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

[dksp]

Thank you @Ausdauersportler and @khronokernel

That is great support!

I downloaded the new Github built and made a new installation on the SD card. It works perfectly now. With Mojave, brightness control is back and maximum brightness is correct too. Nightshift is enabled. Everything I tested so far works.

Follow-up. I then tried High Sierra with this new OCLP version. And brightness control is fixed there also! The screen is not too dark anymore, which was my only remaining issue with Catalina Loader. So I decided to switch back to High Sierra for now, as it is an officially supported OS version for this Mac and it does everything I need. I completely removed the freshly installed Mojave container with Disk Utility.

And since everything was working fine, I installed OCLP to the internal EFI partition. No more USB drive or SD card booting. The could iMac automatically boot into macOS loading OpenCore.

I only had one issue, OCLP was still detecting the deleted Mojave container. Even after pram reset. And also after building it a second time form scratch a second time. OCLP would boot automatically into this "phantom" Mojave partition, ending with the prohibitory sign. I solved it by selecting the High Sierra container as default in Open Core (ctrl-click). But if someone has a hint…


And here is the summary of my iMac 21.5" mid-2010 (iMac11,2) bought new in 2010.

CPU: i3-540 2x3.06 GHz to i7-860S 4x2.53 GHz - 35€
SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB - 99€
RAM: 4GB to 16GB - 2x4GB (2015) + 2x4GB for free - 56€
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4870 256MB to NVIDIA Quadro K2100M 2GB - 49€
MX-2 and K5-Pro thermal paste ~ 20€

Total 256€ = 310$
All prices include shipment and taxes.

Geekbench 5 single-core: 587
Geekbench 5 multi-core: 1877
Geekbench 5 metal: 2721

Unigine Valley score: 1218
Unigine Valley fps: 29.1

 

[overshoot]

Hi guys,

Since I have upgraded to Open Core, I have my software from Native Instrument which is always crashing.
I have tried with a fresh install on Catalina and Big Sur and the same thing is happening.

Running Catalina with DosDude patch, the software will run fine.

Here is part of the crash log if someone can help as I wish I don't to downgrade and lose the brightness control with my GTX765M:


Process: Native Access [976]
Path: /Applications/Native Access.app/Contents/MacOS/Native Access
Identifier: com.native-instruments.Native Access
Version: 1.12.1.129 (???)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: Native Access [976]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2021-04-26 12:22:42.860 +0700
OS Version: macOS 11.2.3 (20D91)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: 712964CD-38E1-4EE1-9640-B123E7B26EC1

Time Awake Since Boot: 410 seconds
System Integrity Protection: disabled
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Application Specific Information:
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[__NSCFData _fastCStringContents:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x600003c00910'
abort() called
terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException

Application Specific Backtrace 1:
0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff20488083 __exceptionPreprocess + 242
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff201c017c objc_exception_throw + 48
2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff2050a9a0 -[NSObject(NSObject) __retain_OA] + 0
3 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff203efa67 ___forwarding___ + 1467
4 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff203ef418 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
5 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff203a5600 CFStringCompareWithOptionsAndLocale + 316
6 Native Access 0x000000010a733329 _ZN2NI2GP11SystemInfo215retrieveGPUInfoEv + 681
7 Native Access 0x000000010a05b51c _ZN12_GLOBAL__N_120addGpSuperPropertiesERN2ni4uret17EventQueueManagerEN2NI2GP13VersionNumberENS1_18ApplicationFlavourE + 5148
8 Native Access 0x000000010a05480a _ZN2ni4uret4initERKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS1_11char_traitsIcEENS1_9allocatorIcEEEEN2NI2GP13VersionNumberENS0_18ApplicationFlavourEb + 378
9 Native Access 0x000000010a04b4d2 _ZN2ni5cloud6client13TelemetryURET8initUretERKN2NI2GP13VersionNumberE + 146
10 Native Access 0x000000010a04b571 _ZN2ni5cloud6client13TelemetryURETC1ERKN2NI2GP13VersionNumberE + 33
11 Native Access 0x0000000109e48793 _ZN2ni5cloud6client17ClientApplicationC2ERiPPcRNS1_10NilibsInitE + 1635
12 Native Access 0x0000000109e6ed72 main + 738
13 libdyld.dylib 0x00007fff20331621 start + 1
14 ??? 0x0000000000000001 0x0 + 1


Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff202e8462 __pthread_kill + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff20316610 pthread_kill + 263
2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff20269720 abort + 120
3 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202db418 abort_message + 231
4 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202cca7d demangling_terminate_handler() + 266
5 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff201c277b _objc_terminate() + 96
6 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202da847 std::__terminate(void (*)()) + 8
7 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202dd167 __cxxabiv1::failed_throw(__cxxabiv1::__cxa_exception*) + 27
8 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202dd12e __cxa_throw + 113
9 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff201c02aa objc_exception_throw + 350

 

[The_Croupier]

I only had one issue, OCLP was still detecting the deleted Mojave container. Even after pram reset. And also after building it a second time form scratch a second time. OCLP would boot automatically into this "phantom" Mojave partition, ending with the prohibitory sign. I solved it by selecting the High Sierra container as default in Open Core (ctrl-click). But if someone has a hint…

Read this: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...g-a-second-osx-installation-trying-out-mojave

 

[dksp]

Thank you @The_Croupier
I will look into this this week-end.

 

[nikey22]

** NVIDIA GTX680M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore. However, it should work with Catalina Bootloader and OCLP for those of you wishing to use 10.14, 10.15 or 11.x versions of MacOS.

Requirements:
BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL vbios before doing anything!
using @xanderon SSH method:

./nvflash_linux --save ~/backup.rom
cd /
cd root

scp backup.rom @192.XXX.X.XX:/Users/yourimacname/Desktop

-the file is saved in the ~root directory of your USB.
-use the password for the imac that you are sending the file to and it should send it across the network and save it to the destination desktop.

vram support:
GDDR5, Samsung
GDDR5, Qimonda
GDDR5, Hynix

You will require a heatsink modification to make clearance for the 2 inductors at the top of the card.

iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
iMac 11,1 (27-inch Late 2009) Mac-F2268DAE
iMac 11,3 (27-inch Mid 2010) Mac- F2238BAE

Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest respective versions before attempting any vbios upgrades.

I know that OCLP has made pre-boot configuration screens a thing of the past, but it doesn't hurt to have a few more cards added to our knowledge database! And not to mention they are still somewhat affordable.

Use @passatgt imac-color-depth-fix program to solve the pixel bug issue.
just simply double click imaccolordepthfix to run. You can add it to your login items(system settings/users/login items), so it runs on a fresh startup automatically.

Enjoy!

**update**
4/30/2021 4:10pm EST - updated the .rom checksum error

- Steve Jobs, “insanely great!”

 

[The_Croupier]

** NVIDIA GTX680M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

View attachment 1767141

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore. However, it should work with Catalina Bootloader and OCLP for those of you wishing to use 10.14, 10.15 or 11.x versions of MacOS.

Wow, that was unexpected.
Excellent work @nikey22 , can't wait to see some benchmarks.
👍

I know that OCLP has made pre-boot configuration screens a thing of the past, but it doesn't hurt to have a few more cards added to our knowledge database! And not to mention they are still somewhat affordable.

Hell yeah, the more the merrier.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

** NVIDIA GTX680M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

View attachment 1767141

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore. However, it should work with Catalina Bootloader and OCLP for those of you wishing to use 10.14, 10.15 or 11.x versions of MacOS.

Requirements:
BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL vbios before doing anything!
using @xanderon SSH method:

./nvflash_linux --save ~/backup.rom
cd /
cd root

scp backup.rom @192.XXX.X.XX:/Users/yourimacname/Desktop

-the file is saved in the ~root directory of your USB.
-use the password for the imac that you are sending the file to and it should send it across the network and save it to the destination desktop.

vram support:
GDDR5, Samsung
GDDR5, Qimonda
GDDR5, Hynix

You will require a heatsink modification to make clearance for the 2 inductors at the top of the card.

iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
iMac 11,1 (27-inch Late 2009) Mac-F2268DAE
iMac 11,3 (27-inch Mid 2010) Mac- F2238BAE

Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest respective versions before attempting any vbios upgrades.

