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

[davidg5678]

Hi all,
I've just installed an AMD Radeon WX4130 (originally from a Dell Precision 7510, per the ebay ad) in my iMac 11.3 (ie 27" Mid-2010 model, Xeon X3470 CPU if that matters), and, well, there's a couple of issues:
- Internal display does not come on at all (not with OpenCore on a USB and not with a Windows 8.0 hard drive on the internal SATA port).
- if I remove the internal display and have an external monitor hooked up to the mini DP port on the iMac, it does show the OpenCore boot picker on the external monitor. However, if I try to boot macOS (tried a working-with-an-nVidia-GPU installation of OS 12.1 Beta 1, recovery of the same thing, and a USB installer of 10.15.7), the screen goes blank at the point where the Apple logo screen normally changes color a little bit (and if using verbose mode, right when the verbose finishes and the GUI starts to load). I was able to boot an EFI mode installation of Windows 11 from my Mac laptop's hard drive, through OpenCore, which did load properly.
(If it's a clue to anything, this screen blanking while booting macOS is doing exactly the same thing that a Mac Pro 3.1 I used to have with a Radeon HD 7950 did when I tried to connect the monitor through a DVI to VGA adapter)
- if I try to boot the (legacy BIOS mode installed) Windows 8.0 drive, even the external monitor does not work.
- keeping the internal display and an external monitor results in..... both staying blank in all conditions.

Anyone know what I might have done wrong? my card still has the original Dell VBIOS. Or is this expected behavior? I will be doing the EG BIOS mod thing and the hardware backlight mod, but if there is some other issue with my setup I'd like to fix that first before breaking the OpenCore bootscreen by putting a non GOP (ie the EG one) VBIOS on the card.

My other question was about the hardware backlight mod for enabling the internal display itself for bootscreen with the EG BIOS (from here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2011-imac-graphics-card-upgrade.1596614/post-27485731 ). Does this mod break some backlight-related features, like dimming/turning off the display when the machine is idle, since we're replacing a controlled line with a no-smarts 3.3v supply from the PSU?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I think that if you flash the correct VBIOS provided in the first post, it will fix the issues you are having. This behavior is expected from an unflashed GPU.

The EG Bios mod and hardware backlight mod are procedures that are no longer necessary, as better solutions have been developed in recent months. If you flash the GPU VBIOS and correctly configure OpenCore as described in the documentation, everything should work fine without these mods.

 

[vinaypundith]

Hi,

I think that if you flash the correct VBIOS provided in the first post, it will fix the issues you are having. This behavior is expected from an unflashed GPU.

The EG Bios mod and hardware backlight mod are procedures that are no longer necessary, as better solutions have been developed in recent months. If you flash the GPU VBIOS and correctly configure OpenCore as described in the documentation, everything should work fine without these mods.

Oh, okay. I knew the bootscreen wouldn't work without OpenCore with the original VBIOS, but didn't realize that the internal screen isn't expected to work at all. I'll go ahead with the BIOS flashing, then. Thanks!

Also I'm aware that OpenCore is able to provide a bootscreen to replace what doesn't work without the BIOS mod - after all, that is how I operated the machine today with the external monitor - but I don't want to rely on it for bootscreen, since I often have no working OC setup (drive swaps, reformats while messing with patched OS, etc) and / or need to boot Windows and Linux in legacy BIOS mode, which doesn't show up at all in OpenCore's boot picker. Thanks for the suggestion, and I know for a lot of people it's enough, but it doesn't quite fit my needs.

 

[TigerA]

I've just added a SSD to the iMac11,2 (M5100) containing Big Sur 11.6.1 from another iMac. I've also added more RAM to 12GB. Now it's running very smooth.
I am testing the newly released nightly v0.3.2 OCLP for its legacy GCN card support function, installed to the newly added SSD. The issue is that there is no EFI boot picker screen and I just can't tell which OCLP EFI the iMac has loaded (because it already has one OCLP on the HDD containing High Sierra).

Add: It's the v0.3.1 loaded. Is it even possible to select another OCLP boot icon by clicking left right arrow keys blindly?
Update: Unplugged the HDD and the iMac booted up with SSD containing the newly built OCLP v032n. This also gave me the opportunity to install Win10 as as well😃

 

[duvelhedz]

I installed a WX4170 into my iMac 2011 over the weekend. (Upgraded from a K4100M) It is reporting as a "AMD Radeon Polaris 4GB"
Is this expected behavior or should it report WX4170? I did have to mod the card and add a ROM and a couple of other components to the card. The 2 tiny resistors were already present on the back of the card so these did not need to be added.
A side effect of the upgrade is that the CPU fan now runs full blast but I cannot run ASD EFI to find which sensor is causing it as there is no boot screen until the Opencore picker, Opencore will not list the ASD USB.

