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

[Uranga]

hello there. I have a question. Im trying to revive a mid 2011 27" imac with the AMD Radeon 6970M 1gb. At first i though it was a hardrive failure, but i replaced it with an SSD and doesn't go past the internet recovery. When i try to put an USB mac os Sierra, i get the blue screen so i figured is a dead GPU. Being that this thread is at 889 pages, Ha. i figured i ask, It does seem like a GPU failure right?

Also aret here are Any, i mean any plug n play cards i can get? i don't want to make any heatsink mods. i don't want to invest too much, as i can get a whole used machine for $120. Thank you all. so im willing to buy the same OEM gpu.

 

[howardc64]

hello there. I have a question. Im trying to revive a mid 2011 27" imac with the AMD Radeon 6970M 1gb. At first i though it was a hardrive failure, but i replaced it with an SSD and doesn't go past the internet recovery. When i try to put an USB mac os Sierra, i get the blue screen so i figured is a dead GPU. Being that this thread is at 889 pages, Ha. i figured i ask, It does seem like a GPU failure right?

Likely dead GPU.

Also aret here are Any, i mean any plug n play cards i can get? i don't want to make any heatsink mods. i don't want to invest too much, as i can get a whole used machine for $120. Thank you all. so im willing to buy the same OEM gpu.

Look on ebay for used working 6970M prices and depends where you live.

If upgrade to metal GPU, need to learn VBIOS flash, OCLP installation (both are software only) and potentially copper shim of the right thickness. Probably don't need to grind heatsink choosing MXMA (smaller) cards. Kepler (K610m/K1100m) is your cheapest option at somewhat lower performance on some key features (compare using techpowerup.com) than 6970M. Info in my signature link.

 

[Uranga]

Likely dead GPU.



Look on ebay for used working 6970M prices and depends where you live.

If upgrade to metal GPU, need to learn VBIOS flash, OCLP installation (both are software only) and potentially copper shim of the right thickness. Probably don't need to grind heatsink choosing MXMA (smaller) cards. Kepler (K610m/K1100m) is your cheapest option at somewhat lower performance on some key features (compare using techpowerup.com) than 6970M. Info in my signature link.

Thank you. So for the k2100m...would it just have to be flashed or mod on the heatsink?

Also in searching for oem 6970m 1gb I see a 2gb, that would be plug and play right? (Too expensive)

 

[fromy45]

Hi everyone.
I feel me so stupid. I have iMac A1311 11.2 21.5'' , I bought for it nVidia Quadro M3000M and Xeon E3-1240V2. And i couldnt find Bios on this GPU. I wanted to replace Bios on it and turn on but after check i didnt find something. Maybe anybody can help me with this situation? For example, give me step-by-step instruction or video that can help me. If it will be possible I will appreciate it !

 

[howardc64]

Thank you. So for the k2100m...would it just have to be flashed or mod on the heatsink?

flashed for sure, don't know if mods on your heatsink. I have no experience if it run on factory High Sierra? Some posts in search suggest maybe yes?

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/4983955/?q=k2100&t=post&c[thread]=1596614&o=relevance

Also in searching for oem 6970m 1gb I see a 2gb, that would be plug and play right? (Too expensive)

check with seller. everymac doesn't show any 2GB 6970m

Mac Release Dates 2011 - Macs By Year Introduced: EveryMac.com

Tech specs for all Apple Mac models released in 2011. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, storage details, configuration options, model numbers, and more.

everymac.com

 

[rukuku]

Thank you. So for the k2100m...would it just have to be flashed or mod on the heatsink?

Also in searching for oem 6970m 1gb I see a 2gb, that would be plug and play right? (Too expensive)

I got a pre-flashed AMD Polaris WX4150 and an install kit (tape, copper shim and thermal paste) on AliExpress for the same type iMac12,2 end of December for about $150 from the seller/shop called HoTechHon; you need the X bracket one. Look for "AMD Radeon Pro WX 4150 WX4150 4GB Metal MXM VER: 1.1 Video Card for iMac 21.5inch 27inch A1311 A1312 2009-2011 Sonoma Sequoia" on Aliexpress.

