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

[manzarma]

Greetings,

I finally got OpenCore installed. It appears I was doing it backwards, trying to build a OC from ground up on linux, lol.

Once installing Sierra, downloaded the apk rebooted with ALT, and voila there it is.

Now, I can technically copy the OC files on the ESD partition to win11 efi partition and I will still have OC in a working state, right?

The next hurdle is after installing the WX4130, will I get a post at all with either win11 or linux? Because either GOP or EnableGOP need to be flashed into the card, but since it's an unsupported method I am worried if apple SMBIOS will reject it.

Does OpenCore post with WX4130? Is there a method to let OpenCore load the EnableGOP to get a display and let say boot linux, flash the card and then install win11?

If somebody can help me out with this PRIOR from tearing appart the imac.

Thanks

 

[internetzel]

this bios is not working properly. screen sometimes turns off while working in windows

I have a second video card s7100x so it works well in windows

Either your RX480 is somewhat unreliable, or the heat sink not mounted correctly or the card needs even lower power settings and/or clock speeds.
If you upload the original VBIOS of the RX480 here, I can copy over the power management settings and VRAM configurations from that VBIOS.

 

[Mitsuthos]

Perhaps different VRAM type, try another vBIOS if available.
The compatible vBIOS is supposed to get you to Mac OS High Sierra desktop, without Opencore. I guess.
On my iMac 2009 27" and M6100, I prepared the OCLP EFI before assembling the GPU, so I don't really know what might happen without the OCLP pre-installed.

Nothing happens, i try with M5100-AFR and m5100-BFR vbios, i try with oclp tui version to patch amd gcn before change the gpu and oclp 0.6.2 without patch amd gcn to try patch after and nothing. Its an imac mid 2010 21.5”, can i try install vbios called “m5100-AFR-EG2”?

 

[Fauxly]

Either your RX480 is somewhat unreliable, or the heat sink not mounted correctly or the card needs even lower power settings and/or clock speeds.
If you upload the original VBIOS of the RX480 here, I can copy over the power management settings and VRAM configurations from that VBIOS.

Do you need a copper plate to install the heatsink?

 

[internetzel]

Do you need a copper plate to install the heatsink?

No copper shim needed - but you do need a heat sink from a 2011 iMac with an HD6970 graphics card.
No experiences have been made with trying other heat sinks. Properly installed the bigger 2 pipe heat sinks (for MXM-B cards) from 2009 and 2010 iMacs might work (no idea whether a shim might be needed) for basic desktop usage but benchmarks, games and high resolution video content would definitely put the card into trouble.

 

[Fauxly]

No copper shim needed - but you do need a heat sink from a 2011 iMac with an HD6970 graphics card.
No experiences have been made with trying other heat sinks. Properly installed the bigger 2 pipe heat sinks (for MXM-B cards) from 2009 and 2010 iMacs might work (no idea whether a shim might be needed) for basic desktop usage but benchmarks, games and high resolution video content would definitely put the card into trouble.

my radiator is made of three copper pipes. the temperature of the card is great, but the screen turns off and I don't understand why this is happening. I attached the original vbios in the previous post

 

[fulltilt54]

No copper shim needed - but you do need a heat sink from a 2011 iMac with an HD6970 graphics card.
No experiences have been made with trying other heat sinks. Properly installed the bigger 2 pipe heat sinks (for MXM-B cards) from 2009 and 2010 iMacs might work (no idea whether a shim might be needed) for basic desktop usage but benchmarks, games and high resolution video content would definitely put the card into trouble.

The seller I bought my flashed rx480 from on Aliexpress said I would need to mod the 3 pipe heatsink and remove a tiny bit of material from the heatsink for it to fit. He sells the cards with or without the modded heatsink, but was very adamant that it needs to be done. I bought a 3 pipe heatsink off ebay, but haven't gotten around to installing it yet. From his description it didn't look like much needed to be removed.

