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iM 4,1-14,4 iMac 2011 Maxwell and Pascal GPU upgrade

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Nguyen Duc Hieu said:
Since you are quite skilled, and no pre-cooked vBIOS for GTX1080 on page #1 yet, I think you can go ahead and cook a vBIOS for yourself.

forums.macrumors.com

EnableGop: Pre-OpenCore GOP support for EFI-era iMacs and Mac Pros

You wait ten years for a driver to enable pre-boot graphics on unsupported GPUs in EFI era Macs, and then two come along at once... This post is to announce a firmware driver to enable the native Apple boot picker and early macOS boot progress bar (plus other parts of the firmware UI: target...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
Click to expand...
Which would need to use OpenCore (if one would read the fine print in the EnableGop documentation). Creating an OC config as described here for other Nvidia cards could help before spending time on modding a vBIOS only to get the EFI picker working.
Last but not least one might have to modify the connector information within the vBIOS to get eDP support - this is beyond my capabilities.

Edit:
OpenCore can be used to boot Linux. Usually we start using the OCLP app which auto generate a hardware tailored config which has to be adjusted to support Maxwell/Pascal cards for macOS brightness control as described here on this particular thread.

But it may or may not solve your issue to drive the internal display. Sometimes it is the lacking EFI driver which does not enable the backlight on boot, sometimes it is additionally lacking vBIOS support to drive such a backlight. There is a special hardware solution (small PCB with cable connections to be included between power supply and display driver board) to enable and maintain the backlight on boot.

All you need you can find here - unfortunately there has never been a recipe published how to modify a Nvidia vBIOS in depth to support eDP.
 
Last edited:
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Ausdauersportler said:
Which would need to use OpenCore (if one would read the fine print in the EnableGop documentation). Creating an OC config as described here for other Nvidia Cards could help before spending time on modding a vBIOS.
Last but not least one might have to modify the connector information within the vBIOS to get eDP support - this is beyond my capabilities.
Click to expand...
Good point. The problem is that i don't even know it opencore works under using linux and rEFInd.
I have installed a package from AUR, and it has installed these files:
/boot/EFI/OC/.contentFlavour
/boot/EFI/OC/.contentVisibility
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/ArpDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/AudioDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/BiosVideo.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/CrScreenshotDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Dhcp4Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Dhcp6Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/DnsDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/DpcDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Ext4Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/FirmwareSettingsEntry.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Hash2DxeCrypto.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/HiiDatabase.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/HttpBootDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/HttpDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/HttpUtilitiesDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Ip4Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Ip6Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/MnpDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Mtftp4Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Mtftp6Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/NvmExpressDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenCanopy.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenHfsPlus.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenLegacyBoot.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenLinuxBoot.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenNetworkBoot.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenNtfsDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenPartitionDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenRuntime.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenUsbKbDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/OpenVariableRuntimeDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Ps2KeyboardDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Ps2MouseDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/RamDiskDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/ResetNvramEntry.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/RngDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/SnpDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/TcpDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/TlsDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/ToggleSipEntry.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Udp4Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/Udp6Dxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/UefiPxeBcDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/UsbMouseDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Drivers/XhciDxe.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/OpenCore.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/BootKicker.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/ChipTune.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/CleanNvram.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/ControlMsrE2.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/CsrUtil.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/FontTester.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/GopStop.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/KeyTester.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/ListPartitions.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/MmapDump.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/OpenControl.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/OpenShell.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/ResetSystem.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/RtcRw.efi
/boot/EFI/OC/Tools/TpmInfo.efi

The package that this script installs is taken from here:
github.com

GitHub - acidanthera/OpenCorePkg: OpenCore bootloader

OpenCore bootloader. Contribute to acidanthera/OpenCorePkg development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com

Is it relevant? Is it not?
 
ZGocZ said:
OK, I've finally gotten round to the RTX3000 card.