I know that OCLP has made pre-boot configuration screens a thing of the past, but it doesn't hurt to have a few more cards added to our knowledge database! And not to mention they are still somewhat affordable.


Enjoy!


- Steve Jobs, “insanely great!”

I was thinking about adding the card to the first post and did not because we hit the limit of the max post size already. Now I am forced to do so!

You are truly a wizard surprising us each time, again.
Thanks for contributing!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi guys,

Since I have upgraded to Open Core, I have my software from Native Instrument which is always crashing.
I have tried with a fresh install on Catalina and Big Sur and the same thing is happening.

Running Catalina with DosDude patch, the software will run fine.

Here is part of the crash log if someone can help as I wish I don't to downgrade and lose the brightness control with my GTX765M:


Process: Native Access [976]
Path: /Applications/Native Access.app/Contents/MacOS/Native Access
Identifier: com.native-instruments.Native Access
Version: 1.12.1.129 (???)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: Native Access [976]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2021-04-26 12:22:42.860 +0700
OS Version: macOS 11.2.3 (20D91)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: 712964CD-38E1-4EE1-9640-B123E7B26EC1

Time Awake Since Boot: 410 seconds
System Integrity Protection: disabled
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Application Specific Information:
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[__NSCFData _fastCStringContents:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x600003c00910'
abort() called
terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException

Application Specific Backtrace 1:
0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff20488083 __exceptionPreprocess + 242
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff201c017c objc_exception_throw + 48
2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff2050a9a0 -[NSObject(NSObject) __retain_OA] + 0
3 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff203efa67 ___forwarding___ + 1467
4 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff203ef418 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
5 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff203a5600 CFStringCompareWithOptionsAndLocale + 316
6 Native Access 0x000000010a733329 _ZN2NI2GP11SystemInfo215retrieveGPUInfoEv + 681
7 Native Access 0x000000010a05b51c _ZN12_GLOBAL__N_120addGpSuperPropertiesERN2ni4uret17EventQueueManagerEN2NI2GP13VersionNumberENS1_18ApplicationFlavourE + 5148
8 Native Access 0x000000010a05480a _ZN2ni4uret4initERKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS1_11char_traitsIcEENS1_9allocatorIcEEEEN2NI2GP13VersionNumberENS0_18ApplicationFlavourEb + 378
9 Native Access 0x000000010a04b4d2 _ZN2ni5cloud6client13TelemetryURET8initUretERKN2NI2GP13VersionNumberE + 146
10 Native Access 0x000000010a04b571 _ZN2ni5cloud6client13TelemetryURETC1ERKN2NI2GP13VersionNumberE + 33
11 Native Access 0x0000000109e48793 _ZN2ni5cloud6client17ClientApplicationC2ERiPPcRNS1_10NilibsInitE + 1635
12 Native Access 0x0000000109e6ed72 main + 738
13 libdyld.dylib 0x00007fff20331621 start + 1
14 ??? 0x0000000000000001 0x0 + 1


Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff202e8462 __pthread_kill + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff20316610 pthread_kill + 263
2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff20269720 abort + 120
3 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202db418 abort_message + 231
4 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202cca7d demangling_terminate_handler() + 266
5 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff201c277b _objc_terminate() + 96
6 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202da847 std::__terminate(void (*)()) + 8
7 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202dd167 __cxxabiv1::failed_throw(__cxxabiv1::__cxa_exception*) + 27
8 libc++abi.dylib 0x00007fff202dd12e __cxa_throw + 113
9 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff201c02aa objc_exception_throw + 350

It has been pointed out really clearly:

You loose the iGPU in iMac12,x when using OCLP or moving to Big Sur (and patcher). May be your app does not honour this change. But I found similar error messages on the web with this app on different systems (not using OCLP).

