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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Hi,
I am struggling since I bought an K3000M from AliExpress. The card arrived with nick ROM on it.
But, I thought something is wrong with the card but I can’t differentiate if it is hardware or software.

First, the MacOS started to freeze when forced to show multi programs at the same time: when opened Spotify and YouTube, for example, if I open something more the sound keeps going but the Mac freezes, and need an force restart or waiting sometimes brings to the Lock Screen. Already tested new RAM and new SSD: nothing changed.

On windows, the system don’t ever freezes, and recognize the nvidia driver for windows normally, but most of the games get freeze, but don’t know if it’s related to the GPU either;

Sometimes, powering up the Mac got a black screen with an infinite boot chime, over and over until force power off. Needs to disconnect the card and reset PRAM to solve this, but it’s constantly happening;

2 times I turned on the Mac and seen colored vertical Bars. Removed and reinserted the card solve this;

When something black or dark is shown I can see random pixel-sized white dots on the screen, blinking randomly;

Nick is helping me with the bootrom.

anyone with some issue like this? I am almost returning the card to the seller but I really thinks this is a software issue that I don’t know, I already reinstalled macOS and windows several times.
Did you try the latest ROM by Nikey22? Also, you want us to help you with software questions, but you don't tell us which MacOS you have and how it was installed (Dosdude1, OpenCore, OCLP).
 
Did you try the latest ROM by Nikey22? Also, you want us to help you with software questions, but you don't tell us which MacOS you have and how it was installed (Dosdude1, OpenCore, OCLP).
I think the card is already with the latest rom, because I bought the card with the rom on it. I’m waiting his reply about it.
About the OS, I tried Big Sur OCLP but I’m on High Sierra stock now (iMac 27 mid 2010). In both the freezing issue is happening.
Nick asked me to upgrade the bootrom but I don’t have the AMD card anymore, and don’t know if I can upgrade with the nvidia card, maybe the bootrom fix the issue bc now, after some tests I’m sure that’s related to the GPU card.
 
@The_Croupier
Thank you so much for all the work you put into this! Actually I tried to flash my "new" K1100M but in the QUADRO folder I found the K1100M_0E.bin only - so I tried to use the K1100.rom - got the message WARNING! Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (....) does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (....) - I cancelled.
Could you please give me advice as I am not firm in these things!!
I have a 2010 27" iMac.
Thanks in advance!!
It is probably too much to ask to grab the latest BIOS from the first post and put it into the flash folder on the USB flash utility yourself.
 
@The_Croupier
Thank you so much for all the work you put into this! Actually I tried to flash my "new" K1100M but in the QUADRO folder I found the K1100M_0E.bin only - so I tried to use the K1100.rom - got the message WARNING! Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (....) does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (....) - I cancelled.
Could you please give me advice as I am not firm in these things!!
I have a 2010 27" iMac.
Thanks in advance!!
Looks normal to me, just back-up your original rom then flash the card. Is it a Clevo card?
 
It's weird that in both of my iMacs the LEDs were black tapped. I didn't notice to remove the tape when I took out the logic board before. And now I really don't want to take it out just to remove the tap. So I don't really know how many LEDs lighted up.
But I assume that all 4 light up. Because the iMac internal screen was duly recognized when I got to the desktop. It could function both in extended mod or mirror mod. Just no image on the iMac screen.
I had been struggling for quite some time with the idea to buy a stock GPU to confirm if there is something wrong with the WX4150/K1100m I installed. But Ausdauersportler assured me that it was the logic board defect. Then I found a thread which described the same issue. A careful check on my own logic board confirm that. The fix was easy after knowing the cause and buying the damaged component.
iMac 2009 LEDs lights are located on the left side beside the RAM plate, you can see the LEDs lights thru the holes.
 
First post, NVIDIA table, known issues. If your LVDS connector is damaged your have another construction site.
Yes, I'll fix the LVDS connector first, old GPU (with the original 4850 card) it was working before but I was getting some freezing when I scrolled while using browsers. I might have broke the pad that @dfranetic told me, while installing the new card. I'll take care of the rest once in fixed and post the results. Thanks @Ausdauersportler.
 
iMac 2009 LEDs lights are located on the left side beside the RAM plate, you can see the LEDs lights thru the holes.