I've exchanged the motherboard and now all sensors are operational. This enabled the RTX3000 boost clocks which failed the last time around I wanted to get this thing working. You can see the end result in the screenshots. Not bad at all...
Click to expand...
Hi there! I was reading your journey with the RTX 3000 on your iMac on Win11. I am new to this forum and also to the RTX 3000, and so have some queries I hope you can help me with me.

From your posts you mentioned - "RTX 3000 arrived. I've done the backlight wire mod and that works fine." and also you found out from the vBIOS it is a HP and not a Dell as claimed by your seller. Did you have to do anything to the vBIOS, like flashing another version or does the existing vBIOS on the card work right away?

Is your RTX 3000 similar in layout to this HP RTX 3000?

Or is it similar in layout to this one? I am trying to get this one for my Dell M6800 but the seller said another buyer tried it on his M6800 and it didn't work.
 
colohgc said:
I have rev.D of P5200m card and soldered EEPROM chip Winbond W25Q40EW 1.8V, my Dell have EDP screen.
You must select Switchable Graphics to ON in BIOS without this the lid screen will black.
The only way to flash vBIOS file into graphic it's use external programmer like CH341a with 1.8V adaptor.

This 120W mod it safe olny on rev D and presumably on C. The rev A anb B of this card have weak power section and it may explode.

edit:
In my erlier post I wrote wrong words:
''discrete mode is partially posible (when enabled picture is on HDMI but not on the lid LCD).''
I tested again this option and his not work. Sorry for my mistake.
HDMI port olny work in Windows with optimus mode.
Click to expand...
Hi there! Thanks for replying to my queries on your Youtube channel!
 
m0bil said:
I'm sorry I cannot help you with a dell vbios, and is off-topic here. The main reason for the p3000 underperformance is that max clocks are limited by nvidia on the vbios. I managed to overclock it by 20% to 30% by copying the max clocks table from the P5000 vbios.
There is nothing to gain by replacing the shunts, don't do it, if you look at gpu-z perfcap the card never reaches max power using the standard clocks. For the same reason Pascal TDP tweaker won't help you.
You can use envytools to gain insight into vbios internal tables. For editing I use a simple hex editor like Hex Fiend.
Click to expand...

Hi, I know this is quite an old post/thread but I am also in the process of upgrading to a p3000.

I know that on my dell laptop I tested the card on there is a magical HP bios, https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/259549/259549 that makes the card boost up to 1805Mhz but unfortunately this bios is limited to 75-80w.

Editing it with MobilePascalTDP tweaker bricks the GPU (BIOS refuses the cheksum I guess).

I tried your 1657Mhz bios and it can boost up to 115w in furmark however in games and rendering it never goes above 65w for me.

I would like your guidance on how to modify these bioses.
I found the power limits inside the bios so I can change these no problem. How can you fix the checksum ?
Thanks a lot, your BIOS' are really wonderful.
 
Hey everyone,



I picked up a 27" iMac 2011 yesterday for $30! He said it booted to black screen, and being that it had the 6970m I figured it was a dead card, but it turns out somebody had pulled the hard drive and forgot to connect the power cable for the monitor! Awesome! Only issue is the 6970m is having driver issues under windows and results in a black screen after the driver is installed (I have already disabled the iGPU).



I have an HP m1000m lying around but I see a GOP rom was never successfully created here. Anyone willing to give it a shot and I can test it? It should perform relatively closely to the m2000m but seems to be much more common in the the HPs and cheaper.



Edit: Looks like I missed it. @derplayer posted a vbios in post #751 but it hasn't made its way into the table in post #1 (which I own but take no credit for all of the work that everyone else has put into it).
 
