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

[KennyW]

If you didn't flash the card, the machine will not power on.
My HP WX4150 has been very unstable since yesterday, after I took it out to try on a GPU dead iMac 2011.
After I put it back to my iMac 2010, weird things happen.
Each time, the iMac just rolls-over and dies like a brick.
I had to unplug it, remove everything, do NVRAM reset, reinstall one-by-one parts until it works again.
How unstable:
- OS running well with no Internal screen. Turn-off, unplug and install internal screen => dead.
- OS running well with no internal screen. Screw in the tiny screw for GPU frame holder => dead
- OS running well with external screen only, use it for 30min, then dead and bricked.

I'm ordering another GPU to try. Let's see if the new card is more stable.
There are a lot of factors that is specific to your iMac and you have to detect the issue yourself
- Bad connectors on the LCD backlight power (causing short-circuit and PSU shutdown)
- Dusty MXM slot => causing short-circuit on the logic board and it just shut-down.
- Bad eDP connector
- and finally, the MXM card is not compatible. (it still work in a Windows machine, though)

And keeping the stock MXM card is advisable for troubleshooting. I sold mine and now have to do trial-and-error as troubleshooting.

Have you tried to reflash your GPU again before abandoning it ?
Could it be corrupted or zapped in the dead iMac ?
Nothing to lose ...

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Have you tried to reflash your GPU again before abandoning it ?
Could it be corrupted or zapped in the dead iMac ?
Nothing to lose ...

Personally I think the problem is in somewhere else than the video card.

LCD backlight board, or even the LCD backlight cable connector, which looks like it suffered from a melt.

LCD backlight board is cheap, I'll buy one to try.
But I can't find the place to buy the LCD backlight cable.
They only sell the cables for 21.5" LCD.
If you can find, please send me the link. Thank you.

 

[KennyW]

Personally I think the problem is in somewhere else than the video card.

LCD backlight board, or even the LCD backlight cable connector, which looks like it suffered from a melt.

LCD backlight board is cheap, I'll buy one to try.
But I can't find the place to buy the LCD backlight cable.
They only sell the cables for 21.5" LCD.
If you can find, please send me the link. Thank you.

Have you looked in AiExpress ?
I found many LCD backlight flex cable or LVDS screen cable for iMac ... though not sure which model you are talking about

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Have you looked in AiExpress ?
I found many LCD backlight flex cable or LVDS screen cable for iMac ... though not sure which model you are talking about

Yes, I've tried aliexpress.
LVDS cable: a lot
V-synch cable: a lot
Backlight power cable: 0 (this cable is adhesived tightly to the LCD and usually come with the LCD as a set, therefore it not sold separately as spare parts)
Will try more.
Thank for the advise. I must try all possible options before giving up.
WX4130 and WX4150 for Dell seem to be quite reasonably offered there as well.

 

[KennyW]

Yes, I've tried aliexpress.

WX4130 and WX4150 for Dell seem to be quite reasonably offered there as well.

Yes, but what you received is often not what's shown in picture.
You need to ask, and some not answer.

The HP version in eBay linked by another user just a few pages back (#11786) is relatively cheap if really flashable and functional.

 

[burbino]

Aggiungi la tua firma per favore.
Che tipo di processore hai su questo iMac 2009 A1311?

L'iMac "Core 2 Duo" 3.06 21,5 pollici in alluminio (fine 2009) Intel "Core 2 Duo" da 3,06 GHz (E7600)

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Yes, but what you received is often not what's shown in picture.
You need to ask, and some not answer.

The HP version in eBay linked by another user just a few pages back (#11786) is relatively cheap if really flashable and functional.

Mine looks exactly like that one.
I doubt that my seller bought from that ebay seller, and shipped from the US to VN to sell them to me.

If I bought directly from that link, the cost + shipping would be about the same as buying from aliexpress (free ship).
While the listings on aliexpress have some buyers' evaluation as "confirmed worked on iMac 2011", the eBay HP WX4150 is confirmed by many, including me as "not worked on iMac 2011, only on 2010".

 

[HelloDarknes]

But since you have damaged your LCD panel display cable adapter requiring extra fixation, this would be a difficult situation.

I have not damaged them, the internal display works, but I had to plug them and unplug them quite sometimes to work. And the cables are really fragile, so I do not want to do that again.

