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

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi guys,

after reading carefully the 1st post, I decided to look for a card that needs the least modifications for my 27' imac mid2010. So, I'm looking for the Quadrdo K2100M. But I have a difficulty to find one in eu (customs from us may double the price). So my question has to do with:

Do all of K2100M's working for the job or, just the ones fro Dell laptops? Eg. I have found a "HP 734277-001 NVIDIA Quadro Graphics Board K2100M N15P-Q3 für Zbook 15". Do you think that will work?

Please have in mind that English is not my native language and I have may misunderstood something.

Kalispera!

You should only check the memory type of the VRAM on the card. This is the only unknown variable with all Nvidia cards. Check the first post for the available vBIOS versions covering the VRAM type.

On eBay Germany there are some cards available for about 150 Euro - this is overpriced if you ask me. Nice cool card, but overpriced.

 

[LegoNickD]

WX7100 vBIOS

Some months ago I got finally a WX7100 working in my 2011 systems. @Nick [D]vB posted several versions of vBIOS for the AMD cards, the latest packages was called AMD_GOP. We figured out later (more than a year ago) that all vBIOS versions from this package have a nasty problem properly boosting either the GPU core or the VRAM (and doing this in a different way directly after the startup and after the first sleep).

Today I found out more by chance that the last vBIOS named 580X_GOP.ROM from the AMD_Beta4 package does not have this problem. It works pretty impressive natively on High Sierra (posted an new all time record with more than 72.1 FPS / 3015 Score) and using OCLP 0.2.2 with Big Sur and Monterey still delivering results around 65 FPS / 2700 Score.

Other users owning such a precious card may test this vBIOS and report back!

BTW: I am not using any PolarisBoost or RadeonBoost extension.

Edit: Just found out that the Beta4 vBIOS mentioned above needs with High Sierra only an external display to switch on the internal LCD after macOS startup. Nick mentioned this in his post.

I can't remember which VBIOS I have on my WX7100 in my 2010, does that VBIOS still report as a WX7100 or does it report an RX580? I'll have to benchmark mine and see how it scores.

Thanks for the tip about getting HS to display, I had just about given up on getting HS working on that iMac. Do you know if booting HS or even older through OCLP will cause any issues?

 

[axrst]

Kalispera!

You should only check the memory type of the VRAM on the card. This is the only unknown variable with all Nvidia cards. Check the first post for the available vBIOS versions covering the VRAM type.

On eBay Germany there are some cards available for about 150 Euro - this is overpriced if you ask me. Nice cool card, but overpriced.

Kalispera

Thanks for your reply.

I re-read the 1rst post and the links on it. There are 2 BIOS files. One for elpida roms, but the other does not refer to any specific VRAM type. In the other post of course, mention that elpida is the least common and Hynix, and Samsung are more common. Do I have to suppose that the 1st file covers the 2 previous VRAM types? Anyway the one I have found is with Samsung VRAM.

 

[Johna220]

As seen in the image I was able to SSH into the 27" - 2011 iMac. but upon following the guide I'm getting the no such file or directory, when I created the usb I did exactly as it explains to just place all files into the usb so following commands listed should theoretically work if I'm not mistaken?

Im new to doing things through terminal but am willing to take the time to do it correctly so not to brick my video card I'm flashing.

the terminal commands to backup and save original rom. before flashing does the first page of this forum also have details of the process step by step guide to using the linux terminal approach with commands needed to flash cards?

Thanks

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I can't remember which VBIOS I have on my WX7100 in my 2010, does that VBIOS still report as a WX7100 or does it report an RX580? I'll have to benchmark mine and see how it scores.

Thanks for the tip about getting HS to display, I had just about given up on getting HS working on that iMac. Do you know if booting HS or even older through OCLP will cause any issues?

Currently I have an 2010 with an RX480 booting even Sierra with this card and OCLP. Normally it will not work really well because the iMacPro1,1 has never been supported with really old macOS versions. So booting may fail or end up in a black screen using older macOS versions. The AMD driver support has been introduced with Sierra and there is no gain in trying older macOS versions.

