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Thanks! Option 2 looks likes the easiest to understand. I've updated my cheat sheet. Really appreciate the help!
On my machine the boot volume doesn't change by booting from my GRML USB stick.
The missing option is creating a CD with an appropriately configured OCLP EFI folder - I thought this was described (or at least linked to) in the first post.
 
On my machine the boot volume doesn't change by booting from my GRML USB stick.
The missing option is creating a CD with an appropriately configured OCLP EFI folder - I thought this was described (or at least linked to) in the first post.
I was hoping to burn a OCPL recovery CD before beginning, but the instructions appear to refer to parts of an older version of OCPL that are not in the current version. Step 3 calls out to select "Set generic bootstrap" from within the Advanced Patch Settings. In the current version, that menu option is not present. I scoured thru all the menus and could not figure out how to proceed. I'm just not familiar enough with the software.
 
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View attachment 1775550

Hello everyone,

I noticed there are still a few members that have K1000M cards around.

I've put together this K1000M rom to enable Brightness control. You will still need to use Opencore to do the ACPI injections, but at least we have a way to control brightness on these older cards now. Just another option.

Vram support:
- ? (will check)

Bootloader/OS support:
Catalina Loader, High Sierra 10.13.6 (tested)

Machine support:
iMac 12,1 ( 21.5-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B5BF58194151B
iMac 11,2 ( 21.5-inch Mid 2010) Mac-F2238AC8
iMac 11,1 (27-inch Late 2009) Mac-F2268DAE
iMac 11,3 (27-inch Mid 2010) Mac- F2238BAE
iMac12,2 (27-inch Mid 2011) Mac-942B59F58194171B (tested)

Enjoy!
hello everyone, i updated my imac with a k1000m 2gb, i flashed this rom, it seemed to work because it could be seen but even after redoing opencore it seems as if it has no drivers and the bar is not seen, it jerks
and when i turn it on i noticed that it does not immediately turn white, after a while white and immediately black of opencore

Thanks too helpme
 

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I was hoping to burn a OCPL recovery CD before beginning, but the instructions appear to refer to parts of an older version of OCPL that are not in the current version. Step 3 calls out to select "Set generic bootstrap" from within the Advanced Patch Settings. In the current version, that menu option is not present. I scoured thru all the menus and could not figure out how to proceed. I'm just not familiar enough with the software.
Follow the instructions from the Mac Pro OC thread, use OCLP to generate the EFI folder and the config.plist. It needs manual editing, renaming of the boot.efi file and creating a directory structure exactly as described on this post. There will be no tool support for these steps. If you are not familiar with the software right now it is probably the time to change this.

Section Maintainance->Creating a Rescue CD....
 
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hello everyone, i updated my imac with a k1000m 2gb, i flashed this rom, it seemed to work because it could be seen but even after redoing opencore it seems as if it has no drivers and the bar is not seen, it jerks
and when i turn it on i noticed that it does not immediately turn white, after a while white and immediately black of opencore

Thanks too helpme
You need to get rid of the dosdude1 graphics graphics driver patches, I think.
 
Does it have to be a boot CD?
I created a boot USB.
The boot CD is especially useful for the AMD cards where the "normal" (not EG modded) VBIOSes don't provide any boot screen and you can't even blindly use Apple's boot screen because the firmware will simply hang when trying to get to the boot screen.
Nvidia users have the advantage of a fully working boot screen.
 
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The boot CD is especially useful for the AMD cards where the "normal" (not EG modded) VBIOSes don't provide any boot screen and you can't even blindly use Apple's boot screen because the firmware will simply hang when trying to get to the boot screen.
Nvidia users have the advantage of a fully working boot screen.
I have added the EFI BOOT to my USB with the macOS Installer, but soundd's like that might not help with my AMD card. The stock video card in my iMac is so far gone that I have limited time to use the machine before it shuts down. Can I create another OpenCore and install it to a blank CD, similar to how it is installed to a USB drive?
 
I have added the EFI BOOT to my USB with the macOS Installer, but soundd's like that might not help with my AMD card. The stock video card in my iMac is so far gone that I have limited time to use the machine before it shuts down. Can I create another OpenCore and install it to a blank CD, similar to how it is installed to a USB drive?
and how do I do this?
I only want to provide some hints, but you'll need to search the first post and/or the thread yourself; I don't remember every detail of the solution.
 