Oh yea, you said my specs:

Imac 2011 27"
Intel I5 3,1Ghz
Nvidia K2000M
has High Sierra installed

Best regards

 

[johnrak]

I have installed a GTX 765M on my 21.5 Mid 11 iMac and it’s working for over 2 and a half years. I haven’t flashed the vbios yet. It wasn’t an upgrade. My 6770M had failed and I was looking for an alternative. Of course I’ve read #1 post and dozens of pages but I have more questions before I started reading.

VBIOS questions:

1. I have High Sierra installed and I was thinking to move on to something newer. I will flash vbios using @xanderon pre-made usb with SSH method. On post #1 I read in the table that 765M is not compatible with 21.5 iMac. Is the vbios incompatible with 21.5” or it’s incompatible just because of the higher power consumption? I could live with the higher power consumption because I don’t push it to its limits and I don’t care about the 3 pipe heatsink mod.

2. Sometimes when I put my iMac to sleep, after a few hours I try to wake it up and it doesn’t. The screen is black, I hear the fans spinning slowly and the Ethernet led on the router is turned off so it’s not connected to the network. I’m still on High Sierra. What could that mean?

3. If I mess this up, should I need to replace the ROM chip? I could use a CH341A adapter if I replace the chip but what chip would be compatible?

4. I have read that I don’t need to change anything on iMac’s bootrom with vbios Beta3 on GPU ROM. Either way I tried to keep a backup using RomTool but it freezes my iMac while “detecting eeprom type” and then shuts down. Is this known issue? Is there a workaround?

4. Is there any upcoming update on vbios for 765M? I would love to have brightness control even if it requires altering the bootrom with the clip adapter. I also feel comfortable with SSH, or desoldering/soldering ROM chips.

OS questions:

5. What OS would be the safest option, Catalina or Big Sur? I read that Open Core is required with AMD cards and some Nvidia for brightness control. My card does not support brightness control and I think Open Core is required only for Big Sur. What could Open Core offer me if I go for Catalina installation?

6. I understand that OpenCore needs to be installed on an external USB drive and be connected while booting. What will happen if the USB drive fails or gets lost? An extra device required to boot my iMac looks like another possible point of failure. If it’s required only for Big Sur I think Catalina is the better option for me. Is that correct?

7. After many hours of reading I still haven’t understand what are OTA updates. I know OTA is over-the-air on iOS devices. What does it mean on Mac and why do we need a fix for updates?

Sorry for the long post. Feel free to answer as many questions as you feel comfortable with.

 

[burbino]

imac a1311 2009 core 2 duo e7609
ati 4670 256mb upgrade VGA card

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

imac a1311 2009 core 2 duo e7609
ati 4670 256mb upgrade VGA card

Then unfortunately, you cannot upgrade graphic card to a metal flashed one.

The modified (video) BIOS version made by @Nick [D]vB, @nikey22 and @internetzel require an Intel i3 CPU or better. There is currently no way to make the features of these VBIOS working on Core 2 Duo systems

It's on the first post.

 

[KennyW]

I have installed a GTX 765M on my 21.5 Mid 11 iMac and it’s working for over 2 and a half years. I haven’t flashed the vbios yet. It wasn’t an upgrade. My 6770M had failed and I was looking for an alternative. Of course I’ve read #1 post and dozens of pages but I have more questions before I started reading.

VBIOS questions:

1. I have High Sierra installed and I was thinking to move on to something newer. I will flash vbios using @xanderon pre-made usb with SSH method. On post #1 I read in the table that 765M is not compatible with 21.5 iMac. Is the vbios incompatible with 21.5” or it’s incompatible just because of the higher power consumption? I could live with the higher power consumption because I don’t push it to its limits and I don’t care about the 3 pipe heatsink mod.

2. Sometimes when I put my iMac to sleep, after a few hours I try to wake it up and it doesn’t. The screen is black, I hear the fans spinning slowly and the Ethernet led on the router is turned off so it’s not connected to the network. I’m still on High Sierra. What could that mean?

3. If I mess this up, should I need to replace the ROM chip? I could use a CH341A adapter if I replace the chip but what chip would be compatible?

4. I have read that I don’t need to change anything on iMac’s bootrom with vbios Beta3 on GPU ROM. Either way I tried to keep a backup using RomTool but it freezes my iMac while “detecting eeprom type” and then shuts down. Is this known issue? Is there a workaround?