 

[SubDriver]

check with seller. everymac doesn't show any 2GB 6970m

Mac Release Dates 2011 - Macs By Year Introduced: EveryMac.com

Tech specs for all Apple Mac models released in 2011. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, storage details, configuration options, model numbers, and more.

everymac.com

Everymac does show 2GB 6970m... It is in the text of the Video Card section: "By default, this model has an AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics processor with 1 GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory. By custom configuration, the same graphics processor can be equipped with 2 GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory for an extra US$100."

BTW - Your links showing and explaining the details of the GPU conversions are very handy... wish it had existed 5 years ago when I did my conversion! (But I probably wouldn't have learned as much either...)

 

[s3eker]

Hello guys,

I have an iMac 2011 A1312 which video card is failed and I replaced with Radeon WX4150 ready to use from seller. it runs fine at first, but when I install mac os it always dead on half progress. then I tried to use the video card on my 21 inch core i3 imac and it's fine. installed big sur with no problem. but when I use it on my A1312 imac, only 2 led on. fan running but like no activity. I clean video card slot but no luck. am I damage something on the board?

 

[howardc64]

Hello guys,

I have an iMac 2011 A1312 which video card is failed and I replaced with Radeon WX4150 ready to use from seller. it runs fine at first, but when I install mac os it always dead on half progress. then I tried to use the video card on my 21 inch core i3 imac and it's fine. installed big sur with no problem. but when I use it on my A1312 imac, only 2 led on. fan running but like no activity. I clean video card slot but no luck. am I damage something on the board?

Probably an HP card? which requires mods for 12,2. See Spoiler : Known Issues #4 under Spoiler : AMD GCN v4 GPU (2016-2017) in post #1.

 

[BzowK]

GRML VBIOS flash is done via remote login since screen is blank ( link )



VRAMs don't get too hot. Lots of cards have VRAM on the other side of the board with no cooling at all. Anyway, 1 shim on GPU die and K5 pro thermal paste on VRAM + inductors which is standard installation.

OK - I've spent hours on this in the past couple of days and for some reason can't get it to boot to the flash drive with the new GPU installed. Below are results in case I'm missing something (again)...

• OEM GPU installed / SSD plugged in / Flash unplugged - Boots to OS on SSD with a 192.168.0.194 IP
• OEM GPU installed / SSD unplugged / Flash plugged in - Boots to flash after 2 minutes and get 192.168.0.195 IP. I can connect via SSH just fine and seems to work great
• New GPU installed / SSD unplugged / Flash plugged in - Hear boot chime but never boots (LED on flash drive basically stays solid and goes nuts when booting and cannot ping anything)
• New GPU installed / SSD plugged in / Flash plugged in - Boots to OS (I assume since I have no display) as after a couple of minutes I can ping 192.168.0.194

I can't figure out why everything works except in the scenario I need it to be in and have tried going back and forth between GPUs numerous times with the same results. Have also tried powering on with SSD plugged in and Option held down to see if I can time the boot selection menu but no go there either. Weird I'm getting a different IP depending on what I boot to, but know its correct as trace it back to the MAC in router logs.

Any suggestions (Again)? Thanks!

Update: Just tried plugging up a HDD to SATA which did not have an OS on it with new GPU + Flash to see if it would then boot to flash but nogo

 

[howardc64]

• New GPU installed / SSD unplugged / Flash plugged in - Hear boot chime but never boots (LED on flash drive basically stays solid and goes nuts when booting and cannot ping anything)

Read GRML unable to connect issue in red color in this link Seems to occur but not frequent (1/4 for me). I use CH341A for this reason (and its way faster of course but need to have the correct voltage modded CH341A jig) Then there are shorter flashROM chips which require more advanced ROM connector.

If SSD have no boot volume, leaving it plug in is fine and iMac will skip and boot from USB. But I suppose first timers best just to leave it unplugged (I did the same first couple of times). Not so hard to replug SATA in after VBIOS is flashed.

Since you are pulling the LCD constantly. Read the following couple of tips on LCD connector to avoid mangling it ( link )

 

[BzowK]

Read GRML unable to connect issue in red color in this link Seems to occur but not frequent (1/4 for me). I use CH341A for this reason (and its way faster of course but need to have the correct voltage modded CH341A jig) Then there are shorter flashROM chips which require more advanced ROM connector.

