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

[rockygo46]

Se hai riparato il sensore di temperatura ODD sul dissipatore di calore della GPU, ti suggerisco di impostare Mac Fan Control per regolare la velocità della ventola tramite il sensore ODD. Ventola massima a 60 gradi Celsius.

Thanks for the reply, I haven't done any repairs on the ODD temperature sensor because the same is already present in the GPU heatsink from the factory, should a modification still be made? the iMac In question is the A1312 model with a long three-tube heatsink, it seems to me ,thank you

 

[maccoops]

Hello,

I received an iMac 2011 27-inch (A1312) model from an acquaintance, but there is a graphic card failure symptom. (Vertical lines appear and cannot proceed from the Apple logo)

The specification is a model with i5 2400 RAM 4GB and 6970m.

When the faulty graphics card was installed, only the apple logo appeared and the screen stopped with a line, but the booting sound was normal.

I disassembled it, ripped out the graphics card, obtained a K2100m Quadro (purchased one with Vbios for Mac) and installed it. The backlight doesn't seem to come on either.

When I searched, there was talk of resetting the pram and the need to use a patcher... I'm confused because it's my first Mac.

First of all, I tried to enter the boot menu by creating a bootable USB in High Sierra, but the screen does not come out either.

When the screen goes blank, nothing progresses.

Since the screen does not appear, it is not possible to know what version of the OS is currently installed on the Mac.

First of all, since the Apple logo originally came out, I'm looking at two possibilities.


1. The purchased graphic card is broken

2. Is the OS not supported because it is an older version than High Sierra?

3. In addition, I need a patch that I don't know about


What I thought was to replace the graphics card with K2100m, turn on the screen immediately, boot from USB and do a clean install of High Sierra, but it doesn't work like I thought. What could be the reason?...

It's embarrassing because it seems to be a situation where you need an old AMD graphics card for some reason. I've already spent on the K2100m and I have to buy an older graphics card again..

Please help me!

Hi, I'm confident that you'll bring this iMac back to a full working state. But there is a lot of reading to do. It seems that you will need to read the first post of this thread in full, and read the pages that are linked especially the plan and the FAQ and the common problems. I am sure you'll find that you have missed something. It is worthwhile because this K2100M is quite simple to get working and it does sound like the old card has failed. Good luck!

 

[maccoops]

You need to find out what brand the card is and what brand the memory chips on the card are.

Then you use this link to download the correct vbios.

IMAC-EFI-BOOT-SCREEN/GOP at main · Ausdauersportler/IMAC-EFI-BOOT-SCREEN

How to create an EFI boot screen vBIOS for Apple Late 2009 to Mid 2011 iMac systems using AMD MXM graphics cards - Ausdauersportler/IMAC-EFI-BOOT-SCREEN

github.com

Thanks again - working well now, although I do not see the very first boot screen, I get a blank screen until the OCLP picker is displayed. I manually added the

radpg=15 -wegtree apdpmod=pikera

to config.plist in EFI of both the USB and the SDD.
Also I cannot get to Ventura from Monterey. Did you need to do anything special? Ventura is working on my other iMac 12,2 with a Nvidia GPU but here I can't update via System Settings, or by doing a fresh OCLP installer. In the first I get an error after a few reboots and in the second my system just hangs after a few reboots with progress bar at around half full.

 

[benedolt]

Hey @maccoops! I'm also trying to get an M5100 to work with my iMac 11,2 (2010, 21,5"). I flashed the GOP ROM but can't get the iMac to boot, the LCD just remains black and the OS doesn't load either. You said, you used OCLP on USB drive? Were you able to just plug that in and it worked? Or did you have to select the USB somehow - e.g. by blindly mashing the option key during startup?

 

[maccoops]

Hey @maccoops! I'm also trying to get an M5100 to work with my iMac 11,2 (2010, 21,5"). I flashed the GOP ROM but can't get the iMac to boot, the LCD just remains black and the OS doesn't load either. You said, you used OCLP on USB drive? Were you able to just plug that in and it worked? Or did you have to select the USB somehow - e.g. by blindly mashing the option key during startup?

Hiya, have you manually edited config.plist? If so, I will say that I had to wait for absolutely ages for the machine to boot to any kind of screen. If not if you search for config.plist in this thread and you should find my notes explaining how to do it.

 

[benedolt]

Hiya, have you manually edited config.plist? If so, I will say that I had to wait for absolutely ages for the machine to boot to any kind of screen. If not if you search for config.plist in this thread and you should find my notes explaining how to do it.

Ah, you mean the

radpg=15 -wegtree apdpmod=pikera

, right? I'll check that out.

