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

[Revoxy]

Hello!

I recently got an iMac 27 mid 2010 and fixed it by a poor's man reflow. I know it won't work long.

The only affordable MXM Cards are K3100m Cards pulled out from servers (with a special connection card). Those modules seem to be standard MXM but I don't know if they have been ever designed to drive a display.

Have someone tried those cards?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hello!

I recently got an iMac 27 mid 2010 and fixed it by a poor's man reflow. I know it won't work long.

The only affordable MXM Cards are K3100m Cards pulled out from servers (with a special connection card). Those modules seem to be standard MXM but I don't know if they have been ever designed to drive a display.

Have someone tried those cards?
View attachment 1908028

This seems to be a normal MXM card with a carrier board. Just get the MXM off the board and you are ready to go.

 

[Revoxy]

Okay bought! I'll give feedback, when everything has arrived.

 

[dangil]

Have similar problems with all GCN cards in the 2011 model.
Does sleep work with this card in your iMac 2011?

This is because the 24 iMac 2009 uses a different internal connector type (LVDS vs. eDP in later models). No single vBIOS published so far will work. No solution available.

If we would know a way to fix it the solution would have been already published! So it is pointless to ask, it simply takes a lot of time and even access to machines like the 24 iMac 2009.

If you donate one I will start some tests ....

I would say: It is not impossible to read this from what he was writing. But there is this phrase not at all which makes me believe he meant it did not work at all on the 24 iMac?

Let us wait for his answer.

the M6100 worked on the iMac 12,1 2011 21.5" on a warm boot. on the 24" iMac 9,1 2009 it didn't work at all.

on both machines the kext is loaded and all, but the display isn't detected at first on the 2011. and not detected at all on the 2009

 

[Ausdauersportler]

the M6100 worked on the iMac 12,1 2011 21.5" on a warm boot. on the 24" iMac 9,1 2009 it didn't work at all.

on both machines the kext is loaded and all, but the display isn't detected at first on the 2011. and not detected at all on the 2009

Thanks for confirming our thoughts. This is consistent to all results we got from the past seven years on this thread, and expected, too.

The Late 2009 21.5 and 24 models need a different vBIOS - we had this discussion before about the ATI HD4670 - which comes with two different vBIOS version used in C2D (LVDS) and in Intel i-series machines using the eDP internal display connection.

Unfortunately I have no access to such LVDS systems to do further test. Since there are so many GPU dead i-series 2009-2011 systems I would advice to get such a system cheap on the 2nd hand market.

 

[0xPr0xy]

Hello everyone. I hope someone can give me some advice and clarify the steps a bit.

I have a 27' mid 2010 iMac that is fully functional.
It has a 2 pipe heatsink, but I have also purchased also the 3 pip heatsink from the 27' 2011 iMac.
I also purchased a Nvidia GTX 880M.

I roughly understand the process which is quite clearly explained in the first post and this post on this thread but I have some questions..

This is the procedure as far as I understand:

Preparation:
- update boot rom to 87.0.0.0.0 with high sierra

Replace heatsink or keep existing?

I read this

All NVIDIA MXM B cards, the WX7100, and the RX480 need the big three copper pipe MXM-B heat sink from the 27" mid 2011 model with the 6970M card to get the generated heat out of the system under load. No exception!

I have no idea how to mod the 3 pipe heatsink to fit in the 2010 27' Mac, some advice is welcome, can it be done?

EDITS:
- Oops the 3 pipe I bought is a CPU heatsink..
- Would this one or even better this one work? without mods?

I also don't know how serious to take the "No exception".. No exception when planning to play games? or even when just wanting to gain metal support to upgrade the OS?

Install GPU

What will happen if I boot now? I read that I need to flash a ROM, does it mean it will boot but do graphics on the CPU until I flash the ROM? or should I have enabled Remote Desktop or so?

GPU Temp sensor

Will not work anymore correct? Can be solved by software, not by moving as far as I understand? is that correct?