Since you already found a solution (using @dosdude1 patcher method) please go this route. We cannot debug third party apps here.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I'm at a loss here and would like to seek your advices on what I may try before concluding the worst case scenario that my graphic signals couldn't reach the internal LCD because of hardware problem:

My setup: iMac 27"2010 with K1100m
Vbios flashed. High Sierra with OCLP 0.1.1. The OCLP is booted from SD card.
Test run perfectly with external monitor only.
When switching to the internal monitor, it would remain black (LCD backlight is triggered and on)
When connecting both monitors, both remained black during boot. I had to blindly select the High Sierra disk. They both remained black until log-in screen was displayed on external monitor.
On system report, the internal monitor was still recognized. (screenshot attached)
I have already added boot-arg agdpmod=vit9696 to the OCLP config.plist

Tomorrow I will try to re-install the WX4150 to isolate the issue and report here.
I'm also thinking of re-install the OS but it seems not relevant much at first thought.

 

[FlorisVN]

** NVIDIA GTX680M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

View attachment 1767141

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore. However, it should work with Catalina Bootloader and OCLP for those of you wishing to use 10.14, 10.15 or 11.x versions of MacOS.

Requirements:
BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL vbios before doing anything!
using @xanderon SSH method:

./nvflash_linux --save ~/backup.rom
cd /
cd root

scp backup.rom @192.XXX.X.XX:/Users/yourimacname/Desktop

-the file is saved in the ~root directory of your USB.
-use the password for the imac that you are sending the file to and it should send it across the network and save it to the destination desktop.

vram support:
GDDR5, Samsung
GDDR5, Qimonda
GDDR5, Hynix

You will require a heatsink modification to make clearance for the 2 inductors at the top of the card.

iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
iMac 11,1 (27-inch Late 2009) Mac-F2268DAE
iMac 11,3 (27-inch Mid 2010) Mac- F2238BAE

Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest respective versions before attempting any vbios upgrades.

I know that OCLP has made pre-boot configuration screens a thing of the past, but it doesn't hurt to have a few more cards added to our knowledge database! And not to mention they are still somewhat affordable.


Enjoy!


- Steve Jobs, “insanely great!”

Great work again !!
these GTX680m MXM cards, still are cheap these days..


Keep it going, now even more GPU choices

 

[passatgt]

Good morning community, I recently upgraded my iMac 27 2011 Quattro K3100M (Hynix AFR - Nikey22 Bios) with OCLP to BS 11.3. I was facing color depth problem before and I used a small script mentioned here (imaccolordepthfix) in startup routine to get this fixed every time system was rebooted. After latest update I checked this problem again and the problem is gone. I am not sure whether Big Sur version or changing to OCLP as recommended causes this effect, but I think this information could be useful.

Turns out you don't need to setup the imaccolordepthfix script to run on startup. Just run it once and it will remember the display settings even after a sleep/restart. You can "reset" this change if you change the resolution, it will go back to normal. So if you change your resolution, restart and the color depth issue should return i think. If not, thats good news, means OCLP fixes this issue somehow.

 

[The_Croupier]

When switching to the internal monitor, it would remain black (LCD backlight is triggered and on)

I would think if the backlight is triggered and on the screen should be lit up and white no, Confused?

Can you see a image under torch light on the lcd?

I would try patching kexts for the backlight fixup as outlined in the first post.

 

[PaDa23]

** NVIDIA GTX680M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

View attachment 1767141

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore. However, it should work with Catalina Bootloader and OCLP for those of you wishing to use 10.14, 10.15 or 11.x versions of MacOS.

Requirements:
BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL vbios before doing anything!
using @xanderon SSH method:

./nvflash_linux --save ~/backup.rom
cd /
cd root

scp backup.rom @192.XXX.X.XX:/Users/yourimacname/Desktop

-the file is saved in the ~root directory of your USB.
-use the password for the imac that you are sending the file to and it should send it across the network and save it to the destination desktop.

vram support:
GDDR5, Samsung
GDDR5, Qimonda
GDDR5, Hynix

You will require a heatsink modification to make clearance for the 2 inductors at the top of the card.

iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
iMac 11,1 (27-inch Late 2009) Mac-F2268DAE
iMac 11,3 (27-inch Mid 2010) Mac- F2238BAE

Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest respective versions before attempting any vbios upgrades.

I know that OCLP has made pre-boot configuration screens a thing of the past, but it doesn't hurt to have a few more cards added to our knowledge database! And not to mention they are still somewhat affordable.


Enjoy!


- Steve Jobs, “insanely great!”

