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

[arkieboy72472]

Deleted: completely read wrong model.

I saw your comment in the thread on Luke Miani's Video. Do you think this guy can pull off the upgrade? Even if he does, will he have brightness control or a boot screen? No telling what mods will have to be made to the heat sink, if any. Maybe he got someone to flash the thing for him or something.

It is tempting to try, but that is 3-400 bucks worth of card.

 

[highvoltage12v]

I saw your comment in the thread on Luke Miani's Video. Do you think this guy can pull off the upgrade? Even if he does, will he have brightness control or a boot screen? No telling what mods will have to be made to the heat sink, if any. Maybe he got someone to flash the thing for him or something.

It is tempting to try, but that is 3-400 bucks worth of card.

Someone here has tried the 980m years ago it didn't work, however it could have been on an old OS such as Sierra where a kext was needed to be modified before boot to work. There is this thread here https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4175243/all where someone has done the 980m install. But I have an issue with this post. We never see the internal screen online in any of the pics, only a Dell 4k panel. I even went searching for the ROM that was on the card, but it's not on techpowerup. If anyone from that Forum is here on this thread, please let me know/show a pic of the internal screen being online/connected. It would be awesome to see a 980m working in this iMac.

As for Luke Miani, If it works, he will not have boot screen, he will not have brightness control, and because its a Maxwell card it won't work *yet* in Mojave because Nvidia web Drivers, which kills the whole video series. Why doesn't he just post something on this thread so we can help him buy a card. This isn't the first time I left a comment directing him to MacRumors, trying to helping him with iMac and Mac Pro 5,1.

 

[arkieboy72472]

Someone here has tried the 980m years ago it didn't work, however it could have been on an old OS such as Sierra where a kext was needed to be modified before boot to work. There is this thread here https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4175243/all where someone has done the 980m install. But I have an issue with this post. We never see the internal screen online in any of the pics, only a Dell 4k panel. I even went searching for the ROM that was on the card, but it's not on techpowerup. If anyone from that Forum is here on this thread, please let me know/show a pic of the internal screen being online/connected. It would be awesome to see a 980m working in this iMac.

As for Luke Miani, If it works, he will not have boot screen, he will not have brightness control, and because its a Maxwell card it won't work *yet* in Mojave because Nvidia web Drivers, which kills the whole video series. Why doesn't he just post something on this thread so we can help him buy a card. This isn't the first time I left a comment directing him to MacRumors, trying to helping him with iMac and Mac Pro 5,1.

I am also highly skeptical when someone leaves no directions as to what they did, abandons the thread, or posts just a few pictures. People do this same nonsense in hackintosh threads too. I have a HP Z800 that was once a hackintosh and it was hard to find info, so I had to be a trailblazer. Maybe this Luke guy knows more than we do, but I have a feeling he will end up with just a High Sierra or Sierra machine like everyone else.

Out of all the cards that will work natively in the 2011, are any remotely reliable or are they all death prone?

 

[highvoltage12v]

Don't have an external display to test; however, target display mode does not work with either the K2000M or the GTX 765M

Display sleep works for both the K2000M and the GTX 765M (backlight goes off when display sleep starts and then relights when display sleep stops); however, computer sleep does not work with either card (once the computer goes into sleep mode, the display backlight won't relight unless you reboot).

I had that issue with my 21.5" iMac installing WhateverGreen and Lilu kexts fixed it for me. Maybe you should try it.
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I am also highly skeptical when someone leaves no directions as to what they did, abandons the thread, or posts just a few pictures. People do this same nonsense in hackintosh threads too. I have a HP Z800 that was once a hackintosh and it was hard to find info, so I had to be a trailblazer. Maybe this Luke guy knows more than we do, but I have a feeling he will end up with just a High Sierra or Sierra machine like everyone else.

Out of all the cards that will work natively in the 2011, are any remotely reliable or are they all death prone?

He would be lucky if it ends up working, i'll go find out what ROM is on his card (he will prob have a screenshot) if it does work and buy one. Yes I feel the same way about the threads people abandon, I wasted money more than once on a false thread. These Nvidia cards are solid, we're all dumping the ATI/AMD cards due to an internal silicon problem from heat that was never fixed. Look at all the dead AMD 6750m/6770m 2011 15" a1286 Macbook Pros out there, then look at all the great a1286 (retina one has a MUX problem not GPU related) 2012 15" Nvidia 650m Macbook Pros. I even converted my 2011 to a 2012, but that's for another thread.

 

[wlagarde]

I had that issue with my 21.5" iMac installing WhateverGreen and Lilu kexts fixed it for me. Maybe you should try it.

