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

[motorm3]

Does anyone know how to fix this the auto brightness is missing I'm running latest 11.2 big sur. But the auto brightness is on and I can't switch it of. If I uninstall the kext patches this option is back if I install again its missing. Everything else runs good imac mid 2011 27.

 

[bluecrowHH]

I would say that the heat pads on the VRAM are too thick.
That would make the contact of GPU core to the heat sink too far away and inefficient, risk burning the chip.

Well those are really flexible. As far as i could tell from looking at it, all seemed fine. We will see when im firing this beast on!

 

[RobertL39]

THANKS!!! for your quick comments to my posts. It's VERY much appreciated!
and thanks for recommending I install a SSD. I may just do that. MUCH easier than running off a USB stick.
What did you mean by "difficult to handle"?
I note you have commented on "performance" issues but didn't specify what they were. Is this what you meant?

I have NO idea what HS or CL are and don't see those terms on the GeekBench website.
Since I have a mid-2011 21.5" iMac my GPU upgrade choices are pretty limited. Suggestions? Don't need blazing speed for anything, just want to continue to use a few 32-bit programs as well as 2 that require Mojave.
Do you have a favorite more recent iMac that I might replace mine with?
You assistance is very gratefully appreciated.
To your good health!

No, flashing does not change any part related to the drives and the macOS versions installed on it. If you plan to install a new GPU think about installing an SSD, too. You can have both macOS versions installed on one disks on separate partitions/containers and you will experience a by far better performance.

Sometimes the K2100M in the 21.5 2011 is difficult to handle - performance anomalies have been observed.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

THANKS!!! for your quick comments to my posts. It's VERY much appreciated!
and thanks for recommending I install a SSD. I may just do that. MUCH easier than running off a USB stick.
What did you mean by "difficult to handle"?
I note you have commented on "performance" issues but didn't specify what they were. Is this what you meant?

I have NO idea what HS or CL are and don't see those terms on the GeekBench website.
Since I have a mid-2011 21.5" iMac my GPU upgrade choices are pretty limited. Suggestions? Don't need blazing speed for anything, just want to continue to use a few 32-bit programs as well as 2 that require Mojave.
Do you have a favorite more recent iMac that I might replace mine with?
You assistance is very gratefully appreciated.
To your good health!

Hi!

As I mentioned before you may read yourself through the list of search results.

There is a fine net of dependencies when it comes to performance between iMac model, VBIOS, macOS version, GPU, and finally kernel drivers. Sometimes you are better off to switch the macOS, sometimes you can patch the kernel drivers, sometimes you can use OpenCore to use a different disguise.

When I remember back I just used OpenCore to spoof the iMacPro1,1 ID and a manually patched a single extension to solve this particular problem, but some people here see OpenCore as a threat, not as an exciting technology.

The problem was just getting approximately the half performance and you still see some 2011 21.5 with K2100M showing only about 15 FPS instead of nearly 30 on the Valley performance charts. But since some guys benchmark the system w/o the installed LCD it probably was only a non boosting CPU (CPU do not boost unless all thermal sensors are reconnected properly and the LCD has one, too).

The K2100M and K1100M are reliably and mostly not gaming laptop burned to death choices.

HS = High Sierra, CL = Catalina

 

[RobertL39]

1,000 thanks to you! VERY helpful and a lovely summary. I did read a TON of the previous posts but kept getting confused by mixed messages: "yes it works" "yes it works but slowly" "problems with flashing"---your distillation of all of that is incredibly helpful 😺👍. I'll move forward with my project.
I wrote on "conversations" and only afterward saw your note that you don't respond to them. I obviously posted the same thing here and tried to delete the conversation but failed. Please feel free to delete it.

 

[mperaltaoz]

Thank you Pascal, it turns out your advice was as trivial as brilliant!! 👏👏👏

I rebooted, logged in (holding Shift key during login, just to be sure), and voilà! @dosdude1 's magical tool worked out of the box!

Very strange, I'm pretty sure I had already rebooted a few times and nothing changed... anyway... solved!

I see that ROMtool asks the same question about the chip model that flashrom presented:

View attachment 1699731

Guess I will cross my fingers and try all of the chip models, hoping that nothing bad can happen when in read-only. Then I will compare them somehow.

Once again, thanks a lot.

Sergio

Hi all,
I'm having the same issue of the DirectHW.kext not loading with ROMtool.
I've booted in recovery mode, disabled SIP, rebooted.
Then logged in (whit and without pressing shift), but in all cases I keep getting the nasty error message...
Any clues?
I'm running Catalina 10.5.7 (19H1009).