If SSD have no boot volume, leaving it plug in is fine and iMac will skip and boot from USB. But I suppose first timers best just to leave it unplugged (I did the same first couple of times). Not so hard to replug SATA in after VBIOS is flashed.

Since you are pulling the LCD constantly. Read the following couple of tips on LCD connector to avoid mangling it ( link )

Well that stinks

As for the link that describes GRML not getting an IP. My issue is that the GRML flash doesn't boot (only when new GPU installed and SSD unplugged). By chance, I used a flash drive which has an LED that blinks like crazy when being accessed and when booting to it with OEM GPU in, it goes nuts for about 2 minutes. When trying to boot to it with new GPU in and SSD unplugged, it just blinks like a couple of times. In addition to that, the diag LEDs 1, 2, & 4 are lit when booting to SSD (with new GPU installed). When SSD is unplugged, LED 4 stays off.

I did consider purchasing a CH341A flasher however my GPU is a wx3200 and in your guide you mention that it has a lower profile IS24LQ040 which the clip can't grab onto. The programmers seems cheap enough - just don't know which (if any) clip would work.

Guess I can a different GRML image than the one I'm using, but it works in all other scenarios and on an old Macbook I had so go figure. Maybe try clearing CMOS first?

Finally, thanks for display link. Actually had to purchase a new cable a few days ago because of the frequent LCD pulling

 

[s3eker]

Probably an HP card? which requires mods for 12,2. See Spoiler : Known Issues #4 under Spoiler : AMD GCN v4 GPU (2016-2017) in post #1.

I think it’s pre modded by seller. I use it on 2010 core i3 imac and it runs fine.

 

[howardc64]

I think it’s pre modded by seller. I use it on 2010 core i3 imac and it runs fine.

post #1 wx4150 info link info doesn't link some additional info. Same 2 mods are done on wx3200 and post #1 wx3200 links to post #18295 which then links to post #14529

#14529 specifically discuss issues on wx4150 random POST on 11,2 (2010 i3) Might check that.

 

[s3eker]

post #1 wx4150 info link info doesn't link some additional info. Same 2 mods are done on wx3200 and post #1 wx3200 links to post #18295 which then links to post #14529

#14529 specifically discuss issues on wx4150 random POST on 11,2 (2010 i3) Might check that.

I read it, I use the green Dell one. it should be no problem.is it possible I damage something in VGA slot?

 

[BzowK]

Well that stinks

As for the link that describes GRML not getting an IP. My issue is that the GRML flash doesn't boot (only when new GPU installed and SSD unplugged). By chance, I used a flash drive which has an LED that blinks like crazy when being accessed and when booting to it with OEM GPU in, it goes nuts for about 2 minutes. When trying to boot to it with new GPU in and SSD unplugged, it just blinks like a couple of times. In addition to that, the diag LEDs 1, 2, & 4 are lit when booting to SSD (with new GPU installed). When SSD is unplugged, LED 4 stays off.

I did consider purchasing a CH341A flasher however my GPU is a wx3200 and in your guide you mention that it has a lower profile IS24LQ040 which the clip can't grab onto. The programmers seems cheap enough - just don't know which (if any) clip would work.

Guess I can a different GRML image than the one I'm using, but it works in all other scenarios and on an old Macbook I had so go figure. Maybe try clearing CMOS first?

Finally, thanks for display link. Actually had to purchase a new cable a few days ago because of the frequent LCD pulling

Finally got it to work -

The issue was either the GRML image I was using or the physical flash drive. I made a new flash by manually partitioning a different USB flash then copying the files from that linked zip as opposed to the one I initially used which was written using Balena etcher. I still can't explain why the first one wouldn't boot with new GPU + no SSD as in all other scenarios it worked, but the 2nd one did.

After flashing and shutting down, booted to modded Sequoia 15.2 USB and started the install onto SSD. It did freeze after the first reboot as expected, but hard power off then starting in safe mode with shift got it running again. Once at desktop, I cancelled OCLP, reran selecting the AMD + Lexi options, then installed to disk. All looks good with the exception of Wi-fi not working.

