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

[MacLoud]

You must not cut the sensor cable!
Both sensors need to be connected - just the ODD sensor should be moved to the GPU heat sink while still remaining connected to the ODD sensor connector. Only that way it'll work as intended.

Merci,

it was not clear for me but it really makes sense. Should be fixed tomorrow.

Many thanks, you will get my reply.

BR

 

[AgntRndy]

Hello, I admit I am a newb and jumped into this before doing a lot of research. I bought a 27 inch mid 2011 iMac with a failed GPU and no HDD. The iMac would boot (into a Linux distro, Batocera, running of an external HDD) and display for a few minutes before the screen would go black.

I removed the GPU and installed a M6100 that I bought from AliExpress. The seller stated the M6100 had been flashed to run on a mid 2011 iMac.

The iMac boots up into Batocera running off the external HDD, however, the screen stays black throughout.

I have since read a serious amount of information on this thread, however, I am confused.

My intention is to be able to run windows or Linux.

If the bios on the GPU has been modded, should I have a working display?

Any advice as to the next step to take would be appreciated.

 

[AgntRndy]

I booted with the Linux flash tool, however, an IP address could not be located through my router. So I reflowed / baked the Original GPU and installed it. The screen flickered white to black. I think the LCD display screen cable is damaged. I'll get a replacement cable and keep researching.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I booted with the Linux flash tool, however, an IP address could not be located through my router. So I reflowed / baked the Original GPU and installed it. The screen flickered white to black. I think the LCD display screen cable is damaged. I'll get a replacement cable and keep researching.

If the card was properly flashed, you don't need to flash it again.
However, you do need either 1 of the below
1. An SSD with Mac OS High Sierra pre-installed. => In this case the iMac will boot to Mac OS Desktop, you can download OCLP to installer from there.
2. An USB installer of Monterey, with customized OCLP pre-installed for your iMac & new GPU. In this case you will be able to boot to Monterey installing screen, and proceed from there.

 

[AgntRndy]

If the card was properly flashed, you don't need to flash it again.
However, you do need either 1 of the below
1. An SSD with Mac OS High Sierra pre-installed. => In this case the iMac will boot to Mac OS Desktop, you can download OCLP to installer from there.
2. An USB installer of Monterey, with customized OCLP pre-installed for your iMac & new GPU. In this case you will be able to boot to Monterey installing screen, and proceed from there.

Thanks! I've tried option 2 previously, but I still had a black screen. I'll try it again once I have installed a new LCD cable. It will be a long wait for shipping from China to Australia

 

[Phil Goshen]

Hi Folks, I have been around for a few years after updating my 21" 2010 with a K2100 Video Card. All worked with Catalina - just recently upgraded to Monterrey and it works beautifully ... all except Safari again. I remember having to do something to make Safari work again with Catalina. Something to do with disabling SIP and then spoofing the IGPU to make Safari/JavaScript work again - otherwise I just keep getting errors with JS runs .. page crashes and then I get the "a problem repeatedly occured" error page. I cannot find the instructions to fix this anywhere. If anyone remembers the steps in Terminal or other tool to fix this, could you point me in the right direction. Otherwise, I will be selling this machine and just buying a new imac. Spent way too much time on this.

UPDATE: After spending so much time looking at the fix I thought I deployed with Catalina, I tried one more thing after disabling SIP. I reran the OpenCore Root Patch installer - the logs for some reason showed it finding my video card and installed the right identifier for it automagically. I rebooted and Safari now works. This is a really strange one for anyone putting a K2100M on these 2010 / 2011 motherboards. Totally happy with it now. Everything works! -- Full Sleep mode works 100% - Brightness works now and the big one for me is Multiple Monitors is now functional with the K2100M using the Display Port - I feel like I got a brand new Mac without dropping 2 Gs. Whoever did the code for updating the K2100M, I owe you a 6 pack or a gift card. IM me ; I owe you a few bucks. Thanks!