 

[inck243]

OpenCore should make audio working in Windows.
And you should also note the hint about iMac12,1 at the bottom of this OCLP web page:
https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/blob/main/docs/WINDOWS.md

I'm in the process of setting up the SSD for windows 11 in my 27" iMac. This imac doesn't have any MacOS as I won't be using it. I have my SSD plugged into my 21.5 imac via USB and I'm following the instructions you linked above to install win11 on the SSD drive.

1. Can I install windows on this drive using my 21.5 imac and USB? Or do I still need to use the win11 USB stick?​

​

2. I already made the USB stick and formatted the drive using the instructions you linked above; but, I have not done anything to download or install opencore - but the instructions mention "Once you reboot your machine, you should see a new boot option in the OCLP Bootpicker labelled as "EFI Boot". It may or may not have the Boot Camp icon." -- but I didn't do anything to get the OCLP bootpicker yet. Do these instructions assume I've already set up opencore previously?​

​

How would I set up opencore on the SSD without booting into a macOS? This imac doesn't have any bootable drive yet. Can I set up opencore on the SSD using my 21.5 imac while the SSD is plugged in via USB?​

​

thanks​

 

[manzarma]

I'm in the process of setting up the SSD for windows 11 in my 27" iMac.

These are my findings so far.

The guide linked goes over an overtly complex installation due to using bootcamp and dual booting with osX.

Win11 will install and boot fine with a blank disk, hdd or ssd. With win11 the boot loop doesn't happen. What happens is the following only with win11.

Installs, detects both graphics card, radeon and intel integrated. Win11 updater installs radeon but due to being outdated when it tries to used instant BSOD. BSOD happens in two reboots, after that win11 blacklists the driver.
Same story with intel graphics. BSOD, two reboots, and blacklisted. After that win11 runs with microsoft framebuffer or vesa or whatever driver.

Where does OCLP fits in here? I haven't tried with the new card yet, I don't know whether i'll get a boot screen or what, but I will find out soon.

As pointed out earlier there are some benefits to have OCLP ready though.

This is what I did:

1- net-install Sierra,
2- Install OpenCore apk.
3- HERE IS THE IMPORTANT STEP. Copy the EFI folder onto a usb, in other word make a backup. In this efi folder are all the relevant OC files for your mac.
4- Wipe out, the hard drive.
5- HERE is the other important bit. osX creates a 200MB efi partition whereas win11 only 100MB. OpenCore guide strongly encourages to use OC on 200MB efi partition.
6- Create such partition manually, then place the backup OC files from step 3 into win11 efi partition.

OC will prompt when pressing ALT upon turning on your imac.

You'll understand better after installing OC on osX and rebooting imac while pressing ALT.

By the way I had a question myself, anybody know what milimiter thickness is needed for the thermal pads that go between the mem chips and the heatsink?

Thanks

 

[internetzel]

my radiator is made of three copper pipes. the temperature of the card is great, but the screen turns off and I don't understand why this is happening. I attached the original vbios in the previous post

So your card seems to be a different kind of RX480 with different timings/clock speeds, especially for the VRAM. (The nearly identical WX7100 does also exist in two variations.)
So the attached VBIOS is based on your original VBIOS, modified to correctly drive the iMac's internal screen including brightness control. Plus a GOP driver is added for boot screens with OpenCore - and EnableGop did also fit so you should be able to get boot screens even without OpenCore.
But be warned! This VBIOS did not work for my card and it has only chances to work on your card if the original VBIOS was actually working before with that card - maybe you booted into Windows or Linux with the original VBIOS installed on the card and flashed the iMac modified VBIOS from there? In that case chances are good the attached VBIOS will work.
In case the attached VBIOS doesn't work you'd have to recover the card using a clip flasher or some other method (I can provide more info related to this in case you need them). Your iMac will fail to boot at all in that case.

Edit: Photos of your card from the back and front sides would be nice in order to be able to spot differences.

 

[gagarin]

Greetings,

I finally got OpenCore installed. It appears I was doing it backwards, trying to build a OC from ground up on linux, lol.

Once installing Sierra, downloaded the apk rebooted with ALT, and voila there it is.