Can you explain how to install WhateverGreen and Lilu Kexts and what thy do?
https://github.com/acidanthera/Lilu
https://github.com/acidanthera/WhateverGreen

Can you also explain what AppleGraphicsControl.kext and AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext do?

 

[highvoltage12v]

Can you explain how to install WhateverGreen and Lilu Kexts and what thy do?
Can you also explain what AppleGraphicsControl.kext and AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext do?

I just removed the two kexts from Mojave to recreate the issue I had. On startup the iMac's (21.5) screen has no backlight, even putting it to sleep and waking it there is still no backlight. Installing Whatevergreen forced AGDCBacklightControl.kext to load which is giving me backlight. I'm suggesting you try these kexts to see if it corrects any issue with backlight issues related to AGDCBacklightControl which is located within AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Plugins

You can install the kexts by dragging them on top of an App called Kext Utility.

Kind of related/unrelated in Windows after installing Nvidia drivers I have full backlight control in Windows 10 on my 21.5. So the DCB table must be defining the iMac's display as internal in Windows.

 

[FlorisVN]

I just removed the two kexts from Mojave to recreate the issue I had. On startup the iMac's (21.5) screen has no backlight, even putting it to sleep and waking it there is still no backlight. Installing Whatevergreen forced AGDCBacklightControl.kext to load which is giving me backlight. I'm suggesting you try these kexts to see if it corrects any issue with backlight issues related to AGDCBacklightControl which is located within AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Plugins

You can install the kexts by dragging them on top of an App called Kext Utility.

Kind of related/unrelated in Windows after installing Nvidia drivers I have full backlight control in Windows 10 on my 21.5. So the DCB table must be defining the iMac's display as internal in Windows.

I suppose you have to disable SIP in order to install WhateverGreen and Lilu Kexts ??
It should also fix the problem I suppose for Sierra and High sierra.. ?
This could maybay also fix my GTX765m sleep problems.. ?

 

[wlagarde]

I just removed the two kexts from Mojave to recreate the issue I had. On startup the iMac's (21.5) screen has no backlight, even putting it to sleep and waking it there is still no backlight. Installing Whatevergreen forced AGDCBacklightControl.kext to load which is giving me backlight. I'm suggesting you try these kexts to see if it corrects any issue with backlight issues related to AGDCBacklightControl which is located within AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Plugins

You can install the kexts by dragging them on top of an App called Kext Utility.

Kind of related/unrelated in Windows after installing Nvidia drivers I have full backlight control in Windows 10 on my 21.5. So the DCB table must be defining the iMac's display as internal in Windows.

Can you post the kext files for us? Does the kext utility disable SIP? If not how can we do that? Once installed can you remove the kexts with the utility if you need to?

 

[highvoltage12v]

Can you post the kext files for us? Does the kext utility disable SIP? If not how can we do that? Once installed can you remove the kexts with the utility if you need to?

These are all very basic questions. SIP should be disabled if you're trying Mojave in the first place. Second you posted the github link to the get the kexts, you should know how to find the releases page. Third you should know that going to the System/Library/Extensions folder finding the kexts and dragging them to the trash/empty will stop them from loading.

But i'll help you, You need to boot to your (HIGH SIERRA NOT MOJAVE) USB installer, open terminal and enter "csrutil disable" it should tell you "Successfully disabled System Integrity Protection" reboot back into Mac OS install all 3 kexts using Kext Utility. Install SIPManager to High Sierra, it should be installed in Mojave.

There are 3 kexts in this zip, the first two are whatevergreen and Lilu. The third one is from @dosdude1 installer called SIPManager. What this will do is keep SIP disabled even after a PRAM reset. I keep this installed in my High Sierra Partition incase i had to reboot back using a PRAM reset. It is never recommended to re-enable SIP, doing so will stop your Mac from booting.
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I suppose you have to disable SIP in order to install WhateverGreen and Lilu Kexts ??
It should also fix the problem I suppose for Sierra and High sierra.. ?
This could maybay also fix my GTX765m sleep problems.. ?

I never tried SIPManager in Sierra, only High sierra and Mojave. As for the sleep problems this is again still strange to me. My 21.5 was having issues waking from sleep until I cloned my Mojave install from my 27". I'm going to look into this today. It's something related to @dosdude1 Mojave installer.

 

[wlagarde]

These are all very basic questions. SIP should be disabled if you're trying Mojave in the first place. Second you posted the github link to the get the kexts, you should know how to find the releases page. Third you should know that going to the System/Library/Extensions folder finding the kexts and dragging them to the trash/empty will stop them from loading.