Flash GPU?

Do I need to flash the GPU? as far as I understand yes and this is regardless of the OS (So Catalina or Big Sur patchers would still need it flashed?)
I need to flash it from Windows or using SSH into Linux live USB?
I plan to use the Linux Live USB, I understand I need to disconnect any drives and also connect over ethernet, do I really need to disconnect the SSD? (can't I select boot from USB somehow?)

Success?

Now I can boot into High Sierra again and the GPU should be recognised by the OS?
I follow the mods as outlined in the mentioned post for the 880M? Or is it advised to go straight to a patcher at this point?

I have also understood that I might've bought the wrong card as the 880M has been reported to not work on 2011 27' iMacs with the built in display for some reason. I assume this would affect earlier versions too or would I be fine with a 2010 iMac?


Thanks for your time!
0x

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I read this

- I have no idea how to mod the 3 pipe heatsink to fit in the 2010 27' Mac, some advice is welcome, can it be done?

No, it can't be done by you, take it to a professional craftman shop and ask them to do it for you.

 

[TigerA]

No, it can't be done by you, take it to a professional craftman shop and ask them to do it for you.

I just modified my 3 pipe heat sink yesterday with an angle grinder for a K3100M card. It works even though it’s a rough job 😅 It‘s a very soft material (aluminium). The back plate is harder to modify because I peeled off the insulator first before filing back the spots where surface mount components are in the way.

 

[Moett]

Just installed a pre-flashed K3100M for my iMac12,2. To my amazement that it actually turned on and displayed everything including the boot screen. And it worked correctly with High Sierra including the brightness control (minus the full brightness issue for which I am yet to seek help later) and external display as a 2nd screen.
But the excitement stopped after booting into OCLP (v 0.3.1 / latest v0.3.2 nightly) Monterey (12.0.1). Each time when I tried to apply the Post-Install Volume Patch for Kepler, it failed with the error messages shown below.
I then booted with Big Sur (11.6.1) and half the menu bar not showing up and was told I don't need to patch anything when trying to run Post-Install Volume Patch.
Any idea?
Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Spoiler: Error message

- Downloading package
- 169.2537136077881MB Downloaded
- Download completed
- Unzipping download...
- Renaming folder
- Binaries downloaded to:
/private/var/folders/30/ppvxv7y52xxc0hp8rvgyjn0w0000gn/T/_MEIzfgTdq/payloads
Press [ENTER] to continue
- Found Root Volume at: disk3s5
- Mounting APFS Snapshot as writable
Password:
- Successfully mounted the Root Volume
- Running patches for iMac12,2
- Installing Kepler Patches
- Detected supported OS, installing Acceleration Patches
- Installing Kepler Acceleration Kext patches for Monterey
- Adding GeForce.kext
- Adding GeForceAIRPlugin.bundle
- Adding GeForceGLDriver.bundle
- Adding GeForceMTLDriver.bundle
- Adding GeForceVADriver.bundle
- Adding NVDAGF100Hal.kext
- Adding NVDAGK100Hal.kext
- Adding NVDAResman.kext
- Adding NVDAStartup.kext
- Installing legacy Wireless support
- Merging Wireless CoreSerices patches
- Merging Wireless usr/libexec patches
Press [ENTER] to continue with cache rebuild:
- Rebuilding Kernel Cache (This may take some time)
- Unable to build new kernel cache

Please report this to Github
Reason for Patch Failure:
Error Domain=KMErrorDomain Code=31 "Error occurred while building a collection:
1: One or more binaries has an error which prevented linking. See other errors.
2: Could not use 'com.apple.GeForce' because: Cannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN16nvDisplayManager10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN27IOAccelLegacyDisplayMachine10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN13nvDisplayPipe10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN24IOAccelLegacyDisplayPipe10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN9nvSurface10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN20IOAccelLegacySurface10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kext

com.apple.GeForce specific:

1: Cannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN16nvDisplayManager10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN27IOAccelLegacyDisplayMachine10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN13nvDisplayPipe10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN24IOAccelLegacyDisplayPipe10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN9nvSurface10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN20IOAccelLegacySurface10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kext

" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Error occurred while building a collection:

1: One or more binaries has an error which prevented linking. See other errors.