The boot CD is especially useful for the AMD cards where the "normal" (not EG modded) VBIOSes don't provide any boot screen and you can't even blindly use Apple's boot screen because the firmware will simply hang when trying to get to the boot screen.
Nvidia users have the advantage of a fully working boot screen.
Thanks for this.
Since the procedure is to use the linux usb to flash (via ssh) the modded bios to the Amd card, I suppose I will not be needing a boot CD, correct?
I am asking because I am expecting this week to receive an AMD m5100.
I will install it, disconnect the SSd, boot via the linux usb, flash the bios via ssh, and then use an opencore boot usb (which I have already prepared with the appropriate GCN inputs/commands in the config plist), to boot to the desktop and then use OCLP to install opencore to the ssd.
Hope that's the way to go?
 
Thanks for this.
Since the procedure is to use the linux usb to flash (via ssh) the modded bios to the Amd card, I suppose I will not be needing a boot CD, correct?
I am asking because I am expecting this week to receive an AMD m5100.
I will install it, disconnect the SSd, boot via the linux usb, flash the bios via ssh, and then use an opencore boot usb (which I have already prepared with the appropriate GCN inputs/commands in the config plist), to boot to the desktop and then use OCLP to install opencore to the ssd.
Hope that's the way to go?
I think it should work that way; just always keep in mind that you cannot use the Apple boot picker with your AMD card.
 
The most important thing you missed is the fact that pressing the option key at bootup will not work at all with any of the later ATI/AMD GPUs (it's possible but that requires some more mods and equipment to make it work).
Pressing the "C" key in order to boot from a CD does still work, although without any display until the OS has loaded the graphics drivers.
I am on the same track as thainglo, and I have concluded that I REALLY need a rescue boot CD to get further after a frustrating 4 weeks trial and error. Thanks to Ausdauersportlers link to the MacPro recipe for this above, I finally succeeded in booting my stock HighSierra SSD using OC. Yay!
 
Seems the task is completed ! It has been a long and twisty road, but finally it is up and running.
I will use it for some days to see if stability is OK, then I will try to upgrade to BigSur or Monterey.
Thanks a lot for providing this trove of information!

IMG_7627.jpg
 
Seems the task is completed ! It has been a long and twisty road, but finally it is up and running.
I will use it for some days to see if stability is OK, then I will try to upgrade to BigSur or Monterey.
Thanks a lot for providing this trove of information!

View attachment 2033991
Great job! I burned a CD this morning via my Mac Mini and an external DVD drive. Went to test it out in the iMac and discovered the DVD drive isn't properly functioning... Going to pull it today and see if there is something easy inside. This machine has managed to fight EVERY step of the way!! Still having a good time, though.
 
Great job! I burned a CD this morning via my Mac Mini and an external DVD drive. Went to test it out in the iMac and discovered the DVD drive isn't properly functioning... Going to pull it today and see if there is something easy inside. This machine has managed to fight EVERY step of the way!! Still having a good time, though.
So, if it can be of any help to anyone, here is my chronicle (omitting weeks of failures inbetween) of the process:

Upgrading my iMac 27” mid 2010 (iMac 11,3)

  • Extended to 12GB RAM
  • 500 GB SSD
  • Installed HighSierra
  • Intel i7 - 870 processor
  • Mounted AMD Firepro M6100 2GB MXM GPU
    • Had to cut away some metal in order to fit it to my 2-pipe heatsink
    • Worked OK in plain HighSierra, except no bootpicker. Since it boots in 15 seconds, this was acceptable as is. GPU Reported as Radeon HD 8xxx in MacOS
  • Made recovery boot CD
  • Upgraded GPU VBIOS, using Linux USB https://forums.macrumors.com/thread....1596614/page-545?post=29723850#post-29723850
  • Downloaded and run the latest OCLP GUI installer(0.4.9). Under settings, I turned off the BootPicker, and under Developent I chose AMD GCN as GPU Model for MXM iMacs, then did “Build and Install OpenCore” selecting my iMac SSD disk as target. When I got prompted for “reboot while holding option key”, I turned off the iMac, and turned on again holding “Alt-Cmd-P-R” to reset the NVRAM.
  • Then, I booted the iMac holding the “C” key, booting from the CD. When presented with the boot options from OC, I selected the EFI partition on the SSD drive. After a longish wait with a black screen, the iMac booted into High Sierra.
  • From Preferences, i selected my Startup Disk as my SSD, and ejected the CD before rebooting the system. Again a round of “Alt-Cmd-P-R” for good measure before booting normally into my SSD.
 