4. Is there any upcoming update on vbios for 765M? I would love to have brightness control even if it requires altering the bootrom with the clip adapter. I also feel comfortable with SSH, or desoldering/soldering ROM chips.

OS questions:

5. What OS would be the safest option, Catalina or Big Sur? I read that Open Core is required with AMD cards and some Nvidia for brightness control. My card does not support brightness control and I think Open Core is required only for Big Sur. What could Open Core offer me if I go for Catalina installation?

6. I understand that OpenCore needs to be installed on an external USB drive and be connected while booting. What will happen if the USB drive fails or gets lost? An extra device required to boot my iMac looks like another possible point of failure. If it’s required only for Big Sur I think Catalina is the better option for me. Is that correct?

7. After many hours of reading I still haven’t understand what are OTA updates. I know OTA is over-the-air on iOS devices. What does it mean on Mac and why do we need a fix for updates?

Sorry for the long post. Feel free to answer as many questions as you feel comfortable with.

So, do you mean your GTX 765M with PC vBIOS gives a Boot screen as well as internal display or only when OS Graphics drivers load ? Usually without a Mac vBIOS, the internal display won't work while the external might.

1. I think the incompatibility is related to power consumption in 21" iMac. It may render the system unstable or clash or slow down as the power supply may not be able to have enough juice when the GPU is stressed. Besides, it is possible the Mac vBIOS could be upclocked to squeeze some performance from these old nVidia GPUs. I am not certain whether the 3 piped heatsink can be installed in 21" iMac. But if the space allows, you have a better safety margin and prolong the life of the GPU.

2. With a Mac vBIOS, deep sleep isn't supported, and the system may hang as in your situation.

3. It is not easy to mess up if you follow the step, and I can feel that you are more than capable to do so from your questions and comment The Linux USB Flash drive is the easier one in my opinion. A bad flash might require using the direct clipping method with, say the ch341a programmer. But check the type of EEPROM on your card. If it is the Winbond type with legs underneath rather than on its side, there is no way to clip it for flashing.

4 a. Yes, there is no need for you to change your BootROM for the Mac vBIOS for nVidia GPU in order to have the native Boot screen. Using the ROMTool requires SIP disabled. Read the instruction from the source.
4 b. No one can tell whether new vBIOS will be out or not, or when. It will be there if one is ready. Brightness control isn't related to the alteration of the BootROM, which is meant to bring about the native Boot screen. However, now the developers have incorporated that part into the Mac vBIOS, there is no need to flash your BootROM for these new EG2 vBIOS for nVidia GPUs.

5. Some will push for Big Sur and some stay for Catalina. It depends on your own need and competency level to troubleshoot and deal with nuisance of system upgrade. I prefer a more stable OS which have iteration for a year than a new OS in active development in my main working iMac. Besides, the installation method is currently still being perfected gradually. I would wait a little more. Nothing I miss without running the new OS, at least my productivity isn't dependent on that at this moment.

6. OpenCore takes less than a GB and can be put on a SD card if you don't want to waste a USB port. In fact it can even be written to the EFI partition of the internal disk to free up the SD slot for nVidia GPU with a native Boot screen. I haven't done so because AMD GPUs with GOP vBIOS would have a black screen on PRAM reset in such situation. The OpenCore SD card is needed only for Boot loading. Afterwards, it is not used by the system AFAIK since the OS runs well when in incidence I pull it out after booting. The system may hang if you don't put it back upon restarting. If it fails, just make a new one. And with a native Boot screen with Mac vBIOS, you can bring up your native Boot Picker to boot your internal drive. No problem at all. But for the advantage of using OC, look at post #11812 by Ausdauersportler. It is a must for Big Sur installation for iMac 2009 and 2010. Not sure whether it covers 2011 also.

7. OTA (over-the-air) system update for unsupported Macs requires special hacking. Usual updates of apps, e.g. Safari, will appear in System Update and installable from there with a simple click, but not for those System updates or Security updates.

Most information here is in first post, some others spreading among the posts, reachable with a search.

 

[KennyW]

I have not damaged them, the internal display works, but I had to plug them and unplug them quite sometimes to work. And the cables are really fragile, so I do not want to do that again.

Oh yea, you said my specs:

Imac 2011 27"
Intel I5 3,1Ghz
Nvidia K2000M
has High Sierra installed

Best regards

Yes, the LVDS cable is short and fragile. But I have open and closed my iMac more than two dozen of times with connection and disconnection of the LCD cable. Lately I have even broken one side of the holding plastic clip. Fortunately the cable can still hold in its socket. But a new one costs just <$10 in case it really is broken.

