trying so much and bought a different brand which was more thick and seemed of more quality, GPU-Heatsink temp now doesn't pass the -2°C difference 🙂 thanks for the help! You guys are amazing !!

 

[m0bil]

I have 21.5 iMac 2010 with K610M and High Sierra. I have a few issues:

1) Catalina Loader 0.6.2 with renamed config.NVIDIA-215.plist to config.plist dont work, it will boot up stuck in a grey screen with a circle and a line through it.
2) Catalina Loader 0.6.0 works with renamed config. However on boot I realized the screen brightness is reduced, brightness adjustment works but it cant go completely dark or reach max brightness.

Any idea?

I have the same setup, to make it work on High Sierra remove MinKernel 18.0.0 on LiLu and WhateverGreen kexts:

If still doesn't work, check also that your displayId is included on the AppleBacklightFixup kext (which you should have updated in Catalina Loader with the one with corrected brightness levels for Quadro cards).

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I have the same setup, to make it work on High Sierra remove MinKernel 18.0.0 on LiLu and WhateverGreen kexts:

View attachment 975864

If still doesn't work, check also that your displayId is included on the AppleBacklightFixup kext (which you should have updated in Catalina Loader with the one with corrected brightness levels for Quadro cards).

Go to the ACPI section and uncheck the aml file selection.

I will later publish on the same post an update of the CL image containing some edited config.plist files.

It would be soooo great if you guys in the field owning all the different systems could do some research, too. You could probably fix some errors and report back! That would help a lot.

Thanks in advance!

 

[protocold]

Yes, I experienced the exact same issue last week (I'm still on High Sierra right now), when I was on Catalina. This was before I got OpenCore to work, so I don't think it's related. I was thinking it had to do with Legacy Video Card support tweak within the Catalina Patcher, but I couldn't figure out how to tweak/troubleshoot that. You probably also see some of your video boarders turn black? I don't think it's a "no acceleration" problem, as that would be much worse. It's almost like a broken driver?



I just tried that, but it did not make any difference.

You are correct. I re-created the catalina usb and uncheck the auto patcher, then re-install and acceleration works fine, it must be the legacy video card (although I replaced the modded plist file which obviously didnt work).

I did get the black screen, i fixed it by replacing the AGC kext.

I am now using OC 0.6.0 and brightness control works for both completely darkness to maximum. I have also copied the OC content into the EFI partition to get rid of the extra USB drive.

 

[BeatCrazy]

You are correct. I re-created the catalina usb and uncheck the auto patcher, then re-install and acceleration works fine, it must be the legacy video card (although I replaced the modded plist file which obviously didnt work).

I did get the black screen, i fixed it by replacing the AGC kext.

I am now using OC 0.6.0 and brightness control works for both completely darkness to maximum. I have also copied the OC content into the EFI partition to get rid of the extra USB drive.

Can you provide instructions on how to do that?