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How many LEDs are on when the internal LCD is connected? Which X-bracket did you use? the original smaller AMD one or the NVIDIA one you showed in the image? If it is the NVIDIA one you need to make those holes larger so you can use the original screws.

I have a similar problem (but not identical) with K4100M. All four LEDs are on but the internal LCD is always black while connecting a thunderbolt display works. What I did is to perform a PRAM reset, disable SIP and put a lot of insulation tapes around the GPU to avoid any possible short circuit.
Led 1 is on when the screen is connected and it will not boot.
I used the AMD X clamp.
 
Led 1 is on when the screen is connected and it will not boot.
I used the AMD X clamp.

LED1 only means the power is connected. What happened to the LEDs after you press the power button?

I believe there are two types of X-bracket for AMD cards, one for MXM-A card (HD6770M) and one for MXM-B card (HD6970M). The first one is fine but the second one you have to do remove some parts to avoid short circuit.
 
LED1 only means the power is connected. What happened to the LEDs after you press the power button?

I believe there are two types of X-bracket for AMD cards, one for MXM-A card (HD6770M) and one for MXM-B card (HD6970M). The first one is fine but the second one you have to do remove some parts to avoid short circuit.
After pressing the power button led 1 is on. The iMac won't boot with the lcd connected. The X bracket fits perfectly and is insulated, the card works fine with the lcd panel disconnected.
 
As promised ( @ChrisCaro ) ...

A second (for me) working WX7100 card installed; within a 27" iMac mid-2011 named "SCOOBERT". It boots with OpenCore v0.6.6 to Big Sur, High Sierra and Win10, and will soon reside on my wife's desk. Pics and benchmarks (results also posted) follow. The source was eBay using the same seller that @splifingate posted earlier.

As always, thanks to @wa9im, @Pascal Baillargeau, @Nick [D]vB, @Ausdauersportler, @Emilio306 and @jborko for their contributions in making this possible.
The seller doesn’t send it outside US... 😔
 

Latest Nvidia GeForce Drivers working on UEFI Windows 10​


While testing my 780M card on Windows 10, I noticed Nvidia decided to drop support for Mobile GeForce cards after driver version 425.31 (dated april 2019), which is the latest version you can download and install from Nvidia website. Any newer version will tell you no compatible hardware is found and refuse to install.
The problem is many modern apps and games require version 440+ or Vulkan support on the driver.

More modern GeForce cards have seen driver updates until recently (January 2021).

It turns out you can modify these modern GeForce drivers to work on mobile GeForce cards. It requires modding the installer files (.inf), manually updating the driver and a special install procedure to allow unsigned drivers installation. It also seems every 6 months updates from Microsoft may remove unsigned drivers install (to be verified).

Its not an easy procedure, but if anyone is interested I'll try to create a manual on how I managed to install version 461.40 (Jan 2021) of GeForce drivers that works great on my 780M with @nikey22 ._BR3 vbios.

View attachment 1741786

Ok, before I forget :) a quick guide on how to install these modern Nvidia drivers for mobile Kepler cards on Windows 10

Software needed:

DDU - Display Driver Uninstaller
https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Nvidia driver 461.40 - Must be DCH version to fit modded .inf file. I used:
https://tr.download.nvidia.com/Windows/461.40/461.40-notebook-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe

Modified .inf file - That is needed to include mobile hardware identifiers removed by Nvidia from modern .inf files.
You can download it from this forum post by StefanG3D (file named R46140.inf). Will need to register to download, I’m not posting it here since it’s not my work.
.inf file is driver version specific, so newer drivers will need a new .inf
https://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/34045-geforce-46140-game-ready-studio-quadro/

Steps:

1 - Extract driver file “461.40-notebook-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe” to a folder (you can use 7zip for this)
Rename R46140.inf as nv_dispi.inf
Inside driver folder, look for "Display.Driver" folder and copy renamed nv_dispi.inf inside (overwrite already existing nv_dispi.inf)

2 - Disconnect from internet (turn off wifi or disconnect ethernet cable)
Reboot windows in safe mode: easy way is hold shift while clicking restart from windows menu, then choose Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Start-up Settings. On reboot choose option 4: Safe Mode