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I'm at a loss here and would like to seek your advices on what I may try before concluding the worst case scenario that my graphic signals couldn't reach the internal LCD because of hardware problem:

My setup: iMac 27"2010 with K1100m
Vbios flashed. High Sierra with OCLP 0.1.1. The OCLP is booted from SD card.
Test run perfectly with external monitor only.
When switching to the internal monitor, it would remain black (LCD backlight is triggered and on)
When connecting both monitors, both remained black during boot. I had to blindly select the High Sierra disk. They both remained black until log-in screen was displayed on external monitor.
On system report, the internal monitor was still recognized. (screenshot attached)
I have already added boot-arg agdpmod=vit9696 to the OCLP config.plist

Tomorrow I will try to re-install the WX4150 to isolate the issue and report here.
I'm also thinking of re-install the OS but it seems not relevant much at first thought.

The 2010/2011 should always bring up the internal LCD by pressing alt/option on boot to get the EFI boot screen. Only the 2009 remains black after a PRAM reset.

agdpmod vit9696 has been added lately by default to the GFX0 device property path for systems using NVIDIA GPUs.

 

[dksp]

Read this: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...g-a-second-osx-installation-trying-out-mojave

Thanks @The_Croupier it worked fine.

And no thanks to Apple for making this more complicated than it should be.

 

[passatgt]

I was able to install Windows 10 alongside my Big Sur install. Everything seems to be ok, but the display driver Windows Update installs only produces image on my external display. If i disable the RX560 in the device manager, i have picture on the iMac too. So i'm guessing its a driver issue. Sorry if this issue was mentioned before, i tried to search for it. Any ideas? Interesting this is that when the driver was installed with Windows Update, i had graphic acceleration fine and both screens working, but after a restart, only my external screen shows up.

 

[overshoot]

** NVIDIA GTX680M Mac Edition ROM **
Genuine Native Boot Screen & Brightness Control
​

View attachment 1767141

This ROM does not require a 3rd party bootloader like OpenCore. However, it should work with Catalina Bootloader and OCLP for those of you wishing to use 10.14, 10.15 or 11.x versions of MacOS.

Requirements:
BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL vbios before doing anything!
using @xanderon SSH method:

./nvflash_linux --save ~/backup.rom
cd /
cd root

scp backup.rom @192.XXX.X.XX:/Users/yourimacname/Desktop

-the file is saved in the ~root directory of your USB.
-use the password for the imac that you are sending the file to and it should send it across the network and save it to the destination desktop.

vram support:
GDDR5, Samsung
GDDR5, Qimonda
GDDR5, Hynix

You will require a heatsink modification to make clearance for the 2 inductors at the top of the card.

iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (Tested machine)
iMac 11,1 (27-inch Late 2009) Mac-F2268DAE
iMac 11,3 (27-inch Mid 2010) Mac- F2238BAE

Please use High Sierra to update your BootROM to latest respective versions before attempting any vbios upgrades.

I know that OCLP has made pre-boot configuration screens a thing of the past, but it doesn't hurt to have a few more cards added to our knowledge database! And not to mention they are still somewhat affordable.


Enjoy!

**update**
4/30/2021 4:10pm EST - updated the .rom checksum error

- Steve Jobs, “insanely great!”

Hi,

Thanks a bunch for that.
Any chance I can use that for my GTX660M or part of it please?

 

[overshoot]

It has been pointed out really clearly:

You loose the iGPU in iMac12,x when using OCLP or moving to Big Sur (and patcher). May be your app does not honour this change. But I found similar error messages on the web with this app on different systems (not using OCLP).

Since you already found a solution (using @dosdude1 patcher method) please go this route. We cannot debug third party apps here.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[KennyW]

I'm at a loss here and would like to seek your advices on what I may try before concluding the worst case scenario that my graphic signals couldn't reach the internal LCD because of hardware problem:

My setup: iMac 27"2010 with K1100m
Vbios flashed. High Sierra with OCLP 0.1.1. The OCLP is booted from SD card.
Test run perfectly with external monitor only.
When switching to the internal monitor, it would remain black (LCD backlight is triggered and on)
When connecting both monitors, both remained black during boot. I had to blindly select the High Sierra disk. They both remained black until log-in screen was displayed on external monitor.
On system report, the internal monitor was still recognized. (screenshot attached)
I have already added boot-arg agdpmod=vit9696 to the OCLP config.plist

Tomorrow I will try to re-install the WX4150 to isolate the issue and report here.
I'm also thinking of re-install the OS but it seems not relevant much at first thought.

