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

[KennyW]

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[ultradian7]

Hello

I have an iMac 12,1 (mid 2011, 21.5"), i5 2500s 2.7ghz, 16GB RAM, SSD in place of HDD, DVD drive removed, Radeon 6770M 512MB. High Sierra 10.13, Ventura 13.4 on separate partitions with OCLP installed.

I've sourced a blue dell K2100m (seller confirmed as working but not myself), I believe the next step is VBIOS flash. There seems to be several methods to flashing and I'm not sure whats appropriate for this case...

I also have a PC with Windows 10 installed, Asus Sabretooth P67 motherboard to use if needed...

Advice appreciated, thank you

Edit: ok, I read km2100 is not advised on this machine with ventura. although I could have sworn it was being recommended within the thread as one of the most suitable GPUs. can anyone confirm? is anyone using the GPU in an iMac 12,1 and ventura? is there a more suitable older version of macOS (post High Sierra) I could use with this setup?the mac is mostly used for audio software such as renoise and max msp, doing occasional graphical stuff in max.

 

[bkiben]

Hello!

Help! I upgraded my iMac 27 2011 mid, GTX 880M. Everything works fine, but one problem.
Install windows 10 or windows 11 good, no problem. But I install nvidia driver in windows:
Windows boot screen -> 1 minute black screen (I hear the login screen) -> then the display will ok
It only does it after driver installation.
Any ideas?

 

[ChrizLoud]

I can put my iMac to sleep with no problem by selecting Apple-menu > Sleep, but it will not auto sleep from inactivity, only the screen goes off?

Is this a downside from my GPU upgrade or a OCLP thing?

In Windows auto sleep works flawlessly after inactivity.

 

[ChrizLoud]

Hello!

Help! I upgraded my iMac 27 2011 mid, GTX 880M. Everything works fine, but one problem.
Install windows 10 or windows 11 good, no problem. But I install nvidia driver in windows:
Windows boot screen -> 1 minute black screen (I hear the login screen) -> then the display will ok
It only does it after driver installation.
Any ideas?

Same problem here with K4100M. It does not happen everytime. When it happens the brightness is on full blast. When the delay does not happen the LCD brightness is what feels like medium.

 

[internetzel]

I can put my iMac to sleep with no problem by selecting Apple-menu > Sleep, but it will not auto sleep from inactivity, only the screen goes off?

Is this a downside from my GPU upgrade or a OCLP thing?

In Windows auto sleep works flawlessly after inactivity.

I do have this problem in Big Sur - before that automatic sleep did work.
But it maybe caused by some Safari problem, since that app is preventing automatic sleep.
See here how to find out which app is preventing automatic sleep: https://www.addictivetips.com/mac-os/apps-keeping-a-mac-from-sleep/

 

[ChrizLoud]

I do have this problem in Big Sur - before that automatic sleep did work.
But it maybe caused by some Safari problem, since that app is preventing automatic sleep.
See here how to find out which app is preventing automatic sleep: https://www.addictivetips.com/mac-os/apps-keeping-a-mac-from-sleep/

Thanks but that is not my problem. All apps says nej/no.
Also there is no options for sleep? I tried going to terminal way but it does not seems to give any effect.

 

[ChrizLoud]

Hmm.. i changed nothing but even from talking about this i just went to my iMac from a longer phone call from a friend and noticed it has gone to sleep mode by it self..

Oh wait i actually changed this setting to "on" in Boom 3D.
That seemed to do the trick.

 

[vkd]

Anyone happen to have an image for a Linux USB pen drive built for flashing VBIOS they could share?

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Anyone happen to have an image for a Linux USB pen drive built for flashing VBIOS they could share?

The link and guideline is shared inside this thread.
Use the search function of the forum.

 

[RandomWithMac]

Hey Guys!

yesterday i got confident enough to disassemble my old iMac, it‘s a late 2009 with the 27 inch screen. The GPU (think it was a Radeon 4000 Series with 512MB?) is busted alongside the old 1 TB HDD.

I ordered a SSD and an i7 860, but i am not sure what upgrade i should get or if i should get one of the upgrades stated on this list.

I looked at the AMD M5100 and the M6000 series, with both costing between 50-70€.

Has anyone done this mod on the 2009 iMac? If so, how hard is this mod to do?