 

[fronk]

I was redirected here from the Ventura thread. I have a mid 2011 iMac with an AMD Polaris and a compatible WIFI card, so I went ahead and downloaded the Ventura update and installed it (from the Mac itself, without using a USB) and when I complete the installation I can't get the system to load, I just get a black screen.

Have I done something wrong in the process? I've tried using Shift + Enter to load safe mode but it doesn't work. any ideas?

 

[sashkin_bro]

hello) I installed Ventura on an iMac 2011 with a replaced card on an Amd Fire Pro M5100, everything works, except for Wifi, I use the Internet via a cable, so it is not critical))

 

[Bmac0288]

Got my k3100m today for my mid2010 iMac 11,3 today. I got Linux on a usb and I’m going to flash it that way. Can someone point me to the right VBIOS I need within this thread? I’d appreciate it

 

[internetzel]

Got my k3100m today for my mid2010 iMac 11,3 today. I got Linux on a usb and I’m going to flash it that way. Can someone point me to the right VBIOS I need within this thread? I’d appreciate it

Read the description of the linked K3100M VBIOSes (the links in the "BIOS" columns). Normally the later one (date of the post or the date of the last edit of the post) should be the best one - but you need to read the description thoroughly.

 

[Bmac0288]

View attachment 2141698
Read the description of the linked K3100M VBIOSes (the links in the "BIOS" columns). Normally the later one (date of the post or the date of the last edit of the post) should be the best one - but you need to read the description thoroughly.

Appreciate it, waiting for thermal paste which comes Monday. I’ll update y’all on how it goes

 

[TigerA]

hello) I installed Ventura on an iMac 2011 with a replaced card on an Amd Fire Pro M5100, everything works, except for Wifi, I use the Internet via a cable, so it is not critical))

Can you get into the iCloud settings (the top left item in the Settings panel)? Do you see the "Network" entry in Finder's "Locations"?

 

[Dilli]

I was redirected here from the Ventura thread. I have a mid 2011 iMac with an AMD Polaris and a compatible WIFI card, so I went ahead and downloaded the Ventura update and installed it (from the Mac itself, without using a USB) and when I complete the installation I can't get the system to load, I just get a black screen.

Have I done something wrong in the process? I've tried using Shift + Enter to load safe mode but it doesn't work. any ideas?

Did you read the wiki page of this thread on page 1. Hope you have followed instructions and read about the hardware compatibility correctly.

 

[StelanvVTR]

For all those wondering about the NVIDIA GTX660M. It is in its final stages of testing! Not a powerful card, but another member of the family nonetheless that can be purchased for cheap. Vbios coming up:

View attachment 1922604
View attachment 1922605

Thats great news. A friend of mine gave me a 660m for free a year ago. I put in on a 2010 21inch. No boot screen but internal Display works. Its very nice gpu. Do you have upload the modified vbios? Thanks

 

[madvinegar]

hello) I installed Ventura on an iMac 2011 with a replaced card on an Amd Fire Pro M5100, everything works, except for Wifi, I use the Internet via a cable, so it is not critical))

Apple tv is not working though ,correct?

 

[sashkin_bro]

Can you get into the iCloud settings (the top left item in the Settings panel)? Do you see the "Network" entry in Finder's "Locations"?

I tested Ventura, now I have rolled back to Monterey)

 

[sashkin_bro]

Apple tv is not working though ,correct?

do not use this service, so I did not test whether it works)

 

[Lt Mao]

Following the guide on the first post, I was able to successfully upgrade from an HD6970 to a WX 7100. I am using the stock 3 pipe GPU heat sink, unmodified.