No light is visible at all as the LEDs were black tapped. i.e they are all covered by black adhesive tape. I don't know whether they were tapped by the factory or by the previous owner (maybe he/she was annoyed by the green light from the bottom of the machine).
And as the machines are running well now. I'm just hesitate to take out the whole logic board just to remove the tape.
 
Hi,
I am struggling since I bought an K3000M from AliExpress. The card arrived with nick ROM on it.
But, I thought something is wrong with the card but I can’t differentiate if it is hardware or software.

First, the MacOS started to freeze when forced to show multi programs at the same time: when opened Spotify and YouTube, for example, if I open something more the sound keeps going but the Mac freezes, and need an force restart or waiting sometimes brings to the Lock Screen. Already tested new RAM and new SSD: nothing changed.

On windows, the system don’t ever freezes, and recognize the nvidia driver for windows normally, but most of the games get freeze, but don’t know if it’s related to the GPU either;

Sometimes, powering up the Mac got a black screen with an infinite boot chime, over and over until force power off. Needs to disconnect the card and reset PRAM to solve this, but it’s constantly happening;

2 times I turned on the Mac and seen colored vertical Bars. Removed and reinserted the card solve this;

When something black or dark is shown I can see random pixel-sized white dots on the screen, blinking randomly;

Nick is helping me with the bootrom.

anyone with some issue like this? I am almost returning the card to the seller but I really thinks this is a software issue that I don’t know, I already reinstalled macOS and windows several times.

Your descriptions are similar to what happen with my half-dead HD4850. Originally it would load Yosemite without any problem, but watching a Youtube video woul freeze the whole machine and require a hard reset (power down)
I had it baked by a laptop repair shop, but it just became worse: the machine couldn't get to log-in screen.
Better return the card and get the K3100m if possible. It's faster and cooler than 3000m. Higher availability, too.
 
Your descriptions are similar to what happen with my half-dead HD4850. Originally it would load Yosemite without any problem, but watching a Youtube video woul freeze the whole machine and require a hard reset (power down)
I had it baked by a laptop repair shop, but it just became worse: the machine couldn't get to log-in screen.
Better return the card and get the K3100m if possible. It's faster and cooler than 3000m. Higher availability, too.
Are 3100 more compatible on Mac with nick’s rom? I’m thinking about return the card but don’t know if the 3100 is available on AliExpress. eBay took more than 120 days to delivery in my country.
 
Are 3100 more compatible on Mac with nick’s rom? I’m thinking about return the card but don’t know if the 3100 is available on AliExpress. eBay took more than 120 days to delivery in my country.
K3100m has got a new ROM developed recently that give native boot screen.
For buying, I always search from local markets first. It'll take time until something are on sales. Check around with laptop repair shops or PC part junk shops. etc. But considering the 120 days of delivery, maybe on day 100 you come by an local offer with very cheap price, and.... voila....

For example, I'm tempted with an offer of a GTX980m 8GB for 50$, although knowing that it can't power the iMac internal screen, and almost no desktop mainboard can afford its power demand (TDP 122W).
 
I was trying to flash my imac 2011 21.5' with gtx765m with the modified @xanderon boot disk in #13624 of this thread.
The first time I can't find the directory therefore redownloaded and replaced the files in the sd card. Now I can't even remote access. Below are the codes for remote access. Is there anything I can do to flash the card again?


Last login: Mon May 24 12:58:30 on ttys000 andrew@Andrews-Air ~ % ssh root@192.168.1.187 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY! Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)! It is also possible that a host key has just been changed. The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is SHA256:XH4HFKWMug8xMAX3O6e7dJsXzmAm+QXPe23vEJ0C9FA. Please contact your system administrator. Add correct host key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message. Offending ECDSA key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts:1 ECDSA host key for 192.168.1.187 has changed and you have requested strict checking. Host key verification failed.
 
K3100m has got a new ROM developed recently that give native boot screen.
For buying, I always search from local markets first. It'll take time until something are on sales. Check around with laptop repair shops or PC part junk shops. etc. But considering the 120 days of delivery, maybe on day 100 you come by an local offer with very cheap price, and.... voila....