Note, that i have little to no experience with Macs or Linux, i have flashed a GTX 760 once on Windows, but other than that i would say that i am pretty inexperienced.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hey Guys!

yesterday i got confident enough to disassemble my old iMac, it‘s a late 2009 with the 27 inch screen. The GPU (think it was a Radeon 4000 Series with 512MB?) is busted alongside the old 1 TB HDD.

I ordered a SSD and an i7 860, but i am not sure what upgrade i should get or if i should get one of the upgrades stated on this list.

I looked at the AMD M5100 and the M6000 series, with both costing between 50-70€.

Has anyone done this mod on the 2009 iMac? If so, how hard is this mod to do?

Note, that i have little to no experience with Macs or Linux, i have flashed a GTX 760 once on Windows, but other than that i would say that i am pretty inexperienced.

Thank you in advance!

I did.
iMac 27" 2009, High Sierra.
Dead HD4850 replaced by FirePro M6100

What I did:
Replaced the HD4850 with M6100
Boot the iMac with no SSD or HDD, no LCD, confirm that it could boot normally with a chime.
Do a PRAM reset.
Plug in the GRML Linux USB and reboot. Confirm all fans spin normally. GRML Linux USB was prepared previously on my Windows PC.

From another PC (I used Windows PC), SSH to the iMac and type necessary command to do the flash.

Take a blank SSD + USB enclosure, plug it to another working iMac of mine.
Clone High Sierra volume to the SSD
Install OCLP EFI on the SSD.

Transfer the SSD to iMac 2009 with M6100.
Assemble the LCD panel.

My iMac now boot normally to High Sierra.

 

[RandomWithMac]

I did.
iMac 27" 2009, High Sierra.
Dead HD4850 replaced by FirePro M6100

What I did:
Replaced the HD4850 with M6100
Boot the iMac with no SSD or HDD, no LCD, confirm that it could boot normally with a chime.
Do a PRAM reset.
Plug in the GRML Linux USB and reboot. Confirm all fans spin normally. GRML Linux USB was prepared previously on my Windows PC.

From another PC (I used Windows PC), SSH to the iMac and type necessary command to do the flash.

Take a blank SSD + USB enclosure, plug it to another working iMac of mine.
Clone High Sierra volume to the SSD
Install OCLP EFI on the SSD.

Transfer the SSD to iMac 2009 with M6100.
Assemble the LCD panel.

My iMac now boot normally to High Sierra.

Hey, thanks for the quick response!

Could you tell me which GPU you got? Was it the one from HP or Dell?

Thank you!

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hey, thanks for the quick response!

Could you tell me which GPU you got? Was it the one from HP or Dell?

Thank you!

I don't know. Mine has the red PCB. Perhaps it's a Dell board.

 

[RandomWithMac]

I don't know. Mine has the red PCB. Perhaps it's a Dell board.

Alright, i am going to get a M6100, i have one in sight for 55€, might get it for 45€. Did you do any heatsink mods or was the copper plate, as stated in the Q&A enough? If so, how thick is the copper plate?

Also could you go into detail with the GRML Linux thing? Did you just get the one you can download from their website or is there a special modified version?

Thanks a lot again!

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Alright, i am going to get a M6100, i have one in sight for 55€, might get it for 45€. Did you do any heatsink mods or was the copper plate, as stated in the Q&A enough? If so, how thick is the copper plate?

Also could you go into detail with the GRML Linux thing? Did you just get the one you can download from their website or is there a special modified version?

Thanks a lot again!

There are 2 version of the GRML Linux USB. Both are special made for flashing purpose, saved inside this thread and you have to search for them because I'm lazy.
When you come to the right post with the proper link to it, you will see the guidance how to do SSH or login password as well.
The GRML Linux USB includes all vBIOS files listed in post #1.
But to be sure, double check and pick-up the VBIOS file again.
We all assume that you know the basic Linux commands and AMDflash/nVIDIA flash command before proceeding.
If they are all new to you, you will need to study about them. (Very basic and available all over the Internet)

 

[hello99k]

Hi all, I'm trying to get an S7100x working in a iMac11,3.

I flashed the card using a CH341a clip with the ROM2 GOP vbios from the first post and I'm able to get to the OC boot picker screen with USB boot drive. Everything functions fine on the OC boot picker screen itself. However, when I attempt to boot to the MacOS Monterey installer (through OC), the Apple logo appears and the loading bar pops up but the kernel panics and the system freezes (I've also noticed that all USB devices loose power every time this occurs).

