Have you already flashed the card with the new vBIOS? If not, go back the the first post and check the FAQ Q3.
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iM 4,1-14,4 2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade
- Thread starter MichaelDT
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No i didn’t flash it , imac doesn’t feel this gpu and 3rd led indicator stay off , no display when boots only chime sound, how could i flash this card while the imac can’t feel it , pls help
A few days ago khronokernel published the final release of OCLP, 0.4.3, not because it's perfect and without bugs, but because of ongoing war in Ukraine, the place he calls home. I didn't know the dev is Ukrainian…
I got some problem to ask help. Before I replace GPU, everything works normal.
STEP:
1. Connect TB2 to HDMI and make sure the desktop can sync with external LCD.
2. Replace a DELL GTX 780m GPU with grinded 3 pipes heatsink.
3. Plug single RAM, mouse, keyboard, TBtoHDMI cable and LAN.
4. Press power button and wait until all fans work with full speed.
(Without connect iMAC 27" LCD)
PROBLEM:
1. Got boot chime but external LCD didn't receive signal after all fans work with full speed.
(MLB Led1 and Led2 on)
2. Connect iMAC 27" LCD then press power button, SuperDrive fan stop in a few second, iMAC didn't power on.
(MLB Led1 on)
3. Remove only "LVDS connector" then power on, the situation become "problem 1".
4. Remove all SSD didn't solve the problem.
5. Change to origin HD6770, everything works normal again.
The seller provide GPUZ message to guarantee GPU status was fine. So I don't understand where the problem is. Hope you guys can provide any advise, lots of thank!
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Same here, I do not understand where your problem is!
Maintainer supplied a fully documentation of all the necessary steps including the crucial flashing of the vBIOS. Hope you find the docs and start to study it. Have fun!
P.S.: Some NVIDIA cards are just incompatible with the iMac12,2 - no solution for this. But if you read the first post about it your would have noticed the known issues…
Thank you for your quick reply!
The most simple description about my question is if LVDS connector plugged, iMac cannot power on.
I read #1 and search for other success examples, so I choose DELL 780m.
If the LVDS problem is because VIOS, I’ll try to find the way to update.
Please forgive me about my mac knowledge and bad english, thank you!
update my hardware data below:
iMAC 2011 27" (Sierra)
CPU : i7-2600, RAM : Kingston KVR16S11/8 8GB 1333 *4, GPU : HD6770 512MB
SSD : Micron MX500 1TB, Micron BX500 240GB, KLEVV N400 120GB
FAQ, Q3 - posted this already once, today. And follow the complete plan step by step of make yourself a plan.
The bad news is:
Your problem is well know with a few cards in the iMac12,2 only and I am afraid there might be no solution. Take a look into the hardware problems section on post #1. I would not recommend to buy a GTX card to be used in an iMac12,2.
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I thought the issue happened only in 880m..
So..the problem cannot be fix even I flash VBIOS. Maybe I will try to return this card to seller and pick another amd card.
Hi @nikey22
Nice work! It brought life back to an old iMac 27" 2011. And performance is great when it runs with 16 GB RAM and an SDD. Unfortunately it has sleep problems. No matter what I do with sleep using pmset, I cannot make it sleep properly. When it sleeps, it will never wake up. Have tried many versions of Big Sur.
And for some reason after installing this graphic card when it is forcefully shutdown using the powerbutton I have to wait multiple minutes before I can turn it on again. When listening to the iMac then I can hear an almost inaudible ticking sound when it is off.
I wonder if these are known problems? And I assume one should always use the newest: 4-22-2021 ROM?
Any ideas for getting sleep working (or maybe diagnostic data I can provide you)?
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There are four known reasons why sleep wake may be broken after installing and new GPU/CPU and a macOS version newer than High Sierra on an iMac12,x (Mid 2011):
1) iGPU patching on Mojave+, solved by disabling the iGPU entirely with OCLP (so Big Sur will not cause sleep/wake issues)
2) Xeon GPU without an iGPU (sometimes solved by OCLP, on in every case)
3) installing AMD GCN GPU (nearly all ones, but a few work, hit and miss)
4) installing some versions of Nvidia GPU (we cannot identify the broken versions)
Unfortunately there is no solution. In all known cases the GPU used in case 3 and 4 will run without any problems in older iMac10,1 and iMac11,x systems (Late 2009-Mid 2010).