I was able to flash the VBIOS from the linux USB drive with the card installed in the machine so this confirms the machine can access the VBIOS.

I am running Monterey

Any suggestions?

 

[dfranetic]

I installed a WX4170 into my iMac 2011 over the weekend. (Upgraded from a K4100M) It is reporting as a "AMD Radeon Polaris 4GB"
Is this expected behavior or should it report WX4170? I did have to mod the card and add a ROM and a couple of other components to the card. The 2 tiny resistors were already present on the back of the card so these did not need to be added.
A side effect of the upgrade is that the CPU fan now runs full blast but I cannot run ASD EFI to find which sensor is causing it as there is no boot screen until the Opencore picker, Opencore will not list the ASD USB.

I was able to flash the VBIOS from the linux USB drive with the card installed in the machine so this confirms the machine can access the VBIOS.

I am running Monterey

Any suggestions?

Yes, the reported name is purely cosmetic and it is 'AMD Radeon Polaris'. The two tiny 0402-sized resistors only need to be removed for the 2009-2010 iMacs. (They are/were present on all WX4170 cards I handled.) The CPU fan should run normally. Check your sensor connections again.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

A side effect of the upgrade is that the CPU fan now runs full blast but I cannot run ASD EFI to find which sensor is causing it as there is no boot screen until the Opencore picker, Opencore will not list the ASD USB.

You can use HW Control to check via software which sensor is sending out no data (129C). It is expected to have the GPU and GPU environment showing this value, if you see another you either missed to reconnect the cable or you broke off the tiny L5500 coil near the CPU fan and ambient temp sensor plug from you system board - happens quite often here although it has been mentioned on the first post in the hardware problems section.

BTW: Replace the ODD sensor to get SMC acting on it's temp data. It is known to ramp up the ODD fan after reaching 55 C.

 

[kitroughtrash]

Is there any possibility to enable hardware acceleration on an 2011 iMac with k1100 running Big Sur?
I was under the impression that this was not possible but I read other users positive experience and now am bit confused.
Ps. I have read post #1 thoroughly

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Is there any possibility to enable hardware acceleration on an 2011 iMac with k1100 running Big Sur?
I was under the impression that this was not possible but I read other users positive experience and now am bit confused.
Ps. I have read post #1 thoroughly

No, it is not using any of the NVIDIA GPU.

Read first post, FAQ, Q13.

 

[kitroughtrash]

Applogies if this has been asked on here. But I have a Mid 2011 iMac with a K2100m installed. Had full acceleration using OCLP on Big Sur. I created a new Monterey flash drive, installed OCLP and deployed macOS. It boots, I have all the fixes (ethernet is working, etc). However I have no hardware acceleration on the graphics. Is this a known issue/is there a fix buried on this forum somewhere?

This was the case I was refering to. Possibly a misunderstanding?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

This was the case I was refering to. Possibly a misunderstanding?

Did you read the post and answers? It was about Monterey. Kepler support has been dropped with Monterey and needs patching. Has nothing to do with your question.
Read Q13!!

 

[vinaypundith]

iMac update: EG BIOS mod (iMac11,3, AMD WX4130) worked! I had to desolder the iMac's firmware chip in order to flash anything to it using a CH341A programmer due to a write protection, but it was successful. Bootscreen on an external monitor works - just that my mini DP to HDMI adapter doesn't work with it and I had to hook it up to a monitor with a native DP port.
next up, will be wire modding the machine for internal display bootscreen to work.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

iMac update: EG BIOS mod (iMac11,3, AMD WX4130) worked! I had to desolder the iMac's firmware chip in order to flash anything to it using a CH341A programmer due to a write protection, but it was successful. Bootscreen on an external monitor works - just that my mini DP to HDMI adapter doesn't work with it and I had to hook it up to a monitor with a native DP port.
next up, will be wire modding the machine for internal display bootscreen to work.

HDMI to mDP needs an active adapter.

Let us know your hot wire EG mod results.

 

[kitroughtrash]

Did you read the post and answers? It was about Monterey. Kepler support has been dropped with Monterey and needs patching. Has nothing to do with your question.
Read Q13!!

User mentioned: “But I have a Mid 2011 iMac with a K2100m installed. Had full acceleration using OCLP on Big Sur.”

