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

[RobertL39]

Like I said, "us numpties". The clue is in the first sentence of the OCLP instructions: "This doc is centered around downloading and writing the macOS installer to a USB." IOW, DUH, it puts the installer on a USB! Which is why I can't now install ONTO the USB because that's where the installer is and it won't install on top of itself! DUH!!
Thanks again!!! I'll give it another go and report back.

 

[RobertL39]

When running OCLP I tried to put the installer on my USB external hard drive. But the GUI doesn't give me a choice as to which partition on the USB external I want to use: the choice is the whole drive. Does anyone know if the OCLP creates another partition on the external, or, HORRORS, would erase the whole external? I found no way to select a partition on it for creating the installer. So I'm back to putting it on a very slow USB drive. Thanks again!!!!!

 

[Surf2bikes]

When running OCLP I tried to put the installer on my USB external hard drive. But the GUI doesn't give me a choice as to which partition on the USB external I want to use: the choice is the whole drive. Does anyone know if the OCLP creates another partition on the external, or, HORRORS, would erase the whole external? I found no way to select a partition on it for creating the installer. So I'm back to putting it on a very slow USB drive. Thanks again!!!!!

I recommend that you check again the documentation how to install OCLP and MacOs Getting started. Also I can recommend the videos from Mr. Hackintosh...like this one : How to Create a Bootable macOS Monterey Installer USB in 5 min!

 

[bielousov.com]

OCLP disables the HD3000 because it breaks sleep and we had no use of it until some days before. Installing the HD3000 files and the AppleGVA frameworks would need patching of the root system volume (which breaks the delta OTA updates).

Currently I do no own an NVIDIA card myself and cannot test the patches I did using an old ATI 6770 card with the new OpenGL patches available (so called TS2 or TeraScale 2 patches). Runs impressively well.

Unless a macOS terminal aware owner of this type of system (NVIDIA + iMac12,x) repeats this test we will not implement it within the OCLP.

Sitting and waiting is not an option!

@Ausdauersportler Has there been any progress enabling HD3000 QuickSync, or have you found a volunteer to try?
I think I have the right system (27" with 780M Kepler) and I'm looking forward to just enable h264 HW de/encoding (while hunting for a Polaris.

Don't care that much for sleep (disabled) and AirDrop, but I could serve a guinea pig if needed.

 

[internetzel]

Yes, I edited my 1st post. I was booting from OC on the internal drive. @internetzel do you know how to enable the mini DisplayPort or any hints where to look? This is the only thing not working yet.
Do I have just to change the model identifier and which one to pick closest ti imac12,1 in order to get mDP working?

I'm afraid you'll not be able to use an external display if it's not already working.
I don't know much about how good the VBIOS is working on 21,5" iMacs. I thought the miniDP should work, but others here on the thread should know better.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

@Ausdauersportler Has there been any progress enabling HD3000 QuickSync, or have you found a volunteer to try?
I think I have the right system (27" with 780M Kepler) and I'm looking forward to just enable h264 HW de/encoding (while hunting for a Polaris.

Don't care that much for sleep (disabled) and AirDrop, but I could serve a guinea pig if needed.

You can try this by rebuilding the solution I once posted here on the Big Sur thread for systems using old ATI card - surprisingly it worked there. I just added the Catalina AppleGVACore side by side with the older High Sierra AppleGVA framework.

You need to reenable the iGPU by modifying the OCLP config.plist, and you would need to add all HD3000 files, the SNB files in the same way as before with Mojave and Catalina, and the files added to this post. Depending on the spoofing you will need to use the original AppleIntelSNB* or the one patched with the iMacPro1,1 board-id. All files have been published by @highvoltage12v on this thread.

I will not spend any time on this experiment myself.

 

[bielousov.com]

You can try this by rebuilding the solution I once posted here on the Big Sur thread for systems using old ATI card - surprisingly it worked there. I just added the Catalina AppleGVACore side by side with the older High Sierra AppleGVA framework.

You need to reenable the iGPU by modifying the OCLP config.plist, and you would need to add all HD3000 files, the SNB files in the same way as before with Mojave and Catalina, and the files added to this post. Depending on the spoofing you will need to use the original AppleIntelSNB* or the one patched with the iMacPro1,1 board-id. All files have been published by @highvoltage12v on this thread.

I will not spend any time on this experiment myself.

Thank you, I've done most of that, but not all. AppleGVACore and OCLP config.plist steps missing specifically.
Gonna go fill the gaps.

 

[bielousov.com]

You can try this by rebuilding the solution I once posted here on the Big Sur thread for systems using old ATI card - surprisingly it worked there. I just added the Catalina AppleGVACore side by side with the older High Sierra AppleGVA framework.

You need to reenable the iGPU by modifying the OCLP config.plist, and you would need to add all HD3000 files, the SNB files in the same way as before with Mojave and Catalina, and the files added to this post. Depending on the spoofing you will need to use the original AppleIntelSNB* or the one patched with the iMacPro1,1 board-id. All files have been published by @highvoltage12v on this thread.

I will not spend any time on this experiment myself.