But i'll help you, You need to boot to your (HIGH SIERRA NOT MOJAVE) USB installer, open terminal and enter "csrutil disable" it should tell you "Successfully disabled System Integrity Protection" reboot back into Mac OS install all 3 kexts using Kext Utility. Install SIPManager to High Sierra, it should be installed in Mojave.

There are 3 kexts in this zip, the first two are whatevergreen and Lilu. The third one is from @dosdude1 installer called SIPManager. What this will do is keep SIP disabled even after a PRAM reset. I keep this installed in my High Sierra Partition incase i had to reboot back using a PRAM reset. It is never recommended to re-enable SIP, doing so will stop your Mac from booting.
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I never tried SIPManager in Sierra, only High sierra and Mojave. As for the sleep problems this is again still strange to me. My 21.5 was having issues waking from sleep until I cloned my Mojave install from my 27". I'm going to look into this today. It's something related to @dosdude1 Mojave installer.

Thank you - very nice explanation and I appreciate the help. I will give this a whirl.

 

[vkd]

I would not advise the Quadro k2000m for a 27" model iMac.
Since it is in an MXM-A form factor.

I would advise people to use the K2000m only in 21,5" iMac models.

I have the 27" iMac noted in my sig. below. It has an MXM-A video card (AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB). The heat sink is smaller than the one included in the i7 iMacs with the MXM-B video cards.

 

[wlagarde]

I have the 27" iMac noted in my sig. below. It has an MXM-A video card (AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB). The heat sink is smaller than the one included in the i7 iMacs with the MXM-B video cards.

In that case you could install the K2000M. However, if it were me I’d purchase the larger 3-pipe iMac heatsink on eBay and install a GTX 765M. While it would cost you ~$150 total ($100 for the 765M and $50 for the sink) vs $50 for the K2000M, you get a lot more graphics processing power.

 

[highvoltage12v]

I figured out the blank screen waking from sleep in Mojave, it was a strange one that made me reflect on where my SSD was before it was before it was in the 2011 iMac, it was in a 2011 13" MBP. So what does that mean? @dosdude1 installer installed HD3000/Sandybridge kexts to the drive. That was the difference this whole time, and I replicated the issue by removing the kexts and the iMac would reboot waking from sleep. So @FlorisVN Please try these kexts (they are straight from @dosdude1 Mojave patcher) and see if this fixes your wake from sleep issue.

 

[wlagarde]

I figured out the blank screen waking from sleep in Mojave, it was a strange one that made me reflect on where my SSD was before it was before it was in the 2011 iMac, it was in a 2011 13" MBP. So what does that mean? @dosdude1 installer installed HD3000/Sandybridge kexts to the drive. That was the difference this whole time, and I replicated the issue by removing the kexts and the iMac would reboot waking from sleep. So @FlorisVN Please try these kexts (they are straight from @dosdude1 Mojave patcher) and see if this fixes your wake from sleep issue.

Just want to confirm whether the problem in Mojave is the screen not waking from display sleep or computer sleep?

The reason I ask is that the screen for both my iMacs will wake from display sleep but not computer sleep...

 

[highvoltage12v]

Just want to confirm whether the problem in Mojave is the screen not waking from display sleep or computer sleep?

View attachment 811541

The reason I ask is that the screen for both my iMacs will wake from display sleep but not computer sleep...

Both, the issue with no display on startup was fixed for me with whatever green. This is a different issue waking from sleep. So are you having a wake from sleep issue too?

 

[wlagarde]

Both, the issue with no display on startup was fixed for me with whatever green. This is a different issue waking from sleep. So are you having a wake from sleep issue too?

Yes - All screens light during boot up when the macOS Nvidia driver loads so no problem there. When the system goes into "display sleep mode" the display goes to sleep (backlight turns off), it will wake up from sleep (backlight turns on) when I move the mouse or type on the keyboard. However, when the system goes into "computer sleep mode" it won't. The solution is simply to set the computer sleep setting to "never" as represented in post #1439 above.

 

[highvoltage12v]

Yes - All screens light during boot up when the macOS Nvidia driver loads so no problem there. When the system goes into "display sleep mode" the display goes to sleep (backlight turns off), it will wake up from sleep (backlight turns on) when I move the mouse or type on the keyboard. However, when the system goes into "computer sleep mode" it won't. The solution is simply to set the computer sleep setting to "never" as represented in post #1439 above.

My theory is since apple removed the HD3000 kexts a part of CPU power management stops functioning correctly so the system will hang when waking from sleep. Give the HD3000 kexts a try, they are from Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6, well that's where @dosdude1 got them from. I just extracted them from the Mojave Patcher. Install them using kext utility by dropping them all 6 files at once on top of the application icon.