 

[spraypainteriv]

Hey guys just completed the upgrades to my 21.5" 2011.

Upgraded CPU to i7 2600
Installed SSD in the second drive connector
Replaced GPU with Nvidia K1000M
Upgraded RAM to 16GB

All working well, I have a couple of questions though -

Before putting the SSD in place, I plugged it into a newer Mac and installed Mojave on the drive. I checked that Mojave would run from that drive on the newer Mac and all seemed to be fine. My thought was that if the installation was already carried out, my new METAL supported graphics card would allow Mojave to run if I set the SSD as the boot drive. Unfortunately not - once I had carried out all the upgrades (and having checked that everything worked booting off the old mechanical HDD with High Sierra), I tried to boot from the Mojave SSD - the computer just shut down after about 30 secs of a black screen.

I have now put High Sierra on the SSD and it's running really well. Is there any way I can make my original idea work? Failing that, is there any way I can install Mojave on the SSD using the dosdude patcher given that I have no boot menu to install from USB?

I have the same video card; but I can't get a picture or anything. Only getting 2 led lights on the motherboard. Nvidia Quadrio K1000m came out of a working dell.

 

[peekpt]

I have the same video card; but I can't get a picture or anything. Only getting 2 led lights on the motherboard. Nvidia Quadrio K1000m came out of a working dell.

What steps did you do? Did you flash it, Did you clean NVRAM? Are you booting with alt? Are you booting from the right drive?

 

[ChrizLoud]

Hi!

Im still waiting for my K4100M GPU.
I Bought Dell version on eBay but before shipping the seller tested the card and it shows HP.

So i guess its a HP card if sellers screen shot is legit?

Im asking just that i am afraid to flash the wrong version.

And also thank you guys for all the hours you spend on this awesome project!! 🥰

View attachment 1728480View attachment 1728481

Update: Just got response from seller. He says its been pulled out from a Dell and the reason it says HP is that he is using a HP Laptop to test the card before he shipped it to me.

i will use overclocked k4100M Dell flash from the now updated 1st post!

Going to report the result in this thread as soon as the gpu card arrives and i have tested! 😇

 

[mperaltaoz]

Hi all,
I'm having the same issue of the DirectHW.kext not loading with ROMtool.
I've booted in recovery mode, disabled SIP, rebooted.
Then logged in (whit and without pressing shift), but in all cases I keep getting the nasty error message...
Any clues?
I'm running Catalina 10.5.7 (19H1009).

Bummer! this is so frustrating...

I did a full search on romtool in this thread and tried all the possible answers there but I haven't been able to dump my EFI ROM with ROMtool.

Always the same message around DirectHW.kext cannot be loaded...

I've tried SMC reset, NVRAM/PRAM reset, login + shift after rebook... and of course all of them wiht SIP disabled.

Don't know what else to try...

Any help would be highly appreciated

 

[sergiodadi]

Another small question. Could you run a Direct3d11 Benchmark under those settings?

Which Direct3d11 benchmark ? Have you a link of this benchmark ? I think macOS does not support Direct3D ?

 

[jaytyla]

Please you guys I need some guidance. I have successfully installed my k4100m into my iMac 2010 but I still need to flash the vbios. I know nikey22 posted his custom vbios for the k4100m but I’m not sure what method to use to flash it. Can I use xanderons method and flash using a usb and ssh into my iMac?

 

[ChrisCaro]

Please you guys I need some guidance. I have successfully installed my k4100m into my iMac 2010 but I still need to flash the vbios. I know nikey22 posted his custom vbios for the k4100m but I’m not sure what method to use to flash it. Can I use xanderons method and flash using a usb and ssh into my iMac?

You're half way there.

Yes, you can flash using ssh.

Check out Tom's video, walks you through each command. Just make sure you download and flash the right rom!

You can also flash using windows, if you already have that installed.

 

[Schprecher]

well, k3000m bios update for working now out of date?

from 01.18.2021 nothing happens....

i think this thread someday will be dead.

 

[ChrisCaro]

well, k3000m bios update for working now out of date?

from 01.18.2021 nothing happens....

i think this thread someday will be dead.

Maybe someday! Don't rush rom developers, k3000m is problematic

 

[mperaltaoz]

Bummer! this is so frustrating...

I did a full search on romtool in this thread and tried all the possible answers there but I haven't been able to dump my EFI ROM with ROMtool.

Always the same message around DirectHW.kext cannot be loaded...