We are working on new vBIOS versions for AMD cards. I have to bring my test system including the cards 100 miles east to get it done - there the developer lives. That was the plan for some weeks now. Please be patient. But the vBIOS from the AMD_Beta4 package I mentioned before works really impressive (and still reports a WX7100 8GB GPU). It is by far better than the later ones from the AMD_GOP package.

EDIT:
Using High Sierra and Big Sur or Monterey on the same system breaks the SecureBootModel on Big Sur/Monterey. Booting into High Sierra messes the Preboot volume and you can only fix this by either disabling SecureBootModel within OCLP or ignoring High Sierra.
OLCP has become so stable that I do not have a High Sierra partition any longer. I can happily live with any more recent version to operate from if something is going south. I am using Mojave/Catalina with OCLP, too. Not supported, but it is working perfectly (especially on 2009/2010 systems and with AMD cards on all systems).

 

[Ausdauersportler]

As seen in the image I was able to SSH into the 27" - 2011 iMac. but upon following the guide I'm getting the no such file or directory, when I created the usb I did exactly as it explains to just place all files into the usb so following commands listed should theoretically work if I'm not mistaken?

Im new to doing things through terminal but am willing to take the time to do it correctly so not to brick my video card I'm flashing.

the terminal commands to backup and save original rom. before flashing does the first page of this forum also have details of the process step by step guide to using the linux terminal approach with commands needed to flash cards?

Thanks


View attachment 1802408

You got the latest package of the GRLM but you are using the old docs. Please navigate back to the place where your found the download link. And read there…

 

[axrst]

Im new to doing things through terminal but am willing to take the time to do it correctly so not to brick my video card I'm flashing.

the terminal commands to backup and save original rom. before flashing does the first page of this forum also have details of the process step by step guide to using the linux terminal approach with commands needed to flash cards?

Thanks


View attachment 1802408

Try to reboot and do the procedure again. Then, try to move one directory at a time:

cd /lib
ls -la
(you should see some files and dirs here and especially the live dir)
cd live
ls -la
cd mount
ls -la
cd medium
ls -la
cd flash
ls -la

where did you get the "no such file or directory" message?

 

[nsr500rossi]

That will tell you if there is nothing wrong with the card so you cant blame the seller.

Then you will either have to pray that @nikey22 can come up with a working Bios or some other genius.
Or you get a different iMac or you explain to the seller the situation and they take pity on you and give you a refund/return.

The fact that some perfectly working cards will just not post in certain iMacs is explained in post one.

Pays to do a lot of research before buying an expensive card.
Post in thread '2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade' https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/post-29703840

First off .. many thanks for helping me out ..

I have removed the screen .. I am waiting for a friend to lend me the cable needed but in the mean time I have tried turning the iMac on ..

Now all I get is a constant chimes every few seconds .. I still have 3 lights on . Obviously the third light will not be on

The thing is .. if I try and reset the pram .. nothing happens .. it's not responding to anything .. I just get the chimes and the fans at full pelt

I shall try the external monitor hopefully later tonight .. but wondering why it's not responding to the pram reset .. it was working with the screen attached

Oh I have put a new pram battery in . Thought it would not hurt as the old one was reading 2.9 volts

 

[Ausdauersportler]

First off .. many thanks for helping me out ..

I have removed the screen .. I am waiting for a friend to lend me the cable needed but in the mean time I have tried turning the iMac on ..

Now all I get is a constant chimes every few seconds .. I still have 3 lights on . Obviously the third light will not be on

The thing is .. if I try and reset the pram .. nothing happens .. it's not responding to anything .. I just get the chimes and the fans at full pelt

I shall try the external monitor hopefully later tonight .. but wondering why it's not responding to the pram reset .. it was working with the screen attached

Oh I have put a new pram battery in . Thought it would not hurt as the old one was reading 2.9 volts

There is a hardware problems section on the first post. Check it out and find out (by reading, not posting) how to break the boot chime loop.

 

[nsr500rossi]

If you would have checked the first post of this thread carefully you could have seen that it is in fact one of the known issues here with NVIDIA cards running in the mid 2011 iMac. The Mid 2011 is a beast when it comes to compability with all cards listed within the tables. Still own a single K5000M showing exactly the same behavior.

For that reason (and others) I moved away from NVIDIA cards completely. The results are and were sometime unpredictable.