While in safe mode, execute DDU. Select GPU / NVIDIA in right column and click on “Clean and restart).
On reboot you’ll have no display driver installed. It is important not to have internet connection, otherwise windows will download and install old Nvidia display drivers.
Reboot once again, this time in “Disable driver signature enforcement” mode. Procedure is the same as rebooting in Safe Mode, but selecting option 7 instead of 4. If in doubt, check here:
https://support.viewsonic.com/en/su...how-to-install-unsigned-drivers-in-windows-10


Open Device Manager, under Display Adapters you should have Microsoft basic display driver. Click on device, change to Driver tab and select “update driver”. Select Search my PC and Select from a list of available drivers. The trick here is to use the “Have Disk” option and navigate to select the nv_dispi.inf we previously copied inside the Display.Driver folder.
If all goes well, you’ll be able to select your card model and start to install drivers. Midway trough install you’ll be warned driver is unsigned and given the chance to install such unsigned driver, choose that and installer should work to the end.

3 - Reboot and check driver version, it should be 461.40. Then you can add registry entries to activate brightness control, just as in old version of drivers.


Notes:

- I have not tested this extensively, it is possible it may not work for you. At first I installed on top of version 425.31, and ended up with a working driver but no brightness control at all (adding registry brightness entries did nothing).
- If you make some mistake, you can always go back to reboot in safe mode and use DDU to remove all display drivers and start over or go back to reinstall 425.31, DDU does a good job at cleaning old install.
- It may happen that future windows updates from Microsoft remove unsigned drivers (to be confirmed).
- Nvidia Control Panel is not working for me.

Otherwise I've been testing this a lot the last few days, modern games like Doom Eternal or RPCS3 work quite decently on my 780M. Also a quick benchmark with these drivers version and @nikey22 780M_BR2 rom

1616287053960.png


Edit:

I have also now tested this on a Quadro K1100M card and it works too, so this is expected to work for all Kepler based cards, be it GeForce or Quadro.
This time I've directly installed on top of already existing 392.63 Quadro drivers with brightness control registry entry (no DDU, just reboot on “Disable driver signature enforcement” mode and update driver, and it worked ok, with brighness control working out of the box on reboot with the updated drivers).
So, for installs I would first try just installing on top of existing drivers and, if problems like brightness control arise, go the DDU path.

1616371999751.png


Edit 2:

There's a new utility around to automate newer drivers modding and signing: NVCleanstall
https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-nvcleanstall/

I have not tested it yet, but from forum posts it looks that using version 1.7.0 you can add hardware IDs for our cards and get a proper signed driver, avoiding the potential problem of unsigned drivers removal from windows updates (and making installation easier).
 
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As promised ( @ChrisCaro ) ...

A second (for me) working WX7100 card installed; within a 27" iMac mid-2011 named "SCOOBERT". It boots with OpenCore v0.6.6 to Big Sur, High Sierra and Win10, and will soon reside on my wife's desk. Pics and benchmarks (results also posted) follow. The source was eBay using the same seller that @splifingate posted earlier.

As always, thanks to @wa9im, @Pascal Baillargeau, @Nick [D]vB, @Ausdauersportler, @Emilio306 and @jborko for their contributions in making this possible.
Never have I witnessed such commitment to satisfy a curiosity. Congrats on the successful build!
 
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Ok, before I forget :) a quick guide on how to install these modern Nvidia drivers for mobile Kepler cards on Windows 10

Software needed:

DDU - Display Driver Uninstaller
https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Nvidia driver 461.40 - Must be DCH version to fit modded .inf file. I used:
https://tr.download.nvidia.com/Windows/461.40/461.40-notebook-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe

Modified .inf file - That is needed to include mobile hardware identifiers removed by Nvidia from modern .inf files.
You can download it from this forum post by StefanG3D (file named R46140.inf). Will need to register to download, I’m not posting it here since it’s not my work.
.inf file is driver version specific, so newer drivers will need a new .inf
https://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/34045-geforce-46140-game-ready-studio-quadro/

Steps:

1 - Extract driver file “461.40-notebook-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe” to a folder (you can use 7zip for this)
Rename R46140.inf as nv_dispi.inf
Inside driver folder, look for "Display.Driver" folder and copy renamed nv_dispi.inf inside (overwrite already existing nv_dispi.inf)

2 - Disconnect from internet (turn off wifi or disconnect ethernet cable)
Reboot windows in safe mode: easy way is hold shift while clicking restart from windows menu, then choose Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Start-up Settings. On reboot choose option 4: Safe Mode