 

[herrdude]

Installing OpenCore and then using it to boot external usb drives (either a working windows 10 copy or linux, to flash the gpu) is the way to go in your situation. As to how to do that, there are multiple half-baked guides on here, you have to go by trial and errors until you get there. Good luck

Since you are SO great at making guides, why haven't you made one instead of b*tching about it?

All hat, no cattle.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Since you are SO great at making guides, why haven't you made one instead of b*tching about it?

All hat, no cattle.

Press the ignore button - these guys not do live in or share the same world. Cannot dig holes deep enough to find the same ground.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

So, do you mean your GTX 765M with PC vBIOS gives a Boot screen as well as internal display or only when OS Graphics drivers load ? Usually without a Mac vBIOS, the internal display won't work while the external might.

1. I think the incompatibility is related to power consumption in 21" iMac. It may render the system unstable or clash or slow down as the power supply may not be able to have enough juice when the GPU is stressed. Besides, it is possible the Mac vBIOS could be upclocked to squeeze some performance from these old nVidia GPUs. I am not certain whether the 3 piped heatsink can be installed in 21" iMac. But if the space allows, you have a better safety margin and prolong the life of the GPU.

2. With a Mac vBIOS, deep sleep isn't supported, and the system may hang as in your situation.

3. It is not easy to mess up if you follow the step, and I can feel that you are more than capable to do so from your questions and comment The Linux USB Flash drive is the easier one in my opinion. A bad flash might require using the direct clipping method with, say the ch341a programmer. But check the type of EEPROM on your card. If it is the Winbond type with legs underneath rather than on its side, there is no way to clip it for flashing.

4 a. Yes, there is no need for you to change your BootROM for the Mac vBIOS for nVidia GPU in order to have the native Boot screen. Using the ROMTool requires SIP disabled. Read the instruction from the source.
4 b. No one can tell whether new vBIOS will be out or not, or when. It will be there if one is ready. Brightness control isn't related to the alteration of the BootROM, which is meant to bring about the native Boot screen. However, now the developers have incorporated that part into the Mac vBIOS, there is no need to flash your BootROM for these new EG2 vBIOS for nVidia GPUs.

5. Some will push for Big Sur and some stay for Catalina. It depends on your own need and competency level to troubleshoot and deal with nuisance of system upgrade. I prefer a more stable OS which have iteration for a year than a new OS in active development in my main working iMac. Besides, the installation method is currently still being perfected gradually. I would wait a little more. Nothing I miss without running the new OS, at least my productivity isn't dependent on that at this moment.

6. OpenCore takes less than a GB and can be put on a SD card if you don't want to waste a USB port. In fact it can even be written to the EFI partition of the internal disk to free up the SD slot for nVidia GPU with a native Boot screen. I haven't done so because AMD GPUs with GOP vBIOS would have a black screen on PRAM reset in such situation. The OpenCore SD card is needed only for Boot loading. Afterwards, it is not used by the system AFAIK since the OS runs well when in incidence I pull it out after booting. The system may hang if you don't put it back upon restarting. If it fails, just make a new one. And with a native Boot screen with Mac vBIOS, you can bring up your native Boot Picker to boot your internal drive. No problem at all. But for the advantage of using OC, look at post #11812 by Ausdauersportler. It is a must for Big Sur installation for iMac 2009 and 2010. Not sure whether it covers 2011 also.

7. OTA (over-the-air) system update for unsupported Macs requires special hacking. Usual updates of apps, e.g. Safari, will appear in System Update and installable from there with a simple click, but not for those System updates or Security updates.

Most information here is in first post, some others spreading among the posts, reachable with a search.

Opencore covers Big Sur installation on 2011 too.

 

[johnrak]

@KennyW Thank you so much for your answer.

I think I will install Catalina since my 765M supports native boot screen and I don’t need OpenCore for Catalina. I read about native boot screen and native boot picker. Are these two different things? Is there a combination of Mac and GPU which have native boot screen but not native boot picker?

I have two SSDs in my iMac. My primary has High Sierra and I use Carbon Copy Cloner to keep a complete backup of my system on the secondary SSD. I’m thinking to install Catalina on my primary SSD, keep a complete backup of Catalina on the secondary and also keep a fresh installation of High Sierra on the secondary SSD (on different volumes of course). Is this a safe option to keep High Sierra installed in case Catalina becomes corrupted?