I've tried SMC reset, NVRAM/PRAM reset, login + shift after rebook... and of course all of them wiht SIP disabled.

Don't know what else to try...

Any help would be highly appreciated

I thought I'd share this in case anyone else has the same issue.
I found in another thread that removing ROMtool with Appcleaner and installing it again has worked for other people.
I tried that and.... yes! it worked just fine and I could dump 2 copies of my ROM.
Now I'm back on track with my GPU upgrade

 

[RobertL39]

Hi!

As I mentioned before you may read yourself through the list of search results.

There is a fine net of dependencies when it comes to performance between iMac model, VBIOS, macOS version, GPU, and finally kernel drivers. Sometimes you are better off to switch the macOS, sometimes you can patch the kernel drivers, sometimes you can use OpenCore to use a different disguise.

When I remember back I just used OpenCore to spoof the iMacPro1,1 ID and a manually patched a single extension to solve this particular problem, but some people here see OpenCore as a threat, not as an exciting technology.

The problem was just getting approximately the half performance and you still see some 2011 21.5 with K2100M showing only about 15 FPS instead of nearly 30 on the Valley performance charts. But since some guys benchmark the system w/o the installed LCD it probably was only a non boosting CPU (CPU do not boost unless all thermal sensors are reconnected properly and the LCD has one, too).

The K2100M and K1100M are reliably and mostly not gaming laptop burned to death choices.

HS = High Sierra, CL = Catalina

Would you suggest I also upgrade the CPU? Will just any old i7 work in my 2011 21.5" machine or do I need a specific one? Thanks again SO much!!

 

[doscore]

Hi, my Graphics card failed and iam looking to purchase a k3100m card. Did you have to do anything special after installing the card ?. Last time i installed a Dell Alienware 870m i didnt update any BIOS or do anything. The computer just booting fine. If you can you state what you did ? Thanks

Some of the cards I purchased on ebåy have 1mb bios Chips, these ones are no god but will work in your iMac without a bios but no boot screens unless you re-solder a new bios chip to it..(can be a little tricky) . the 2mb versions you can flash depending on which memory chips you have on the board (2 different roms for the Hynix chips)

the first time I flashed I used windows but the linux boot method is just easier.

the k3100m cards work fine and has native brightness etc.

 

[n363f]

Hello everyone!

After having baked my original GPU couple of times I decided to give it a go and bought K4100M which I have successfully installed and flashed following the guides shared generously by the experts. Connected the display and the iMac 2011 booted without a problem in High Sierra. Quick look at the About this Mac confirmed that the GPU is correctly recognised as K4100M (did not see Nick's name though) as well the CPU i7 2600 which I used the opportunity to put in.

After having restarted and shut down the iMac without any issues I have reseted the PRAM and SMC in an attempt to take care of the fans spinning like crazy but got no luck. So I moved on to do the Brightness Control Stepping Modification which went just fine. But when I intentionally put the iMac to Sleep just to test, it did not completely woke. Only the mouse cursor was visible on a black background. I forced it to shut down and then turn back on but it did not boot in Sierra ever since. I tried too disconnect the SSD and use the Linux USB key but it did not boot either, at least it did not show anything on the screen. Not sure what has happened I decided too flash the GPU once again but this time I saw the following in Terminal:
root@grml ~ # cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash
root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K4100M.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: Quadro K4100M (10DE,11B7,1028,15CD) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

Results:
Index | Match | Flash | Name
<00> Quadro K4100M (10DE,11B7,1028,15CD) S:00, B:01
Nothing changed!

ERROR: Detecting GPU failed.
2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash #

So now I am not sure what does it mean. Any help or observations you might have will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Would you suggest I also upgrade the CPU? Will just any old i7 work in my 2011 21.5" machine or do I need a specific one? Thanks again SO much!!

No, I would not change the i5 with the i7-2600S. CPU differences are widely overestimated. You can run a dozen of synthetical benchmark to prove the existence of differences you never see in real live.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello everyone!

After having baked my original GPU couple of times I decided to give it a go and bought K4100M which I have successfully installed and flashed following the guides shared generously by the experts. Connected the display and the iMac 2011 booted without a problem in High Sierra. Quick look at the About this Mac confirmed that the GPU is correctly recognised as K4100M (did not see Nick's name though) as well the CPU i7 2600 which I used the opportunity to put in.