 

[wlagarde]

My theory is since apple removed the HD3000 kexts a part of CPU power management stops functioning correctly so the system will hang when waking from sleep. Give the HD3000 kexts a try, they are from Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6, well that's where @dosdude1 got them from. I just extracted them from the Mojave Patcher. Install them using kext utility by dropping them all 6 files at once on top of the application icon.

Now that is interesting indeed. So the dosdude1 patcher contains the HD3000 kexts. I used that patcher to install my installations of Mojave 10.14.2. However, when I applied the patches (iMac 12,1 for 2011 iMac 21 and 12,2 for 2011 iMac 27) I unchecked the legacy video card patch. Was this the correct choice? Should I have left this legacy video card patch checked (default)?

 

[highvoltage12v]

Now that is interesting indeed. So the dosdude1 patcher contains the HD3000 kexts. I used that patcher to install my installations of Mojave 10.14.2. However, when I applied the patches (iMac 12,1 for 2011 iMac 21 and 12,2 for 2011 iMac 27) I unchecked the legacy video card patch. Was this the correct choice? Should I have left this legacy video card patch checked (default)?

His installer wouldn't install the HD3000 kexts anyways, when you choose the model from the drop down. It also decides which legacy graphics are right for you. I want more people to try this before I let him know to modify his patcher to install HD3000 for the 12,1/12,2 iMacs.

If someone still had the AMD graphics and installed Mojave, they still wouldn't have sleep because the ATI/AMD cards have no Acceleration in Mojave. So I don't think @dosdude1 would know that HD3000 kexts are needed for power management purposes on the iMacs.

The iMac is indeed loading the HD3000 kexts and using them, so it's necessary.

 

[wlagarde]

His installer wouldn't install the HD3000 kexts anyways when you choose the model from the drop down, it also decides which legacy graphics are right for you. I want more people to try this before I let him know to modify his patcher to install HD3000 for the 12,1/12,2 iMacs.

OK - I will blaze forward! I will assume that SIP is disabled since I used the dosdude1 Mojave patcher for my installations and proceed with using the Kext Utility to install the HD3000 Kexts you provided above...

His installer wouldn't install the HD3000 kexts anyways when you choose the model from the drop down. It also decides which legacy graphics are right for you. I want more people to try this before I let him know to modify his patcher to install HD3000 for the 12,1/12,2 iMacs.

If someone still had the AMD graphics and installed Mojave, they still wouldn't have sleep because the ATI/AMD cards have no Acceleration in Mojave. So I don't think @dosdude1 would know that HD3000 kexts are needed for power management purposes on the iMacs.

The iMac is indeed loading the HD3000 kexts and using them, so it's necessary.

Ahhh...but on my installation the HD3000 kexts are not there...

 

[highvoltage12v]

OK - I will blaze forward! I will assume that SIP is disabled since I used the dosdude1 Mojave patcher for my installations and proceed with using the Kext Utility to install the HD3000 Kexts you provided above...

Ahhh...but on my installation the HD3000 kexts are not there...

View attachment 811546

Exactly! please install them and let me know if sleep is fixed. They are on post #1438.

 

[wlagarde]

Exactly! please install them and let me know if sleep is fixed. They are on post #1438.

OK so I will blaze forward! I will assume that SIP is disabled as I used the dosdude1 installer/patcher for my installations and use the Kext Utility to install them. Let me know if this is correct and I will proceed and report back shortly.

 

[highvoltage12v]

OK so I will blaze forward! I will assume that SIP is disabled as I used the dosdude1 installer/patcher for my installations and use the Kext Utility to install them. Let me know if this is correct and I will proceed and report back shortly.

Yes drag all 6 on top of the Kext Utility icon at once and reboot.

 

[wlagarde]

Yes drag all 6 on top of the Kext Utility icon at once and reboot.

So...very interesting outcome. The display mirroring icon that normally displays in the menu bar at the top of the screen is now present again and the Airplay display dropdown menu is now present in the system preferences displays window and airplay now works. Additionally the wake from computer sleep problem is now fixed. Target-Display mode (CMD-F2) remains broken.

 

[highvoltage12v]

So...very interesting outcome. The display mirroring icon that normally displays in the menu bar at the top of the screen is now present again and the Airplay display dropdown menu is now present in the system preferences displays window and airplay now works. Additionally the wake from computer sleep problem is now fixed. Target-Display mode (CMD-F2) remains broken.

Thats all great! target display mode will unfortunately remain broken until we have internal EFI cards.