Bluetooth works and Wifi is on, but no SSIDs appear. Had same issue prior to this mod after upgrading to 15.2 so am sure it's unrelated. Verified root patches are installed, but sure I'll have to look for an answer for that elsewhere.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[howardc64]

Finally got it to work -

The issue was either the GRML image I was using or the physical flash drive. I made a new flash by manually partitioning a different USB flash then copying the files from that linked zip as opposed to the one I initially used which was written using Balena etcher. I still can't explain why the first one wouldn't boot with new GPU + no SSD as in all other scenarios it worked, but the 2nd one did.

Maybe partition+fs? I followed direction (need to chase few links to get to the link ) GPT+FAT32

After flashing and shutting down, booted to modded Sequoia 15.2 USB and started the install onto SSD. It did freeze after the first reboot as expected, but hard power off then starting in safe mode with shift got it running again. Once at desktop, I cancelled OCLP, reran selecting the AMD + Lexi options, then installed to disk. All looks good with the exception of Wi-fi not working.

Often some Wifi/Bt issues after OCLP install. Need PRAM reset

Bluetooth works and Wifi is on, but no SSIDs appear. Had same issue prior to this mod after upgrading to 15.2 so am sure it's unrelated. Verified root patches are installed, but sure I'll have to look for an answer for that elsewhere.

Thanks again for the help!

Follow my directions and explanation and make a OC CD to avoid having to pull the SSD in the future.

 

[snackbar]

Hello everyone,

12,1 21“ here. Thought I’d give my workshop iMac a forever upgrade after sifting through this thread and switched to 32GB RAM, all running a fresh install of High Sierra smoothly on a SSD. Did the drive mod to quiet the fans (bridged pin 10 to 11 on the SATA power plug)

I also want to switch to OCLP Sonoma through fitting a WX4130 along with a 2600s. WX4130 came from China and had Dell part sticker on it. Followed all @howardc64 tips and tricks and got everything installed including die height measuring - no shim required, K5 pro and K4 used for everything.

This is where my drama began: GRML „november blues“ wasn‘t recognized no matter what I tried like @BzowK did, SSD disconnected or not. Went to „november rain“ release and GRML came up. SSH‘d into it and tried flashing with all of @Ausdauersportler instructions.

Got the original rom then tried to flash with the WX4130 bios provided on the repo. Got a SSID mismatch. The day was long at this point and my mind tired so I used the force flash presented as an option to flash an older rom. That was successful. Rebooted.

Display and boot logo came up. Got the picker when holding option key with SSD reattached. But as soon as High Sierra comes up the display goes dark but OS is up as I can SSH into it.

What now? Do I need to so something to tell High Sierra about the new graphics card? Also lost the original rom when light headedly formatting GRML stick. OCLP Sonoma stick ready to install if that fixes anything.

 

[howardc64]

Hello everyone,

12,1 21“ here. Thought I’d give my workshop iMac a forever upgrade after sifting through this thread and switched to 32GB RAM, all running a fresh install of High Sierra smoothly on a SSD. Did the drive mod to quiet the fans (bridged pin 10 to 11 on the SATA power plug)

I also want to switch to OCLP Sonoma through fitting a WX4130 along with a 2600s. WX4130 came from China and had Dell part sticker on it. Followed all @howardc64 tips and tricks and got everything installed including die height measuring - no shim required, K5 pro and K4 used for everything.

This is where my drama began: GRML „november blues“ wasn‘t recognized no matter what I tried like @BzowK did, SSD disconnected or not. Went to „november rain“ release and GRML came up. SSH‘d into it and tried flashing with all of @Ausdauersportler instructions.

Got the original rom then tried to flash with the WX4130 bios provided on the repo. Got a SSID mismatch. The day was long at this point and my mind tired so I used the force flash presented as an option to flash an older rom. That was successful. Rebooted.

Display and boot logo came up. Got the picker when holding option key with SSD reattached. But as soon as High Sierra comes up the display goes dark but OS is up as I can SSH into it.

What now? Do I need to so something to tell High Sierra about the new graphics card? Also lost the original rom when light headedly formatting GRML stick. OCLP Sonoma stick ready to install if that fixes anything.

View attachment 2476313
View attachment 2476314
View attachment 2476315

Never encountered SSID mismatch. Too bad original ROM was lost to see if that would eliminate this issue.