2: Could not use 'com.apple.GeForce' because: Cannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN16nvDisplayManager10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN27IOAccelLegacyDisplayMachine10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN13nvDisplayPipe10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN24IOAccelLegacyDisplayPipe10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN9nvSurface10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN20IOAccelLegacySurface10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kext

com.apple.GeForce specific:

1: Cannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN16nvDisplayManager10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN27IOAccelLegacyDisplayMachine10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN13nvDisplayPipe10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN24IOAccelLegacyDisplayPipe10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN9nvSurface10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN20IOAccelLegacySurface10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kext

}

checking collections...

Warning: com.apple.driver.KextExcludeList was not found!

updated extension 'com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/NVDAResman.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to 879FE28C-BC88-3553-B3C7-1CCFAE357D45)

updated extension 'com.apple.nvidia.NVDAStartup' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/NVDAStartup.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to B7E8FE3A-5A44-3EA0-9A3B-345B583BFF31)

updated extension 'com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAGF100Hal' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/NVDAGF100Hal.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to 83ECEC97-996E-3E74-A930-5EF165210C51)

updated extension 'com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAGK100Hal' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/NVDAGK100Hal.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to CCDFB15A-E29E-38CE-A6C0-732F5648BC28)

updated extension 'com.promise.driver.stex' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/PromiseSTEX.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to AE253556-66D8-38D2-B9D1-179B78F29153)

updated extension 'com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBVHCICommonRSM' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBCommon.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBVHCICommonRSM.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to 4DA8930B-6C41-3E17-8D1C-5525EA5981B7)

updated extension 'com.apple.GeForce' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/GeForce.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to B907167E-E164-36D8-9E8F-695A72E738F7)

updated extension 'com.apple.driver.AppleMobileDevice' found on disk at '/Library/Apple/System/Library/Extensions/AppleMobileDevice.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to <unknown>)

updated extension 'com.Areca.ArcMSR' found on disk at '/System/Volumes/Update/mnt1/System/Library/Extensions/ArcMSR.kext' (mach-o UUID changed from <unknown> to 01FC5EBD-0A34-3E77-9216-53B89DDD8CE4)

rebuilding release collections: boot, system
rebuilding release collections:
boot kernel collection
system kext collection
failed to build release collection:
One or more binaries has an error which prevented linking. See other errors.
Could not use 'com.apple.GeForce' because: Cannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN16nvDisplayManager10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN27IOAccelLegacyDisplayMachine10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN13nvDisplayPipe10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN24IOAccelLegacyDisplayPipe10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN9nvSurface10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN20IOAccelLegacySurface10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kext

com.apple.GeForce:

Cannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN16nvDisplayManager10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN27IOAccelLegacyDisplayMachine10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN13nvDisplayPipe10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN24IOAccelLegacyDisplayPipe10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kextCannot find symbol for metaclass pointed to by '__ZN9nvSurface10superClassE'. Expected symbol '__ZN20IOAccelLegacySurface10gMetaClassE' to be defined in another kext

Please reboot the machine to avoid potential issues rerunning the patcher
Press [ENTER] to continue

Edit: added Spoiler

hello.
I have a completely similar hardware.
I didn't install post-patch and everything works.
OCLP 0.3.1
Options for NVIDIA GPU 5>9>1>2
Big Sur 11.6.1

 

[TigerA]

hello.
I have a completely similar hardware.
I didn't install post-patch and everything works.
OCLP 0.3.1
Options for NVIDIA GPU 5>9>1>2
Big Sur 11.6.1