After having restarted and shut down the iMac without any issues I have reseted the PRAM and SMC in an attempt to take care of the fans spinning like crazy but got no luck. So I moved on to do the Brightness Control Stepping Modification which went just fine. But when I intentionally put the iMac to Sleep just to test, it did not completely woke. Only the mouse cursor was visible on a black background. I forced it to shut down and then turn back on but it did not boot in Sierra ever since. I tried too disconnect the SSD and use the Linux USB key but it did not boot either, at least it did not show anything on the screen. Not sure what has happened I decided too flash the GPU once again but this time I saw the following in Terminal:
root@grml ~ # cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash
root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K4100M.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: Quadro K4100M (10DE,11B7,1028,15CD) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

Results:
Index | Match | Flash | Name
<00> Quadro K4100M (10DE,11B7,1028,15CD) S:00, B:01
Nothing changed!

ERROR: Detecting GPU failed.
2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash #

So now I am not sure what does it mean. Any help or observations you might have will be greatly appreciated!

First post -> hardware problems otherwise searching the thread may give you more results

 

[ChrisCaro]

Hello everyone!

After having baked my original GPU couple of times I decided to give it a go and bought K4100M which I have successfully installed and flashed following the guides shared generously by the experts. Connected the display and the iMac 2011 booted without a problem in High Sierra. Quick look at the About this Mac confirmed that the GPU is correctly recognised as K4100M (did not see Nick's name though) as well the CPU i7 2600 which I used the opportunity to put in.

After having restarted and shut down the iMac without any issues I have reseted the PRAM and SMC in an attempt to take care of the fans spinning like crazy but got no luck. So I moved on to do the Brightness Control Stepping Modification which went just fine. But when I intentionally put the iMac to Sleep just to test, it did not completely woke. Only the mouse cursor was visible on a black background. I forced it to shut down and then turn back on but it did not boot in Sierra ever since. I tried too disconnect the SSD and use the Linux USB key but it did not boot either, at least it did not show anything on the screen. Not sure what has happened I decided too flash the GPU once again but this time I saw the following in Terminal:
root@grml ~ # cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash
root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 Quadro_Beta1.2/K4100M.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: Quadro K4100M (10DE,11B7,1028,15CD) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

Results:
Index | Match | Flash | Name
<00> Quadro K4100M (10DE,11B7,1028,15CD) S:00, B:01
Nothing changed!

ERROR: Detecting GPU failed.
2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash #

So now I am not sure what does it mean. Any help or observations you might have will be greatly appreciated!

Got any photos of the card front and back?

 

[ChrisCaro]

In a previous post, I mentioned I got lazy and used k5 pro on the VRMs and the GPU, instead of the recommended kryonaut and K5 pro combination. The difference between kryonaut and k5 pro on the gpu chip:

While in windows you can see the GPU die temperature. With k5 pro on the gpu chip I saw a 10 degC delta between the heat sink temp and die temp. With kryonaut I see a 5 degC delta.
Under load, the temps with k5 pro on the gpu would hit 70 degC. Now, under similar conditions, the temps run 10-20 deg C lower.

Nothing scientific here. Use of k5 pro on the gpu chip is definitely NOT a good idea. Use it for the VRMs and coils only.

 

[highvoltage12v]

In a previous post, I mentioned I got lazy and used k5 pro on the VRMs and the GPU, instead of the recommended kryonaut and K5 pro combination. The difference between kryonaut and k5 pro on the gpu chip:

While in windows you can see the GPU die temperature. With k5 pro on the gpu chip I saw a 10 degC delta between the heat sink temp and die temp. With kryonaut I see a 5 degC delta.
Under load, the temps with k5 pro on the gpu would hit 70 degC. Now, under similar conditions, the temps run 10-20 deg C lower.

Nothing scientific here. Use of k5 pro on the gpu chip is definitely NOT a good idea. Use it for the VRMs and coils only.

Yes, K5 Pro was never meant for the GPU die only surrounding components to transfer heat from them. I use AS5 paste on my cards, been using up the tubes since Radio Shack went out of business years ago. I see you bought a new LCD for your iMac, eBay seller? Has it been treating you well? Mine has.

 

[ChrisCaro]

Yes, K5 Pro was never meant for the GPU die only surrounding components to transfer heat from them. I use AS5 paste on my cards, been using up the tubes since Radio Shack went out of business years ago. I see you bought a new LCD for your iMac, eBay seller? Has it been treating you well? Mine has.

I bought my LCD from a independent store, applevtech I think. It isn't perfect, has some shadows-like articfacts in the corners, and the bezel is slightly rusty... Maybe they are related ha. Otherwise it is big, bright, sharp, and beautiful.