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

[dfranetic]

Is this the bios chip or is it located on the back side of the motherboard...?

It's not. And it is not located at the back. (Look for a chip with 8 pins, looking similar but wider that this one...)

 

[madvinegar]

It's not. And it is not located at the back. (Look for a chip with 8 pins, looking similar but wider that this one...)




ok found it.

 

[madvinegar]

Guys can I please get some help...?
Even if I followed the guide as you explained, now the iMac is not booting...
Unfortunately there is no any chime. Only the fourth light on the motherboard is lighting up. The fans spin for a 1-2 seconds, then stop, then spin again for 1-2 seconds then stop, then spin again... and so on.

Do you have anything in mind that I can try? Your kind help will be appreciated.

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Guys can I please get some help...?
Even if I followed the guide as you explained, now the iMac is not booting...
Unfortunately there is no any chime. Only the fourth light on the motherboard is lighting up. The fans spin for a 1-2 seconds, then stop, then spin again for 1-2 seconds then stop, then spin again... and so on.

Do you have anything in mind that I can try? Your kind help will be appreciated.

1. Redo the complete procedure to insert the two ffs modules into another copy of your pulled firmware file, save the file after inserting the modules.
2. Compare both results. If you get a different new result flash it, if you get the same result go back and watch the video. I have done this countless times and it worked all the time.
3. If you cannot get it working flash the original file back!

 

[m0bil]

Thank you my friend. Can you share the terminal linux commands to check the chip?

From grml linux use

flashrom -p internal -r backup.bin

It may give you a list of possible flash chips it detected. If so use option -c "model" to select one from the list: for reading it does not matter, and for writing it may affect block size or make flashrom try several writing algorithms but it may work (if it does not just try another model). You won't be able to write flash chip from grml linux on the same machine unless you remove write protection with ch341, but you can always read it.

On the 12,1 the spi eeprom chip is behind the audio cable, and correctly clipping it should lit diagnostic led #1 (no need to remove board from the iMac, I was doing some other testing on this picture):

 

[madvinegar]

Thank you all. I tried flashing back the oem bootrom but still I get the same problems.
I may try again with a new Ch341 clip just to be sure as I need to be holding this one steady during the process.
Indeed when the clip is correctly set, the 4th led is lit.

What does it mean now that only the 4th led is lit and the fans spin and stop repeatedly?

Also, just to be on the safe side, does anyone have the oem bootrom for the 12.1 iMac? I may try to flash this as well to see if it fixes things.

 

[jay508]

Thank you all. I tried flashing back the oem bootrom but still I get the same problems.
I may try again with a new Ch341 clip just to be sure as I need to be holding this one steady during the process.
Indeed when the clip is correctly set, the 4th led is lit.

What does it mean now that only the 4th led is lit and the fans spin and stop repeatedly?

Also, just to be on the safe side, does anyone have the oem bootrom for the 12.1 iMac? I may try to flash this as well to see if it fixes things.

Back up the original bootrom a few more times before refreshing and check if the original backup bootrom is the same.

If the bootrom is the same, it is OK.

 

[PTbrine]

Experimental AMD S7100X support (AMD Radeon S7100X 8GB)

Type	ident	BIOS version	device-id	working
Red AMD PCB	109-C769A1-00_02	S7100X	6939	yes

This GPU will be identified by the macOS as AMD FirePro R9 285 8GB - this is purely cosmetic!

Tested systems:
- iMac12,2: sleep/wake broken, NVRAM corruption, black screen boot (literally not really working)
- iMac11,1: no problems
- iMac11,3: no problems

Memory support:
Samsung

Known problems:
- does not run reliably in the iMac12,2
- flashing using the GRML amdvbflash failed consistently - had to use the CH341A clip to avoid problems

Known features:
- Airplay is working until Catalina as with any other AMD metal card on iMac11,x and iMac12,2 (without using QuickSync)
- high metal scores
- boot screen with OpenCore
- GPU power management working
- still full Monterey support (no root patching needed unlike Kepler)
- card needs iMac12,2 MXM-B heat sink and the same Dremel modifications as the W6170M/W7170M cards.

Performance:
- High GeekBench Metal (28.922) and OpenCL (24.715)
- Valley: 40 FPS, 1820 Score on i3 550 CPU
- MetalBench: 85MRays/s
- CoreClock: 725 MHz
- Memory: 1250 MHz
- TPD: 75W (this is a 100W card, but my tests never drew more than 75W)
- no 4K HEVC or 4K H.264

Setup:

After installing the card it will not simply boot directly into any macOS version (WindowServer crash) unless you install and use OpenCore and apply the settings described below (I will try to get the changes added to OCLP, later).