For example, I'm tempted with an offer of a GTX980m 8GB for 50$, although knowing that it can't power the iMac internal screen, and almost no desktop mainboard can afford its power demand (TDP 122W).
I really doubt if I can put a rom on a GPU card, maybe too much complex for me… it’s really that hard?
That’s why I bought it ready to use by AliExpress, also the GPU came with nick’s rom and 4GB instead 2GB that I ordered… I will try to find the k3100m anyway… thanks!
 
I really doubt if I can put a rom on a GPU card, maybe too much complex for me… it’s really that hard?
That’s why I bought it ready to use by AliExpress, also the GPU came with nick’s rom and 4GB instead 2GB that I ordered… I will try to find the k3100m anyway… thanks!

It will require some basic knowledge of folders structure, MS DOS (=Linux) commands, basic info about your own router (IP address, admin ID & password, network monitoring page). And you need to read the thread about flashing until you fully understand each step.
If you are not familiar with all of the above, then buying a pre-flashed card may be a better idea.
For example: I barely know anything about Linux, but I could successfully flash a K1100m. I have all of the instructions on the desktop of the computer I use to remote control my iMac. It was a hole-in-one for me.
 
I was trying to flash my imac 2011 21.5' with gtx765m with the modified @xanderon boot disk in #13624 of this thread.
The first time I can't find the directory therefore redownloaded and replaced the files in the sd card. Now I can't even remote access. Below are the codes for remote access. Is there anything I can do to flash the card again?


Last login: Mon May 24 12:58:30 on ttys000 andrew@Andrews-Air ~ % ssh root@192.168.1.187 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY! Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)! It is also possible that a host key has just been changed. The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is SHA256:XH4HFKWMug8xMAX3O6e7dJsXzmAm+QXPe23vEJ0C9FA. Please contact your system administrator. Add correct host key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message. Offending ECDSA key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts:1 ECDSA host key for 192.168.1.187 has changed and you have requested strict checking. Host key verification failed.
Everything you need has been printed out in that warning message:

Delete the file /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts and start over.
 
It will require some basic knowledge of folders structure, MS DOS (=Linux) commands, basic info about your own router (IP address, admin ID & password, network monitoring page). And you need to read the thread about flashing until you fully understand each step.
If you are not familiar with all of the above, then buying a pre-flashed card may be a better idea.
For example: I barely know anything about Linux, but I could successfully flash a K1100m. I have all of the instructions on the desktop of the computer I use to remote control my iMac. It was a hole-in-one for me.
Well… I think I can… I just found the k3100m ready to use on the same store that I bought the 3000, but it’s way more expensive than the Dell stock! Thank you for the help!
 
Well… I think I can… I just found the k3100m ready to use on the same store that I bought the 3000, but it’s way more expensive than the Dell stock! Thank you for the help!
Leave your home and search the local PC shops. It is worth the experiment. Even facebook marketplace and other social media attached selling platforms will do. Laptop graphics cards are rare but not impossible to get. Flashing is easy using the Linux flash utility as long as your can read and follow the instructions. Make a list of the cards on page #1 and go searching. Waiting 4 month for AliExpress to deliver is a nightmare.

You card is presumably dead - which common software component do you believe can cause a problem visible in Windows and macOS other than iMac firmware or video BIOS on the graphics card. Ever though about that?
 
Leave your home and search the local PC shops. It is worth the experiment. Even facebook marketplace and other social media attached selling platforms will do. Laptop graphics cards are rare but not impossible to get. Flashing is easy using the Linux flash utility as long as your can read and follow the instructions. Make a list of the cards on page #1 and go searching. Waiting 4 month for AliExpress to deliver is a nightmare.

You card is presumably dead - which common software component do you believe can cause a problem visible in Windows and macOS other than iMac firmware or video BIOS on the graphics card. Ever though about that?
I can’t be sure if the card is dying until the firmware upgrade bc as I described on windows I just have game errors which can be caused by anything. In a quick search about one of them I found a lot of people with the same. When I’m not gaming the card works perfectly so why can I be sure that a extremely visible new and preserved card may be faulty? I already have 45 days to return it… but I’m interested to try the flashing method anyway, just don’t wanna to wait more for a flashed one.
It’s improbable that I can find this board on my town, but will try it for sure.
 