Thanks for your info. I managed to get Big Sur 11.6.2 working after rolling back to OCLP 0.3.0 and reinstalling Big Sur in recovery mode to get rid of all the previous Post-Install Volume patch including the TeraScale 2 acceleration patch. I suspect this patch caused my issue. I am in the process to reinstall Monterey, also with the purpose to get rid of any previous root volume patches.
I will try the OCLP 0.3.1 Big Sur latter and have no doubt it will be successful.
thanks again.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Thanks for your info. I managed to get Big Sur 11.6.2 working after rolling back to OCLP 0.3.0 and reinstalling Big Sur in recovery mode to get rid of all the previous Post-Install Volume patch including the TeraScale 2 acceleration patch. I suspect this patch caused my issue. I am in the process to reinstall Monterey, also with the purpose to get rid of any previous root volume patches.
I will try the OCLP 0.3.1 Big Sur latter and have no doubt it will be successful.
thanks again.

I still do not get how this could happen in the first place?

Running OCLP it will detect the metal NVIDIA dGPU and write a special metal GPU aware OC to disk. No post install patches will be offered with Big Sur.

Using the same OC Monterey will need and OCLP will offer Kepler and WiFi patches.

My only explanation: You changed the GPU and did not a rerun of OCLP to rebuild the OpenCore with metal support.

If this happend please close the GitHub issue you opened this morning, it would be simply another nasty user error!

 

[TigerA]

I still do not get how this could happen in the first place?

Running OCLP it will detect the metal NVIDIA dGPU and write a special metal GPU aware OC to disk. No post install patches will be offered with Big Sur.

Using the same OC Monterey will need and OCLP will offer Kepler and WiFi patches.

My only explanation: You changed the GPU and did not a rerun of OCLP to rebuild the OpenCore with metal support.

If this happend please close the GitHub issue you opened this morning, it would be simply another nasty user error!

Let me provide some background info:
1. The iMac12,2 was with the stock HD6970 running OCLP 0.3.1 Catalina / Big Sur / Monterey.
2. After installing the new K3100M card, I logged in to Monterey (12.0.1) first. The system was very sluggish, I then attempted to run Post-Install Volume Patch and received a bunch of errors.
3. After rebooting, I couldn't log in any more: each time I tried to login, it logged me out immediately after login.
4. I then tried Big Sur and it did not offer any post-install patch. But after rebooting, I also could not login, same as Monterey.
5. I finally tried OCLP Catalina and again came back with the same symptoms.

Add: I am reinstalling Monterey 12.0.1 right now via OCLP recovery. I may close the issue in Github pending successful outcome from this recovery attempt. I suspect it is caused by previous installed TeraScale 2 acceleration patch.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Let me provide some background info:
1. The iMac12,2 was with the stock HD6970 running OCLP 0.3.1 Catalina / Big Sur / Monterey.
2. After installing the new K3100M card, I logged in to Monterey (12.0.1) first. The system was very sluggish, I then attempted to run Post-Install Volume Patch and received a bunch of errors.
3. After rebooting, I couldn't log in any more: each time I tried to login, it logged me out immediately after login.
4. I then tried Big Sur and it did not offer any post-install patch. But after rebooting, I also could not login, same as Monterey.
5. I finally tried OCLP Catalina and again came back with the same symptoms.

Obviously you missed the fact that your OpenCore provided by OCLP is always hardware specific. So please close the issue silently.
Possibly we would have to add to the OCLP docs in big large friendly looking letters:

Don‘t panic! Rerun OCLP after modding your hardware!​

 

[TigerA]

Obviously you missed the fact that your OpenCore provided by OCLP is always hardware specific. So please close the issue silently.
Possibly we would have to add to the OCLP docs in big large friendly looking letters:

Don‘t panic! Rerun OCLP after modding your hardware!​

very funny😅 But actually reinstalling macOS is required instead, for deleting any previous installed patches.
To clarify: When I say "login to ...", it's always OCLP login.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

very funny😅 But actually reinstalling macOS is required instead, for deleting any previous installed patches.
To clarify: When I say "login to ...", it's always OCLP login.

