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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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This thread is about using graphic cards pulled from other laptops (Dell, HP, Alienware, etc.). It is not about baking cards because that only delays the inevitable. Plus using these other graphics cards allows us to install Catalina or Big Sur.
WX4150 with Late 2009 / Core2Duo iMac10,1
Lately I got a cheap 21.5 iMac10,1 with a dead ATI 4670 and decided to put a WX4150 into it. Running with High Sierra I needed to install the AAAMouSSE.kext to enable the AMD HD4000 driver in High Sierra.
Plugging in an external display (Apple Cinema 23", miniDP to DVI) I got a picture. Unfortunately the internal LVDS style display connector was broken and I got the internal display sometimes recognized but never enabled (but this may be caused by a dead display, cannot check this, because I would need another similar working one to cross check and solder the connector back onto the board).
At least we know now that one can replace the old ATI 4670M with a newer AMD card and that we likely (with some help of OpenCore) can enable the internal ports to show a picture on the LCD, too.
For those willing to play around this this I have added a working OpenCore EFI folder (can be used with either Catalina Loader or directly on the internal EFI partition). The complex part will be to get such a card.
Have Fun!
P.S.: OCLP will provide working OpenCore configurations (i.e. with AAAMouSSE.kext included). You will need an external display to start testing, though.
EDIT:
- There exist iMac10,1 models without MXM slots and an internal GT9400 GPU, only. You cannot modify those models. Check carefully.
- To enable the internal display on boot the vBIOS needs a modification. Unfortunately I never got the display of this iMac working and so I am waiting for another similar system to fly by...
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Worth to mention that not all 2009 iMacs feature an MXM gpu, so if someone wants to buy this machine to upgrade, check the model first.
Yeah, I picked up a C2D with soldered on gpu for next to nothing, I noticed the logic board has the pads to solder on a PCI connector? Has anyone tried it. At a guess it would definitely not work as you would have 2 gpus?
Thank You again.
Especially for the new OCLP, Wow!
I'm installing this right now on my 2011 iMac. Keep you posted, will do the 2009 afterwards once again.
Looking to let go my WX4130 flashed with RX 560 2gb GOP VBIOS for 160 USD. Here's screenshot. message me if interested.
Attachments
OCLP win imac12,2 no audio ... Any solution?
Or must in add asml config to opencore?
Or must in add asml config to opencore?
Exactly. Currently not included, you have to put it back manually. There is a RFE pending, i.e. it will come in near future.
Can we please move this entire OCLP discussion over to the Big Sur thread? There is the right place to discuss it
Or even better open an issue on the Github page - you would have found this one...
Where is your signature gone?
I would recommend looking at the AMD GPUs. They are usually cooperative in your model 2010 27" iMac, and they are capable of providing a really speedy and modern experience once they are installed. Unlike the NVIDIA GPUs, they are usually several years newer, and so they are to some extent less likely to have been fried in a gaming laptop and then repackaged as new. It's pretty much impossible to be sure what will work, so there is a degree of risk involved, unfortunately. The 2010 iMac seems to do better with AMD than the 2011 iMac, overall. Something like this GPU from AliExpress may be a good choice.
I can confirm, with that config + your "updated" applebacklightfixup all is working like a charm.
So, we expect an update of OCLP soon? I see you posted the "bug" with the kext (resolved in 0.0.23), but nothing more.
Short reality check:
You have a working config. We have solved the issue, filed an RFE which has been accepted. I alredy confirmed the change of the config and this has been added, too. So we are not really in a hurry, aren‘t we?
The only thing I cannot do is looking in a glass ball and predicting the future. Just wait, drink a cup of tea and stay calm!
Of course there is no rush. I am more than grateful for your time and that of all those in charge of the project. I was just wondering if you had reported the “failure” in the plist, sorry if I didn't express myself well. My English, self-learned sometimes fails 😁
@khronokernel found the error while we found it - he owns an iMac11,2 and was wondering about the incorrect device path - my config is failure resistant, I put all the known path infos used by all iMac11,x and 12,x in. Cannot fail this way.