While in safe mode, execute DDU. Select GPU / NVIDIA in right column and click on “Clean and restart).
On reboot you’ll have no display driver installed. It is important not to have internet connection, otherwise windows will download and install old Nvidia display drivers.
Reboot once again, this time in “Disable driver signature enforcement” mode. Procedure is the same as rebooting in Safe Mode, but selecting option 7 instead of 4. If in doubt, check here:
https://support.viewsonic.com/en/su...how-to-install-unsigned-drivers-in-windows-10


Open Device Manager, under Display Adapters you should have Microsoft basic display driver. Click on device, change to Driver tab and select “update driver”. Select Search my PC and Select from a list of available drivers. The trick here is to use the “Have Disk” option and navigate to select the nv_dispi.inf we previously copied inside the Display.Driver folder.
If all goes well, you’ll be able to select your card model and start to install drivers. Midway trough install you’ll be warned driver is unsigned and given the chance to install such unsigned driver, choose that and installer should work to the end.

3 - Reboot and check driver version, it should be 461.40. Then you can add registry entries to activate brightness control, just as in old version of drivers.


I have not tested this extensively, it is possible it may not work for you. At first I installed on top of version 425.31, and ended up with a working driver but no brightness control at all (adding registry brightness entries did nothing).
If you make some mistake, you can always go back to reboot in safe mode and use DDU to remove all display drivers and start over.
It may happen that future windows updates from Microsoft remove unsigned drivers (to be confirmed).
Nvidia Control Panel is not working for me.

Otherwise I've been testing this a lot the last few days, modern games like Doom Eternal or RPCS3 work quite decently on my 780M. Also a quick benchmark with these drivers version and @nikey22 780M_BR2 rom

View attachment 1746759
Does anyone anticipate issue with installing the before mentioned geforce driver on quadro cards?
 
Well, no need to worry why you can't boot the OS. That's a different question.

First please check that your boot rom (or EFI) version is reported as "87.0.0.0.0" - using your original graphics card and without OpenCore.

After having hit control enter once upon choosing the Catalina Loader as boot volume, the Mac should launch OpenCore automatically when booting - verify that it does so.
In case it does indeed launch OpenCore without holding the option key, you can install your WX4130 and see whether OpenCore does actually display on your internal screen.
Having an LED on your USB drive would help in order to know whether OpenCore has actually been launched - just remember how the LED flashes until the OpenCore screen comes up when using your original graphics card.

In case OpenCore is able to show on the internal screen using your WX4130, you can go on to the next problem of being able to boot or reinstall an OS.
Thanks a lot for your response.

Boot ROM is 87.0.0.0.0 (backed up with romtool)

1st Option + Boot gives CL and internal HDDs

Upon Ctrl+Enter CL I come to CL boot choices with CL again and internal HDDs

2nd CL Enter gives black screen with message on top left:
Starting OpenCore.efi
Using load options ''
Error: Already started returned from OpenCore.efi

* Hit any key to continue *

key enter brings me to attached screen...
 

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Thanks a lot for your response.

Boot ROM is 87.0.0.0.0 (I made a backup with romtool)

1st Option + Boot gives CL and internal HDDs

Upon Ctrl+Enter CL I come to CL boot choices with CL again and internal HDDs

Enter gives black screen with message on top left:
Starting OpenCore.efi
Using load options ''
Error: Already started returned from OpenCore.efi

* Hit any key to continue *

key enter brings me to attached screen...
 
If you would spend some time and more importantly some attention on reading things posted you would have seen:

1. But there have been (K3000) cards not running well on 2011 systems (from the BIOS announcement)

2. The 2011 system is really the least compatible system (or in other words the one with the lowest number of running cards)
My goal was to switch to Mojave on this machine, not improve video performance :( You're right, obviously I hadn't read all of it but this thread is huge :)
Are there people here who manage to use, video aside, this machine permanently on Mojave or Catalina?
 
My goal was to switch to Mojave on this machine, not improve video performance :( You're right, obviously I hadn't read all of it but this thread is huge :)
Are there people here who manage to use, video aside, this machine permanently on Mojave or Catalina?
Check the first post again:

This is all about installing a metal card to use Mojave, Catalina and But Sur. Only a few stick with High Sierra.
 