One other thing I noticed is, that the iMac boots fine into linux with the LCD disconnected. (No OCLP, but it boots fine and is accessible via SSH.) As soon as the LCD is connected, the boot seems to hang completely. Very strange.

 

[maccoops]

Ah, you mean the

radpg=15 -wegtree apdpmod=pikera

, right? I'll check that out.

One other thing I noticed is, that the iMac boots fine into linux with the LCD disconnected. (No OCLP, but it boots fine and is accessible via SSH.) As soon as the LCD is connected, the boot seems to hang completely. Very strange.

Yes exactly.

I assume the two things are related - cannot boot to macos with incorrect parameters in config.plist - but may well be wrong!

 

[Squash019]

Hi guys! I've been reading the thread as I'm facing a little problem with my replacement GPU (K2100M).

I first updated to High Sierra (previously the iMac was on 10.11) with the original GPU. I had to put aside the project, but a few days ago tried to give it a go. I successfully replaced the GPU and the system seemed to boot and work fine, but then I realized I had a pending system update, so there I went. I left the iMac updating and when I returned a few hours later there was no image on the screen, so at first I thought it went on sleep, but there was no dice, no key or click would wake the iMac up... Turned it off, tried to turn it on again and the fans were spinning but no image on the internal or external display attached. Thought it might be a connection problem, so I dismantled the iMac again, applied new thermal paste again just in case, remounted everything but no luck. There were only 2 of the 4 LEDs that should be on on the logic board.

Tried to put back the original GPU and bingo, the internal display is working perfectly and 4 out of 4 LEDs are on.

Is there something I could/should try with the K2100M or do I bury it down and try to buy a new one? It's pretty confusing and frustrating to me to see it working fine and a few hours later just a black screen...

 

[curioussurfer]

Hi guys! I've been reading the thread as I'm facing a little problem with my replacement GPU (K2100M).

I first updated to High Sierra (previously the iMac was on 10.11) with the original GPU. I had to put aside the project, but a few days ago tried to give it a go. I successfully replaced the GPU and the system seemed to boot and work fine, but then I realized I had a pending system update, so there I went. I left the iMac updating and when I returned a few hours later there was no image on the screen, so at first I thought it went on sleep, but there was no dice, no key or click would wake the iMac up... Turned it off, tried to turn it on again and the fans were spinning but no image on the internal or external display attached. Thought it might be a connection problem, so I dismantled the iMac again, applied new thermal paste again just in case, remounted everything but no luck. There were only 2 of the 4 LEDs that should be on on the logic board.

Tried to put back the original GPU and bingo, the internal display is working perfectly and 4 out of 4 LEDs are on.

Is there something I could/should try with the K2100M or do I bury it down and try to buy a new one? It's pretty confusing and frustrating to me to see it working fine and a few hours later just a black screen...

Try turning off sleep and only allow the display to sleep. If it's a 2011, sleep is broken with Nvidia cards in macOS > 10.3.6.

 

[nikey22]

seemed to boot and work fine, but then I realized I had a pending system update, so there I went. I left the iMac updating and when I returned a few hours later there was no image on the screen

This is a clue that the High Sierra upgrade changes some policy options, as I recall we had to manually add back the boardID to the AppleGraphicsPolicy info.plist.

Please make sure that the bootrom is the latest, this is mandatory. Use your original AMD card and get to:
BootROM: 87.0.0.0.0

So, if you are using for example a 21.5" iMac 2011, the correct boardID that should be part of the .plist is: Mac-942B5BF58194151B

If you want to do the mod yourself:
-Turn computer on, hold down Command(⌘)-R
-Choose Utilities > Terminal
-Enter:csrutil disable

you need to use the Kext Utility 2.6 program for this to correct the permissions

-edit /System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext/Contents/Info.plist and add the following entries to the "ConfigMap" dict:

<key>ConfigMap</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>Mac-942B59F58194171B</key>   <---- missing (iMac 12,2: 27-inch Mid 2011)
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-942B5BF58194151B</key>   <---- missing (iMac 12,1: 21.5-inch Mid 2011)
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-F2268DAE</key>
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-F2238AC8</key>               
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-F2238BAE</key>              
                                <string>none</string>

 

[Squash019]

Try turning off sleep and only allow the display to sleep. If it's a 2011, sleep is broken with Nvidia cards in macOS > 10.3.6.

This is a clue that the High Sierra upgrade changes some policy options, as I recall we had to manually add back the boardID to the AppleGraphicsPolicy info.plist.