I have a couple apps that don’t support High Sierra. In the future I will try to install Big Sur if my apps require it. I will use OpenCore of course but I’m interested to install it in the internal disk EFI partition as long as I’m sure that I won’t face any issues that require to remove the disk. Is there a guide to install it this way?

 

[dstd123]

thx but I was more referring to this post :

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

I made one a few days ago, mine's need some trimming/sanding to fit but it works really well. I'll drop it here and maybe save you some time. ;) Please despite the GPU in the images, it's an HD7970m which I couldn't make it work... I hope it helps someone!

forums.macrumors.com

Hi, that guy dimensions are WRONG. I have printed for my imac late 2011 but it was smaller!
Here are the correct dimensions of the hdd fan to adjust to the 3d file that has been posted several pages ago to anyone thats interested.
I have uploaded the correct size of the fan air vent in to 2 pics. Say to the shop to enlarge the 3d image according to those dimensions seen in the pics

 

[jsusa]

Hi everyone! I've been reading through the thread for the last month or so after acquiring an iMac, ordering my parts and then waiting for them in the post.

My configuration is as follows:

From Apple:	After Upgrades:
2010 27" iMac	2010 27" iMac
i5 680 - Dual Core 3.6GHz	i7 870 - Quad Core 2.93
8GB DDR3 1333	32GB DDR3 1333
AMD Radeon HD 5750 1GB	Quadro K3100M 4GB
2TB 7200rpm HDD + Optical Drive	No HDD + Optical drive replaced with SSD

I got the iMac around a month and a half ago and have slowly been doing upgrades as the parts come in, first was the CPU which was my first real dive into the iMac, but was relatively painless, installed and all went well on the first try. Later the RAM came which was obviously pretty painless with the RAM door on the machine, and then the SSD arrived, pulled out the optical drive and installed it (and then installed a fresh copy of High Sierra to the drive) and again relatively simplistic.

However, today I received my K3100M which is where I'm having a bit of trouble. I installed the card which again was relatively pain free (aside from the bloody temperature cable, took the graphics card out without having to remove the logic board, but had to loosen it up a bit in the end so that I could clip the temp cable in correctly..). I then used the bootable USB provided by xanderon which worked like a charm, iMac booted right in, got IP address and was able to get in and flash the card, no issues! I then rebooted and removed the USB, attached the SSD back and booted one more time (without the screen on) and sure enough my iMac showed up again in my router (this time with the correct name, meaning it'd successfully booted into macOS), perfect! I attached the screen back (didn't plug the display sync cable in correctly the first time and gave myself a bit of a fright, but fixed that) and pressed the power button, and sure enough I get a chime and the Apple logo, then the loading bar and all is well, but then the bar finishes, the screen turns white for a few seconds, and then turns black (backlight still lit), and it stays this way until I turn the computer back off.

I was stumped, but then I thought about it and I hadn't reset the NVRAM/PRAM or SMC, so did both of those, and sure enough on reboot I get the Apple Logo and all is well, but the same issue happens, boots all the way through and then goes white, then black and stays that way. I figured that maybe the GPU was making contact where it shouldn't have, or was overheating or SOMETHING, and so I thought okay lets boot into the USB from xanderon again, and see if I get a display output, sure enough the boot picker works fine, and Linux boots up just fine and I'm in the command line, I left it for 5-10 minutes and come back and it's still there totally fine.

I then thought I'd isolated the issue down to being my macOS install because the USB works fine, so I make a Catalina USB (with the dosDude patcher, disabled auto install patches) on my 16" Pro, and plugged it into the iMac, entered the boot picker and there it was, booted into the USB and sure enough the same thing happened gets all the way to the end, and then goes white, and black and stays black until a reboot. Tried macOS recovery and the same thing, black until a reboot. But sure enough the Linux USB still works fine. I also have tried option booting and then selecting the macOS install directly from the boot picker and that has the same result, white, then black (backlit) and nothing.

I've had a decent skim over the thread, and know that there is an issue with a black screen unless you install a kext, which occurs after changing something with the PRAM and you need to do a PRAM reset or option boot to get it to work, but I've tried both of these things and it doesn't work.

Hoping someone has an idea as to what the issue I've got here is and can point me in the right direction!