Hi

I did check it .. but also saw that people who had bought the 880 on AliExpress Had had success so took a chance

Actually I first bought a 4100 from eBay that had been already flashed .. unfortunately +and god knows how) I knocked 2 of the MOSFETs of the board .. I managed to work out what they were and had a friend ready to replace them but I also knocked of a tiny component .. maybe a capacitor.. trouble is we could not identify it .. so I have now spent 300 on 2 graphics cards .. nightmare ..

 

[Johna220]

You got the latest package of the GRLM but you are using the old docs. Please navigate back to the place where your found the download link. And read there…

Thank you, I will do that, I should have taken a closer look at that page when I downloaded the file

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi

I did check it .. but also saw that people who had bought the 880 on AliExpress Had had success so took a chance

Actually I first bought a 4100 from eBay that had been already flashed .. unfortunately +and god knows how) I knocked 2 of the MOSFETs of the board .. I managed to work out what they were and had a friend ready to replace them but I also knocked of a tiny component .. maybe a capacitor.. trouble is we could not identify it .. so I have now spent 300 on 2 graphics cards .. nightmare ..

Indeed, a nightmare. The problem with these experiments is normal users own only a single system and if problems come up they cannot really cross check.

 

[nsr500rossi]

Indeed, a nightmare. The problem with these experiments is normal users own only a single system and if problems come up they cannot really cross check.

Indeed ...

So it seems I need to remove the GPU and do 3 pram resets then reinstall the GPU

Or out the original GPU in to clear the boot loop

What fun 😁

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Indeed ...

So it seems I need to remove the GPU and do 3 pram resets then reinstall the GPU

Or out the original GPU in to clear the boot loop

What fun 😁

Get out the front metal GPU holder (three screws from the back side of the logic board). This way you can pull and put into another GPU without getting the logic board out each time.

Install it back if you are sure to own a card working well.

 

[nsr500rossi]

Get out the front metal GPU holder (three screws from the back side of the logic board). This way you can pull and put into another GPU without getting the logic board out each time.

Install it back if you are sure to own a card working well.

Was just thinking that . Watched a video of someone removing a GPU from an older iMac and it had the screws on the front . Why oh why did Apple change it so the scree heads were being the logic board !!

Great advice .. I shall wait to test with the external monitor first ..

I have just reinstalled the screen.. and now instead of the constant chiming.. .. it has gone back to chining 4 times before the fans come on. And stops chiming after that

 

[Johna220]

I thank everyone that put together these tools to help revive our 2011 iMacs,

I have successfully flashed through @xanderon, @Nick [D]vB and @nikey22 and all those that will take time to know all.

I just have a slight issue that I'm not sure if I missed in posts or have not come across answer,

after my flash through the Linux usb method, It said all was good bios was flashed and needed to reboot,

I reset the pram using the option-cmd-p-r but even before that I booted and got white screen with ? folder not flashing just the folder with ? in it.

if I hold down option I see my hard drive with Mojave on it. or the hard drive with high Sierra.

am I going to need to do a complete install on a clean hard drive to get things working or is that another sign of a failure?

Thanks in advance

John

 

[paul_bace]

Hey folks, I’ve looked through as much of this 600+ page thread along with other threads and without spending hours reading every post with completely unrelated issues, I hope it’s not to much to just ask.

First of all, I’ve successfully done the whole upgrade several times on other machines. First time getting this issue.

I’ve also successfully flashed the card while in the Mac after having this problem and hoping the flash fixes it. It didn’t.

The screen works fine with the old card. And without the screen connected all three LED’s light up.

As soon as I connect the screen, it won’t get past the first LED before shutting off.

what am I missing!??

2011 3.4hz QC
770m 3gb
So far just HS installed.
ram tested and working.
For some reason I can’t get a thunderbolt connection. For second screen.

 

[The_Croupier]

Hey folks, I’ve looked through as much of this 600+ page thread along with other threads and without spending hours reading every post with completely unrelated issues, I hope it’s not to much to just ask.

First of all, I’ve successfully done the whole upgrade several times on other machines. First time getting this issue.

I’ve also successfully flashed the card while in the Mac after having this problem and hoping the flash fixes it. It didn’t.