So, yes: The error has been corrected.
After fits and starts I now have my K2100m card installed and working
A thousand thanks to:
Ausdauersportler, Mac Doctor Extraordinaire!
dosdude1 and his patcher
Xanderon and his USB Linux flash
Curtis Gross
Manfred from Macintosh Men
and all the other helpers along the way.
NO trouble with HS on the new card. Macsfancontrol works fine.
I installed Mojave on a USB drive (could NOT get it to install on an internal HDD partition). Mojave has issues with redrawing the screen after sleep--plan to use the kexts to get that working.
Biggest PITB is NO WI-FI!!! No icon in the menu bar, no ability to choose it in the Network set-up. Just not there. Ethernet works fine. I have all the same kexts in HS and Mojave, so I assume it's not a kext issue. I've been through some videos, most all on PCs and having to do with kext transfers so not helpful. Didn't find anything in this thread about people having non-working wi-fi except PC/hackintosh users.
Possible clue: I found that from the boot screen (thanks, Xanderon!!), if I select a network the USB/Mojave will not boot at all: white screen, gray apple logo, doesn't ever load after 15 minutes. If I do NOT select a network it does boot OK.
Anybody have any ideas?
Thanks again to ALL of you, named and not, for your kind assistance.
A thousand thanks to:
Ausdauersportler, Mac Doctor Extraordinaire!
dosdude1 and his patcher
Xanderon and his USB Linux flash
Curtis Gross
Manfred from Macintosh Men
and all the other helpers along the way.
NO trouble with HS on the new card. Macsfancontrol works fine.
I installed Mojave on a USB drive (could NOT get it to install on an internal HDD partition). Mojave has issues with redrawing the screen after sleep--plan to use the kexts to get that working.
Biggest PITB is NO WI-FI!!! No icon in the menu bar, no ability to choose it in the Network set-up. Just not there. Ethernet works fine. I have all the same kexts in HS and Mojave, so I assume it's not a kext issue. I've been through some videos, most all on PCs and having to do with kext transfers so not helpful. Didn't find anything in this thread about people having non-working wi-fi except PC/hackintosh users.
Possible clue: I found that from the boot screen (thanks, Xanderon!!), if I select a network the USB/Mojave will not boot at all: white screen, gray apple logo, doesn't ever load after 15 minutes. If I do NOT select a network it does boot OK.
Anybody have any ideas?
Thanks again to ALL of you, named and not, for your kind assistance.
Hi, again!After fits and starts I now have my K2100m card installed and working
A thousand thanks to:
Ausdauersportler, Mac Doctor Extraordinaire!
dosdude1 and his patcher
Xanderon and his USB Linux flash
Curtis Gross
Manfred from Macintosh Men
and all the other helpers along the way.
NO trouble with HS on the new card. Macsfancontrol works fine.
I installed Mojave on a USB drive (could NOT get it to install on an internal HDD partition). Mojave has issues with redrawing the screen after sleep--plan to use the kexts to get that working.
Biggest PITB is NO WI-FI!!! No icon in the menu bar, no ability to choose it in the Network set-up. Just not there. Ethernet works fine. I have all the same kexts in HS and Mojave, so I assume it's not a kext issue. I've been through some videos, most all on PCs and having to do with kext transfers so not helpful. Didn't find anything in this thread about people having non-working wi-fi except PC/hackintosh users.
Possible clue: I found that from the boot screen (thanks, Xanderon!!), if I select a network the USB/Mojave will not boot at all: white screen, gray apple logo, doesn't ever load after 15 minutes. If I do NOT select a network it does boot OK.
Anybody have any ideas?
Thanks again to ALL of you, named and not, for your kind assistance.
Recently (two nights ago) we found out that the OLCP supports Mojave and Catalina installation as well. I changed the first post according to this finding. You will not see any sleep/wake problems any longer.