This led me to believe acceleration was possible on Big Sur, it seems it is not and possibly the user got mixed up

 

[Ausdauersportler]

User mentioned: “But I have a Mid 2011 iMac with a K2100m installed. Had full acceleration using OCLP on Big Sur.”

This led me to believe acceleration was possible on Big Sur, it seems it is not and possibly the user got mixed up

Read Q13!

There is a difference between graphics acceleration on the desktop (all cards have this) and video acceleration during video de- and encoding using tools like Final Cut Pro. The latter is only possible with some AMD GPU.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi!

Any experiences with the Elgato Thunderbolt 2 dock?

Is it still working with Big Sur or Monterey after changing the GPU?

Thanks in advance

 

[Balsie]

Hello, good evening.
Is there a difference between a GTX 780 MXM dell clevo alienware and a GTX 780 MXM dell alienware (without "clevo")?

 

[curioussurfer]

Hi!

Any experiences with the Elgato Thunderbolt 2 dock?

Is it still working with Big Sur or Monterey after changing the GPU?

Thanks in advance

Hi Ausdauerportler,

I can confirm my Elgato Thunderbolt 2 dock working apart from from the Ethernet port, connecting the ethernet cable gives me an immediate kernel panic (see log attached). USB3, Sound, HDMI and Display (Thunderbolt port) are working fine.

Cheers und Gruesse aus Melbourne

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi Ausdauerportler,

I can confirm my Elgato Thunderbolt 2 dock working apart from from the Ethernet port, connecting the ethernet cable gives me an immediate kernel panic (see log attached). USB3, Sound, HDMI and Display (Thunderbolt port) are working fine.

Cheers und Gruesse aus Melbourne

Thanks for confirming this!

Have currently a different (Belkin) dock which has the same Ethernet problem but does not work with USB devices at all. Trying to get an Elgato Dock...

Greetings half around the world, back!
(Do you know how November (December) rain feels on the skin, here )

 

[curioussurfer]

Oops,

have to correct myself. It is actually a Belkin 2 Thunderbolt hub.

Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD:





Vendor Name: Belkin International, Inc.


Device Name: Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD


Mode: Thunderbolt 2


Device ID: 0x85


Vendor ID: 0x13


Device Revision: 0x1


UID: 0x0013139178DFDA00


Route String: 3


Firmware Version: 25.1


Port (Upstream):


Status: Device connected


Link Status: 0x2


Speed: Up to 10 Gb/s x2


Current Link Width: 0x1


Cable Firmware Version: 1.1.0


Link Controller Firmware Version: 0.14.0

Silly me, maybe too much sun -)

been 20 years since I last experienced German winter depression

 

[Pacific1972]

AMD ATI FirePro - W6170M

Have here some W6170 Cards which I want to install in 2009 iMac 11,1 - 27" and
have - excuse - various problems which I want to solve. Today I'm a stupid man...

After patching W6170 ROM with CH341A on PC I've installed it to 27" iMac late 2009.
I've read about SMBus problems and under Big Sur (OCLP) everything looks normal but
if I want to open a 32Bit App or RAM Keeper Software, the internal screen flashed to
dark and no reaction anymore was possible... hmm !

Another thing: after a new boot and few seconds of Unigine Valley Benchmark - the card
is very powerful with fluent animations - (I think another SMBus problem) the display flashed
to dark again. Perhaps I must use another HDD, install with OCLP a fresh macOS version
and test these cards again.

For these cards I have here a Ghost Mini DP Emulator, because I ask me the question
which display (internal secondary, external primary ?) comes up - this was a question for
different machines (IMac 2011 need without additional patch Mini DP Ghost EMU) .
I don't have a 2010 iMac here for testing, but the W6170 cards are new from US
refurbishment center.

For repatching macOS BigSur or another macOS on used HDD / SSD I rebuild with
OCLP the boot sequence on it externally on another iMac (2011 iMac with High Sierra
and Big Sur on two separate SSD) with Big Sur + USB SATA Adapter.

What I want to say - I read and learn here often but not daily - for people who opens once
their iMac and install another video card, because the old one was broken is that something,
which was without help from this forum and the help from Ausdauersportler hardly possible,
and if you delete NVIDIA KEXTs and inject original KEXTs for AMD8xxx for these card again,
and you have only one machine to test and solve - don't try it !

I think the ideal machine for this card is the iMac 27" from 2010 (SMBus problems in iMac
2009 and Ghost DP EMU on iMac 27" 2011) - for experimental use only...

Thanks for watching...

P.S. the W6170 is compareable with GTX860M or K4100M but with more Metal Power,
which is essential for macOS Catalina - Big Sur - Monterey... a real metal monster !