So you need to install OpenCore onto your boot disk before booting in your current installation in normal multi user mode.

Run OLCP to create an AMD (metal GCN) config to get the lines starting with the <key>rebuild-device-tree</key> into the DeviceProperties section (this is an iMac12,2 example):

                        <key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>shikigva</key>
                                <integer>128</integer>
                                <key>unfairgva</key>
                                <integer>1</integer>
                                <key>rebuild-device-tree</key>
                                <integer>1</integer>
                                <key>agdpmod</key>
                                <string>pikera</string>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableDrmdmaPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableGfxCGPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableUVDPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                                <key>CAIL,CAIL_DisableVCEPowerGating</key>
                                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                        </dict>

The above settings are equivalent with adding radpg=15 -wegtree apdpmod=pikera shikigva=128 to the boot-args in the config.plist of OpenCore.

- OCLP 0.4.3 and later support this card. Nevertheless the boot strap process is complex since you cannot boot the normal macOS unless OC has been installed in advance!

Development:
- Thanks to @nikey22 and @internetzel for their dedication and time helping to get the card working!

Download:
- Please check out this site!

Hi, i installed everything, and on windows the card shows as expected,connected to a external display, but the imac display as no backlight, and on mac os it show as "Display Adapter 14MB".
Does anyone know what's going on?

 

[Marche90]

Hi, i installed everything, and on windows the card shows as expected,connected to a external display, but the imac display as no backlight, and on mac os it show as "Display Adapter 14MB".
Does anyone know what's going on?

It would help to have more info. What Mac do you have, for starters? What did you do before and after installing?

 

[duvelhedz]

Thank you all. I tried flashing back the oem bootrom but still I get the same problems.
I may try again with a new Ch341 clip just to be sure as I need to be holding this one steady during the process.
Indeed when the clip is correctly set, the 4th led is lit.

What does it mean now that only the 4th led is lit and the fans spin and stop repeatedly?

Also, just to be on the safe side, does anyone have the oem bootrom for the 12.1 iMac? I may try to flash this as well to see if it fixes things.

Check that you didn't knock off any components to the top right of the chip. On the 21.5" models there is a component there that I have knocked off countless times. When it is missing, you will get the symptoms you described. If you can't solder it back on, Draw a fairly heavy line between the 2 pads with a pencil and it will work just fine.

 

[duvelhedz]

I take it the firmware modding is done in the exact same way as back in 2019 when Nick released the Nvidia vBIOS'es. There was a link to a Youtube tutorial on how patch the bottom. Is there a link to it anywhere or a guide elsewhere?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I take it the firmware modding is done in the exact same way as back in 2019 when Nick released the Nvidia vBIOS'es. There was a link to a Youtube tutorial on how patch the bottom. Is there a link to it anywhere or a guide elsewhere?

Follow the links in my recent posts or check the GCN4 section of the first post….
Even the GitHub has a link to this post.

How many links do we need

 

[WingedFrost]

Hello guys, I installed AMD W6170M in my Mac after flashing the bios from this thread. Faced such a problem, I can’t adjust the brightness in Windows 10, I tried the AMD W7170M method with editing the registry, can anyone tell me how to fix it?

I'll give you a photo to think about which card to buy if you have such a question M6100 or W6170M. For the same price, we get better performance if we take the W6170M, just keep in mind that the cooling bracket will need to be modified, and the one that comes with the card does not give a good fit of the chip to the heatsink, which causes overheating. The photo shows that smd components interfere with a good fit of the bracket from our radiator, I undermined it and everything fell very well.

 

[m0bil]

Thank you all. I tried flashing back the oem bootrom but still I get the same problems.
I may try again with a new Ch341 clip just to be sure as I need to be holding this one steady during the process.
Indeed when the clip is correctly set, the 4th led is lit.

What does it mean now that only the 4th led is lit and the fans spin and stop repeatedly?

Also, just to be on the safe side, does anyone have the oem bootrom for the 12.1 iMac? I may try to flash this as well to see if it fixes things.

Don't hold the clip while flashing, that's just calling for trouble. Anyway flashrom will do a verification step after flashing and tell you SUCCEED if all went well.
At worst, pm your bootrom and I will replace (if possible) serial numbers on my own backup.