Yes, I thought a fresh installation would be a natural thing if you move to a metal GPU - we had unpatched systems until Monterey dropped Kepler and with AMD we still can enjoy this.

You needed both: The updated OC and a fresh installation. For all macOS versions!

 

[TigerA]

Yes, I thought a fresh installation would be a natural thing if you move to a metal GPU - we had unpatched systems until Monterey dropped Kepler and with AMD we still can enjoy this.

You needed both: The updated OC and a fresh installation. For all macOS versions!

Just like to report back that the Monterey 12.0.1 recovery with OCLP 0.3.1 boot up was SUCCESSFUL🍻🍺😅
I will close off the issue right after this.
I am so happy now😃
Add: Forgot to thank all the developers including @Ausdauersportler for your excellent work and dedication, very much appreciated.

 

[xLorak]

I can confirm that AMD W6170M 2GB HP Zbook 17 is fully working on iMac 2010 27" High Sierra, only one issue, no Bootscreen and card is recognized as HD 8xxxM

 

[Revoxy]

Sorry Guys, another question came to my mind:
Does the Kuppler Bios tweaker work with the uploaded MAC V-bios files? My idea is to under clock the k3100m in order to lower the heat dissipation.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I can confirm that AMD W6170M 2GB HP Zbook 17 is fully working on iMac 2010 27" High Sierra, only one issue, no Bootscreen and card is recognized as HD 8xxxM

Read the posts I made and install OCLP to get the OC boot picker. The HD 8xxxx is purely cosmetic. It has been even mentioned how to get the R9 M280X name…

 

[TigerA]

Just noticed that it’s not full brightness with OCLP Catalina. I am not stressed about this issue because there is no much point to use Catalina once Metal graphics card is installed. But I am just curious that the Full Brightness fix should have been included in OCLP long time ago?
Add: It is working now after rebuilding the OCLP, might have been related to the previous Catalina acceleration for non-metal option. And as @Ausdauersportler said before, "Don‘t panic! Rerun OCLP after modding your hardware!" 😅

 

[Shaun Price]

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread
hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb.

I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive

I created a Linux Live USB (based on grml.org) Thumb Drive with nvflash_linux and Nicks Bioses preloaded. and its booting by itself so you can work blind with a new unpatched nvidia card plugged in. Also, its starting a ssh daemon and using DHCP to get an IP so you can remote login

Steps

Download
14 days left to download, uploaded here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/cztz4xqj2sru9gj/2011_imac_usb.zip/file

mirror by NOTNICE, thnx: https://cloud.notnlce.com/index.php/s/xkJP34GD6a9WziE/download

latest updated Version by @The_Croupier (thnx!) Post: #13,624 > ---- Download here ---- <


Prepare USB Drive or SD Card
so, you take a small usb thumb drive, partition it with disk utility on a Mac: GPT + FAT32
and just unzip the files structure onto the drive, no dd or etcher or something. just copy paste it. folder structure see attached screenshot. (you can remove the .roms I downloaded and download itself if you want to be sure about the correct file size. I did not verify them at all. use/flash at your own risk please)

Test & Try
test your thumb drive with a more or less working GPU/ external Screen or just have faith in me

Swap Hardware
swap your GPU to NVIDIA and (!) disconnect every SSD/HDD, makes it easier to boot blindly from one USB or SD Card, connect the ETH Cable (!), I repeat again and this is not a drill: use Network CABLE only not WIFI « big Nono!

Find IP
let the iMac boot, everything is black, the boot loader is waiting 20s before booting, so give the whole process 1min time, then head over to your Router Page and find the right IP that the iMac got through DHCP

SSH to the iMac
now fire up your terminal on a Win/Mac/Linux Machine of your choice and ssh to your iMac with
ssh root@YOURIP
Password: flash
Confirm the ssh id with yes and you should be in your iMac

Working Directory (in MY release, other or newer releases of GRML use different directories, you have to find out by yourself)
cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash

read the RADME in there… I will enjoy my brand new k2000m in my 27" 2011 iMac with Catalina 10.15.3
… and because this is so easy, I rebuild it to a K1100M and flashed that also

(someone could write some fancy scripts but I thought its saver that everyone is doing it command by command and don't stop thinking and trusting some scripts)

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread
hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb.