Check the first post again:

This is all about installing a metal card to use Mojave, Catalina and But Sur. Only a few stick with High Sierra.
Unfortunately in the signatures it is not specified which system is used, not at all.
Anyway, when my machine starts with Mojave (boot from cold machine only) everything seems to work (with Mojave Patcher) except Bluetooth and graphics acceleration ... :(
 
Good morning,

I'm now one of you guys!

I've bought a K610M on Aliexpress, and I've installed it yesterday in my 2010 27" iMac.

I had to put a plastic thermal pad on the top of its die as I didn't have a copper plate at that moment. (I'm planing to order some on Aliexpress, but I won't receive them before a month. I hope this trick will work until then).

163410637_136983148277177_8000645437475167197_n.jpg


162468738_127218869346774_1906233561971658836_n.jpg


Afterward, I've flashed the K610M using the ROM linked in the first post (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-271?post=28497093#post-28497093).

It went mostly well, I got some warning, but in the end, the iMac rebooted and the display was working as expected.


root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux --protectoff

NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)
Simplified Version For OEM Only
Adapter: Quadro K610M (10DE,12B9,103C,197B) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

Identifying EEPROM...
EEPROM ID (EF,3012) : WBond W25X20A 2.7-3.6V 2048Kx1S, page
Setting EEPROM software protect setting...
Remove EEPROM write protect complete.
root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux -6 ./K610M_EG2.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 K610M (10DE,12B9,103C,197B) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

NOTE: Only IFR present:
NOTE: Skipping Board ID and Device ID checks.
NOTE: EEPROM does not contain board ID, skipping board ID check.

WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (106B.1026)
does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (103C.197B).

Please press 'y' to confirm override of PCI Subsystem ID's: y
Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch
Current - Version:Unavailable (Invalid) ID:0000:0000:103C:197B

Replace with - Version:61.6B.82.37.03 ID:10DE:12B9:106B:1026
Quadro K610M by nikey22 (Normal Board)

Update display adapter firmware?
Press 'y' to confirm (any other key to abort): y
Identifying EEPROM...
EEPROM ID (EF,3012) : WBond W25X20A 2.7-3.6V 2048Kx1S, page
WARNING: Adapter does not have a preservation table,
unable to preserve board settings.
Storing updated firmware image...
................................................................
Verifying update...
Update successful.

Firmware image has been updated from version Unavailable (Invalid) to 61.6B.82.37.03.


A reboot is required for the update to take effect.
./nvflash_linux -6 ./K610M_EG2.rom 46.77s user 2.75s system 47% cpu 1:44.93 total
root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux --verify

NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)
Simplified Version For OEM Only

ERROR: No filename specified.
2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # ./nvflash_linux --verify ./K610M_EG2.rom :(

NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility (Version 5.414.0)
Simplified Version For OEM Only
Adapter: Quadro K610M (10DE,12B9,103C,197B) H:--:NRM S:00,B:01,D:00,F:00

Identifying EEPROM...
EEPROM ID (EF,3012) : WBond W25X20A 2.7-3.6V 2048Kx1S, page
Reading adapter firmware image...
Current - Version:61.6B.82.37.03 ID:10DE:12B9:106B:1026
Quadro K610M by nikey22 (Normal Board)
Compare with - Version:61.6B.82.37.03 ID:10DE:12B9:106B:1026
Quadro K610M by nikey22 (Normal Board)

ERROR: Size difference between file(262144) and adapter firmware (231936)
2 root@grml /lib/live/mount/medium/flash # sudo reboot :(
Connection to 192.168.31.26 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.31.26 closed.

So after that I've checked Macs Fan Controls and I've made sure the GPU would stay cold until I receive the copper plates :

Screen Shot 2021-03-21 at 10.39.07.png



Screen Shot 2021-03-21 at 10.39.15.png



Eventually, I've started the last part of the guide: installing Catalina Loader to fix backlight control and allow the installation of more recent versions of macOS.

First, the latest version (0.6.6) of OC didn't work for me. The OS crashes at boot saying "Failed to load kext com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy (error 0xdc008017)".

Second, I've discovered that the version 0.6.0 works well. MacOS is able to boot properly and the backlight control is somehow working. I say somehow because its max level is lower than its regular max level (surprisingly, the backlight control is working perfectly when using TDM).

I've tried different AppleBacklightFixup.kext and none of them seems to work properly. I've also made sure my DisplayID (00009CD7) is in AppleBacklightFixup.kext's Info.plist.

Do I have to reset PRAM every time I change this kext?