Attached is picture of the verbose output of the kernel panic and my OCLP config.plist file. The OC config was created on a separate mac with OCLP 0.5.3 but I made sure to override the device auto detection with iMac 11,3 and select the AMD GCN GPU model. I've also tried multiple NVRAM resets after installing the new GPU and manually adding the boot-args described in this post but with no success. I've also checked and made sure SSDT-CPBG.aml is present in the ACPI folder.

Since, I received the iMac with a dead GPU and no OS, I don't know of any easy way of attempting a boot to a full OS environment to see if the outcome is any different.

I feel like I've probably made some really dumb mistake on configuring OC but cant figure out what's wrong so any help is greatly appreciated!

Finally figured this out a few months later. Turns out it was a courpt EFI bios and a dead ram stick. Re-flashing the logic board after cleaning the ME region of the bios using a CH341a clip and replacing the ram fixed this.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Alright, i am going to get a M6100, i have one in sight for 55€, might get it for 45€. Did you do any heatsink mods or was the copper plate, as stated in the Q&A enough? If so, how thick is the copper plate?

Also could you go into detail with the GRML Linux thing? Did you just get the one you can download from their website or is there a special modified version?

Thanks a lot again!

What? M6100 for 45EUR? That price is including shipping, right?
A pre-flashed card for iMac is 28$ freeship. Where does the price 45EUR come from?

Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

If you hate Aliexress like I do because they lost my purchased item, then ebay (this one charge 15$ shipping)

AMD FIREPRO M6100 HD8950 2GB DDR5 MXM 3.0 Type B WITH X-BRACKET | eBay

AMD FirePro M6100 2GB GDDR5 graphics card WITH X-BRACKET. AMD FirePro M6100 GDDR5 graphics card MXM B x 1. MXM B interface. Card size: 82 x 105 mm. Dell Alienware M15x.

www.ebay.com

 

[crazyjnz]

The mmod for the iMac Late 2009 A1312 (EMC 2374) "Core i5"

View attachment 1713024

Can someone please share a screen shoot of the mmod for a 12,2 (2011 27 inch) I have a feeling that my screen was replaced so wanted to check.
Thanks

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Can someone please share a screen shoot of the mmod for a 12,2 (2011 27 inch) I have a feeling that my screen was replaced so wanted to check.
Thanks

The iMac12,2 has usually the model 0000A007 - if you carefully study the docs you might notice one can change the displays and the electronics.

 

[crazyjnz]

Mine is b002, does that change how I do tue backlighting stepping mod in applebacklight.kext?
Thanks for the quick response

 

[armasuchti]

Hey guys, does anyone know, if a USB Ethernet Card will also be initialised from the grml-linux in order to flash the vBios from a (for example) K1100M via SSH? The native Ethernet-Port got killed while a thunderstorm many years ago.

(iMac 11,2, want to upgrade to 860s and K1100M)

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hey guys, does anyone know, if a USB Ethernet Card will also be initialised from the grml-linux in order to flash the vBios from a (for example) K1100M via SSH? The native Ethernet-Port got killed while a thunderstorm many years ago.

(iMac 11,2, want to upgrade to 860s and K1100M)

If the original GPU is still working, you can test the GRML Linux USB yourself (and the USB to LAN adapter) with the LCD panel attached. you can also set-up wifi password on Linux and fix IP address as well instead of using the USB to LAN adapter.
It's the best practice to run the GRML Linux on your iMac first to stabilize the network protocol, then replace the GPU and boot Linux again to flash.

 

[beblack568]

My iMac 27" 2011 with a K4100m was perfectly working and i could even play some games on Windows but after replacing the processor with a Xeon 1280 the graphics card is not working at full speed. Even valley bechmark is super laggy. Anyone knows what happening?

 

[liaamw_99]

HELP!! I will be installing a GTX880M 8GB in my 27-inch Mid-2011 iMac in the coming weeks. Is it safe to run the card without this small heat-shield attached to the x-bracket on the back of the card over the VRAM chips? I will be replacing the x-bracket with one without this heat-shield. Will I face any issues with the card without this? Temperatures, etc?