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi!

I guess you are referring to the W6170M, not a WX6170

Tested this card over several months in both the late 2009 and mid 2010. There were no stability problems in both of these machines - you have to use the big mid 2011 heat sink if running benchmarks. Otherwise the GPU may overheat and system will shut down immediately. I ran these benchmarks with several hours run time.

Try to get another heat sink and take care while installing it!

EDIT:

- only iMac11,1 and iMac11,2 have the SMBUS problem, but I have not seen any crashes,
- on the iMac12,2 there is no SMBUS conflict
- sleep/wake works on iMac11,1 and iMac11,2
- sleep/wake is still broken on iMac12,2 and this is an vBIOS issue!

 

[dfranetic]

@Pacific1972 While the card could be simply overheating as @Ausdauersportler suggested, what you're describing seems oddly similar to symptoms I encountered with my modded WX4170 in iMac11,1 and iMac11,3. (After a while the screen would go blank, fans still running... I did not try to connect to the machine remotely, so not really sure what was going on.) It could be related to SMBus issues. If I'm not mistaken, both cards have a temperature sensor IC with a conflicting I2C address - conflicting with onboard CPU temp. sensor IC. I don't know, maybe the symptoms can be worse in some machines, depending on which of the two temp. sensor ICs takes hold of the bus.

Anyway, I too have a W6170M sitting on my desk waiting for its owner to take some time and test it. I will test it, but probably not very soon. Perhaps there are two jumpers to remove, just as there were on WX41x0 cards...

 

[Pacific1972]

@Pacific1972 While the card could be simply overheating as @Ausdauersportler suggested, what you're describing seems oddly similar to symptoms I encountered with my modded WX4170 in iMac11,1 and iMac11,3. (After a while the screen would go blank, fans still running... I did not try to connect to the machine remotely, so not really sure what was going on.) It could be related to SMBus issues. If I'm not mistaken, both cards have a temperature sensor IC with a conflicting I2C address - conflicting with onboard CPU temp. sensor IC. I don't know, maybe the symptoms can be worse in some machines, depending on which of the two temp. sensor ICs takes hold of the bus.

Anyway, I too have a W6170M sitting on my desk waiting for its owner to take some time and test it. I will test it, but probably not very soon. Perhaps there are two jumpers to remove, just as there were on WX41x0 cards...

AMD ATI FirePro - W6170M

Hello, thanks for the heads up (AKA FreeLancer) .

I have seen that in HWSensors, that CPU was 129° Celsius (broken).
Was it possible to change the CPU i5 2.66 QC (750) against another model
(Xeon) or can I disable one or both i2C sensors ?

😄😄😄

Okay, perhaps I have for the 2009 iMac another idea... thank you, perhaps
I exchange and resolder temp sensors from Skin Temp or AMB Temp to CPU,
or perhaps I put all to trash 😄 !

...but perhaps it's possible to redirect the I2C adress from the W6170 card
to an open system channel (alias) !

 

[dfranetic]

Hello, thanks for the heads up (AKA FreeLancer) .

I have seen that in HWSensors, that CPU was 129° Celsius (broken).
Was it possible to change the CPU i5 2.66 QC (750) against another model
(Xeon) or can I disable one or both i2C sensors ?

😄😄😄

Okay, perhaps I have for the 2009 iMac another idea... thank you, perhaps
I exchange and resolder temp sensors from Skin Temp or AMB Temp to CPU,
or perhaps I put all to trash 😄 !

...but perhaps it's possible to redirect the I2C adress from the W6170 card
to an open system channel (alias) !

Changing sensors will not help. Also, the Xeon is not a problem. And do not thrash that iMac!

The problem is that sensor ICs with the same address are on the same bus (physically). The only way to get rid of that conflicting address is physically disconnecting the two bus lines from the temp. sensor IC on the MXM card. This should be quite possible (if the case of WX41x0 cards is any indication), I just haven't found time to investigate this yet.

 

[Pacific1972]

AMD ATI FirePro - W6170M

Excuse for my dumpness, I've understand you correctly. Inside of a CPU
you cannot exchange an adress, but on a video card there are perhaps more
possibilities to exchange or disconnect an adress... .

Since I am a practical person and unfortunately not a theorist it might be
possible to cut two lines of the MXM connector and switch off the I2C Temp
information 😁 then I would prepare these card to cut the lines or insulate
it with tape !!!

I don't need I2C temp information from the GPU, perhaps I look after MXM
infos if the I2C temperature infos have fixed copper lines on the MXM card.

Thanks for your knowledge, very helpful 👍