Maybe, pull out that ssd with installation and connect it as external to win pc, use app and put applebackliight.kext to S/L/E.Then put it back and try to boot. Just an idea.
BTW I have the same config. and IMAC 27 mid 2010 but never flashed bios with NVFLASH, simply not needed, MAC boots fine and quicker then My IMAC 27 mid 2011 without boot-screen (dont need it) and brightness is full which is my choise I want it bright.
Never had problem overheating GPU;
Cheers.

 

[MBear2k]

** NVIDIA Quadro K3100M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control​

View attachment 942193


Pre-installation Requirements:
- iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
- BootROM: 87.0.0.0.0. Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest version.

- GPU Variant: N15E-Q1-A2

- Hynix GDDR5 Die Generation variants
View attachment 1687878
H5GQ2H24AFR - Hynix 1st Generation die - VDD 1.5V, use K3100M_AFR.rom
H5GC2H24BFR - Hynix 2nd Generation die - VDD 1.35V, use K3100M_BFR.rom
H5GQ2H24BFR - Hynix 2nd Generation die - VDD 1.5V, use K3100M_BFR.rom

known working cards:
Dell K3100M vbios: 80.04.B0.00.0A
HP K3100M vbios: 80.04.CD.00.0A. PN: 744354-001

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore.
This ROM is build on the same principles as my K4100M. Unfortunately, the color-pixel bug is still present. But I am working on it. The brightness will need to be adjusted via a kext as previous. I have a feeling that the native brightness dimness is also inline with the same generic driver bug previously mentioned. The rom has a modest clock table boost as well.

Post-installation Requirements:
Brightness Control Stepping Mod:
-Turn computer on, hold down Command(⌘)-R
-Choose Utilities > Terminal
-Enter:csrutil disable
-Reboot
-Download and open 'Kext Utility v2.6.6'

-Navigate to S/L/E (System/Library/Extensions)
-Copy "AppleBacklight.kext" to Desktop
-Edit: AppleBacklight.kext/Contents/Info.plist
-Scroll down to: IOKitPersonalities > AppleIntelPanelA > ApplePanels
-There you find several Apple LCD profiles.
-For the iMac 2011 27" machine locate:

<key>F10Ta007</key>
<data>
ABEABgALABQAHAAnADMAPwBOAFwAZwBzAIEAkQClAL8A2wD/
</data>

-Change the <data> section to:
ABEAAgA3AF8AigCzAOsBJAFnAakB1AIJAlQCogL4A00DlgRpBGk=

-Drag your modded kext into Kext Utility, allow it correct permissions
-Applebacklight.kext.bak folder will be created
-Reboot

The above data pattern will allow for a wider span of steppings for the brightness control and utilizes more of the capacity of the HD3000. If you have a different machine, your panel ID can be found by going to System Preferences > Displays > Color > Open Profile > mmod

warning: please remember this is a WSON based card. You will be unable to recover from a bad flash with clip.



View attachment 939736 View attachment 939740

"insanely great!"
-Steve Jobs

**update**
12-7-2020 TDP/3D/Boost adjusted for both ROMs
12-6-2020 new roms for Hynix AFR and Hynix BFR based vRAMs should fix white/black screen issue
10-4-2020 working on Catalina 10.15.7, HP PN:744354-001 @GButorin
08-4-2020 working on Sierra 10.12.6 @Ausdauersportler

Thank you for the excellent detail here. I do have a couple of questions someone could maybe assist with..

Here is my current config - about a day old... I followed the above, minus the Brightness Control post-install step. My GPU has the Hynix BFR so the K3100M_BFR.rom was used.

All is running, but what appears to be the video is slow. Windows are streaking, and apps are somewhat slow to load. I am not running any special boot loader, nor have installed any kernel extensions yet. I have a Windows 7 partition and that runs fine - no lagging or video issues.

When running VDADecoderChecker I get the following error: VDADecoderCreate failed. err: -12473

Geekbench info:

And a snippet of MetalBench:

Any input is appreciated!

 

[KennyW]

@KennyW Thank you so much for your answer.

I think I will install Catalina since my 765M supports native boot screen and I don’t need OpenCore for Catalina. I read about native boot screen and native boot picker. Are these two different things? Is there a combination of Mac and GPU which have native boot screen but not native boot picker?