Does someone has a solution?
 
Hey guys, I recently bought a K3100M and flashed it with the correct rom, but I'm getting the boot-chime loop and a black screen. I've tried smc/pram reset and even with the gpu out of the system ( reseted the pram 3 times, as said in the troubleshooting guide ) but I've had no succes. Any suggestions?

Also, here are the logs:
Anyone?
 
Does anyone anticipate issue with installing the before mentioned geforce driver on quadro cards?

Edit2:

After some testing, I can confirm this also works for Quadro cards (tested on K1100M, but expected to work on all Kepler based ones). I also checked some games require version 440+ of drivers, so only way seems to update them with this method.

1616372388159.png
 
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Unfortunately in the signatures it is not specified which system is used, not at all.
Anyway, when my machine starts with Mojave (boot from cold machine only) everything seems to work (with Mojave Patcher) except Bluetooth and graphics acceleration ... :(
First post, how to install Mojave.
 
Hi all, follow up to my successful upgrade to WX4130. I am trying to use Windows 10 but whenever I install drivers, I get the rainbow display as attached.

My spec:
iMac 2011 27inch
i7 2600
24gb ram
256gb add samsung evo 850
WX4130
Secondary HDD - 1tb Hitachi HDD
Big sur using opencore 0.66 from post #1 link

Big sur graphics working perfectly.
You flashed the file named "Dell RX 560 2GB.rom" to your card?
Using that VBIOS UEFI booted Windows 10 worked fine on my machine. Do you boot into Windows 10 using Bootcamp or EFI?
I didn't test anything else and don't have that card installed currently. Windows 10 is not that important on this thread.
 
Thanks a lot for your response.

Boot ROM is 87.0.0.0.0 (backed up with romtool)

1st Option + Boot gives CL and internal HDDs

Upon Ctrl+Enter CL I come to CL boot choices with CL again and internal HDDs

2nd CL Enter gives black screen with message on top left:
Starting OpenCore.efi
Using load options ''
Error: Already started returned from OpenCore.efi

* Hit any key to continue *

key enter brings me to attached screen...
Yes, that's all completely normal - it's just that you don't understand yet how Catalina Loader and/or OpenCore work.
The only thing that matters now is that your Mac automatically launches OpenCore when powering it on, without holding the option key.
In case it does so, that's all you need in order to test whether your WX4130 is actually working.
 
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Hi. I've successfully installed these cards with your firmware on two different iMacs, but noticed that neither is able to send video to an external display using mini-displayport. Any way to fix this? Thank you
First post -> black screen issue. But you should be able to force the internal LCD to switch on by holding alt/option on boot. Another symptom, same cause.
 
First post -> black screen issue. But you should be able to force the internal LCD to switch on by holding alt/option on boot. Another symptom, same cause.
Very fast reply! But the internal screen works. Only external ones, via mini displayport, don't. I suspect it's an issue with the vrom?
 
Wait, reading the first post and prepare the Linux boot stick? Literally you need to start reading. I wonder what you did while waiting for weeks for you new GPU?

Do not misunderstand me. I am not a genius bar Apple employee just waiting to answer questions in my spare time when we spent already so much time into preparing docs. You need to find the first post of this thread...whereever this is hidden today.

Take the MacBookPro, you can create and check the Linux USB there in advance.
Hi,
i have been able to flash Bios for K3100M_BFR via usb linux and now I am stuck with that issue in video below.

I know that I need to install a modified kext, but how I do that with the black screen? I hold ALT when reboot but the monitor stays black like the video? can I install macOS in a usb and flash that kext in usb and then in IMAC?
Or exists a way to remotely install the package remotely?via ssh or something?like I did to install bios?
 
Last edited:
Hi all, follow up to my successful upgrade to WX4130. I am trying to use Windows 10 but whenever I install drivers, I get the rainbow display as attached.

My spec:
iMac 2011 27inch
i7 2600
24gb ram
256gb add samsung evo 850
WX4130
Secondary HDD - 1tb Hitachi HDD
Big sur using opencore 0.66 from post #1 link

Big sur graphics working perfectly.
Just to update. I managed to find out the cause. It have something to do with the thunderbolt to usb 3 adapter I plugged into the iMac. Brand is kantex ktu20. Once I removed it, display works. Windows doesn't seems to talk to the thunderbolt 2 ports properly. If anyone have suggestions, I will try. Thanks.
 
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