Doesn't your WX4150 work in your iMac 2010 ? Why switch to the inferior K1100m ?

 

[Roman78]

** 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
-MacOS Catalina: requires you to make root writeable: sudo mount -uw /
-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

Caveats post-install/Bugs:
-16bit resolution glitch of UGA_DRAW_PROTOCOL - temporary solution: activate a sleep cycle and return, this should now clear the issue.

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**
01-27-2021 BFR-mem:1800Mhz; TDP:849.5Mhz, Rom Ver:31.6B.32.37.B1
12-07-2020 TDP/3D/Boost adjusted for both ROMs
12-06-2020 new roms for Hynix AFR and Hynix BFR based vRAMs should fix white/black screen issue
10-04-2020 working on Catalina 10.15.7, HP PN:744354-001 @GButorin
08-04-2020 working on Sierra 10.12.6 @Ausdauersportler

I got a K3100M here and the brightness is lower/darker as expected. Now it runs Sierra, does the here given method of the Brightness Control Stepping Mod also works on Sierra?

 

[dardej90]

Hi buddies. I have one problem with installing my K3100m in the imac 27 2011. When I stick it in the board and turn on the imac only the board without lcd I hear a sound and it turns on. When I turn on the LCD fans, they only turn for a short time and do not turn on the LED lamp number 2. When I try all this with the original graphics card, everything works normally.

 

[passatgt]

I was able to install Windows 10 alongside my Big Sur install. Everything seems to be ok, but the display driver Windows Update installs only produces image on my external display. If i disable the RX560 in the device manager, i have picture on the iMac too. So i'm guessing its a driver issue. Sorry if this issue was mentioned before, i tried to search for it. Any ideas? Interesting this is that when the driver was installed with Windows Update, i had graphic acceleration fine and both screens working, but after a restart, only my external screen shows up.

So i have an update on this. If i start the system without an external display, it will hang on the windows logo. With external screen, it boots up, but only have image on external screen. If i reinstall the RX560 drivers, i have screen and acceleration on both screen until i do a restart Interesting. Should i try to install the bootcamp drivers? I just did a clean Windows install, i don't need, Bluetooth and Camera works out of the box.

 

[The_Croupier]

If a few others who own a K3100M could test the ROM out on a 2011 machine (or other machines), I'd appreciate the feedback. As far as I can tell, it should work well with the -BFR and/or -AFR variants, but I could be wrong. I'll update the main K3100M rom page with the new ROM to keep our iMacs working "insanely great!"
Enjoy!

Successfully upgraded my 3rd iMac this time with the K3100m.
I initially tried the K3100_V4.rom but had bad results so flashed to the K3100_BFR.rom and its working great so far in Sierra.

Card

_V4 no internal display and garbled video out on external display.

Running fine on _BFR

EDIT:
I'm impressed with the card and mod.
After running valley the card is only at 47' C thats with fans set low.

 

[traser]

Hello,

Many Thanks @KennyW and @Audauersportler for your help.

I successfully installed Mojave: EFI generated from OLCP 0.1.1 and changed SystemProductName: iMacPro1,1 (# 14,260) otherwise it was impossible to install Mojave.
Then Mojave to Big Sur 11.3 via OTA
I created 2 partitions: one for High Sierra and the other for Big Sur
I am still with Catalina Loader.
The RX480 card (49°c) gives off a lot of heat compared to the Nvidia GTX780 (41°c)

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Doesn't your WX4150 work in your iMac 2010 ? Why switch to the inferior K1100m ?

Last time I installed the WX4150 in, it bricked my iMac because of a short circuit, I guess. I left it there until recently (i'm not using the iMac very often, after purchasing one 27" late 2009 for my wife.)
I ran across the K1100m for just 20$, thought I would give it a try, and if success, it would replace the HD4850 in iMac 2009.
Long story short, I will try the WX4150 back. Hope that was only the defective K1100m, not the LVDS port or cable....