Please make sure that the bootrom is the latest, this is mandatory. Use your original AMD card and get to:
BootROM: 87.0.0.0.0

So, if you are using for example a 27" iMac 2011, the correct board ID that should be part of the .plist is: Mac-942B59F58194171B

View attachment 2232380


If you want to do the mod yourself:
-Turn computer on, hold down Command(⌘)-R
-Choose Utilities > Terminal
-Enter:csrutil disable

you need to use the Kext Utility 2.6 program for this to correct the permissions

-edit /System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext/Contents/Info.plist and add the following entries to the "ConfigMap" dict:

<key>ConfigMap</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>Mac-942B59F58194171B</key>   <---- missing (iMac 12,2: 27-inch Mid 2011)
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-942B5BF58194151B</key>   <---- missing (iMac 12,1: 21.5-inch Mid 2011)
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-F2268DAE</key>
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-F2238AC8</key>                
                                <string>none</string>
                                <key>Mac-F2238BAE</key>               
                                <string>none</string>

Hi again guys. An update on this... Turns out I was partially wrong. Since I couldn't stop there, once again I swapped the old card with the new one. Then, the apple from the tree fell into my head and tried for a while to reset the PRAM and... bingo! After like 15-20 seconds with the keys pressed, the machine (iMac 21.5" mid-2011) boots fine. The thing is that I can only boot it with this method with the new card on High Sierra. Tried holding option (to apply the firmware) but I can't seem to get it to boot normally or with the option key, it only wakes up with the PRAM reset combination... So the next question is... is this an issue with the card or with the method? Right now, I only have the bluetooth Apple keyboard an a Logitech MX Keys attached with the USB dongle, but it seems strange if it's able to boot with the PRAM reset keys but not just pressing option. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Thanks for your help!!!

BTW, it seems the card didn't come pre-flashed (as I can't seem to find any "nikey22" reference on "About this Mac")...

 

[nikey22]

@Squash019
-Make a vbios backup of your original card (and send it to me - I keep a database with your username attached to it). You can use grml linux brought to us by @xanderon for flashing, and modified by @The_Croupier either using xanderon post or The_Croupier post

-then you can flash the Apple efi ROM to make it compatible for the iMac. You can obtain the proper K2100M iMac Edition rom: K2100M iMac vbios.

 

[TerrorUniverso]

Hi,
Does anybody here tried to game to see how capable those cards are?I would like to know how close the WX 4150 is to GTX 1050 Ti

 

[nikey22]

This is the M6100 VBIOS of the original graphics card on my Mac 11,3. I've tried all the VBIOS ROMs I can download from the forums, but they all have issues. They do not support DP signal input and output under 10.13.6. Not sure where the problem is, it's Dell's too. The red card, the video memory is very blurry and cannot be seen clearly, but the software detection shows that it is a Samsung chip. The display of the last R2 ROM of NIKE22 is normal, but the video input and output are not normal, WIN10 cannot enter the system, and a blue screen appears. What I can barely use now is the ROM that supports three types of video memory in the forum. The MAC shows R9 M380 2G, which is unstable and restarts soon. It can only be used under WIN10 system, and the unsigned M6100 driver is forced to be installed.

I reworked the rom to allow it to work in Windows 10 some time ago. The board IDs were incorrect and windows drivers were rejecting it or trying its best to find a match:

As you can see above, this is a problem. It doesn't recognize the card correctly.

After making the proper Device ID modification:-
Finally, Windows 10 will work nicely with its own built-in Crimson 17.Q4.1 video drivers and detects the card as the proper M6100 and not a HD8530 or other sub-variant:

Now, Windows 10 correctly identifies the card and loads the drivers with full accelerators.
Please try the .rom attached and let me know.

Thank you

 

[Squash019]

@Squash019
-Make a vbios backup of your original card (and send it to me - I keep a database with your username attached to it). You can use grml linux brought to us by @xanderon for flashing, and modified by @The_Croupier either using xanderon post or The_Croupier post

-then you can flash the Apple efi ROM to make it compatible for the iMac. You can obtain the proper K2100M iMac Edition rom: K2100M iMac vbios.

The thing is I’m actually unable to boot and select the USB drive where GMRL is. With the original GPU I can do it, and I’ve exported a copy of the firmware that I’ll send you later, but with the K2100M it’s impossible, I can only boot the system doing a PRAM reset every time…

 

[nikey22]

The thing is I’m actually unable to boot and select the USB drive where GMRL is. With the original GPU I can do it, and I’ve exported a copy of the firmware that I’ll send you later, but with the K2100M it’s impossible, I can only boot the system doing a PRAM reset every time…

Disconnect internal drive and your iMac will have ZERO choice, but to load the USB drive....grml.