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Well I was able to ssh into the GRML usb in order to flash the m1000m with @derplayer GOP vbios but still no internal or external screen, even after windows is booted. Not sure where to go from here. The 6970 enables the screen so I know the screen is not bad, and the m1000m was working when I removed it from the HP.
 
m0bil said:
If you mean adding EnableGop to get native bootscreen without OCLP/Opencore, give this a try:
Click to expand...
@m0bil Tried your m3000m VBIOS and it works to give internal screen on boot but once the drivers install the internal screen turns off and only external screen works (closest to USB ports). Any way you can change the vbios to have the correct outputs? Maybe similar to the m4000m header? I also verified that it is stuck at 405mhz clock speed (P08). Not sure if you can fix that as well.
 
hello everyone, I have a problem with installing latest Nvidia m2200 driver.
There's a problem. On uefi windows, after installing the video driver, everything is fine, but for some reason, the video card doesn't boosting (the maximum frequency is 696 MHz, but the boost frequency is slightly higher than 1 GHz), the sound doesn't work, and for some reason, the integrated Intel video card is enabled, causing a blue screen of death.
On Legacy mode, everything works, except for the screen backlight, which disappears after installing the latest driver. Before installing the driver on a legacy Windows backlights works normally. I took the vbios to m2200 from the topic "Maxwell and Pascal on iMac 2009-2011". What did I do wrong? What should I do to turn on the backlight?

my device is iMac 21,5 inch 2011 with Flashed Nvidia Quadro M2200 4GB and i5-2400S

P.S. I'm new to macrumors, and I haven't fully figured out what to write where, so I might make a mistake in choosing a topic or reply
 
colohgc said:
@Shawn09345
Thanks to your package of files, I was able to run the Quadro P5200 card in a Dell Precision M6800 laptop.
I used your header and vBIOS from techpowerup. I made the modification in HxD.
- Video card fully works at 120W power limit but only works with Optimus, discrete mode is partially posible (when enabled picture is on HDMI but not on the lid LCD).
- The card's fan starts at 60*C and increases speed as the temperatures up.
- HDMI output works in Windows.
- DisplayPort not tested.
- DockStation video output not tested.

Evidence in the YouTube video:
Click to expand...

we will see how this card works in my m6800(yeah, i bought it from u on ebay 🤪 ) will put the 880M from the m6800 into my 12.2 then n got a i7-3770 for it too(should work) n only run win on it, so everything with the drivers should be fine. maybe will put in a p4200 when all went well, they r cheap 👑
 
Hi everyone,

I'm currently in the process of upgrading my iMac with an NVIDIA Quadro M2000M using the GRML Linux method. I'm trying to flash the modified vBIOS (the m2000m_1346mhz_EG.rom file), but I'm hitting a wall with NVFlash.

My setup:

  • GPU: Quadro M2000M
  • Method: GRML Linux (Ausdauersportler's ISO)
  • NVFlash Version: 5.792.0 (and I've tried a few others)
The Problem:Every time I try to flash using the command ./nvflash -6 m.rom (or with more aggressive flags like -4 -5 -6 -A), I get the following error:

  • error 8 bcrt_error_code_body_signature_mismatch
  • error 7 bcrt_error_code_body_fnv_hash_mismatch
  • Vbios image failed certification sanity check
It seems like my version of NVFlash is strictly enforcing the digital signature and won't allow the "USER_FW_MOD".

I have already tried --protectoff (which returns "complete"), but the "Nothing changed" message or the signature errors persist.

Does anyone have a link to the specific Patched/Modded NVFlash version that bypasses the signature check for the M2000M? Or is there a specific command I'm missing to override the certification sanity check?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
G3llings said:
@m0bil Tried your m3000m VBIOS and it works to give internal screen on boot but once the drivers install the internal screen turns off and only external screen works (closest to USB ports). Any way you can change the vbios to have the correct outputs? Maybe similar to the m4000m header? I also verified that it is stuck at 405mhz clock speed (P08). Not sure if you can fix that as well.
Click to expand...
Hi G3llings, did you, or anyone else, have any luck with the m3000m? I have been trying to get it working, tried to flash it using the files found on the forum, but no success so far. No bootscreen and no internal screen... External screen is working fine (on Linux). We have a 2010 27" iMac, it's a nice little project for me and my 10 year old son, but I'm starting to think we bit off more than we should have... Any suggestions are very welcome. Thanks!!
 
Santa's Little Helper said:
Hey all, it's been a long time, apologies for the slow reply... Great work on the new vBIOS mods!