Now, I can technically copy the OC files on the ESD partition to win11 efi partition and I will still have OC in a working state, right?

The next hurdle is after installing the WX4130, will I get a post at all with either win11 or linux? Because either GOP or EnableGOP need to be flashed into the card, but since it's an unsupported method I am worried if apple SMBIOS will reject it.

Does OpenCore post with WX4130? Is there a method to let OpenCore load the EnableGOP to get a display and let say boot linux, flash the card and then install win11?

If somebody can help me out with this PRIOR from tearing appart the imac.

Thanks

I have recently installed and flashed wx4130 with EnableGOP bios on 2011 21". You do not have video output (at least on a screen, haven't tried external). But iMac is booting so I have flashed it over RDC (prepared it on that iMac beforehand).

After flashing you have bootpicker but you cannot boot MacOS without OpenCore, HS is not not sending signal to internal LCD and you cannot boot CSM(Legacy) Windows install at all. And you have to disable HD3000 in UEFI windows install or it will BSOD

 

[gagarin]

Recently installed WX4130 2GB in 21" and flashed with @Ausdauersportler EnableGOP rom. All stream processors are unlocked so it is just a 4150 with less ram. Yay!

But I am still getting strange new bsods I have never seen. Dark grey in Windows and Magenta in MacOS (BS).
In Windows they also probably were before flashing (since I got few disconnects while attempting to flash over RDC) and they stopped after disabling card in Device Manager. Now when installed EFI install got the Dark Grey screen a minute after STOPPING Furmark stress test (see screenshot). Also I am attaching GPU-Z before and after. Are those BSODs indicate a problem with a card or a bios? How can one troubleshoot?

P.S. Well also I am getting stutter (after 2nd or 3rd wakeup from the sleep) in MacOS. First it shows with adjusting Volume and Brightness -- Keys do not work or work only sporadically do not show overlay or show it with much lag etc. Then after next wakeup black screen with a beachball and only way out is force shutdown. Also it is not possible to install delta MacOS update, updater quits with a request for full installer.

 

[internetzel]

Recently installed WX4130 2GB in 21" and flashed with @Ausdauersportler EnableGOP rom. All stream processors are unlocked so it is just a 4150 with less ram. Yay!

But I am still getting strange new bsods I have never seen. Dark grey in Windows and Magenta in MacOS (BS).
In Windows they also probably were before flashing (since I got few disconnects while attempting to flash over RDC) and they stopped after disabling card in Device Manager. Now when installed EFI install got the Dark Grey screen a minute after STOPPING Furmark stress test (see screenshot). Also I am attaching GPU-Z before and after. Are those BSODs indicate a problem with a card or a bios? How can one troubleshoot?

The first WX4130 I bought showed something similar - i.e. sometime after benchmarking (almost never under high GPU load) the iMac turned off. There was also some visible damage to at least one component on the board, so I returned that card.

P.S. Well also I am getting stutter (after 2nd or 3rd wakeup from the sleep) in MacOS. First it shows with adjusting Volume and Brightness -- Keys do not work or work only sporadically do not show overlay or show it with much lag etc. Then after next wakeup black screen with a beachball and only way out is force shutdown. Also it is not possible to install delta MacOS update, updater quits with a request for full installer.

Waking up from sleep in Big Sur causes problem for me at times - this seems to have to do with the SkyLight framework hacks OpenCore applies in order to enable some functionality.

 

[inck243]

These are my findings so far.

The guide linked goes over an overtly complex installation due to using bootcamp and dual booting with osX.

Win11 will install and boot fine with a blank disk, hdd or ssd. With win11 the boot loop doesn't happen. What happens is the following only with win11.

Installs, detects both graphics card, radeon and intel integrated. Win11 updater installs radeon but due to being outdated when it tries to used instant BSOD. BSOD happens in two reboots, after that win11 blacklists the driver.
Same story with intel graphics. BSOD, two reboots, and blacklisted. After that win11 runs with microsoft framebuffer or vesa or whatever driver.