Sounds like you weren't successful flashing the new VBIOS from @Ausdauersportler github repository? What was failure? Also use VBIOS in EG directory and not EG2 (require logic board ROM flash)

Since you are trying to boot stock HS on wx4130, here is the search results

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/4988290/?q=wx4130+high+sierra&t=post&c[thread]=1596614&o=relevance

Post #22091 says screen is black and use ext monitor.

Usually, after installing and flashing metal GPU card, I just boot the OCLP installer, wipe SSD and install the OCLP macOS. Rather than to return to stock macOS and see if it has the the drivers to run the metal GPU.

Possible next steps are

1. Reinstall original iMac GPU and boot stock HS. Then just back to where you started.
2. Boot HS with ext monitor on wx4130 with orig ROM archived in the repository.
3. Flash EG VBIOS, boot installer and install OCLP Sonoma. Maybe good to make a 2nd partition for installing OCLP Sonoma so you can easily boot stock HS for any debug effort until all issues are resolved.

 

[internetzel]

Hello everyone,

12,1 21“ here. Thought I’d give my workshop iMac a forever upgrade after sifting through this thread and switched to 32GB RAM, all running a fresh install of High Sierra smoothly on a SSD. Did the drive mod to quiet the fans (bridged pin 10 to 11 on the SATA power plug)

I also want to switch to OCLP Sonoma through fitting a WX4130 along with a 2600s. WX4130 came from China and had Dell part sticker on it. Followed all @howardc64 tips and tricks and got everything installed including die height measuring - no shim required, K5 pro and K4 used for everything.

This is where my drama began: GRML „november blues“ wasn‘t recognized no matter what I tried like @BzowK did, SSD disconnected or not. Went to „november rain“ release and GRML came up. SSH‘d into it and tried flashing with all of @Ausdauersportler instructions.

Got the original rom then tried to flash with the WX4130 bios provided on the repo. Got a SSID mismatch. The day was long at this point and my mind tired so I used the force flash presented as an option to flash an older rom. That was successful. Rebooted.

Display and boot logo came up. Got the picker when holding option key with SSD reattached. But as soon as High Sierra comes up the display goes dark but OS is up as I can SSH into it.

What now? Do I need to so something to tell High Sierra about the new graphics card? Also lost the original rom when light headedly formatting GRML stick. OCLP Sonoma stick ready to install if that fixes anything.

View attachment 2476313
View attachment 2476314
View attachment 2476315

Everything well done on your side!
High Sierra showing black display with AMD Polaris GPUs is normal, unfortunately, as the first post mentions (see at the bottom in the screenshot):

You could create a Sonoma installer USB drive using another Mac (selecting your iMac model instead of autodetection) and simply install that over your current High Sierra install (don't know whether APFS conversion would be automatic, but I hope so).
Connecting an external display might be the easiest way for you if this is your only Mac.

 

[snackbar]

First of all, thanks for all your pointers and potentially solving this riddle! Honestly I was trying on processing so much information to make my approach perfect in the first step. Between a newborn and 5yr old, a job, life and other challenges I might got lost somewhere. Thanks again!

Never encountered SSID mismatch. Too bad original ROM was lost to see if that would eliminate this issue.

True. I can send you the AliExpress link if you're interested.

Sounds like you weren't successful flashing the new VBIOS from @Ausdauersportler github repository? What was failure? Also use VBIOS in EG directory and not EG2 (require logic board ROM flash)

I wasn't able to get the latest release from @Ausdauersportler to boot just like @BzowK. Same problem. I used the earlier release called "November rain" which booted. I also used the bios from the EG2 folder because one of your recent comments I came across hinted in that direction. Shall I just flash again with the EG-only version?

Since you are trying to boot stock HS on wx4130, here is the search results

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/4988290/?q=wx4130+high+sierra&t=post&c[thread]=1596614&o=relevance

Post #22091 says screen is black and use ext monitor.

Missed that. Thanks.

Usually, after installing and flashing metal GPU card, I just boot the OCLP installer, wipe SSD and install the OCLP macOS. Rather than to return to stock macOS and see if it has the the drivers to run the metal GPU.