Again, these problems are specific to iMac12,x (possibly iMac12,2) systems. I have not tested any GCN card in an iMac12,1 and I am not aware of general problems.
The sleep/wake issues should be mentioned in the NVIDIA GPU known issues section or the hardware problems post.
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This forum is a treasure. Really. Gongrats and many many thanks to everyone who has contributed.
Now that I finished with all upgrades, my story is the following.
I bought a very cheap iMac from ebay. The specs where:
late 2011
21,5”
i5-2500s
Amd HD6770
120gb Kingston ssd
8GB of Ram (4x2GB).
OS: High Sierra
The first problem the iMac had was that the screen had many dark shadows mainly on the top left corner (the reason I got it cheap). I used the guide found in here, opened the screen, cleaned it and now it is perfect.
Then I did the following upgrades:
Everything is working great. Wifi, Bluetooth, boot screen, sleep, brightness control etc etc. It is like the 2011 Imac was made to support Big Sur if you install a metal supported GPU. The OCLP did not even find any post-install patches! This machine has now got a second life and I can keep it for many years to come as my main use of it is emails, youtube, movies, documents etc.
I took photos of everything during the process. If you want I can upload many of them.
The only two minor problems I have encountered are the following:
1. The temp of the GPU cannot be read. This was expected, so I use the GPU Heatsink sensor to at least have an idea of the GPU temp.
Is there any software/app that could read the GPU-diode temp?
2. Netflix cannot play movies in safari and also Apple TV cannot play movies. It starts playing the movie for a split second but then stops and exits. This was expected as well, as Nvidia based systems cannot get iGPU based H.264 QuickSync acceleration, so no DRM. Is there any workaround to this? (i.e. add any boot argument or kext etc?). For the time being as a workaround, I am using chrome for watching Netflix and apple TV (at TV.apple.com).
Again, many many thanks for this amazing thread. If anyone has any solution to my above two questions it will be appreciated. I guess there is no solution, but worth asking if anyone has tested any new methods,
Now that I finished with all upgrades, my story is the following.
I bought a very cheap iMac from ebay. The specs where:
late 2011
21,5”
i5-2500s
Amd HD6770
120gb Kingston ssd
8GB of Ram (4x2GB).
OS: High Sierra
The first problem the iMac had was that the screen had many dark shadows mainly on the top left corner (the reason I got it cheap). I used the guide found in here, opened the screen, cleaned it and now it is perfect.
Then I did the following upgrades:
- Cpu was upgraded to i7-2600s
- Gpu was upgraded to Nvidia K2100m (flashed Nick[D]vb Bios with the Xanderon linux USB via SSH).
- SSD was upgraded to 1TB Samsung Evo. (I also used a sata splitter and the fans are quiet without the need of MacFan control).
- Ram was upgraded to 16GB (4x4GB).
- The OS was upgraded to Big Sur using Opencore Legacy patcher.
Everything is working great. Wifi, Bluetooth, boot screen, sleep, brightness control etc etc. It is like the 2011 Imac was made to support Big Sur if you install a metal supported GPU. The OCLP did not even find any post-install patches! This machine has now got a second life and I can keep it for many years to come as my main use of it is emails, youtube, movies, documents etc.
I took photos of everything during the process. If you want I can upload many of them.
The only two minor problems I have encountered are the following:
1. The temp of the GPU cannot be read. This was expected, so I use the GPU Heatsink sensor to at least have an idea of the GPU temp.
Is there any software/app that could read the GPU-diode temp?
2. Netflix cannot play movies in safari and also Apple TV cannot play movies. It starts playing the movie for a split second but then stops and exits. This was expected as well, as Nvidia based systems cannot get iGPU based H.264 QuickSync acceleration, so no DRM. Is there any workaround to this? (i.e. add any boot argument or kext etc?). For the time being as a workaround, I am using chrome for watching Netflix and apple TV (at TV.apple.com).