You are a day or two ahead of me, I was also planning to publish my steps. Now, I might just blatantly steal and use your successful steps! I wasn't aware that the system would run with High Sierra right after install. That provides a nice checking point as part of the upgrade process.

When creating your Rescue CD from the instructions you linked, where did you find the "enable bootstrap" in the menus? I searched and could not find it anywhere.

I am in the process of trying to repair my DVD drive after opening it up and seeing a damaged part. Almost done and ready to try it out. The metal tab with the rollwr is supposed to slide smoothly UNDER the plastic cover Hard to tell how it could be bent like this, the metal is fairly strong.
20220724_105320.jpg
 
DVD update: Good news, the drive pulled in my DVD and read it. The bad news, I must have made a mistake when building tbe file because I could not use it to boot while pressing "C". The even worse news, the drive will not eject the DVD, makes a bad clicking sound then starts reading it again. Same sounds it made prior to my disassembly and repair.

This old gal sure is tempermental!
 
You are a day or two ahead of me, I was also planning to publish my steps. Now, I might just blatantly steal and use your successful steps! I wasn't aware that the system would run with High Sierra right after install. That provides a nice checking point as part of the upgrade process.

When creating your Rescue CD from the instructions you linked, where did you find the "enable bootstrap" in the menus? I searched and could not find it anywhere.

I am in the process of trying to repair my DVD drive after opening it up and seeing a damaged part. Almost done and ready to try it out. The metal tab with the rollwr is supposed to slide smoothly UNDER the plastic cover Hard to tell how it could be bent like this, the metal is fairly strong.
View attachment 2034070
Re Bootstrap: In the TUI version 0.4.6 there is a little difference in the menu system from the linked recipe. I used the text lines in stead of trusting the menu numbers, and found that the Advanced settings, for developers only now resides as menu item #8 and not #9, and should read as follows
1. run OCLP TUI
2. select 5. Patcher Settings
3. select 9 8. Advanced Settings, for developers only
4. select 3. Set Generic Bootstrap
5. select 2. EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.efi
6. select Q. Quit
7. select 1. Set Metal GPU Status
8. select 4. AMD Legacy GCN
9. select Q. Quit
10. select Q. Quit
11. select 1. Build OpenCore
12. save files from temporary storage or select 2. Install OpenCore to USB/internal drive
 
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Thanks!! Your message finally pulled away my blinders. I had been using the latest version 0.4.9 GUI instead of the 0.4.6 TUI. Was able to follow the instructions step by step as soon as I downloaded and launched the correct program! Always the little things...

Now have a Recovery CD burned through an external disk drive, but will be waiting few more days until the replacement DVD drive arrives (and hopefully functional!). I can always pull the current DVD drive while working on the video card and pop in the new-and-improved DVD. Won't be able to eject it right away, but will at least be there if I need it. Might go that route.
 
As promised ( @ChrisCaro ) ...

A second (for me) working WX7100 card installed; within a 27" iMac mid-2011 named "SCOOBERT". It boots with OpenCore v0.6.6 to Big Sur, High Sierra and Win10, and will soon reside on my wife's desk. Pics and benchmarks (results also posted) follow. The source was eBay using the same seller that @splifingate posted earlier.

As always, thanks to @wa9im, @Pascal Baillargeau, @Nick [D]vB, @Ausdauersportler, @Emilio306 and @jborko for their contributions in making this possible.

So I finally got to the installation of my WX7100 (*exact* match to yours) and--frustratingly--it fails to be recognised.

System chimes, only left two diag lights are lit (XXOO), and grml usb thumb blinks continually (not ping-able, nor ssh-able).

I have not re-attached the internal lcd, yet.

After the first un-successful run of trying to boot the system, I removed the logic board (again), and inspected everything under high powered magnification: nothing obvious was mis-wired, knocked-off or disconnected.

After the subsequent re-installation, I was faced with the same scenario; I did, however, experience about ten minutes of the same boot-blink-nothing interspersed with automatic system reboots.

Upon inspection of Pascal's photos of his successfully-booting 109-C95847-00D 02 card, I have noticed that there are chips that are missing/different in the layout that you and I sourced.

Front:

109-C95847-00D_comparison_front.jpg

Back:

109-C95847-00D_comparison_back.jpg

Odd, to me, seeing what looks like the same model, but with different chips. Of particular interest is how different the placement of the x-bracket is (seems much smaller on Pascal's card).

Since yours is working and functional in the same iMac model as mine, it must come down to my installation (of which this is my first).

The 7100 seats in the heatsink with the same footprint of the 6970 that was in it (no need to grind the heatsink, and the x-bracket from the 6970 aligns perfectly with no capacitors/resistors occluded).