Possible next steps are

1. Reinstall original iMac GPU and boot stock HS. Then just back to where you started.
2. Boot HS with ext monitor on wx4130 with orig ROM archived in the repository.
3. Flash EG VBIOS, boot installer and install OCLP Sonoma. Maybe good to make a 2nd partition for installing OCLP Sonoma so you can easily boot stock HS for any debug effort until all issues are resolved.

Everything well done on your side!
High Sierra showing black display with AMD Polaris GPUs is normal, unfortunately, as the first post mentions (see at the bottom in the screenshot):
View attachment 2476477
You could create a Sonoma installer USB drive using another Mac (selecting your iMac model instead of autodetection) and simply install that over your current High Sierra install (don't know whether APFS conversion would be automatic, but I hope so).
Connecting an external display might be the easiest way for you if this is your only Mac.

Missed that, thanks. I jumped back and forth through many topics trying to stay on the WX4130 route and getting the relevant info while filtering out side notes in regards to other cards.

OCLP Sonoma USB stick was already done on my wife's MacBook with 12,1 compatibility in mind. APFS was done during High Sierra install if I remember correctly. If not installer may wipe SSD if it needs to. There's nothing on it besides HS.

Attack plan:
So basically if I reflash to EG bios version and system still comes back up as before (can SSH into HS with black screen but visible boot picker before), plug in the OCLP Sonoma and send it?

 

[internetzel]

First of all, thanks for all your pointers and potentially solving this riddle! Honestly I was trying on processing so much information to make my approach perfect in the first step. Between a newborn and 5yr old, a job, life and other challenges I might got lost somewhere. Thanks again!



True. I can send you the AliExpress link if you're interested.

I wasn't able to get the latest release from @Ausdauersportler to boot just like @BzowK. Same problem. I used the earlier release called "November rain" which booted. I also used the bios from the EG2 folder because one of your recent comments I came across hinted in that direction. Shall I just flash again with the EG-only version?

Missed that. Thanks.



Missed that, thanks. I jumped back and forth through many topics trying to stay on the WX4130 route and getting the relevant info while filtering out side notes in regards to other cards.

OCLP Sonoma USB stick was already done on my wife's MacBook with 12,1 compatibility in mind. APFS was done during High Sierra install if I remember correctly. If not installer may wipe SSD if it needs to. There's nothing on it besides HS.

Attack plan:
So basically if I reflash to EG bios version and system still comes back up as before (can SSH into HS with black screen but visible boot picker before), plug in the OCLP Sonoma and send it?

The "EnableGop" VBIOS should give you the best results and possibilities (boot screens like with original graphics cards).
Any MacOS later than High Sierra will not turn off the internal screen, so just install Sonoma (including OCLP root patches!) to enjoy your new iMac!

 

[howardc64]

I also used the bios from the EG2 folder because one of your recent comments I came across hinted in that direction. Shall I just flash again with the EG-only version?

Yes EG-only, can you share when I said EG2? Its a mistake and been trying to find all posts to correct it. EG2 require logic board bootrom flash. More complex.

Attack plan:
So basically if I reflash to EG bios version and system still comes back up as before (can SSH into HS with black screen but visible boot picker before), plug in the OCLP Sonoma and send it?

Yep, send it haha. I always reformat the SSD (at Device level rather than Volume level) after OCLP macOS installer boots for a clean install.

 

[trifle]

Hi everyone. I'm going to replace my CPU with i7-2600, my GPU with WX 4150 from AliExpress. I would appreciate your recommendations for paste / thermal pads for the GPU. Kind regards, -trifle

 

[snackbar]

@howardc64 I'll dig that up for you.

So I sent it. Flashed the EG bios again and rebooted. Got the HS picker and had the Sonoma stick already in. Went for install after wiping the SSD which was already formatted in AFPS. Install went smoothly from what I could see.

Had to go away for a bit and came back to a black screen with backlight on. Mouse movements did nothing, so did keystrokes. Tried to SSH into it, failed - so new OS was installed. Turned off the machine, then back on, did PRAM reset, went for the picker, chose SSD - and got greeted with the FORBIDDEN sign (crossed circle).

Anything in the OCLP settings besides selection for a 12,1 machine I should choose?