Where does OCLP fits in here? I haven't tried with the new card yet, I don't know whether i'll get a boot screen or what, but I will find out soon.

As pointed out earlier there are some benefits to have OCLP ready though.

This is what I did:

1- net-install Sierra,
2- Install OpenCore apk.
3- HERE IS THE IMPORTANT STEP. Copy the EFI folder onto a usb, in other word make a backup. In this efi folder are all the relevant OC files for your mac.
4- Wipe out, the hard drive.
5- HERE is the other important bit. osX creates a 200MB efi partition whereas win11 only 100MB. OpenCore guide strongly encourages to use OC on 200MB efi partition.
6- Create such partition manually, then place the backup OC files from step 3 into win11 efi partition.

OC will prompt when pressing ALT upon turning on your imac.

You'll understand better after installing OC on osX and rebooting imac while pressing ALT.

By the way I had a question myself, anybody know what milimiter thickness is needed for the thermal pads that go between the mem chips and the heatsink?

Thanks

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure about the heat pads but I used k5 pro thermal paste on the memory chips as recommended by this guide. it's only $12 on amazon.

I decided to install windows 10 first and might try upgrading it to windows11 later. Had to jump through some hoops to get win10 to work. I'll provide some info incase it helps anyone in the future. Currently, I'm booting opencore with a USB stick. I would like to put it on my windows SSD so I don't need a stick constantly plugged in. I did not use the opencore install guide I linked in a previous post, as pretty much every step along the way did not work. Instead, I followed this guide. I had to cave and install OSX El Capitan on the HDD. However, for me, bootcamp would not create a windows10 install USB; it said there was not enough space even though the stick had plenty. Instead, I used a windows10 laptop I have to create an install USB and used that to install windows 10 on the imac. Downloading the Bootcamp drivers using this guide was very helpful though. I needed to find the driver for my K4100M, download and install that for the card to be recognized in windows. After, I kept getting bluescreen errors saying igdkmd64.sys failed. I think this is the intel3000 integrated graphics causing the issue so I booted into safe mode and disabled the integrated graphics in device manager.

also I think sleep / wake is broken in MAC OS and Windows but that's probably because I have the i7-2700k. If it goes to sleep, it turns off. When I turn the computer back on, it beeps with the RAM error. I need to unplug the power for 15 seconds and reboot the mac like 3 times before the OS loads again

Everything else seems to be working fine so far.

 

[farscaper]

-----------------------------
Update 4/3/23

I noticed when installing either Big Sur, Mojave, or Ventura my iMac draws more power the Lcd gets a tad bit hotter, and that's when I notice a lot more LCD blackouts. I went back to High Sierra and I noticed the LCD's proximity sensor reporting less heat - I haven't noticed the LCD blackout.

Big Sur, Mojave, or Ventura = LCD @ 45 to 50 C
High Sierra = LCD @ 28 to 30 C

---------------------------
Update 4/12/23

I upgraded to Monterey with the help of OCL 0.63 and I also changed the power supply, and my Issue with the screen still turning off(feels like a sleep issue) at random times, but the screen turning off was more stable on High Sierra then on any higher OS's such as Monterey and Ventura. The only thing left for me to change is the LCD cables and the logicboard following the LCD itself.

 

[The_Croupier]

---------------------------
Update 4/12/23

I upgraded to Monterey with the help of OCL 0.63 and I also changed the power supply, and my Issue with the screen still turning off(feels like a sleep issue) at random times, but the screen turning off was more stable on High Sierra then on any higher OS's such as Monterey and Ventura. The only thing left for me to change is the LCD cables and the logicboard following the LCD itself.

I’ve had that issue with a dying backlight control board.

 

[farscaper]

I’ve had that issue with a dying backlight control board.

Changed it too.

 

[farscaper]

Hi people! Does any one know solution for Kepler cards and Windows 10 with black screen before loading desktop?

stuck of 40sec, 1-2 min. after this time, its show up desktop and working fine.

i think problem need to be write in main post on page one.

Hello I Have the same issue as you - Have you figured out a fix for it?