 

[Squash019]

Disconnect internal drive and your iMac will have ZERO choice, but to load the USB drive....grml.

****, I’ll have to tear it into pieces once again 🥲. Thanks for the advice, I didn’t realize this was an option. I’ll try to do it tomorrow and update with the result.

Thank you!!

 

[crazyjnz]

Hello guys, any tips on getting brighness working in windows 10 on my 12,2 imac with gtx780m flashed with nicky22's vBios? I have edited the reg and now have a brightness slider but it does nothing. I have tried many display driver version's and all are the same. brightness works in macos

 

[nikey22]

@crazyjnz
there are 2 areas in the Registry that need editing. Did you add both?
One for the physical bar and the other for the control flag:

 

[crazyjnz]

Yes I have added both and still not working

 

[wxzerg]

At present, everything seems to be normal, but there are some small problems, 1. In the OS 12.6.2 system, the fan control APP cannot detect the temperature value,maybe several miniutes it will shut down then reboot, but the value is normally detected under WIN10 and OS 10.13.6. The OPENCORE PATHER version is the latest 2. The DP input is normal under the OS 10.13.6 system, but when the external signal is turned off, it cannot switch to the MAC desktop normally, it is black, and can only be forced to shut down. Appreciate the feedback, thank you!

I reworked the rom to allow it to work in Windows 10 some time ago. The board IDs were incorrect and windows drivers were rejecting it or trying its best to find a match:
View attachment 2232534
As you can see above, this is a problem. It doesn't recognize the card correctly.

After making the proper Device ID modification:-
Finally, Windows 10 will work nicely with its own built-in Crimson 17.Q4.1 video drivers and detects the card as the proper M6100 and not a HD8530 or other sub-variant:
View attachment 2232542
Now, Windows 10 correctly identifies the card and loads the drivers with full accelerators.
Please try the .rom attached and let me know.

Thank you

 

[Squash019]

Disconnect internal drive and your iMac will have ZERO choice, but to load the USB drive....grml.

****, I’ll have to tear it into pieces once again 🥲. Thanks for the advice, I didn’t realize this was an option. I’ll try to do it tomorrow and update with the result.

Thank you!!

Hi again! Done that (unplugged both old internal HDD and the extra, main drive, SSD, both from power and data), and it seems it's unable to boot with this combination from the USB. With the old card, it could boot from it, but with the new one it seems almost imposible... Tried to ping and ssh into the machine, in case the screen was black but it was booting into GRML but nope, I can't "contact" the wired iMac...

 

[EightHundred5882300]

Hello, Could be a short some where between the gpu heatsink and the lcd backplate?. I would try it with out the lcd connected. Considering we did take it apart again and basically again to get use to it. And make sure you have your button cell Carefully removed and replaced if its that old. normally I would not ssh over to one PC/Mac with a button cell at least a decade old even if it sounds harsh. it just would not seem practical for me (hehehehe😅), i would just replace it tbh. and I'm sure you are aware of needing a wifi router to assign in ip, Or is there another way that i dont know of?. I could not ssh to my iMac directly to ethernet to ethernet witch i find weird. I needed a wifi router and it worked using the linux flash method.

 

[Procrastinus]

I am just starting down this route!
I find flashing a GPU card very complicated, but I did find Curtis Gross' video helpful (

) However it is hard to follow all the commands being typed. He had a 'My end-end instructions doc' but that is now unavailable.
Does any one have a copy?

PS - I have read xanderon's excellent post #4263, but need a little more detail!

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

I am just starting down this route!
I find flashing a GPU card very complicated, but I did find Curtis Gross' video helpful (

) However it is hard to follow all the commands being typed. He had a 'My end-end instructions doc' but that is now unavailable.
Does any one have a copy?

PS - I have read xanderon's excellent post #4263, but need a little more detail!

Top 25 Basic Linux Commands for Beginners [Recommended]

Knowing some basic Linux commands can make your use of the Operating System much easier. Here we explain 25 basic Linux commands along with examples.

hackr.io

Nvidia VBIOS flashing ⛑️ | minerstat help

Minerstat mining OS supports Nvidia Firmware Update Utility, version 5. Click to learn more.

minerstat.com

AMD/ATI Flashing Guide

Hi Everyone! If you are reading this the guide is probably for you!!! This guide is an updated refresh based on or in part by other similar threads throughout TPU and my own personal experience (I used to be an nvidia guide but this 290x is too fun) it also covers all current information based...

www.techpowerup.com