After installing OpenCore to your internal disks EFI partition and rebooting the system into the High Sierra partition you can now create unpatched USB installers for Mojave or Catalina and use them to install these more recent macOS versions (as well as Big Sur, to course), please use separate partitions.
You would not need to add a single kernel extension manually. There is a small problem, only QuickSync will not work on your iMac21,1 going this route.
The WiFi problem with Mojave is well known - the Atheros WiFI patch has not been installed by default and you either need to reboot into the USB recovery and re-apply the post install patches including the WiFi patch to your use this tool.
(BTW: Instead of watching an endless series of videos your could have searched this thread what I did 20 seconds ago for "Mojave Wifi" or asking on the Mojave thread).
Using @dosdude1 patchers is a dead end now. No more development and updates became a mess recently. Give this OCLP (OpenCore) idea a chance.
EDIT: Mojave needs APFS, the iMacs firmware should have been updated to the latest (87.0.0.0.0??).
P.S.:
Who is Curtis Gross and what exactly did this guy do on this particular thread to help you except stealing all (now outdated) contents and ideas?
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Hi @Ausdauersportler,
I'm having a similar (the same?) issue as Panwato.
I've installed Big Sur with OCLP on my iMac11,2 with a K610M card.
I went through all the steps and worked like a charm, except for brightness control which doesn't work.
I've configured OC with option 4 selecting NVIDIA, rebuilt OC and installed it.
When I mount the EFI partition and check the config.plist with OC Configurator, it shows AppleBackLightFixUp.kext as enabled. I tried enabling and disabling it, rebooting, PRAM resetting, etc... several times and no luck.
I can't get brightness control to work.
Any clues?
Edit: attached my config.plist
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This is a bug in the current OCLP and has been fixed, but not published yet. Wait until the next update comes.
If you cannot wait: You can modify the DeviceProperties section in the same way I did it in my recent answer to @panwato. Just put both GFX related entries into it, again. I did this with my own versions all along in the past.
EDIT:
A honest word: We cannot make this thread a "please fix my EFI" one. I do not have the time to do this and I am wondering what you expect me (or others) here to do. Reporting is fine. Fixing an the source (OLCP) is the correct way, but I will not dig into each personal installation. This does not scale!
Thanks for the quick response. I can wait, no problem.
Fully understand your comment above and I wasn't asking or expecting you to fix my particular problem.
I just saw a previous post of yours where you suggested there was only one user with this problem and I thought it would be valuable to report my case as the 2nd user with the problem and share my config.plist in case it was of any value.
@khronokernel just wrote back the fixes are online. Please download the most recent 0.0.22 of today again and check and report back. Just make sure that you iMac11.2 is properly recognized by the patcher tool and choose the option metal NVIDIA GPU before creating the EFI.
Install to the internal disk, no need to make things complicated using the CL as before.
Cool. I'll try and report back.
BTW I did the manual fix you suggested above (i.e. adding the Pci 0x1 entry in DeviceProperties) and it worked perfectly.
Hi guys, I was able to install windows 10 on my Imac 2011 wich is not upgraded. Is win 10 also working with mid 2010 21,5 incl. WX4130 after installation of opencore on usb?
Thank you!
Another question. I have no audio on the internal speakers after upgrading to the wx4130/rx460 if Im operating without Opencore. As far as I red it is not written in the guides?
Thank you!
Another question. I have no audio on the internal speakers after upgrading to the wx4130/rx460 if Im operating without Opencore. As far as I red it is not written in the guides?
So, I updated 4 iMacs, all 2011 with the OLCP. It is amazingly simple. What a relief knowing that OTA updates will happen "naturally"!
Oddly enough, I am having nothing but misery doing the same process for a 2012 Mac mini. It just won't work.
Oddly enough, I am having nothing but misery doing the same process for a 2012 Mac mini. It just won't work.