So far little success. After all changes as advised, I was able to boot, login and system would hang in ~15 seconds after login (even after all login items removed) with KP:

      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD3000Graphics(10.0.4)[3A47B78B-AF9B-30A4-A5AD-C0B4318C9665]@0xffffff7fc9239000->0xffffff7fc9288fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(585.2)[CF6F7834-F957-34B7-B88F-5DA1B934A3DB]@0xffffff7fca1e4000->0xffffff7fca212fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[567490F5-66F1-3674-A91E-89DC0D83D081]@0xffffff8031d5e000->0xffffff8031d86fff

Process name corresponding to current thread: VTDecoderXPCService
Boot args: keepsyms=1 debug=0x100 -disable_sidecar_mac -revasset

So it's clear enough that it is trying to use the HD3000. I guess VTDecoder stands for VideoToolbox h264 decoder, which is exactly what I expect of it. During those 15s UI performance is smooth. Will have to play with it more tomorrow.
Not sure how spoofing affects the AppleIntelSNB*. I guess I have it set to minimal, and using the original one.

Just in case tried simply removing the PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0) record, as well as setting it as per this doc recommendation: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/config.plist/sandy-bridge.html#deviceproperties, as far as I can tell, same result. Which is not that bad, meaning that iGPU is enabled, but drivers(kext) or SMBIOS is not quite right.

 

[Philby2530]

Good morning to the Community.

A friend of mine just bought a fully functional iMac Mid 2011 for 99 €. Now she is asking me if I could find and install a new graphic card in it because I did it recently for another friend.

I am looking for an AMD card (WX4150 or WX4170 or R9 M280X) for a decent price.

If you have seen such an add on ebay or on aliexpress or if you have a card to sell, can you share it with me?

Thanks for any help you can provide us.

Philippe

 

[NOTNlCE]

@Ausdauersportler Has there been any progress enabling HD3000 QuickSync, or have you found a volunteer to try?
I think I have the right system (27" with 780M Kepler) and I'm looking forward to just enable h264 HW de/encoding (while hunting for a Polaris.

In Big Sur and higher, the problem is that the root volume patches required to actually "enable" the HD3000 iGPU breaks Metal acceleration on the NVIDIA or ATI GPU, regardless of SMBIOS selection. I've personally put hours into this and never made notable progress. It always ends up breaking either one or the other. It's even worse in Monterey.

I will say, however, that I have not gone back to try this since OCLP has implemented the new VMM feature set, but that also has its issues with our iMacs.

As Ausdauersportler has mentioned, Polaris simply superior here being able to use the dGPU for decode. I would love for someone to make more progress than I have on the iGPU, but it is looking bleak from where I stand.

 

[Stefanox2410]

Good morning everyone I tried to install windows on imac 2011 27 with gtx 880m, with bootcamp if I try windows 8 gives me this error as soon as it connects to the internet (I think downloads drivers) and with windows 10 from an error already in the installation. I tried to figure out the windows 10 guide on page 1 but I can't. Please help me

 

[bielousov.com]

In Big Sur and higher, the problem is that the root volume patches required to actually "enable" the HD3000 iGPU breaks Metal acceleration on the NVIDIA or ATI GPU, regardless of SMBIOS selection. I've personally put hours into this and never made notable progress. It always ends up breaking either one or the other. It's even worse in Monterey.

I will say, however, that I have not gone back to try this since OCLP has implemented the new VMM feature set, but that also has its issues with our iMacs.

As Ausdauersportler has mentioned, Polaris simply superior here being able to use the dGPU for decode. I would love for someone to make more progress than I have on the iGPU, but it is looking bleak from where I stand.

Thank you. I've got this impression as well. As I was able to achieve the iGpu encoding/decoding acceleration after forcing the OCLP post-install patch somehow, but couldn't even run Value then, for something was off with the NVidia. That's when I've got Kext code signing error and started anew, not so bluntly, but actually knowing what I'm doing. Since then I wasn't able to enable HD3000 without the Kernel Panic though.

Polaris is definitely the way to go and I don't mind the price, but there's no MXM WX7100 or RX480 for sell what so ever, so that might take a while.

 

[internetzel]

Good morning everyone I tried to install windows on imac 2011 27 with gtx 880m, with bootcamp if I try windows 8 gives me this error as soon as it connects to the internet (I think downloads drivers) and with windows 10 from an error already in the installation. I tried to figure out the windows 10 guide on page 1 but I can't. Please help me

Did you try booting into the Windows installer and/or the installed Windows via OpenCore?
Of course you can only boot Windows installations via OCLP that haven't been installed using bootcamp.

 

[internetzel]

Thank you. I've got this impression as well. As I was able to achieve the iGpu encoding/decoding acceleration after forcing the OCLP post-install patch somehow, but couldn't even run Value then, for something was off with the NVidia. That's when I've got Kext code signing error and started anew, not so bluntly, but actually knowing what I'm doing. Since then I wasn't able to enable HD3000 without the Kernel Panic though.

Polaris is definitely the way to go and I don't mind the price, but there's no MXM WX7100 or RX480 for sell what so ever, so that might take a while.