The screen works fine with the old card. And without the screen connected all three LED’s light up.

As soon as I connect the screen, it won’t get past the first LED before shutting off.

what am I missing!??

2011 3.4hz QC
770m 3gb
So far just HS installed.
ram tested and working.
For some reason I can’t get a thunderbolt connection. For second screen.

Not enough information even start to diagnose. No signature, no iMac model, no gpu model???
I don't have a crystal ball in my toolkit.
If people posted more information on their setup, what they have tried and troubleshooting ect thus thread would probably only be 300 pages.

 

[paul_bace]

Updated. Realized right away. Sorry.

 

[LegoNickD]

Currently I have an 2010 with an RX480 booting even Sierra with this card and OCLP. Normally it will not work really well because the iMacPro1,1 has never been supported with really old macOS versions. So booting may fail or end up in a black screen using older macOS versions. The AMD driver support has been introduced with Sierra and there is no gain in trying older macOS versions.

We are working on new vBIOS versions for AMD cards. I have to bring my test system including the cards 100 miles east to get it done - there the developer lives. That was the plan for some weeks now. Please be patient. But the vBIOS from the AMD_Beta4 package I mentioned before works really impressive (and still reports a WX7100 8GB GPU). It is by far better than the later ones from the AMD_GOP package.

EDIT:
Using High Sierra and Big Sur or Monterey on the same system breaks the SecureBootModel on Big Sur/Monterey. Booting into High Sierra messes the Preboot volume and you can only fix this by either disabling SecureBootModel within OCLP or ignoring High Sierra.
OLCP has become so stable that I do not have a High Sierra partition any longer. I can happily live with any more recent version to operate from if something is going south. I am using Mojave/Catalina with OCLP, too. Not supported, but it is working perfectly (especially on 2009/2010 systems and with AMD cards on all systems).

I got the installer for HS to boot using a second display, but now bluetooth doesn't work and neither will a usb mouse. Not sure if this is just an installer issue I can bypass with a second machine. I think I might give up on getting HS to work, I only wanted it to use TDM (I want to be able to use a switch/raspberry pi on it without needing a second display), but a better solution would be to use one of those display driver boards, the seller has no idea what CEC is so I can't get any straight answers to my driver board questions

 

[The_Croupier]

Updated. Realized right away. Sorry.

Sounds like a short, did you try the port closest to the USB ports?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I got the installer for HS to boot using a second display, but now bluetooth doesn't work and neither will a usb mouse. Not sure if this is just an installer issue I can bypass with a second machine. I think I might give up on getting HS to work, I only wanted it to use TDM (I want to be able to use a switch/raspberry pi on it without needing a second display), but a better solution would be to use one of those display driver boards, the seller has no idea what CEC is so I can't get any straight answers to my driver board questions

Normally this is just an installer issue. Never had lasting problems with BT or USB. With my vBIOS I do only need the second screen to be connected on boot, it switches on the internal one too. Just try the PRAM reset...

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Updated. Realized right away. Sorry.

Create a signature to your account like I did. This way your config sticks with every post you make. Nobody scrolls back 100 posts to find your config hidden there. It is even mentioned on the first post. Speaking of this particular post: Did you read the issue list with NVIDIA cards on Mid 2011 models? Did you check the hardware problem section/post?

 

[paul_bace]

I don't have a sig with config because I'm flipping Macs. This just happens to be one I'm having this problem with. I'm currently using the same model and spec with he same GPU to type this message with. I've also done the GPU upgrade to several 21" iMacs and another 27" with k1100m cards from eBay thanks to Nicks cards. Putting a sig doesn't make much sense when the issue I'm having is from a computer I'm not planning on keeping.

Yes I have read everything. That's how I got this upgrade working on several other Macs, with no issues. This particular machine is just giving me issues.

Just noticed that my Cinema Display connected to port nearest the USB, is flashing 3 short flashes of that means anything.

3.4ghz QC 27"
770m 3gb

 

[The_Croupier]

I'm currently using the same model and spec with he same GPU to type this message with.

Then first thing I would be doing is taking the card out of the mac that's giving you issues and test the card in the iMac your are using to type these messages.