The HP T1000 works great, and as suspected it's EFI has UGA support like all Turing cards.
Everything "just works" - 4 debug LEDs, boot-selector, target disk mode, internet recovery etc.
Windows 10 drivers work fine, MacOS has no drivers but will boot with un-accelerated graphics.
So we get Mac boot-screens but no Mac drivers, someone at Nvidia has a sense of humor...

Now for the bad news... You MUST do a hardware back-light mod to force the iMac's back-light on.
There are many ways to do it, but a single wire will do, see the 2011 upgrade thread for options.
If you can't solder, push a wire into the back of the connectors, be careful to get the right pins!

no way around this, the Turing vBIOS can't be edited, it's protected with a "signature"
so if you change a single bit the Windows driver code 43s, and even the EFI driver refuses to load.
I was hoping to patch the Turing UGA EFI for the Pascal cards, but I'd guess that it is protected to?

The back-light mod should work on the Adlink cards, but check you have all 4 debug LEDs on first?
First 3 LEDs means the iMac LCD is not detected, likely on a vBIOS designed for embedded PCs.
You can try to flash a different vBIOS, but be careful about GDDR 5 or 6 and TU117B

It's likely that all Nvidia cards from the HP Zbook G6 will work with a back-light mod, RTX 3000 etc.
Maybe someday, in a distant future, someone will find a dusty old RTX 6000 on eBay and try it!

😎
Click to expand...

Hello, friends. Inspired by this forum, I need your advice. I received a Quadro T1000 4GB GDDR6 graphics card with a frequency of up to 1395 MHz. I installed it in the slot, but the third LED doesn't light. My knowledge in this area is zero, so I need advice on what to do next. I have a CH341A motherboard, but I also don't know how to use it or what BIOS version I have. Thank you.
 

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Father Fyodor said:
Hello, friends. Inspired by this forum, I need your advice. I received a Quadro T1000 4GB GDDR6 graphics card with a frequency of up to 1395 MHz. I installed it in the slot, but the third LED doesn't light. My knowledge in this area is zero, so I need advice on what to do next. I have a CH341A motherboard, but I also don't know how to use it or what BIOS version I have. Thank you.
Click to expand...
The first step before installing the card is to use your ch341A programmer to backup the BIOS. look at the markings on the BIOS chip labelled WINBOND. Turing typically uses 1.8v BIOS so make sure your programmer voltage matches the datasheet for your WINBOND chip. Post your BIOS here after dumping to the forum and hopefully some of the expert members here will look at it and suggest an alternate BIOS that is more compatible for iMac. i typically use AsProgrammer windows version for direct hardware flashing and do not encounter problems.

While waiting a response from the forum, I strongly suggest you take apart your iMac and use the ch341A to dump your iMac BOOTROM as well. iMac bios is typically 3.3v so make sure your programmer supports it. once dumped, you can add uefi patches, specifically the ones from m0bil on his github imac bootrom patches. i find the igpu disable and the 64bit address patches useful for maximizing hardware compatibility for windows installs. The EnableGOP patch on your imac bootrom is a system compatibility patch that greatly eases installation new gpus with stock bioses that have GOP/uefi mode.

If you get stuck anywhere, the forum members can help if you dm a very specific question.
 
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hashbot said:
Первый шаг перед установкой карты — это резервное копирование BIOS с помощью программатора CH341A. Обратите внимание на маркировку микросхемы BIOS с обозначением WINBOND. В архитектуре Turing обычно используется BIOS с напряжением 1,8 В, поэтому убедитесь, что напряжение вашего программатора соответствует техническим характеристикам вашей микросхемы WINBOND. После копирования BIOS на форум, пожалуйста, опубликуйте его здесь, и, надеюсь, кто-нибудь из опытных участников форума посмотрит на него и предложит альтернативный BIOS, более совместимый с iMac. Я обычно использую версию AsProgrammer для Windows для прямой прошивки оборудования и не сталкиваюсь с проблемами.