Don't underestimate the WX41x0 cards. Their Baffin cores are the mid performance class in the Polaris series.
The low performance Lexa core based cards aren't supported at all by the macOS drivers.

The Ellesmere core based cards (like the RX480 and the WX7100) are really meant for gamers, high quality video editing or similar highly demanding tasks.

 

[bielousov.com]

Don't underestimate the WX41x0 cards. Their Baffin cores are the mid performance class in the Polaris series.
The low performance Lexa core based cards aren't supported at all by the macOS drivers.

The Ellesmere core based cards (like the RX480 and the WX7100) are really meant for gamers, high quality video editing or similar highly demanding tasks.

4K HEVC Video encoding is exactly what I need it for. Well and smoother h264 playback and background rendering in FCP too. The later is what I'm trying to achieve with HD3000 QuickSync.

 

[m0bil]

Good morning everyone I tried to install windows on imac 2011 27 with gtx 880m, with bootcamp if I try windows 8 gives me this error as soon as it connects to the internet (I think downloads drivers) and with windows 10 from an error already in the installation. I tried to figure out the windows 10 guide on page 1 but I can't. Please help me

This is caused by a bug in the iGPU driver in Windows. You need to boot into safe mode and disable the HD3000 device, but the device will come back after some windows updates are downloaded and you'll get again the BSOD.
Best way to fix this is to create a group policy that prevents all installation of drivers for this device.

 

[Maximum-Appeal3945]

I tried to install OpenCore on my 2014 iMac 5k and the whole thing got really depressing…

Long story short: I followed the installation guide until restarting my Mac to boot from the created usb drive.

Unfortunately my keyboard didn’t work anymore so I got stuck in login window until the system offered to restart into recovery mode - which I did.

From there I tried to decrypt my hard drive to restore from a Time Machine backup. Decryption didn’t work too so I decided to simply erase my Mac to restore it from that ominous backup. It ended up with the ?-folder and things like CMD + R won’t work.

How can I proceed? What did I do wrong?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

What did I do wrong?

You picked the completely wrong thread.

 

[Maximum-Appeal3945]

You picked the completely wrong thread.

On Reddit they linked to this one

 

[Stefanox2410]

Did you try booting into the Windows installer and/or the installed Windows via OpenCore?
Of course you can only boot Windows installations via OCLP that haven't been installed using bootcamp.

no, i didn't try because i tried to understand but bootcamp is used in the guide

 

[davidg5678]

no, i didn't try because i tried to understand but bootcamp is used in the guide

Following this guide should help: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/WINDOWS.html#disk-formatting

Use these OpenCore Legacy Patcher Instructions, and then install just the drivers that come from Boot Camp. You should no longer use the normal Boot Camp utilities to set up Windows, as OpenCore legacy patcher changes some things about the process. The only thing Boot Camp is required for is downloading a file that contains Windows drivers for your Mac.

 

[highvoltage12v]

In Big Sur and higher, the problem is that the root volume patches required to actually "enable" the HD3000 iGPU breaks Metal acceleration on the NVIDIA or ATI GPU, regardless of SMBIOS selection. I've personally put hours into this and never made notable progress. It always ends up breaking either one or the other. It's even worse in Monterey.

I will say, however, that I have not gone back to try this since OCLP has implemented the new VMM feature set, but that also has its issues with our iMacs.

As Ausdauersportler has mentioned, Polaris simply superior here being able to use the dGPU for decode. I would love for someone to make more progress than I have on the iGPU, but it is looking bleak from where I stand.

As I found in the early Big Sur betas, Catalina was the last OS that can really tolerate any of the HD3000 kexts being loaded with S/L/Extensions.

 

[georgeimac]

Update to OCLP 0.4.2 with NVIDIA K3100m on 2011 iMac 12,2 and Monterey 12.2
Firstly, thank you to all involved in this project from Ausdauersportler to Khronokernel, and all the others. Keeping theses machines going is a positive for our environment.
1. Very stable with OCLP 0.4.2
2. Post install volume patch identifies new video card and updates to legacy cards ie. wifi
3. All programs run without incident
4. Display brightness adjustable
5. No airplay/airdrop (expected).

Does anyone have suggestions for running airplay with this configuration?

Thank you for your assist

 

[Stefanox2410]

Following this guide should help: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/WINDOWS.html#disk-formatting

Use these OpenCore Legacy Patcher Instructions, and then install just the drivers that come from Boot Camp. You should no longer use the normal Boot Camp utilities to set up Windows, as OpenCore legacy patcher changes some things about the process. The only thing Boot Camp is required for is downloading a file that contains Windows drivers for your Mac.

Perfect, thank you very much so I have to install oc first of all and then create a key right?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Perfect, thank you very much so I have to install oc first of all and then create a key right?

If you want to use High Sierra only you should use BootCamp Windows! Unfortunately OCLP disables the HD3000 iGPU on iMac12,2 - which is unwanted since it still works perfectly on High Sierra. You can of course manually edit the config.plist and delete the section which disables the iGPU/HD3000.

If you want to use a newer macOS you may use OCLP/OpenCore and you can follow the linked guide.