 

[Nubedj]

hello! I have already installed everything, but when I turn on... the screen is black, I cannot connect any external screen, I have disassembled and checked all the connectors and it is still the same, do you have any solution?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

hello! I have already installed everything, but when I turn on... the screen is black, I cannot connect any external screen, I have disassembled and checked all the connectors and it is still the same, do you have any solution?

Can you please be more precise and enlighten us about which iMac and which graphics card you are talking.
Check the docs on the first post about the installation procedure and the vBIOS flashing.

 

[Nubedj]

Can you please be more precise and enlighten us about which iMac and which graphics card you are talking.
Check the docs on the first post about the installation procedure and the vBIOS flashing.

Sorry….

Nvidia quadro K3100M and iMac 27 mid 2011 A1213

I have read the common problems but I cannot install the black screen patch or the Vbios because the screen is not visible and I cannot connect an external monitor

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Sorry….

Nvidia quadro K3100M and iMac 27 mid 2011 A1213

I have read the common problems but I cannot install the black screen patch or the Vbios because the screen is not visible and I cannot connect an external monitor

You need to read the FAQ how to flash the vBIOS with a black screen. We all did this and therefore we used tools with remote access. Please check the documentation.

 

[Nubedj]

You need to read the FAQ how to flash the vBIOS with a black screen. We all did this and therefore we used tools with remote access. Please check the documentation.

Please, give a link for check it

 

[dfranetic]

Please, give a link for check it

Hopefully you can find post 1 of this thread yourself.

 

[duvelhedz]

Follow the links in my recent posts or check the GCN4 section of the first post….
Even the GitHub has a link to this post.

How many links do we need

Success after a few pitfalls along the way. I found that the CoreEDID and EDIDParser files that Nick posted originally worked fine but not the ones from your GitHub. The 2 versions give difference UDID's in UEFITool. As it was dual boot, went back and read about the black screen issue and sorted that one. Got Rickrolled by OCLP while I was looking around the other features. Very clever! Thanks for your help

 

[dfranetic]

Success after a few pitfalls along the way. I found that the CoreEDID and EDIDParser files that Nick posted originally worked fine but not the ones from your GitHub. The 2 versions give difference UDID's in UEFITool. As it was dual boot, went back and read about the black screen issue and sorted that one. Got Rickrolled by OCLP while I was looking around the other features. Very clever! Thanks for your help

That's strange. I used CoreEG2 and EDIDParser from @Nick [D]vB only in my early tests, and used the ones on @Ausdauersportler's Github later on. (As you noticed, they are different.) Both 'work' just the same in my experience.
Anyway, great to hear about another EFI-boot-screen-enabled AMD system!

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Success after a few pitfalls along the way. I found that the CoreEDID and EDIDParser files that Nick posted originally worked fine but not the ones from your GitHub. The 2 versions give difference UDID's in UEFITool. As it was dual boot, went back and read about the black screen issue and sorted that one. Got Rickrolled by OCLP while I was looking around the other features. Very clever! Thanks for your help

Okay, thanks for posting, will check and replace the file from the Github!
P.S.:
After reading both former posts I am not so sure about replacing them?

 

[Nubedj]

Hopefully you can find post 1 of this thread yourself.

I'm sorry, I've looked at the messages on page 1 and I can't find the solution....

With the screen off, the Imac stays in a loop with the sound on and no key combination works.
I can't install patches or anything because the screen is off and I can't connect an external monitor either....

I'm a little desperate and I don't know what to do... I would appreciate any advice ¡

By the way, I'll leave the stl files here so I don't have to cut or modify the x-bracket.

Thanks!

 

[madvinegar]

I have ordered a new clip for my CH134A because I think that the edges of my old one have been overused and the clip does not hold on to the chip. So I will try again.
Having said that I need a favor.

Does anyone have the same chip as mine?
Mine is the MXIC MX 25L6406E M2I-12GF. I made a mistake when dumping my bootrom. The chip had some glue on it from the audio cable (also it is a very small chip and I could hardly see the letters on it) and I thought it said 25L6408E. (i.e. I thought the six was an 8). So when AsProgrammer showed the list of possible chips and I had to select one, I chose the 25L6408E. And this is the bootrom I have. Is that problem?

In any case if someone has the same chip as mine on a 12.1 imac I would appreciate to send me copy of his bootrom. It wouldn't hurt trying flashing it and see if it revives my iMac.

Many thanks @m0bil , @Ausdauersportler and @dfranetic for your help and apologies for the inconvenience.