 

[m0bil]

Hello I Have the same issue as you - Have you figured out a fix for it?

Only fix for kepler/windows seems to be installing windows in Legacy mode.

 

[farscaper]

Only fix for kepler/windows seems to be installing windows in Legacy mode.

I did that.

 

[THeKiNGs]

Only fix for kepler/windows seems to be installing windows in Legacy mode.

What is weird, from my experience, is that not all Kepler cards suffer from this issue, or at least on some models the delay is bigger then on others, no clue why but I can tell you that Quadro seems to do better then the GTX variant.
You get a faster boot on UEFI mode but a delay on login, so no win on UEFI vs Legacy boot.

 

[Marche90]

I'm having issues using a 27" Thunderbolt display. I got one on a pawn shop and was working with an iMac they had on display, but now that I brought it home, I can't get it to display anything either on macOS or Windows.
I'm using the EG vBios for my card (a WX4150)

The thing is, I can't find anything regarding issues with it, and the card should be able to handle it.

(In the meantime I guess I'll find a TB2 to TB3 to use it with my MBA...)
EDIT: Quickly found one at Office Depot, so now I'm using that. Other than a bit of yellow tint, it works well with my M1 Macbook Air. Shame I couldn't make the iMac work with it.

 

[farscaper]

---------------------------
Update 4/12/23

I upgraded to Monterey with the help of OCL 0.63 and I also changed the power supply, and my Issue with the screen still turning off(feels like a sleep issue) at random times, but the screen turning off was more stable on High Sierra then on any higher OS's such as Monterey and Ventura. The only thing left for me to change is the LCD cables and the logicboard following the LCD itself.

---------------------------
Update 4/12/23

I upgraded to Monterey with the help of OCL 0.63 and I also changed the power supply, and my Issue with the screen still turning off(feels like a sleep issue) at random times, but the screen turning off was more stable on High Sierra then on any higher OS's such as Monterey and Ventura. The only thing left for me to change is the LCD cables and the logicboard following the LCD itself.

----------------------------
Update 4/17/23

Since dealing with the LCD randomly turning off I now have changed, the power supply, the LCD inverter board, the LCD flex cable, the LCD power cable, and the original AMD 512 MB video card it came with to an Nvidia Quadro k4000 4GB. As I type this the LCD has turned off 7 times in a matter of seconds between shut-offs - I am able to bring it back up by putting it to sleep and waking it up. I'm going to leave it as is and not change any more parts I'll just deal with as is.

------------

I noticed that there is a backlight kext but it says it's not compatible with OCLP - does the latest OCLP supposed to fix this issue and is it limited to only High Sierra? and or is this an issue with the Nvidia cards - might have read something about that somewhere. Anyway, any ideas?

 

[m0bil]

What is weird, from my experience, is that not all Kepler cards suffer from this issue, or at least on some models the delay is bigger then on others, no clue why but I can tell you that Quadro seems to do better then the GTX variant.
You get a faster boot on UEFI mode but a delay on login, so no win on UEFI vs Legacy boot.

Yes, even with same hardware the delay is not always the same... really strange.
Since this does not happen in Maxwell or later cards with original GOP, I wonder if the Apple specific EFI driver is causing it.

Now that we have EnableGop, a good test would be using legacy Nvidia GOP + EnableGop on a Kepler card and see if that fixes the uefi windows delay on such cards. As far as I know that seems to work fine on MacPros with desktop cards.

 

[BadBiscuit]

UPDATE.

AppleTV seems to be working fine now... Maybe the system needed some time to process the new Ventura OS and update all necessary libraries.
I will keep you updated.

I have OCLP v0.6.3 and Ventura macOS 13.2.1 working well with DRM (AppleTV and Apple Music videos). It was not working until I upgraded to that version of OCLP.

Any chance you (or anyone) has Ventura macOS 13.3.1 on OCLP v0.6.3 installed and could tell me if there is still success with DRM on the iMac 2011's? I'd hate to mess up a good thing by upgrading to latest Ventura if it breaks DRM.