I have two SSDs in my iMac. My primary has High Sierra and I use Carbon Copy Cloner to keep a complete backup of my system on the secondary SSD. I’m thinking to install Catalina on my primary SSD, keep a complete backup of Catalina on the secondary and also keep a fresh installation of High Sierra on the secondary SSD (on different volumes of course). Is this a safe option to keep High Sierra installed in case Catalina becomes corrupted?

I have a couple apps that don’t support High Sierra. In the future I will try to install Big Sur if my apps require it. I will use OpenCore of course but I’m interested to install it in the internal disk EFI partition as long as I’m sure that I won’t face any issues that require to remove the disk. Is there a guide to install it this way?

A native boot screen by pressing alt/option key on booting up means the same as bringing up the native BootPicker.

If your nVidia GPU is able to show a native Boot screen/BootPicker, there is probably no point in doing any flashing. The motto is Don't fix anything that isn't broken The rest of functions if preferred can be brought about by OpenCore.

If you have 2 internal SSDs (I set up 3 in my iMac 2010), as you have planned, getting one with HS and another Catalina would facilitate troubleshooting. But remember to set the HS as the default Boot disk when you do a PRAM reset. Backup your Catalina in an external SSD or USB flash drive. Better not to partition your internal into HS & Catalina. Have a stable system first before moving your OC to EFI partition. Search thru this thread for how to do so since I have no experience on that.

 

[Steveo113]

OK, So I am having a hard time upgrading my 2011 27" iMac to a K1100m graphics card. First of all when I plugin the USB with the prebooted linux image I follow all the command and get this.


2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K1100.rom











NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)


Simplified Version For OEM Only


Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...





Adapter: NVS K1 USM (10DE,0FE6,103C,197B) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00





WARNING: None of the firmware image compatible PCI Device ID's


match the PCI Device ID of the adapter.


Adapter PCI Device ID: 0FE6


Firmware image PCI Device ID: 0FF6


WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (1028.15CC)


does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (103C.197B).





NOTE: Exception caught.


Nothing changed!








ERROR: GPU mismatch


2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash #

Dont know why my computer is recognizing my GPU as a "NVS k1 USM" I saw a few others ran into this issue but nothing was posted on how they fixed it. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

Thank you for the excellent detail here. I do have a couple of questions someone could maybe assist with..

Here is my current config - about a day old... I followed the above, minus the Brightness Control post-install step. My GPU has the Hynix BFR so the K3100M_BFR.rom was used.

View attachment 1703339

All is running, but what appears to be the video is slow. Windows are streaking, and apps are somewhat slow to load. I am not running any special boot loader, nor have installed any kernel extensions yet. I have a Windows 7 partition and that runs fine - no lagging or video issues.

When running VDADecoderChecker I get the following error: VDADecoderCreate failed. err: -12473

Geekbench info:

View attachment 1703362

View attachment 1703365


And a snippet of MetalBench:

View attachment 1703367



Any input is appreciated!

Maybe you installed by mistake Legacy Video Patch using Catalina Patcher and for h264 hardware acceleration there is a process to follow to active it. All is described in the first Post.

 

[Pascal Baillargeau]

OK, So I am having a hard time upgrading my 2011 27" iMac to a K1100m graphics card. First of all when I plugin the USB with the prebooted linux image I follow all the command and get this.


2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K1100.rom











NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)


Simplified Version For OEM Only


Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...





Adapter: NVS K1 USM (10DE,0FE6,103C,197B) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00





WARNING: None of the firmware image compatible PCI Device ID's


match the PCI Device ID of the adapter.


Adapter PCI Device ID: 0FE6


Firmware image PCI Device ID: 0FF6


WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (1028.15CC)


does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (103C.197B).





NOTE: Exception caught.


Nothing changed!








ERROR: GPU mismatch


2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash #

Dont know why my computer is recognizing my GPU as a "NVS k1 USM" I saw a few others ran into this issue but nothing was posted on how they fixed it. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

There is normally a parameter to add in Nvflash command line to override IDs mismatch.

Try
./nvflash_linux --protectoff
before
./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K1100.rom

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I have a question relating to the original AMD card
Are they compatible with each other?
Specifically
The HD5670m is original in iMac 27" Mid 2010.
If I installed a known-to-be working HD5670m to an iMac 27" 2011, will it work and display boot screen as normall?
Some sellers I know in Vietnam says that it won't work.

But I saw a AMD video card (256MB) maybe from iMac 2008 installed in an iMac 2011 in place of a dead HD6970m, and seller said that it worked for a while before completely died.

Thank you for your attention to my silly question.