The specific GPU I used is one pulled from a Dell Precision 7720:
AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 8GB 308VY
109-C95847-00D-02
V345 Ver 1.1
Ellesmere

Big Sur
iMac 27" Mid 2011 12,2
i7 2600 3.4 Ghz
32 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
OCLP V0.5.3
Nick's VBIOS flashed via Xanderon's Linux live USB method

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread :D hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb. I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive I created a Linux Live USB...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Mark1966]

Hello all

just one experience which i made after installing my AMD Firepro M6100 into the 21,5 Imac 2010.
My problem was that i never had a working MXM GPU for that mac.
The mac also starts without any MXM card fitted onto the mainboard.
but I found an old hdd out of an old macbook with snow on it.
First boot into this system, i reached the desktop of macos snow.
Graphics card shown at 5 mb but able to do something out of mac os.
Maybe this can help someone with problem of dark screen without knowing if the installed GPU is Ok so far, for bringing up a screen at startup.

All experience only with external display, because of missing internal display too.

Mark1966

 

[forestcomber]

Following the guide on the first post, I was able to successfully upgrade from an HD6970 to a WX 7100. I am using the stock 3 pipe GPU heat sink, unmodified.

The specific GPU I used is one pulled from a Dell Precision 7720:
AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 8GB 308VY
109-C95847-00D-02
V345 Ver 1.1
Ellesmere

Big Sur
iMac 27" Mid 2011 12,2
i7 2600 3.4 Ghz
32 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
OCLP V0.5.3
Nick's VBIOS flashed via Xanderon's Linux live USB method

2011 iMac Graphics Card Upgrade

so guys, I have a little gift for you to give back after such an incredible thread :D hope you like it, the headaches to get it running were immens for me as a newb. I couldn't stand it to use fckin windows to flash the cards and so I prepared this ~350mb drive I created a Linux Live USB...

forums.macrumors.com

Very, cool ! Thank-you for sharing this. Is everything working ? What version of MacOS are you running ?

 

[Lt Mao]

Very, cool ! Thank-you for sharing this. Is everything working ? What version of MacOS are you running ?

Big Sur for now, everything seems to work. Need to upgrade the BT/Wifi card to a BCM94360CD then I will try Ventura.

 

[forestcomber]

Big Sur for now, everything seems to work. Need to upgrade the BT/Wifi card to a BCM94360CD then I will try Ventura.

Would the BCM94360CSAX work ?

Of the 7100 WX version specs you list above, which ones are most important to stick to ?

 

[Lt Mao]

Would the BCM94360CSAX work ?

Of the 7100 WX version specs you list above, which ones are most important to stick to ?

I know that the BCM94360CD is plug and play, I don't know anything about the BCM94360CSAX.

For the best chance to replicate my success, I would say make sure the WX 7100 you get matches that exact model/version.

 

[forestcomber]

Thank-you for your help and to all contributors of this great thread.

 

[Bmac0288]

I spent some time last week changing out one of my kids 21.5" 2010 iMac video cards for a K1000m. I'll write up a detailed post later on in the week, but in the meantime I used the Winclone idea posted here earlier by FlorisVN to make a package installer Windows 7 Bootcamp so there is no need to install Winclone or do any other trickery. It requires 10.12 Sierra to begin, and it simply adds the bootcamp image to your internal hard drive on a 15GB partition it creates. Teamviewer has been installed, and the NVtools folder is on the desktop with the flash rom files ready to go. Also the Page file and Hibernate file have been pared down to 2GB each to avoid running out of space at 15gb. No bootcamp drivers were loaded to maximize portability. I tried this on a 2010 iMac 21.5 as well as a 2011 iMac 27" and they both worked perfectly for simply creating the bootcamp partition to use for flashing purposes. I also uploaded it to Sync which has unlimited downloads so it shouldn't expire or be pulled if it gets popular. Here's the link to download it, simply unzip the .pkg file and run it in MacOS 10.12 or higher.

Windows 7 Bootcamp pkg installer iMac

So I can use this method to flash my k3100m in my mid 2010 imac 11,3. Basically you dummy proofed it so a newbie like me can flash my new gpu lol