How sensitive are these installations to screw tension? Is over/under-tightening leading to failure (temporary, or otherwise) an issue that others have faced?

I will dis-assemble, clean the paste/K5 off the card, and start again some time this week (I had forgotten to measure the resistors that dfranetic asked to be measured before I installed it, anyway).

Regards.
 
So I finally got to the installation of my WX7100 (*exact* match to yours) and--frustratingly--it fails to be recognised.

System chimes, only left two diag lights are lit (XXOO), and grml usb thumb blinks continually (not ping-able, nor ssh-able).

I have not re-attached the internal lcd, yet.

After the first un-successful run of trying to boot the system, I removed the logic board (again), and inspected everything under high powered magnification: nothing obvious was mis-wired, knocked-off or disconnected.

After the subsequent re-installation, I was faced with the same scenario; I did, however, experience about ten minutes of the same boot-blink-nothing interspersed with automatic system reboots.

Upon inspection of Pascal's photos of his successfully-booting 109-C95847-00D 02 card, I have noticed that there are chips that are missing/different in the layout that you and I sourced.

Front:

View attachment 2034250

Back:

View attachment 2034251

Odd, to me, seeing what looks like the same model, but with different chips. Of particular interest is how different the placement of the x-bracket is (seems much smaller on Pascal's card).

Since yours is working and functional in the same iMac model as mine, it must come down to my installation (of which this is my first).

The 7100 seats in the heatsink with the same footprint of the 6970 that was in it (no need to grind the heatsink, and the x-bracket from the 6970 aligns perfectly with no capacitors/resistors occluded).

How sensitive are these installations to screw tension? Is over/under-tightening leading to failure (temporary, or otherwise) an issue that others have faced?

I will dis-assemble, clean the paste/K5 off the card, and start again some time this week (I had forgotten to measure the resistors that dfranetic asked to be measured before I installed it, anyway).

Regards.
1. The WX7100 does have several versions, and each version can be used
2. Make sure the graphics card has been flashed
3. You need to make an OCLP boot, and start from the boot to get the display on the screen
 
So I finally got to the installation of my WX7100 (*exact* match to yours) and--frustratingly--it fails to be recognised.

System chimes, only left two diag lights are lit (XXOO), and grml usb thumb blinks continually (not ping-able, nor ssh-able).

I have not re-attached the internal lcd, yet.

After the first un-successful run of trying to boot the system, I removed the logic board (again), and inspected everything under high powered magnification: nothing obvious was mis-wired, knocked-off or disconnected.

After the subsequent re-installation, I was faced with the same scenario; I did, however, experience about ten minutes of the same boot-blink-nothing interspersed with automatic system reboots.

Upon inspection of Pascal's photos of his successfully-booting 109-C95847-00D 02 card, I have noticed that there are chips that are missing/different in the layout that you and I sourced.

Front:

View attachment 2034250

Back:

View attachment 2034251

Odd, to me, seeing what looks like the same model, but with different chips. Of particular interest is how different the placement of the x-bracket is (seems much smaller on Pascal's card).

Since yours is working and functional in the same iMac model as mine, it must come down to my installation (of which this is my first).

The 7100 seats in the heatsink with the same footprint of the 6970 that was in it (no need to grind the heatsink, and the x-bracket from the 6970 aligns perfectly with no capacitors/resistors occluded).

How sensitive are these installations to screw tension? Is over/under-tightening leading to failure (temporary, or otherwise) an issue that others have faced?

I will dis-assemble, clean the paste/K5 off the card, and start again some time this week (I had forgotten to measure the resistors that dfranetic asked to be measured before I installed it, anyway).

Regards.
  1. There are at least two makes of V1.1 WX7100, both should POST in iMac12,2. (And yours does POST.) The differences you noted are not relevant.
  2. You will only get LEDs 1 and 2 with an unflashed card and no internal LCD connected.
  3. Automatic system reboots could be attributed to a short between a component on top layer of the GPU PCB and the heatsink. Insulate, in particular, all SMD multilayer capacitors (MLCCs) on the top layer (those small brown ones) with Kapton tape before attaching the heatsink. (Over-tightening will certainly increase the odds of such a short, sometimes only after a few minutes as the copper and aluminium heat up and slightly expand.)
Also, no need to measure those resistors. I already have the values and adding them to a V1.0 card does not solve no POST issues with iMac12,2. I'm still investigating that (from time to time), but no success yet.
 
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