Again, many many thanks for this amazing thread. If anyone has any solution to my above two questions it will be appreciated. I guess there is no solution, but worth asking if anyone has tested any new methods,
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Wanted to thank everyone who built this amazing thread, I was able to follow and upgrade my 2011 iMac to macOS Monterey, also upgraded the graphics card to M5100! After a constant battle over the last few days finally (mostly) everything works smoothly and I am really excited that I can use this wonderful machine for a few more years to come!
The only thing that makes it less than perfect is, the wifi seems to be not working as expected, shows On in the settings but is not able to detect any wifi network to connect to.
I am using a TPLink adapter to connect to the wifi network, a nice workaround for now and too afraid to touch the configs anymore..
The only thing that makes it less than perfect is, the wifi seems to be not working as expected, shows On in the settings but is not able to detect any wifi network to connect to.
I am using a TPLink adapter to connect to the wifi network, a nice workaround for now and too afraid to touch the configs anymore..
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Did you get the WiFi working? That's the only thing now missing from my otherwise fully upgraded M5100 iMac 2011 setup!
You need to install the OCLP post install patches to get WiFi back working, the Atheros card lost support with Monterey!
Does sleep/wake work with your system (seems to be a hit and miss using these cards)?
Cannot believe you missed Macs Fan Control?
Very likely SMC and fan control is working as designed by Apple in 2011 even with replacement cards, but it kicks in at 80C on the sink and more. This is not the way you want to treat your card. Replacing the ODD sensor lowers this threshold to 55C.
No, the only known workaround is using a Polaris AMD card like the WX4130.
Not sure if this would help your case, but I faced a similar issue with my M5100 when sometimes the screen just doesn't turn on even though I hear the startup chime and fans start to make noise.
Holding the SHIFT key during the boot (hold it for like 10 secs when you hear the chime) does something where the screen stays black/gray for the next 5 mins or so and then the system reboots, showing the boot picker/apple logo.. Worked consistently for me during my initial struggle with the M5100 setup.. Worth a try!
Pressing the shift key on boot starts into the save mode. Within this mode the card should show a picture even without OCLP. Have not seen this auto reboot but I will give it a try - when I find another cheap iMac12,2 to test.
Is it safe to use the post-install patch with a different GPU (M5100) installed in the system? I am a little worried that it might override the AMD metal support flag and I will again end up with a black screen during boot up!
Thanx @Ausdauersportler !
I am using MacsFan control and I have set the ODD fan to kick in at 50c according to the readings of the GPU heat sink sensor.
I am asking if there is any software/app to see/read the GPU Diode sensor itself. As you see in the screenshot it is blank.
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Kalispera!
HW Monitor and some commercial apps may show it, but it is completely useless. You do not want to cool down the current temperature, you want to cool down the average heat dissipation, and there the sink is a perfect spot to measure.
Some cards show all temps like my AMD WX4170 (and most other AMD cards I own).
I've had good success using AMD GCN cards for DRM streaming in Safari and Apple TV app.
On iMac 2010, 27" I have tried both M5100 and M6100, both work flawlessly, even sleep/wake is fine.
On iMac 2011, 21" I have tried W5170M, DRM streaming work fine, but no sleep/wake, I had to check the box for (Prevent your Mac from automatically sleeping when the display is off) to prevent the iMac to crash upon wake.
On iMac 2011, 27" I have tried W6170M, no sleep/wake, and weird DRM bug. DRM streaming works for about ~ 30 seconds, but then the screen turns black, you can still hear the audio fine. This same problem has been reported for supported Macs (see this thread #1 ). I have not found any solution to this yet.
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This is no DRM bug!
Apple simply dropped all software encoder packages from Big Sur and later. So only hardware can manage it, you need either a metal iGPU (IvyBridge HD4000 and later) or (in general) a AMD 2017+ GPU (Polaris and later).
You can get DRM until Catalina with all GCN AMD GPU. The W5170M is still used in the MacBookPro 2015 (R9 M370X) and this might be the reason why DRM is still working.
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Yes, wifi is working after running OCLP post install patch. Make sure you have the offline version of OCLP.