I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive

I created a Linux Live USB (based on grml.org) Thumb Drive with nvflash_linux and Nicks Bioses preloaded. and its booting by itself so you can work blind with a new unpatched nvidia card plugged in. Also, its starting a ssh daemon and using DHCP to get an IP so you can remote login

Steps

Download
14 days left to download, uploaded here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/cztz4xqj2sru9gj/2011_imac_usb.zip/file

mirror by NOTNICE, thnx: https://cloud.notnlce.com/index.php/s/xkJP34GD6a9WziE/download

latest updated Version by @The_Croupier (thnx!) Post: #13,624 > ---- Download here ---- <


Prepare USB Drive or SD Card
so, you take a small usb thumb drive, partition it with disk utility on a Mac: GPT + FAT32
and just unzip the files structure onto the drive, no dd or etcher or something. just copy paste it. folder structure see attached screenshot. (you can remove the .roms I downloaded and download itself if you want to be sure about the correct file size. I did not verify them at all. use/flash at your own risk please)

Test & Try
test your thumb drive with a more or less working GPU/ external Screen or just have faith in me

Swap Hardware
swap your GPU to NVIDIA and (!) disconnect every SSD/HDD, makes it easier to boot blindly from one USB or SD Card, connect the ETH Cable (!), I repeat again and this is not a drill: use Network CABLE only not WIFI « big Nono!

Find IP
let the iMac boot, everything is black, the boot loader is waiting 20s before booting, so give the whole process 1min time, then head over to your Router Page and find the right IP that the iMac got through DHCP

SSH to the iMac
now fire up your terminal on a Win/Mac/Linux Machine of your choice and ssh to your iMac with
ssh root@YOURIP
Password: flash
Confirm the ssh id with yes and you should be in your iMac

Working Directory (in MY release, other or newer releases of GRML use different directories, you have to find out by yourself)
cd /lib/live/mount/medium/flash

read the RADME in there… I will enjoy my brand new k2000m in my 27" 2011 iMac with Catalina 10.15.3
… and because this is so easy, I rebuild it to a K1100M and flashed that also

(someone could write some fancy scripts but I thought its saver that everyone is doing it command by command and don't stop thinking and trusting some scripts)

Thank you for the Linux Live USB you designed. I done all the process on my iMac 2011 with the new GPU (NVIDIA Quadro K1100M 2GB) however it did not work for me. Step by step, downloaded, copied the files on a few different usb (also SD cards), disconnected the SSD hard drive, but it didn't boot from the Linux Live. Please, is there any suggestion to solve my problem as I need the backlight control and the boot option?

 

[nick0k]

Arrived now..! It looks well kept.. Tomorrow i will go to work!
I hope that the X clamp that mounts my Radeon 6970 goes well..

 

[xLorak]

Read the posts I made and install OCLP to get the OC boot picker. The HD 8xxxx is purely cosmetic. It has been even mentioned how to get the R9 M280X name…

Actually i cannot boot into recovery, last time when i did it was when i booted into Windows, then selected from BootCamp other disc than normally, will try that next time.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Actually i cannot boot into recovery, last time when i did it was when i booted into Windows, then selected from BootCamp other disc than normally, will try that next time.

The best advice would be to create an OpenCore recovery CD and force booting it.

Why would you boot the recovery? If you can boot Windows select the (already installed) macOS from there, boot into macOS and download OCLP and install OC through running the app.

 

[xLorak]

I've done that, but still dont have picker etc. It's look like it is installing to EFI partition, but not work. I dont have DVD drive. SSD+HDD. Now i booted installed Catalina, but quest what, no screen ;/