I can’t be sure if the card is dying until the firmware upgrade bc as I described on windows I just have game errors which can be caused by anything. In a quick search about one of them I found a lot of people with the same. When I’m not gaming the card works perfectly so why can I be sure that a extremely visible new and preserved card may be faulty? I already have 45 days to return it… but I’m interested to try the flashing method anyway, just don’t wanna to wait more for a flashed one.
It’s improbable that I can find this board on my town, but will try it for sure.
I cite this:

"First, the MacOS started to freeze when forced to show multi programs at the same time: when opened Spotify and YouTube, for example, if I open something more the sound keeps going but the Mac freezes, and need an force restart or waiting sometimes brings to the Lock Screen. Already tested new RAM and new SSD: nothing changed."

Apparently you do not "JUST HAVE GAME ERRORS WHICH CAN BE CAUSED BY ANYTHING".
 
Last edited:
I can’t be sure if the card is dying until the firmware upgrade bc as I described on windows I just have game errors which can be caused by anything. In a quick search about one of them I found a lot of people with the same. When I’m not gaming the card works perfectly so why can I be sure that a extremely visible new and preserved card may be faulty? I already have 45 days to return it… but I’m interested to try the flashing method anyway, just don’t wanna to wait more for a flashed one.
It’s improbable that I can find this board on my town, but will try it for sure.
Post in thread '2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade' https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/post-29664603

770m Card working ok until i game or load. I baked it and buy some tine.

Your card is Fu*#ed mate accept it.
 
I was trying to flash my imac 2011 21.5' with gtx765m with the modified @xanderon boot disk in #13624 of this thread.
The first time I can't find the directory therefore redownloaded and replaced the files in the sd card. Now I can't even remote access. Below are the codes for remote access. Is there anything I can do to flash the card again?


Last login: Mon May 24 12:58:30 on ttys000 andrew@Andrews-Air ~ % ssh root@192.168.1.187 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY! Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)! It is also possible that a host key has just been changed. The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is SHA256:XH4HFKWMug8xMAX3O6e7dJsXzmAm+QXPe23vEJ0C9FA. Please contact your system administrator. Add correct host key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message. Offending ECDSA key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts:1 ECDSA host key for 192.168.1.187 has changed and you have requested strict checking. Host key verification failed.

You are aware of the fact that a GTX765M with a 21,5" imac, is in my opinion not a good combination due to power limit's of the 21,5" PSU..
Keep this in mind..
 
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I was trying to flash my imac 2011 21.5' with gtx765m with the modified @xanderon boot disk in #13624 of this thread.
The first time I can't find the directory therefore redownloaded and replaced the files in the sd card. Now I can't even remote access. Below are the codes for remote access. Is there anything I can do to flash the card again?


Last login: Mon May 24 12:58:30 on ttys000 andrew@Andrews-Air ~ % ssh root@192.168.1.187 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY! Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)! It is also possible that a host key has just been changed. The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is SHA256:XH4HFKWMug8xMAX3O6e7dJsXzmAm+QXPe23vEJ0C9FA. Please contact your system administrator. Add correct host key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message. Offending ECDSA key in /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts:1 ECDSA host key for 192.168.1.187 has changed and you have requested strict checking. Host key verification failed.
Delete your host file
 
Last edited:
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Edit this file with „nano“ /Users/andrew/.ssh/known_hosts and remove the line with …1.187
Then save and exit nano

then reconnect
 
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You are aware of the fact that a GTX765M with a 21,5" imac, is in my opinion not a good combination due to power limit's of the 21,5" PSU..
Keep this in mind..
Yeah, I changed my graphics card a year ago when my old AMD card in the system is dead, and I just want a plug-and-play card without realising the power draw. I also didn't know how to flash the card at that time so I just went online and found the cards that people have documented success with plug-and-play. I stumbled upon k1000m but decided against using it because there was no documented plug-and-play success with that card. By the way, is there any documentation of plug-and-playable cards on the Imac 2011? Just to let beginners like me feel better about buying the cards and not buying expensive paperweights lol
 
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