Пока ждёте ответа от форума, я настоятельно рекомендую разобрать ваш iMac и использовать ch341A для дампа загрузочного ПЗУ вашего iMac. BIOS iMac обычно работает от 3,3 В, поэтому убедитесь, что ваш программатор его поддерживает. После дампа вы можете добавить патчи UEFI, в частности, те, что есть у m0bil на его GitHub (imac bootrom patches) . Я считаю, что патчи igpu disable и 64bit address полезны для максимальной совместимости оборудования при установке Windows. Патч EnableGOP в загрузочном ПЗУ вашего iMac — это патч совместимости системы, который значительно упрощает установку новых видеокарт со стандартными BIOS, поддерживающими режим GOP/UEFI.

Если у вас возникнут какие-либо трудности, участники форума смогут помочь, если вы отправите им личное сообщение с очень конкретным вопросом.
Click to expand...
 
... The T1000 booted up just a minute ago with firmware 90.17.46.00.41.Adlink.rom. All four LEDs are lit. I'm soldering a wire to the backlight and then continuing as problems arise. Thanks, Friend!
 
You are well on your way! The hw mod should provide backlight. If you have windows preloaded, i suggest booting windows safemode and using DDU to wipe all existing AMD and NVIDIA drivers before installing fresh drivers. it seems unnecessary but i was having excessive dropped frames until doing safemode DDU going from pascal to turing on the same machine.
 
Santa's Little Helper said:
Hey all, it's been a long time, apologies for the slow reply... Great work on the new vBIOS mods!

The HP T1000 works great, and as suspected it's EFI has UGA support like all Turing cards.
Everything "just works" - 4 debug LEDs, boot-selector, target disk mode, internet recovery etc.
Windows 10 drivers work fine, MacOS has no drivers but will boot with un-accelerated graphics.
So we get Mac boot-screens but no Mac drivers, someone at Nvidia has a sense of humor...

Now for the bad news... You MUST do a hardware back-light mod to force the iMac's back-light on.
There are many ways to do it, but a single wire will do, see the 2011 upgrade thread for options.
If you can't solder, push a wire into the back of the connectors, be careful to get the right pins!

There is no way around this, the Turing vBIOS can't be edited, it's protected with a "signature"
so if you change a single bit the Windows driver code 43s, and even the EFI driver refuses to load.
I was hoping to patch the Turing UGA EFI for the Pascal cards, but I'd guess that it is protected to?

The back-light mod should work on the Adlink cards, but check you have all 4 debug LEDs on first?
First 3 LEDs means the iMac LCD is not detected, likely on a vBIOS designed for embedded PCs.
You can try to flash a different vBIOS, but be careful about GDDR 5 or 6 and TU117B revisions.

It's likely that all Nvidia cards from the HP Zbook G6 will work with a back-light mod, RTX 3000 etc.
Maybe someday, in a distant future, someone will find a dusty old RTX 6000 on eBay and try it!

😎
Click to expand...
Hello, Maestro! I need your guidance; please share your knowledge. I'm trying out the T1000 GDDR6 AdLink. Four LEDs are lit, the backlight is modified, but there's no boot with various BIOS settings vBIOS, with Open Core configured... the result is a black screen, including through Mini DP. A1312, 27 Mid 2011. Previously, I was using a GTX880 that burned out and shorted out the entire system. I'm integrating Windows directly.(Sorry for the Google Translate.)Thank you
 
Father Fyodor said:
... T1000 загрузился всего минуту назад с прошивкой HP ZBook Fury G7. 90.17.42.00.44.bin. Все четыре светодиода горят. Я припаиваю провод к подсветке и буду продолжать работу по мере возникновения проблем. Спасибо, друг!....
Click to expand...

hashbot said:
You are well on your way! The hw mod should provide backlight. If you have windows preloaded, i suggest booting windows safemode and using DDU to wipe all existing AMD and NVIDIA drivers before installing fresh drivers. it seems unnecessary but i was having excessive dropped frames until doing safemode DDU going from pascal to turing on the same machine.
Click to expand...
 

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